Russ

49 minutes ago, ambient said:

 

From my experience as a music lecturer. It’s the events this weekend in Birmingham that most young musicians will be watching. Oasis don't seem to figure highly in my students’ musical influences.

Oasis were always more of an overarching cultural thing than a music thing anyway. There were many bands in that Britpop era that were far, far better than them, but they were the ones that got the column inches, the NME/Melody Maker covers and the tabloid scandals. Basically Oasis - the brand - was the big seller, and the music was only a smallish part of all that. The whole cocky swagger of the Gallaghers was a reflection of the era of Cool Britannia and the national zeitgeist at the time. 

The sad thing is, if you put together a supertour featuring a bunch of other contemporary British pop-rock bands who musically left Oasis in the dust (Radiohead, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Supergrass, the Manics, The Verve, Mansun, Ocean Colour Scene, Sleeper, Feeder, Elastica, etc) they probably wouldn't sell as many tickets as Oasis have. 

1 hour ago, prowla said:

I thought they were moving the manufacturing?

That's not how I read it, but could be wrong. 

Higher-end basses seem to be having a moment again right now - was at an all-day show this past Saturday, and there was one Fender, all day, out of ten bands. Three bands in a row had bass players with Spectors! And there was a now-ubiquitous Dingwall NG3, a couple of MMs and an Ibby or two. Status could be well-placed to take advantage of this if they could get production back up to speed, but that would require them to have a production partner. 

I've noticed some of their name players drifting off to other brands too, which is a bit sad. Obviously Mark King is back on his Jaydees these days, Venturella still plays his, but he's increasingly seen playing others, and the latest I've seen is German pickmeister Hellmut Hattler, who is now playing a Warwick (white, PJ, Kahler trem, just like his Status). Just waiting for Wolstenholme to jump ship, at this point.  

3 minutes ago, Shambo said:

Have they?

Yep. They've been acquired by Ruf Guitars from Poland, but, from what I understand, they're going to keep manufacturing in the UK. 

Ruf might be a good candidate to get involved with Status too, since Ruf's thing is carbon fibre guitars. They currently don't have a bass range, so....¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

11 hours ago, SH73 said:

I have been using Ez Drummer 2 for many years. It has various styles of drumming, grooves. It has patterns you can mix and match, intro , chorus, verse etc. Just check you tube for tutorials. You can manually play drums with keyboard or pc keyboard and it will find the best match. There's an update available to choose from different music genre. But it looks like you're looking for a more AI based drum stuff (no fun in it in IMHO). I believe Ez Drummer has been now upgraded to 3 and even maybe 4 version. There is also one called Steven Slatter vat and many more.

I've got EZDrummer, never really got the hang of it since it seems you do all the arranging in the plugin's little window, not directly in the DAW and I don't like that. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. The sounds themselves are great though. 

This is more to help me come up with ideas based on rhythms that I might not have thought of, or that might be a little out of my comfort zone, to help prompt creativity. 

I love writing bass parts to fit interesting drum/percussion patterns, but I'm not the greatest when it comes to drum programming, so it'd be nice to have something that can just throw drum grooves at me and that I can react to.

So I was wondering, is there such a thing as a drum plugin or other piece of software that can generate patterns and grooves that change over time, that you can jam along to, and that your DAW can record so you can pick bits out of later and assemble into songs? 

Any suggestions welcome!  

9 hours ago, woodyratm said:

I’m not sure if Dawn and Rob are starting to wind down to a proper retirement.

And so they should, and they deserve every happy second of it.

I'd like to think they could find good partners to work with for the continuation of the Status brand though. Hiscox Cases has just been given a new lease of life, and I'd like to see the same for Status. 

There’s an alternate arrangement of Love Rears Its Ugly Head on Stain, that I think I prefer to the arrangement from Time’s Up. But they’re both fantastic. 

Stain is a ridiculously good album, and as a statement of intent from Doug Wimbish about what he intended to do in the band, it’s spectacular. The greasy fretless on Nothingness, the whammy-and-delay goodness of Wall, the deep groove of Leave It Alone, the angular heaviness of Auslander… Doug is peerless at what he does. 

