NancyJohnson

Loaded question on the Tonepump. Anyone adjusted theirs down? Odd one, maybe my ears are changing, but I've been happy with the Euro-X for the last year or so, just put some new strings on (Elixir Nanowebs) and it sounds quite harsh. Never really experienced such a tone change. Took a look in the control cavity, rolled the Tonepump right back and reintroduced it a little. All good. Was really surprised at how hot it was when ramped up to full. Just nasty.

This. Wonderful stuff. Arrived today. It was a RSD release a few years ago, CD came out in Japan.

I'd not really given the TC Electronic BAM200 a single thought until earlier. Understandably, I really don't want to keep chucking money at these things; I just want something titchy.

Just an update on the Harley Benton. Spent a bit of time on it yesterday, I have some studio stuff upcoming and give my recent bout of sickness (see elsewhere), I've not played much. Used it for about an hour, fairly loud, plugging in various devices, started to get some farty overtones/weird distortion; wondered whether it might be the cabs (nope)...it just doesn't seem to like a hot input. Went back to the Darkglass and it was fine. I realise the AO900 is undoubtedly going to be more robust, but in conclusion, I guess it's fine for short-term playing, but not for longer sessions.

We went with 3m x 2m. I'd have gone bigger, or more to the point wider, different aspect ratio, maybe 4m x 2m. It was a very thin nylon material, ring-holes in the corners. It folds up to something about the size of a box of muesli.

The idea of putting a capo on the first and going to whatever fret is simply just a way of having a straight bit of something to see which what the neck is bowing. If you watch some of Ted's stuff, you'll see a similar measurement, but he'll also measure string height/action at the 12th fret; he'll adjust the truss rod and then remeasure, tweaking individual bridge saddles.. Ultimately set ups are a very personal thing; I favour a low/rattly action - this just adds a certain characteristic to what the pickups output. (Big Crewdson fan here. Happy to report we've got the entire published works. If you get the chance, watch the Brief Encounters documentary on how he captured the shot.)

What you're trying to do is determine the neck relief, straightness, front/back bow. These factors alone are just part of the overall setup process (along with fret levelling/bridge adjustment etc.). I would honestly take any recommendations from Fender's site with generous pinch of salt; even in these days of CAD design and machine production, there's still way too many variables in woods/hardware. If I can offer a bit of sage advice, delve into a couple of You Tube channels; https://youtube.com/@davesworldoffunstuff?si=RAgkdoZcedKyvx08 https://youtube.com/@twoodfrd?si=chpdAfMoK1FhUKXi Dave's World of Fun Stuff and Ted Woodford Instruments offer a lot of advice, albeit their delivery couldn't be any more different. You'll find a wealth of information about setups/repairs on both.

Just on the OP, if I were on the market for another bass/guitar, going somewhere like Andertons or guitarguitar would just offer a) some surety that the product is genuinely what it purports to be, and b) if you're going for something with a highly figured top/finish, you may have the option to select the instrument you actually want. If I was buying production line stuff, backline/stomps, I generally do my diligence and would just find the cheapest price online (ultimately Thomann).

Read through the post. This seems to be the main point. i) You quit. ii) As a consequence, while they claim 'no hard feelings', they don't want you there. So it's over. iii) You won't let them bring in a replacement and allow him to use gear you've contributed to monetarily. The key point is #3. You won't let them bring a replacement in and use gear you part own. Hmm. Well, good luck with that. Realistically, what are you going to do? Jump on the stage where they're playing with a placard saying you own <insert percentage here> of their live gear and the show needs to be stopped? Quitting a band hurts, I know it does, you've worked hard and someone else is now going to reap glory from your work. To resolve this, from the outset, work out what you've spent and depreciate it accordingly, agree on a figure (go in high, which will allow you to take a drop in return) and give them your bank details in the initial contact email/text. Leave it to them to continue gigging and let the old guys pay you back.

