BigBassBob

I'm loving mine although it's going to take a few gigs and a bit more tinkering to get the most out of it although it was pretty easy to dial in some very usable sounds straight out of the box (if you have even a mild understanding of how compression works.)

Wired this up today and I'm pretty chuffed with the results

I have to say that I ordered a strap from these guys a while back and I liked the quality (and vibe) so much that I bought matching straps for each of my instruments.

Big shout out to the Wren and Cuff Phat Phuk B for this very purpose. It ever so slightly boosts the bass, low mids and treble and adds a hair of dirt to your tone. I personally love it for the fact that you retain your sound and your instrument doesn't get coloured much at all.

So I've received some goodies in the post recently and decided to wire this up today: At the moment I'm fairly content with my setup

Another vote for the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner here! It's a brilliant tuner; fast note recognition and immense accuracy. I know that the TU2 received a lot of praise over the years but when I briefly had one I found that it never got my instruments in tune 100% and I'd end up having to fine tune by ear any In my humble opinion (based on my experiences): Sonic Research Turbo Tuner> Korg DT10> Boss TU2

Regarding the Thumpinator: I've not noticed a particular difference in the sound of my gear. However, I have thought that at times the low end sounded a tiny bit less flabby and more pronounced. Placebo effect perhaps? Maybe. I need to wait until I'm in a large, crowded pub to see if it helps my single 1x12 poke through the mix at all.

Got the Micro Thumpinator in the post yesterday

Made some modifications to the Mark Hoppus: NOS Am. Deluxe bridge, Lindy Fralin pickup, vintage wiring with orange drop cap, set of Chromes and a Fender F-stamp neck plate. Sounds and plays absolutely lovely

Some good advice given here, and I'm going to chip in with a resounding "YOU'RE NOT ALONE OR A FRAUD!" There are drummers who make your life easy and you can have a lot of fun with (you know, that solid snare, the ability to slip into a groove like an old pair of slippers). Then there are drummers who you need to gel with before you get some tasty results. Then there are drummers who will always make gigs difficult and cause a great deal of headaches for the band. I've had to deal with many cases of the later. Thankfully, my current drummer is of the first variety; nothing flash but damn, he is TIGHT

Fender 2011 Mark Hoppus P-bass which I picked up today: Going to be swapping the SD out for a Fralin and slapping a set of D'addario Chromes on it. And the group shot: Left to right - Gibson 67 Flying V with Bareknuckle Rebel Yells, Rickenbacker 4003, Fender US Deluxe P-bass V with Aguilar OBP-3, Fender Mark Hoppus and Fender MIJ 62 P-bass, defretted with Nordstrands, Badass II and J-bass knobs. Life's pretty good right now

Recently bought a pedal off Chris which I received today. Fast postage, great comms - an absolute pleasure to deal with

Another vote for the Analogman here!

Done!

While I don't own a MIM Fender at the moment, I thought I'd throw in my thoughts. Years ago I played a "new" MIM P-bass at some guitar shop while on holiday. The pickups were noisy, the pots crackled, the neck was unbelievably bowed and the frets were uneven. The Squire Affinity P-bass sat next to it put it to shame. Understandably, I was one of those "MIM aren't worth the price tag" people. I was also a naive teenager. Since then I've played a handful of MIM Fenders (guitar and bass) and I've been pleasantly surprised most times (in particular a 50's reissue in Fiesta Red). Just this week I played one of the new standard P-basses which had a better build quality than any other MIM I'd seen, and I'd go as far as to say that it rivalled and beat some MIJ Fenders I'd played. It was a shame that someone at the store hadn't spend a few days tweeking the truss rod as the neck had too much relief to make me tempted to splash out. I've currently got one of the new Mark Hoppus basses on order (should be here mid-May). I'm not holding overly high expectations but I just hope I don't receive a lemon. Either way, I'll report back in about a month's time... Bob.