I have a herniated disc between my C5 and C6 vertebrae, so upper backache is a thing. I had physiotherapy, and luckily I got a guy who was experienced with musicians and explained some of how the weight of an instrument is distributed. Based on his suggestions, I raised my bass up from just above waist height to mid-belly height and it's made a big difference. In terms of the biomechanics, it's now sitting in a spot where the muscles in the middle of your back are compensating your balance instead of the muscles higher up your back and in your shoulders. Also, the lower you have your bass, the more work your shoulders and upper back have to do because of the position of your arms. You have to raise your elbows a little to keep your wrists straight, but not a lot, and it becomes second nature after a while. Conversely, if you have lower back pain, wear the bass lower as it moves the distribution of the weight upwards, which sounds counter-intuitive, but it works. There's a "sweet spot" there that you'll find. 

Setlists - bigger font and use more sheets of paper?  

Screen on pedalboard - if you're a Zoom guy, consider an upgrade to the B6. The screen is bigger, brighter and, most importantly, in colour - there's different colours for the different blocks, which makes differentiating them without having to necessarily read them much easier.  Love my B6. Just wish it was a full steel chassis and had a built-in expression pedal. It has all the same stuff in it as your one, so recreating your patches will be easy. 

5 minutes ago, Jack said:

Well I am looking forward to hearing more about these, and hopefully there might be a Stomp Stadium or something to follow. I like my QC but there's plenty I miss about the Helix ecosystem and I certainly wouldn't mind going back.

I still want them to put the guts of the current HX Stomp into the case of the POD Go Wireless, so you have a proper, small one-box gigging solution that's more usable than the current HX Stomp and less of a compromise than the current POD Go, and has the built-in expression pedal, wireless system, etc. They could rename it the HX Go.

It could stand to gain an XLR output too, perhaps. 

It looks awesome, but not £2k awesome. I love me some effects, but even I don't need something that extensive.

Was hoping for an updated HX Stomp or POD Go. 

1 hour ago, John-E-Retro said:

The only 4 band specials I've put together included an additional Mid Sweep. In other words, 2 sweepable mid stacks.

 

Whereas, if my understanding is correct, you're suggesting a stack with 2 boost/cut mids at different fixed frequencies.

The Flexcore would likely fit the bill straight out of the box. Have you considered it?

 

https://www.flexcorepreamps.com/shop/flexcore-system/

I dropped you an email the other day about it - hopefully you saw it. I'm looking for something that basically apes the MM Bongo preamp, with those particular frequency centres, so if the Flexcore can have its frequencies adjusted to match the MM ones, then it could be a goer. 

1 hour ago, John-E-Retro said:

Hi BC-ers

 

Firstly, Russ, thanks for your kind concern for my health. I'm glad to say that I'm very well and feeling good.

 

Apologies for being elusive on the support side during recent months, but unfortunately, needs must, as outlined below. 

(I'll respond individually to those who still have outstanding enquiries)

 

To explain briefly, what started out as a minor production blip with some custom parts further snowballed, compounding the issue to a level that required a good deal of hands-on work from me for several months to keep things rolling. Thankfully, we're through it all now, and our UK assembly supplier has bounced back.

 

This period highlighted a weakness - support relying entirely on me. So, now there are 3 email support tiers: Info, Sales, and Technical, to facilitate sharing the load.

Glad to hear it, John.  

Going to drop you an email about possibly ordering a couple of custom preamps - ever done a 4-band (with low/high mids)? 

Just a note of caution... beware if you have a sensitivity to silicone.

I had no idea I had one, but then I decided to buy a U-Bass, and started getting rashes on my fingers when I played it. So it ended up getting returned. Great sound with a proper upright "thud", weighs nothing, but is not hypoallergenic!  

Hoping John is OK. I know he's had some health issues over the past couple of years but he's always bounced back. 

I did notice Maruszczyk have taken his preamps off their options list.  

15 hours ago, Mudpup said:

My old SB14 had the switch

 

My mistake then.  I think, at some point, they did drop the switch. Might have been when they "soft-rebooted" the Sterling line a few years back. 

11 hours ago, neepheid said:

I briefly owned an OG SB14 many years ago, but never played a USA Sterling.

 

My question would be - what do you think you're missing out on by not having a EBMM Sterling?

The old SB14s (the original Sterling series) were very close to the US Sterlings - all they were missing was the coil selector switch. I'm actually still looking for a CAR one! 

Most MM replacement pickups are made to replicate the Stingray pickup - the Sterling pickup is more like a 4-string version of the pickup in the Stingray 5, with alnico magnets and a phantom noise-cancelling coil. Delano do an alnico MM pickup that'd probably a closer match to the Sterling than the Nordstrand. As for a replacement EQ, the Retrovibe one gets very close to the original Stingray preamp and it's stupid cheap. I'd actually leave the stock circuit alone as it's close enough to the original and maybe just upgrade the pickup. 

