northcountrybob

Venmo seems like a bit of a funny one. Seems like they warn you about not being able to get to your account after you leave the US. I also can't find Venmo on the UK Apple app store. I was going to download it to my iPhone and have a play. Quite convoluted all this!

Thanks! That's really good to know. Wasn't even aware of that

Thanks for the offer! There's some advice on EU VAT issues given my musicians union. Seems complex. I'm sure it will cause some head scratching in future! Ah thanks for the heads up! I was just looking into using Venmo / Paypal for the merch but paying out into a Wise USD account or something. An american friend of mine in DC said when he does merch he often takes way way more Venmo / Cashapp / Paypal transaction. Zero on card.

Thanks for the heads up. I ran an amp repair business for a few years and we've had a discussion with the accountant I used for that. He works with a lot of musicians and had the same concerns you do. We also have a manager pushing us to go this route rather than a partnership. I think he's into the protection offered by a limited liability company. I don't think we'd get away with a personal account much longer. When a tours worth of merch/guarantees get paid in my person account, I'm a little concerned it'll flag something somewhere. A couple of the others need to be paid to compensate for loss of earnings during tours too. Think we're at that transitional point where going the limited company route might be a good idea. We just did an EU tour, and we have 3 US tours and another EU tour lined up this year. Also playing a bunch of festivals. This stuff is very new but we've all done bands for years. While in the US we'll be getting our own social security numbers because we'll need to pay tax. The EU VAT issues are something I'm aware of and I know there are some workarounds but we're yet to use them. (Workarounds like selling merch business to business to promoters and having them sell it locally for commission, then they deal with the VAT). Do need to look into that more. As far as payment go, I was hoping I could get an eSIM to use for a 2 weeks. Pair that to a card machine. I didn't know if that would work with a Starling business USD account directly (think Starling is FCSC protected?), it only deals with ACH payments?? I've used Wise a long time ago when I did work for a US amplifier factory, but with mixed results.

Wondering if anyone has dealt with this but I'm in need of some advice... When my band plays in the UK we have a SumUp card reader for taking GBP payments. They currently go to a personal account. When we play in the EU, we use the same reader, which I think charges in GBP still, but we update prices at the merch stand to show Euro & GBP and folk seems happy. (There is probably a better option). Now we're setting up as a proper company (it's just got to the point where it's the right time) and we have a US tour on the horizon. So, I think for the US we'd need a USD card reader, account and probably a US SIM for a phone or something. So just wondering how many people here tour overseas and how you guys might deal with this. Any tips?

Thanks for all the replies. Super helpful! I don't I have low action but the first time it happened I'd driven from Glasgow to London with the bass in the trunk and it was very cold. Next time I got the bass out at a venue a couple days later (IIRC, maybe sooner) the strings were all fretting out badly. Almost just resting on the fretboard. Not had that trouble with it since but have had to make adjustments. I think I just to put a ruler or feeler gauge in the case with a notebook, get the bass setup professionally and then just track any adjustments I make. It's certainly not a gig stopper, just something for me to understand better. Still love stingrays!

I tend to hit quite hard, strum chords and use a pick, so my action isn't that low. I guess if I actually get it set up, and then start measuring the changes and the direction the neck moves I'll get a better idea of what's happening and how to correct things. I probably haven't noticed so much if the neck bows forward, but when it goes back and the strings start choking out it's pretty noticeable. I do love the stringray sound and would still get another. Maybe one without the flame maple neck. It's actually quite disorientating if a lighting guy gets over zealous and floods a stage with certain kinds of light. The fret markers seem to vanish and the shadows from the figuring make me second guess where I am on the neck. Thats another issue though!

That neck sock is amazing and I instantly want one! Does it have much affect? So it seems it's not unheard of, and not isolated to Stingrays. I've owned a lot of guitars but way less basses. Mex P bass, the Squire Matt Freeman, and the Stingray. Maybe I've been luckily until now! It's manageable but as it's my first experience of it, a bit unnerving. I need to put a ruler or feeler gauge in the hardcase really and keep track of how it's moving. Maybe put a little notebook in there and record the changes

Interesting. It is the only figured neck I've owned and I guess it would make sense for it to react differently than other necks. It looks like it's got a pretty substantial gloss finish on it. My other instruments are or have been guitars. I've had les pauls, strats, gretchs, SG's, offsets, with a mix of finished and unfinished neck. Never had this issue, though that are slightly different beasts I'll admit. The truss rod doesn't seem broken, it still adjusts... my other thought is maybe it's moving when in transit due to vibration but that seems a bit less likely that just being affected by cold.

Hello All, I'm sure I've read about this somewhere but just wanted to get the forums take. I use a stingray classic 2EQ. Red with the glossy flame maple neck. A few times I've picked it up now and needed to adjust the truss rod as strings will be choking out. Once after a drive back south from Scotland, and again a few months later getting it out the hardcase for a soundcheck, then again this weekend in the studio. Prior to this weekend the bass had been in our storage unit (post-tour) which gets quite cold, while it normally resides in my house. Is it just the case that Stingray necks are a bit susceptible to climate changes? I've never really had the issue on my Squire Matt Freeman P-Bass which I use as a "beater". Luckily it's easy enough to adjust to get the thing working again, but a bit disconcerting. Anyone else faced similar issues?

Apologies, I was on about the MK1 which is different. It's pretty much an AD200 preamp. The MK2 I think uses JFET's and valves but the loop most likely does bypass the preamp exactly like Ade says in that vid. The MK2 is quite a bit different I think. The schematic for the MK1 is kicking around on the interwebs Yeah it does. The DI has cab sim on it, but the amp out doesn't. The pedal does recreate a whole SVT though, including output section, and thats the amp out signal. So it's interesting using it into the front of an amp like the AD200 that isn't really flat... It definitely doesn't sound bad though!

