scrumpymike

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

Any updates on this now that you've had a couple of week's worth of ownership?

Really liking the HB Deluxe though only used it at home as it's a kind of backup for the backup gig bass. The lack of p'up selector switch remains the only thing I can fault but the tone pot gives a good range so perfectly useable as is. Massive value for money and as good as anything else I've tried in the <£500 range.

Removed the bottom 'mushroom' strap button in favour of a Dunlop flush strap-lock to make it fit (just) in a nice Gator hard case (Jag IIRC) I already have.

Grabbed a couple of pic's while time and daylight permitted. Most comfortable carry handle I've ever used btw.

The cab is unmarked and looks just as good from every angle. Happy to confirm with more pic's to anyone interested.

Looks just the biscuit too 😊

4 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

It’s worth adding that, courtesy of my wireless system, I nipped into the front of the audience at the beginning of the first set for a quick check that all was well – which it was. The only tweaks I made to my amp were to back-off the bass and treble a touch (to 1 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively) on both channels

Sorry, that should read 'to 12 o'clock and 11 o'clock respectively'.

I seem to have forgotten how to tell the time 🤔

In case anyone on here is interested, just posted a review of my LFSys Monaco, which I believe is the first-off production cab.

Hi Smanth! Can't bring anything to the 5-er party, but good to hear from you again 🙂

Recently set up by Basschat member Stevie, LFSys is a new name in a market that’s already pretty much saturated. So what can Stevie bring to the already crowded party?

The first part of the answer is ‘loads of experience’, given that he’s been the driver (excuse the pun) behind the long-running and successful Basschat self-build cab project. But there’s more to Stevie than being handy at DIY, as you can read for yourselves in the ‘ABOUT ME’ section of his https://www.lfsys.co.uk website.

The second part of the answer to ‘what’s new?’ is the bit that really motivated Stevie. As a bass player, he was unhappy with the sound quality of what he was hearing while standing in front of his rig at gigs. He wanted to improve not only the audience’s listening experience but also his own. Having already done so much cab design and build, following some additional development work that took the self-build design to a higher level, Stevie found himself just one step away from becoming a manufacturer. A big step maybe but – spurred on by the number of people who had seen the self-build cabs and said they’d pay him to build them one – he decided to take the next step into small-batch production.

The LFSys bass-cab was defined a couple of key decisions. Uncompromising sound quality was top of the list with other considerations such as lightweight construction following on behind. Stevie opted for the ‘FRFR’ approach and set about creating a couple of cabs capable of delivering full range and flat response. The reasoning was that, if you make cabs that faithfully reproduce what’s being put into them, you’re giving bass players a kind of sonic ‘backdrop’. This lets us overlay the ‘sounds in our heads’ without first having to overcome any cab-induced ‘colouration’ that gets in the way of what our imagination, fingers, picks, pedals, modellers and amps generate.

The next key aspect is mastery of the cross-over technology that is all-important in the performance of multi-speaker cabinets and a pre-requisite of achieving the ‘flat response’ half of FRFR. There aren’t many who really know what they’re doing in this highly-specialised field but Stevie is one of them.

That’s all very well, but what does it mean to us?

To be honest, it didn’t mean that much to me at first. I believed my existing cabs were doing the business and wasn’t considering replacing them. Until I heard Stevie and Phil Starr’s ‘blind’ cab shoot-out at the S-W Bass Bash, where one of Stevie’s Silverstone cabs was pitted against some of the best of the rest. When asked which sounded best, nearly all of us (me included) opted for Stevie’s cab. However, Phil finished the session by stressing the limitation of the shoot-out: the musical test piece was an electronically-generated, bass-heavy demo recording chosen only because finding a skilled bass-player capable of doing a professional, multi-genre demo had proved to be a step too far in the time available.

Being a bit of an ‘old school’ rock-‘n’-roll luddite myself, I drew some comfort from Phil’s warning. My hunch was that Stevie’s bass-cab recipe wouldn’t translate into my preferred ‘classic’ tones but rather into something a bit too bright, clinical and soul-less. Plus, I’d never got on with the HF-enabled cabs I’d tried in the past. Nevertheless, as a fully-GASsed-up member of the Basschat fraternity, I resolved to try both the already available Silverstone cab and the soon-to-be-released Monaco for myself at the earliest opportunity.

