Machines

On 27/11/2023 at 21:07, ardi100 said:

Also, has anyone sorted out the output dial detents issue? I click is too quiet for home, 2 clicks is thunderous!

Set your input gain lower or use the active input.

Been using Ashdown most of the last 20 years, never needed their repairs dept so far.

N.b. I've recently become an Ashdown artist so any praise from me is most definitely be biased 😂

5/5

MTD Kingston Super is a good shout too.

*screenshots foot pics*

Is that a typo in the price ? £2300 seems much more like it !

Here's MTD Kingston Super 5 I got earlier this year, has been upgraded periodically and now is 10/10. It was perfectly serviceable stock, but I saw a few examples of these mods and they looked so much better.  

Biggest differences are probably aesthetic (no more easily tarnished chrome), but a few practical ones too (e.g. switching, and passive option). It did cost me a small fortune, but I can't see myself ever selling it. With the 3 way coil taps giving 15 sound options and this preamp, it can pretty much do everything.

I am most pleased that I installed all of these myself, too (with only mild swearing).

• Bartolini DL5CBC Pickups
• Bartolini HR-5.4AP/918 Preamp (18v)
• Hipshot B Style bridge
• Hipshot Ultralite tuners
• MTD USA Knobs
• Dunlop Straplocks
• 2 x 3 way coil taps (Removed series option to have single coil/parallel/single coil)
• Satin finish polished to semi-gloss.

@Napalmnun Nice score. I don't want to know how much that cost 🤤.

6 hours ago, GuyR said:

Look on eBay, filter in the left of the screen for sold prices. That will give you a start,

There are some shocking underpriced examples where the item is collection only in a remote location. 

n.b. I have now added a 3 way coil tap for the humbucker, so you can have either front coil/parallel/rear coil, exactly like a Lakland 44-02. 

1 hour ago, dyerseve said:

It definitely isnt spalted anything - burl something yes, spalted something no

I'm so glad you cleared that one up, thanks for contributing 🥴.

1 hour ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

Yeah I know. I'm just curious. It's a great looking bass. I just want to see the rest of it. 😁

 I took some it seems.

11 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Those were sold as "Birds eye" poplar.

 

I had  the spalted maple version in 4 & 5 strings, cap on the 5'er was gorgeous.

Well, I actually copied and pasted the tech specs from the JHS website 14 years ago in the review - it was advertised as spalted poplar. However looking at a fair few images across Google, it does strike more as a poplar burl. It's all about academic really, it looks nice whatever it's called.

6 hours ago, dyerseve said:

Cracking looking bass but i believe that is maple burl rather than spalted maple...

We're both wrong - it's spalted poplar.

6 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Have you got any pictures of the rest of the bass? Headstock / tuners etc?

I can take some, but this is a UK collection only sale.

May as well keep it at this price

Payson are not bad - but head to head I prefer Dingwalls every time. They seem to not have too much tension and that suits me.

I'm a big convert to MTD recently - lovely instrument, will sound great with those upgrades. Nice to chat in BassDirect last week ;).

3 hours ago, dan-horro said:

This is exactly what I have in mind for my Roscoe Beck, just I'm not sure how to deal when both shout coils, or north coils will be engaged together, for example positions 6 and 10 in your case?... Any issues there?

Thanks for sharing this mod.

 

Dan.

No problems at all, are in phase.

2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Sound thinking... but it's not in Azure.

It's the only cloud service I deal with 🥲.

1 hour ago, woodyratm said:

New site is better, though still quite slow. Maybe backend infrastructure needs upped. 

Probably skimped on the SQL DTU but I expect the web dev company has made a suggestion on that, its Cloud based so scaling should be very easy. I'm popping down there tomorrow and will feedback as was OK for me during my unofficial UAT. I made a few suggestions regarding the filters but they are as I saw it a few weeks ago.

9 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

This is the page I find most useful - https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/about-us/our-brands/

Agreed - it has actual context around each brand and isn't just a list of gear that doesn't give any insight as to where it's from, or what's good about it (e.g GuitarGuitar).

Here's my RM rig with my NG2 from a recent band videoshoot:

2 hours ago, EJWW said:

I didn't notice any other Ashdown basses there at all Matt

I was more than happy with it for the price, but... Fender Marcus Miller Jazz with East preamp, was not going to lose.

Was the blue one still there ? If so I owned it for <48 hours, then returned it as a Fender Marcus Miller Jazz appeared in stock, and I did a very expensive swap.

Agreed on top service, Gaz (manager) is a nice chap and has been in the guitar business a long time.

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Did I see this on ebay/ gumtree for less than £100?

If it was a couple of years ago, yes and I bought it. This is a different one though as had painted headstock face.

For about 90%* of players, no there is no point - they are happy playing standard tuning and if the music they play doesn't necessitate it, it is likely to be superfluous.

For my band, it is absolutely necessary. The guitarist is tuned to C#G#C#F#G#C# (or D♭A♭D♭G♭A♭D♭) and uses a capo also on some tunes, the B features quite heavily in most keys he plays and I have the ability to go up or down from his roots. In fact throughout our songs, there is no fret on the B string below 7 I dont use.

*This is apx data based on 2nd hand items for sale on eBay/Reverb currently.