Yorkshire Bottom End

Nice. Like the lettering on your Joyo. Are they transfers? I went with the Boss style knobs for the Sonicake which give it that retro feel I think. I'm in two minds about the switch toppers but I'm giving them a blast. They match my current pedalboard and my TE cabs. They're also more comfortable when I'm practising at home in my socks!

In the quiet lull between Christmas and New Year where you have nothing to do but eat and watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and endless Indiana Jones films, I thought I might have a play with a couple of cheap pedals I bought to try that have stayed on my board. Caline CP-24 and Sonicake Levitate Reverb and Delay. Bang for buck they are two really good pedals. Run quiet, don't suck any tone out, and do what they say they do. So I got the sandpaper out and some paint and wrecked them. Not quite finished yet but I think they look good, a bit 'industrial' and almost boutique-ish at a push. And they still work. Anyone done a similar (and presumably better) job on their pedals?

It certainly is Jack. Up on ebay if you want to have a look. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205176089890

This set-up is better than I could have expected. I put it through my two cabs and it easily keeps up with the drummer (Sumo at about 2 o'clock) with loads of headroom to spare. I like tinkering with my tone and have been through so many combinations/amps but I'm settled on this. Perfect for gospel. Clean and almost hi-fi quality. I want to borrow my mate's Ampeg SGT DI to see if it'll work for my other band who do more rock stuff. Funk, jazz and soul are covered with the Sadowsky. I'm also going to upgrade and minimise my pedalboard for what I do. Tuner, chorus, eq (for boost mainly) and a tickle of compression. But it doesn't need it, because to my ears, it sounds compressed anyway.

My new set-up. Keeping it simple, small and light. Resigned my TE Elf head to its handbag as a backup. If I fancy a louder Trace Elliot night out, then I'll just hook it up to the 600w Sumo. I'm getting rid of my Peavey Tour 700 beast of a head that I was using as a power amp. Sounds so tight and stupidly loud. Almost a little compressed to my ears. Sumo runs very quiet. A very, very small amount of hiss through it, but not as much as the TE which is super quiet anyway. I haven't tried this with my two TE 110s at 4ohms yet so I'll be interested to see how it sounds at the next gig. Btw - The Sumo came spectacularly well boxed and I love the handy little lunchbox carry-case it comes in, but be warned of the 'additional' import VAT and clearance fee if outside the EU (eg. in the UK). A slight 'ouch' on that one (just over £80). Other than that, very happy.

Traben. They're kind of bridge/scrachplate abominations. Why?

What is that? Looks like some sort of Kubicki Ex-Factor bass thing going on with the extra fret. Have you got a photo of the whole guitar?

Top five. 1. Musicman Stingray 4 2. Jaydee Supernatural (bound) 4 3. Status Graphite S2 5 4. Warwick 5 5. Alembic Series 1/2/SC/MK etc 4

My economy pedalboard painted in Trace Elliot colours (nearly) to match my rig. After lots of shopping around it's probably cost me around £250-£275 all in. Best pedal of the lot? Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor. Cures all ills. Close second comes the Sonicake Levitate Reverb/Delay. Magic for about £20.

The Cape Cod ones are around £6 or £7 on ebay/Amazon. Listed under 'watch polishing cloths' usually. They work a treat. Give it a week and my basses will be covered in finger gravy again but they'll look nice for a bit.

Finished my (now) super shiny Sire. All ready for the Christmas gigs...

After lots of sweaty rehearsals and gigs over the past few months I thought I'd give my Stingray some TLC. As a watch collector (as well as a bass collector) I tried this stuff I had and it works really well. Be gentle. Few quid online and it can be used over and over.

Bit late to the game but I've used my Elf as a DI, as well as stand alone and into a separate power amp into my pair of TE 1x10s, and it's bang on. I am still considering a Sadowsky or a Sansamp but I might stick with what I've got.

I'm getting my whole rig sorted for a tour and wondered if there are any decent 9V adaptors with a thicker cable (like a kettle lead) available. My power brick for my pedalboard runs off one as does my little Boss amp. I always think those skinny wee things will break anytime soon

I got some anyway. Few quid so they're in now!

Sounds and looks great to me. Updating the pots next with CTS 500k ones on the neck p/u and tone control (new bridge pickup doesnt need to be any brighter) then I'm done.

Yeh I do! Can't seem to get a decent tone I like out of the old workshorse so I might stick with this set up. Lots of faffing around it seems.

I got a great deal on the Peavey - £90 inc ABS case. The guy just wanted to get rid. Everything seems ok apart from a couple of crackles with the pots and sliders and it seems to drive my speakers a bit. Maybe I'm doing something wrong and need to fiddle about, but once I put the TE through the FX return, it's super clean, no problems and very loud.

Many thanks for your answers. If I'm not going to gain anything from getting the screwdrivers out then I can kind of live with the added bulk and weight. I don't know the age of the Peavey as I got it second hand but it probably just needs a service. I linked these up as I've got the Trace sound in my head, but I just needed more volume up against the 30+ strong choir I play with. I could also swap the Elf for a pre amp pedal when I choose which one to get.

I currently run a TE Elf head out from the DI into the FX return of a Peavey Tour 700 for more stage volume. Speakon cables go out to two 8ohm TE cabs from the Peavey. I find the Peavey preamp redundant and not what I'm looking for. Can the Peavey be chopped up so I can take out the power amp and possibly load it into separate casing to save on size/weight? Any advice?

Bit of a newbie to SS basses and I've been cleaning my strings up to now (flats and rounds in cleaning vinegar) and reffiting them. Now it's coming up to Christmas gig time I thought I'd treat myself to some D'Addario EXL170S, which are on the way. For future reference though, and for more choice, how do you get on with full scale or medium scale strings on a shortie? Sire U5 bridge is string through as well as 'top loading'. Stingray is a Stingray.

Had a minor teething problem with mine. The push/pull volume knob was loose as hell to the point where if I was slapping or got over-excited I'd knock the volume and it would either turn right down or jump way up. Oh how we laughed... No other problems though. Got my guitar fella to have a look, changed the pot and did some other wiring stuff, and £50 later it's a winner. Definitely a keeper. I've had other factory basses before that have needed a quick look at so I prepare myself to do that whenever I get a new one. Sometimes you're lucky, sometimes not so much.

Ok. We'll see how they are when they turn up.