Clarky

I got a Sansamp VT Bass pedal last week from a Proaudioland in the US (eBay listing). I used it at a gig on Saturday and it added a great grittiness to my tone when playing through a fairly rubbish house-supplied Peavey combo but the overall volume of the gig was so loud that it was hard to truly assess it.

Then used it at a band practice this evening at lower volume levels (!) It really is a great pedal for emulating a gently overdriven, warm-sounding Ampeg SVT stack using the left side of the 'character' knob and some 'drive'. Crank up the 'character' and 'drive' knobs and you have the nearest emulation of Lemmy's Marshall sound that I have ever heard with a pedal - so much so that my guitarist and I had an extended blast through 'Motorhead' while waiting for our drummer. Fantastic! Unlike the Sansamp BDDI it has a Mid control so there's a bit more tweakable tone on offer although its probably not as useful an all-round tool. For a plug-in overdrive pedal which truly sounds valve-like and has a real variety of tones, though, its the mutt's nuts

[quote name='OldGit' post='310126' date='Oct 19 2008, 11:11 PM']I used to go to The Bridge House in Cannin' Taaahn in the 70's .. I don't suppose it's the same place [/quote]
According to the website, "the [original] Bridgehouse shut its doors to live music in 1982 and was bulldozed into the ground a couple of years ago".

The BridgeHouse 2 is a pre-fab warehouse-type building on an industrial estate about 5 minutes from Canning Town tube and the idea was to recreate the vibe of the original, at least as far as the music goes (its not as attractive a building, thats for sure!). It has dedicated blues, rock, metal and punk nights.

Bridge House 2, Canning Town last night at the 'Daggers Punk' evening. Realised it was going to be a tough ask when the audience was largely comprised the mohicans-piercings-studs-and-leather crowd and even tougher after the very tight and rabble-rousing opening act 'Short Bus Window Lickers' whipped them up into a mosh-pit frenzy. What a surprise, we were on second and our slightly quirky blend of melodic surf-and psychobilly-laced punk had them all outside puffing on fags and we played to a half-empty room. I tried out my new Sansamp VT Bass pedal and got a great gritty sound out of it.

Still, good venue (once you know how to find it; its in an industrial estate), nice promoter (his wife made us cracking sausage rolls and baguettes), and we got good feedback from those who did stay to watch us. We may be playing again there in a month's time and I look forward to it.

PS, after us on the bill, Guns On The Roof, were promoting their second album and were as tight as a badger's a*** - I think they could go on to be quite big, a mix between 70s punk and American contemporary punk

[quote name='Born 2B Mild' post='309790' date='Oct 19 2008, 01:02 PM']No, but if you ever get them, please do us a review![/quote]
After a very loud gig last night (punk evening) my ears are ringing and I have decided to order some to prevent further damage. I will put up a review when they arrive, once I have had a band rehearsal (guess in about 2-3 weeks time)

PS, £99 excludes VAT and p&P, so all-in cost £122. Still seems tiny versus the cost of real hearing damage and given how much we all spend on gear

[quote name='Clarky' post='299889' date='Oct 5 2008, 02:08 PM']Would be cool to see any BCers there - flyer below

[attachment=14367:bridge_house.jpg][/quote]
Bump in case anyone fancies a loud, punk evening in the East End tomorrow night

[quote name='Old Horse Murphy' post='308539' date='Oct 17 2008, 12:54 PM']I think the EMG's help a lot mart, but they're quite a Marmite sound. It's not a bass I'd use for every song.

Bloody nightmare eh? Shall we start a Deaf Bassists Club?[/quote]
Pardon?


I'll get me coat

This thread has revealed a disturbingly high level of OCD among the bass-playing community

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='307701' date='Oct 16 2008, 10:32 AM']I've never changed a bass string.[/quote]
Just like rappers wearing a fresh pair of trainers each day, I just sell the bass when the string needs changing

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='307591' date='Oct 16 2008, 08:43 AM']I get a string cut it down put it on the bass then tune it.

Am I the only one who doesn't measure or count?[/quote]
No, I don't measure or count ... or cut it down either!

My basses generally have 2cm thick balls of red fluff (TI Flats have red endings) around the string posts!

[quote name='Protium' post='307441' date='Oct 15 2008, 10:31 PM']I have to have 3 winds of string on each peg :wacko:[/quote]
The Bass Day ad has 8 winds - you can never be too sure (or too lazy)

Blimey Nick, you're right about the sunburst - looks as good as a double-the-price Sadowsky NYC Ultra-vintage and much nicer than the sunburst on my US P bass

Good luck with the sale

Glad to see I'm not the only lazy sod who can't be @rsed to cut strings to size when putting them on a bass!

