Maude

I have a Harley Benton EUB and use Slaphappy weed whackers and get a very useable tone. I guess it depends on what sound you're after, I wanted that basic, old sounding thud without much sustain so thought I'd try them as they're only around twenty quid a set. They're better than I expected and I'm really pleased with the sound, even been complemented on my sound at gigs, it's definately not a refined classical sound but that's not what I wanted, if you want to play rockabilly, country, bluegrass type of stuff then i'd definately give them a go, at worst you've lost twenty quid, at best you've got a sound you like which is easy on the fingers and pocket. Oh and a sound you like despite most folks telling you you won't get a good sound out of them.

Thanks for the replies folks, a purchase is looming. I just need to work out how much I can get away with spending against how little I have to tell the boss it cost.

How are you getting on with he bass now you've had it a while Pete, still loving it or are there any issues? I'm about ready to order one and thought I'd see how you felt about yours now you've lived with it for a while. I'll be moving on from an EUB as well and was going to get a Thomann bass after the excellent service I got from them when I ordered my EUB but I'm leaning towards a Gedo now after reading this thread, and seeing your pictures Look forward to hearing from you, or any other Gedo owners.

I picked up an Aria STB Series P bass clone a while back, stock it sound good and played lovely after a quick set up to my taste. I put a Quarter Pounder pick up in and a set of Chromes on and it is absolutely fantastic now, it became my main bass for a while and is only relegated to back up because I got a Variax which I'm liking atm. I need to sell a few basses because they're just not getting the use they deserve but the Aria will never go, only paid £40 for it.

There's one on ebay at the moment, one day left to go and only on £26, in Langford which I think is in Bedfordshire. Might be useful. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-4-Double-Bass-Hard-Flight-Case-/300805988861?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Access_RL&hash=item46096f21fd&_uhb=1"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-4-Double-Bass-Hard-Flight-Case-/300805988861?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Access_RL&hash=item46096f21fd&_uhb=1[/url]

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1348524897' post='1814906'] OK, I'll be the one to ask the obvious question. What's a ghost note? [/quote] Don't ask ............... they're scary man!

so if I give 'em a tap and the sound comes out the speakers then that one is knackered? I'll check next week at rehearsal, hopefully it's just that, I bought it second hand and I've had it a good ten years so they are getting on a bit.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1348152347' post='1810083'] Ding the valves with a plastic chopstick, especially the pre ones, one has probably gone microphonic, and you'll hear the sound coming out the speakers. [/quote] Not wanting to derail this thread, but I use a Peavey Max pre-amp, in the last few weeks I have been getting a high pitched noise all the time from it (if I turn it off with the power amp still on the noise stops and comes back when the pre is turned on), it started as a faint chirruping sort of sound but has steadily got worse and is now pretty much constant. AFAIK it uses 12ax7 valves, is this likely to be the same problem, I hope it's not fubared as it's an awesome pre amp.

I love my Ashdown Perfect Ten mini rig, sounds lovely, enough power for small gigs and looks amazing, all my own opinion of course. 65w head with two 10" cabs. Should be able to find one for around £100, or the Ashdown Five Fifteen mini rig (100w head with a 210 cab) for £150 [IMG]http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj510/Maude200/16052012290.jpg[/IMG]

I decided on a P before I even read the options ................ so it'll be a P for me please Bob.

Alright me 'andsomes . Liskeard eh Gub? We rehearse in the basement of Parade House, I'm just up the road in Pensilva.

I don't know about their bass guitars but I've got their electric upright which is the same as the Palatino, even came in a Palatino box, (bear with me ) there are a lot of known faults with the Palatino discussed on Talkbass but my HB doesn't appear to have any of them, no rattles, no buzzing etc. The finish is good, the build is solid, the only thing I would say is that the tuners feel a bit weak and vague. Overall I would say it was excellent value. I don't really know where I'm going with this now , basically at that price and from my upright experience I would jump at that one, any little niggles could be put right cheaply anyway. Thomann are very good to deal with too. It's quite a looker too .

You should be able to get a set of Chromes for around £25 which I wouldn't say is particularly expensive. That's them on my P bass in my avatar and they sound awesome. On their own you may think they're a bit muddy sounding but as soon as you play in a mix most of the top end that makes a bass sound nice by itself is lost to the guitars anyway. These sound just perfect.

