Happy Jack

Some years ago @Silvia Bluejay and I did a tour of the Fodera workshop in Brooklyn. Silvie wrote it up afterwards, but I can't remember where it was published. They're lovely people, it's a very nice production facility, they make great basses. I had my choice of them all to noodle on for an uninterrupted hour, which I took full advantage of. I could have bought one had I really wanted it, but none of the ones I played made me think I couldn't live without it, which rather surprised me. I've had basses by Alleva Coppolo and especially by Mike Lull which were far more my cup of tea. My experience has always been that it's individual basses I fall for, rather than brand names or reputations. On that same New York trip I played a Warwick Jack Bruce Custom (and yes, that really did exist) which I confidently expected would be complete pants (I hate Warwicks), and it just blew me away. I also played a Fender Custom Shop Dusty Hill Precision which was just ludicrously overpriced at US$6000 or something, and Silvie had to pry it out of my hands and frogmarch me out of the shop. Don't you know you never can tell ...

Hmmmmmmmmm ... even with that nasty poly-peeling going on, I'm not convinced. Right now, it is what it is and always has been, a cheap Japanese copy that was and remains better than it has any right to be as a player's bass. And yes, I used to own a more-or-less identical bass. If you leave it alone and just play it, then that's what it will always be, plus it has FORTY YEARS of your life baked into it. Fiddle about with it just once and that's gone. Worse, any decent refin is almost certainly going to cost more than the bass is worth right now. From an investment POV (and I know that's not what this is about) you're talking money straight down the drain. If I was lucky enough to have owned an instrument for as long as that, I'd leave it untouched, take it to dodgy pub gigs and jam nights, and enjoy playing it and the memories that come with it. The refin money would go on something more useful.

Done. Mind you, I get a dodgy email from you @ped and all bets are off. 😂

Given that my two main keyboards are a Hammond and a Korg Kross, the DX is there to 'fill the gaps' in the range of voices supplied by the main two. With 32 carefully-chosed presets, I can do the full Rick Wakeman if I need to. Now all I need to do is learn to play keyboards. 🙄

I'm guessing you never discovered https://soundmondo.yamahasynth.com/ then? Most of the 32 presets / favourites that the Reface DX comes with are, I agree, complete pants. But then you crowd-source (through Soundmondo) what others have tweaked or programmed, and things move along really quite fast. At least half the sounds on my DX came (free) from Tom Ansink.

Only if it's a 4-string converted to a 5-string (i.e. one extra string squeezed into the existing size). With 'proper' 5-string Ricks being readily available, that's another reason not to buy a conversion jobbie.

Send it back immediately, demand a replacement. I've had two of these and they're (usually) bulletproof. If you have an electrical problem buried in there, you don't want to spend the rest of your ownership waiting for it to obey Sod's Law.

Yes yes yes, but what's that in hectares?

Luckily enough, running flat out for eight hours is not one of my requirements.

Yup, I have a Tonika hanging over my fireplace. Srsly.

Finest kind.

Well certainly NOT as a headphone amp! The PJB Bass Buddy has always been the category killer for that purpose. I long ago gave up worrying about the metrics quoted in adverts. Actual volume frequently bears very little resemblance to what the figures might predict, and the choice of cab is IMHO by far the most important factor. I have two potential uses: 1. For when I want to play in my woods up in the Chilterns. This turned out to be an unexpected Godsend during Covid, since my band could drive independently to the woods, then set up in a civically-responsible socially-distanced sort of way and keep rehearsing. I have alternative ways to achieve this, but they're pretty clunky. 2. For busking ... something I have never done in my life, but a guy I know does this purely for fun (with a Taylor, no less) and he's offered to take me along as his personal rhythm section. Would either of these justify splashing £349? Don't be bloody silly! 😂

Curse those efficient Germans! I am now dangerously close to buying one of these ...

The TE-110 is silly light, silly loud, and (as you'd expect) pairs seriously well with the Elf. Everything I need at most gigs. For louder gigs I also have the Trace 88. For trouser-flapping, I pair the TE-110 with the 88.

Online Chat with Thomann: Hello, you're talking to Ivan Chertov. How can I help? 4:45 PM How do you recharge the Pocket 50? 4:46 PM What do you mean by that? 4:46 PM Does the amplifier come with a charging unit? 4:46 PM You mean a power adapter Yes it's including a power supply. 4:47 PM So there is a separate power adaptor which I can plug into the mains, in order to recharge the on-board battery? And that's included in the price? 4:47 PM This is correct. 4:49 PM Excellent! Please note that your listing does NOT mention the power supply, nor is there a link to the appropriate manual. I suspect you will sell more of these if you amend the listing. 😉

Nowt wrong with the Digitech Drop and it's fine for use at live gigs, I had one on my board for several years without issues. Until I trod on the power cable and wrecked the socket. When I went to replace it, I found out that not only was it still really quite a large pedal but also that it now costs £125. So I bought https://www.gak.co.uk/en/mooer-audio-pitch-box-pitch-shifter-pedal/74483?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkMGcBhCSARIsAIW6d0BXTk15t1WoPXntFqXJ3g0HxUwKDN7BooljUbS0oTRNh1IGNWqAZMkaAoavEALw_wcB Half the price and triple the functionality. And it's much smaller. No-brainer (for me) really. It works every bit as well as the Digitech Drop.

Does it not come with one? That would be a mite cheeky, neh?

https://www.grbass.com/portfolio/pocket/ Really quite taken with this wee fella. Anyone seen one in the flesh / played through one / splashed the cash and bought one?

That looks like a very cute piece of kit.

No, and No.

Revived again since the question is again being asked.

It's not even John Hornby SEWES. 🙄

Where do you get all these great sound downloads from (especially for the DX)? https://soundmondo.yamahasynth.com/

The core of my stage rig for keyboards remains a Hammond SK61 with a Korg Kross above it. Between them, those two can deliver pretty much everything I need in both my 5-piece soul band and my 7-piece functions band ... in both of those I supply piano, organ, strings, brass and synth, plus occasional weird 5hit like banjo, accordion and mouth organ. BUT that's "everything I need" rather than "everything I want". Solution? The Yamaha Reface series. https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/yamaha-reface-series I suppose you could use these as your main stage keyboards but, assuming you already have a decent keyboard or two, there's really no need since you can control them remotely just to get access to the range of sounds. I have no need of the YC seeing as I have a genuine Hammond right there but I've now ended up buying the CS, the DX and the CP. For live use the CS is of quite limited use unless you really like fiddling with knobs and sliders in front of an audience (and your impatient band mates) so I have one 'universal' setting which works where I need it and I just vary the octave in which I use it. The DX is a whole nother thang. Essentially a much-easier-to-use version of the classic DX-7 this allows you to create / download / tweak / store up to 32 presets reachable at the tap of a button, and many of those presets are just breath-taking. It's a superb piece of kit and - unlike the other three - it has an on-board transpose function. The DX now forms the top tier of a 3-level keyboard rig. In another way, the CP is equally gob-smacking. No presets needed, since a rotary knob gives you instant access to a Fender Rhodes Mk.I, a Fender Rhodes Mk.II, a Wurlitzer, and a CP80. You want Stevie Wonder, Supertramp, Michael MacDonald? It's all right there. Don't like the mini-keys or the 37-key restriction? No worries, just slave it to a larger keyboard like the Korg Kross. All three of the Reface series that I now own are merely bolt-on goodies, but my, what goodies they are! I can't leave this without also mentioning the stage stands I now use: https://www.staymusicstands.com/products/supports-for-keyboards/ I would happily recommend these to any keyboard player. Very clever and sleek design, very portable.