A very belated hello

[djk]

Having been a member for some years (15), and posted a few time, I know I've never really introduced myself, so here goes.

 

I started playing bass in the 60's, playing for quite a few years till family and work took over. I played in cover bands in and around Essex and East London and for a while I became a pro.

 

As some may have seen from my previous posts, I recently returned to playing bass in my seventh decade and found that the the world of amps and cabs had changed since the time of my Hiwatt and 4x12 cabs.

 

Being bereft of gear, with little income aside from my pension, I set about sorting out something to play, and play through.

I'd sold my early Mustang some years ago but still had a no name bass that I'd done some work on. However having been a short scale player in the past I set about looking for something reasonable in both quality and cost to use.

 

As far as guitars went, my first new, to me, purchase was an Ibanez Talman TMB30, an OK bass but a little too heavy for my damaged shoulder, so I bought a secondhand Hofner Shorty, then a Gretsch G2220 Junior Jet whilst at the same time putting together a custom (homemade) short scale P style bass. More recently I've added a Squier Bronco and swapped out the PU for a 9.5K one from Toltec.

 

I've recently crossed over to the dark side and picked up a Squier Jazz bass, which I have found that, even with my arthritic left hand, I can play OK and have decided that I'll stay with it. The Ibanez and Hofner have gone and the Bronco will go, leaving just the Gretsch and Jazz, along with the homemade P. I also have a Squier Base VI.

I also have a couple of Yamaha acoustics, an FG335 from the 70's that I bought new and an FG 12 string I picked up recently. These sit alongside a Squier Strat which I've swapped the PU's on. I'm also part was through building a Vox Phantom tribute bass.

 

Amp wise, along the way I picked up a couple of Laney Richter combos, an RB5 and an RB8, not realising that in the intervening years since I last played either amps have got heavier or I've got weaker, so a rethink was needed if I was going to continue to play. The RB5 will sit under the desk in my home studio but the RB8 has to go.

 

For cabinets I've recently built 2 Basschat 110 cab's using Eminence drivers from an old Ashdown 210 cab, these have impressed me with both their capabilities and light weight. Not wanting to give up old school totally I've also built a 1x15, again with an Eminence driver, based on a compact ported design. I've yet to finish this so not sure how it will sound. Finally today a Fane 8" driver arrived so I can build a 1x8 Basschat cab. My thanks to Phill Starr and everyone else for the designs, support and advice that you all have provided and offered.

 

I'll add some images later.

 

David

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 12:27 by djk
spelling

[LowB_FTW]

 

Mark

[SpondonBassed]

Welcome David.

[ezbass]

[djk]

I promised I'd add some photographs of what I'm building, so here goes:

 

 

Lightweight, compact ported 1x15 with an Eminence 150W speaker

 

 

 

 

One of two BassChat 110's using Eminence 10" speakers

 

 

 

VOX Phantom Bass Tibute build in progress. It started off intended to be a short scale but I also have a 34" scale Jazz style neck so still contemplating which. Or even if it may end up as a Bass VI? I'm not up to building my own neck's, yet, but am working on it. I'm hoping the body will work out as I had to lay it out myself.

 

I'm not sure about the headstock shape at the moment. Could be 2x2 or I've also designed somthing similar to the VOX.

 

 

Twin locking footswitch for the effects on an Ashdown Rootmaster 800

 

 

1x12 cabinet using an un-branded bass speaker. Made this just for something to do and in order to prevent the speaker getting damaged kicking around the home studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "Home Studio", which is a room above the garage. There's been a few changes since this was taken, and a few more to come. The Peavey has been sold, and the Laney Richter RB8 will hopefully go as well. The 1x15 will come up and be used with a TC bass head, with one of the 1x10's and the Ashdown head as my travel rig and the other one left at my playing patners home studio.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I've just bought a Fane 8" and will be building that into a BassChat eight inch cab which will probably replace the 1x10 used in the travelling rig making it even more portable.

 

Hope I've not bored you too much with all of this, thanks for looking.

 

David

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by djk