Sean

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

 

What's your budget?

£300-500.

For context, last night I went to see my new band play their last gig with the outgoing bassist. No lights, no back drop. 

It's rock/pop/indie covers playing pubs/clubs/functions. 

I'm going to grab this as an opportunity but have no real experience, it's always been other people in all the other bands I've been in that do lights. 

So, where do I start? Plug and play,  portability compact being the priorities, I guess.

On 04/10/2025 at 14:44, Phil Starr said:

Thanks, looks like they are standard size then. My tent pole bag is 120cm which just leaves space for a few leads as well as the lights. 

 

Whilst I was checking the dimensions of my existing lights I tool a pic of my adapted bass case with the 'spare' lights in. You can see where I removed some of the foam when I cut it out to accommodate the lights. As a case it offers good protection and will take 5 strip lights at a time

 

Which ones are these, Phil?

Do you have any photos or videos of them in action?

I got excited about a new Gallien-Krueger in-ear amp for a moment 😀

Everyone's experience is different but my solution to this problem is to walk away and let them get on with it. You don't need that level of cr4p in your life. 

The Germans have a green one B Stock for £619

https://www.thomann.co.uk/cort_artisan_space_5_sdg_b_stock.htm

They also have "A Stock" at £675 but you'll have to wait a week or so.

Free shipping! Great deal. I got labelled as "entitled" and unreasonable when I expected free shipping on a £700 spend earlier in the year. 

If I hadn't just landed a "rescue" bass, I'd buy one just to see. I played one and thought it was a lot of bass for the money. 

Breathe. You'll work it out. 

They're excellent basses. 

My tastes are so broad with colours, finishes, neck carves, etc that if my #1 priority was low price, colour wouldn't matter. It's not like any of the colours of the Space basses are horrible. I'd be happy with any of them. 

21 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

One of my bitsas, increasingly my go to these days, La Bella DTs, baseball neck, just does the job really 👍 

Gorgeous, that. 

My tip of the day is...

Keep the truss covers removed. I'm always adjusting truss rods, 1/8th of a turn here, tiny tweak there. 

Those Freeway switches are fantastic too. Modern P neck, great looks, loads of switching/wiring options including traditional J options. I can’t believe I didn’t play it at a Bash! Too busy talking!

On 02/08/2025 at 01:53, neepheid said:

You don't need to give me an excuse to show off my korinaburst Triad.  It also has a Freeway 10 way switch fitted, for the standard options on one bank, then various series/parallel options not normally available.  Pretty simple fit, visually undetectable, very elegant mod (works by tilting the blade switch up/down to access the two banks of options).

 

Hi Matt - Stunning. Does the Triad have a P profile neck?

11 hours ago, colleya said:

I nearly went for that myself, but it was a bit much on top of the funk accelerator in one month.

 

Would be very interested in your thoughts on the fretboard accelerator course. That would be next on my list.

The FBA is good, very detailed and well presented like most of the SBL material. Good workbooks and play-along tracks and the course is huge. 

Like a lot of the Accelerator courses it's like an expanded and more detailed version of some of Phil Mann's (and others') courses that are already in SBL. I like Phil Mann's approach to teaching and get a lot of what he's done. His theory courses are very engaging.

There's nothing that I've seen in FBA Accelerator that's not available elsewhere, and we can say that about most courses, but it is well presented, has loads of material etc and that's what makes it what it is. Like all this, you need to put in what I call "boot camp time", you need to sit and pump out the exercises and not skip bits.  Trust the process. 

I was watching one of Phil M's videos and he was talking about studying with Jeff Berlin and learning all the patterns all over the neck and it seems that's the concept the FBA is based on. 

A super sweet transaction, just 5 star all round, delivery, packaging, comms etc. 

Thank you very much for another great BassChat deal 

It arrived today. It’s the lightest bass I’ve ever played, it's like a toy. It’s got the same Gotoh Resolite tuners as Gary's CST that I played recently and it’s got no neck dive. It's really well-balanced, which I wasn't expecting at all. On the lap, it stays put and on a strap with a shiny textured internal surface it sits well, so that's all good.

Neck carve is standard Euro LX shape. The finish is ultra thin matt, it feels like my oiled Euro5LX to the touch. I know a couple of folk have found this finish to be a bit fragile, so we'll see. This will be gigged.

I've been playing it through the HX Stomp with GK800/Ampeg810 rig settings with the DarkGlass Legacy pre-amp dimed and it's exactly what you'd expect. 

My ebony board peacock one is just 22 lower on the serial numbers indicating that the two were made during the same short period. Another comparison is that the RST resonates differently acoustically to the gloss finished ebony board one and they've both got new EXL170s on. I'm not going into tonewoods and all that wizardry, I'll just bring a few along to the next Bash and let people see/hear for themselves 😉 

The build quality of it is as we've come to expect from the Czech factory, it's absolute top notch all round.

