thodrik

If I was Gibson, instead of suing Mike Lull, I would be trying to hire him to get advice on how to build a better bass. I was thinking that either Gibson have never heard of Mike Lull, or they thought better of suing a company where the head has close connections to members of Pearl Jam.

Yes. Also there is no 67 gauge single equivalent so you can’t really get the same exact set. If D’Addario ever discontinued the 120-50 balanced tension then I will be very annoyed.

That makes two. Okay, someone call D'Addario and get them to make it happen!

That is actually good to know. Thanks!

Some folk would say 5-10 minutes. Myself, once I turn on my Trace V6 on I give it about 90 seconds or so before I hit standby. That is the case though if the amp is sitting in the same place and isn't being moved between use. If the amp has been in transit and I had just taken the amp from a very cold environment (from a car in the middle of December to a venue), I would probably let the amp sit for 5-10 minutes before I would even turn the amp on at all.

Okay, I will just say this. I love the D'addario Balanced Tension 120-50 set (pretty much the only set of production strings that work for me for D standard/drop C or the classic Black Sabbath tuning of C# standard). I must spend about a couple of hundred quid on strings a year. If Elixir or D'addario did an coated equivalent of that 120-50 then I would buy those. (Elixirs don't do singles of those gauges so it is not really an economical option).

I think that a Gibson Grabber would be popular. Far more versatile than the SG bass currently on the market (and I own an EB3 Also, a official licensed Korean/Japan made budget Rickenbacker 4001. Not going to happen though! A Trace Elliot GP12 SMX preamp with a class D power section would see a proper return to Trace Elliot’s roots, rather than a Peavey mini amp painted green.

Pretty much this. I would also add that the bridge design causes intonation problems and makes it really hard to properly set the action. Replacing it with a Babicz or a Hipshot makes a lot of difference. I have owned a 74 EB3 for nearly twenty years. It does THAT sound you love on Cream and Free albums but it only does that sound. If you desperately need or want that sound then get one. If you want a really versatile, light weight shorter scale bass then I would look elsewhere.

I find Amazon generally great when things go well but utterly horrible to deal with in event something goes wrong. For example: I ordered a CD, but I received the vinyl LP in error. I return the item via the Amazon returns system. I then go through the re-ordering process through the online box ticking via the Amazon interface system. I then need to send a 'wrong item description' online thingy which is then sent off but does nothing (because said online thing gets stuck in a processing vortex between Amazon and the seller/shop in question). I then re-order the correct item making clear that I am ordering the CD and not the LP (and taking screenshots to show that I am ordering the CD and not the vinyl). Click order. What happens next? Of course, the re-send me the vinyl and the process begins again. Had the issue happened with an independent shop, I could have just phoned the shop and said 'you sent me a vinyl when I just ordered a CD' and the matter would have be resolved in two seconds with a 'sorry about that. Can you maybe return the vinyl and we will post out the CD and refund you the postage costs of the vinyl?' exchange. For that reason, for any items of expense, I generally prefer ordering from a shop as if something goes wrong then I can contact the shop/seller directly rather than have to deal with the Amazon interface system. For the record, I am now just keeping the vinyl even though I don't own a record player.

A purr-fect pair of basses! Sorry... that was awful.

The one on the right is Lisa Ellis Hahn (Shop Manager) The one on the left is Chris Arena, who according to the Sadowsky site builds most of the Satin bass models. I just checked the Sadowsky site for the first time in ages (it looks so much better than before). There is now a 'staff' section: https://www.sadowsky.com/the-staff/

Congrats! I love that finish. A five string Sadowsky can cover pretty much anything. I love mine.

JJ's fitted in my Mesa Big Block and Single Rectifier. Sound better than the stock Mesas that were in there (though to be fair, I have no idea how long the said Mesas had been in those amps).

That is the best plan. You never know what you might end up preferring. All the best!

Such an article must surely have occurred after the following exchange at the office: Editor: 'Folks, we are on a tight deadline and we need some bass content urgently. Rob, can you just draw up some kind of list thingy based off your own preconceptions which requires no research whatsoever?' Rob: 'Sure thing boss, I will get right on it after I finish this Pot Noodle.'

I am seriously going to have to try one at some point!

I would concur with this amp. I only sold mine because I found it difficult to dial in my chosen sound at lower volume levels! For some big old MOSFET/Hybrid heft I would also heartily recommend: - EBS Fafner/TD 650 - highly flexible EQ sections, great for all styles of music. I own a Fafner. Very little fan noise or hum compared to Ashdowns I have used (and I have used Ashdown amps a lot over the years and do rate them as well). The only con for me with the EBS, is that I think that they are voiced a bit high and they don't really deliver a lot of big subs compared to a Mesa. In terms of stage sound though this is actually a benefit as your bass sound cuts through. - Mesa Big Block 750. Less sophisticated EQ section compared to the EBS amps or the Mesa M6. It does big rock heft and not really much else. Overdrive channel on it is glorious (way ahead of Darkglass in my opinion and I own the Duality, B3K and Alpha Omega pedals). If you want clean headroom and a 'flat' hi-fi tone look elsewhere though. Tough to find used for sensible prices. - Gallien Krueger RB heads: The RB 700 is a real classic. I really like them. - Fender 800 Pro - big heavy MOSFET sleds but very nice EQ systems. Nobody really bought them so you could probably get one fairly cheap. - old Eden World Tour amps: get one second hand. Pretty uncool these days (about as associated with 1990s as watching old episodes of Friends). Cracking amps though. Will any of the above amps be any better than the Darkglass head? That is subjective. Will the above amps be much heavier and thus automatically give the illusion of additional heft? Absolutely!

