msb

Welcome Jacopo! I’ve noticed some ground breaking gear coming out of Italy.

Here’s the poster for the upcoming gig.

Last Sunday , with the new Gretsch , at the Sunday jam.

Last Sunday jam until January. We had a bunch of old friends dropping by and sitting in. The new Gretsch is proving to be popular.

I use a tube preamp that does the trick , and bypass the preamp and tone stack in my Forte. The Forte alone is clean , transparent, modern hifi , and with the tube pre becomes warm , thick , old school tube.

I thought I was done. I have twenty something basses. And then came across a picture of a big orange hollow body Gretsch. Showed it to my wife and she suggested I should get it. I managed to find one near Boston. And the next thing I knew I had just purchased a big orange Gretsch. Here’s a couple of the dealer’s pics. It’s big for medium scale , but I’m loving it.

Didn’t have any issues with silk or winding , It was either LaBella flats or Gibson BriteWire rounds I was using. I’m shallow enough to switch the bridges over because they looked better.

I had it bad , this is from that limited run for Guitar Center in the US , there was a later small run in Europe , never for sale here in Canada. It was a Korean made Electromatic that had TV Jones pickups. I had been looking at them since they were introduced about a dozen years ago ,the G5123B , medium scale. And showing pics to my wife who thought they looked beautiful. So a couple of weeks ago I came across a picture , showed it to Herself , and she said that I really should buy one. And so I went looking and found three. Two in California and one near Boston. I bought the one near Boston. After the exchange , duty , broker fee and shipping it turned out to be quite a bit more than I initially expected. That said , it’s a beautiful thing, with a nice woody thump. Oh , it’s big. But I do love it.

Great thread!

I was always able to set them exactly where things needed to go without any drama or cursing. And yet I’ve replaced three of them with Hipshots. I just thought they looked better. They are much better for palm muting , and they certainly have much greater adjustability.

I just received a Gretsch hollow body bass I ordered from a place near Boston. After the exchange duty and shipping it had become considerably more than the asking price. And then I got dinged with about $130 for a brokerage fee. I do love the bass , bit it didn’t turn out to be the bargain I thought it was.

Noble is a one man shop struggling to keep up with the demand. He’s found an audience. A friend has a Simone by Jule for sale. Good price. I’ve been tempted , but love the pre I’ve been using. After looking at the Noble I was looking at the Broughton P15. There are some beautiful preamps around. Most amp companies have them now as well. I think that the gear selection we have today is better than it’s ever been.

Big gig in our favourite old dive coming up right after Christmas. We managed a quick band photo, and then a great rehearsal. Things are sounding great. I’m the geezer. From the left … drummer , bass , two trumpet players , and two guitar players.

I already have too much clutter. In January I picked up a lightly used Ibanez Talman , with the intent of trying some mods. Dropped a Tbird pickup in the bridge position. Haven’t changed anything since. Then got through most of the year without buying anything until December. Then I bought a Phil Jones BigHead headphone amp , followed by a Barefaced One10 cab to drag off to rehearsals and then my wife suggested that I should buy a big hollow body orange Gretsch. And so I did. up until the last several weeks I was doing pretty good.

I was looking at noble prices , about $1300 US to order , but there’s about a nine month wait , or you can get fast tracked for about $2000 , seven weeks. Or buy used , I saw one at $2300 and one at $2500. crazy prices.

Nice article , thankyou. I had been reading that tube rectifiers sound a bit warmer , and solid state rectifiers were a bit more defined. I have a tube pre with a tube rectifier but I’m no scientist. I just like how the overall thing responds.

I’ve found amps with a real tube preamp are more convincing than the ToneHammer. edit … however the TH is certainly a nice sounding amp.

A 300 watt tube amp is large and very heavy. And has that unique sound. Many 300 watt Class D heads will fit in the pocket of a gig bag. Some class D heads also have tube preamps , but they are not quite the same thing. Some Class D heads have no tubes whatsoever but manage a somewhat tubey sound through manipulating various gain stages. Some say preamps with a tube rectifier have the most convincing tube sound. Those preamps are few , larger , and more expensive.

That is a fine little rig! Nicely done. Funky as all get. I’ll certainly file that away for future consideration.

I’m kind of amp nerdy , I’m ok with that. Your Barefaced cabs are a great start. Simply gorgeous cabs. And there’s a ton of amps around today that will do the job. We’ve really never had this kind of selection available before. But it’s fun to do something funky. I went the Bergantino route and have no regrets. First bought some cabs (a 210 & 112) , loved them , and then picked up their smaller head , the Forte. Beautiful full transparent hifi. And then later decided to go wild , and picked up a nice boutique tube preamp and go old school. Monique. So I have a modular rig , many gigs I do just require a single cab , and can do modern or old school , with a ton of headroom. I use the same amp and preamp for rehearsals , but recently found a Barefaced One 10 to do that. Small , modular , light. With some serious slam.

They are great amps. Legend.

The 900 Liner is a great amp! The amp designer still services them. And despite living in Nova Scotia I sent mine off to California for some spa time. I felt the amp was well worth investing in. It’s like a brand new amp.

I just picked up a Barefaced One 10 to use as a rehearsal cab , and it was everything they say about them. They’re hard to find in Canada.

That looks like a great little rig!

That Trussart is a beauty!