Osiris

I've just received one of the new cheap and cheerful Harley Benton Mustang basses and am really pleased with it, first impressions are great. The only gripe is a couple of very minor rough fret edges on one edge of the fretboard, nothing serious but there none the less. When I've encountered this on a bass before I've simply taken one of those little sanding blocks to it and a minute or two later it's all sorted. But as the neck on the HB is bound, is this likely to affect the binding in any way? Is there a more scientific method for dealing with this issue on a bound neck? Just to be clear, this is to do with a couple of rough fret edges on the 'floor side' edge of the fretboard, not high frets that require levelling. Indeed the fretwork is otherwise flawless on this cheap and cheerful bass, pretty much like the rest of the instrument going by first impressions!

The Magellan preamp is an excellent, extremely versatile but really simple to use and virtually impossible to get a bad sound from. I say that as someone who has been using the amp since 2017 and have gigged and rehearsed with it numerous times with 3 different bands, and it has never failed to deliver an excellent sound. And I can't see how this pedal won't deliver the same flexibility and sound quality. Unfortunately it lacks the fantastic drive channel of the Magellan 800 which would have been the icing on the cake for me, it's arguably the most convincing valve emulation out there rather than a typical pedal style overdrive or distortion, but Genzler currently offer two different drive pedals and they have added an adjustable HPF instead which is a more than generous trade off. Most of my gigs are using IEM's these days and while I'm happy with my current preamp pedal I'm still tempted to pick one of these up at some point.

Me again, I've just received another quality cable from John and as before it was a great price with speedy delivery. I can highly recommend his cable making services to other Basschatters.

Lobster has just posted the first of his mod videos for the new Harley Benton PJ Mustang style bass, this mod allows you to solo the P pickup without needing to undertake any major surgery, just adding a new pot that a quick look online suggests will cost you around £15.

I have one of the diddy Broughton always on units and can't recommend it enough. No idea what the slope is and don't really care either because it works brilliantly but not too abruptly that it sounds unnatural. The always on version doesn't have the frequencies marked on the case like some of the other versions he makes but I run it between 25-35%~ish depending on the bass and room, and it really tightens up and focuses the lows.

I keep eyeing one up too, don't need one but I'm still tempted 😃

Yes, I'm sure I have read somewhere too (although I can't remember where) that it can be used as 2 independent compressors so you could have one at the start of the signal chain, then another at the end. I think that's pretty standard with these SA pedals in that you can configure 2 effects independently that can either be run in series or parallel.

Yes, the black is cool but I currently own 3 basses and they're all black so I fancy something different Not sure the shell pink is me, the baby blue looks like a cheap JMJ Mustang - which it is, and sunburst is hideous, IMO. So that leaves the BM or SFG, I'd be happy with either, or both if they're as good as I hope!

It's good to know you're (mostly) impressed, I can see one of the new HB shorties heading my way in the new year, either a burgundy mist one like yours or a sea foam green one

There doesn't look to be a huge amount of information online about these but the product page for them on the Ashdown website lists them as 34", shame as I'd love one in a 30" scale! https://ashdownmusic.com/products/the-saint

Is this an extract from the 2023 National Socialist manifesto?

