Dood

An endorsing artist no less, Truckstop! Congrats!

ha ha! It reminds me of my mate's 'DFA' control. He used to do monitor mixes for big bands on stage. Many an amateur band would 'gesture' him angrily to crank up the monitors or sort out their on stage tone problems - and indeed more often than not, on seeing him turn a control on the desk, it'd be thumbs up and a thank you. Which was funny as the control 'Does Feck All' - it, like the studio switch wasn't wired in!

Superb! Congratulations again! Look out for more competitions and news in the BassChat Blog!

I'm interested as I still very much love my Ampeg SVP-BSP. I don't use the 'Sheehan sound', which is very much to do with his basses too, but with my own set up, it sounds fantastic. I'd be very interested in a pedal sized unit and have seen the video already as well as a few other posting by Billy himself about the pedal. If it does the kinda drive I need, I can lose three other pedals on my board!

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1357294329' post='1920400'] Coo! Well waddaya know. If the Hummer doobry fails then I`ll have a look at these. Do they need pro expertise to fit? MM [/quote] The can base will either need to be attached to the socket base or around it - you may even have to have a different socket fitted if it is too big for the can base to fit over. The shell is then correctly attached to an earthing point so that it does what it is meant to. So, yup, someone who knows what they are doing

You will all need to keep an eye on the BassChat blog for an exciting post and competition! Any Paul Chambers fan will want to win the exciting prize we have on offer!

Mr Foxen beat me to it with the picture posting! They are, as the name suggests a little can that fits over the valve and is 'earthed'. It screens the valve from electronic interference (hum) that can sometimes be picked up.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1357236795' post='1919626'] Do the valves in them have screening cans? [/quote] None of mine did! - A good suggestion actually!

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1356094952' post='1906733'] according to Billy Sheehan, when you are stood up the bass should be in the same position on your body as when you are sat down practising. That way all your angles are the same and you are not changing position. [/quote] I also teach the same for that reason. I like to teach efficiency as well as getting across the importance of good posture. It makes tons of sense to have your bass in pretty much the same place if you are stood up or sat down. If you practice at home with your nose above the upper horn of the bass - then play gigs with the bass hanging around ya balls - then you're undoing all of that practice and exercise on your hands. As an example, I've never seen a drummer practice all his moves with a kit set out one way, then change it completely for a gig! It'd be a disaster for most.

I've had a few SVP's over the years. All of them arrived with stock valves. I noticed a great improvement when installing premium 'low noise' valves. The old black face SVP used to suffer a lot more than the 'hammerite grey' types - especially with poor valves installed.

Sign up to LickLibrary.com - it has to be the largest online resource of 'how to' videos, articles and DVDs to purchase from practically every genre. The tutors are all top UK professional guitarists too.

If you can find an optical compressor with an attack control that has a real late bloom to the sound, you can mimic some of the dynamics of the fretless 'sound'. By softening the attack so much that the bite disappears, you get a slight double bass effect. I'd mix that with favouring the bridge pickup for the nasal mids whilst boosting low mids on my EQ. Finally, think about how a fretless bass sounds and try to mimic that. for example, with plenty of slow half bends up to notes as the compressor releases. Go for the 'Pino' effect with a boss chorus and Octave, you'll be well on the way to disguising your bass tone!

The Hartke is a cracking head fr use as just a power amp, but lightweight around 800W i reckon you'll get suggestions that include the GK MB800 (fusion or non-fusion) MarkBass LM800 or LM800 Tube as well as Genz Benz's Streamliner or Shuttle heads. The TC RH750 might have too much on board if you want to keep it simple. Some would suggest getting a ToneHammer head instead though!

I had a series 1 (or maybe 2) BBE sonic maximiser and also happened upon the schematic diagram and service manual for it. Interestingly, it appears in that model most of the processing happened way up in the upper mids and treble frequencies that were lost on anyone who wasn't using a decent mid range/ tweeter in their gear. The low process knob was actually just a bass boost (as you'd find on any amp) centred at 50Hz. I only used mine as a 'post preamp, post effects loop' EQ and thus became redundant when I got a decent amp. I can't comment on the newer units and whether or not they have been improved, but I don't think the older models really make a noticeable difference, other than EQ on anything other than a decent full range system.

Oooh really Pete? The editor doesn't work via USB? Eeek! I like the USB connectivity of the B3 as I back up presets with DAW projects whilst the B3 is being used as an interface. I mean, it's no biggy - but I don't have MIDI connectivity on my laptop.

Ahhhh! I am a huge fan of a 16/16.5mm string spacing on my 6 and 7 string basses. I had a pair of Tobias 6ers that both had a 16mm spacing - I appreciate you are looking for a 5 though. I can't comment on the 5 string versions I am afraid. I had a Conklin bass too that had a 16mm spacing. Once again, not being very helpful - that was a 7 string! ha! I still keep to 16mm for my Shuker basses, but just recently I am getting rather excited about my newest 6 string, a Gerald Veasley signature 6 string bass that has a 14mm spacing! - It is AWESOME for a bit of shred! Very easy to take on you lead guitarist to knock them down a peg or two! Funds allowing, Shuker will be building a custom 6 with the same spacing for me!

[quote name='steve' timestamp='1355868028' post='1903941'] I'm quite interested in one of these, but I'm wondering how it compares to the B3, anyone done a comparison? [/quote] Would also like to hear this. I love my B3!