BillyBass

Ok, as there is a bit of interest...

https://theshfl.com/album/Utopia-1

https://www.deezer.com/en/album/72535512

1 hour ago, Big J said:

I had looked at so many basses that I was starting to fosters myself off. So. My plan was simple.

1. Drink some beers.

2. Open the iPad.

3. Don’t pretend to be deep, be your shallow self and look at things you think look nice.
4. buy it within 60minutes.

I'm not sure if you are new here or are a long time lurker and occasional poster, but, judging from the above, you are going to get along just fine on Basschat.

I've always found it difficult to buy a bass with a headstock I don't like and the I really don't like the Sire headstock, it reminds me of a Roman nose from an Asterix cartoon.  Nevertheless, the 4+1 of that Z series fiver takes my attention away from the end, I don't mind it.  I won't be buying one though.  I have 10 basses and any additions to the collection would have to be special; these aren't.

1 hour ago, bubinga5 said:

Absolutely nothing. I will play anything from any brand with any amount of strings. as long as it plays well is set up right, game on. Its music its not an adjustable spanner

Weirdo!

6 minutes ago, TimR said:

Yes. I was in a band that pretty much happened to. The singer was actually asked to leave, the drummer took on singing duties.

Then one of the guitarists said they were looking at houses on the Isle of Wight for retiring too. 

Then the drummer/singer announced he was moving and would have to leave. 

 

I politely told the remaining two guys I was off, but if they find a drummer and a singer to call me. 

I only joined this band initially as there was a drummer.  It was a drummer and guitarist advertising on JMB for a bassist.  Anyway, a drummer I have played with before got in touch and we had a rehearsal today, all seems fine.  I got back from the rehearsal to see a message from a singer/guitarist on JMB, so we might be alright.

Myself and the guitarist have put a lot into this band so we are not going to give up without a fight.

2 hours ago, Supernaut said:

For reference, I have no interest in playing technical blackened death metal on a Wednesday night at the Dog and Muck in Kidderminster.

Thank heavens for that!  I thought we had some rival competition there for a minute.

10 hours ago, neepheid said:

I have a different problem.  I'm in two great bands - we're having a godawful time finding a replacement singer for one of them at the moment.  So far had got nothing but unfortunately nervous people, poseurs, wannabes, liars and weirdos.  We're cursed.

Our drummer left...it looks like we have a replacement.  Now the singer/guitarist has decided to rest his dodgy vocal chords for 6-12 months, so we are now looking for a replacement singer too.  ☹️

Last night I saw the Claire Martin Trio at the Pizza Express in Dean St, Soho.  The (upright) bassist was a bloke called Jeremy Brown.  He was outstanding, playing walking bass lines all evening without looking at the fretboard and often not looking at his music either.  Googling this morning, it appears he plays for the BBC Big Band and various other groups and is a professor of Jazz Bass at the Royal Academy of music.  

Every now and again I get a bit complacent and start to think I know what I'm doing.  Then I see an expert play and I get brought down to earth. 

'All I Wanna Do' by Sheryl Crow.  It doesn't fit our music, it needs a bit of slide guitar and when I mentioned it to my band they all gave me funny looks.

I just really like the song.

4 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

I should've bought one of these when I had the chance, but I'm not a short-scale guy.

I'm neither a short scale guy, nor am I a semi-hollow guy either, at least not at the moment.  The music the band I play in cover makes the Triad or Decision P more appropriate.  

I wonder how neck-divey those Dub-Kings are?

6 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

I wish they hadn't discontinued the purpleburst they used to do.  I would have snagged it in a heartbeat.

 

I wonder why they did ?  Apparently it was there most popular colour.  I'm not complaining, I like the 'Periwinkle burst' but I would prefer purple to 'Periwinkle', which is a sort of mauve/grey finish/. Maybe there is a shortage of purple paint in Korea?

4 hours ago, neepheid said:

Welcome to the club. I love my Triad, I'm sure you'll enjoy yours very much also.

 

I was expecting the Periwinkle burst to be more purpley.  I might have gone for the Korina burst had I been able to compare the two colours in the shop.  That looks really nice.

1 hour ago, casapete said:

Are they generally light weight wise? 
Asking for a friend. 

Here is a link to the sweetwater site.  They show the weights of all the basses they have in stock:

https://www.sweetwater.com/c580--Reverend--Bass_Guitars?sb=popular&params=eyJmYWNldCI6eyJBdmFpbGFiaWxpdHkiOlsiSW4gU3RvY2siXX19

As does Peach Guitars in Essex, but they only have a single Reverend bass in stock:

 https://www.peachguitars.com/reverend-mercali-4-gunmetal.htm

My first bass was an Ibanez.  I had no idea what I was buying as, being a beginner, I couldn't pick it up and play it.  I read a few online reviews and they were all positive so that was the one I got.

I found out later that Ibbys aren't my thing but I needed to have one to realise that.  I suppose the narrow nut width and slim neck could have been easier for me to learn on, but my second bass was a MIM P bass, which I much preferred.

57 minutes ago, lidl e said:

The sound id prefer is kind of a musical howl rather than a buzzy chainsaw. 

 

Like the beginning sounds of Rusty Cage by soundgarden but on bass.

 

Does that make sense?

I believe it does make sense, yes.  So on the scale of: smooth synth like sounds right up to bit crusher glitchiness...I would say you can get the Rusty Cage intro sound with the Red Muck.   The pedal is at its most glitchy with an open E but, particularly with the D and G strings, you can get a sound like the intro to Rusty Cage.

1 minute ago, lidl e said:

How is it? Whyd you go for the muck over the rattler?