Sometimes I cheat when playing my Warwick Thumb bass and use my fingers.

Thanks for all the advice . I appreciate that real guts would be better but if I wasn't on a budget then I wouldn't own a Harley Benton. I really only bought the bass as I've always fancied upright but never knew how I'd get on with it (primarily EB player). I'm not overly worried if the strings don't sound awesome as none of my playing will get an airing for a while yet, I just need it in good playable order so I can practise. If I get on with it I will upgrade to whatever suits my needs then, if I don't get on with it a £100 set of strings won't increase the resale value by £100 so I don't want to jump right in just yet. Less than £20 for 5 string bump set is viable. Having said that the weedwhackers are a lot better after playing them for week. I am going to give them a light sand as I've got to do the neck as that's a tad grippy as well so they should ok for practicing.

See, this is the trouble with forums like this. I've been slimming down my arsenal and was looking at the seven left (still trying to slim due to getting a Variax) and realised they were all rosewood necks, I was quietly thinking to myself 'do I need a maple neck', almost to the point of starting a thread to find out others preferences for maple or rosewood, and then I read this thread. That green one is as sexy as they come and I'm getting strong urges and finding it hard to resist. Help!

A lot of people think that Led Zeppelin wrote a lot of Led Zeppelin songs .

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1346178651' post='1786206'] Changing real names to stagenames appears more prevalent amongst the guitardist community, then amongst bassists. I'm struggling to find good examples of bass players who've adopted stagenames other than Sting (I've lived a fairly sheltered life ). [/quote] Sid Vicious, although I'm not entirely sure you can class him as a bassist .

Thanks Steve, I'm not 100% sure to be honest, it's not a glossy finish at all, it's a very dark brown matt finish which I can see the wood grain through. Wether that's the natural wood colour or a stain I wouldn't like to say. If I gently run my finger over the string, as if plucking in slow motion, I get the same noise as my finger grips it and makes it resonate, I can get a arco sound from it if I use the length of my finger. I may run some 'Fast Fret' over them before sanding, lubricating should hopefully stop it if it is the strings although obviously it won't be permanent.

Hello, Firstly I'm new to Uprights so go easy on me please . I have a Harley Benton 500 EUB which I bought to play some rockabilly on and give myself a new challenge, learning upright. I have done a lot of reading on here and on TB but haven't really found anyone has my problem. I do realise it could be technique but I'm pretty certain it's the strings. Anyway, the problem is a lot, and I mean an unacceptable amount, of finger noise. It's not the normal finger noise from sliding or right hand noise, but more of a problem when I release the strings from my left hand, it's as if it's too grippy and they 'stick' to my fingers so I get a kind of squeak, sort of. There is a lot of hollow sounding noise which is all being amplified by the chambered body and peizos, it wasn't like it with the stock steel strings, only when I fitted some Slap Happy Weedwackers so that's why I don't think it's me. I've read about folks lightly sanding wackers to make them more bowable (I think) and I wondered if lightly sanding the strings over the FB area would help them not to feel tacky. You would think being smooth would be better but it's that kind of clean plate squeak I'm getting so thought slightly rougher could be better. I'm just wondering if anyone has had this problem with Weedwackers? Apart from this they sound better than the stock strings, a lot deeper and more suited to my needs. Allan.

I've had one of those ebay £60 jobbies for a good few years now and I string it with cheapy 'Pure Tone' nickel alloy rounds (45-105), it's only for picking up and bumming around with at home so I'm not too worried about tone and they only cost £4.49 a set , although they do sound alright anyway. Point is, it's never had any issues with nickels on it, I rarely have to tune it much, if at all. The bass is made by 'Atrics' but looks identical to the 'Swift' ones on ebay, I bought mine before I ever saw the 'Swift' ones and I'm guessing they're just rebranded for whoever is selling them.

We do 'Learn to fly' which usually go down well, also 'God put a smile upon your face by' Coldplay if the audience is right and even something as slow as 'Run' by Snow Patrol has been known to work with us, it's funny what drunken blokes will sing along to. I have to say though that the venue and feeling has to be right for proper slowies to work, then come back with a kick in the teeth piece of rock .

