Trueno

I always wear ear plugs.

Seeing that you mentioned strings... just put flats on both of mine (d’Addarios). It’ll be interesting...

Our first rehearsal next Wednesday and I can't decide... made a lot of changes to the basses since lockdown and not tried them out in the mix yet. The Jag has EMG Geezers in it and I think it sounds amazing. The Mustang has a KiOgon loom and Mrs Trueno thinks it cuts through better. Just been trying to twang along a bit without putting the windows out. More twanging with my home practice amp and trying out some different settings on the new SansAmp. Not a bad problem to have...

Medium scale... too long for me... Anyway... a question for fellow SS’ers. I absolutely detest relic’d basses... but find I’m getting warm fuzzy feelings each time I consider a JMJ Mustang. I only like the blue ones, though, and can’t seem to find any at the moment... only the black ones. Anyone know if a new batch is due or is it black only from now on... relic AND black is a step too far. edit... hopefully not a derail...

We have our first rehearsal in 14 months next week. Thankfully we have decided to do without the BVs to lessen the chance of the lurgy flying around the room. My backing vocals are strictly oohs, aahs and unison football-type chants... delivered with bad grace. Not only does it sound awful, but it distracts me from playing the best bass lines at key moments. I shall take the opportunity to point this out. I would try really hard if I had the voice of an angel, but I don’t... I have a nasty strident voice which has to be turned down in the mix... that’s why I’m predominantly a sax player. I can do harmonies because I used to write the horn lines for previous bands... but it still sounds awful from me. Easiest to stick to 5ths for starters.

This. I adjust my strap so that the bass is at the same height when sitting and standing. It doesn’t look cool but avoids unnecessary wrist bending. Although... the bass tends to hang in a different position when standing. I’m totally short scale now. There are some great SS basses out there at all price points.

Ordered two sets of flats from them yesterday afternoon. They arrived in the post this morning. Absolutely no complaints here.

I’ve tried guite a few but always come back to D’addario.

It might have to go back on the GAS list...

I really like the look of these. The main issue I have is that I’d find the tone that suits me and never touch the buttons again. It’s a bit of a waste of buttons. If they did a VVT version I’d go for it.

To my eternal shame I allowed myself to be persuaded to sell my Iceni Zoot bass because it didn’t fit in with the image of a 60s band. Since then, every band I’ve been in have had to put up whatever bass I decide to turn up with. I played fretless during my tenure with a heavy-ish rock band... no-one complained. If the band gave me a £2,500 bass to play with I’d give it a go.

I’ve shared my gear and had no problems. We’ve even garnered some goodwill with other bands. One lot turned up to one of our pub gigs and we agreed to support each other etc etc. Must admit that I’d think differently if I had a bad experience.

This. You can experiment with angling the cab at zero cost... just jam a few books in. Then you can either buy a fold up wedge (markbass and aer make them) or cobble up something yourself

Well... I’m not selling my Squier Jag SS. I paid £180 for it. I put a Gotoh bridge on it... just because I had one hanging around... and also put EMG Geezers on it. It has a neck to die for (if you like skinny necks) and is my number one gigging bass. My former number one... a Mustang with Nordy pickups is now reserved for “special duties”.

You could put it directly into the effects return and bypass the amp’s pre-amp... or you could feed directly into a FRFR active speaker... or directly into a PA (with suitable monitoring). As I’m currectly in a band with backline and mostly vocal PA my preferred method is to get my set and forget tone on the preamp pedal and put into the amp preamp with eq and drive set flat... then I can make minor tweaks on the amp to suit the room (if necessary) with messing with my pedal killer tone.

Looks like it’s been wrapped in gaffa tape and thrown on a barbecue. I wonder if Fender Custom Shop relic’ers could replicate that... could start a new fashion.

I sold a Markbass extension cab because I never needed to use it. I never regretted it at all. I now have a Rumble 500 and wouldn’t consider an extension cab now. I think it’s important to make space for stuff in your house. I’d sell it.

Just arrived today (thanks, Gear4Music) This is to replace my much-loved, much-gigged EBS Microbass II. I rather like the EBS, but thought it was time for a change. I tend to be a set-and-forget guy and was finding the EBS a bit over-featured and over-knobbed for my tastes. I kept thinking... what if I mess with this knob (oo-er, missus). Been twiddling with the new SansAmp today and am much impressed.... I'm tending to settle on the SVT settings, at least to begin with, after trying with my Orange Crush 50 practise amp. Time to put it on my very minimalist pedal board, where it will share space with the Boss Tuner and hopefully try it out with my proper, grown-up Fender Rumble 500... possibly with rehearsals taking off in late May. I know there is nothing new with this pedal for a lot of you, but I'm chuffed as a mint!

I swapped mine for a KiOgon loom with stacked volume controls... works a treat and sounds much better.

Hofner Club HCT... with enough change left for Tomastic flats and a vintage leather strap.

Have you ever considered going active... Klingon pain sticks?

Wenge and bubinga... you obviously prefer Warwick fighting sticks.

Nice bit of Wenge in those sticks...

Well... you can keep your hands off my bass for a start...

It’s better to burn heretics with alder... gotta get the density and resonance right to get that spark.