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There was a thread on here earlier this week that I nearly commented on regarding choice of wood for neck and fretboard etc. but I didn’t want to derail that discussion with something that might attract ‘opinions’ that were irrelevant to the point… Given the interesting comments in this thread on how the choice of wood affects the tone (or not), this might be a better place to ask my question? Which is: It is my perception that there are more rosewood/dark fretboard-ed basses than maple/light coloured ones in general. But is that really true, or am I being fooled because I usually look for a maple fretboard? And if it is true, why? Both maple and rosewood are offered by many manufacturers, so for whatever reason, there must be healthy demand for both. I’ve been playing long enough to know what I like, which is all I care about when it comes to ‘this one is better than that one’ arguments, but is there a cost or ease-of-manufacture thing going on here, or just market forces, or something else? I happen to like a maple fretboard, simply because I seem able to ‘navigate’ it better, especially in bad light, but when bass-shopping a lot of instruments that I might look at more closely get passed over because they have a RW board… which I know I’ll get tired of. And in relation to the OP – a lot of this video makes perfect sense to me too, especially the stuff like vintage isn’t always best, just because it’s old or from the golden era. There is plenty of junk out there from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, just like there is plenty of junk with the cellophane still on. The value of something new or old to any individual is subjective, but the prices are often ludicrous (imo)… Apologies for the long post btw...

It's well outside the price range, and therefore not the solution being looked for, but there is a guitar maker in Cambridge with a lightweight (6.5lb) Precision-esque model on his website - so it is possible to get a good sounding (sic) 34" scale length bass very close to the target weight - http://www.rees-electric-guitars.com/F-Light2016.html It looks like the body is small with the bridge right up by the rear strap button, but it isn't quite 'travel guitar' small and definitely not a toy. I do have one of those Anygig https://www.anygigguitar.com/model/anygig/anygig-agb.html basses which is ~3.5lbs but it's practically unusable. Having no bodywork at all presents all kinds of ergonomic problems, and the sound from the piezo pickup is (to me at least) unacceptable for anything beyond practicing at home.

I went to school with Guthrie - albeit a year or two below him. He was insanely talented as a youngster and seemingly has just kept on studying and getting better. He won a competition in Guitarist magazine as a teenager, and at some point afterwards was given a job there. Love his videos as well - a completely natural teacher.

My immediate reaction was ‘no’, but having gone back for a second look it is veering towards a ‘maybe’… which is strange, because for years I’ve preferred maple necks – or more correctly, maple fretboards. Maybe it’s because of how it goes with the body colour?

Good quality rack cases/sleeves etc. are always more than you think they are going to be - even shelves and blanking panels etc. seem pricey... I guess they don't do enough volume to be able to make them cheaper? To solve the problem on the cheap you could try and find a secondhand tolex covered 2u case, and use it without the lids, or maybe locate a beyond-repair amp already in a suitable sleeve that you could re-use (like a Trace Elliot) ? Other than that, recovering something like the fuzzy wotsits you've already seen is probably the only way to do it for less than £50... unless someone knows different, in which case I'd be grateful to hear about it as well!

Agree - you can't please everyone, but there was a lot in there and the style/production etc. were very watchable and informative. What little theory I do know has all been hard won, so I do watch videos like this in order to hopefully learn something... which I did! Good work I say :-)

I've always wanted to try one of these, just because, but £180 + courier from County Down is a bit steep for what is likely to be a curiosity - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Trace-Elliott-Bass-Bright-Box-Very-Rare/153513479686 Still, they don't come up very often any more and for Trace addicts with deeper pockets than me it might be worth a look...

