Muzz

Let's give the man a break; he was writing some 60 years before the event... It's possible he was thinking 'chequered' with respect to QC...

Others, I am not the first, Have been by John Hall's comp'ny cursed: If in the breathless night I too Shiver now, 'tis nothing new. There is, however, in the first draft, a note pencilled in the margin which would seem to support the 'separating the man from the machine' thoughts above. It reads: 'Though I'd happily torch Shrewsbury to get my hands on a minty Mapleglo 4001 with chequered binding'

Sounds like a plan; I'd say all three songs would be much more interesting with fretless, too. I wish I could co-ordinate bass changes (not to fretless, but it'd be nice to use different basses for different parts of the set*) but our BL calls songs as he goes - mostly from the setlist, but sometimes more off-piste - it's a kind of DJ thing: he's good at reading a crowd/room, and building the energy, and it works, so I don't really mind, but it means sometimes I literally don't know what's coming next. I generally watch the presets on his Helix... 😕🙂 * I only bring two - not exactly Claytonesque, I know, but I have to carry them myself...

Or mount it on a skateboard, put a couple of ramps either side of the stage, and you've got a show right there... 😀 Even better, add a battery-powered backpack-mounted amp, and the busking possibilities just open up. Ideal for avoiding those tedious conversations with Council officers keen to discuss performance licenses...

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Robert Oppenheimer, from The Bhagavad-Gita 😁

I loved my Magellan; had my band circumstances not changed, I'd still have it...

Ideally stage left for the aforementioned Drummer Contact thing, but in the trio I play with most, I'm usually stage right, which suits me, because if (when) the Singist/Guitarist gets 'creative' with the setlist and chucks stuff in we either haven't played for an age (or, on some choice gigs, we've never played at all) I get to watch his left hand for the chords...

So I traded a bass for a Jack Casady, because I've had a semi-acoustic itch I've been wanting to scratch for a while (steadyyyy...), and I'd imagined it'd become a pleasant-looking but kinda oddity bass in the collection. I put some new D'Addario nickel rounds on it, plugged it in and had a play. The 50 and 250 settings on the VariGain switch were a bit Meh, but I tried the 500 setting and Blimey Charlie what a sound! I'm predominantly a pick player, and it's got a terrific bark to it that I really like. What is this mystic voodoo? All my other basses have very versatile active 6-pot EQs, and this just nails a great sound with one switch. I'm gigging it at the weekend to see if that sound's all in my headphones, but hopefully not. Does anyone know what that pickup is? I'm presuming a single coil of some sort...I'd like to know more about the fixed VariGain/EQ point, too; anyone know what that's actually doing? I'm going to be going back to my other basses now with a view to seeing if I can get that sound from them.

I'm sure if Genz Benz were still in business, the bloke who designed the Streamliner probably would... 🙂 I used MB amps and cabs for a while (LMIII, LMT, F1, the NY15s and a 410) and while they ultimately weren't the sound I was looking for, I couldn't fault them for what they do. I have a friend in the music retail business, and he put his finger on it when he said 'They make everything sound better'. Admittedly he wasn't in the rarefied upper reaches of boutique stuff, which is where a lot of BassChat lives, but in the middle ground, it's true. I still have a vague hankering for a TTE... 🙂

Upper fret access you say? 😀

Zoinks. If they made that with a maple board (or I had the self-control to wait an age to get one made) I'd be in serious, serious trouble. And so would my ABZ... 😕😁

Ooooh, even better 😁

I rather like them...tho they'd work better, as has been mentioned, if they were the other way round on a bass with the triangle inlays...dots just look wrong on a Ric... I like the Schaller 3D-ripoff bridge, too...it might be nice if they'd put a chrome surround on the bridge pup; not a big impractical one like the original, but a flatter one with a visual nod to the original... I'm kinda stuck on the body: visually, I think the bound bodies look much better, but then there's that horrible sharp edge to cut into your right arm...this one looks much more practical, though...

Yep, been using these for...gawd...40 years...eeeek 😕🙂

Fantastic, thanks for that Ped...Bobby's a God... 😀

You'll be amazed, Chris: my 2x12" is rated to 1200w, and is easily loud enough to cope with the loudest band I'd play with. Given your nicely vintage gear (there's folk on here who would kill for an AC50 and a 60s Precision 🙂), I'd steer clear of cabs with tweeters as I doubt you'll be after cutting highs and too much zing. The good news (well, it's all good news, really) is that there's a wide range of cabs available which are very light and will do what you want. What sort of band are you playing in? Do you have a PA you will go into, or just your amp and cab? Bottom line: how loud are you looking to be? Off the top of my head I don't know what ohmage the AC50 likes, that'll be important to match as it's a valve amp. I use a 300w (non-valve) head with a Barefaced cab (the 1200w rated one I mentioned) and it can go ridiculously loud, so unless you don't have PA support and you want to remove plaster from walls, your AC50 should be enough with a modern efficient cab. If you can, a visit to a guitar shop and take your AC50 with you to hear some cabs to get a feel for different makes/models would tell you quite a lot.

Stairs. That’s all I’m saying... 😁

I had an Epic for a while, but wasn't massively impressed; build quality was good, but nothing better than a good luthier build (Sei, Shuker, ACG, etc), the brass bridge was titanically over-engineered and it weighed a ton. It did the whole piano-tone well enough, but the overall impression was of a marque which might have been verrrry impressive twenty five years ago, but had been caught up by modern developments. And yes, the Epic is one of the less well-specced models, but it's also twice the price (and then some) of basses which are just as good. All IMHO, YMMV and all that...but you did ask

Anyone who is even vaguely precious about note for note covers of songs might find it enlightening to search for live versions of You Can Call Me Al, to see the variations (and in a couple of cases I’m being generous with that word) of the bass break perpetrated by well-known professionals onstage with (and being paid by) Paul Simon. The total lack of the sky falling in for the audience (or in fact anybody, including Mr Simon) as a result is also noticeable 😁

Lawks, only just seen this...here you go...

With a firm grip and some serious mental fortitude, I'm down to four main gigging basses (two Shuker Horns, a Shukerbird and a Dingwall ABZ4), five 2nd Division basses (a BB1024x (going soon), an Aria ZZB (going soon), a Harley Benton P, a Michael Kelly acoustic and a bitsa P which is technically my sons), and two guitars (an Ovation acoustic and a 70s Arbiter Les Paul). That's this week, anyway... 😕😀

Completely OT, but our BL once went to Morecambe to pick up a set of lights from a George Formby Tribute who was retiring. All the way there he was rehearsing his opening line, and when the bloke answered the door he said "Morning. Turned out nice again." and did the Fozzy Face. Nothing. The bloke completely blanked him and said "You're here for the lights then?" 😕😀

I've found adding the cabs gives the DI/PA sound a bit more focus - they don't necessarily sound better in headphones or into a rig with its own cab(s), but they did through the PA

I’ve had Jon work on basses for me, and build one from scratch for me. We never got hung up on woods, other than for the aesthetics. I had a great half hour digging around with him in his wood store for the piece of wood for the new top on my bass, but that was it. He’s in the business of building basses, tho, which is all about individual customer happiness, so I’m sure if a customer was very keen on the subject of tonewoods, he’d be able to talk with them about it.

Oh, and it’s got a pull-passive, just in case it all gets too much 😁