philw

Anybody here have any experience of the Tech 21 VT 200 combo? It seems remarkably affordable and I'm not getting on particularly well with my current TC BG250. Thanks Phil

My Wal is lined 'cause I naively ordered it that way back in '83, but at least I had the sense to specify rosewood lines in an ebony fingerboard so they're only visible if you look hard. Anyway, I soon discovered that, for me anyway, lines compete with chocolate teapots in the usefulness stakes. When I look it's at the side dots (don't get me started on dots positioned between the "frets"! What utter madness is that?). And, well, I sometimes wonder what kind of looks an orchestral string player would get from their colleagues if they turned up with, say a lined violin? Happy New Year P

Me too. This come to just over €2k...

That's a lovely looking bass. The sound hole on the side won't make much difference in terms of what the audience hear. There's broadly two elements to the acoustic radiation of any acoustic guitar. First, the bass mostly comes out of the sound hole, but as low frequencies are radiated omni-directionally ('cause the wavelength is so long - around 9 metres at 40Hz), it doesn't really make any difference where the sound hole is positioned. The second element is the mid and high frequencies and they mostly come from resonance of the "top" panel - which is why the wood type, thickness and bracing technique are so important - and the top faces the audience so radiates towards them. Having said all that, your lovely looking acoustic bass still, like all acoustic basses (except full size double basses), probably won't be loud enough to compete with the interminable dirge of pretty much any six string acoustic guitar. Just had a quick look at the APC website (https://apc-instruments.com) - an interesting outfit that I had no idea even existed. P

1500 drum edits in one song is way, way too many in my book. Sounds to me like you were fixing the wrong problem.

Just on the off-chance that anybody in or around Brighton needs a cardboard box in which to ship a bass, I've just had a new bass delivered so I have a box going begging. PM me if you want it. Phil

Why on earth would they delete the DI out on the B3n? I use it all the time on my B3 for gigs where I just rely on fold back for monitoring. Doh! Looks like the HX Stomp is worth a look. Shame it's not cheap. P

Thanks both. Is the Zoom B3n considered that much better than the B3?

I've been using a Zoom B3 for a while now and there's no doubt that it does what it says on the tin and offers huge variety of options, but I've never been totally convinced about the quality of its effects. They all seem a bit hard and crunchy somehow with very little in the way of subtlety. So, what alternatives are there that perhaps major of effect quality rather than effect quantity (and no I don't really fancy a pedal board populated by loads of individual stomp boxes). Suggestions please.... Ta Phil

Wouldn't have been mine in the store as I've had it since new. Sounds like you saw a similar fretless with wenge body facings though and they're pretty unusual as Pete Stevens always argued that walnut suited fretless better. He used to advise against wenge for fretless, but I did it anyway 'cause I so loved the look. Didn't regret it for a moment. P

Naked self promotion I know, but I just did this... https://www.soundonsound.com/people/why-love-fretless-bass Phil

I had the Lake Placid Blue version for a bit. It was lovely. Can't really think why I sold it. You can hear it on this: https://open.spotify.com/track/4lWTJo2iTvgh8cSEv3tgGe?si=8WuFBnd6SGW9BHPTaT2ZKg P

Didn't Rob Green of Status fame have something to do with the Lodestone basses? Would be worth asking him anyway: [email protected] P