Fast-forward to our living-room a couple of months later. I’ve got a Silverstone and a Monaco side by side on the floor with my Mesa TT-800 straddling across the top of both. First I try the Silverstone that came top in the bash shoot-out. I haven’t changed the amp controls from my normal gig setting and I’m instantly preferring it to my existing brand of cab! A few minutes later, I find out that the more expensive Monaco sounds even better, a result that is later replicated in Silverstone owner Phil’s much larger sitting-room. But STILL I cling on to my scepticism: how will it perform under real live gig conditions?!

To cut a long story short, it’s the end of our next gig and my band-mates are coming over to slap me on the back. They don’t know (or care) what the new box is or what it does, just that it works. So I tell them. It makes the bass sound much more clearly defined and articulate than before so it cuts through the mix and enhances the whole sound of the band – even on stage. Before I’m even half-way through my short explanation, they’ve turned their backs on me and are packing their kit up.

It’s worth adding that, courtesy of my wireless system, I nipped into the front of the audience at the beginning of the first set for a quick check that all was well – which it was. The only tweaks I made to my amp were to back-off the bass and treble a touch (to 1 o’clock and 12 o’clock respectively) on both channels, use the DEEP boost a bit more often and the BRIGHT hardly at all.

With the LFSys Monaco, I now have killer-sounding, 600W (AES)-rated, 8ohm cab that handles the reduced power from my 800W (into 4ohms) amp with headroom to spare while still being PLENTY loud enough to cope with any of our indoor gig venues AND compete with my decibel-junky band-mates. More importantly, it feels like the music we make has kind of more room to breathe.

Last but not least, this single-cab solution to my needs comes in at only fifty quid more (and a couple of kilos heavier) than ONE of the matched pair of 12” single-driver cabs I’ve been gigging with.

What’s not to like? 😊

PIC'S TO FOLLOW

A1 functionally and cosmetically including BF cover in same condition. Always used as one of a pair with my 800W amp, so never over-worked. Will post pic's soonest but be assured it looks just like you'd want it to 🙂. Price is based either on buyer collects from Taunton or a meet-up within an hour's drive from me.

NEW PRICING:  £450 if buyer arranges and pays for courier collection/delivery; £425 if I don't need to pack the cab, e.g. buyer collects from Taunton or mutually convenient handover location.

5 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

I wouldn't want to dissapoint you 😁 I had an Epiphone EB3 that was very neck heavy!

IIRC, it won an Olympic gold medal for diving.

Nice gig last night in one of our fave venues, the Esplanade Club by Watchet harbour on the West Somerset coast. As well as the easy load-in with parking outside the front door, we had the pleasure (?!) of watching a crucial football game before we 'kicked off'.

When we arrived, in addition to the big projector screen there were lots of big tellies dotted around the place and I said "We're stuck for choice here, which one are we gonna watch?", "None of them!" was the quick response from our guitarist's girlfriend. Which explains why she had a much better night than the rest of us - enough said.

Sadly, the knock-on effect from Harry failing to notice his loose boot-lace before taking the second penalty was that we didn't get the usual big Esplanade crowd. Presumably those who were planning to watch the game at home and come out for a few celebratory bevvies afterwards were instead hanging by the neck from some handy tree or lamp-post by the time we started at 9.30. We did get a few French tourists in though (only kidding 😊).

But I digress. There was still a decent turnout of appreciative punters and we were at the top of our game - unlike.... (never mind). As always, my evening was rescued by the gig money, and somewhat unexpectedly by a new piece of kit that I was gigging for the first time. Not a new bass or amp (the things I get most excited about) but a new speaker cab from a new manufacturer - who happens to be a Basschat member!! The new brand is LFSys and the designer/builder is our Stevie, already known to many from the self-build cab project on here. I've followed the DIY project with interest including demo's at our S-W Bass Bash over the last few years but what Stevie has done with this production version is amazing.

Sod the football! A killer new cab is much more important.

On 25/08/2022 at 08:43, WishIcouldplay said:

yes it is

These had a 30.5" scale, so add 'short scale' to your topic heading and you'll get a whole different audience. I only play short-scale basses so that's what I search on the Basses For Sale topic. Only spotted this one as it happened to be top of the topic list before I put my search in. Technically, yours is the EB-2D with the extra mini-humbie at the bridge.

Like others have said, this was my dream bass back in the day and I'd have yours in a flash if I had £3k to spare.

GLWTS

20 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

 

The tonal range delivered by the 'tone' control suggests it has some pan/blend capability. If not, you don't - which seems odd. I've asked Thomann to explain how it works and will post the answer.

And the answer is.... it's just a normal tone control and both pickups are on all the time. I see a 3-way pickup selector switch in the future of this bass. In the meantime, no problem enjoying it for what it is.

4 hours ago, fretmeister said:

How do you select pickups?