One place where G&L have found a bit of a niche is amongst cash-strapped Tool fans. Out of the box, they probably have the closest thing to a Wal sound of any production bass. Obviously the electronics are very different, but they have a very similar character in the high mids. So a lot of Tool fans have been gravitating towards them as it gets them "close enough" to the Chancellor Wal tone. 

The 5s are 17.5mm, whether it's a US or Tribute model. They're very similar - the Tributes have flatsawn maple necks compared to the quartersawn ones on the US models, they come in a much more limited range of finishes, and the body woods tend to be heavier, but, otherwise, they're practically identical. The pickups and electronics are the same. 

G&L Tributes are one of the best bargains out there, basically, and are criminally overlooked, considering their Leo Fender lineage. 

Just another couple of names for the list - I seem to recall he was playing Canadian Lado basses for a while. I can't find a picture of him with it, but I'm pretty sure it was one of these: 

He also played an Ibanez Sabre-style bass that was a kinda flip blue/purple colour.

EDIT: Joe Lado is now 80 years old and is still building guitars. They also have a FB page: https://www.facebook.com/ladoguitars

Actually been finding myself wanting a late-80s Longhorn (b*ner) Jazz as of late. They're over 30 years old so they're classed as "vintage" now and they're still quite affordable. 

I'm still waiting for some consensus on their long-term reliability. I haven't heard nearly the amount of complaints that I've heard about the old Portaflex series and the SVT-7, but I have heard a few. Mostly about the lower-powered models, strangely. 

Martin have a new short-scale acoustic bass, the 000C Junior. They're actually guitar scale (24.9"), but sound very full and play like an electric. No 5-string yet, although I am trying to persuade them.  

DISCLAIMER: I work for Martin. But I don't get anything extra for pimping their stuff on websites.  

9 hours ago, BabyBlueSound said:

 

It's still a big lottery for £250 when you can get 2 proper Harley Bentons for that price...

If you want something to play out of the box, definitely. HBs are ridiculously good value for money, and are testament to what a cheap Chinese factory can produce when there's proper quality control in place. 

If you're a tinkerer and are looking for a mod platform, you could do worse than go down the path of the Chinese custom builder on DHGate though. I think that's the point I was trying to make. 

The brightest basses I've ever played... well, one would be my old GB (now owned by @meesterbassman)- Bernie makes a point of his basses having a very extended top end, he always called it the "high-tech sound". It was also all ash and maple, so it was a very bright, trebly bass to begin with. 

Others would be pretty much any Status - the top end you can dial in on those is crazy. And MTD - those custom Bartolinis they use are super-crisp, and they'll definitely shred some tweeters with the treble control dialled right up. Also, pretty much any bass fitted with a John East U-Retro or Uni-Pre- the high end boost you get when you pull up the treble control is very sharp. 

On 20/05/2025 at 06:42, Woodinblack said:

The bongo is pretty good, but they all are really until the strings go dull

I've owned several Bongos, and still have one. They can go pretty high, but not "pingy" - their character is mostly in the high-mids rather than super-high treble. 

10 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

I don't see those replies as elitist at all. They make a valid point. You say you don't have much money to spend on this, but you'll be willing to risk a couple of hundred quid (that I can see on DH Gate for this model) on what is effectively a lottery and potentially unplayable, and non-retrunable.  Not to mention, you may have to pay import taxes as well, and you're willing to spend more money and time to upgrade it?

 

There are far cheaper and risk-free options available that are more likely to be perfectly playable, even giggable, straight out of the box. Harley Benton from Thomann, or Gear4Music's in-house brands for instance. Don't like them - send them back. Or try your local Facebook Marketplace - you can try them out in person before buying them.

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you really want a Duff McKagan bass on the cheap!

The reason I'm not discounting it entirely is because an old work colleague of mine ordered a bass on there - it was a blatant copy of a Mayones Commodus, and it cost him £250. When it showed up about two months later, it was actually pretty bloody nice in terms of construction, woods, etc. Well balanced, not too heavy, and the maple top was a proper top, not just a veneer. The fretwork needed lots of attention, and the electronics were just cheap, noisy s**t. He replaced them with an EMG 40DC set (the bass was routed for exactly that pickup size), got a full setup and fret job done, and the thing ended up being the equal of any £1000+ bass for about half the money. I've also seen stories of people who bought the Faux-deras off there and did the same thing and they ended up being excellent instruments.

They'll have no resale value whatsoever, but they're basses you'd buy to mod and play and not feel too guilty about, since they're not particularly expensive.