9 hours ago, agedhorse said:

I don't know how convenient, but Surrey Amps has done excellent work for us for many years. Well qualified IMO.

 

https://surreyamps.co.uk/

All my amps go there. 4 this year. 

And I'm in Gloucester. It's 2h each way but worth it, especially for old tech. 

11 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

The NS2 has PJ pickups, the NS4 and NS5 both have dual humbuckers although the original NS5 had twin jazz shaped pickups (not sure if they were single coil or stacked HB).  Spector has since reissued it as the NS5 Classic

 

A lot of nomenclature systems get messy over time. 

We don’t really know what LX stands for. Despite my speculation at Length Xtension, it’s more likely a reference to the layering of the wings as it came after the solid wing Euros. LT = No idea??? RST = Roasted (must be). CST = Custom Shop Top? 

XL (as in NS5-XL) must refer to the 35” scale. I had a ’01 and that was 35”. 

Due to arrive tomorrow and continuing a trend for Japan Exclusives (my third), here it is.

I've had an eye on it for months. 

It's one of 5 made in that spec. EX = Exotic, LTD = Limited, NAM (Spector Colour Code) = Natural Maple. Nothing to do with NAMM but one of the 5 of these was at NAMM last year to show dealers what is possible with special orders.

It's a 3-piece roasted maple neck with a 4A North American flame maple top, walnut sandwich layer, empresswood wing-backs and the headstock matches the top but seems to be gloss vs the matt finish of the body. The wood build is as per the standard RST but in a limited edition finish. It has EMG P (reverse) + J pickups with ivory coloured covers and the DG Legacy Tone Capsule where the standard RSTs have Aguilar humbuckers and an Aguilar preamp. 

There's an LHZ-04 preamp on standby ready but after playing Gary's CST the other day, I think I'm going to leave the DG in there for a while. 

14 hours ago, itu said:

Most likely everybody knows that NS means Ned Steinberger, the designer of the bass. The first basses were available with two pickup brands (the other was DiMarzio) and with 1 or 2 pickups. NS-1 was the first unit (1 meant 1 pickup). 

What does NS-4 mean? They've got 2 humbuckers usually. 4 coils?

NS-5 must be 5 strings.

12 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Nothing sad about JB finding a bass that suited him better.

I think the subtly of the humour there probably warranted an emoji 😉

Jack Bruce's NS-2 

https://www.digimart.net/cat03/shop5033/DS09888998/

Jack owned this. PJ Rubal has given it the thumbs up. 

The switches are killswitch and phase switch. I'd love a factory fitted killswitch. 

Walnut wings, Badass bridge. 

Sadly, JB moved on to Warwick after this. 

To save you doing the conversion, it's £35k. 

16 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I learnt that one last year. It really is good and more tricky than I expected, mostly because of the weird rhythms. All REM bass lines are great to play.

Mike Mills is always a reference for me. Learning Kenneth and then using those ideas in other songs is valuable. Not just that song but as a concept. I like to play with concepts to help composition like, trying to come up with what Mike Mills might play on Sweet Child of Mine as a simple example. It makes you think about applying what he does over something that exists that you only have certain scope with. And in the band I've just left, I did a sort of "What Would Duff McKagan Do" over Summer of '69. Well, if you want me to play certain songs in a non-tribute, low-pay setting, I need to get some fun or benefit out of it! 

On 16/11/2025 at 08:04, Steve Browning said:

Annoying things? Not being able to play something you want to.

I've always wanted to play What's the Frequency, Kenneth? 

It's never happened and isn't likely to. I love that bass line.

1 hour ago, Mrbigstuff said:

Could be anyone on the end of an account. If they set one up to wind people up they’re unlikely to be honest about who they are.

Whatever. It's just descended into what most Basschat threads become, it's us lot talking absolute nonsense.  

I sometimes visit Bajistas.org, a Spanish language bass forum, they'd never have threads like this. They're still trying to decide whether a P or a J is best or whether a PJ is a happy balance or a complete abominación of el Diablo. 

2 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

But you're the guy with a metre and a half of wood in your hand - they'd have to be mental to take you on!

I don't know about a Zon but in 2009 I despatched an attacker at a wedding gig with an NS5-XL. Neck through, solid maple wings, Haz pre-amp. Proper weapon. I missed the Middle 8 but the keys guy covered me with some tasty left hand work. 

33 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

One one hand I want to correct them, but I'd probably get really annoyed and do the "if I sell this I can buy 10 of them" type things...

and on the other I don't want to get mugged in the car park!

 

As it happens I did sell it and still didn't buy a Fender!

Sorted. No conversation required. Just smile and nod.