Kiwi

Two weeks ago it was Tears For Fears - Everybody Wants To Rule The World but I ran out of time to learn the solo. 

(BTW Dave Price is my favourite Youtube tutor right now.  He covers pretty much every single song I've wanted to learn.  I even bought the Alan Murphy pack off him a few years ago.)

Last week it was Flesh for Fantasy as I'm on a bit of a Steve Stevens thing right now.  This week it's Rebel Yell...

On 12/02/2020 at 16:09, MWH said:

its a bit quiet sadly on here,  most of the action seems to come from basschat members, 

Thanks for your support...

On 08/04/2019 at 02:04, Scratcher said:

I am open to any tips to get going particularly how to get my fingers where they need to be on chords.getting there but sometimes I touch the string below.presume eventually my fingers will become more supple.

I decided to teach myself about 10 years ago.  There's no magic solution, it's just practice, practice, practice practice and more practice. Its important that I choose songs I want to play over and over again.  So I flit between Alan Murphy, Steve Lukather, Steve Stevens and Nile Rogers tracks.  My main problem is I don't practice often enough as playing is something I do when my kids aren't asleep or needing to be supervised and I have at least half an hour to myself.

Good grief I'm dreading to think what power supply is needed.  My Effectrode PC2A compressor has a 'submarine' valve and that needs a 12v 1500mA supply.

On 20/12/2019 at 19:29, uk_lefty said:

I am mainly a bassist and had a zoom BFX708 many years ago. I wouldn't use one now for gigging. I'm branching out in to electric guitar and notice zoom have come a long way these days. Would you say the G1Xon is credible for gigging? I've gone to individual pedals and then Boss for the multi, so out of touch with Zoom.

Also noticed that mooer has some multi pedals out, are these up to much? 

A bit late to the party here but I have a Mooer Ocean Machine and it's a very nice bit of kit.  Mooer seem to be lifting their game and price points but that means their cheaper pedals are built to the same standard as their expensive ones.  So yeah, have a look at Mooer...and Joyo too.

Update time for mine:  Two changes...

1) I took the DS1 away and put the Joyo American Sound back

2) Rewired the entire board to take greater advantage of the Tight Rock side chain and effects loop. 

So now the signal chain goes wah-> chorus -> TR -> Ocean Machine -> amps

The TR has the following loops: 

Side chain: (Clean) Empress Para Eq -> Effectrode PC2 comp
Effects loop: (Dirty) Joyo JF14 -> Freq Out
 

Could be a wiring problem.  Maybe the speakers are wired out of phase?

I've been looking for a replacement speaker for my recently purchased Princeton Reverb II.  I'm not sure if there are other manufacturers but Jensen have produced a 12" speaker designed for Fender Tone Master amps.  It's called the N12K and it only weighs 2.4kg.  

Apparently it's not going to be available for separate purchase until now...but given the situation with Coronavirus, it could be delayed I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41_fw7YR9Pw

Great taste in gear!  Welcome aboard too.  Keep coming back and you'll get to know other members too.  I started playing seriously about 8 years ago and I'm still crap.  

New amp day, Rivera-era Princeton Reverb II on the way in.  Concert II out as it's going to be way too loud for my needs.  Hit me up if any of you might be interested in it.

I've just come into possession of a more home friendly Fender Princeton Reverb II, the younger brother of this amp.  I bought it about 2 years ago but haven't had a chance to play it as I've been out of the country.  It's been looked after by Ped until I got around to collect it and ship it with other stuff out to China.

Features include:
1) Point to point hand wired, amongst the last amps to come out of the Fender factory like this
2) 60w available from 3x 6L6 power tubes, the usual 12AX7's in the preamp section
3) 2 channel footswitchable preamp with reverb, presence for both channels
4) Ch 1 - bass, treb + volume with bright boost
5) Ch 2 - bass, mid, treb, gain + volume with mid boost
6) Stock 12" speaker replaced with an Eminence.  Will need to confirm the exact model but it's probably the biggest improvement in terms of bang for buck.
7) Transformer is set up for 240v AC mains.

Great cleans - classic Fender with thick mids and chimey highs. It takes pedals well according to other owners.

PDF version of the user manual is available here:
http://www.stratopastor.org.uk/strato/amps/twoseriesfenders/Concert%20%281982%29.pdf

Can't really ship it due to weight so collection in the western vicinity of York preferred.

