Al Krow

...finally found a (pretty big!) use for the solo'd J pup Had a slightly weird week trying to work out why my BB 1025 wasn't cutting through at rehearsal on the low B string on the D and C notes on e.g. Uptown Funk, which we were doing for the first time yesterday. Ended up taking my Ibby to the gig last night and had comments from bandmates along the lines of the "your bass line sounded great on Uptown Funk" and "whatever pedal setting you were using to fill out the sound please continue". Obviously, not being bass players, they didn't notice what bass I had or even that there was no pedal board in sight! 😂 The only thing that had changed was the bass - I'd gone from PJ to a JJ (with different pups). Was wondering whether it was possibly down to old strings, but actually they don't sound 'dead' - just played in, or whether I'd got the amp on wrong active / passive switch setting, or was it simply down to the pup height at the low end. Investigated further today and checked out all the above. Turns out that the Yammy can sound just great on the low B notes and will cut through...using the solo'd bridge J pup. Never thought I'd find a situation where I was going to prefer the Yammy J over the P or PJ. Well I just have - it's now going to be my default on anything requiring a meaty full throat low B and E string, and I've gone from 😒 to 😊 in the course of the week. Kinda makes sense - the P is all about that 'P mid-bump' and P basses were all originally 4 string so perhaps inherently less focused on the low B string? The other key point for the J pup is if you ever need to thumb slap (e.g. on Uptown Funk!) you'll get speaker pop from the P or PJ, given that the thumb is coming down pretty close to the P pup, whereas I don't find that to be the case with the J. Two years in (okay I'm a slow learner) I'm still finding out great things about the versatility of this bass. Any of you guys also using the solo'd J in any of your numbers?

Thanks for that @AlphaK. Yup I'm sure @Jack's thoughts would be of interest to a bunch of us on this thread!

Not at all! Can't meaningfully report on performance yet...story so far is that I managed to get 10% off on an eBay promotion but when the cab arrived there was a slight scuff to one of the corners and no damage to the packaging, so clearly happened in store. The store managed to mislay my email to them reporting this to them and only responded (genuinely apologetically by phone) when I had escalated this with eBay which brought this to their attention. They then more than made good by offering me £50 worth of kit from the store by way of compensation and I've treated the band to a connecting pole between the sub and top as part of this. That's taken a few weeks to sort and the sub was left in the box in case it needed to be returned. So I've ended up with, in effect, a B stock RCF sub for £575, so I really can't complain. And at 39 lbs the weight is just about comfortable, so I'm not sure I would have managed the Alto. I'm only going to be bothering with the full set up with sub at function gigs where there is no in house PA i.e. not for pub gigs. Our first such outing is going to be NYE and a 21st birthday party later that week, so I can let you know we get on, with pleasure, following that.

Damn! I wasn't even aware that Chowny were making a gorgeous neck-through 5 string, until your post. I thought this thread was about avoiding 2020 purchases? But I can't now un-know that fact and they look awesome! 3 band EQ, active / passive options, Aguilar humbuckers. @Chownybass if you ever decide to make a 'deluxe' model in a more traditional 34" or 35" scale version with the ability to switch the humbuckers into single coil mode, for delivery of a more aggressive J bass tone when desired, please keep that a secret (certainly from the participants of this thread) until 2021...

Really delighted for you, buddy! Looking forward to your monthly columns with interest.

Oh my a programmable SY-1, with a superb feature set!! And from the reviews I've seen, this is very much aimed at both guitar and bass markets. @Woodinblack - you are costing me an absolute fortune this year! On the plus side you've just sorted my Xmas pressie out! (And my third attempt at Panda FI ownership may well now be short lived...) Edit: I may have spoken too soon, apparently you need special connectivity to get the most of this, rather than normal pickups, and a budget of more than £800 for one of these. Looks like my FI is going to survive to another day!

At least with your new effects box of tricks you won't be stomping around 😉

Great bass from a top BC'er! Real shame about having to let this go Harry, I know just how much you were blown over by the quality and tone of this bass. GLWTS

Ah good to know! If you have some spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, then I'd be delighted to introduce you to a pedal or two also currently feeling a bit spare on my board. (Obviously please check any purchases with your accountant, first - I just hope he knows his Paradriver from his back seat driver).

When I'm capable of laying down a Jamiroquai bass line fluently, I'll get back to you on this...probably about the same time as you get your Boss SY-1 pedal in 2021 and we can compare notes. 😁

Do I need effects? Nope, absolutely not. Bass --> amp & cab works absolutely fine. You really don't need anything in between (other than a tuner). Pedals don't make you a better bass player, but they can add delicious colour and variety to our sound and provide a heap of creative sonic fun.

Defn - from the krap-Krow book of bass, and trying to keep it relevant: A quality bass rig = one that a competent BCer on the Clapham pub circuit would consider to be something that he or she would be happy to use in a band mix for gigging. In my case (not making any particular assertions on my level of competency!) I could easily put together such a rig for a fraction of £6,000. I suspect most of us could.

Wasn't quite expecting this from Eric Burdon, it's quite a departure from the 1964 original version, but I think it's great and defo deserves an honorary mention on this thread!

Mistress? Lucky you! They are a very expensive hobby though (YMMV). I guess I'm starting to better understand the cost saving motivation for this thread! Anyway back to kettle leads for me...

Should that be a 'Master & Mistress List' to be compatible with Equal Opportunities?