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Let’s talk coffee

My Zassenhaus Havana is 27 years old. I still grind with it every day. It is designed for fine grinding with dark roasts. I am grinding medium roasts ATM and it is quite a forearm workout!

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I started with a manual grinder. I picked up a Zassenhaus burr grinder, which 25 years ago was top of the line, german burrs and so on. But I quickly grew lazy or tired of the constant grinding and moved to an electric setup. :). Especially when you are making two double shots each morning. :)

It looked like this one:

81sgWeWl+bL._AC_SL1500_.jpg
Those are beautiful and elegant in their ways.
I appreciate the art that has gone into coffee.

"Ground point soldered to back of the pots"

Where does one get that and how do you run it?
I made it for myself and can't really share it since it's woven into a muddled pile of browser scripts.

If you're familiar with Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey and use a compatible browser, you can probably find a more generalized browser enhancement that will replicate the behavior. If you haven't already waded into the realm of browser extensions and mods, though, you should probably find some tutorials to start with because it's very easy to open security vulnerabilities this way.

Fender Precision plus 1989 opinions

Seen one of these today at a price to good to resist so jumped on it. Looks like its in good condition and bought it off a fairly reputable repairer who says its solid so hopefully all ok. I am in a remote area so apart from Videos testing it in person was impossible. Read a few reviews fairly quickly and they sound reasonably popular.

I have always had a Jazz and a Precision, favoring the low, dry thud of the Precision usually so hoping this will give me the best of both worlds.

Anyone know much about them? Sound, feel of the neck, controls? Hoping I got a goodun and not a lemon. I am told the missing screw is a fine tuner and not required. how do they work? Just depress the string or?

And by the way is it Standard scale or extra long? I believe it has more frets than a standard P bass

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Do you still own this bass? I just picked one up, but the original pick ups were replaced and some functionality was lost. I ordered a new set of lace pick ups, but I’m unsure of the wiring. Do you have any photos from underneath the Pickguard?

Any newfoundlanders here tonight ?

Neither Newfoundland nor Labrador are considered the "maritimes"... that would be New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI. Newfoundland and Labrador are "Atlantic Canada".

Mom & Dad briefly considered relocating to Nova Scotia as my father didn't tolerate hot weather and the climate is relatively temperate thanks to the prevailing ocean currents.

Riis
That's geographically true, but in daily parlance in the rest of Canada, all the islands east of Labrador are effectively "The Maritimes", even Les Iles de la Madeleine, which are actually part of Quebec.
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Genzler Amplification Club

Saturday I played a little gig in Hamburg, Germany, outside near the water:
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The weather was nice while we were playing, but it rained before and after.

The sound if my Genz Benz Shuttle 9.2 at a FMC 215 with Faital neos was really great! Growl with punch and clarity, impressive power, great DI sound - perfect.

Playing with gain and volume is a pleasure, very little hiss, no hum. I don't like distorted bass sound, but some grind is welcome. The shuttle conveyed that very well.

Aria & Aria Pro II Club (Part Four)

Absolutely. I think that this needs to be underlined....the CLB is a sweet buy, especially if you got it discounted as an early order. Nice.

We're an odd bunch, because Aria Pro II is a long-standing brand and amongst this odd bunch there are the weirdest of us who obsess over the Matsumoku-period instruments. Even they were hit and miss between models at times. When they were good though, wow. Seeing a mint vintage SB-1000 flying by on Reverb or whatever, or a rarity like a PE Black n' Gold, yeah. There's some special things still in the mix, but it needs a bit of crazy in order to know what's what at times.

Using a pick...

I play exclusively with a pick. I simply cannot do the 2 finger thing. In a pinch I'll use my thumb. One thing I like is having a variety of picks to get different tones. I use felt ukulele picks when I want a more rounder finger tone for example.
Whatever works for you is the right way. There is no wrong way if it sounds right.

When I learned people said "if you want to play rock, use a pick. If you want to play jazz, use your fingers." Of course back then, in '72, you had to have a smooth, balanced, even swing when you played golf. Now players jump off the ground and hit the ball 300 yards. There is no right way, only your way, whatever works.

THREE Acoustic 371s?

Prior to the summer of 69 , my power trio was using a wall of various Fender amps to get the volume we needed to play a lot of the larger auditoriums and outdoor venues we started playing…I think at that time I was playing through 2 of the new bassman amps with the tall 212 cabs, each connected to an older, small 212 bassman cab, a Dual Showman with a 2-15 cab and on guitar my brother had an equally complex group of fender guitar amps and of course his fuzz tone and echo plex-we were literally often blowing the event fuse boxes during our first song and had to stop playing and get out the long extension cords and find additional places to plug in all those amps, so we wouldn’t overload the circuits and finally could start up again.
Then I attended my first three day rock festival in Denver in June 1969. The groups that were there were very similar to the groups that were at Woodstock. Most of bass players inthe bands were using either Acoustic 360 /361 or the latest Sunn Bass amps, except the Jimi Hendrix Experience, (the very last performance as a group together as the “ Experience “)– used all Marshall amplifiers – and unfortunately, it was a bad night for Jimi and his band- very distorted and muddy sound, probably the worst of anyone at the three day festival. It was very clear to me that the bands using the Acoustic 360 amplifiers, had the best sounding and clearest bass cutting through the mix , so I decided that I also probably needed a couple of them, and ordered my first one right after that . I was so happy after that…no matter what new loud Guitar amp my brother tried, he couldn’t outduel those 2 Acoustic 360 powered cabinets controlled by 1 361 preamp!!
Peace,
DAcat

The perfect bass line?

