BillyBass

The riff at the start of Eton rifles is a classic...its his Ricky.

I've just ordered as set of flats and a set of medium gauge ultimates. I've never tried nickel strings before.

Welcome to the Elf club. Peavey are selling loads of these; brilliant idea though, a bass amp that you can fit in your pocket and, as you point out, its green and says Trace Elliot on it! There was a bit of internet chatter when it first came out of an uprated version, maybe 500 watts but I suppose with these selling so well, Peavey needn't bother. I've just been reading another of your posts about the Ashdown CTM300 you've just treated yourself to. Thats a bit of a contrast, one amp that needs a fork lift and an Elf!

It won't be duplicating his free stuff but a lot of it may be in the SBL courses available to members; membership that, unfortunately, we pay for. I'll let you know.

In that case, I'll let you know how I get on with SBL's 'The Practice Accelerator' as I have enrolled for this and today is day one. I was of two minds about enrolling on this as I thought I might be paying for information that is mostly already available on SBL's website anyway (I'm a member) but I thought I need help in structuring my practice regime so I'll fork out for it. Too early to comment yet but I'll post a review in 8 weeks time when it finishes. The pricing for SBL stuff is all in US dollars but as a SBL member I got $50 off and it came to £77, which was $97 converted to Sterling by my credit card company. I think I read that the bloke from Talking Bass used to work for SBL but he set up his own site and is now a rival to SBL?

I'm, not sure if you are still looking for info on paid for courses, as you seem to have enrolled in a couple at Talking Bass, but... I first picked up a bass in August 2018 and signed up with SBL. I found lots of help and information but was still often at a loss as to what to practise. There are loads of courses, most of which weren't appropriate for a beginner but there still was enough for me to be getting along with. I did the 26 week 'Technique Accelerator' Course last year and it was just what I needed. The claim that '30 minutes per day' is all you need is a bit misleading. I needed more than 30 minutes. Some, more experienced, with fewer bad bass habits might only need 30 minutes but I'm not one of them. The lessons on hammer ons and pull offs, fretting hand technique and 'economy plucking' were really useful. A lot of time was spent on ghost notes, perhaps more than I thought necessary, but it was still useful. The last few lessons are on pick and slap, you can't obtain proficiency with a pick or slap in just a few weeks but at least you get the means to have a go on your own. I found the pick instruction helpful but I needed to work out muting on my own and since the lockdown this is one area that I have been working on. Two weeks for slap is just a taster. Overall, it was well worth it for me. I think they start a new enrolment for this course about every 9 months. So you can't just sign up when you like. .

Hi Richard, I borrowed a G&L 2000 tribute from a friend for a month or two. The one I had was very well built, no obvious defects due to Far Eastern quality control. It was solid too, the bridge on these things is great. Tone wise, you have a lot of options, with two humbuckers and lots of alternative switching options, series, parallel etc. It has been called the Swiss army knife of basses. If you only ever want one bass its a great option as it is very versatile but if you want a particular sound from a bass, like a Precision, Jazz or Stingray then you need to buy the bass that produces that sound. A cheaper option you might consider is the G&L (tribute) kiloton, which is the single humbucker version, I'm seeing deals on them online.

Yes, it does have the strawberry creme from Quality street look

I have recently acquired this mini rig too. Sounds lovely.

I’ve just taken a day off to buy one. I drove to darkest Essex, to Peach Guitars to try one out, and compare it to an American Performer PJ (and a Reverend Thundergun). I was underwhelmed. I was hoping the way the tone and volume pots were done, I would get more tones out of it than the American Performer PJ. Not really. Maybe if I had played around with the controls a bit more or was listening to it through a different amp I would have heard something more. The Roasted maple neck is nice but it doesn’t really fit with the Man City colours of the body and pick guard, in my opinion. It definitely isn’t Bisto like, more Knorr pork gravy colour. The Reverend Thundergun is really light, at least compared to a Fender P. Good of you need to stand with one over your shoulder for a couple of hours but it felt like a toy compared to the Fenders I tried. Tone wise it’s fine but I’m really after a P or a PJ to put rounds on, so it wasn’t for me. So, I went to a guitar shop, with money, with wifey’s permission and I walked out without buying a bass! Peach Guitars is great for basses though, if anyone lives near Colchester they are well worth a visit.

