uk_lefty

I'm finding all of this discussion interesting and I'm learning a lot. But for me simplicity is key: If my band is running a vocal only PA in a pub my amp does all the work If my band is running a huge PA for a function or playing outdoors where we run the PA I trust the guitarist who is also our soundman to do whatever he wants or needs to get a decent bass sound. Usually he DI's from the back of my amp and good quality bass tone comes out the PA. I've heard recordings, he's very good, it used to be his full time job in the past so he is 100% trusted. If I'm at a festival where you've got to rush on, plug in and play your allocated time, I just make sure I can hear myself in the monitor. Now I have a Helix I might ask to DI out of that so I know what's coming out, but even then the Sound-person can and will do what he or she wishes with that signal, life's too short to worry about it.

Love it!!

Likewise! Off the original topic but I find a lot of the free to download patches really hit and miss. I found a site called Dr Tone and downloaded a handful but the best ones are really just starting points to adapt from and the others were rubbish. I've not got my head around paying for patches yet...

I've tried the cheap route to synth sounds... Boss SYB something. Awful. No use-able sounds, bad tracking, sold it pdq. Digitech Autosynthwah thing, similar experience to the boss. EHX Bass Mono Synth, had some good sounds but tracking was way off, you needed the cleanest string pluck and to let each note ring, if you needed to play any kind of fast passage you were doomed, missing some of your notes or tracking way behind. The best synth like sounds I have had I made myself on a Boss GT10B by combining fuzz, octave, chorus. I've now got a Helix Stomp and at some point will need to try to create my own synth patches, or hope that someone has posted good use able ones out there for free. In short, the cheap options aren't worth it.

I like the approach here! I would like to have a "here's my tone, this is what I play, this is ME" but I tend to just do this: ramp up the mids if I'm playing fretless (currently with flats) or a song like Crazy Little Thing Called Love, otherwise I go a little mid scooped and like a bit of string clank and some grit in the sound. Then the sound man makes me sound like "whatever it's just bass, you done yet I've got a flipin hour mic'ing these cymbals?"

Any idea who is selling these in lefty? I can't find it online

Relies on the American pronunciation of "mirror" being "meeyurh" which they all do, weirdly.

Depends on how strict they were! For my A Level English literature the exam board begrudgingly allowed me to analyse two American books, since they were not English-English, but like most things they decided to make rules after the course had started. You definitely weren't allowed Russian or any other fiction originally written in another language. Probably fair, a lot of translation is not literal so different versions of the same foreign classics may be translated differently. Anyhow... Nobody mentioned Des Ree.. "I'm not afraid of a ghost, I'd rather have a piece of toast" utter tripe. Or U2 "like a mole, living in a hole" on Elevation. One of those songs that comes across a bit like Nik Kershaws the Riddle where he just sang nonsense to fit a tune he liked intending to write proper lyrics later. Or Bono is just an derrière.

Where's the "vomit" emoji when you need it? I can't stand Madonna. I have no idea why she exists in public consciousness beyond the early 90s.

This is the thing... Because I already have the RM500 with its "tube emulated drive" and a Helix Stomp with all its own trickery I'm not sure an actual amp is required. I think it's just boredom and the connected facts: I've sold some gear so want to buy some, I haven't sold enough gear to buy what I want, what I want isn't likely to be in stock for months, I want to buy some gear.

My garage is in such a state I can't get to the drill and drill bits easily. Nevermind, just brought forward the oil finishing. Three coats on now using the method Crimson Guitars show on their YouTube video for the oil. Pretty happy with how it looks, not sure if I need more coats of oil to properly seal it or if it's now done? Either way, the bass is nowhere near what I set out for, but I'm very happy with things so far. Staining and oiling is incredibly therapeutic.

THAT is how to do a bass demo video.

I think there was an electric similar on ebay a while back being sold out of China. It would be a nice challenge for a luthier, "can you make this?" in a kind of Scrapheap challenge sort of way, but of absolutely zero use to man or beast. If you have time to flip the instrument over, you have time to pick up a dedicated single instrument, surely?

When i was 15 I used to fire up a 100 watt amp feeding a 150 watt 80s Peavey amp and thrash through every song I knew over and over. It was fun!

Yes, ambitious but I'm not looking for top end kit right away...

Hmmm all valve or hybrid, maybe that's the question?

Wowzers. I know they're good but that's a lot of money. I'm thinking more along the lines of a Marshall Bass State or DBS, second hand for a few hundred or less. 90s technology but that's when I started playing and I drooled over these. Even had the Bass State B150 but there was something wrong with it and even if there hadn't been I didn't have the experience to get the best out of it, sadly.

Obviously the answer is No. However, boredom, lockdown and being in here daily is making me want a tube amp or some kind of hybrid tube/ solid state. I currently run an RM500 in to 1x15 and 2x10 RM cabs. I also have a Line 6 Helix Stomp with all its amp sims. I like the simplicity of the RM500 and it has never let me down. I play in a rock covers band that does everything from pubs to festivals to weddings and dinner dances, and I've got an 80s covers band starting up because the rock covers band won't do enough 80s tunes for my liking! I feel I'm missing something by not having a valve powered amp. I realise I'm probably not. But. What would a tube amp give me that I don't already have? More weight? One more thing to go wrong? More maintenance costs? A natural gritty drive tone that cannot be emulated by either the RM or the Helix? A warmth akin to a hot ovaltine while wrapped in a tartan rug atop a Scottish lighthouse in the bleakest of winters? If you had a few quid spare and an addiction to ebay, what would you go for? Ashdown ABM, Marshall Bass State or DBS? Mark bass tube hybrid amp? Something else? Is it all just nonsense? Or should I go totally the other way and get a Trace Elliot again for 80s-ness?

Never noticed a difference in tone. I roll it down a bit for the odd occasion I use a pick, then back up to full for finger style.

Respectfully, I think had you just said "hey, I've done this YouTube video for people who might be starting out in modding instruments or not having enough cash to buy quality gear... What do you think?" you may have had a much more favourable response. Different dynamic, I think your YouTube audience are the too skint to buy a Pro Bass new or even 2nd hand, whereas you'll see here is where over 50% of basses in the UK are hoarded and traded amongst the membership. There's some very knowledgeable folk but also a culture of discussion and debate over self promotion. Not criticising what you're doing in producing the video, may even watch it myself as I finish my first ever Bitsa bass, just the approach here hasn't landed!

Always fancied the five string of this model, what do you think of it?

I see where you're going but I think MTD Kingston is a bit of a red herring in this case. The Tobias "Toby Pro" basses were sold on musicyo in the early 2000s. It was a site Gibson used for Kramer, Tobias and Steinberger Spirit lines, plus some random drum stuff. All of it was dirt cheap but reasonable value, though nothing like the brand heritage would suggest. In 2001/2 I got myself a Kramer 5 string lefty fretless brand new, imported from the US for £250. I still use it now, and its more than a £250 bass in those days and now, but not a patch on something like a Sire that you can get for around £400, and definitely nothing at all like a pre Gibson Kramer. The Tobias basses were a similar price point, as were the Steinbergers. I know a bit about it because at 17 years old and getting in to gigging I drooled over that site, via dial up Internet, and agonised over what to buy with my 18th birthday present cash. Musicyo offered a good choice of lefties when my local music shops did not.

Me too. Sounds good to me, added a kiogon electronics loom and it's an excellent bass.

There's an Aria Pro II SB Facebook group. If you put the picture and questions up in there you'll get a very quick answer.