MartinB

Obviously he'd be mad to say "everythng is definitely being added to the old Helixes forever, 100% guaranteed". But given their track record, I'd personally be surprised if they immediately started acting like the current models no longer exist. Whereas I'll be _very_ surprised if the Darkglass Anagram is still getting updates 10 years down the line...

Yep, same problem

They've said that any new effects that they add to the Stadium will also be added to the rest of the Helix line where possible:

Crap speakers are going to cause problems for sure. But other than that, things that sound bad on Youtube are more likely to be down to a bad recording than anything to do with data compression: https://jimlillmusic.com/does-youtube-mangle-audio/

The answer will be "money". The margins are tight at this end of the price spectrum; maybe they can't get a good-enough Jazz built for the same price as the simpler Precision. Or maybe they think that a Sonic Jazz would eat into sales of the Affinity Jazz? There wouldn't be an obvious "upgrade" from one to the other, which would lead people towards the cheaper one. With the Affinity Precision you might feel you're getting more for your money because it has an extra pickup compared to the Sonic.

That crisp Stingray top-end 😙👌

And then for a change of pace:

You'll probably want to lower your action to get some rattle/grind from the frets

A decent comparison here, starting around 10:24:

The Pedalnetics stuff is really nice, but I built myself this for under a tenner 😁 The volume knob fits into a hole in the back - I only use it for the headphone level, so I don't need access when gigging. - 66.5 x 31.5 x 20mm box (RX2KL07) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121941168040 - Momentary footswitch https://www.bitsboxuk.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=116_128&products_id=3060 - Flat patch cable https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_fpc10_flat_patch_cable.htm

When a band plays over their allotted time, sometimes the sound person will shut them off - but sometimes they won't, and every band after them has to cut their sets short. Either way, there's no excuse for it. I can't control other bands, but I can make damn sure that my band are not being arseholes. Be the change you want to see in the world! 😁 I use mine as a timer - it resets to 00:00 whenever it's switched on, so it always shows how many minutes have elapsed since then.

On one of my other basses I replaced the stock tuners with Gotoh GB640s - but at the same time I replaced the bridge (standard Fender-type BBOT) with a heavier Gotoh 201B-4. The end result was that the total weight of the bass barely changed - but since what I'd lost at the headstock I'd added at the bridge, the balance was much improved. I'd have done the same with this one, but it's already my heaviest bass and I didn't want to add any more weight! 😅 Even with just the combination of lighter tuners and a strap with some grip on the shoulder, it's become more comfortable to play.

Nice! I made myself a similar board clock a few years back. I've been thinking about making a box to sit next to my HX Stomp to hold two auxillary switches, plus an input for an optional expression pedal - I might migrate the clock unit to it, since it's going to have some spare space between the switches.

The eagle-eyed among you may have spotted that there's no 4+1 set available from Retrovibe. I imagine that you if you asked David nicely, he'd sort you out - but I didn't, because I wanted to test a theory. While looking for affordable lightweight tuners, I also came across these: Allparts TK-7567-010 There's not a lot of information provided - in particular the expected headstock hole size - but they looked quite similar to the Retrovibe ones. So I took a punt on a single left-handed one. And sure enough: I'm would imagine these are the same model too: https://shoppartsland.com/kg700-r4-cr-p127/ Anyway - Retrovibe is still the best place to go for these, and they came with screws that felt less flimsy than the Allparts ones. Just wanted to share this extra info to help anyone fruitlessly googling the dimensions of the Allparts ones in the future 😄

Here's my Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass V: The neck is fairly chunky, and though I wouldn't necessarily describe it as divey, it's definitely not perfectly balanced. Each tuner + bushing + screws weighs 93g: What if they weighed... less? Enter Retrovibe UltraLite tuners! https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-ultralite-bass-tuning-machine-heads-clover-leaf-or-lollipop-only-224g-per-set/ 57g each, that's more like it! 180g less in total, which doesn't sound like much in the grand scheme of things - but every little helps when it's at the end of a long lever. Much like Hipshot Licensed 1/2" tuners, these are designed for a 3/8" (16mm) hole - but the Squier's are more like 17-and-a-bit-mm. There are metal adapters available, but they're a bit spendy for what you get. My alternative: a small sample piece of maple veneer from eBay, and cutting a strip to fit neatly around the circumference of each hole. This reduces them enough to give a nice snug fit on the bushings. There are only two screws needed for each tuner, and they're not close enough to the existing screw holes to cause problems. 2mm drill bit for the pilot holes; wax on the screw threads before fitting them, as they're tiny and the hard maple is at risk of snapping them. Et voilà! Is it life-changingly better? No. Is it marginal improvement that makes this bass slightly less unwieldy? Undoubtedly!