My wife snoring. It's a thing of joy.

Stupidchief. Acoustic Couch, The Bracknell 12/7/24 These guys are mental.

Paul Rutherford (vocals), Mark Toole (bass) and Ped Gill (drums) were 60% of the original line up. Holly Johnson and Brian Nash (guitar) declined the invite. The guitarist who stepped in was Jed O'Toole who was the band's original guitarist. Fair play. I was suprised to read they did a few dates through 2005 with RM, there doesn't seem to be anything online - footage/audio. Shame.

This is quite superb. Ryan Molloy genuinely heir apparent to Holly Johnson; pity they couldn't get it together to do an album.

I didn't mind the overall look of the Dimension bass, although there was too much scratchplate going on. I'm not saying this thing is beautiful, but take the scratchplate off (in truth, it's unnecessary) and we're in Lakland/MusicMan territory here. Granted the bridge is slightly too big, but it's got a nice deep sunburst, two pickups (winner, winner), rosewood/whatever board. Even though I'd never consider buying one, it's way more attractive than a J or P:

Just thinking about this one and the TZ model earlier in the thread. Fender could have gone out on a limb a produced something genuinely radical here; there's certainly no reason why they couldn't have tweaked the body shape away from the Jazz shape and done a 3-aside headstock, but like Gibson, they're inherently lazy and it's probably simpler to just make the neck pocket and headstock bigger in CAD than to design something different. Likelihood being this'll be in production for 12-18 months and (like everything else different) be quietly withdrawn due to poor sales.

The fundamental issue with Fender is that they're too headstrong and they're stuck with a headstock design that doesn't look pretty with the incorporation of additional tuners. Other manufacturers don't seem to be too hindered/constricted by sticking to the same shape headstock across their ranges; off the top of my head, Ibanez. I love the Spector headstock. You could (possibly) put that on anything.

Headstock is a munter.

Cheque in the post, sir. I just remember after that one I had this intense pain behind my ears, only for one of the girls in the crowd asking for her Alice band with kitten-ears back. Oh, and then there was the sound guy going off and doing lines while we were playing. Jikes!

I've had this for a long time. It's in incredible shape for a 40 year old instrument. There's hardly any left globally (they didn't even have a model to photograph to include in the Hamer coffee-table book) and it's worth a small fortune (which is why it doesn't see much action). Tonally it's lovely - I've not had the pickups out (not want to/see any reason to), so I don't know what they are, but considering it was 100% original when I got it, I'm assuming they're early-80s DiMarzio units. Original hardware was chrome, have swapped out to the same units in black and have recently swapped the jack socket for a flat one made by a young chap locally. (Kept the originals.) Gigged it once - @Wolverinebass was at that one - I rehearsed with it a couple of times and it's been to a couple of SE Bass Bashes, but in general it spends most of its time in a case.

Cheap Trick (see what I did there?)

Watched about 20 minutes of coverage at around 7.00pm last night on BBC2 (I may wander onto iPlayer at some point today). It's like a three-day version of Later... with Jools Holland supplanted by hip young things (or as my mum would say, 'Boys in shorts'), making gravy by standing on a hill reading an autocue and waxing lyrical about how great past festivals were - it would be like me saying how great the Steve Hillage set was in 1979 - then telling us they're going cut back to Mwombi N'Dunga, a folk/apala crossover artist from Mali doing an acoustic set. Ack.

If I was playing there, I'd use my most obscure bass and get a t-shirt done.

We're old enough to just do it in our pants now. It's expected.

I haven't a clue who is playing (and deep in my heart, I really don't care), but decided to have a look at the bill. Christ on a bike. There appears to be hundreds, nay thousands, of artists playing. How on earth does one sort the wheat from the chaff? How does everyone get paid? I recognised maybe ten bands and gave up scrolling. My idea of Hell to be honest.

Given Warwick copied/used a NS/Spector design, you could probably consider this a Poor Man's Spector.