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Low humidity is definitely an problem for me with central heating. In the winter humidity can drop into single digits without a humidifier.

Chuck was a wonderful fellow and a terrific player. When I was in college in Bellingham, WA in the mid ‘70s, Chuck used to come up weekly to give electric bass lessons (IIRC, he only played electric in those days). I took a couple of lessons from him that gave me enough material to support my practicing for a long time. I used to see him play in various groups but didn’t have any further direct interaction with him until 2019 when I attended the Centrum jazz camp in Port Townsend, where he was on the faculty. During the camp I said to him that we had met before but I was sure he wouldn’t remember, and he said “Sure, Oren, I remember you - you lived in Bellingham and took a couple of lessons from me.” This was like 50 years later! Could’ve knocked me over with a feather. He is missed, and I could probably use some more lessons from him now.

My experience with bass bags goes back to heavy cloth with flannel lining, followed by vinyl with foam. I couldn't afford a Joe's house of Sandals bag in those days, and the weight of the ones I checked out would have made one impractical for a carless NYer. I had a couple of Mooradians, and they were great-good padding, sturdy, alight, and with handles in all the right places. I had one Bobelock, and it fit well and had plenty of protection, but the most important handle was too low to be useful. My first Messina was a definite step up. It is a perfect fit, which makes the bass easier to maneuver, and the fact that I was able to get handles/straps exactly where I wanted them for my stair climbing and Bass Buggie methods makes it even easier. When I got a second bass, it was Messina all the way.

KidAmnesia said:

A while ago I was looking for something similar and couldn't find any demo at all for a 51 type PU on a fretless bass.

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Here's one from about 1-1/2 years ago:
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Bass is from a to-me hitherto-unknown boutique company, Bitto Guitars from Basilicata, Southern Italy.
Pickup is by Dreamsongs Pickups (also Italian, aways to the NNW of renowned Castelfidardo/Recanati musical instrument manufacturing district), about which latter company I only knew, prior to know, that they happen to also make a split-coil, '51 P noiseless pickup (the one in the video is a single-coil though, I believe).

The ashtray prevents one from seeing if there's silk on the strings at the bridge end. Black silk at the tuner end means they could be either Galli JF45105, La Bella 760FS or Dunlop flatwounds. Galli (a Neapolitan company) would be more likely given the provenance, but the shorter low-E probably means they're La Bellas.

tvbop said:

On a P bass its a bad earth in the system....either back of a pot, the bridge etc etc. Owned a ton of p basses not one of them hummed.

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I checked all the metal parts between each other and they all showed continuity

iiipopes said:

Oh, and BTW - electrical tape will leave residue.

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Also, some finishes can react to the solvents in electrical tape. I taped a voltmeter to the tank of my KZ1000 while diagnosing a charging problem, and made the horrible mistake of leaving it there for a couple of months.

After I replaced the stator, I went to pull the tape off, and it took off perfect stripes of clear coat. The bike was a decade old and mint at the time- that was a real heartbreaker...

Old strings/new pickups/silverbacks on fretless;

have one of the first 25" fretless (leftie) basses with original strings. I have not played it in a while since I ended up buying a Thompson upright leftie (so hard to find) in 2017. I saw the Klos acoustic travel bass and it got me thinking about my mbass again. I found I had ordered a set of Thunder Reds, Silver Rumblers, Black Pahoehoes (in 2015) but they all basically were too short and too old to stretch evenly. Anyways, I was curious about the round wound silverbacks on fretless. Although, I forgot that I disliked the piezo pickup in mine as it is just really picks up way too much handling noise to make it useful. My questions;

- Is there a better pickup these days?
- are the silverbacks on the fretless mbass any good? (not a flatwound person - like a fretless growl)
- anyone tried the Klos acoustic travel bass? (nothing out there online about real-life use)

Thanks!

I had one and sold it cause they aint Ampegyish enough for me, however. yes they are pretty loud. I got more volume by fitting acoustic foam inside on one side only and always dialling the bass knob back. It sang. Later I found a cheap Rumble 40.. did the same, then daisied them .. now that was a very loud rig.

Oli S said:

There's got to be a story here, but probably not a good one.

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Hmmmmm..."use on musical instruments".....wonder how it would work on my trumpet valves.....

Danelectro Longhorn Bass/Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass

Douknowtheway said:

Found one on Reverb. Only labeled as fender 4 button footswitch!

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Hi
I need one too! They are very hard to find !
Can you check the part number or model number and text it to me ? 202-445-3441
Thanks !
I love my fender preamp
Lalo García

Jeff Scott said:

You look different here!

No reglure® playing to flesh out what it sounds like other that slap?

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It was billed as a slap demo. I guess I should search for other Anaconda Medusa videos.

Thanks for the answers! I had an unexpected workload last week, and couldn't come around to getting back at you guys.

The tone issue comes up whether the pedal is on or off. I guess I was thinking about removing the buffer altogether from the circuit - I'm not sure about the BF-2B, but I've seen this discussed about other Boss pedals.

Yes, I'm running it on 12V, on a Voodoo Pedal Power 2 Plus, as per the power supply manual.

I thinks I'll take it to a local tech and see what he can do, or I'll just deal with it. It's possible to Eq the sound back to a flatter response.

Thanks again for the help!

Some interesting info here. I listened to the podcast referenced in the article, and if you're interested in this saga, I recommend.

I have both and usually use the empress, mostly because because the empress has all the parameters available to control and the led lights are really usefull.

The EBS is much simpler to control and set up, compression ratio is 5:1 at max, the tube sim sounds great on it but be careful with multi comp mode, it sounds good at the beginning of the signal chain but if it's after distortion all you end up doing is boosting the fizzy highs so if your going to use it after distortion don't use the multi comp mode

A P bass with a Jazz neck for this price!!! Very good stock bass and a grate bass to upgrade also!

^ LPF & HPF are set and forget settings.

bluespector said:

I’d like to see a video of someone comparing the original Hyperdrive to the new Mega Drive. I bought a new Hyperdrive in 2011 and I couldn’t agree more about your comments. I’m tempted to buy the Mega Drive but I want to hear it more. Initial clips sound to “fuzzy” to me.

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Me too.
There still don’t seem to many more vids. Especially comparing them.

I was finally able to purchase a Warwick Thumb a few months ago, after wanting one for years. I got a 4 string bolt on Thumb from 2001 with the D shaped neck profile, and it's the only bass that I play now.

I had a 1962 Concert Amp for a while years ago. Worked fine a reasonably low volumes (acoustic jams) and sounded fabulous through a real bass cab.

Compared to the CIJ Geddy Lee, (which I also have) the neck on this is quite substantial.

You know how I decided?

Got one of each!

manchego_eggo said:

thanks appreciate the note here, im surprised at how popular the sunbeams are so may go that route.

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Well the basic in recording is that except unwanted noise, it is a lot easier to remove frequencies you don't want. So it is a lot easier to make Nickelwounds sound like Flats than the other way around. Steels seem to aggressive for the vibe so Nickels it is.

Cheapo Bacchus never look cheap along with my others bass guitar.

Sorry for raising a dead thread, but I ran this (almost, swapped the tuner and the Humboldt) configuration at church (IE’s) this morning, and later at a secular rehearsal (live rig) with my Soul/Funk band, to amazing results! The Humbolt is a really special box. Tone was amazing in both scenarios, with just the onboard pre in my fretless Ibby, for EQ.
J!