xroads

I don't know your smart wife - BUT reading through the equipment list of the studio, I would take advantage of their mic-pre's both miced and direct!

I have a Jules Monique, which is a tube based preamp with DI. It really adds an amazing color and warm presence to the sound, which some like and others dislike...I love it.

I would leave it as is. A decent mix of direct signal and DI out will give an organic sound. If the engineer wants higher grade signals, he should use an uncolored good DI (which studios have anyway) and a Neve or API type preamp.

If you plug your bass into your amp and the effects send into the front end of another amp, you might create a ground loop. Apart from this, you cascade 2 eq sections, which can or cannot work. Just a question: do you use your DI out post- or pre-EQ? If pre-EQ, I don't see why you can't use just a good DI between bass or pedal board and amp, and send this signal to the PA. It should give the same results as your current setup.

Magellan 800 has been my to go amp for the last 18 months. you can hook it up to a 210 for coffee house gigs, and to a 412 in a rock band for large stages - it always delivers plenty of power and punch (and I am not a fan of many class D products out there due to lack of of punch...). The contour knob (with 2 different curves) makes the sound from vintage to modern, without even touching the EQ. The DI out is of high quality, and I dont even use my Radial standalone DIs any more....

It is my understanding that the Helix also has cab sims, and if you are not happy with the stock ones, you can load external cab sim IRs into the Helix. Which means that you dont need the torpedo for cab simulation. I am also wondering why yu would need a power amp sim for bass...a good bass power amp should be linear and fast.

If you have different relief on the treble and bass side of the neck, then the neck is warped. This cannot be fixed with a (single) trussrod. On the other hand, sometimes frets have gone bad, which is a different issue. I agree with the previous poster, a tech should have a look at the bass...

I think there is some misunderstanding in this thread - a DI basically transforms your signal impedance to symmetric line level for the desk. Using a tube DI will add some tube character to the symmetric output of the DI. It is not built to add this character to the through signal going to the amp. If you want to add some tube-warmth to your amp sound, you need a tube preamp, or some pedal that does this. Of course, this will also change the sound going to the desk, if you use a DI after the preamp.

[quote name='Jack' timestamp='1507636024' post='3386872'] I was following that thread all the way through and I still regret not getting one of those. [/quote] ...same here....

I think he also made/makes a tube preamp that is pretty good. Haven't seen it on the products page though.

[quote name='geoham' timestamp='1507128393' post='3383508'] It was this type of situation that prompted me to buy a Zoom B3. I was buying pedals to use in one song, and sometimes we'd drop the song! (For example I bought a chorus for Don't Stop Believing and it got old pretty quickly!) I know some folk just don't like multi effects, but think of this as three interchangeable stomp boxes and you'll do just fine! [/quote] ...not sure if the B3 is much cheaper than an MXR pedal, however, I support this idea. I have it and it gets used for envelope, chorus/flanger and synth type of effects. If you play in a cover band and need a multitude of sounds just for an occasional song here and there this is the way to go.

The Puma 900 was my main amp for a few years, from one 210 cab to 2 x 212 cabs it never let me down. It is a pretty clean amp, and the EQ is very user friendly, i.e. everything at noon gives a solid sound, and corrections to the room, band can be dialed in within seconds. I moved on to more colored amps when mainly playing Precisions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EILrxBwxqmk I like that one....

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1490197271' post='3263155'] r u sure I thought they were all 1 and 5/8ths [/quote] Mine is from 83 and certainely has a 1.75 inch nut width. In addition, the neck is pretty flat, similar to their vintage counterparts.

[quote name='Bridgehouse' timestamp='1490140043' post='3262659'] Yeah - been doing a bit of research and I might be out of luck. So I'm after a rosewood C Neck (that's width not profile, confusingly!) The C neck is 1.75" (44.5mm) at the nut and was standard on Precisions up to '73. From '73 the B Neck became standard - 1.625" (41.3mm) as it is mostly today. The reissues seem to have the period correct 1.75" but are typically Maple not Rosewood - unless you go Custom Shop. In fact, I saw a CS 50th Anniv. 1964 P for sale recently - sunburst as well, but it's far too many ££ for a knock-about rough gigging bass... Looks to be hard to find a RW board 1.75" neck on anything below say, £800. [/quote] My 83 JV Squier MIJ 62 Preci has a 1.75 neck. These can be had for around 800, and are great basses.

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1488973709' post='3253345'] Flipping heck there are some decent bits in there - might have a little dabble on a few things next week, time to clear the diary! [/quote] For sure - some price labels look attractive. The question is how high they go in the actual bidding process.

[quote name='Bridgehouse' timestamp='1488123282' post='3246037'] Cat. Pigeons. Lots of feathers. Played about 15 Jazz's today. Couple of old ones. A few 70s ones. A number of new ones and some alternates (Sandberg, Lakland etc..) Didn't like the thin neck on any of them. Sigh. Just didn't feel right. Played a '58 Precision briefly and a '64 Precision. Felt like home and they were both bloody beautiful to play. Ugh. Talk about a let down [/quote] How about a Degier Bebop? He might be able to put a P-type neck on the bass, and he makes great basses with a vintage vibe.

Sandberg does reverse Ps on their PJ models. They say that the combination PJ sounds much better with a reverse P.

Cheap is relative, but I recently bought a used Squier Affinity bass for around 150, and I am deeply impressed by the performance/price ratio.

I recently did that with a Squier fretless neck that had a rather soft fretboard. Just use epoxy that is suitable for boat repair, with the usual hardener. Level and sand the fretboard, then put tape everywhere on the neck you dont want the epoxy... lIt was actaully pretty easy, and the neck looks great now, and plays great.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1476246609' post='3152625'] Who cares if it's British? What exactly are we proud of? I have zero British pride apart from the fact we have a deeply bizarre sense of humour and we do have fantastic music. A lot of 'British made' gear isn't even made here! Shuker are one of the rare one offs. I'm currently in the USA and I heard one American couple (clearly affluent) explaining to their children that England was cold, dark, wet and depressing. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed . They said it was super expensive, and it is. [/quote] Now that was funny and sad at the same time! Back to the topic: currency fluctuations will impact the prices of gear. You just have to ride ahead of the wave in order to minimize losses. As example, I have bought a Sadowksy Metro direclty from Japan when the Yen was low, which saved me 30% (after import taxes)....