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Richard, July 24, 2026: Fantastic Musical Instruments in Pasadena, CA is a real “bass shop”. Tom Kerr was very gracious to me when I was trying out basses a few years ago, even after I returned a fine bass I had on trial. I ended up buying a Pollmann Bass from another store. However, when I needed a set-up, , cleaning, and sound adjustment, I took my Pollmann to Tom. My bass now sounds better than ever, and he had a solid string recommendation. Also, just this week I bought a Kay Bass, circ, 1940 from Tom, for my bluegrass, gigs. It was reasonably priced and he did some work I requested for a minimal charge, adjustments to the bridge curvature, and a replacement tailpiece cable (I wanted a new Teflon version). I kept the original metal piece since it was part of the original bass. Thanks, Tom, for your expertise and gracious manner with me as a customer who needed some guidance.

just today I’ve butchered a Bart NTMB from an SR that has aftermarket pickups.



I’d wish, a jack would fit the treble pot hole, but nope. still debating what to do with holes.

pretty happy with sonic results tho, the pre somehow overdrove the low B even at minimum gain. yeah, I know, 18v is also a way, but gave up the idea of fitting a second battery due to compact body.

cyclopsbookworm said:

I almost exclusively use compression wound these days, because they can lean forward and be more aggressive with volume/tone adjustments and attack techniques, or lean back towards (but not quite to) flat wound territory by dropping the tone knob. Plus they’re super cozy. I prefer smith compressors, but they’re wound by ghs, so the ghs pressure wounds work just as nicely.

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I've used those before! They are super comfortable. I didn't know what they were when my luthier recommended them, so I took a shot in the dark, and when I picked up the bass later, it was super noticeable that the strings felt different. I'm a GHS fan, and I like the Pressurewounds, Bassics, and round core Bass Boomers. Haven't tried their steels yet, but all my basses are pretty bright so they don't really need em.

oooh wow. gotta try this. especially if it works in the Bay!

Keyword alerts received a big update and should be working now.

I'd say definitely a Kay....You can see how your label is similar to this:

Big String said:

Thank You for your suggestion.
I went on a pertaining thread and left a post.


“Just found this thread and never knew about the BackBeat device.
I don’t use IEM but my interest is because of declining hearing. I have a great rig (Bergantino HG410x and the Ultra amp) which has great features but as my hearing is getting worse (I also wear hearing aids) my sound often gets lost or blurry in the stage mix in the small/medium clubs with weird acoustics.
So my application would be feeling more than hearing. Comments appreciated”

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I'm glad you found it helpful! I'd love to talk about Neo vs Cermamic as much as the next TB user but I really think a different rig won't address your needs and the backbeat actually might. I've only used one a handful of times but really enjoyed it. I wish I had one on a loud stage so I could keep my stage volume lower. I bet it would help a lot.

Bob_Ross said:

Yes the Ken Smith Slick Round strings are generally understood to be made for them by GHS, but no they are absolutely not pressurewounds. You are perhaps confusing the Smith Slick Round strings with the Smith Compressor Wound series, which are also generally understood to be made for them by GHS, and are in fact pressurewound.

See this page on the Smith website, where it explicitly describes the Slick Rounds as "Nickel-iron Alloy Round Wound, Ground On The Outer Surface For A Super Smooth Feel" and the Compressor Wounds as "The Outer Winding Is Compressed To An Oval Shape Just Before Being Wound On The String"

In summary:
Slick Round = ground rounds
Compressor Wound = pressure/roller-wound rounds

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I stand corrected !! Thanks

I'm in two bands, and mostly use one specific (passive) bass for each, but not the same bass. For jam sessions I have many to choose from. (all across the board)

Bond Girl bass - '66 J ------------------------------------------------ The Sean Conneries bass - Teiscobird

UPDATE: Head came after only 2 days - turns out the Guitar Center was only one state over. After playing with it twice at home I'm pretty happy - it sounds like a Hartke and it sounds great through my 2x10 GK NEO cab. I have two older Hartke cabs I'm going to take out of storage and try as well. Definitely worth $175.
Can't wait to try it at practice.

Hello,
I'm quite a newbie on Bass Guitar - although playing Guitar for quite some years and dabbling in electronics (and motorcycle repair, but that's offtopic).

Found my way to the while searching more info about my shiny new amp to be better able to annoy my neighbors.
Couldn't resist to spend 50€ on this Trace Elliot GP12SMX / 1215SMX Combo that someone pulled from his basement.

Disassembled and cleaned it. All Caps seem good (at least nothing "ballooned"), looks practically new and has a real nice rumble to it.
Built in 1994.
Board seems to be quite standard, poweramp seems to be passive cooled AH200 poweramp. I matched this from the FETs (K135 / J50, in To3) to a schematic of a GP12 200W Series 6 poweramp.

Two things that are maybe not total ok:

- Amp has a slight hum to it when idling. Not really annoying, but noticeable. I suspect the input Caps (4700u, 63V) are a bit "aged". Weirdly Voltage after rectifier is +/-64V (no load)... are those boxes built with so small tollerance?

- when switching off the amp (main power switch, no noise when switching). Then lights go off and 20-30 seconds later, the speaker gives a series of 5, 6 "popp" noises. Not loud, but startling.
Any ideas, if this is normal or if I should be concerned?