Sold Sean a Sansamp PBDDI. Despite not knowing me from Adam he arranged a bank transfer with no questions asked. Top guy to do business with!

Cheers Clarky

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='306357' date='Oct 14 2008, 04:10 PM']This has been sat in my rack for a week and a half nice to see Dave keeping his website up to date [/quote]
Well you got a bargain and a half there!

Bet there's a Forumite somewhere interested in this (comes highly recommended by Cetera, me and others)

[url="http://www.electromusic.co.uk/product.php?productid=18673&cat=820&page=1"]http://www.electromusic.co.uk/product.php?...=820&page=1[/url]

[quote name='Raggy' post='305370' date='Oct 13 2008, 12:03 PM']A rough camera phone pic of my new bass. Will post some better quality ones soon.

[attachment=14716:70__s_P_Bass.JPG][/quote]
I bet you will love the neck (its more like a Jazz profile than a P*)

Edit: * of course you already know this as you have the bass. Doh

[quote name='markdavid' post='304519' date='Oct 11 2008, 06:53 PM']Hi,

Ive got real bad gas at the moment for a Thunderbird, however theres no way that I can afford a grand for a Gibson Thunderbird , Ive been considering the Epiphone Thunderbird but am wondering whether I could do better with what I have available to spend ( £400 budget ) , is there any other Thunderbird clones/copies around as I haven't seen any

btw it would be cool if it sounded kinda similar to a Thunderbird (Strong lows and low mids)[/quote]
Try this [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tokai-TB48-Thunderbird-Bass-Guitar-Vintage-Sunburst_W0QQitemZ250306057234QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250306057234&_trkparms=72%3A1298%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tokai-TB48-Thunderbi...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url]

Tokai are reknowned for being good quality (better than Epiphone) although I have not personally played this model

£279 + £15 for a gigbag

We did a hilarious gig in July at the Bullet Bar in Kentish Town with a varied set of bands - 2 x punk, 1 folksy acoustic dude, 1 grungey Neil Young-alike ... and a guy who had been in the X Factor!

About 20 years old, Johnny Starfinger (or similar) turned up with Mum, Dad and Grandad. Didn't talk to any other band. Did his slot to a backing tape, loads of swoopy ballads and fantastic line in cheese ("this goes out to all the laydeeez, yeah!") - the latter was especially funny as the audience mainly comprised the other bands and a few punks, almost all male.

Here's a surprise, disappeared straight after his set and didn't watch the rest of us.

Man we were upset. At least he didn't need to borrow my amp

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='303542' date='Oct 10 2008, 08:25 AM']"In what looks like young offspring enjoying a mixed playgroup session together, is in reality a harsh life lesson. The Impala fawn is serving as target practice for the cheetah cubs in a hunting lesson organized by their mother. The cubs eventually killed the fawn"

[/quote]
Cheetahs - always hated the bastards

[quote name='Waldo' post='303530' date='Oct 10 2008, 08:09 AM']Funny thing is, I'll be a few seconds later they'd just ripped the throat out of that antelope or whatever it is [/quote]
Cynic, I like to think that the baby antelope had been abandoned at birth and adopted by the cheetah family who named it something like 'Bonny', fed it milk, led it to green pastures and generally had a cool time on the veldt with it, scampering around and such like

WTF was in my coffee this morning?

Cool, cuter than a cute thing

Think I'll sing a jolly little ditty now

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='303517' date='Oct 10 2008, 07:44 AM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-STRAT-TYPE-BASS-GUITAR-WITH-STRAP-STRINGS-CASE_W0QQitemZ260298030573QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260298030573&_trkparms=72%3A1298|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FENDER-STRAT-TYPE-BA...id=p3286.c0.m14[/url]

Anyone wanna buy a strat type bass?[/quote]
Shame, I was hoping this was a feelgood piece with pictures of cute Cheetah cubs to cheer us all up on this grim Friday

excuse the pun but you really have got all the bases covered!

Nice rig - and Markbass are missing a trick by not giving the all-black option any more (too many people just hate the yellow)

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='303012' date='Oct 9 2008, 02:01 PM']"The bass comes in a suitcase bass."

Classic[/quote]
"I do not want to continue on an exclusive piece so to speak, each of such a fender acquire wants to know what is meant here."

Ever seen the Monty Python classic phoney-translation-book scene? "My hovercraft is full of eels"

[quote name='Shaggy' post='302005' date='Oct 8 2008, 11:17 AM']+1 on BWB, but a mirror guard is so cool .......[/quote]
Spooky, I just thought that and had saved the very same pic of Phil LYnott from google images to post on here

Are you me by any chance?