The only band to make my area famous for a day that I can think of are Travis. The video for 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me' was filmed on the moors my Village backs onto. The first part of the video up until they all jump in a lake (disused quarry) was filmed on Bodmin Moor across the moors from where I live now and when they all surface up through a floating rooms floor it's filmed on the stretch of the Tamar where I grew up. Why the band came all the way to Cornwall to film in a location that looks so similar to their native Scotland I don't know [quote name='mep' timestamp='1345494405' post='1778226'] Now just round the corner up the coast is Teignmouth where I have heard a rather well know trio come from. [/quote]. I saw this trio in Tavistock wharf before they 'made it'. If you had to pick a band destined for super stardom it certainly wasn't them then .

Please bear with me on this one as I don't have the head to hand at the mo so can't tell you exactly what year etc it is. A few years back one of my neighbours was learning drums in his garage, I used to go in and jam with him just to give him something to groove to. A chap from down the road also started coming in as he used to play guitar and sing in a few bands. To cut a long story short he brought in an old Fender Bassman head and Marshall 410 or 412 cab for me to play with that had been in his loft for years and was (in his words) in the way. Now that was a few years back and the head and cab are still in my neighbours garage, he is moving in a few weeks and asked the chap what he wanted to do with them, turns out he's not really fussed and told him to pass it on to me. Now, when I used it before it made horrible distorting noises and generally sounded bad even at very low levels and I don't want to spend money fixing it up if it's not going to be any good to me anyway. Sooo after all that my actual question is are these amps very good or loud enough for a gigging rock band who play without FOH (for bass) normally. The head is a Fender Bassman Export (silver cloth front) and I would imagine 60's or early 70's, I don't know the wattage and I think the uk ones were called Export as the were from America. If I remember rightly the Bassman or Export was written in light blue on the right hand side of the front. Without looking or hearing what is most likely to be wrong with it, will it need new valves and does anyone know how many are in there and how much they'd be? I know it's impossible to say without seeing but any pointers would be good. It could possibly the cab that was knackered I suppose. The cab maybe a guitar cab but it should take the bass if quiet enough. Would using an active bass in it cause issues? I was using my Yamaha BBG5s. I know I'm just guessing right now but my neighbour is away for the week now and I've got itchy fingers. Any info on what the head is or value would be appreciated.

I've just picked one up so am in the same situation as Rasta above. The way I see it is that I usually use an Aria STB Series P bass with flats and an RBX374 with rounds in my covers band, the Variax does sound remarkably like a P bass and I can get a tone like the RBX out of a few of the other more 'modern' models so it's one bass instead of two and no swapping basses which can break the flow when a gig is going well. If I look at it as a replacement for the P bass, then it does exactly what the P bass does with the addition of being able to 'move' the pickup with the blend knob to get even more variation in tones and all the other models are a bonus. On the 'normal' models (not synth or multi course) it is not in the slightest bit digital sounding even when the notes die away and I like the way the sustain changes on different models. I don't know (or care) if the differing models sound like the real deal or not, I look at it as a massive range of usable tones in one bass. As to the problem of excessive cabling I keep seeing folks refer to, bass lead into box, box into mains and amp, then I have to wonder if they've ever used an effects pedal, exactly the same cabling. I can see the point to the posts about not seeing anyone use one and I agree to a point, but, in my twenty five years of gigging and going to gigs I have never seen anyone use a Rickenbacker bass (not including touring signed acts) does this mean that they are not worth using as well? For the price they go for now I think they are well worth it, no they aren't the best built bass but they are far far from the worst, I have no issues with the quality of mine even if it is a tad on the heavy side, but then so are a lot of basses. The neck is nice and slim, more Jazz than Precision, plays as well as any other bass in the £300-£400 bracket. I am going to put a passive neck pickup in mine with a simple tone/volume circuit and either separate or switchable output just in case anything ever went wrong live, either with the electrics or me forgetting the power supply. If I put a nice pickup in then I have a really nice passive bass with all that Variaxness as extra. To me it's a no brainer ................. at the moment, only time will really tell .