Thanks for your help / input.
Stefan
P.S. Living near Frankfurt/Main Germany, in middle of the 50s, and making music just for fun, no band / project.
Favorite music style: lots of guitars, not so much electronics. Typical names maybe New Model Army, Bad Religion, Pink Floyd, Linkin Park

Just found this thread and never knew about the BackBeat device.
I don’t use IEM but my interest is because of declining hearing. I have a great rig (Bergantino HG410x and the Ultra amp) which has great features but as my hearing is getting worse (I also wear hearing aids) my sound often gets lost or blurry in the stage mix in the small/medium clubs with weird acoustics.
So my application would be feeling more than hearing. Comments appreciated

EBS Sheehan signature drive...

Anyone selling a beat up 61 Jazz bass for 40k doesn't know their s**t!

5StringBlues said:

These old Volvos were cool.






View attachment 7543911

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The 1800 is one of my all time favorite cars - I owned a '66 122S Amazon estate wagon and loved that car.

Not mine - but just like it.

bassboysam said:

in addition to your typical drive and eq/tone controls; a high pass filter to set the amount of low end that goes into the drive circuit and a low passed clean blend.

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This...

...plus compression on the clean blend...

KevInDaBassment said:

Could easily and VERY cheaply replace the wonky output jack. Wouldn't take long to solder a new one in.

Fiddled around with the blue adjustment pots on the PCB for the preamp? Not 100% on what they do, but one could be a gain knob. Might solve some of the output issues? Doesn't cost anything to try

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It's all set. I was not thorough in my assessing, jumped the gun. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Dynacord said:

View attachment 7544317

Hard to tell from the B&W photo but the board looks lighter on his than JIO's. I'm guessing JIO's is Brazilian (it did still happen on occasion) while JJ's is probably Indian (or, who knows, maybe even padauk, but less likely).

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I'll also note that looking at this and the other photos Jon Sievert took in '77, I'm not convinced of a wider fret theory. I think this bass could have been made any time between late '64 and '67. More likely towards the early part of the range as it looks like a celluloid top guard (though they still show up through that range).

I also tend to think that how opaque the basecoat was applied depended on the wood quality of the body. With good grain like on Bass4ThePublic's Jazz, it makes total sense to go light. On a body with 5 laminations, go heavy....

Low Bs on Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on Stingray 5's are pure gold. To me...they sound better, tighter than roundwound Low Bs on those particular style of basses. I have Cobalt flats on both of my Stingray 5's... EBMM and Sterling and they sound closer to rounds than status quo flats.

I've been a big fan of Bill Lawrence bass pickups for decades and I still think their P46 is the best sounding P that I've ever played.

I had a problem, and some of you have too, using the P46 in a 5 string bass. The way the coils are constructed, and using them on a 5 string, the A string passes over magnets on both coils making it much louder than the other strings and there is no way to balance it out. This first happened to me using a P46 in an MTD P bass and I had to remove and put the stock pickup back in which sucked.

Another member of TB plays an Ibanez Mezzo 205, like I do, and he was having the loud A string problem like I did.
We talked about it and I went to Becky Lawrence with an Idea to lose a magnet in one coil to create space and eliminate the volume problem. She pushed back at first, saying she had never heard of it being an issue, but was nice enough to make one for me. I received the new pickup Friday, installed it, and it sounds absolutely great and is a perfect match for the J45 already in my bass. I'm encouraging her to make it an option. If you are in need reach out to Becky or her daughter Shannon on their web site and ask if they will make you one. I can attest that they are dead quiet, sound and balance perfectly, and are half the price of a comparable sized Bartolini or Nordstrand P for 5.

To be clear, this is for 5 string basses that use standard size P pickups, not the uneven coil sizes used by Fender, Yamaha, Sire and others... which do hum due to the different sized coils.

Photos as installed and measurement space for string excursion over the coil

N. Kentucky Bass said:

To which I'd reply:
I told the sound guy I needed more low end in my in-ears. He said, “I’ve got you.”
I said, “No, you don’t understand—I mix from the cheeks down.”

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This is why the majority of bands in my area bring their own IEM mixers and have a splitter snake in the rack.
We hook [everything] up to our splitter stage box. One leg of the split goes to our IEM mixer, the other to the House.
At one venue we plug into their stage boxes (big stage) and they hand us a split feed that we plug into our splitter box.
One leg goes to the IEM mixer, the other is not used at that venue.

All but one of the 6 bands I've played with (2 are bands I'm in) over the last 2.5 yrs are fully IEM.
WE mix our monitors, FOH does FOH. Every venue we play has PA provided.
Sound checks are pretty quick, so no more frantic waving of hand signals to the sound guy asking for more low end in your ears!

Yes, the band is at the mercy of the sound guy's mix out front, but your IEM mix is YOUR mix, not theirs!

Looks like there will be a Season 4.


"Hulu’s ‘The Orville’ Season 4 is finally getting production 4 years after Season 3 debuted (in June 2022). Seth MacFarlane, the protagonist and creator of the show, told the Hollywood Reporter in March this year that “Season four is written.” 4 months later, we can tell you that the fourth season will be filmed between October 19 this year and April 22, 2027, in Los Angeles and Prague, Czech Republic. Showrunner/director/writer Brannon Braga is back, along with director Jon Cassar."

Good morning.


Picked up a Sire P5 5 string a few months back but I am having constant issues with the tone pot being scratchy/causing distortion at times.

Looking for a direct replacement of the pots, and the input jack as well to be safe.

What are some brands/harnesses that are a direct replacement for a Sire P5?

steapien said:

I was wandering if its possible to use loops as two separate outputs. So You have one clean signal, and one distorted, it would be useful for recording. Anyone tried that?

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Yes. Insert a DI box in the drive loop, use the normal output as an output for your clean signal...

gln1955 said:

I think this falls under "read the room". If your audience wants more engagement, they'll let you know pretty clearly.

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Not so sure if that worked all the time for GG Allin.