thodrik

12. Entered a local battle of the bands where the prize was the chance to open for Shed Seven or the Levellers or something like that (can’t remember exactly, but it was someone vaguely relevant in 1999). We won but couldn’t play the resulting gig because of our age. Started playing in pubs doing 3 hour sessions of classic rock covers shortly after that. Probably wasn’t legal but I was getting paid and it was a decent earner until after I left school. I actually made more money doing that than when I was in a ‘signed’ band in my twenties.

While you can, I would recommend trying a Vigier Excess. Massive rock beast that sits somewhere between a Rickenbacker, active Jazz bass and Precision. As of the end of the year there will also be no new Vigier basses. Also, you can't go wrong with a Spector or a Warwick Streamer. I would still like a Warwick Thumb. I don't think Fender actually do any 24 fret four strings at the moment.

I always liked the ‘install a jazz bass pickup in the bridge of a P bass’ mod I have been tempted over the years of adding a better bridge and hotter pickups but never got round to it.

In terms of the pickguard, it was like that when I got it as a 13 year old in 1999. From what I can remember, one of the previous owners had been having major problems with the jack socket and was getting really fed up of having to take the whole pickguard off every time he/she wanted to access the jack socket. So he/she must have got a luthier to cut the pick guard into two to make it easier to access the jack socket without having to take the rest of the pickguard out. It is actually a pretty neat job and was probably by some kind of luthier in the London area as that is where the bass was bought by me. As it is, the jack socket was a bit dodgy when I got it. My brother (then 15) re-soldered the connection soon after I got it and has worked perfectly ever since. There is a bit of a gap between the pickguard pieces, so there is probably a good bit of sweat and moisture which seeps through the gap though the various gigs and rehearsals and being lugged around the country. It also devalues the bass, but as it has been my 'go to' bass since 1999, it frankly will never get sold by me. When I got the bass, it also included a replacement pickguard which may or may not have been a period correct replacement Fender pickguard or it could be the 1980s equivalent of a Stagg replacement. It is somewhere in my parent's attic and I haven't looked for it since about 2001.

I think that they later changed their name to Kalium to avoid confusion.

When your bass is over 40 years old and you haven’t cleaned it properly for 15… Looking better now, though I probably should have taken a ‘before’ photo. Nitro finish on the neck is now disappearing faster than my hair…In both cases I have now taken a ‘let nature take its course’ approach. Plays great, sounds great. Tuned to C sharp standard. It hasn’t been tuned above D standard since 2010.

I tried Newtone for a custom low tuning set and was distinctly underwhelmed. I asked for a five string set that would work for a low A tuning (A D G C F). I got a ‘heavy core’ string set where the low A was about the size of a tapered 135 gauge B string that worked okay as for a low B wasn’t much use below that. The D string was also pretty much a standard E string that got pretty floppy even at E flat. The core tone at E standard tuning was really nice but that wasn’t what I ordered and I had provided them with plenty of information with regards to my tuning requirement and string tension preferences. I realise that my experience might be an exception considering other Basschatters give glowing reviews. However for the price I paid I wouldn’t use them again. I found that buying D’addario singles and creating my own set was cheaper and worked better in practice. I generally found the tapered 145 as working pretty well for a low A and A sharp. I experimented with the tapered 160 gauge but it was nearly overkill for a low A. Thankfully the lowest I tune to these days is drop C and D’addario have a 120-50 balanced tension set that works fine or I can make up a set of Elixir singles in similar gauges which last about 18 months!

Anything under £500 is a steal. Anything over £650 is pushing it unless it is in pristine condition with the matching Mesa rack case. Anything over £900 is the seller being aspirational rather than realistic with their pricing strategy.

A 14 year thread resurrection! Is that a Basschat record? As it is, I played a gig with one. It was alright, definitely a decent amp. Don't think it would be my first choice of call for a backup amp these days with really small class D amps being a lightweight alternative.

A new Fender using the Gibson Grabber idea of a pickup which can be moved into different locations, together with a bridge which allows for top loading and string-through installation, as well a passive/active switch and a composite fretboard made of 50 maple and 50 rosewood. The Fender In-Decision.,

To me the the pre shape pretty much was the classic Trace Elliot tone and sound. Sure you could get other sounds out of it with the graphic preamp, but to me I got the best sounds by using the pre shape and then dialling the mids back in with the graphic EQ. In terms of the pedal, it has the pre shape and a four band EQ rather then a graphic. It will be a good pre amp for sure, but to me without the graphic pre amp it just won't 'feel' the same, but you could certainly get a tone in the same general ballpark, particularly if you were never a player who actually used the preshape. A used version of the old Trace Elliot 7 band graphic EQ might get you closer to the 'classic' tone, though I think that the Transit will be a lot more flexible. Yes, the SMX and later SM amps had two pre-shapes. Pre-shape one was a 'boost bass and treble and cut mids' and pre-shape 2 was more generally a 'bass and low mid boost' with less of a treble boost. Some folk really preferred pre-shape 2, I just found it a bit 'wooly' and lacked definition, but with a bit of work with the graphic it could work really well too.

