scrumpymike

19 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I guess big boy prices, big boy bass. Shame in a way but the original models didn’t sell well and they seem to have concluded that the scale length had something to do with that. I wish them well but I think these are going to be even less successful at this price.

19 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I had one of the Indonesia passive single humbucker models that I bought direct from Vox. There were no problems with it but it had clearly been removed from the shipping box and worked on. It was well set up and everything fitted properly. Unfortunately, the price I paid was much closer to RRP. I was in the process of selling it when they dumped remaining stock on GuitarGuitar at fire sale prices. I had to go even lower to sell it. Consequently, I have lost my trust in Vox and radical designs in general (although I still have a Nordstrand Acinonyx).

I think the way Vox have crashed the used market for the s-s Artist is clumsy to say the least. Owners who bought at full RRP (over £1300) or even after the first price drop (to £799) as I did are quite obviously pi55ed off that the second-hand value is now determined by the final 'refurbished as new' price of £399!! Seems to me that Vox have effectively managed to lose a significant number of repeat customers by turning what was initially a happy group of owners into a group with a grievance. I also think the change-over to standard scale length is a mistake for a brand that was traditionally associated with s-s basses. If they had got their marketing right they could have secured a big share of the now significant s-s bass market. Instead they have done what Gibson managed to do - squander the value of a 'heritage' brand name by messing with its DNA.

12 hours ago, RichT said:

I'd love a headless one but those new ones are 34" scale and yep much too pricey for me. 

Well spotted!! I didn't look at the spec, just assumed that Starstream = short-scale.

34 minutes ago, mikebass456 said:

Just been and had a quick look - not sure that's a Uke bass - just a 4string Uke? 🤔

The sentiment remains though! 😆😆

You're right, it's just a regular uke - the VFU-1 to be precise. Presumably stands for Very Funny Uke, although there could be much ruder interpretations using a different f-word!

No doubt a bass variant will follow.

Blimey!! Just jumped on the Vox UK website to check if they've got a refurb'ed A1H (they haven't) and I see that the current Starstream range has gone headless - a 4-stringer and a fiver, both over two grand. I think that fits in well with the avant-garde design.

https://www.voxamps.co.uk/collections/bass-guitars 

They're also doing a solid electric uke bass and the opening words of the promo spiel amused me:

'Enjoy the freedom of playing the ukulele without disturbing others.'

Say no more! 🤣🤐

18 hours ago, RichT said:

 

Welcome to the Starstream owners club! I love the artist Starstreams, I've got 3 of the buggers now, 2 A1H with the MM style pickup and 1 A2S with the jazz config.

 

A small but extremely discerning club I like to think 😉. I know the Starstreams are a bit Marmite-y but everything about these basses is as good as the best I've ever experienced. I don't 'need' (?!) another bass but if I see a nice used A1H, I don't think I'll be able to resist buying it to keep my A2S company. The fact that heavy discounting by Vox has undermined their second-hand value makes them a steal too.

It's my practice/back-up bass and much to my surprise my band-mates love it too - the sounds AND the look.

4 hours ago, Bernardo said:

I have started playing short scales recently - starting with a little Gretsch expanding since then into a U5, JMJ Mustang and an Acinonyx. Shallow I know but I Googled short scale red bass because for showbiz reasons I needed a red bass to match some stage outfits! What came top of the list was a refurbished Vox Starstream Artist 2S on the Vox website. Including gig bag it was £350. Given they were well north of a grand when they came out - and some people had paid that - I went for it. I took it to a gig and our sound engineer raved about it compared with my other basses. Ironically I don't enjoy playing it as much as the Mustang and the Acinonyx basically because they have flats on them which feel better to me - so my next quest is to find flats that sound brighter than a normal flat.

It's a weird looking thing and not everybody's cup of tea but it's nicely balanced and very light and with the right strings could be my go to bass - something I never would have predicted when I Googled red short scale. 