I had the Rattler and sold it, which I sort of regret now.

I am a Jam Pedals fanboi.  I have the Lucy Dreamer, Ripply Fall and now the Red Muck.  

The Lucy dreamer is a really good overdrive which gets quite distortion-like at higher gain settings.  I have found it quite useful.  I am constantly fiddling and tweaking but currently I am using it stacked with the drive on my Gallien-Krueger Legacy head and it produces a fat, warm, overdrive with plenty of low end.

I bought the Rattler to help reproduce Lemmy's sound as we had just started covering 'Ace of Spades'.  In spite of the online reviews, I found it sucked too much low end out.  I should have persevered and tried stacking it with other stuff but I sold it, to part fund a Gallien-Krueger Fusion 1200.

I bought the Red Muck after watching another 'Bass the World' video where Gregor stacks the Rattler and the Red Muck.  The Jam Pedals 20% off was too tempting and being used to the jam Pedals control layout I thought I would try.

Its early days, but so far...The Red Muck and Lucy dreamer don't stack well, however, the Red Muck sounds great on its own and gets thickened up when stacked with my Gallien-Krueger Legacy head's drive.

What sound are you after?  I know that isn't easy to describe sometimes.

4 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I play this very bass. It's a real head turner.

What finish did you get?  pics please😋

12 minutes ago, casapete said:

Totally with you on all these points.

They’re almost Danelectro like in their appeal for me, albeit with more options and better built. 

Merchant City Music have just received a consignment from Ohio, they have five 4 string basses and 4 fivers, including a beautiful 'orchid pink' Mercalli.  Just in case you felt like treating yourself this Christmas 😉

6 hours ago, lidl e said:

Anyone try a jam pedlas red muck? 

 

Im thinking a new distortion pedal might be what i want

 

I bought one a few days ago.  Jam pedals had a Black Friday 20% off thing that I made use of.

25 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

As covered elsewhere, dumped regular hifi many moons ago and went the Sonos route; audio is being delivered from Spotify and FLAC files on a NAS.  I have no issue spaffing £10+ a month on a premium subscription considering I'd spend £100+ a month on CDs in the past.

I got a free three month trial with Deezer when I bought some Sonos stuff years ago.  I just kept the subscription (they got me).  I pay a yearly subscription to Deezer and its pretty cheap.  I mainly use it to play along to songs my band covers.

8 hours ago, jd56hawk said:

I was aware of the company for years, but you simply don't see them hanging up here in the USA at Guitar Center or Sam Ash, so they were simply not on my radar.

Then, three years ago I went to Russo Music, a local shop, to pick up a Thunderbird I had on layaway.

Shop was very busy, so I took a look around, saw a Thundergun and thought to myself, "Wow, this thing looks too cool!"

Grabbed it and plugged it in and knew within five minutes that it was coming home with me...the Thunderbird didn’t.

7 hours ago, casapete said:

That’s a great looking bass Bill.
Although not anywhere near as far away from Glasgow as you, it’s probably still why I haven’t managed to 

try out any Reverend stuff. One of those brands where I’m drawn to their entire range!

I'm a Reverend convert.  I think you either like the look of Reverends or you don't.  I love the weird retro futuristic Jetsons look and some of the finishes-I like bright and flashy!  They also happen to be well made, sound good and come at a price point that I like.

13 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Do you get much of a volume variation across the pickups? Is the bridge noticeably louder than the neck or maybe vice versa?

After playing it more last night...the 5 positions are pretty much interchangeable, volume-wise.  The difference between the positions is less than changing from pick to fingers.  It makes the bass really quite versatile, it's a great covers band bass.

8 minutes ago, jd56hawk said:

Every time you see a Reverend bass hanging up at this or that music store, you can bet it's one of the best basses there.

I would say so, but then I'm biased!  Unfortunately, here in the U.K. very few shops sell reverend kit, just a shop in Scotland and another shop to the east of London.  The Scottish shop are the main dealers of Reverend in the UK, I had to bribe my missus with a spa break in Scotland to get up there to try them out.  That was when I bought my Decision P.

I had this delivered, because I live over a 7 hour drive away, but I tried enough Reverends when I was there to be comfortable buying sight unseen.  As you say, it was likely to be one of the best in the shop.

4 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Do you get much of a volume variation across the pickups? Is the bridge noticeably louder than the neck or maybe vice versa?

 

Positions 1, 3 and 5 appear to be similar.  2 and 4 appear to be less hot, so I'm guessing theses positions put the pups in series.  There isn't a big difference though.  More investigation needed.

Merchant City Music in Glasgow have just sent me a Reverend Triad in 'Periwinkle Burst'. 

Periwinkle Burst, is black around the edge and a sort of mauve/lilac, with a hint of grey, in the middle.  Of the three colours currently available with the Triad, this is my preference.  

The neck and headstock are lovely.  They are a dark roasted maple, which really fits the body colour well.  The neck is a 5 part sandwich and the lowest part is a darker shade of roasted maple, to the others, which I think looks really cool.

Appearance wise, I love it.  It's well made too, I can see no blemishes or poorly finished parts.

Using the bathroom scales, standing on with bass vs standing on w/o bass, it appears to weigh 3.8 kg

The pick ups look like jazz single coils but they are, in fact, humbuckers, so there's no noise.  I've been noodling with it this afternoon and I haven't yet found the position on the Strat style 5 way switch that I prefer.  I thought I would find position 3 to be my preference, but maybe not, we'll see.  The strings (D'Addarios, I believe) are new and I'll need to wait until they have lost their new round wound top edge before I really know what this bass will sound like, but so far, so good.