T-Bay

I used to have a couple of Cadets, the James versions of the Plover, a J5 and a J15. Good fun bikes but incredibly rare now when you think they were the workhorses of many working people for decades and sold several hundred thousand here and overseas. I saw a plover a couple of years still in daily use outside the police station in Kusadasi Turkey.

Another vote on the B3, mine has now gone but it was a useful way to work out what I wanted. I have still gone through a good few pedals that I thought would be what I wanted but didn’t work how I hoped. The ones I still use all the time are compressor, overdrive/ distortion, chorus and a small killswitch. There are others but they aren’t essential really.

Possibly but are Jowett, Riley, Belsize still well known car makes? I still have a James Captain motorbike but I doubt 0.1% of the population would have a clue what one was. The world moves on and the 80s were several decades ago now. As such Aria seem pretty much unknown to every bass player I meet. I always get comments on how good it sounds and then a non plussed look when I say it’s an Aria. Sadly the new ones aren’t up to much from the ones I have played.

This will sound really stupid but I don’t know. I bought it off here and the guy couldn’t remember which he had set it to. It was perfect out the box o I haven’t dared mess around with it in case it was one of his own making and I can’t get it back. The one way nature of the TC toneprint is their only major flaw.

The one and only song that I 100% veto, if I ever hear it when I am out I leave. No idea why It annoys me so much, possibly all the times I have heard it in full on cliche mode.

Had an interesting one today, I have recently swapped the valves in my OTB head and was at the first proper rehearsal since. The new valves are AT7s instead of AX7s. From the off the sound was terrible, very flat, no body or energy. I messed about with a few controls but no luck. Then I noticed that the Spectracomp knob had been knocked and was at 4 o’clock instead of its usual 9 o’clock. One quick turn and the full body sound was back. The new valves have given the extra clean headroom I wanted but I was surprised how much the Spectracomp seems to ‘clean’ the signal and affect the performance of the amp.

I built a Thunderbird body with a Fender style neck, I hate cloverleaf so put the style of tuners you tried and it’s great. Looks far better than the standard ping pong bat sized ones.

I have an 80s Aria Pro that is fantastic, light, great sound and one the best necks I have played. Bought for peanuts.

Same experience here, swapped from rotos to reds after a thread on here and finding the life much better and sound 95% as good.

Thanks, I was up in Derby today as it happens, I grew up in Spondon and my Mum is till in the same house.

Thanks for the suggestions, will check them out

I haven’t owned one but tried one at PMT and was disappointed with the sound - it seemed to drop the minds too much, and certainly went nowhere close in distortion terms to the mojomojo which is sold as an overdrive, for me the overly aggressive nature of the mojomojo was the reason I sold it on. But as mentioned above some people on here @Alkrow for one, love them for the OD/ mild distortion. ‘A bit of grit’ doesn’t sound to me like the OP wants a full on distortion at max gain anyway.

I have one of the Thomann personal monitors, one of these: https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_box_ma5.htm They are similar to those made by a few other makers I believe. Does anyone know where I could get a decent bag for one? I have searched the usual suspects and can’t find anything so far. I know a few people on here use them so after suggestions beyond the bag for life it is presently being transported in.

A couple maybe, but not a lot by any stretch and as the description was’a bit of grit’ then an overdrive could deliver that could it not? And your AGRO is arguably more OD than distortion anyway. And there are hundreds (thousands?) of options out there so just because one option has been suggested doesn’t mean the thread is done and dusted. As with many things, the wider range of experience you draw on the more likely you are to find something that fits your needs.

You will get a load of replies and I would suggest you try before you buy if you can. My experience is- EHX big bass muff - nice sounds but could not get the subtle sound I wanted Mojomojo- did not work at all for me, but a couple of people on here love them dark matter - way too aggressive for what I wanted Boss Bass driver- great sound but expensive and probably over your budget Soul Food- great sound from warm fuzz to full breakup and can be had cheap Blackstar valve drive- not bass specific and a bit fizzy

Mark O’Toole for me, FGTH is not my sort of thing really but his basslines are so brilliant when heard on live recordings (I appreciate some of the session recordings were not done on a bass).

Now on their way to a member on here......

Behringer Microphone, only had a couple of Behringer things before and they were terrible. This was so cheap I thought I was worth a go. Seems to keep up with lead vocalists Shure, in fact he was amazed by the quality. In a recording studio you may well see the difference but it’s fine at the dog and duck on a Friday.

Just put in a pair of JJECC81s in my OTB1000. So far so good, they sound similar to to the 83s bit much more clean head room before the warm fuzz builds. A very worthy swap. Next gig is a week today so will see how they do in the mix then.

There is enough meat there to cut it properly and use a slightly wider nut.

It was a twenty minute slot, if you ‘get in’ then you are looking at a booking a month at least at nearly double the going rate so worth doing. Just didn’t work for us but hey ho.

We do it, exuberance may lessen the effect a little at points but it is important.

I find the mild overdriven sound helps when playing as a three piece as well, it fattens out the sound nicely (even better with mild compression).

It will be ok but might not sound that great. That can be a negative for someone starting out but better than nothing!