MyNameIsMark

I made a trade with Artemis last night, my cab for his, I came away with a Barefaced Two10S exactly as advertised. Excellent comms, very responsive, was willing to travel to meet up, very nice chap, a pleasure to deal with & highly recommended. I still can’t believe my/our luck, right time, right place, exact cabs, thank you again! Mark

"It can't all be bad" update... It's not! Other than the above, the feel & look & finish & quality of this is great, the neck is very comfortable & easy to play, it's smaller & lighter than I expected, the string spacing feels natural to me. Overall pretty happy with a gamble on my first 5-string 😅

"I've never even returned a jumper before" update... All pole pieces made incredible noise when touching, it's just that my fingers bridged the strings far more easily when testing the others. The upper split pickup has foam underneath, with a small strip of 'paper' backing which contacts the underside of the inner-most pole pieces (which is designed for a 4 string so the outer pole pieces directly contact the foam, but it's non-conductive foam). There was a stray piece of metal in there, but it made no difference. The rear housings of the volume & pickup blend pots test through to the output jack, the knob tops do not, and the knob tops are conductive - I'm not sure how the knobs do/should connect to the shaft & to the rear pot housing, but probably not a big deal. All surfaces of the bridge have a non-conductive coating, seems the screw holes do not & there's a small conductive white rectangular strip on the underside of the bridge behind the G & D strings that the bridge ground wire should contact. My bridge ground wire was a good 10mm away, tracing in the wrong direction. A bit of stripping & swearing & all is better. The noise floor has significantly reduced, strings now test through to the output jack, touching strings makes a small improvement. It's still noticeably noisier in any position on the active circuit, but no worse than a single coil.

Hi folks, I have a lovely Yamaha BB735 in my hands, but it has big noise problems & might have to go back. There's a bad noise floor, it's not subjective, it's bad. Touching the strings makes zero difference. Any position of pickup blend makes zero difference. Touching the bass/mid/treble knobs reduces noise, but it's still unacceptable. Switching to active increases the noise floor. Touching the pole pieces of the top split coil is awful, all others are silent. Continuity tests w/ a multimeter... metallic treble + mid + bass knobs + active/passive switch all test to the output jack. metallic volume & pickup blend do not test through to anything (can anyone compare please?) the strings test through to the screws holding the bridge in place, not to the coated bridge itself, and not to the output jack. My best guess without taking things to pieces... Bridge grounding wire problem, possibly simple to fix if I can hit the bridge screws or if the underside of the bridge is not coated. Volume+pickup blend grounding problem, maybe easy to run new wires, maybe awful if fighting the crimped Molex connectors & PCB. Split P grounding magnet coil grounding problem - if the underside of poles are exposed it could be simple if they're waxed/strapped up or if it's windings/solder joints... urgh... (does anyone know please) Thanks very much, Mark

The guy playing is the author of this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soul-Fingers-Legendary-Bassist-Donald/dp/1495052923 I adore Donald's playing, I'm certain he'd sound the same on any old bass. I'm strangely not at all into Labellas & that's the overwhelming impression I got from those clips. RIP 😭

🤣👏

I've been a P person for donkeys years... I just had my first rehearsal with a lovely new-to-me AVRI62 Jazz bass. I could hear it all! Every nuance. And that was with flats. Chef's kiss.

Bought a rather nice J Bass from Mark a couple of weeks back, great comms, easy meet up, perfectly smooth transaction, lovely chap, thanks again!

Hi all, I just signed up to this, I'm not affiliated. For aspiring Jazzers, Morley College (Paul Westwood) is running an online "Jazz Bass" course Thursday evenings 18:30 - 20:00 from Sept 2022 to Jun 2023. It's actually split into 3 separate semesters, I missed the boat for last year, but had a very promising 1:1 with Paul. https://www.morleycollege.ac.uk/courses/course/jazz-bass/

Quick update... Typical me, I got back from my jollies with a shiny new Ampeg SCR waiting for me. I love it! P bass with flats + SCR w/ ultra lo + a flat ABM600 + Barefaced SuperCompact is something special. All other bass/amp/cab/EQ combinations are in the same ballpark. Thanks all!

Another: jazz is the ultimate tool, it has it all. Listen & Learn & Play jazz.

🤓a.k.a. share your brain & save others some pain One revelation for me, a very light picking hand often gives a better tone (the quintessential sound of whatever it is you're playing - clearer, more balanced across frequencies, more consistent across strings, more detail... beautiful 🥰)

I made a seemingly fair deal with my ex; for every new bass I got, she got a new top. Notice how Debenhams has gone under?

Oh I see, I haven't for a long time, I thought it did some weird compressing, I'll give it a blast next week

On the ABM? Yes it is nice, I think of Ampegs being tighter. I actually prefer the ABM500 III to ABM600 IV... Too late now!

Hmmm 2 votes & I already have the Quilter...!

Hi folks, I'm in my next want-not-need phase, I will lock things down & try before I buy. After years of an underpowered Ampeg B2RE & lusting after Ashdown, I got into ABMs. For a short time it was heaven. Now, different styles & tastes, I'm lusting after Ampeg. I want a quieter vintage thing on one hand, and a full bore grindy scoop on the other. I actually think SansAmp & poweramp might be the magic, but to entertain authenticity I'd appreciate your branded experiences... (I use a Barefaced SuperCompact or One10 right now, but tempted by lovely Eminence drivers & a tweeter again) As I've mastered the one-trip load-in, "fridge heads" are right out. SVT3 hybrid looks like a perfect package, but expect I'll wish it went to 11. SVT4 is overkill & a bit of a behemoth, but I expect does it all and more. SVT7 & PF-500/800 - great lightweight class D packages, but *still* seem to be tainted with overheating/cutting out issues all these years on? PF-50T - I have no reference for valve power sections, are we into "very loud, no clean headroom" here? Thanks! Mark

I have an email from Allianz saying their cover includes leaving stuff unattended on/by the stage "under the supervision of CCTV / venue staff". Plus I got unattended vehicles, all be it in a fixed luggage compartment. Both important in my opinion.

I find the number of variables in mutes so frustrating! I've settled on NordyMutes & rather than fit it 'perpendicular' I angle the foam so it travels along the strings, pointing towards the nut. Also, sitting deeper on lower strings & barely touching on the higher. No mods needed, removable, reasonably easy to recreate, and about the best I've found for a not-overkill & consistent muting across the strings without too negative an impact on intonation. I can recommend experimenting with the "Danny Mo Morris" 2nd+3rd+4th fingers on fretting hand technique, and just a simple "immediately release the pressure to stop notes sustaining"... though it takes far more patience and practice to master than I have 😢

+1 for Strings Direct, they've been my go to for years - great turnaround, great customer service whenever I've messed up orders, good stock, fair prices 👍

I downsized from a SuperTwin... mistake!... they are wonderful. I found it way more efficient with low frequenices than generic cabs, I had to roll my amp's bass right back - maybe your "go to" EQ needs to be very different with other cabs? (e.g. boosting bass to get to your usual levels w/ BF which will balance those tops?)

Well, Bristol. Hello. I'm trying my best to be a good boy & learn to play jaaazzzz, but I can't help looking at all that lovely gear for sale 😍