Greg Edwards69

I believe so, yes. I have an Indonesian 50s P that is excellent (although it might be up for sale soon - as much as I wanted one, it doesn't "fit" me as well as I hoped it would). I believe some Chinese squiers are just as good, if not better in some regard. Some people are even saying Squiers are now so good, that in some cases they are better than more expensive MIM Fenders, and that Fender should drop the name and call them "Fender M.I.F.E." - Made in the Far East.

Struggling to find a decent picure of my current No.1. This one will have to do. It's a G&L Tribute JB2. Maple and block fretboard and sunburst finish. I'd been watching it for a while It came up in a Black Friday sale a couple of years ago for £299, down from £399, so I had to. My Yamaha Attitude LTD2 had been my main player for ages until I threw my back out after the first gig out of lockdown. So I decided I needed a lighter-weight, inexpensive, main-gigging bass. Even though I bought quite a lightweight Squier 50s as a backup at the start of lockdown, my band's repertoire had diversified enough that I also needed something more versatile. I've had aspirations for a 70's style "black and blocks" jazzes with maple fretboards, black block inlays and black bodies and had previously had half an eye on those black and blocks Harley Benton 70s jazzes, as well as looking at Sire but I wasn't keen on going back to active. In the meantime, I had replaced the tunes on the Attitude with hipshot Ultralites (3x licenced, and a D-tuner ) which helped a little, and resigned myself to not being able to find a proper black and blocks jazz that was the right price and lightweight, until this cropped up on a lightweight basses round-up article on Bass Direct's website. It ain't black and I've never been one for sunburst, but something about it really appealed to me, and the article mentioned they were a little over 8lbs. It also had a P bass-sized body and a chunkier than usual shaped neck for a jazz, which suits me fine. So I thought about it, thought about it some more and decided to wait for Black Friday, and I clicked "buy". (Sure it wasn't expensive to start with, but what with my wife being off work at the time with COVID-related health issues, we had to be a little more careful with money). It's a great playing bass. Lighter than the Attitude, balances well and has a good range of tones with the stock pickups. I had to work on the setup as the E string slot in the nut was cut too deep - nothing baking powder and super glue couldn't fix. I do need to get it re-wired, as there's a bit of bleed on one of the volume pots (rolled completely off, there's still a little sound coming through), so I'll get this done in the new year when gigs are more sparse (I am the kind of person who needs to give the authorities not less than a month’s notice before picking up a soldering iron). And I'll likely replace the tuners with Ultralites and D-tuner soon. I really enjoy playing this one for most of the gigs we're currently doing. Inexpensive basses have really come a long way. PS, excuse the shirt. It was a corporate summer festival and our band always wears black and red!

It says made in China on the back. Considering Jackson is owned by Fender, I would assume it's made in the same factory as the Chinese Squiers.

I've been toying with the idea of getting one as a "get me through the gig" backup to my Helix LT, and as a home practice device. But I'm waiting to see what the first proper firmware update brings as there's a couple of features I'd love to see added/improved (global eq, darkglass model and pitch-shifting). It's a real shame they didn't include Bluetooth as well, that would make it a perfect practice device IMHO.

How about one of the Warwick Gnome cabs to go with your head? The specs and price look great to me. Whether they sound great is another matter, but they could do the job for just occasional use.

I was completely unaware of that pedal. Thanks. If there's one effect I wish the Helix had, it would be the 1176 compressor. It's got a great LA2A model, but really needs the 1176 to pair with it. Actually, what I would really want to see, is a model of the Origin Effect Cali76 Compact Bass, as this has a hpf sidechain feature that would be incredibly helpful.

I kinda agree with that sentiment. As as said, it's an unexpected release, and previous releases have been similar and not quite what I thought they could/should be. The Stomp XL for example could have been so much more. I get why they developed them, but I think they could do better by engaging more users on forums and social media. It's also £50 cheaper than a Darkglass B7K, and the emulation of that pedal is excellent. Come to think of it, that (and the sansamp BDDI model) could make it a viable direct to FOH backup rig solution, as the output can be set to line level too.

That's fair enough. It's all subjective anyway, depending on one's needs. For me, I had two MS60B's on my board at one point (one for each pickup of my Attitude bass), and I bought the M5 specifically for one effect - the Attack synth - which works brilliantly for Muse's Time Is Running Out. I could never get that type of 'flat' synth sound out of the Zoom - they always had that squelchy filter, and it didn't track that well. Perversely, synths were the weak point of the helix for some time before that added the legacy effects from the FM4 last year - it still ain't perfect, but I can get more or less any synth tone I need now. The drives and amp modelling are in a different league from the MS60B IMHO, and the plethora of eq options is worth the admission price alone - I'll never fear dodgy acoustics again. Oh and the pitch shifting on the MS60B is dreadful - the Helix tracks right down to my open E string with ease. Don't get me wrong, the MS60B is great, and I wish I had kept one as a backup device. But for me, the way I use it and the sounds I want to create, the Helix algorithms sound much better IMHO. I do think it's an unexpected release. It's almost as if Line 6 has created their version of the Eventide H9, after Eventide's H90 was released as their version of the HX Stomp. But I'm sure Line 6's research would have found a number of reasons to create such a product. I doubt they would have released it if it was destined to fail. It's clearly not aimed at most of existing multi-effects users like us.

