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I enjoy using different basses rather than thinking one will do everything.

John Hall has been retired for several years and is living in England.

A friend just picked this up for $1000 Cdn on kijiji the other day , it’s a “slightly” modified late 4001.

I found one on kijiji for a good price a couple of years ago, unfortunately a friend got to it before I did. Several weeks later he flipped to me to fund something else he was gassing for. Great basses!

John Hall has been retired for some years now. I picked up a nice used 4001 about twenty five years ago for a good price , I bypassed the .0047 cap and put on flatwounds. A Ric can do a very nice old school thump , they’re very versatile basses if you give them a chance. It quickly became my main bass and remained so for some years. It’s been retired and these days I mostly pick up shortscales , but when I pick up that old Ric it feels like home. I’ve been reading how people bash Rics for ages now and sometimes think the most vocal Ric haters have never actually spent any time playing them. I’m quite familiar with their quirks. And I love a nice Ric. Some say the current basses are among the best they’ve ever made. I have played a number of Fakinbackers over the years and they have not remotely resembled the real thing.

Right up there with playing behind the capo.

At home , with various amps at low volume I found Monique subtle but very present , and found the sensitivity knob was magic. On the weekend I was playing in one of my favourite dives downtown. I paired Monique with a Bergantino Forte with just a single 112 Bergantino cab , the Forte is a very simple transparent modern hifi head without bells or whistles. And going in through the effects loop I completely bypassed the Forte’s front end and tone stack. It sounded like a 700 watt B15. Warm , fat and buttery. Now the four band tone stack on the Forte has almost surgical precision , and the three tone controls on Monique are much broader and simpler , so it’s much easier to dial in. There was a tubey bloom to the notes , but the response was quick. I had that warm tube sound , but it had some serious slam behind it. I was well behaved on the bandstand and settled into a nice stage mix , only vocals were in the PA. Just a mid sized local neighbourhood room. My favourite Dive. The band immediately had grins , gave me the big thumbs up , and loved Monique. I’ll have Monique out to a couple of rehearsals later this week and out for gigs on the weekend. She was expensive , but I plan to use her. She’s to be kept. So I found Monique delivered exactly what I was hoping for from what I had read. At low volume at home it was subtle but that changed dramatically at stage volume. How’s Simone? What are you using for a back end?

Once upon a time , before the term vintage became popular , old or used meant cheap. I miss those days and regret passing up many deals I was offered.

I listen , get familiar , chart the song , and then play without the chart. Doing two one hour shifts a day working on new stuff. Gigs have been booked. There’s a pile of memory work.

I have a HDN 112 & 210. The classic 322. Now for most gigs I just bring a single cab, but the joy of modular is having something ready if you need more.

A basket or birdcage makes sense when there’s tubes , unless you’re outside in the rain.

I was trying Monique with Bergs yesterday.

Practice nook at the inlaw’s the playpen

Monique arrived and I’ve been trying various amps and cabs. Usually drag Bergie cabs and Forte out to gigs , and using the effect loop it’s simple to bypass the Berg tone stack. So I immediately spent some time spinning knobs. Monique is very subtle , and yet very present. And I really love her so far. It will be interesting to see how my listening changes as I get more acquainted. The Jr has slightly mellowed rounds , the Hi Flier has chrome flats. This may be Blue Monday , but I’ve been in nerd heaven.

For many , many years all I had was an old Pbass , I thought it was all I’d ever need. I was wrong.

I simply found short scale basses more comfortable , never had any issues with the 34 in scale. But now I do have a pile of classic basses that don’t see that much playing time now. It took about a year or so playing 30 in basses before my preferences changed. Didn’t happen overnight.

There are a lot of people that are still not going out. Covid continues to rage on. … we’ve found the numbers are not what they used to be , but they are getting better.

You can use your effect loop to bypass the amp’s tone stack , or simply center things and plug into the input. Monique can be used with any amp , or as a DI without a cab. Straight into the board. I’ll be trying her out on gigs , and home practice , she’s just an exotic tube preamp and DI. A front end. But many users swear there’s a little magic with Monique, and she can deliver that warm sweet spot tube amps have. Without carrying around a massive rig. Jule makes amps without a tone stack to mate with Monique that range from 500 watts to 2500 watts , or something like the Demeter Minnie which was designed with Monique in mind. I’m going to play around with what I have , and if I fall for Monique in a big way , I’ll eventually pick up a dedicated amp for her. She should be delivered tomorrow!

I immediately bypassed the .0047 cap on my old 4001 , and have never had second thoughts. until now

There were a lot of toilet comments when they first appeared. Today I look at them and simply see a classic design. They’re wonderful instruments.

Simone and an amp will fit in a backpack.

The HiFlier arrived Friday , and I got to use it in a little instrumental project rehearsal. It was well set up but I’ll tweak it a bit in the days to come. Quite light , sounds good , the band loved it. Great shape for a fifty year old cheap Japanese bass. I quite like it! I’ll drag it out to the gig tomorrow night.

I mentioned I had one on the way in a TB thread ,and received a couple of messages from Jule himself! He’s quite hilarious. I simply hope to find the joy so many Monique owners describe. Eventually I may pick up a Demeter Minnie , or something dedicated to Monique , but for the time being I’ll be trying various amps. I’m looking forward to spinning the knobs and noodling away! Easily one of my favourite pastimes.

I’ve been looking at Monique for some years now , and after hearing people review them , have been watching TB classifieds like a hawk for ages. There’s nothing around locally , I missed one in Ontario last year , and many sellers say continental US only. Sometimes the timings simply been off and they’ve been beyond my budget. I thought last year was going to be the year I’d take the plunge … nothing. And last week I found one in the US. UPS tell me it will arrive Monday. I’m all ajar with anticipation! (image from the internet)

The two band is a very practical back up , now you should get something entirely different just to hose things down. Maybe a shortscale hollow body.