Honestly, I think that this is the logical development since Zound were already producing the Marshall branded headphones, bluetooth speakers and other 'lifestyle' products. Marshall is as much a lifestyle brand as it is musical instrument amplification company these days. In fact the lifestyle products are probably more profitable than selling reissues of old valve amps like the JCM 800/900 etc. I really don't have much complaints since the Marshall family remains the biggest shareholder.

Interesting. Frankly about time that Ampeg a really high quality 'SVT emulator' pedal considering the Tech 21 has been doing it for decades and Origin Effects have really done well with it as well. This might have to go on the list.

Well, we have had Professional, Performer and Player basses from Fender. What we need now is: Fender Session: A new chambered ash body designed to give a lightweight and resonant bass, perfect for long SESSIONS where playability and comfort are required; and Fender Sustain: A environmentally conscious design where all metals and plastics on the instrument are made from recycled materials and a body made from recycled composite wood and a gig bag made entirely from organic hemp. Made in Mexico from parts shipped from China by diesel fuelled container ships.

Prices of basses have been going up for years, even before the large inflation jumps. I have had a Sadowsky NYC bass which probably has grown in value by about £1000 in seven years and my s9 Fender Precision is probably worth about £1,300-£1,500 quid now and I bought it for £400 in 1999. It is bit crazy but frankly to be expected in current economic circumstances. The only part of the bass market where used prices are not rising relate to the older Mosfet/hybrid amps because there is no demand for them. Also, the newer class D 'flagship' amps for companies like Mesa Boogie, Gallien Krueger, Aguilar etc, are generally cheaper than the old 'flagship' mosfet amps so I would argue that there actually hasn't been escalating prices to the same degree in the amp market compared to basses. However, if you can handle the weight there are a lot of brilliant amps available for the fraction of the RRP at the time. Frankly, I am less worried by the escalating prices of bass guitars than I am by the escalating prices of Weetabix, milk and those boxes instant Cappacino sachets thingys Nestle make.

Heard the song a thousand times but never really heard the bassline? Absolutely, I own several Metallica albums.

Used to use the 110-50 set and loved them for tuning to drop C and playing fuzzed out stoner rock and retro Sabbathy classic rock. Really liked them.

Band 3 is now my favourite band name I have heard this year.

Love my Big Block. Though as I have owned a V6 for ten years I love the supposed specs of the Purple Chili amp!

Generally just my normal pedals with my Trace Elliot V6. It is very much a clean machine and doesn't really do furry preamp drive and owing to the power of the amp the power amp saturation only kicks in at a volume level more suited to use as a form of torture. So usually I use a couple of drive pedals, a compressor and a delay which I never use but is still on my board because I used it a lot in a previous band a decade ago and have never taken it off my board.

Just got a reply from someone who said they would look into it. It hopefully won't be up long and hopefully nobody buys it in the interim.

I have just messaged them on the instant livechat. Just wondering how long it stays live.

impulse response, the new 21st century fancy way of saying 'speaker/cabinet simulator'. Edit: there is actually quite a lot of science and tech in IRs compared to the 'cut a few high frequencies' old style cab sims. For the record, I'm still rocking the old Tech 21 Samsamp which does the latter.

If using the line out/slave was the best way of delivering the sound of an amplifier to the PA then lots of guitarists would use it both live and in the studio. They generally don't and even when they do, they use the slave/line in conjunction with a cabinet simulation/IR. Most sound engineers in a venue (unless you have your own dedicated sound engineer) will not be able to add an cabinet simulation/IR at the desk from a line out, so you need to bear this in mind if you insist on using the slave/line out directly to the PA. I have heard a generic 'line out' of a guitar straight into an interface for recording. Frankly, it wasn't great and generally only became useable once used in conjunction with an cabinet sim/IR and judicious use of additional EQ. Some modern amps come loaded with IRs which enable them to be used without a speaker load (like the Mesa Badlander). The Dual Rectifier is based on an initial amp design that is about thirty years old. It isn't a truly 'modern amp' in terms of design and was not really designed to be used without a cabinet in the way that more modern amps with inbuilt IRs are. The slave feature on the Dual Rectifier was designed so that the preamp signal could be fed into a different power amp and then to another speaker cabinet rather than as a DI to be fed directly to the PA without any kind of speaker simulation. If the slave/line out direct to the PA was the best option then Mesa wouldn't have released the Cabclone. Yes, you could theoretically run the slave out straight to the board, but it really isn't the best option available.

Then definitely get a load box with IRs. The core tone of a traditional guitar rig (valve amp and cabinet) includes the power amp tubes being driven and the sound of the speakers. The preamp itself is only part of the signal chain. A load box with IRs will achieve the sound of a full rig running into a PA, running from the line out/slave will not. A well mic'd guitar cab will generally sound better than than running directly from the line out to the PA, that is why sound engineers will generally look to mic up a guitar cab rather than run a line out. It isn't really the same as running a line out/DI of a bass amp where generally a cleaner sound is generally used than on a guitar. I would presume that your guitarist has spent a considerable amount of money on a Dual Rectifier, so I would recommend that he/she invests in a solution that will get the most out of the amp. Just running a signal from the line out directly to the PA really isn't the best solution.