5 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

Hey Kiwi, i'm an alembic lover and would love to see a pic of that graphite series bass if possible. If it's out of place here then maybe drop a pic in the alembic group on basschat?

You may have seen it already on the first page:
https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/26098-the-alembic-thread/?do=findComment&comment=270629

Photobucket doesn't do us any favours these days however.  Repost here:
https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/333124-rare-basses/page/7/#comments

Me too - haven't needed to try an acoustic yet but I love watching the process and techniques applied!

Gosh, I'm a bit limited in that department. Good luck with it though.

Yes, everyone has a path to explore in finding what works for them.  For some people the path is pretty short and direct and for others it gets esoteric. If a guitarist wanted one bass to fit most genre's, a p bass could probably sit in the mix better than most.  I think the elephant in the room is some of us play instruments for entertainment value.  They're toys, not tools.

Guitar wise my headless Kleinberger  and Hitmaker fits that mold easily.  I could get by on the blue HSS strat and Yammie MSG easily.

You can add 50% mineral spirits to virtually any kind of finish and make it 'wipe on'.  

Not sure how you reached the conclusion that Miniwax wasn't available in the UK when a basic search on google would have given you this: 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Minwax-40900000-Wipe-Finish-Clear/dp/B003W06L0S

There may be other sources...

19 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

I'm currently down to a single bass (Seibass Original headless 5er - Leftie of course), which I can't see me ever selling.

Mostly down to the fact that I don't gig anymore, I have slowly but surely moved my other basses on. At one time I think I had 9 or 10, including several Fenders, 2 Shukers, A Wal Custom and a lovely Roscoe fretless among others.

Basses?!  :)

There's one clip on youtube of someone using a JF14 with a bass and it sounds quite decent! 

I haven't really had an inclination to dabble much with pedals beyond what I already have as I'm pretty satisfied with what is on the pedal board now.  I've seen Tim Pierce championing the Nobels ODR pedal but I really don't want to end up with a box of pedals that I'm not entertained by.

On 28/02/2020 at 01:42, EdwardMarlowe said:

By twinning them, are you essentially looking at making it 'two channel'? I've been very impressed by what I've seen from Joyo et al. Sure, a lot of it is copied, but so is most guitar stuff by this point.

 

I was just thinking about gain structure and whether twinning them might mean more of what the pedal does well.  That boosted midrange is lovely and thick, the eq centres are spot on too.  But I guess it might be possible to do a series/parallel switch  where two buttons go from individual on/off for each to A/B and on/off.  The only thing missing would be feedback but I have the EHX Freq Out for that anyway which can be set up to give some pretty natural sounding howls.

Joyo do a Mesa MkIV sim pedal too but reviewers have been less impressed by it than the American sound.  Over here it's a twenty quid pedal so almost nothing to lose but I can't pay for it on Taobao so would have to convince The Wife.

On 25/02/2020 at 04:55, EdwardMarlowe said:

THat Joyo American Sound pedal is interesting; I've heard of folks successfully gigging thorugh one of those for an amp sound, straight into the PA...(!)

I'm surprised that these days nobody has yet come up with an amp-in-a-stompbox that connects to a Blutooth earpiece for IEM. That would be quite the kit (especially popular with roadies!).

It's a great pedal, I'm seriously thinking about getting two and rehousing them into 1 pedal.  The way they boost midrange is really nice.  I don't know about bluetooth but I remember a discussion on BC about it being too laggy to be useable.

1 hour ago, Si600 said:

Yeah but, no but, yeah.

I know @Kiwi and @leftybassman392 from next door. Do you consider yourselves bassists first, in which case having a load of basses is not unsurprising. 

I'm asking whether folks who see themselves as primarily guitarists have a bass lurking as many bassists, in my perception of BC, have the odd guitar.

Not so much consider myself as forced to by sheer lack of skill on guitar alone.  I struggle to play fast mainly because I'm so used to a 34" scale and 15mm string spacing and being left handed on a right handed instrument.  The solo in Rosanna by Toto or Highway To The Danger Zone by Dan Huff is about as quick as I can get.

Rhythm stuff is mostly a breeze. I'm even attempting chords+melody of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for my 2 1/2 year old daughter.  But it's a bit like being the winger in a 5-a-side football team because you can't shoot goals.  Or the designated setter in a volleyball team because you can't jump and spike if someone else tosses the ball high above and in front of you. 