Giving someone recommended settings for a compressor is always a tough one as there's so many variables such as how hard you play, the output of the bass, whether there's anything else going on in the signal chain, plus loads of other factors. But I'm happy to try to give you some pointers but these are generalisations and you'll need to fine tune them to optimise them for your set up. First up, the Enhancer control. I personally don't like it, it adds an artificial edge to the treble, scoops the mids, and adds a fair bit of hiss. I keep it off but if you like what it does then adjust to taste, but less is more with it, IMO. Volume, I set mine to unity so that it's the same volume whether on or off. I leave the pedal on all the time but don't want to overload anything further on by adding a volume boost. Ratio and Threshold are the tricky ones. For me and the way I play the optimum ratio setting is at around 10 to 11 o'clock~ish, this setting keeps the signal consistent, adds some weight to the overall tone but still allows plenty of dynamics. The Ratio controls how much the signal is compressed once it hits the threshold. I've no idea what the actual ratio is at these settings as it's not printed on the pedal but having used lots of comps over the years it feels like it's around 3:1 to 4:1~ish which is perfect for most bass applications. Threshold is the most difficult to get right as this sets the point at which the compression works on the signal. With the Threshold fully counter clockwise you at the lowest threshold which will squash everything you play. The more you turn the control clockwise the more the threshold is raised, meaning the hotter the signal needs to be to cross the threshold. In short, the minimum control position, 7 o'clock, is the threshold maxed out flattening everything, and the control fully open is the minimum/off setting. A good rule of thumb is adjust the threshold so that it catches the peaks but lets the 'normal' signal level through. There's no metering on the LMB so you need to do this by ear and that's something you have to get a feel for. Keep playing with it until you feel the sound tightening up but not getting overly squashed. For me this is around 3 o'clock~ish on my hottest bass, closer to 2 o'clock for my other basses. But the right setting for you is something you'll need to work for yourself, keep tweaking until you get there Hope this helps 👍

Thank you for your patronising and condescending post, as charming and adorable as it is. By way of response here's a little extra background information, although the reasonable part of my brain is telling me just to ignore you. More on that later. I've been playing bass and gigging for some 40 odd years, maybe 10 years or so before owning the Trace rig, which I bought new in the early 90's. Now while I don't consider myself an expert on anything bass related I have picked up a few things over the years, including the basics of how to use an EQ as well as what constitutes a workable, usable tone when playing with other musicians. Obviously I wouldn't have been so clued up on bass tone at the point of buying the rig and have vague recollections of being caught up in the hype at the time as it was the rig to been seen with. I have played through many different amps over the years from cheap and cheerful starter amps through to high end gear, and have been able to get a usable sound from just about all of them. Notice I say a usable sound, that's because I'm not trying to get 'my sound' because what sounds good when I'm noodling away at home doesn't necessarily translate to what sounds good and/or works in the mix with a band. I consider myself a 'live' bass player and have played hundreds and hundreds of gigs over the years with many different musicians. So I EQ in a sound that works with whatever is going on around me. But most amps have a baked in sound and some of them take more time to dial in than others. And one or two haven't been able to give me what I needed no matter what, and one of those happens to be the Trace Elliot SMX I owned and gigged for some 10 years as well as the other SMX rig that I mentioned. During the years of ownership - believe it or not - it did actually cross my mind to try tweaking the EQ and various other controls to try and get some other sounds out of it, and I did exactly that on countless occasions. Yup, I really did, I even tried switching the mid scoop button in and out 👍. But no matter what I did with the various EQ options, pre-shape buttons, tilt control, pre-amp voicings etc it just had this constant baked in sound that sounded weak and gutless to me, there was no noticeable weight/heft in the lows, at least none that projected through the pair of Trace 1153 cabs that I was using, there was an ever-present mid scoop that even a sad face graphic EQ curve could seem to fully alleviate at least not in any meaningful way to my ears, and there was an ever present fatiguing spike in the upper mids/treble that I could never fully attenuate either. There is of course the possibility that my amp was faulty in some way, or maybe it was Friday afternoon special put together when the Trace guys got back from the pub? Are there any any known faults with the SMX series that match what I was describing it'd be helpful to know that, why not share that information if you have it? But I grew to hate the amp with a passion and if could have afforded to replace it sooner than I did then I gladly would have done. Since then I have played through a Trace combo, not sure of the model number but it was the simpler 7 band EQ model, and that had all the punch and weight that TE are renowned for, it was indeed a great sounding amp - but it was also the polar opposite to what I could get from the SMX during the years that I owned it. So I'm not anti TE, just anti the SMX series simply because the 2 different ones that I have played over the years sounded gutless, more like a guitar amp than a bass amp. That's just my experience and yours in obviously different, and that's great. But why not share your experience instead of assuming that I don't know my arse from my elbow? Surely that's the point of a forum like this? Or maybe seek some clarification on the assumptions you immediately made - including the one that I had no idea what I was doing? That would have been more helpful and maybe even have helped to make yourself look less of an arrogant tool who posts ill considered knee-jerk responses? You are, of course, entitled to your opinion - just as I am entitled to mine. And yes, maybe if I'd have added an emoji or 2 to my original comment it would have made it clear that the comment was intended tongue-in-cheek, even though it's still my opinion that the SMX remains the biggest turd of an amp I have ever played through. It looked great, and I liked the dual band compressor, but that was it, IMO/IME. Congratulations, you have the dubious honour of becoming the first person in my 14 years on Basschat to be added to my ignore list.