Clip-on tuners are ok - although I've only tried one type: https://www.korg.com/uk/products/tuners/pitchcrow_g/ A few things I have found are that it is sensitive to where on the headstock you place it, and it doesn't work too well if there is a lot of noise (as in, I get a few moments rest mid-song but everyone else is playing, it can be hard to get a clear reading)... Lastly, compared to something in the signal chain it seems more sensitive to interference from sympathtic vibrations from other strings - so I find best results from positively muting all other strings, which you should probably do anyway, but I'm somehow more aware of it with that tuner. None of these stop me from using it though. Very useful for cramped venues or tuning before plugging in etc. I did a straight comparison with my pitchblack pedal when I forst got it, and would say it's equally as accurate but takes slightly longer to settle to a steady indication of sharp/flat/in tune. Battery life is long though, and it's never fallen/flown off. For what they cost I wouldn't be without one in my gig-bag! Just don't forget it's there when you put your bass away - our guitarist has managed break/lose a couple of them that way.

... noun: stage presence the ability to command the attention of a theatre audience by the impressiveness of one's manner or appearance. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monster-Warwick-Hellborg-Bass-Amp-Rig-Stadium-Size/323771309719 I'm sure it sounds like nothing else, but you might need some help shifting it!

Another Smooth Hound user here. It works for me, and I've never experienced any drop outs or interference. I don't think I've used a cable (on all but one bass that has a sloppy worn out socket) since getting it, even practicing at home. The iffy bass is OK if you wrap the cable around the strap button but obviously that isn't an option with the SH transmitter. I can understand why the Smooth Hound isn't for everybody, but the smallness and lightness are exactly why I like it.

I think those switches can be replaced with something similar/functional but not identical easily enough... I'm sure I read something about that on here? Like you mention, a two button footswitch wired to a stereo 1/4 jack plug can also change the settings if you need it to (I can't remember if you need latched or unlatched though). Looking at my collection of TE gear I could probably fully equip two heads with all buttons, slider caps and the little red and green convers for the preamp and output knobs... but the rest would then be naked... it's all good really considering the age of some of this kit - if I'm still around in 30-odd years time I wonder how much of today's gear will still be delivering the goods? Not that I'm running modern lightweight stuff down... I've got a class D micro head etc. as well.

What's going on here? That's against the rules... UV off < UV on... fact!

I've got the 250 version - never needed more yet! In fact I often use an AH150 for pub gigs it doesn't even break a sweat. I use very similar settings to the OP with a P-bass and it always makes me smile. I can't believe that no one has 3d printed a bunch of these slider caps yet - you could sell them at a profit and still undercut the import price.

If you had the cabs and a big enough room it would be fun to find out...

I'm fairly certain that there are 2 separate amps in there, each rated at 250 watts @ 4 ohms... so you could connect 4 cabs @ 8 ohms each. Bearing in mind that these are TE watts, you could probably demolish buildings with this - nice 🙂

I didn't know until I saw this post that you could get them as a separate unit: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/26162-trace-elliot-porn-thread/page/18/?tab=comments#comment-3681806 Now I want one, or two (at least) to go with my non-UV Trace heads.

From memory it was insulation tape, but I did spend a few minutes getting it tightly wrapped and neat, and then a bit longer getting just the right amount on there - there was probably only one wrap between a snug fit and not being able to push the ferrule in. I think it would only really be successful if the amount of diameter you are trying to make up is quite small - 1-2mm maybe. Any more and you might be more frustrated than triumphant, but I did get it to work well enough. There is no getting away from the fact that it’s a bodge though!

It's a total bodge, but I did once solve the same problem by doing the opposite... and making the ferrules bigger. I found that carefully wrapping them in a length of tape they became a snug fit in the hole, and only added a gram or two to each one in the prcess. It's not much of a solution, but it allowed me to check that the neck dive was reduced, and I did end up leaving them that way for a lot longer than originally intended with no ill effects.

Bought a midi controller from Dan - really good item, and it came packaged to survive the worst our postal system could throw at it. He kept in touch throughout the purchase as well - cheers fella!

So true - I 'learned' a bunch of songs for a cover band audition and exactly one of them worked straight out of the box. They had been slowly drifting towards their own way of playing some of their set for years. Got the gig though :-)

This might have been included here before, but quite a long time ago? Bit of a rarity I think - unusual pickups too: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1982-Gordon-Smith-Bass-Not-gigged-in-mint-condition/202056483895