Having owned the M5, MS60B and now a Helix LT, I think yes, it is £150 better than the zoom.

I see there's a new HX product on the loose: Line 6 Pedals | HX One - Peach Guitars In essence, it appears to be a revolution of the old M5 pedal - small form factor and one effect at a time. Ideal for people who use stompboxes but also want to keep their pedal board trim and consolidate "occasional use" pedals into a single pedal.

I freely admit, that I was tempted by the Mikro, but the Jackson just edged it for me. It's largely subjective TBH, but a couple of hardware differences also swayed me. The look definitely swayed me - I'm not a huge fan of the "sucked sweet" Ibanez body shape these days - and I say this as a former Warwick fan - although that weathered black model was very very tempting. Neither am I keen on reversed P pickups. And I love maple fretboards, purely an aesthetic choice. I was unaware that the latest Mikro has a new heel joint - that's quite interesting to hear - I do agree that top fret access on the Jackson is impaired. Thinking about it, my Squier 50s P is even worse in that regard! The neck on the Jackson is quite comfortable for me, almost a D shape with a bit of meat. I'm don't know what the Mikro neck is like. One would assume it's slimmer like most Ibanezes? I did watch several comparison videos and, for me, Jackson took the edge, and LowEnd Lobster's review convinced me it was the right choice for me. Yes, those Jackson pickups are pretty good. Easily matched the output of my G&L JB2, which surprised me. FWIW, Lobster's review also included a modded version with EMG Geezers that sounded incredible. All that said, a 5 string Mikro is also tempting me. PS. I got the official Jackson minion gigbag from Germany, rather than waiting a few weeks for one to become available over here. It's not great. Hardly any padding and is made out of that cheap rip-proof material that really cheap gigbags usually are. The bass only just fits - very snug fit. I reckon it's a third-party case embroidered with the Jackson logo. They have done that thing with guitar gigbags which annoys me no-end, in that the carrying handle is centred rather than offset, so it's unbalanced when you carry it. It'll do the job for the time being but I'll have to investigate and look for a better slim case for it. I also need to source some strings! Any suggestions?

It’s teeny tiny 28.6” scale and eminemtly playable. The Ibanez Mikro is the same scale, but upon research, it appears the Jackson just takes the edge.

Jackson JS1X Minion bass. Well, not quite today, but it arrived at in the office whilst I was on holiday, got it home on Friday and checked it over but didn’t get a chance to really play with it today. Set up this morning and band rehearsal this afternoon. I've been looking at lightweight 'hope-I-never-need-it" alternate backup bass options. It's become a pain dragging a spare full size bass to gigs that sits in a gigbag all night. Besides, I've also been instrigued by short scale basses and wanted to try something inexpensive. Even though I hope I never need it at a gig, I still wanted something I would enjoy playing at home, where I sometimes find my other basses unweildly to play whilst seated. After looking at various options I settled on getting the Minion. I’m a sucker for maple and black markers so I've been waiting for one of these to become available for months. I had a couple of email notifications setup and one came through from Mann’s Music on the first day of my holiday. Only one available and good price (£169). Tracking down the case was a little trickier, but found one from Musik Produktiv at a good price inc customs and shipping. Got both sent to work and collected on Friday What can I say. It’s so cute, and so much fun! Nice and light, almost too light to feel right. Dead easy to play - I thought the scale might cause problems with muscle memory but it didn’t at all, well not until I got up to the dusty end. Me and my band mates could not believe the sound that comes out of this thing. Seriously, this thing punches well above its weight. I might look a little toy like, but its certainly a most playable and giggable instrument.

Epic. That’s how last night’s gig was. We played our debut gig for the Cow & Telescope in Southend, one of the cities premier music venues for cover bands. So much so, you need to sort out dates about a year in advance. We’ve been trying on an off for some time to get in there so we were dead excited to finally get the opportunity. We brought a sizeable crowd of friends and family with us who along with the colourful regular were ready for a party from the get go. We were told that most bands on their debut at this pub usually pull 50 punters at most. Apparently we pulled in excess of 170 according to the doormen. Not far off some of the more established top tier bands on the circuit. Indeed, the buzz from the regulars was that we was just as good as those particular bands. The boss and staff were very happy and want us back next year. So yes, a great weekend!

Admittedly, this quote made be laugh inside. “We had it out on over 70 shows with Mötley Crüe, from the prototype all the way to the finished product; it worked perfectly for those guys and allowed them to perform on a higher level,” As much as I love the Crue, I'd hardly trust them as a barometer of performance excellence these days.

