Painy

3 hours ago, Matt P said:

@Painy I really shouldn't be asking this but what is the string spacing at the bridge? I've already got a kala acoustic u-bass but a 5 string solid body is very tempting! 

 

Matt 

Well it's a single acoustic style bridge saddle so the rubber strings allow you to position adjust the steering spacing quote easily between about 15mm (on the left) and 18mm (on the right). It does seem to sit naturally in the middle at about 16.5mm though. 

3 minutes ago, owen said:

Thanks

Interesting

I am now mature enough to resist late night GAS, but a truss rod cover suggests it might make a candidate for a short scale metal strung bass and rout a pickup in there. 

It does indeed have a truss rod so could be a plan! 🤔😁

4 hours ago, owen said:

Looks cool. What was the damage?

It was £175 delivered but customs handling charge and Vat was another £21. 

New Bass Ukulele Day!!! 😎

For my birthday this year (which was actually the 2nd of January delivery from China combined with hold ups at customs has delayed this a bit) my lovely wife has generously bought me this wee beasty. 

It's a Musoo MiNi 5 string solid body electric bass ukulele that she purchased through Amazon. She actually ordered the bolt on version but they had run out of stock so the supplier offered a free upgrade to the neck through model (about £50 difference) - thank you very much!

I'm having a lot of fun with it so far. I even took it to work with me this morning to play in the car on my lunch break (with a headphone amp plugged into the car stereo). 

It's not without its flaws as you might expect from a budget, Chinese made instrument (the fret ends were literally like razor blades before I filed them down - five minutes of playing after I first unpacked it and my left hand was like raw hamburger 😣).

After sorting that though I'm actually very impressed. Lovely smooth satin finish on the neck, a comfortable profile and the intonation is surprisingly spot on too. 

It's very quiet acoustically (which is actually an advantage as it doesn't annoy my wife too much) but sounds really good plugged in and there's a decent range of tones to be had from the 3 band eq. 

On hold pending. 🙂

5 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

Valve power section perhaps?

I think a 600w valve power section might be a tad much to be fair. 😲

I suspect it's basically the EVO iii just made into the same format as the Geezer Head of Doom and the Shavo signature amps and possibly with a few tweeks. 

Perhaps @Ashdown Engineering can shed some more light though. 🙂

Just spotted this on Facebook. 

Up for sale a used 5 string set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats.

These have been cut to suit a 34"scale Fender with a 4+1 headstock. They've been on the bass for a few months and have been played in but were only used for a couple of songs at each gig so mostly just noodling at home.

These are great strings but as much as I like them, rounds are what's really needed for my band so somebody else might as well make use of them. 

Happy to post at buyers expense. 

I like my action extremely low (on my main p-bass, a. 88mm pick doesn't fall out from under the G string at the 12th fret). As much as I like the way the low action feels, I actually set it that low specifically for the tone (along with fresh steel Dunlop Superbrights) - bright, zingy, aggressive and gritty. I find it brings out that zing nicely but plucking too heavily can choke the note if you're not careful so you do have to be quite controlled with it. 

That said, my p-bass with flats is set with a much higher action (about 2.5mm ish though so still not too high) as I'm obviously aiming for a very different sound with that one. Too low and its all clicky clacky (and not necessarily in a nice Steve Harris kind of way either if the flats are well worn in).

Just received a Tri-Logic preamp pedal clone from Paul. 

Nice easy transaction with good coms throughout and a great little pedal. 

Thanks mate! 

Richard. 

I've always liked to have a main bass for the 95% of the set that I play with fingers and then a second bass with a longer strap as I find it more comfortable for the couple of songs that I'll play with a pick. Generally I've aimed for the second to have enough similarity to the main one that it also makes a good backup in the event of a broken string or some other failure. 

Notable pairings over the years have been:

A pair of Aria Pro II Magna Series (one in black and one in blue and the last 4 strings that I've ever owned). 

Yamaha TRB5-II and Yamaha RBX765A. 

Warwick Streamer Stage 1 and Warwick Corvette Standard Active. 