Sadly, you can correctly argue that B > A, C > B, D > C, E > D, and then someone shows up and proves A > E, and the whole thing goes around again, with no stopping. I think a better choice is to stop comparing, and just list great lines.
I mostly agree, but my opinion is not to list great bass lines. Just list-en to them. That's what they are for.
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I took the plunge Genz Benz GBE 1200

Do
You still have the amp 18 yrs later ??
No sadly I sold it. I got to the point where I just couldn't haul anything like that around anymore. Like many other players I made the move to class D heads and lightweight cabinets. It was a pretty sad day when Genz Benz finally closed their doors.

Ashdown releases a sub €500 Multiscale bass !

From a purely visual perspective, the angle of the middle pickup looks wrong to me. If they were to split the difference between the other two pickups, rather than be the exact same as the neck pickup, I think that'd help it look less awkward. I don't know how much, or little, this shift of angle would affect the overall tone, but I'm guessing not a whole lot. My eye gets drawn to the | \ \ as not fitting with the rest of the aesthetic, which otherwise works quite well, imho. Having the pickups "fan" like the frets do would complete the look.
Me too I'd rather have all pickups slant with the strings, thats what multiscale basses do anyway.

So, my only logical guess to the | \ \ orientation is that, since this is a multiscale bass, the slanted pickups are actually 'straight' related to the strings, while the bridge pickup is the slanted one (sound wise), so compared to a straight scale bass, that would make it a / | | orientation, which is exactly what you find on strat guitars.

IMHO 2 pickups would suffice but hey, more sound options aint that bad. Maybe they are trying to go 'dingwall' with the 3 pickups logic, even if they are much more spread around.

Still my biggest gripe is the wiring, what the hell these 3 knobs do and how you control the 3 pickups with just that? 1 individual volume per pickup, no tone? 1 volume for the middle and a blend for neck+bridge and a tone? I got no idea. The only one that makes sense on my head would be 1 master volume, 1 tone and 1 rotary 4 (or 5 or 6) way to have a bunch of combinations, just like the dings.

Anyway If im getting one I will probably play around with the switching, as I'm much more of a "pickup selector" than "individual pickup volume / blend knob" kind of guy.

Not getting the p bass sound I want from my Yamaha bb234

I have one or two more thoughts...
I'm sticking with my earlier comments and would encourage selling the BB234 and upgrading to something better- unless it's needed for a "backup". The BB234 is a nice instrument considering its price point. But it is designed for people who aren't looking for a particular sound.

It's kind of amazing how much strings can influence the sound of a bass. Anecdote: In 2017 I purchased a Yamaha TRBX 605. It came with the standard, basic D'Addario strings that one might expect. I almost sent it back, Sweetwater already having sent me the return label. But just for giggles, I wanted to see what it sounded like with different strings. So I installed a set of DR Pure Blues. It turned my head around and with the box and lable all ready- I kept the bass. With this bass I the strings that satisfied me the most were the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats to get the sounds I wanted. Sadly, EBCF's in a 5 string set are almost $70! I still have them on my P bass and Ibanez fretless.

Setup: Again, with the TRBX605 the PICKUP HEIGHT was key and critical to the sound the bass produced. Obviously this was a very sensitive bass, but I learned a lot from trying to get the sounds that I found acceptable.

EQ capabilities: I love my P bass, It's very easy to dial in a sound on a gig if I'm not looking for a particular one. Blends easily. Has good "beef". BUT IT IS LIMITED on its own. The volume control can do a little toward altering the sound if dialed back, with the amp compensating for the needed volume. And the tone control can only roll off the highs. What I run with (and recommend) is an EQ/DI box. I personally use a Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI. Another is the LR Baggs Venue DI. I like the Fishman because it has a toggle that can target bass, and it has a compression dial. Not cheap. Probably in the price range of the BB234. Alternatively, a Graphic Equalizer pedal may help dial in what is needed. [I can't believe how the price of pedals has skyrocketed over the past few years!] In my early playing days (coming back from a long layoff), I purchased a Behringer BEQ700, now selling for $32, though most quality brand names go for $130+. [FWIW, I bought quite a few Behringer pedals back in the day, used them a lot. And while they are plastic, I haven't been able to break or destroy any of them.

Perhaps my ear isn't good enough to "dial in" any particular sound, but I when I get with any of my groups, for me, it's better to find the sound that best fits within the sound space of the ensemble, rather than trying to mimic a sound that is on a recording. JMO . Just sayin'.

Today’s Live Sound Stages at Festivals and Such

In these instances, you are at the mercy of the sound person, unless (maybe) you are the named headliner. When I play festivals, I try to talk politely when them, tell them what I am looking for.

You aren't the one paying them, they hold no alliance to you.

Its in no ones interest to have poor sound so if that happens on a good festival, there would..or should.. be questions after the fact.

But to the OP question, the decision, in my view, is if you know what is there, then fine, if you don't, then...good luck.

I take care of my end and I also want to understand what everyone else does/needs.

I've had GK and Ampeg in recent times and the stage crew seemed to be proud of having that on stage...
Then the decision is how much do you want to rock their boat by plugging your own amp in.

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