BillyBass

Frank, a picture of a couple of pickguards is inadequate. Where is the JMJ?

So do I.

We played the Belle Vue in High Wycombe last night. Not a bad little pub, I was able to park the van 3 metres from the door, which made the load in/out a lot easier. The small crowd were up for it and we had a few dancers, which helps. We tried a few new songs and most went down well so all in all, it was a good night. Next week we are back at the Load of Hay in Watford Here's a pic of the stage area, I took my lime green Charvel, GK Legacy 800 and Super Compact.

I've had the Sine effects HPF on my board for about a month or so and I have just acquired the Genzler Re-Q pedal, which is a 5 way eq pedal with high and low pass filters. There is a noticeable difference in the high pass filters on both. The Sine Effects 24db cut is a step off a cliff, whereas the Genzler pedal is more of an EQ pedal with the HPF and LPF being used interactively with the EQ for tone shaping. I also have a Rafferty HPF and a Thumpinator. I was after a step off a cliff under a certain frequency, say 35hz, not tone shaping, and I wanted a stomp box, not a desk top unit, so I'm keeping the Sine Effects and will be moving the Genzler and Rafferty HPFs on. My Thumpinator is faulty. They are expensive for what they are and, in my experience, not very good.

Welcome to the forum. Post a 'hello' in the introductions thread and let everyone get to know who you are.

As a bassist I feel a level of gratitude for the start SBL gave me as a complete beginner on bass. I paid for this, of course, but I consider this to be money very well spent. As the owner of a couple of businesses, I both admire Scott for what he has built and also understand he must be constantly thinking of and trying new things to keep SBL relevant. More and more bassists are flogging lessons online, particularly since the pandemic and Scott has to keep ahead or his business could fold. It isn't a one man band with a couple of hard drives full of lessons, he has employees that require salaries and several well known/semi famous bassists that work for a fee. The business must need a certain amount of new members every month to keep afloat and this requires a very prominent online presence. Youtube and algorithms being what they are, short videos with photo of Scott or someone else looking daft with his mouth open is part of the game, as are regular emails. I would imagine SBL's bread and butter are novice bassists. Most of Basschat's membership are not novices any more and possibly wouldn't be the main targets of SBL's marketing. I'm sure Scott is aware that SBL marketing may irritate some but ultimately, if it is working and the subscriptions keep coming in, he can live with that. He has a family to feed after all. Good luck to him.

The management leave lines of Charlie on the PA for you? How thoughtful. We only get free soft drinks at our gigs.

So, in NZ and Wales, sheep have another thing to be nervous of. Sorry

I find myself gassing after a particular bass due to its looks. When in a shop trying a bass out I'm mainly interested in how it feels in my hands and over my left shoulder. The sound is not unimportant but I will generally rule out a bass I believe would not sound how I want based on its pick ups and their placement. I have 9 basses at home and I often look at my collection in admiration and pick out a bass to practise with because I love the way it looks. For me appearance and feel are the things I consider first, and like several others have commented above, what I like may not be the same as others.

You don't see the 800w version up for sale 2nd hand that often. Unless you are buying new you might wait a while. I've followed your head trials on here and I think we like different sounds, however, you might get on with the Genzler. The two contours bring a bit of variety to a relatively clean tone. It certainly isn't anything like an SVT, tonally. But its not a Gallien Krueger either.

Shell pink and rosewood! Lovely.

The Telecaster bass does look cool but that pick up is really close to the neck. How muddy is that going to sound? A little unfair I think...it will be 2026.

I currently own three heads: GK Legacy 800 Genzler Magellan 350 TE Elf I have a GK Fusion S 1200 arriving at the end of September. I've only just got the Genzler 350, and this might take the Elf's position as back up. Hate to give it up though, its a great little head.

That would be a tidy little rig wouldn't it! With the top cab getting close to my ears.

No one has mentioned the Yardbirds yet. They had one or two, or three, guitarists that went on to do great things.

I saw this on eBay and thought I'd put in a cheeky offer, it was accepted and now I'm the proud owner of a Genzler Magellan 350 head. My first impressions are very positive. The EQ is quite versatile, there is a semi parametric mids section and a couple of contours: a mid scoop and a bass/low mid bump. I've been using the second contour at about 1 or 2 o'clock and leaving the EQ flat; sounds quite nice too. I will predominantly use this as a home practice amp but I might try it out at a gig. I doubt it will replace my GK Legacy though. Another plus is that it can take a total impedance of 2.67 ohms, so three 8 ohm cabs would be handled well.

That must be about the most unsexy gig anyone could play. If I was to find myself living in a place like that later on in life I really hope there would be people like you coming around to play. Top blokes the lot of you. Well done.

This is exactly my experience. I will only ever buy something from PMT if it is unavailable or much more expensive elsewhere, and then, I reckon on a 50-50 chance it will have to be sent back with a complaint. I will say though, that PMT are always polite, apologetic and helpful whenever I do complain.

Enough of the toilet seat humour if you please

I read it carefully, and disagreed.

So you read part of the post, decided it was an 'I had a 5-string once and couldn't get on with it' post and thought you would ridicule it. Why don't you try reading it again, but this time read it all and give yourself a bit of time to comprehend what was written. I'll include it below to make it easy for you. Where did I say 5 string basses were not comfortable? or that I don't like them? Going from my Charvel fiver's 44-45 mm nut width to my Charvel 4's 38mm is an increase in comfort, hence comfortable compared to a fiver, however, I never wrote anything about fivers being uncomfortable. I am also aware of more than one reason for playing a fiver and certainly didn't write there was only one reason in the post. I pointed out I find 5 string basses more versatile that 4s. I do get on with fivers and I love my Charvel 5 string. I play in a punk band and I generally play a 4 string P or PJ bass. I missed the Charvel 5er and playing one new song (from a different genre) with a low D was an excuse to get it out again. You misread my post. Or rather, you read part of it and thought you understood the rest.

Was this a comment on my post 7 posts above it?

If I had one or two gigging 4 strings then it would be worth considering. I have 8, and though some are more likely to be gigged than others, all are liable to be picked on the day. I'm not buying 8 bloody D tuners!

In my previous band the singer had us drop lower than E for quite a few songs, so rather than retuning my E string every other song, I bought a fiver. I then spent 6 weeks getting used to it and it became the only bass I played. I really appreciated the versatility the extra string gave. I then joined a punk band and got to use all my 4 string basses again and I remembered how comfortable they are to play compared to a fiver. My first band fell apart and since then, the fiver has been gathering dust and more 4 string basses have been added to the collection. Yesterday, while discussing a few new songs to add to our set, our singer asked us to play one of these new songs in D. So I dusted off the fiver and learnt the song with that. I'm of two minds whether to bring my fiver to rehearsals/gigs for just one song but as we are talking about adding a second set of songs the chances are more songs will need D and Eb. My take on 4 vs 5 is: 4 = comfort 5 = versatility