Rich

[quote name='E sharp' post='759457' date='Feb 27 2010, 09:42 PM']I wouldn't call Shuker , Status , Fodera , Ritter , Sei , or any of them 'custom builders' , cause they're not . IMO , a custom buider , is a one man operation , in a shed or garage .[/quote] Shuker = one-man operation in a small Derbyshire workshop. Sei = two-man operation in a basement in North London. Fodera = two-man operation in NYC workshop. Jon Shuker built me a bass to the design I wanted, from the woods I selected, with a neck profile I dictated, with the electronics and pickups and hardware I chose and the finshed I desired. How, exactly, is that not a 'custom' build?

I haven't voted for Chepstow as we've already had a South Wales bash (for which, many thanks to Si), and it adds another £5.30 to the travel costs of everyone in the SW unless they fancy a huge detour.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='756267' date='Feb 24 2010, 05:23 PM'][/quote] Ooh look! Stealth saveloys! Cracking set of basses you have there.

I have no problem with Bashes, because a} we're all bassists, b} we're all sober, c} we're all on here, and d} I know where you live and therefore so does my mate Big Jon (remember him??) But seriously... yeah bashes are fine, the more the merrier in fact. But generally, the answer to the question "Can I have a go on your bass, mate?" would be "Do I know you? No? Feck off."

So that'll be mid-June then... I'm looking forward to seeing this almost as much as you are.

I do BVs in my 2nd band. I used to do some lead in a blues/rock trio many years ago, that was fun but I actually prefer singing backup. When I'm in the car, if I start singing along with the radio/CD, more often than not I start harmonizing with the lead vocal rather than going along with it. It's quite fun making up harmony parts as you go along! Good practice too.

Hah! Yes you could be right

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='754492' date='Feb 22 2010, 10:40 PM']if you can afford it and it brings a smile to your face... well, f*** it, why not?[/quote] +[size=3]∞[/size]

An Alesis Quadraverb would do the trick for things like chorus. You can pick them up dead cheap on fleaBay.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='753338' date='Feb 21 2010, 10:37 PM']They aren't worth the money[/quote] I assume this statement is based on extensive experience of Fodera basses..?

I can't comment on this as I own a Shuker (and could therefore be accused of bias) and have never played a Fodera (and so cannot make a comparison).

[quote name='Clarky' post='753460' date='Feb 22 2010, 06:23 AM']And I'm afraid I think GUS guitars just look like something you would see being played in the obligatory band-playing-in-a-bar-while-hero-drowns-sorrows scene in a 70s sci-fi film[/quote] Given your three 70s Fenders, I'd be amazed if you [u]did[/u] like it

They're a darned sight more expensive than the OLPs were though.

Ah yes Chris. That'd be a bit like the £200 pre-EB Stingray and the £180 mint Shergold 8-string, both of which I walked straight past many years ago... *kick, kick*

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='752159' date='Feb 20 2010, 08:18 PM']If you have the means to fund it, you don't have to justify it.[/quote] And that's pretty much it in a nutshell. The money's yours to spend and you don't have to [i]justify[/i] it to anyone. It doesn't make you an idiot from Middlesex or anywhere else.

Shaftesbury is gert lush for me. But perhaps somewhere further southwest, Tauntonish-Exeterish, would be more suitable? Although the suggested free venue sounds brilliant. Anyway, wherever it is... come on you Bristle massive, I know there's [i]loads[/i] of you on here. Got to be worth a mass turnout..!

Brilliant things, love 'em. Wish I still had mine.

I agree. The VU meter is fairly pointless and the row of LEDs could have been halved in size, but I like the feck-off great big digital readout.

Part pedal, part Tango Taste Sensation.

Yep [i]so[/i] much more fun than a blank 1U panel

[quote name='JMT3781' post='750429' date='Feb 19 2010, 12:33 AM']The thing is i never liked sunburst or flamed maple... but after seeing a similar design to this on the shuker website i had to have it![/quote] D'you know what, it was much the same for me. A few years ago I would never have considered a burst finish and a maple fingerboard, but then I saw a few like it (including one on Jon's gallery) and got hooked!

First Impressions: Minimal packaging, but that's not really important. The appearance of the unit is very good, nice brushed aluminium with a flawless red anodised finish, and excellent screen-printed labelling. A very professional looking piece of kit. Construction appears to be very solid; no loose wires, cheap plastic jacks or nasty budget electrical components were found. Rating: 8 Ease of Use: There are only three controls on this unit, but they do all that is required. No pointless bells and whistles here. The smoothly operating knobs and handy VU meter are convenient for visual confirmation of proper operation. In addition, the unit's power requirements are so low no additional outlets would be required - in fact I am confident the DD-301 will be totally unaffected when power is supplied by portable generator or where voltage fluctuation is usually a problem. Rating: 9 Sound: After installation, I fired the Shuttle up and found the DD-301's sound to be totally transparent; it completely retained my original tone without constricting the signal path in any way. I found that cable length, footswitch type and available MIDI channels were not a factor in tone shaping or physical placement of the unit. Rating: 9 Reliability & Durability: I expect it to be utterly durable and 100% reliable. Indeed, as far as I am aware not a single one of these units has ever let its user down. Additionally, the DD-301's reduced carrying load is a major advantage over the signal processor I formerly had in this rack space. Rating: 10 Final Impressions: I expect to use the DD-301 for quite some time -- its sound will never go out of style. If ever there was a rack-mount device that would allow an audio engineer to do things he never even dreamed of, this is it. The transparent power of the DD-301 signals one of the the greatest advances in DFA psychoacoustics since, well, ever. It looks good, and doesn't clutter your bass sound. Brilliant. Overall Rating: 9.5

Yup, what everyone else said. You won't hear a gnat-fart's worth of difference between maple and rosewood under anything except laboratory conditions, so go with what you prefer the look of. Oh, and welcome aboard by the way