More recently though I decided to take a different approach of having 3 different basses to give me a choice of sounds and put together my 'holy trinity' of a P, a J and a Ray.

As much as I loved the idea in theory though, I just ended up using the P for almost everything, the J with a longer strap for use with a pick (but never really being satisfied with the sound because I actually wanted it to sound more like the P) and the Ray just sitting there looking pretty. After all that though I did at least establish that the Precision is my favourite bass that I've owned over the years so it has stayed. 

Just the last couple of weeks I've done a couple of trades and - for now at least 😉 - am as happy as I've ever been. I now have the tried and tested matching pair once again that has always worked for me in the past but also have also kept a third bass in the equation for something more modern and completely different. 

My main bass - Squier VM P5 with added chrome covers, Nordstrand NP5V pickup and Dan Armstrong Yellow Humper active circuit. 

My pick/backup bass - Squier VM P5 with Aguilar AG5P-60. 

My modem alternative - Ibanez SRMS805-DTW. 

34 minutes ago, Quilly said:

It would be a beast to courier 🤣 and would probably arrive in the UK sounding like a dropped thermos flask 😭

That's a good point. Probably best that you deliver it in person then really. 😉

1 hour ago, Quilly said:

Kinda scratching my head as to what to do with the ctm100 now 🤔?. The spyder kinda does what I wanted from the ctm100 with more headroom to drive smaller cabs and less hassle or maintenance. I can’t see myself ever selling the ctm either though, it’s too much of a rare beast and I think they’re only going to increase in value down the road. I do think the vintage barefaced 10” series cabs and the Ashdown valve heads are a perfect match.

If you don't know what to do with it but don't want to sell your CTM100 then you'd obviously be more than welcome to lend it to me and I can look after it for you. It honestly wouldn't be any trouble at all. 😁

I have no words. 😐

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F324008736773

16 hours ago, odysseus said:

"Jaco only needed 4"

With this picture underneath it. 😁

9 minutes ago, TJ Spicer said:

Right hand will help too and I don’t think this is being taken into account. Playing closer to the bridge will produce a little more Mid definition in that B. I’m an over the P pickup player most of the time, naturally moving back between the P and J when it’s something that requires a little more punch and a little less bloom. But I never naturally play over the bridge, which will contribute to me finding the P muddy on a low B, 34 scale, p pickup only.
 

You can make a P sound more Jaco if you play by the bridge. Same need be applied here imo! All about that technique for me! 

Good point.

Having played 5s exclusively (apart from a brief dalliance with a 6 a few years ago) for the last 20 years, my right hand technique has evolved so my hands now automatically drops about an inch towards the bridge when I'm plucking the B string. I worked on this mainly to counteract the floppier nature of a lot of B strings but it will obviously give a more defined sound too. 

I find the B is pretty good on my P5 - actually better than the B on the Fender Modern Player jazz (humbuckers with coil taps) that I have just parted with. 

Admittedly it does have a Nordstrand NP5V in it which from what has been said here might be a factor. However, the Jazz actually made way for another P5 which came with an Aguilar AG5P-60 and the B on that sounds just as clear as on my first one. 

9 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I think our worst one was a place in Cardiff, no parking so quick unload in street, then load in to venue up 3 full flights of external iron stairs. At a time when the singer had had heart surgery so was carrying even less than usual.

We'll be loading in up 4 full flights of external stairs on Friday. 🙄

On the plus side there is at least parking but my 58kg ABM610 will still be left at home for that one. 

I've already shared this elsewhere on here but it got some nice comments so I'll give it a go here. 

This is my band Rawkas paying our version of Hold the Line by Toto. 🙂

PM'd. 🙂

I'm lucky enough not to have to worry  too much about the weight of a bass right now - it would probably have to be about 12-13lbs plus before or bothered me even on a long gig. That could obviously all change in future. 

Anything under 8lbs just feels too insubstantial to me though. 

If you want to get a bit more break up then it's fine to crank the input gain right up and push the VU needle into the red but as everyone has said its more a bit of grit and extra harmonics than full blown distortion. 

33 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

I wish they would do a premium / prestige fan fret.

My wallet doesn't! 😕