Marvin

Yes, twas I. The poor guys must have got really desperate

They've had a bit of a break CAPTAL on account they had no bass player for some time, that spot has now been filled, by me Anyone in the North Devon/Bideford area want to see me gurn whilst playing bass come along. It's only £3 to see us and the main band, Littermouth. [url="https://www.facebook.com/events/199137917125891/"]https://www.facebook.com/events/199137917125891/[/url]

Guitar amps. Bassbreaker may be a nod to when guitarists picked up Bassman amps as they liked the tone.

I like 'em as straight as possible. The Sire is dead straight and there's very little relief in thr Squier VM precision I've just got. Both set up to how I like, lowish. Oddly the one bass that always had to have a lot of relief in the neck was a Yamaha I had. It was a severe disappointment given their reputation. It didn't matter how hard I tried the overall set up was never one I liked, way too much relief and still buzzed.

I've tried out two class D set ups within the past year and been very happy with both. Firstly, a Fender Rumble 500 Combo V3. These are lovely combos with a great tone, very vintage and pleasing to the ear and loud...I can't remember why I chose to swap it to be honest. I now have an Aguilar TH350. This took a bit more time to twiddle with but over the last 2 practices with my band it's sounding bang on. Very warm and I'm getting some nice grit in the sound, and again loud. I stick either my P or J bass through it and they sound great. They may be both class D but they're very different in character. I like that the one thing they do have in common is a lack of fuss. There are a couple of preset buttons on the Fender, however apart from that it's a straightforward amp. The drive or overdrive on both are very usable, unlike the GK solid state amp I had prior to them. The overdrive on that was dreadful, almost a joke. As with all gear, you find what you like the sound of. Personally I wouldn't have looked at the TC Electronic in the first place.

Very nice set up. I really like the Rumble series, Fender really did their homework with these.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1457872106' post='3002492'] Zodiac Mindwarp - Prime mover got a top 20 I think. Loved it when it came out. Comedy value [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtnCcWOS7y8[/media] [/quote] From a great album. Most people didn't 'get it' [quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1457821425' post='3002164'] The Breeders-Cannonball [/quote] Good shout.

Maple fingerboards Rosewood fingerboards Ebony fingerboards Blocks and binding. Chrome or Nickel hardware. Solid looking bridges Slim necks (from back to front) Solid colours Colour stained quilted maple tops. Active/passive switches on active basses Bone nuts Skunk stripes Matching body and headstocks Lacquered necks There's other stuff probably

Single-cuts, gold hardware and coffee table finishes is about it really. And I don't like Rickenbackers, ugly, messy looking things.

The same cab is over £100 cheaper from Thomann. It's not cheap gear...but it is good

I have no advice but all the best, sounds great.

I tnink I'll always need a p bass and this one makes the right noises...for now

I've not had a chance to really explore my TH350 yet. However, from what little dabbling I have done it could probably cover quite a lot of ground. I mucked about the drive and gain last night and could get a nice clean type tone but also when cranked a good dirty one. I think it's a lovely little piece of kit. I must admit I haven't noticed the fan, even when I told everybody to shut up last night at practice I still had to listen for it. And it's monsterously loud for such a tiny box, gain and drive @12o'clock and master @9o'clock last night could be heard as clear as a bell and our drummer uses lump hammers for drum sticks

Firstly the spec.[list] [*]Color: Amber [*]Body Material: Soft Maple [*]Body Finish: Polyester [*]Body Shape: Precision Bass [*]Neck Material: Maple [*]Neck Finish: Polyurethane [*]Neck Shape: "C" Shape [*]Scale Length: 34" (864 mm) [*]Fingerboard: Maple [*]Fingerboard Radius: 9.5" (241 mm) [*]Number of Frets: 20 [*]Fret Size: Medium Jumbo [*]String Nut: Synthetic Bone [*]Nut Width: 1.625" (41.3 mm) [*]Position Inlays: Dot [*]Neck Plate: 4-Bolt Engraved [*]Middle Pickup: Duncan Designed™ PB101 Split Single-Coil [*]Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone [*]Pickup Configuration: Split Single-Coil [*]Bridge: 4-Saddle Standard [*]Hardware Finish: Chrome [*]Tuning Machines: Standard Open-Gear [*]Pickguard: 3-Ply Black [*]Control Knobs: Dome Style [/list] I've been on the lookout for a Precision style bass since joining my new band recently. There's nothing wrong with my V7 jazz, but I wanted that P bass tone for the sort of music we play and, in part, the look...and also the fact I wanted something that could take a few knocks as I've become quite precious about the V7, despite it not being an expensive bass. I found this Squier VM on Nevada Music's website in the second hand section. Having dutifully looked elsewhere and noticed that prices for all Squiers seem to have gone up quite a bit the £150 inc delivery and 3 month warranty seemed a good deal, so I took the plunge. Nevada's second hand section says all instruments receive a service and set up. Not a complaint, but whoever it was set up for must have had archery as their second interest. I've adjusted the set up to something much more playable and given the pots a squirt of servisol as they were a little scratchy. Otherwise, Nevada Music packed it well and it arrived in very good time. Apart from the screw holes for pickup and bridge covers that must have been on the bass and a small amount of greasy palm marks on the neck, it's nigh on spotless, it looks as near new as possible really. No dings or scratches at all. I didn't expect to like this bass. I wasn't overly taken with the colour and I fully expected to flip it. However, it's a bit of a cracker. Having got the set up decent I've played it constantly for the last week or so and to both band practices we've had recently. I don't have a problem with nut widths it's the thickness that does for me and this bass is fine. It's has a 41.3mm nut but the neck is quite shallow back to front and I find it very comfortable to play. I would have preferred a lacquered rather than satin finish but that's a minor thing. A bone nut would have been nice What does it sound like? It sounds like a p bass, it thumps and sounds great with my new band (we play indie punk rock originals). The Seymour designed pickups are quite powerful and loud. It just sounds like it's supposed to, so no complaints there. When I 'squirted' the pots I was pleased to see how neat the control cavity was and that it was all properly grounded. All in all it's a very nice bass. HOWEVER, brand new this would have cost about the same as a Sire Marcus Miller V7. So how does it compare in that way? Apart from the set up I also sanded the back of the neck on the Squier. Where the skunk strip was inlaid you could clearly feel a ridge where it met the maple. The Sire blows it out of the water quite frankly. Second hand the Squier is good value for a bass that I'll use for gigging as it can take a few knocks but in terms of overall finish, quality and sound the Sire easily takes first prize. I still like the Squier though [attachment=214213:IMG_0036.jpg] [attachment=214214:IMG_0038.jpg] [attachment=214215:IMG_0045.jpg]

