Osiris

I briefly had the Battalion but soon moved it on. The clean channel with its 4 band EQ is great, more versatile than the Fender in that regard, but to be honest that was the only thing I liked about it. The drive section was fizzy and no matter what I did with it it never sounded like anything other than a cheap and nasty distortion pedal. There's some great sounding demos of the drive online but I couldn't get it to sound anything like those, it just sounded cheap, for want of a better description. The compressor was very dark and took away a lot of high end, so it worked best with the drive section, but it was too dark to be of use with the clean channel. Obviously it's down to personal taste but I much prefer the Fender, IMO it sounds much more grown up.

I'll have some too, please.

Honestly guys you can't go wrong with it, it's simple to use and sounds great. And on a gig I'd happily use the compressor too, it does the job, it's really not bad a compressor and if it means not having to mess around with another pedal then so much the better.

Another satisfied customer

Michael bought a gig bag from me, prompt payment and no hassle.

I've got one and like it a lot. I've not yet gigged it as I use a Stomp with either in ears or backline but I'd have no problem using on a gig and I can't see how it wouldn't cut it live. I don't do any home recording so I can't help you out there either! But having used it a lot at home I'm happy to share my thoughts on it. For the money you get a lot of useful and usable features especially when compared to some other bass pre-amp pedals. The EQ is simple but very effective and will dial in petty much any sound you're likely to need. The centre frequencies don't seem to be stated anywhere but they feel like they're in about the right place, the bass EQ control is a little low for my tastes but I play short scales exclusively these days so the inherent short scale tubbiness could be part of the issue here, although I only use it for cutting rather than boosting as that helps to add clarity with a shorty. The mid control has a wide sweep and goes from scooped slappiness to a nasal grunt. The treble control is pretty much where I want it for adding clarity without getting brittle and even rolled right back it still leaves the tone with a usable amount of definition. The compressor feels like it's an optical design although this isn't explicitly stated anywhere. I'm not really a fan of optical compressors but it works well although it's not always quick enough (there's no Attack control) to catch big spikes, this could be an issue if you slap but it works well enough with finger and plectrum styles. It also has a clean blend for dialling in some parallel compression. The threshold control seems to have a limited usable range, essentially only really usable below around 9 o'clock with passive basses, I suspect a hot bass could be problematic. There's a single LED meter but you can feel the compression kicking in before the LED lights up so it's kind of redundant. It's not my favourite compressor but it does the job. The drive section is very good, IMO. It's more of a warm and rounded drive so if you're looking for a Tech 21/DarkGlass scooped clank look elsewhere. It seems to have an inherent mid boost (think Tube Screamer style drive) and a fixed clean blend, both of which work really well when playing along to backing tracks. At low gain it does a good 'hint of breaking up' sound and when pushed it gives a pleasing smooth distortion, neither fizzy or bloated. There's a toggle switch to change the position of the drive and compressor, I personally like to use to comp before the drive so that it can be kicked in for a gain boost. But using comp after drive gives a more controlled tone. The pedal itself is reassuringly heavy and feels well made and pretty much bomb proof with solid feeling footswitches. I'm not overly enamoured with the anaemic pi55y yellow finish, the white lettering will make it a nightmare to read on a dark stage but the blue LED's in each control will help you see where things are set in the dark, but due the pedals colour scheme you'll need to memorise which control does what if you want to change things on the fly on a gig. In summary, I think the colour scheme is a questionable design choice, black lettering would have made more sense than white, IMO. But blue LED's are cool, they just are. The compressor is good but not great and the pedal itself feels solid and has excellent EQ and drive sections.

I've been playing bass since the mid 80's and have had many books over the years but the one that I highly recommend for a beginner as well as more experienced players is 'Bass guitar for Dummies'. Someone bought me a copy years ago as a novelty Christmas present but it's still a book that I occasionally refer to. It's written in a simple, straight forward way and explains things clearly without blinding you with science. My version also came with a CD but I guess the latest version will have online audio. If you can ignore the Americanisms and bland humour it's a great tuition book that starts with the basics and goes through to more advanced concepts. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bass-Guitar-Dummies-Patrick-Pfeiffer-ebook/dp/B00H7JE36O/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bass+guitar+for+dummies&qid=1594537893&s=books&sr=1-1

@GrahamNN3 I have an Olympic white PJ Mustang with a Pao Ferro fretboard that I wouldn't mind swapping out to a maple neck. PM me if you want to discuss the possibility of swapping necks. Thanks.