Must be a typo, surely.

I’m starting to gas after this, not for the roast maple neck or daphne blue limited edition finish though. I like the idea of a pj with separate tone and volume controls for each pick up. Has anyone got any idea whether Fender are likely to mass produce pj basses like this, with their usual colours or Is this likely to be as limited as they say?

I have been tempted by the beat buddy (if only it didn’t cost £300) not for the headphone out but the drum machine with the ‘sobriety’ level. If the Zoom B1on makes a good headphone amp it could be a cheaper alternative. By ‘new one’ do you mean the Zoom B1four?

Thanks for that, I will invest in new headphones.

Thanks for replying gentlemen, I’m using AKG K701 headphones. They are hi fi headphones not studio or ‘bass’ headphones. Out of my humble Fender Rumble 15 they sound a bit light but I get enough volume. I assumed the Elf would be a step up sound quality wise but not so with headphones. I wasn’t sure if the amp was faulty, but perhaps, following La bam’s experience, maybe the Elf is just built that way: Good with a cab but poor as a headphone amp. I was umming and arring about whether to buy the Phil Jones big head but I thought the Elf could serve as a headphone amp and also as a practice/gigging amp, so I pulled the trigger. It looks great and is tiny but maybe not appropriate for my needs?

Hi all, I have just acquired a Trace Elliot Elf to use as a headphone amp. My thinking was to use it for silent practise at first and then to buy a cab to go with it later. I’ve only been learning to play the bass since August 2018 and this is my first head purchase. Anyway, I have been a little surprised at how much I have to turn the gain and volume on the Elf to be able to hear anything out of my headphones. I assumed I’d have to be very careful with the volume and gain as the amp is rated much higher than my Rumble 15 practise amp that I have been using, 9 times the wattage into 8 ohms. But no. I have to turn the gain up to about 4 o’clock and then the volume to about 10 o’clock to get the same volume level as my Rumble 15 with the volume level set at 9:00 o’clock. The green light above the gain knob then comes on with each pluck, and after playing a little while the fan kicks in, with every pluck. So, any Elf users out there, is this normal? Or should I get more volume without cranking up the gain so much? I was using a G&L 2000 tribute, in passive and active mode, and the active mode does give a bit more volume, so it isn’t the bass. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I’m dealing with the first symptoms of GAS at the moment. I’ll make do with my Ibanez For now but the London Bass guitar show in September will probably see the addiction take over. I’ll have to start thinking of how to explain my shiny new bass to she who must be obeyed.

Judging by your avatar I guess you are a Crass fan? I saw them play a couple of times, back in the day. Once at the 100 club on Oxford street and once in Walthamstow at a small venue whose name I’ve forgotten. This was probably 1980 or 1981. I loved the first album, Do they owe us a living, securicor cares etc

Hi all, I’m Bill, I live in north London and I have been learning the bass for about 9 months. I’m an electrician and I was replacing the lights in a local music shop and I couldn’t stop staring at a beautiful bass guitar hanging from the wall in front of me; it was a Yamaha with beautiful wood grain. So I decided to buy a bass and learn. I ended up with an Ibanez SG500 and am now addicted. I wish I had started to learn earlier! I’m 56 and still love the stuff I listened to as a teenager-punk rock, and what later became known as ‘post-punk’. But I also like most other rock, some jazz and classical music and opera. Bass heroes are: Jean Jacques Burnel, Peter Hook, Chris Squire, John Paul Jones, Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Bruce Foxton and loads of others. I am looking forward to learning from you all.