How's the neck binding? Is it square edged or more rounded off? I do like the look of a bound neck but find that they can be uncomfortable to play if they're not rounded off.

Another unashamed LMB-3 fanboy here! It was one of the first pedal compressors I used some 20 odd years ago after coming from the dual band compressor on the Trace Elliot SMX* amp I'd had for years before. I gigged my first LMB for a few years and then decided that I needed something 'better' i.e. more expensive, and so I wandered off down a long and costly road of trying and owning many, many different compressors including a couple of rack units, some but not all of the top tier pedal comps, both analogue and digital, some multi-band, some with clean blends, some coloured, some transparent and so on. All these helped me to identify exactly what I wanted from a compressor. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to pick up a new LMB-3 for very little cash, I grabbed it more out of sentiment as I had good memories of my first one but as soon as I fired it up it just felt right, it was giving me exactly what I'd been trying to get from all the other units, some were closer than others with a notable mention to the Darkglass Hyper Luminal (cheers @krispn👍) on the Buss setting being the closest to what I was chasing. The Boss is a simple pedal, it's cheap and it doesn't do anything flash or have the advanced features of more sophisticated units - indeed one of its four controls is useless unless you really need to add some hiss to your signal - but it is a superb sounding little unit, IMO/IME and the punchiest one out of all that I've tried. It's not totally transparent but doesn't colour your sound noticeably either. But it just sound right to me, it's quick and easy to dial in, it keeps my signal in check and adds a pleasing punch to the mids that always brings a smile to my little yellow plastic face 😀 *Don't believe the hype on the TE SMX amps, mine at least was terrible, absolutely gutless and no matter what you did with the multitude of tone shaping controls it just made you sound like Mark King, but with no low end as well as that endless void in the mids. So in reality it was just a treble booster that was unnecessarily heavy! I had the misfortune of playing through another at a shared gig around 10 years ago and it sounded just as bad.

I've had a couple of orders from Thomann this year and they have arrived in around 4 or 5 days after placing the order, I never had any additional fuss or hoops to jump through, so finger crossed you'll have the bass early next week 👍

I found exactly the same thing with my JMJ, it sounded a lifeless and lackluster with flats but really came alive with rounds, it just sounds bigger, clearer and way more versatile.

Cheers EZ, looks like there's 5 colour options, the pinky/purple above, turdburst, black, shell pink and my fave of the bunch, sea foam green. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_sfg.htm

Yeah, take one for the team, Stew I'm sorely tempted by one for the money, although it looks like it's only a single volume control so doesn't look like any pickup blending options, plus I'd have to ditch the tort scratch plate because, well, it's tort 🤢🤮 But even with a couple of cheap and easy mods it could well be a lot of bass for not much money. So it'd be great to get an objective hands on opinion of one.

I reckon if you lobbed it at someone it'd pretty much take their head clean off their shoulders

I've had one and like it a lot. 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. The release is also quite slow and cannot be adjusted. 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 excellent, IMO. It's more of a warm and rounded pushed valve amp type of 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 pissy 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.