I thought you might.

That quite literally makes my eyes hurt. 🤢🤮

Sorry, someone beat you to it!

I had a couple of stickers on a cheapy bass when I was a young, angry teen but it's not something I'd do these days, at least not just some random sticker. Having said that, over on the Short scale appreciation thread, @Dosi Y'Anarchy has put a very cool looking racing stripe on his Talman to match his Mustang. Having both a Talman and a couple of Mustangs myself I'm quite tempted to give one of them a Brazilian.

Love the racing stripe on the Talman. I've got a black short scale Talman and wouldn't mind copying you idea, how did you apply the stripes?

Woah, what a coincidence, I was just about to mention Pride by U2 but for another lyrical gem One man cum on a barbed wire fence... Now, I can't vouch for Bono's integrity here, he may well have done so in which case it's a factually correct statement. But it still begs the question why?

Sorry Skinnybabes, I'll stop flirting with you in public if it makes you squirm.

Mildred my dear, or may I call you Skinnybabes? Anyway, I see you've listed your Magellan (you'll regret that) and are now DI'ing into the PA. I'm going to suggest that you bin the idea of a 5 string altogether and get something like a Helix Stomp instead. Not only will you have a ton of amp and cab models for DI'ing straight into the PA but there's a number of options in there such as the Simple Pitch block that does a very convincing pitch shifting for lower (or upper if that's your thing) tunings. I was using a Stomp with the last band who were on IEM's and used the Simple Pitch for anything lower than an E, it worked a treat and nobody noticed that I was cheating, not even the keys player who was very picky about things sounding right. The Stomp will work out much cheaper than a decent 5 string, will allow you to continue to use your current basses and will also give you a tuner, compressor, HPF and a shed load of other toys in one box. More importantly it has lots of bright coloured LED's on it.

I've no doubt it's a sublime bass, perfectly made and a joy to behold but you've got to admit, with that colour scheme it does kind of look like the morning after

Please don't post a picture of it otherwise I'll report you to err... you, I guess?

Boring basses for me tonally tend to be expensive active basses. Yes they are very versatile with their on board pre-amps but most active basses sound sterile and a bit soulless to me, they often lack the character of a good passive instrument. I'll take one or 2 great sounds over a million mediocre ones. In terms of aesthetics, it's the drab and dreary sunburst monstrosities that bore me. And tort scratch plates, I don't understand why anyone thinks they look good, but each to their own. Needless to say for me, a turdburst and tort combination is about the least attractive finish on any bass whatever brand and regardless of cost.

I've just measured up from the strap pin on the top horn to the nut on my Mustang and it's 38 cm, so I reckon it should in the case if the neck support s 38 cm. But Mr @Thunderbird says he has one and he lives just down the road from me so I might just invite myself around when we're allowed to mix freely again to see if my Mustang will fit in his case

Has anyone tried one of these G4M cases (either the rectangular one or the shaped one) with a short scale bass? I'm looking for a cheap and cheerful hard foam case for my Mustang but my concern is that the central neck support channel could be too long for a shorter neck. Has anyone used one of these with a Mustang or other 30" scale bass? Did it fit?

And people who want a cab that looks like a filing cabinet.

Up for grabs is a brand new Fender padded gig bag for bass. This came with a new bass but I prefer to use my semi-rigid case instead. The bag is new and unused other than being shipped to me with a bass inside. There's no rips, tears or frays and the zips are all working as they should. Comes with a removable shoulder strap. Looking for £20 plus postage within the UK, please.

Just received a wireless transmitter pouch thingy from Nick. Everything went well with the transaction and Nick is a good guy to deal with.

As has already been mentioned, you cannot go wrong with the Ibanez Mikro, it's 28 and a half inch scale makes it just slightly larger than a regular 6 string guitar. *Shameless sale plug*, but I have one for sale which I bought with the intention of teaching my son but unfortunately, he wasn't interested in playing. Drop me a line if you're tempted