Merton

Did a weird sort of 2-in-1 gig yesterday in Cambridge at a corporate “family fun day” event. First hour was the “rock band for kids”, with about 3 kids in attendance and the rest of the audience slightly amused adults. Second set was the same musicians but cranking it up a notch for the “grown up party band”. Was hot, humid and sticky and our drummer nearly fainted near the end of the second set but we made it through. Left home 9.30am, had a shite journey up (took 4 hours, haven’t driven a manual vehicle for that length of time in over a decade!), but given it was a day event I was home almost exactly 12 hours later so can’t complain Basses were my ACG Finns (a 4 and a 5), amp was the Trace TE-1200 and cab was a single BF Two10S, and all sounded fecking marvellous even with me at the controls. Today I am recovering from the crappy drive by fixing a shower and dishwasher, coz I know how to live 🤓

Absolutely, in terms of one manufacturer saying “cab A with amp B”. And that is almost always tosh, especially the way a lot of mainstream cabs are “designed” 😄 We’re just celebrating other combinations we have decided we personally think work

Bit more South than South West but Feline in Croydon

Yep my Trace TE-1200 and TE Elf with Barefaced Two10s are both something to behold The Two10 cabs just seem to love whether you give them tbh! Ashdown pairs well with BF too.

Glockenklang do very flat and clean as their starting point but have options to dial in other tones, which you can ignore. Eich (TecAmp) are supposed to be quite clean sounding? The new Trace TE-1200 is a massive sounding clean amp albeit unlikely to appear second hand yet… Aguilar AG700? Trickfish - rare 2!d hand but clean. Vanderkley - even rarer but still clean. will add more if I think of them

Standard band leader 😅

These have a high-passed speaker so actually work out a little like a line array. They do work great vertically but they also work great like this

Nope, 3x12 ohm cabs = 4 ohms. Do it. You know you want to. 😀

Yep, noticeable difference. There’s a YouTube video from BF showing it too (if you use decent headphones!)

Frankly there’s a lot more to it but my head is fried and I can’t explain it properly 😅

Actually I take that back. The Two10 is designed to have a different tone when vertical vs when horizontal. More phatness if horizontal, tighter and more focussed bottom end of vertical. Plus of course drivers closer to your ears.

Not for the BF Two10S due to the way they hi-pass one of the drivers in the pair, so the usual comb filtering issues are removed.

Buy a second cab, because of all the reasons above, plus it looks cooler (which frankly, is the most important aspect to consider). And then once you have that, start wondering if you should add a third. I may (or may not) speak from experience.

£849 at FX Pedal now… seems a sensible price to me.

Let’s start by saying this bass is nothing like what I originally ordered. And that it’s all Mike’s fault… I originally had this wonderful idea of a 32” P bass, 4 string, black body with bwb scratchplate, maple neck and board. Simple, like the Roger Waters sig give or take. Spec agreed, deposit paid. Mike then shared a photo of a 5 string Zoot Funkmeister in white, tort scratchplate, maple neck. I fell in love, and one thing led to another… and here we are. The very first Zoot bass with 5 strings and a 32” scale. I’ve owned a fair few 5 strings over the years and I’m not the most technically proficient bassist so they always challenge me in a different way to a 4 string. When we shifted to the new spec I realised I’d have three 5ers in my slightly OTT collection. I was honestly a little concerned how this would slot in. Needless to say, that concern was totally unfounded. From the first play this bass felt natural, like an extension of me. The neck is sublime, a lovely satin feel, slim carve, super comfortable from 1st to 24th fret. The body sits perfectly on the strap and on the lap; it is balanced perfectly so there’s no neck or body dive when it’s resting on my right leg and that makes it a doddle to play sitting down as I’m not fighting it. An interesting aside, my ACG Finn 5 (also a glorious 5er in its own right) sits slightly more to the right than this, so the first fret ends up a little closer to my body on that, especially when seated, but that does give it a slight tendency to try to wander off my leg! Keeping with the Finn comparison briefly, with that bass I wanted a tight (16.5mm) string spacing to keep the compact feel. I was aiming for 17mm with this but we were limited by the 5 string P pickups available, so we’re close to 18mm. The difference is noticeable but doesn’t affect playability for me and makes my horrendous slap technique easier to navigate! So, this plays great thanks to a superb neck, a comfortable body shape and practically perfect balance. How does it sound? Well, it has a Badass bridge, Aguilar pickup and top quality construction, so of course it sounds great. It sounds exactly like a P should. Mike added a series/parallel switch so I have a few more tones available than the standard passive P, and I can go from old school plummy thump to bright and zingy. I have 5 musical projects in the go at the moment (because why not); in one of those I tend to have the tone control almost fully wound off, and in another it tends to go to about halfway on. That’s it; using a different right hand position or technique I can control the rest with my fingers. “But this is a 32” scale; what about the bottom B?” I hear you cry. Well it’s fantastic. I’ve had three 32” fivers and none have had bad bottom B strings to be honest - ultimately if the bass is well made and the neck is stiff with a solid body join then you’ll be fine. Being a Zoot you are guaranteed both of those things. I picked it up from Mike in December 2022, drove home, put my bass rig in the car and went straight to a gig, where I played this all night. I know a lot of people who would balk at that idea - got to get to know the instrument first etc - but this just felt perfect from the get-go so it was an easy decision. It was admired by band and punters alike, and in my excitement I managed to give it its first battlescars in the form of two small dents on the lower horn. Dents. Not paint chips, just dents. Testament to Mike’s finishing skills methinks! I now own two Zoot Funkmeister 32” basses, a 4 string “jazz” (I use speech marks as it has Nordstrand Big Splits so it’s a slightly left-field Jazz bass) and this 5 string P. I am delighted with both and if I were ever to get some more money and want to expand my collection again, I would have no hesitation going to Mike. He is a very collaborative builder and will gladly advise on your ideas, offering his own experiences and insight to ensure the bass comes out as perfectly as possible. His books are currently closed due to such high demand, which is excellent for Mike and for my bank balance 😃 The specs: Zoot Funkmeister P5 32” scale Idigbo body 3-piece maple neck with black stringers Maple fingerboard White body and matched headstock Tort scratchplate Aguilar AG5P-60CL pickup Passive volume, tone, series/parallel switch Badass bridge Hipshot tuners Newtone strings Some pictures (mostly Mike’s because my photography skills suck):

Well someone’s snapped it up! Anyone on here?

The price was tempting enough for me to consider a back up 🤣🤣

Public service announcement - Stompbox London has one in stock, at a remarkable £799. That’s a lot less than the US price tag and certainly less than I paid to import from the US last year! https://www.fxpedal.co.uk/amps-c74/bass-amps-c75/trace-elliot-te-1200-bass-guitar-amplifier-head-p6320

I like this pic of me with my Zoot Funkmeister P5/32 from Buckle and Boots 😊