Welcome to the board! For light new cabs on budget, have you thought of the Ashdown Rootmaster series? The 4x10 is 46 lbs and RRP £399 The 2x10 is apx 34 lbs and £299 The 1x15 is apx 34 lbs and RRP £289. I tried an Orange iso 2x12. It was heavy for the size (not a surprise given there are two speakers in a box that looks like it only has one) but the tone was good. I didn't think that it had the onstage spread of sound compared to a traditional 2x12. If I was going Orange I would go for the individual 1x12s stacked which by themselves would be enough for most gigs. They are £399 each though so while not Mesa or Bergantino levels of expense I wouldn't consider them to be a budget solution though it would be a very good solution.

Scott Weiland in Velvet Revolver for me as well. I always thought Josh Todd from Buck Cherry would have been a great fit. However I heard that when he jammed with the band Slash and Duff thought he had the tendencies to be another Axl. Basically when you lose out on a gig to Scott Weiland because the band think that Scott Weiland is going to be less hassle than you it is pretty damning. Perhaps controversial I know, but it seemed to me like he was doing a substandard Axl Rose rather than being the kind of cool version of Scott Weiland that I actually liked in latter period STP. It was especially off-putting in the sense that Weiland had adopted very Eddie Vedder traits in the Plush era STP. Ultimately when I heard Velvet Revolver I always thought 'does Eddie Vedder ever get drunk and sing some Guns 'n' Roses songs for a laugh?'. Make no mistake, if he did, I would pay to listen. I would also say Lajon Witherspoon from Sevendust. Not because he is bad and the band are good. More that he is a great singer stuck in a (very) average nu-metal band.

If you set a bass up so that it is optimally set up for a specific tuning, then you are not going to cause any problems to the truss rod or the bass in general. You are not damaging the bass. You just need to be aware that you need to give the bass a proper set up before you back to standard tuning. For this reason it is worth thinking ''do I really need to use this tuning'?' before committing to a tuning. That tuning looks pretty strange though (Bb to F is a fifth, then F to Bb is a fourth, I think...). This would befuddle me in terms of the fingering (as a guitarist I don't like DADGAD tunings). I'm guessing that this would be cool if you need to use a lot of ringing open strings for a kind of 'drone effect'. If I needed a low Bb and I was committing to tuning a bass relying on a 'drop Bb' open notes, I would probably tune a bass Bb, F, Bb, Eb, Ab. This is really just tuning a light set of five strings up a semi tone but tuning the low B string to the drop D equivalent. By using light gauge five strings tuned up a semi tone, the tension isn't going to be much more than a medium set of string tuned B-G in standard.

I just want to echo your comments re: the Babicz bridge. It utterly transformed my old 1974 EB3. I couldn't intonate it properly or set the action properly for 15 years until I tried the Babicz replacement this year. The old Gibson 3 point is now in a box just in case I need to sell the bass and some guy wants the bass to be 'original'.

The seller in question frequently lists items with prices which are, in polite terms, incredibly aspirational rather than realistic. His tendency for marking up 1980s Yamaha guitars for extortionate prices were starting to annoy me more on Facebook than Tough Mudder adverts and Guardian articles about the merits of random fad diets. Personally, I consider the seller in question to be a professional dealer who dresses himself up as an individual collector who is' just deciding to sell a few items from his private collection'. I have no problem with professional dealers, however I do have a real issue with how the seller presents himself or his collection on Facebook community threads. I don't think that professional dealers should be using Facebook marketplace threads (which are designed to be community threads used by private individuals) to sell their wares. I would also never buy a bass from anyone that installs string in the manner shown in the pictures of the instrument in question. Even in the Wal market, I wouldn't be paying much over £2,500 grand, maybe £3,000 at a push and I really really wanted it.

I can't wait for the Fender marketing videos of lots insta-famous teenagers walking through the woods and/or city centres with the bass hanging over the shoulder without a case, never actually playing the bass, but instead providing a bunch of nauseating marketing speak such such as: 'I love the snap and zing of the finish' 'you know, it feels old, but it also kinda feels new?' 'it is so versatile, I can play it with my fingers or with a pick' 'for me, bass is the foundation of music, and the Fender Precision is the foundation of bass' I like the look of the seventies Jazz because it looks like a Fendeer Jazz bass and I like Fender Jazz basses.

I think that you will need to be more specific in terms model numbers and year of production. Do you mean the old style Bassman combos that were designed as bass amps in the 50s/60s but which achieved fame as guitar amps? Do you mean the vintage valve amp heads in the 70s and 80s? If so, they can be used for guitar or bass. For bass though these designs designs are (comparatively) underpowered to the modern Fender Bassman Pro series of bass amps, which are valve bass amps comprising the 100T (100w valve amp) and Super Bassman (300 watt valve amp). There are also Fender Bassman bass amps which are not valve amps, comprising the hybrid Bassman 500 and Bassman 800 designs. The new Bassman Pro and the Rumble series are generally good amps. In terms of a vintage amp, it will obviously depend on the condition of that specific amp.

Love me some Clutch. I think I have seen them 8 times now. I have seen Dan Maines play a P bass, Jazz, SG bass and a Rickenbacker. He always just gets a great tone.