Frank Blank

Totally, a genuine revelation, just wish I could get back the thirty odd years I wasted twatting about with trad rigs trying to get the sounds this setup gave me after five minutes!

Yes, it’s a superb preamp, especially for the basses I mostly use. In fact I spend quite a lot of the time trying to get the Stomp to sound like the Fishman... Hmmmm.

My entire rig (replace the Fishman with a HX Stomp though), I’d never go back to amp/cab now...

Thanks Pete. I visited Leighton this morning, @Paul S’s suggestion above and was confident enough to leave both basses with him so I think I’m sorted.

This Hercules rack is excellent, you can buy a cheap expansion pack to add more capacity. This is by far the best large rack I’ve ever used.

Brilliant. Have contacted him.

I’m looking for recommendations for a luthier, preferably in Essex but surrounding counties, Suffolk, Hertford, Cambs but not London. The chap I usually use is up in Warwick and, as much as I admire his work, it’s a 230 mile round trip to drop off, a 230 mile round trip to pick up and there is always a long wait to get an appointment and then again to get it back. He is a superb craftsman but the two round trips... I’m simply wondering if there is a craftsman of his quality a little more locally to me. I realise there is list of luthiers on BC already but I’m more after people’s experiences with local services.

Do you have contact details for him?

I have one of these, superb guitars imho.

Is t that what they’re for..?

Yes.

I think it depends on what sort of music you play and the quality of your gear. I am happy playing without any effects at all but have recently purchased a HX Stomp which is packed with infinitely tweakable effects and amp/cab sims. One of the huge benefits of the Stomp is that I often play live just going bass > Stomp > PA, as long as you have good monitors... I digress. I think you’ll find a surprising amount of players on BC that do perfectly well without effects.

@GreeneKing & @skelf many, many thanks for such detailed info. I had already begun to home in on the blend is you friend approach, finding different settings for each pickup and using the blend on the fly. Usually even basic tone controls on other basses bore and frustrate me quite quickly but there is something about having filters that I’m finding really engaging. With my Rob Allen I only have a volume pot on the bass so I use the Stomp to alter tones for different songs but yesterday and Thursday whilst recording (and filming) some songs I opted to plug the ACG straight into the QSC in order to make me work at the controls on the bass itself. As per the PDF from @skelf’s site I had the neck pickup set deep and bassy and the bridge pickup brighter and I found blending between gave me the tones I needed for the four songs we did using the fretted bass. Looking forward to more tweaking today with this excellent wealth of new info, cheers.

Cheers Sir, it is a monster, somehow I feel unworthy of it, very odd.

Attendance & Gear List: 1. @Frank Blank‘s Partially Acoustic Corner - Godin A4, Rob Allen Mouse, ACG Harlot SC, Ibanez SRC6, QSC K12.2, Helix Stomp, HX Edit. 2. @Rich's Garden Of Delights - Shuker custom 5, Tanglewood acoustic 4, EBS Neo 2x12 & probable new amp (tbc) - both basses strung with nickel Elixirs. Possibly some FS stuff, details tbc once it hits the paid Marketplace. 3. @wrinkleygit, Jabba’s Semi Hollow Fretless, ‘72 Gibson EB0, SWR Working Mans 10 combo & 1x10 ext cab & a set of h’phones. Both basses strung with Labella flats 4. @scrumpymike Setting aside a bunch of FS stuff to give SW Bashers first shot and minimise packing and shipping work/costs. Unless cash flow dictates earlier sale, this will include: a couple of BF cabs (either SC Gen 3s or Two10s, to be decided); BF One10; Maruszczyk Elwood 30" scale; Spector Bantam if still unsold (already posted FS); Eden WT550 if still unsold (already posted FS); Ampeg PF800. 'Keepers' also on display will be: the other pair of BF cabs; my no. 1 gig bass 'Rascal Mervyn-Lyte; 'Rascal Lyte Mkll - provided I can decide what it's going to be in time for AndyJr to build it; my no 1 gig amp (Subway 800+); my old no 1 gig amp (Genzler Magellan 800). All of which will hopefully bring forward the day when Mrs Scrumpy can finally join her old man in retirement 😁 5. @Pea Turgh My Frankenstein Jazzguarman(!) strung with D’Addario XL Chrome flats. My black bitsa (same strings). Probably my Peterson combo which I’ll flit between selling and not selling (still). 6. @stevie Ibanex SR1200-VNF, Ashdown RM500, BCbass 112, plus some other bass cab developments (probably) 7. 8. 9. 10. 7. 8. 9. 10.

On the subject of the preamp, that I’m slowly getting to grips with, what are the functions of the two small switches below the bridge?

I’ve had it for long enough now to realise quite how beautifully it’s built but I still keep just looking at it! It’s kind of other worldly inasmuch as it is a sublime musical instrument and beautifully built but there’s something else, a kind of... I don’t know what? Some sort of aesthetic harmony about it that is just so very pleasing. Perhaps I should put some kind of tacky sticker on it just to burst its bubble of perfection.

Exactly what @TheGreek said, once you get a tone stick with it. I’m wavering between doing exactly that and varying the tones between songs with the Stomp or tweaking the on board controls between songs but if I got lost in a live situation it could get messy. I love the single cut look and it just so happens I have the King of single cuts.

Likewise enjoying the tone faffing. The tonal range is astonishing, still getting to grips with it but it’s all about small changes rather than big turns, otherwise one minute you are in Wantage and with one bold turn of a control you are in the Sudan.

I have to say, having looked at many (photos of) ACGs since getting mine that I think you might be right about it being the most beautiful one ever made, but then I would say that as the new owner. I still can’t stop gawping at the beauty of the woods and the astonishing build quality.

Unfortunately the E string is buzzing on the higher frets but it’s booked in for a full set up with my usual luthier in the new year.

Excellent album!

...zap!

Actually no...