The tonal range delivered by the 'tone' control suggests it has some pan/blend capability. If not, you don't - which seems odd. I've asked Thomann to explain how it works and will post the answer.

Only limited time for another quick play today. Once again,  for me this bass just feels and sounds right. My only slightly negative comment is that, in common with many cheaper basses, the volume control is 'all or nothing' - full on at full rotation and zilch when backed-off a tenth or so. Thankfully the tone control is more evenly progressive.

6 hours ago, Osiris said:

 

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. 

Re neck edge binding, there's a small radius to the edge but with the 12"-radiussed fretboard it feels fine to me.

So here are some pic's of mine as opposed to HB/Thomann publicity shots:

1 hour ago, Osiris said:

 

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. 

Felt fine to me last night and adds a real touch of class. I'll include some close-ups in the pic's I'm taking (hopefully) today.

On 28/11/2022 at 17:13, ezbass said:

Harley Benton alert!

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_bm.htm

Mine came this morning! Ordered last Thursday, so more than happy with the delivery time. Only just got back, unpacked it and had a quick play but must say first impressions are extremely favourable. Arrived in perfect condition, double-boxed for freshness 🙂 The fit and finish wouldn't be out of place on a bass 2 or 3 times the price and completely justify its 'Deluxe Series' tag. Such a smart move by HB to fit D'Addario EXL 165 (045-105) strings and Gotoh tuners too. Pickups are Roswell JBA-N AlNiCo 5 single-coil (bridge) and PBA AlNiCo 5 split-coil (middle) with no selector switch fitted. Haven't worked out how the tone control does what it does but the range sounds good to me. Set-up is pretty good as received and the 3.5kg weight quoted by Thomann feels about right and it sits nicely at 'quarter to three' on the strap, i.e. no real neck-dive to speak of but on the edge.

I'll post more impressions and pic's soonest but so far I'm a very happy bass bunny.

26 minutes ago, ped said:

Just in case you weren’t following the build thread, here’s my Thunderstangbacker

 

 

2 hours ago, ped said:

Just in case you weren’t following the build thread, here’s my Thunderstangbacker

 

 

Love it! Subtle as a flying anvil - in a nice way of course ☺️

1 hour ago, Adee said:

Never before has there been such excitement and antici..............pation for a £199 bass guitar !! 

 

Certainly not in my house.

Just received shipping confirmation as follows:

        "022/12/02 08:10 am

         Dispatched: The goods have left our warehouse and are on their way to the border."

WTF?! Aaaaah yes, I forgot: Germany's still in the EU and there's a 'hard' border between us and Europe now!

        "As soon as the package cleared customs and arrived at UK Mail, you can track your parcel directly on the shipping carrier's website. Please be patient, as this may take around 3-4 working days."

WTF - 3-4 working days in limbo before Royal Mail even get the chance to go and lose it? 

Another fine example of the benefits of Brexit. I'm eternally grateful to the people who told us: "Let's get it done!" 🤐

2 hours ago, dieseldalziel said:

Looking forward to the review and how much it weighs...

Allegedly 3.5kg but I'm a bit sceptical about the weights Thomann quote when asked. In my experience, their answer is always in full or half kilos. The accuracy of their (alleged) scales seems to be +/- 1lb 🤔

3 hours ago, ezbass said:

Taking one for the shorty team there, good work. Looking forward to your review already.

Ha-ha!  We're such a specialist (exclusive?) group of forum members that it's even more important for us to share info. The stuff I've learned from others on this topic has been priceless.

On 28/11/2022 at 17:13, ezbass said:

Harley Benton alert!

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_bm.htm

Well, couldn't resist this in Burgundy Mist so just ordered one from Thomann.  Can't wait to find out exactly what you get for your £199. Could be just the right tool for some of the rougher venues we play in 🙂

On 28/11/2022 at 17:13, ezbass said:

Harley Benton alert!

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_bm.htm

Blimey, that's drop-dead gorgeous and unbelievable value for the money!

13 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Is it possible to remove the feet and fit a normal strap button without damage?

In a word, no ☹️.  As supplied, the large-diameter buttons are fixed to the wooden body core using long chunky wood screws. The 2 screws are of unequal length (one very long, one even longer) with oversize heads that are too big for a standard strap button. I had to think long and hard before daring to remove just the shorter screw in case I couldn't get it re-aligned with the hole drilled in the body afterwards. I managed to do it but had to be really careful. IMHO if you unscrewed both, the ABS outer frame could move relative to the wooden core. If it did, you could be in trouble without an assembly jig of the type the manufacturers must use to get everything aligned.