2 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I have the Thomastik Jazz Flats on my Vintera II Mustang. They have less tension than others listed and they do have a very characterful sound. 

 

 

Great choice Bernardo!! The red Starstream will certainly make a dramatic statement on stage.

I love my black A2S and like the sound of the Aguilar pups so much that I've ordered a 4M-J set to retrofit to my s-s Sandberg.

Re strings, I too have fitted and like the T-I Jazz Flats but they're not the brightest and I had to get a new nut made to fit their unusual string gauges.

PM sent

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

I don't think f-ck all can be four, so it must be zero, and the same as sod all.

 

Just noticed the alliteration: Square root: Sod, Five: F-uck.

At the risk of a complete thread derail and the wrath of @scrumpymike*, are there any other expressions for nothing that have equivalent additions?

 

 

The wrath of Mike is a terrible thing - you are denied any crumble!

 

 

Sweet Fanny Adams for you Richard, where sweet = crumble and Fanny Adams = Mrs Scrumpy.

Morning Bass Bashers! Hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to this year's event.

I know this is a bit random but is anyone heading for California any time soon? I bought an Aguilar pickup set online from Sweetwater (not available in UK/EU in the foreseeable future) and had it delivered to a friend of my daughter in Ventura CA 93003. The plan was that she would send it over to me, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Now we've discovered that shipping will cost over £100!!

Ping me a PM if you can help.

Thanks,

Mike

3 hours ago, msb said:

It quickly sold. The version I’d like is the two pickup version. 

Thank you Obrienp. I was watching it , and it quickly sold. It was going for a good asking price. And by good I mean very reasonable. There’s something about the Acinonyx that appeals to me. They’re quirky , and I like them. And many reviews have been very positive. I like that too.

I have no first-hand experience with these but if I was buying I'd be going for a 3-pickup V2 with fewer push-button switches (looks like one bank of buttons has been replaced by a toggle-switch selector). Interestingly the V1 reviewed for Guitar Interactive by our very own Dood was missing one of the buttons when he received it - nowhere to be found in the packaging either IIRC.

Bass Direct have a new black V2 discounted to £899 instead of £950. End-of-line clearance price I guess.

18 hours ago, MJJS said:

No personal attachment or interest, but if I were looking for a passive shortie ….

 

https://bassbros.co.uk/product/atelier-z-baby-z-4j-vintage/

That's a very good call, well spotted! Lovely bass at a very reasonable price. If I had the spare cash I'd be in there.

Can't believe this hasn't been snapped up yet!!

These are excellent basses. I've had one and also the much more expensive Music Man version. To be honest there wasn't that much difference in terms of playability and the sounds were slightly different but IMHO equally good. In fact, there are some Talkbass members who prefer the 'voice' of the SBMM. AND I think the black/tort combo really looks the business.

Add to that the lightweight tuners to counterbalance the very light body weight of this one (mine was heavier)...  If I had the spare cash right now I'd be buying this.

GLWTS.

PM sent

9 hours ago, chriswareham said:

 

The thing is, it's not "AI", at least not what the originators of that term envisioned back in the 1960s. That's why the actual name of this thing we're talking about is Generative AI. It just consumes huge amounts of existing data and basically rewords it. It's not sentient. It's not intelligent. It's the equivalent of a traditional search that instead of listing the actual source of the results just produces a single summary of the most common results. That's why it's so susceptible to poisoning - get it to ingest enough dodgy source material and you can make it spout any old b*llocks you want it to.

26 minutes ago, Killerfridge said:

It's not generative AI. Generative AI is what powers things like ChatGPT or Dalle and can be thought of as auto-complete on steroids. Whilst I don't doubt some people are using them to build recommendation engines, recommenders are traditionally using something like collaborative filtering

Kind of dumbness disguised as smartness done by dumb people who think they're smart.

