lemmywinks

Do either of those solder points have anything written next to them?

2 hours ago, sandy_r said:

 

Thanks Alain, these all sound very good to me - is it possible that the difference in bass sound between our 3 Sinsos is only due to the adjustment of the pickups under the strings? (agreed, we know that the aging caps in older version PCBs can cause other problems like oscillation, noise and non-working controls)

 

I have also contacted Aria (UK) now to ask about availability of PCBs, although i have read that other people have tried but received no reply

 

Aria UK had no parts when I contacted them years ago, from memory a few people got replacements early on but I suspect those will be just as likely to show issues.

@sandy_r I wonder if a company like PCBWay might be an option for your preamp? I'd be selling that on eBay for more bass funds if I were you!

13 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

I'm probably missing the point, but if something is going on my pedal board I'd be expecting something stompable. 

I guess if you're using a passive cab as a monitor at the front of the stage it might be useful, or if you are doing pit work where you have a small cab close to you. Can't think of any other use cases for it really, probably better off saving your money and getting the smaller Gnome.

On 30/11/2023 at 14:16, NHM said:

The best sound I get is when I practice at home, plugging directly into a Focusrite and then monitored on a pair of cheap Sennheiser headphones. All my basses, cheap or expensive, sound equally fab. No amp in a live situation has ever matched this. 

Same, sat at home straight into the desk with my IEMs, that's what I tried to replicate live for ages.

Old Peavey, Trace, Ashdown, Hartke combos can be had for not much, more recently the TC BG series. In fact yesterday I found a mate of mine a Blackstar U250 for £275 on FB, he picked it up and is really pleased with it.

In terms of heads you aren't restricted to big heavy things, there's usually some TC BH and BQ heads going for around £100ish.

If you're near Tamworth there's a TC K410 cab on Facebook for £100.

I had to tilt my cabs some of the time (well just the top one usually), some gigs I was playing right on top of my rig behind the keys player and being tall I wouldn't have heard myself without turning the volume up to a point that would cause issues elsewhere on stage as my amp was mainly for monitoring. It was one of the reasons I liked my Schroeder 1212r so much.

Depends on your stage setup and height really.

I use a Gator Pro Go Deluxe guitar gigbag for my standard scale EHB1505, it has removable padding so the multiscale version fits as well. Has tons of storage options so ideal for me as I keep everything in there.

5 hours ago, Franticsmurf said:

+1 for that - I have one in white.

A bit off topic but how are you finding the Gnome cab? Also is it the 10 or 12?

On 22/11/2023 at 17:10, TheGreek said:

I would avoid any Hohner with the Select pickups.

I had one in the 80s which I initially thought was good but later realised was rubbish. 

Pickups have low output and limited tonal range.

I always thought the same about the Select J and humbucker pickups, people seem to like them but I thought they were a bit meh. The Select P I had was good though.

There's a Hohner Jack on FaceBook at the moment for £200 in Lincoln, gives you £100 to spend on pickup upgrades.

That's a great score, has the old stock MIJ Aria bridge on it as well.

I used a pair of Club121 cabs with excellent results, only sold them as I stopped using amps otherwise I'd stil have them now. Still kinda miss that rig, very versatile little modular setup.

46 minutes ago, Born 2B Mild said:

Adapting to fan frets is a good issue, basexperience.   I found when playing a bassline from muscle memory, that all was well.  The interesting thing is that when you break from a flowing line and then need to hit a note, perhaps a sustained one, I had to look to see where to fret my finger.  In the dark, I did find that was a bit challenging.  I bought Chicken as pre-loved, but I notice that listings for new ones say that they come with luminescent side dot inlays. I've not noticed any luminescence! Makes me wonder about having LED side dots installed. 

The side dots need to be under quite bright lights for a while to work and don't last that long, they're not as good as luminlays and a few people had issues with them.

8 hours ago, Richard R said:

Thanks for all the suggestions!

@lemmywinks - that looks quite handy and can run at 45W off a proper USBC power bank, which might be useful. Have you done big joints with it, such as earth leads onto pot cases on older basses?

