SimonK

..them EQ knobs on the bass can be quite helpful for things like this - or just get a GEB-7 or similar to tread on when you switch between the two?

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

I watched the videos; I have no idea what the fuss is about. either saw nor heard anything at all special, quite the opposite. She appeared to be distracted, trying to do too many things at once, and none of them well. It sems to be a very odd way of playing music, but what would I know..?  Not for me, sorry. 

I thought it was an excellent example of really professional playing, managing a lot of things going on at once in a format that was both rehearsed but also flexible in terms of where the music was going at any point. All in front of a lot of people and being streamed/recorded. I also believe she is only in her early twenties so her grasp of both the music and technology is impressive.

I play with some pretty good musicians and while granted we seldom rehearse, we don't get close to the complexity of the arrangements shown in the videos.

55 minutes ago, Richard R said:

 

Sacrilege! Schisms and wars have been started over less.

Yes... but... she has one of these: https://empresseffects.com/products/zoia

I've just spent the last hour going down the rabbit hole of how this is the only path to happiness...

On 01/07/2025 at 06:54, GoodShowSir said:

I am so tired... thats clearly an electric guitar.... 

 

RIght back to sleep....

The first video wasn't - I think she uses the same pedal board for guitar and bass.

Here's the picture and description so that we have this very unique amp on the thread for posterity!

"This is a very unique amplifier. It started life as the head section of a 1 x 15 Trace Elliot combo amp, which i bought at the Bass Centre in Wapping Wall, London.
Eventually I removed the amplifier and took it to Trace Elliot's in Witham, Essex. They replaced the power caps and fitted it in a sleeve. They also added a 'Zorbal Network' circuit so that a second speaker output could be added. Finally they fitted a GP12X preamp (solid state) to the amplifier. I spent a very pleasant day at their manufacturing factory while they did the work on it. (I still have a copy of an invoice for the work). When they tested the output with an oscilliscope it gave a reading of 272 watts. It has a typically clear powerfull Trace Elliot sound. Sadly I am selling the amp as I am moving abroad."

On 30/06/2025 at 17:06, andytoad said:

I could swing by Southend on Wednesday, i dont need it though.. that same old conundrum.

Yes I was also just trying to work out if I can get to Southend but bloody London gets in the way for me... probably not worth it due to the six hour drive for me sadly...

On 30/06/2025 at 18:08, Minininjarob said:

Interesting video here, nice use of some driving P bass tones maybe through a pedal or whatever (let me know if you know what they are!) 

 

She's scary good - and a pretty accomplished lead guitarist as well. I keep getting her videos in one of my feeds.

3 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

There are tales on BC and Talkbass of lutheirs who fail catastrophically, and reading some of the tales I can't escape the feeling that many of them failed because they didn't have a good understanding of how things might look in two years time if they proceed on their present trajectory, for example, promised timelines, post-sale care etc. Working methods/T7Cs that work fine when you have 10 orders can fail disastrously when you have 15

 

Either way, good luck @Silky999

Both my wife and I have gone through this with our own businesses, starting off using mates rates and "I feel guilty someone is paying me to do something I like doing so I will only charge a token amount", then realising that there is enough business coming in to make a proper go of it, but then realising that in order to have a business the fees need to be three times higher than the original mates rates we were charging. This then leads to awkward conversations, but business (and living) costs money, and at the end of the day people (society?) will lose access to expertise if they do not pay enough to maintain it. I think this is a particular issue for the arts (and in this thread luthiers) in that there seems to be a reluctance to adequately cost the (music) services being produced.

I think there is a difference between running a professional business where you do need to stick to more rigid policies just so the business survives, as opposed to being a hobbyist making a bit of money on the side, but primarily doing it for the love of it. I think if it is the latter that you are doing you could come up with some sort of guarantee period, something like so long as the customer can inspect it at time of purchase they can get a full refund for first 14 days, 50% for up to a month following purchase, but then only warranty repairs (probably worth defining carefully) for up to a year afterwards.

Unfortunately I think for this first "problem" customer I would just bite the bullet, take it back, and chalk it up to experience (albeit I would only refund what they paid - no more!). Then next time ensure you have the returns/warranty policy in writing and agreed to.

Sorry to hear this - especially given I work very close by (I'm often at the Queen's hotel in Southsea).

I've seen this post while (avoiding) sorting out my own invoices and quotes (not music related), and was just struck by how most of us would probably never do any normal work without formal quotations/invoices, and yet for music this is so common - I don't think I've ever had more than an email/text message agreeing payment, albeit I am very much on the amatuer side of things. Hopefully your agreement is/was a bit more robust!

7 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I swear that guitarist was miming for most of that clip. 

"that" guitarist 🙂 !!