Wow. Starting at $ 4,499.00 https://jhaudio.com/iem/JHA-UIEM-RPB

Or gigs are cancelled because the new landlord threw out the bookings list and starts again with acts they know, not the bands who've been playing there regularly over the last several years. Or worse still, they get an agent to do it who only book the same few bands over and over again.

These are my sentiments too. Great hardware specs, nice form factor (I never use the expression pedal on my Helix LT anyway and would love to chop the end of the unit off!) and nice looking interface that doesn't rip off of the Helix, like some others do. Just a shame bassists have been left out of the fun apart from a couple of studio-style preamps. There is nothing bass-specific. Maybe it will come in time but I won't hold my breath. Fender isn't known for having guitar and bass models in the same unit - the digital rumble and Mustang lines are kept quite separate, and they haven't even created a bass version or added bass models to the Mustang micro headphone device. The new tonemaster frfr cabs look quite nice and are competitively priced. They'd make a great option for many guitarists regardless of which modelling platform they use. But again, not as useful to us bassists as they aren't quite full range enough - the bigger 1x12 is 70Hz – 20kHz (-3dB). I really hope the embrace us low noters with this new platform. It's a nicely featured package and a bass-specific fender branded powered cab could be a big seller, as there are not many frfr options for us bassists that aren't plastic PA enclosures.

Before I got my Helix, I used a TC Corona Mini specifically for the Duff toneprint. He has exactly the sort of bass chorus I like, and this pedal nails it. FWIW, I'm using the Ampeg Liquifier model on my Helix as my default chorus tone. Sounds great and the physical pedal it models is worth a look.

I ended up going to a local amp repairer (Electronic Music Services in Southend) when my old Mark Bass LMII developed a fault after a small drop. I had contacted Mark Bass first and their attitude was that it was a discontinued product so they wouldn't help and I should replace it with a new model. Even the local amp repairer had a job to source the parts needed. I get that it's not practical to hold a large inventory of spare parts for every model ever produced, but as markbass seems to discontinue products at a seemingly quicker rate than many of their rivals, I find it quite frustrating that Mark Bass advocates such a throwaway culture. The yellow company is not exactly "green".

I guess that would depend on the venue size and how much "drum in the room" sound there is. As my drummer said to me (ex-touring pro, grade 8, full-time drum teacher), on a big stage, the audience doesn't hear the actual drum kit, they only hear what's coming out of the PA. In smaller venues, an acoustic kit works better as people generally hear what's coming off the stage. Modelled amps are similar in some respects, but you get away with it in smaller venues because it's still a guitar sound coming out of a speaker, regardless if it's a real guitar/bass amp and cab of the PA.

Another visit to Canvey last night, Oyster Bay on the seafront. One guitarist down, but no problem for us to retool. We played well, and got a really nice sound. Unforutnately, we had to compete with another bar a couple of doors down that had a live band (a friend of our drummer) and an event at another pub a couple of doors away the other side. So started with a around 30-40 people and ended up with about 10 by the end of the night. I had a feeling it was going to be a paid rehearsal, so we just made the best of it, and stands us in good stead for next weekend’s gig at one of the premier music pubs in Southend that I’ve been trying to get into for years. Really looking forward to that one!

This is one reason why I miss The Bass Centre, when they had an actual bricks and mortar shop (not to mention the dire lack of bass/guitar shops these days due to internet, but that's another conversation). I bought my first 'good bass and amp from them around 23 years ago IIRC. A Warwick 5 string Thumb and Warwick 1x15 CCL combo. I went to their Wapping shop with my dad and brother to try things out, but I was 90% sure I knew what I wanted. They didn't have the exact configurations of either bass or amp but had other models to try which confirmed my choice was correct. They literally said "try anything you like, just take them off the racks". I've never known of any other shop that let you do that. Any way, I ordered the bass and an amp and went back a few weeks later with my mum and dad to collect. Upon arrival, they recognised me, and told me they ordered two of the basses so I could choose the best one, and had the amp set up ready for me. Then asked if we'd like tea or coffee, and offered some biscuits too. Proper customer service that resulted in my going back a couple of years later to get a fretless Warwick Corvette, to which they replaced the passive pickups with active ones when I said I wasn't happy with them... free of charge.

Interesting. I also realise that the barefaced 10CR series is voiced differently to their 12XN series - vintage as opposed to frfr. I'm inclined to think the new ampeg cabs fall into the vintage voiced category. TBH though, if was in a place to pony up considerable money for a cab, then it would probably be a GR Bass one!

I have to say, the specs of the cabs look pretty decent. I'm pleasantly surprised at the usable frequency range of the 1x12 and 2x10. I wonder how neutral/flat they are and if they'd make for a decent frfr modeller platform?