The Tiswall looks good too, but the link was US, I'll try to find a UK link. 

Yeah I've done pot grounds with it, just works like a regular iron. You can buy different tips like fine, chisel etc and can get also handy little zip cases for them as well. Mine is the older T100 so DC power only but they did bring out a USB-C version called the TS60, looks like they've made the TS101 with both options so I'll probably upgrade to one at some point. Loads of reviews online

For bass and hobby stuff I wouldn't go back to using a traditional solder station as I find the pen type much more convenient and nicer to use.

I just use a TS100, the new version is the TS101 I think which can be powered by DC or USB-C so handy to take to gigs with a power bank. Can pick them up for around £60:

https://www.unmannedtechshop.co.uk/product/ts101-soldering-iron-b2/

You'll need a seperate stand with foam but these are a couple of quid. I've done cables and quite delicate board repair with mine, it's been great.

Definitely try and play some of the shortlisted basses before buying, especially the Hofner which can be quite polarising - I had to use one for a jam night (the pricier one too) and thought it was a horrid little thing. Also why the focus on hollow/semi-hollow bodies?

If I was looking for a 30" scale bass to cover a wide range of pop sounds covering several decades I'd get a Sire U5 or an Ibanez TMB30 if the budget was tighter. A pal of mine as a U5 and it's excellent.

I was always against Summer of '69 but ended up playing it for a few dep gigs and it always went down well. Somebody mentioned Chumbawumba earlier, I think that's where I'd draw the line!

7 minutes ago, No lust in Jazz said:

I joined a band where two band members did exactly this. It wasn't that they had massive egos - they are lovely people. It was more of a 'Wouldn't it be great to play this...' vibe. But no one had questioned why long forgotten album tracks weren't going to get them repeat bookings. 

 

Same, was in a band with a mate going back years who just wanted to play his favourite songs. No malice in it but it does make life frustrating and personally I find being on a stage playing songs the audience aren't interested in extremely embarrassing.

What sort of venues are you playing btw? Apologies if that's already been answered.

Around here there's one venue where 90s nostalgia rock/grunge would go down well and those bars have a regular circuit of rock tribute and covers acts on, if you have a more rock focused scene then things may be different.

Yep, that AiC song is going to be greeted mainly by blank stares and backs of heads unless you're playing to a very specific audience.

The worry now is that there's a detrimental, self indulgent element to song choices which is going to be very hard to get rid of, this sort of thing stifles/kills covers acts as there's no shortage of them and on most circuits there's no room for the ones that sacrifice entertaining a crowd for living out their own personal stage fantasies. Nip it in the bud, it might take playing the song a few times but if it bombs on say 3 consecutive gigs then put your foot down as this is going to be an ongoing issue.

I've played plenty of songs I actively hate playing as that's just an unavoidable part of being in a covers band, as long as they audience are having a good time then I'm not bothered really as that's the most important thing and it's only a few minutes of my time. Tbh I'd rather play songs I dislike and have gig photos with full dancefloors than the other way around.

The only time I get really annoyed is when band members pick self indulgent songs and insist on keeping them in the set even when they empty a dancefloor every gig, especially if it's at the expense of songs which get people up and dancing. I've had to argue to keep Dancing Queen and Young Hearts Run Free in the set when the guitarist wants to play some crusty old dad rock in place of it. If someone tries to make me play Pat Benetar again I'll probably just set fire to them.

I don't think this is an AliExpress bass as I've not seen that shape before, wouldn't automatically assume they're fake. Would be easy to tell I guess.

On closer inspection it looks like the not so great Overlord of Tone bridge with a metal plate stuck over it bearing what looks to be the sellers name - McVeigh.

Hmmm.

35 minutes ago, Steve1250 said:

Well I didn't really need this one...but here we are 🙄

Yeah but a tenner though, can't pass that up.

RIght I don't even play a 4 string live and have been having a clearout but every time I click on this thread I start trawling eBay and FB for an old cheap Jazz. Probably gonna have to unfollow before I buy another bass don't need.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134810424453?

Looks pretty cool, anybody know what the bridge hardware is?