Tokalo

Alex is - quite simply - a very pleasant chap! He just bought an Hpf pedal from me. When I found he lived nearby, and I had a rehearsal in Stevenage that week, he was more than happy to meet up, even though it inconvenienced him a lot more than me.

I treated myself to a new bass - that is far better than my playing deserves - in December: it’s taking a bit of getting used to, but the more I play, the more I find I get on with it. It went to luthier to have an active/passive switch fitted, and I found I was pining after it every day. Now it’s back, I play every day. I find it very satisfying. (And I feel like I’m justifying the expense - can’t wait for this year’s first gig next month!)

I swapped out the pickup on my Sandberg Electra VS4. I found the original sounded like JJ in The Stranglers. Great, but not what I needed: I wanted a more vintage sound for gigs with a dad rock band and a soul band. I put in a (not expensive) Kent Armstrong pickup which just sounded more suitable. I’m not sure I could have tamed the mids/highs enough using eq without losing a lot of the original note?

Gary has just installed a passive/active volume control on my new MTD Kingston. At the same time, he straightened the neck on my Spector Coda - for free! Over the past few months he also did a setup on my stepson’s Ibanez SR1605 (“it’s never played as well”), and repaired a bridge on friend’s son’s classical 6 string (“he was so nice and helpful, and did a great job”). Highly recommended!

Ordered a b-stock bass (MTD Kingston Z4) in December. I’d been watching it for months, just hoping I might get a Christmas bonus big enough. Bonuses were announced on 8 December, so at that point I knew I had enough. But when I checked it was still available, the price had increased by £100! I must have just been no more than a week late. I phoned on the off-chance that there was room for negotiation, but before I’d even finished my first sentence, Mark said I could have it for the earlier lower price. (He also delayed despatch so it would arrive on a day when my good lady was at the office!) In short: super service!

Thanks for all the comments. I wasn’t particularly looking for an active bass: it was the neck and the weight (and looks!) I liked. Stock p/ups are MTD proprietary Bartolini soapbars, which seem to do a good job through headphones. I use the tube drive on the Digbeth pedal to thicken up the sound, and to adjust the eq according to the room etc. My amp is a TC BQ500, which I tend to keep flat so it’s really just a power amp. It seems to me that the role of electrics on a bass is to capture as much of the whole tone (ie note + harmonics + sub-harmonics) as possible. So as long as the onboard preamp doesn’t take away any of the signal from the pickups, it will be staying put (though I’ll be asking GaryMac to add and push/pull passive pot).

I got myself a MTD Kingston Z4 with my Christmas bonus. All seems good (very good - really light, punchy p/ups, wonderful neck), although I can’t try it out at volume with a band for a couple more days. Reading around (on here and TB), there seems to be a consensus that the G&B preamp is a bit weak/thin. I’ve stretched my budget to buy the bass, and I’m not looking to spend more. It occurs to me that I have 3 preamps in my chain: 1 - on the bass; 2 - a Laney Digbeth on my pedalboard; 3 - the eq controls on the amp. So I’ve got plenty of options to thicken the sound and give it a bit of welly. Would I really see any benefit from swapping in a £170 - £210 preamp?

Blacksmith nano-carbon coated (AOT). I’ve been using them for 10 months on my gigging based, and very happy. Normally available on Amazon for about £22.

My 10-year old son was showing an interest in my basses, so I put an ad in the Wanted section for a small Jackson. Mick answered by offering to lend us his Squier mini p-bass. It’s the perfect size, and the lad was clearly comfortable. He’s played it every day, learning Living on a Prayer, Crazy Train, Back in Black etc. We’ve given Mick his bass back now (I believe he’s sharing it with someone else). My son is getting his own mini-bass for Christmas now. Mick is just the most generous and helpful guy. Not only by sharing a bass, but also selfless with his time and advice.

I put Ultralite lollipops on my PJ Mustang. Neck dive solved! (And I think they look less outsized /ugly too)

Jonny D has a review out: https://youtu.be/005lrJFMyRc?feature=shared Looks like pre-order only on the Ashdown website at the mo. (8.2lb makes the PJ a bit tempting if I get a bonus this year!)

Isn’t his workshop on the same farm site as the Three Brewers brewery? Could make for a rewarding trip.

As we were leaving, one member of staff said “have you been upstairs and tried the concert grands?” Now, I’m not a particularly scruffy guy, but I’m sure I don’t give off the air of someone who can afford £150k for a joanna. It was a bit surreal that they were so encouraging. I also played the Nathan East, not realising what it was nor how much it cost. What a delicious experience! Up till then, the best bass I’ve played was my Sandberg Electra VS4. How do I get it out of my head now?!

Yes, definitely not normal retail. A handy addition to my list of “Free Things to do in London”, though!