BillyBass

No that's the wife when I've been spending too much on gear! If I had a £2k American vintage II 60's precision she wouldn't be allowed near it.

That is lovely, I am quite envious.

I'm still in the process of finding out what are my preferred strings but I'm a fan of the NXYL nickels. They are the only strings I have liked as soon as they were on the bass; most strings need a few days to lose that overly bright edge when new, in my opinion. The EXL170s are fine too, nothing to write home about but nothing wrong with them either. I have a packet of the XT coated nickel plated steel strings, which I'll use on the next bass that needs new strings. I believe they are basically the EXL170s with a coating to make them last longer.

Our first gig, coming up in less than 2 weeks:

It is taking the mick a bit isn't it. Also, the song is no doubt copyrighted by whoever owns Michael Jackson stuff, so doubly taking the mick.

https://harleybenton.com/product/mv-4jb-gotoh-sb/

Your video is now on the Harley Benton website.

Those Harley Bentons have a lot of fans, I've been tempted by the shell pink PJs with he Gotoh tuners. Some do complain about the weight; how much does yours weigh?

The 135 was a big improvement over the stock B string, which, I believe, was a 120. I don't have any experience with fivers other than my Charvel, so I'm not sure how realistic my expectations of the B string tension in a 34" scale bass are. The 135 improved things but it could still be better. I bought a 140 d'Addario single a while ago and when I next change the strings I'll try the 140. Hopefully it will be ok in the nut. My current band doesn't go below E so I just use my 4 strings at the moment. When I'm using the fiver in a band setting again I'll spend more time on it.

Seems not to be in stock, but if you don't mind waiting. £761 but I think you can get another £5 off if you subscribe to their newsletter, or something, it was a pop up when I went on the site. I would be interested to see if the stock pre amps improved with the platinum pearl and black models? By the way, have you changed the B string on your red fiver? I stuck a 135 in and I might change that to a 140 shortly.

Signed

There is a lot to stoke up the Gas on their walls but if you gas after stuff like Jabba basses and Nortstrand Acinonyxs, you would probably escape with your credit card intact. Enjoy the case, I might be acquiring one of them soon myself.

I went to Peach guitars before Covid. I was the only customer there at the time, though it was probably midweek. Much better stock of basses than Andertons, Guitarguitar, or DV247 etc.

Expensive, but the most versatile pre amp available to us over here in the UK, as far as I know. Before you shield it, just loosely fit the pre amp in the appropriate places and you'll see what I mean about having to drill out the last hole a bit and the need to remove a bit of wood for the bass/treble pcb thing. If you are used to this, apologies in advance for teaching granny to suck eggs but...drill from the outside in. There will often be an 'exit wound' when drilling and that is best on the inside of the cavity and not on your shiny metallic blue finish. I only needed to drill it out a tiny fraction mind. Then, after removing a few mm of wood in the cavity for the bass/treble thing, shield it. I jumped straight in, shielded it all, put the pups back in and then thought the pre amp would be a quick job but then had to chop away a bit I had just shielded!

Phwoar!😘

Amazon The Charvels are lovely aren't they, such comfortable necks.

I'm still keen. I might take two.

Hi @la bamI presume your bass is the Charvel you mentioned in the other thread. If so, I suggest you shield it whilst you are removing its guts. The benefit of the sticky copper tape used for shielding is that you can place an earth wire onto it and then stick another bit of sticky copper tape over the stripped end (making sure the strands are splayed out) thereby connecting it to earth without the use of a soldering iron. Still, soldering irons are cheap and it doesn't take long to get the hang of using them

Oh and....pictures please😃

I used this: https://www.east-uk.com/product/uni-pre-5-knob/?v=79cba1185463 Be aware, it isn't quite plug and play. I had to drill out the 5th knob hole, slightly, to allow the active/passive push-pull pot to fit. Also, the bass treble knob has a long pcb thing fitted to it rather than being loose, connected by wires. The problem with that is the Charvels have shallow sections in the cavity where the knobs go; this then rises a few mm about a cm or so past where the knobs fit. Unfortunately, the John East bass/treble pcb thing is too long and though it fits in the cavity with room to spare, it doesn't fit into the shallow section around the knob hole. Consequently, I had to remove a few mm of wood inside the cavity where the bass/treble bit would fit. So I would say the John East stuff does require you to have a few tools handy...or get a luthier to do it I suppose. I like the John East pre amp as it has semi parametric mids and a proper passive side with a passive tone knob. You pay for that though, they aren't cheap. I had a Nordstrand pre amp fitted to my Charvel fiver but I prefer the John East

Yep, what they said 👆 Early 70s: Glam rock, Prog, Bowie, Sabbath, Zep and Purple Late 70s-early 80s: Punk, & (what later became known as) post punk, Rush Though I was more into the Sex Pistols and the Damned at the time, the mid to late 70s had some great disco stuff out of America too.

Our guitarist was firm about not wanting a second guitarist but he was a rhythm guitarist trying to do lead and I think instead of putting the effort in to adapt he would veto stuff he found difficult.

We are a punk band/new wave band so all our songs roughly fit into that category. With a previous band we tried Hotel California but it was vetoed by the guitarist as it was him on his own and I think the Eagles had three guitarists, one with a double necked guitar.

I think we pay quite a bit extra for American goods. The manufacturers never know how much the exchange rate will vary so they err on the side of caution and add more to our price. I would think twice before buying something with a warranty I wanted, like an expensive Mesa head, but American strings or pedals are possibilities.