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What countries produce enough gear to where you could put together an entire rig — bass, strings, amp (maybe pedals) — made solely from that country.

Some would be easy.

For example you could say;

US: Fender bass, DR strings, Mesa amp

England: Wal bass, Rotosound strings, Laney Amp.

Japan: Yamaha bass, Roland amp, do they make strings?

What are some others examples. This is just for fun.

In classic Gen X'er fashion, I grew up listening to Rush and Yes, and dreaming of getting a Rick. But it seems that each time I considered it seriously, the project was aborted. As a youngster it was price and intimidation (they used to have them in stock at my LMS but I was too shy to ask to try one because I felt I was not good enough and I would need a year to save up enought money). Then later on it was anything from my teacher telling me that they were crap to my friend who works at the music store convincing me to get a P Bass instead (which I love by the way). And then there's the cesspool of Internet opinions that say that they're just a one-trick poney to they are un-playable.

Problem is, I've never had the chance to try one. They're never in stock at any store! I even reached out to a guy who was selling his on Marketplace, and I asked if I could try it first because I never had the chance to play one - and he turned me down!!!

So can I get your honest thoughts about those basses.

Info about me: I'm not a professional. I like to write songs in all sorts of styles and go to jam sessions. I think I've covered the basics with my 2 Fender P's (one American on flats and one Mexican on rounds) and a 5-string Maruszczyk Jake.

So I have a Nano board I “need” to fill. I have a Sonic Research tuner, I think I’m going to try a Walrus Highpoint compressor, and I have space for something else. I’ll use this board with my Genzler MG350 113 combo for jazz gigs, pits, etc. Passive P, J and active 5’s.

Thoughts?

I purchased two JBL K140’s earlier this year (original cones!), and Iike to find someone to build a couple 1x15’s or maybe even a 2x15. In the past, I had LDS build me the same cab but I’m not sure he is still doing these things anymore. I want to pair these with my 72 Ampeg V4B, so a width match (26” or so) and cosmetics would be important. Rear loaded for the JBL.

Curious if anyone has a suggestion?

Dean Town -> Cory Wong’s take on the Vulfpeck classic, with Sonny T, a longtime collaborator of Prince and member of The New Power Generation, handling the iconic bass line.

Hi,
After a long time reader of this forum, finally decided to join.
Greetings to everyone.

Disclaimer: Long story - jump to the bottom for pics. I won’t be offended!

I’ve always seen the Birth Year Bass posts here on TB and while I thought they were cool, is wasn’t something that I ever really “hunted” for. Especially considering the older I got, the more rare and/or expensive those basses were getting!

Last Thursday I was browsing FB Marketplace and saw a this listing. Squier Bullet bass with case. I had seen it listed a few days earlier at a higher but still reasonable price. Then, for some reason he dropped the price SIGNIFICANTLY. I jumped on it and messaged right away and was able to pick it up that night. Original Fender fitted hard case included!

Got it home and started working on changing the rusty strings and setting it up. When I took the neck off to adjust the truss I about fell over. Neck date 5-10-84. I was born 5-9-84. Wild!

Unfortunately, the neck wouldn’t set up. Had a significant bow and the truss wouldn’t straighten out. Enter my hero @rojo412

I took it over to Adam to have a look at it. He tried a few things but it wasn’t really coming together so he recommended a heat treatment to get it corrected. The next day, boom! It took the heat incredibly well and straightened out, even leaving plenty of room to adjustment tweaks with the truss.

Took it to a gig last night and it was awesome. Played great, sounded great, stayed in tune, all around awesome. I’m over the moon.

Pics!!!

Article at JazzTimes

Ah bummer, my de quervain's has flared up again on my fretting thumb and DIY PT isn't working so far. Don't worry I'm seeing a doc next week.

In the meantime, does anyone have right hand exercises that just use exclusively (or near exclusively) open and ghost notes that I can practice while I rest and PT my thumb? I've been making up some of my own, but some guidance would be helpful.

If you have any input on techniques, PT exercises or stretches that helped your de quervain's, I'm all ears too!

Mods - if this should be posted elsewhere, please move.

I’ve been using the shure gldx for a while for wireless bass, but I was wondering if there is something of quality that would be similar for iems? Usually I see iems from rack receivers with ears, but I was wondering if there was a way to run a wireless iem of my pedalboard, too.

A local swim club, the Fry’s Spring Beach Club, is run as a non-profit. They manage an old resort with a number of big swimming pools.

They have a summer concert series, and one of the bands I play with, Mama Tried, played there. The Saturday struggled to stay clear, and we’ve been having scattered but powerful T-storms for almost a week, everyday in last afternoon. But this Saturday, we lucked out! The sun was out, maybe the only place in town where the sun was out! I know it was cloudy and gray at my house.

The load in was brutal - over broken ground, no path, about 30 feet or so of net elevation change. But the gig was a lot of fun! Pics follow.

