NancyJohnson

I'll say this first off, I couldn't finish reading the original post; it's like when you're watching a film where there's a mad scientist with a blackboard covered in unfathomable calculations and he's screaming that in a few hours he'll work out how to time travel. While I'm sure the OP harbours a passion and an element of madness for his/her tone, I'll pass along something that I've learnt from my long and varied experience of bass playing in bands and studio sessions, it's that (read carefully); nobody except you cares what you sound like. Truth hurts, eh? Understand that all these boxes, these nuances, these dB tweaks that you're throwing in are going to be lost in a band context; if you want a gnarly but polite Jean-Jacques Burnel tone, just dump all the existing outboard gear and buy a Tech21 Sansamp BDDI, roll back the drive and plug it into the effects return on your amp.

Rickenbacker aside, everything sounds pretty much the same, or more to the point, I am able to dial my desired tone from any pickup configuration.

^^^ This.

A couple of days ago Rick Beato premiered Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone is his series of What Makes This Song... Despite my punk musical roots, Spotify tells me that this and Love Song by Sara Bereilles were my two most played songs of 2020. Go figure. This is a wonderful, wonderful song. Original: Rick Beato

It was Neephid (a member here) who renovated a Ripper. Send him a message! @neepheid.

If you haven't already done so, I'd shoot a message to @neepheid about the varitone; mine isn't fitted to a bass, it's on an Epiphone Phant-o-Matic guitar: You've not been specific about what the issue is, but maybe if it's a general fault with an existing one, rather than repair, just consider replacing it. They are available easily enough (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-position-VARITONE-switch-for-guitar-and-bass-Longer-Thread/254905423963?hash=item3b598c185b:g:v6AAAOSwH2VcBFiW).

Not used Rotosounds for years. I have D'Addarios on my Lull at the moment simply as they were in my box if stuff. Failing this, Elixir Nanowebs.

Opening myself up here, but with amp/speaker/cabinet advances you have a ton of options available to replace a 400w, 2x10 combo weighing 80lbs (80lbs!). Ask yourself what your budget is, how much power/headroom you need, size/weight/portability, what you want it to do (subjective, but what style if music do you play?), do you need a combo as opposed to a head/enclosure set up. ...answer these and you'll have dozens of members chipping in.

It's odd how things have gone for me cabinet wise...I started on a 1x18, went through a vareity of combos with extensions, I used to have this Laney set up of a 2x15 and 2x10, then onto this huge Trace Eliot driven tri-amp set up thing (two SWR cabinets and a bright-box), Ashdown MAGs, the Hartke endorsement (1x15/4x10), then I won Alex's Barefaced Big One Protoype (which is about a metre away from where I'm typing this). My home set-up is currently a Darkglass 1x12, which is nice and gnarly - I'm hoping they'll do a matching 1x15 this year, buy that would just be a vanity purchase. As time has gone one, I've become very much a one box solution type of player (OK, while the AO900 isn't doing it for me, the wattage on tap is hard to deny when I'm pushing the dUg through it). If the Boom Matrix had been around ten years ago, then I certainly would have given it some consideration; it does tick all the boxes.

@Wolverinebass and I had a lengthy chat with Alex at a Bash a few years ago; I'm sure he'd be bonkers enough to build a prototype. I've no idea how the internals would work... I'm assuming that the 2x10s would need to be in their own box inside the enclosure? It's a tiny cabinet.

If I were gigging and my back was in better shape, this would suit me down to the ground. All bases covered. Weightwise, it's 56lbs...considering my Darkglass 1x12 is 28lb, that doesn't seem too much. Put some wheels on it, job done.

Can't we just get past the names and claims? It's an interesting combination of speaker/horn content and irrespective of heat etc. it'll easily handle pretty much anything you squirt into it.

This morning I'm on a delicious playlist of Motion City Soundtrack and Justin Courtney-Pierre. For the unitiated, the first time I heard Motion City Soundtrack they reminded me of what The Police would sound like if they'd started now and added another guitar and some quirky keyboards. Since their (temporary) breakup, singer Justin Pierre has done a couple of solo things and fronted the quite wonderful Farewell Continental. I'll say this unquestionably, if you like these two tracks, you'll like everything. The second video below is worth a watch just to try and work out a) how they did it and b) how they got porn-actress Klio Valentin to do it.

She's not 'had a go'...

Interestingly, I was just looking for Cruisebasses on Reverb and this one was up for sale by a Russian store about eleven months ago. Certainly seen some miles...

Over the last few weeks, I've just been putting stuff away in cases as I'm not playing that much (recording all done), so I only have three out, two Lulls and the Hamer. The Hamer is the only bass I've really been picking up, probably because it's always plugged in. It's had a few tweaks, several small neck adjustments (which I don't think is fully there yet) and some deep cleaning. I put some Dunlop Straplocks on it, but the biggie was swapping out the stock DiMarzios for a PJ set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups. I also took that opportunity to insulate the control cavity with copper-tape. The DiMarzios were just a bit too shrill for me; the EMGs haven't stripped out the soul of the bass, just phattened and hotted things up somewhat, so highly recommended. I haven't recorded with it yet...we haven't got anything new to record and it arrived too late for the last sessions (the guy producing likes my five-string Lull tonally, so for now that's all I've been using really). From a living-with perspective, I'm very happy, yes. 95%. While subjective, it plays nicely, tonally it does what I want it to do through my gear. It's quite light, neck profile is comfortable. It's all good. If another first-generation one came up for the same kind of price, I think I'd consider pulling the trigger on it.

Yup...they had a front facing 12" with an angled 12" behind it that fired out of a port at the bottom.

I suppose those darn Yanks just go with the big numbers (I've also amended my initial post, it's a 2x10, not a 2x12), link here: https://www.boombasscabinets.com/products/bbc-matrix/ The wattages shown say, 'Power Handling: 2,200w, Program 1,100w' whatever that means. I do remember Alex from Barefaced saying that cabinets will take a bit more than their quoted output, so in real world usage examples, 1,100w or 2,200w. Potato/Potato. They also have a custom shop so you can customise finishes/grills.

I've always pushed outboard gear through the FX return since the days of BassPods and Ashdown MAG combos, so I'd never put the dUg through the front input. The prestage will always colour whatever you're pushging through it.

I'll profess that I'd never heard of this maker until today, although he seems to have been around for a while in the US. I was pretty intrigued in what the builder has done with his kit; the enclosure below is actuall a 2x12/1x15/horn w/attenuator; [edit: 2x10/1x15/horn, not 2x12] the front facia is angled slightly up and the 1x15 fires down...the cabinet is ported on three sides, allowing for air to escape front and sides. This has a power handling of 2.2kw.

I've had a fairly decent noodle on the AO900 over the last couple of days and it sounds pretty nice in isolation, but I was working on some new LS stuff and thought, well rather just try and record, I'll play along with the stuff that's been sent over, but it's been a real struggle. It's pretty easy to dial in a grindy tone, power/dirt, but the dUg just sounds so much better to my ears, so for now, I'm back to the dUg into the effects return. Come on @Tech21NYC give us a nice loud dUg (or Ged) in a VTBASS 500 size box. You know you can do it.

Nine Inch Nails. Got a mundane afternoon ahead; Pretty Hate Machine (remaster) up first, then I'll go Fragile/Deviations.

You paid £311 for that and you don't know what it is?

Distortion off?