As a regular train traveller I've found the limiting factor is more what I can carry/cart around. Even on a busy train you can just stand in one of the bike areas with your luggage if there are no spare seats to stack it on.

Alright not a bass player, but I thought very much in theme with this thread - pesky pedal board power supplies!!

3 hours ago, gafbass02 said:

I ran Warwick/Trace for a long time. Streamers and an FNA jazzman, with an AH400SMX, two 4x10s and a bright box, usually with a back up head sat on top too.  Was a big old stack to lug around, but thankfully back then I had a crew and truck doing the work for me much of the time. These days I play a glued together Ibanez, don’t even use an amp and the roadies are a distant memory. How life has changed!

Awesome stage presence - isn't quite the same with only IEMs!!

...and that was a bit of a disaster! I don't think I fully appreciated how different a 5 string Warwick feels to play compared to the four string Stingrays that I have been playing for the last twenty years. I really struggled for the whole gig adapting to both the five strings, but also the entirely different feel of the thing. I'm hoping that if I persevere things will get easier as I do think very different instruments can inspire in very different ways, but adapting does seem to be a bit of a challenge. Most notable was quite how big and chunky the stingrays felt to wear after playing the Warwick, albeit the Stingray necks are much slimmer!

Mind you the Trace sounded as equally awesome with both - didn't change any settings as signal level, EQ etc. was all fine or at least nothing I couldn't tweak using the controls on the basses alone.

Every day's a school day even after 35 years of playing!

Yes I visited PMT in Portsmouth for years and it just got more and more disappointing until it died a rather predictable death. Even a visit to Andertons is not quite as exciting as it used to be mainly because if I want to buy something I normally source it second hand, and while the boutique section is fun to have a gander at I don't think I would ever spontaneously buy something that expensive (famous last words!).

I think the trick to bricks and mortar shops is to diversify. I like "Guitar and Beans" in Leiden, and as others have mentioned this is not the only coffee/music shop combination. My business plan would be to open a second hand musical instruments plus coffee (not second-hand!) shop, probably aiming to get 80% of the revenue off the coffee by making it a place for muso's to hang out, although it would probably need to be in a University town to be succesful. Having it big enough to run live nights and maybe have a small bar would probably be needed too.

Sadly there is simply too much available on line for a traditional retailer to survive selling new gear anymore.

£75 each is reasonable if they work, or even as a source of replacement speakers for repairs...

This looks a bit Trace like. Cool cab finish!

...so after a bit of detective work I think the Tolex covered GP12 would have been from about 1995, and the carpet covered from 1998 onwards. I don't think I previously realised there was this much variation in the SMX series, but it looks to me that while the preamp stayed the same the power section started off fairly similar to the older Series 6 amps and then they seem to have moved to a newer power amp design. The faceplates are identical.

RE the cabs, I suspect the non-ported one is an older series 6 as both the SMX catalogues I have (tolexed and carpeted) show ports on all the cabs.

2 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Yep, a totally different animal, 300 watts, fan cooled with Celestion driver and carpet covering. Mine is 250 watts, rear heatsink cooled with Fane Axiom driver and vinyl covering. 

I'm not convinced its a "totally different" animal - possibly only a couple years older with both being the very last UK manufactured?

4 minutes ago, Sparky Mark said:

Unless you saw it 3 years ago on eBay, I think it's a different amp.

You are absolutly correct, the similar one I saw is still on reverb for about £100 or more than I think it worth:

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

The Jazz can "impersonate" a P bass using neck pickup only rather than emulate one. Two very different terms ☺️

In a live setting it gets close enough-a blind test in that environment would yield interesting results 👍

Surely the obvious comment would be to get a PJ bass if you wanted to cover both?

3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

 

That looks like a very nice find indeed.  From here it looks like it hasn't been gigged much if at all.  That or a very careful owner had it. May I ask how much you paid for the amp and the new valve?  I am assuming you had the cab already.

 

I hope you have a LOT of fun with it (preferably well away from your neighbours).

I saw this but passed - generally (in the UK) you can find a GP12SMX for less than £300, and a smaller cab like that for under £100, but looking at various forums it can be double these prices in the US or mainland Europe.

As a scientist I feel obliged to like metric more except for pints of beer and miles/hour. Thus said I was talking to a French chap about this last week who pointed out that given a litre of beer is quite a lot bigger that a pint (by almost three quarters), the Brits were missing a trick with our drinking habits!

2 hours ago, dave74200 said:

I hate changing my strings and have consequently had the same ones on both my basses for about two years. I dislike the zingy bright sound new strings give and am wondering if I should just go to flatwounds? Any advice?

Love this... I don't exactly hate changing my strings but can seldom be arsed (or want to spend the money) to - I think two of mine have eight year old strings on at the moment, although I did put d'addario NYXL's for this reason last time I did change them...