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1457201547' post='2996343'] What preamp's do these basses have in them.? [/quote] Sire's own, designed in conjunction with Marcus Miller.

Cheers. Plenty of options there, thanks.

I spent some time researching combos before I bought the Rumble 500. I considered, didn't get to try it, the Ampeg but dismissed for a few reasons. Firstly, quite fickle of me, but the BA combos look dreadful. Then there's the fact they weight quite a bit and they cost more. Finally, unlike the Rumble, the Ampegs don't have a matching series of ext cabs so you can get the full beans out of the larger combos. I ended up buying the Rumble 500, and I was more than happy with it. Features, price, weight, size, practicability, flexibility and tone. IMO Fender have really hit the mark with the Rumble range, especially in terms of tone. They've done a lot of work an made a great sounding combo, I'd tend to go for as much 'power' as I could afford. Although the Rumble 200 does seem a bit of a weak link.

Only ever done one function, an awards evening. It was a lot of waiting around but better than a pub gig. It was held in a marquee so the sound of the band...well, travelled far. One local resident, dressed in what looked like some grubby shorts and a vest 'arrived' at the function, which was dinner jacket and ball gowns, to complain. He happened to come up to us, the band, who'd only just come off stage for the DJ to finish the night. We promptly passed him on to the 'organiser' of said event.

I've just bought a Squier P bass and it's got a satin finish on the neck and fingerboard. What's the best thing to clean and maintain these boards/necks with? I did read lighter fluid.

I'll be keeping the TH350 I bought recently. It's doing a great job in the Indie Punk band I've joined. Playing around with the gain and drive produces a range of sounds. ...and it's stupidly light

[quote name='EmmettC' timestamp='1456579706' post='2990439'] The pickups on the American Deluxe are passive, but there is an active preamp. It's quite common to change the pickups and keep the preamp. Active pickups are less common, EMG being the main one that springs to mind, as far as I know changing EMG pickups to passive would mean changing the rest of the electonics too, but no such problem with your bass. [b]Change the battery, and try it through another amp, in fact try changing everything in the chain before doing anything drastic.[/b] [/quote] I would go with this as a first step. Just plugging your gear into a different socket might help. I used to have an amp that would make a clicking noise if I plugged it into the sockets in my dinning room but was fine in the living room. But I would also try a different amp as well. [quote name='handman' timestamp='1456583474' post='2990480'] Hi jayv, shielding is quite easy to do , the copper tape can be bought from Amazon or eBay and there are detailed instructions on talkbass, no special tools are needed just a screwdriver and some care .I recently bought an okoume jazz bass which has n3 noiseless I did the shielding on that bass but it made no difference to the noisey operation, I would like to add I have shieded 3 jazz basses before and they were all successful, in the end I replaced the pick-ups and now have a completely silent bass. The pick ups are just not very good. [/quote] If I can shield a bass almost anyone can. It's fairly straightforward and there are plenty of instructional videos online. As 'handman' says though, sometimes it won't work and it's just a set of crap pickups. The worst thing about shielding is catching your fingers on the edge of copper tape...it's like a paper cut but worse.

There are a couple of decent sale groups, run by BC members I believe. I find the discussion groups a waste of time to be honest. It's difficult to track discussions in Facebooks format. And gear discussions decend into US made is awesome far east is crap, with that and the usual trolls, a complete time waster