20 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Scent and flavour are not the same thing when it comes to bleach 

As it happens, they are for that bleach- and perfume-loving nation the French. The word 'parfum' means scent AND flavour. Found that out years ago in 'gay (?!) Paris' when I ordered an ice-cream and the guy asked me what 'parfum' I wanted. Now isn't that interesting?

I'll get me coat.

I tried to place an on-line order yesterday with Sweetwater in the US for a J/M 4 set of Aguilar pickups that I can't find in stock in the UK or the EU.

So I open my virtual basket to place the order and I get the following message: 'Sorry these items are out of inventory but our experts suggest the following replacement that will be just as good for you.'

And what do they recommend as a straight replacement? The Aguilar 5-string set!!

I don't think so.

Are there any similar stories of dumbness out there?

12 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

I use feeler gauges on the 7th fret while using a capo on 1st fret and holding down 12th fret (i'd need to confirm the 12th fret as its been a while and might be where the neck meets the heel)

It's F15 you hold down - as you say, where the heel starts.

Excellent amps, certainly the best D-class I've used. You'd have to try really hard to get a bad sound out of these. The high and low boost switches work really well and you've got an HPF pot too.

I replaced my first D800+ with the very trick top of the range TT-800 but moved it on and came back to these. If I leave my bass, mid and treble controls set to 12 o'clock and use the boost and voicing controls I find I can always get the sound I want.

This is a good price too. What's not to like?

GLWTS

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

 

I'm now 12st 11lbs but still love my crisps. 

 

Join the club!! That's the Savoury Snack Fanciers' Club btw.

Maybe I should join the fitness club.

27 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

I don't doubt the quality and the sound, but those SL must feel so weird at first.

 

2.2kg or 2.7kg is ridiculously light! 

 

 

Funnily enough it felt - and still feels just right, quite robust and in no way flimsy, and perfectly balanced on the strap. Not sure if you can actually feel quality, but that's what I'm feeling. The Plek'd neck is an absolute delight.

Neither of my weighing methods is particularly accurate. Spring gauges work best in the middle third of the scale and the bathroom scales give slightly different readings depending on how you stand on them. I'd say the real weight is somewhere between 2.7 and 3kg.

OK, I think I've beaten that one to death 🤐

On 07/04/2025 at 14:09, Raslee said:

Stunning, loving the colour. What a the weight on that one?

Just tried weighing it. My spring balance showed it at 2.2 kg, which is definitely not right, so I found a way of adding another 2kg to the bass - and got 4.2kg total.

Next attempt involved me standing on our digital bathroom scales without and then with the bass. The difference was 2.7kg, which could be about right. If I had to guess based on experience, I'd say around 3kg.

Anyway, for a bass it's definitely Super Light 🙂 

15 hours ago, Raslee said:

Loving my Sandberg SL’s, my back and overall gigging stamina has vastly improved since going ultra lightweight. Despite some initial tonal reservations with the lighter bodies I have to say I am actually really digging the tone lots, especially in the live mix, great presence.

 

Sadly the Custom Classic Booster on the far right will eventually be up for sale when I bring myself to it, its a real cracker yet despite only being 8lbs in weight, its just a little on the heavier side for me now...Guess this makes me a Sandberg SL convert! 

I'm a big SL fan too. They're XSL when they're short-scale like mine 🙂 

9 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Thats because you are on your own friends list!

 

Thanks Woody. I'm not much good with these things 🙂 

3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Link isn't working Mike. ?

Dave

Just tried it and it's working for me.

2 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

Last night was the first public gig with the new start-up band, In Like Flynn. We played the Globe in Somerton as a freebie for the FOC rehearsal time they've given us to get our show on the road. So pleased to see the pub full to bursting with the crowd having a ball and the real and virtual tills kerr-chinking behind the bar - a rare sight and sound anywhere these days! And what a relief to be a proper gigging musician again 😊

And here's a link to some mobile phone video.

In Like Flynn at the Globe, Somerton.