Good grief...whelp here goes:

Basses:
1978 Musicman Stingray (heavily road rashed)
1979 Alembic Series 1 (1/50 with graphite neck)
1986 Pangborn Warlord (graphite neck)
1993 Pedulla Pentabuzz
1998 Status Series 1 headless 5
2000-ish Spector NS5CR
2009 Shuker Headless 6 MIDI
2016-ish self build (headless, semi hollow, arched top 5 string with steinberger neck)

Guitars:
Partscaster - Hitmaker replica
Chandler Custom Stratocaster - 'Kiwi's Broom'
Kleinberger replica - graphite neck, Steinberger bridge, Fernandes sustainer (due to be parted out)
Yamaha MSG - Mk1
Yamaha MSG - Mk2

Works in progress: 
The Clean Machine - MSG/RS Esprit cross
HSH Partscaster - mahogany body, roasted maple neck, Kahler X trem, Dimarzio pickups
HSS Partscaster - mahogany body, flame maple neck, Wilkinson VS100C trem, Fernandes Sustainer (from Kleinberger)

Well slight problem I have is that the amps are spread across two countries.  So I'll have to improvise a little. 

First up the pedal board.  After getting a Zoom G3X, I actually found myself falling back on a handful of sounds.  Mainly overdrive, chorus, reverb and delay.  The signal chain starts with the Xotic Q wah, then straight into a Nux Chorus for trichorus.  Then the signal goes into an Amptweaker Tight Rock Pro which is one of the best distortion pedals I have ever played.

The TR has a side chain and effects loop intended mainly for running clean and dirty signal chains.  So the Effectrode PC2A valve compressor and Empress Para EQ (for added sparkle) are on the clean side.  In the effects loop are a Joyo JF14 American Sound and a Digitech Freq Out for low volume feedback.  The Joyo is wonderful, I crank the mids for a thick, fat and searing lead sound in conjunction with the Tight Rock - it's basically Alan Murphy in a box.  After the Tight Rock, the signal goes into a Mooer Ocean Sound for delay and reverb and then into the two Ibanez combos.

One note about the Effectrode PC2A, it's fabulous sounding (good enough for Mr Gilmour it seems too) but it needs a 12v 1500mA supply.  So not much good for gigging really unless it stays with the amp and then there's no point in having it in pedal format...sigh.  

The two Ibanez TSA5 combos are fine sounding amps, reliable, clean sounding and plenty loud enough for playing in an apartment.   I discovered them at a Basschat bash, one of the other members bought a TSA15 along and I was impressed by how good it sounded but I didn't need 15w.  

In storage however I have an ex-Lindisfarne Burman Pro501 1x12 50w combo which is great for cleans.  I got it back about 10 years or so ago, thanks to a contact on BC who knew Ray Laidlaw, the band's drummer.  The overdrive needs careful tweaking or else it can sound woofy.  Luckily Simon Cowe [who sadly passed in 2015] left his settings on in white grease pencil.  A cat either owned by Ray or Simon left it's marks as well. lol

You can see it here in an old shot at my place in NZ.

This is a 1984 Fender Concert II.  I've always loved the sweet sound of Fenders.  A Super Champ was on the bucket list but couldn't afford it and I mistakenly thought the Concert II would be the next best thing.  As it turns out the Princeton Reverb II was the one to go for.  Ah well, it's hard enough to find these things in the UK as it is, let alone at a reasonable price, so should still count myself lucky.  I haven't actually played it yet even though it was bought about three years ago because I had already left the country.   It'll probably need a service before it gets shipped out here to make sure the caps are fresh.

And a couple of years ago I snagged a near mint Fender Princeton Reverb II because I had planned to sell the Concert II.  It came with all the paperwork, spares and cover but no footswitch.  However I ended up purchasing one from an Australian seller a few months later for a somewhat embarrassingly generous amount on my part.

Extra stuff: 

Burman GX3 preamp - haven't actually tried this with the Pro501 yet but want to see how they both sound with one driving the other.  I've tried recording with it but it tends to pick up the sound of the PC power supply and fans too easily.

Lexicon MPXG2 - an oldie but a goodie.  A real swiss army knife of an effects unit.  Lush reverbs, infinitely configurable (almost) and connectable.  Currently in storage. (Not my photo BTW because I don't have any good ones on my hard drive).

It is worth throwing the amps and pedal board up as well?

On 21/01/2020 at 08:36, Skinnyman said:

Hi Joe

And welcome. It's still a little quiet here

WHAAAAT?  TYPE LOUDER!  I CAN'T HEAR YOUUUUU!!