The pools


The clubhouse


Setting up

This may be a stupid question, but can you shim a neck at a forward angle to simulate falloff? I'm getting the high end fretting out on a P bass (14+) and I've already created some falloff in the frets but I don't want to shave them down to nothing in that pursuit (been there before).

I'm guessing at a certain point it would start acting like excessive forward bow, but would it be okay as long as it's not too much?

A picture of the bass in question because she's purdy:

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The audio is bad in spots, but I will share it despite that.

I have an old Musicman Sabre fretless with an ebony fretboard. It is fitted with roundwounds, so there's some wear of wood, but nothing too bad overall. One note however (the G played on the D string) is worn out so much that the note gets dampened too much. Resulting in a heavenly "MWAHHH" , but it's also difficult to control and stands out from the other notes.

Was wondering if there's a way to fill / repair only this one spot? Maybe just temporarily until the wear on the rest of the neck gets too bad. Or better not tinker with that and sand down the neck entirely?

What do you all think about the Mark Bass Amp?

I’ve transcribed all the individual parts in Good Humor Man by Blue Mitchell but I’m really struggling to work out the chord progression. Has anyone done this or have a lead sheet for it that I can get the chords from Thanks

just put an SEB2-APA+ in my Ibanez and the difference is huge. the stock preamp in this thing was attenuating the signal so much i had to crank it which amplified noise. now finally i have a bass that i like to play and the tone doesn't suck! top front knob is blend, next to it is active/passive and volume. bottom are active bass/treble and passive tone (i know they make a 5 pot version but i had this in another bass and just wanted to try it). wow these pickups actually sound really nice on passive and the hissing noise that has plagued me for years is almost gone! not sure what to do with these extra holes. maybe i can install a clip to hold accessories like the piece of exercise mat foam i use as a string mute or my spider capo
as per my other post i just capped off the "tap" wires from the pickups

As you work the wah it would go from low to high aaaaaAAAAAAA

No app

I’ve had few few PJ basses and I’m missing when I was able to add some J bridge pup to bring in some focus to fully dimed P pup. Using my backup P which has a Dimarzio Model P, I have a spare Model J I’ll be routing and adding a stacked 250k knob. I’m on the fence with either 60’s or 70’s position for the bridge pup, leaning towards 70’s but it any of you out there with experience of both or either let me know? Thanks!

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This looks like fun!

I’m going with the unconventional but obviously-correct answer: Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac. It’s not flashy but you know every single person who hears it - bass player or not - is leaning back, flashing a bass face, and hitting those two specific notes on their air bass. You know the ones. The highest of the 2nd and 4th bars of the chorus. That off-beat quarter note just hangs there for the right amount of time. Man I could listen to that song a million times, and the bass part totally makes the song. Perfection.

John G Willis 1962 - 2026



Sadly, my good friend bassist/singer/songwriter John Willis passed away on July 7th after a short bout with cancer. Some of you may have known him or seen or heard him if you traveled through the Phoenix area, as he was one of the busiest and best-liked musicians in town. He also managed the SWR bass amplifier division of Fender music from 2005 to 2010.

John attended Berklee and spent several years on the road before returning to Arizona, mainly working with the Herndon Brothers Band and the Mac Daddios. He also released several excellent CDs of original stuff where he sings and plays bass (visit https://johngwillis.com). I met John in 2012 when he joined our group, Big Haboob and the Tiki Torch Orchestra (see pic below). I liked him immediately, as a both a bassist and a class act. He was the nicest person I ever met, and he once described himself to me as a “go-along, get-along kind of guy.”

Thank you, John G, for the years of friendship, great taco lunches, and your humor and bass knowledge. We will miss you.

I'm doing more gigs with acoustic bass guitar and want to invest in a better amp/combo to augment front of house at some venues for stage presence. That said, some of my gigs have no FOH so I'd like something that can still carry weight on its own. I suspect the Phil Jones BG-120 or Double Four could be good options. Or more likely the BG-400. Any others? I don't want something that will be hollow sounding... looking for weight and punch to the tone but portable and small is important.

I mostly use TI jazz flats and also used Chromes for quite a while I had Ernie Ball for a short and liked them also. Two questions did anyone else here notice that Chromes have bit of a clanky or metallic tone on top of their otherwise great tone? Also what gauge do you guys like on your flats. After years of playing lighter gauge rounds ripping off the Fenders that come withe bass and putting lighter gauge Sunbeams I now play the fender medium 45-105 as they sound the fattest for me so naturally the TI's feel very different so long story short what do i replace my Tis with? I certainly won't miss paying almost a hundred bucks for strings anymore.

I have an old cheap fretless that I'm hoping to give new life to. It has a lined rosewood fretless board on it that I'd like to harden up. Not looking to go the epoxy/CA glue route. Oil if possible. Any suggestions?