On the MK1 Terror Bass the loop send and return are both valve. It's not the best design. The send is a typical 12AX7 gain stage and driven from the plate of a tube (This also feeds the DI out, which is opamp buffered but IIRC fairly spicy!) It won't be very low output impedance. Using only the return bypasses the preamp but then the signal goes into the second half of V2 which is set up as an AC coupled cathode follower. As your signal goes into the return it's hitting a capacitor to block DC, then a 68k resistor, then a 250K master volume pot. So the input impedance isn't massive. The tone stack is passive, so the front label "cut and boost" on the EQ is a bit misleading. I've used sansamp BDDI and now use an Origin Bassrig. If I use it into something like my markbass little mark III or most other loaner amp, I start with that amp's EQ "flat". With other amps, I'm debating putting a splitter on my board to run a pre-preamp signal to a nice amp if I want... if the amp doesn't have an FX return. Like an AD200B

Hiya. Thought I’d post in here as a new member of the hx stomp owners guild. my setup is usually stingray 2eq -> Fairfield Accountant comp -> Boss CE-2b -> Boss ODB-3 -> Origin Bassrig SVT pedal -> DI to FoH/Amp out to Orange AD200 I got the HX Stomp to use as a recording tool for quickly putting down ideas but after playing with it I want to use it live. I spent a while putting each of my analog pedals through the helix while a/b’ing everything using the headphone out. I got real close to replicating the analog board. The only oddity is that the Bassrig has analog cabsim on it’s XLR out (which I couldn’t listen to) and not on its amp out. So I went between an SVT patch and Bassrig into and IR for a/b’ing This got me thinking about using this setup live. Would I be better having mono outputs from left and right of the helix, running one to the AD200 with no amp sim or IR, and the other could run out to to the bassrig, or I could loose that pedal and run amp sim and IR to FOH via a DI box. I’ve been using sansamp BDDI for years and then the bassrig in front of whatever amps I end up using. But just wondered if anyone else is splitting the signal this way, or ever ran into issues running amp simulating pedals into the front of other amps. I have been struggling to dial in things with the bassrig going into the orange occasionally. anyone else splitting the hx stomp out?

I've come across this issue with 7660's when trying to do some repairs. The J Rocket Archer uses a 7660S, and I've swapped out a failed one and introduced a HF whistle. The issue I had was caused by accidentally using a 7660 which has nothing connected to pin 1 (so no boost mode, just runs at 10KHz) as opposed to a 7660S with the boost on pin 1. I've had better luck with the LT1054 compared to the 7660S and the 1044. I've replaced a lot of MAX1044's in bogner la granges.

Hey there! Was wondering if anyone had any experience with the Fender Bassman Neo 4x10 or 6x10's? I've been using an AD200B for a while and I'm super familiar with the Orange 4x10, but it's pretty big and very heavy. Was thinking of switching it up for something a bit lighter. I'm looking at touring overseas more this year and being able to pick up familiar backline would be handy, but I don't know what cab manufacturers backline places tend to hold besides Ampeg, Orange, Mesa, EBS...? I come more from a valve guitar world than bass, so still learning about bass gear a bit. Hence I'm thinking Fender, although lots of folk here favor other brands like Barefaced for lightweight cabs. As for the 6x10, I know it'd be bigger than the 4x10, but occasionally I like using a bigger cab. 8x10's just seem crazy big (as much fun as they are). Using 4x10's for portability or a 6x10 possibly seem like better options. Only 6x10 I've used was an Ampeg. One thing that concerns me would be speaker impedance if the drivers are custom. I like to be able to get parts easily should something go wrong.

If you're flying by yourself and carrying the bass as luggage you shouldn't need a carnet. Doesn't mean that customs may not give you hassle because nobody really knows the rules. I flew to Madrid for a gig this year and it was fine. Think we used Ryanair too. I took a Matt Freeman Squire P Bass. Took the neck off and just wrapped in all up in bubble wrap and stuck it in a duffel bag and checked it in at Stansted. You should be able to travel with a "musical instrument" & "equipment" in your personal accompanied(!) baggage without a carnet. You might have to check rules for Italy to see if it's different. We picked up out guitars at the airport and nobody said anything to us. The carnet situation becomes more murky if you're transporting full backline by driving across the channel. We'll be with our personal gear and accompanying it, but the definition of equipment in the rules is apparently quite loose. So to play it safe we're getting a carnet. Other bands have told us the fine you risk is cheaper than the carnet so they don't bother, but it's a risk. I've been caught at borders and forced to pay fines and taxes before and it isn't fun... finding detail on all this stuff is a nightmare. You'd absolutely need one if you're freighting gear and travelling separately I think.

Closer to Southport / Preston... so not THAT far North but I live in London. When I first moved darn sarf I was known as 'Northern' for bit. Thanks for the welcome!

Heya, Been reading up about a bunch of stuff on here and thought I'd stop lurking so much. I'm Bob. Played guitar for 20 something years, been playing bass in a band for the last couple. I've been around a bunch of guitar gear but not so much bass stuff, so I've been coming here doing research on amps and cabs mainly. I run and AD200B and OBC410. I have a Stingray classic which is great. Turbo Tuner, Fairfield Compressor, Boss CE-2B bass chorus, ODB-3 overdrive and Origin Bass Rig Super Vintage. Recently I've been looking into alternative amps and cabs. I dig the Ampeg V4B reissue but I don't think it's made as well as the AD200. I've also just discovered the Fender neo cabs (not so much into the heads they offer) so now I want to try the 6x10 or a 4x10 + 1x15 setup. Any opinions on that would be great!