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Unfortunately if you don't live in the US, CME seems to type in their international postage rates with toes

It was a combo, it was the Ampeg DD-1 Dual Drive Bass Combo

DJ Bebop said:

Maybe that was his intent, to use those synths for those specific sounds. Not to upset you

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I heard a Keith Richards interview on the radio (NPR), he told the story of creating the Satisfaction riff lying in bed with a handheld cassette
recorder. He played the riff ,fell asleep and recorded the remaining 45 minutes of himself snoring.
When they went to make the record, the only way to satisfactorily get that sound was to use the cassette machine to get it.
I don't know if this is true since fuzz boxes existed by then, but its a fun story.

Malak the Mad said:

Spoken like someone who's a short drive from Atlantic City!

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My gambling days are done...casino gambling, anyway.
Still might take a chance buying one more bass online, though.

lyralain said:

Slowly making my way thru the over 200 pages here, but what's the state of roundwound strings for this bass in 2026?

Attempted putting on DR High Beam shortscales twice but the low string went dead & bell-like after a bit each time even with the proper bend during install, guessing maybe because the thick part of the string wraps onto the peg. My mistake trying it twice.

In my searching so far it seems like the bottom strings of the Ernie Ball 9-string Slinky guitar set are one of the only options, haven't heard any examples of how they sound as bass strings but might give them a go. Do you need washers at the ball-end or do they fit fine?

GHS Balanced Nickels seem evangelized for shortscales but the low string is still too long for the Mini P, though it seems some people have used them without issues- at least initially, not sure how they fared long term.

If anyone orders custom rounds for this bass what specs do you go with?

I have small hands & this is the most comfortable bass I've ever played, plus with the strings that aren't dead it sounds pretty great stock- so it'd be nice to find some strings that actually work for it.

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I’ve ordered Newtone Hex core gauges: 049 069 089 109 (which I think is the same as the Labella mini P set. But not arrived yet ..

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Sharko said:

lol, im learning a lot today. In any case, your bass looks so rad

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There's a bullet club on here with loads of info. It's a very cool bass. All versions.

Well, this rules. I spent about a half an hour with four different basses; a Stingray Special HH, Precision w/ Half Rounds, Reverend Decision, and my old Music Master w/ Flats. They all sounded absolutely great. I'm thinking the scoop setting is where I might live for the most part. Someone else mentioned somewhere on this forum that going into the scooped setting, then bringing the mids back up and backing off a bit of bass seemed to be a sweet spot, and I think I agree. I'm not sure if I prefer the warm or qtube setting the most, but they both sound awesome. My little Music Master into the flat input with the qtube and some EQ-ing got pretty close to the B-15 that's behind it in the picture below. Still can't beat a B-15 for that kind of thing, though.

Overall, I'm really happy. I think I might have to get a 212 cabinet as well, just so I can have a big rig and a small rig. Or maybe another 112. Who knows. Whichever one I can find a good deal on first will probably win lol.

Can anyone comment on the differences one would experience between either set? Since the Monstertones can be split I’m assuming they are stacked humbuckers tho the pictures look like normal SCs.

I’m ready looking at the Schecter J-4s,
and tho I don’t like the Exotic’s body, I am intrigued by the EMGs and the roasted neck.

The Nikki Sixx has the same neck but I hate the crapiky relic’s body. All the non-exotic J4s have the monstertone pickups.

Awesome find dude that is a beaut

Problem fixed. The problem was actually created by the last person who did a full setup on the bass; who worked at a fender authorized shop. The neck needed to be shimmed. The neck angle required the saddles to be at their minimum height, yet the action was to high at the 17th fret. Luckily, I had some shims for bass guitar on hand for some reason, like that Ben affleck movie Paycheck, so I trimmed ine down to a good fit and reinstalled the neck. Now, all the saddle screw tops are pretty much flush with the tops of the saddles, the action is spot on, the low e saddle is where expected, the intonation is right in, and the pitch is just as clear as the other strings. This was an awesome learning experience, and I have faith in my string installation skills once again. Feels good to cross a project off my list as well.

I tried the Nory Mute, twice I think. I guess I just had to be sure! Didn't like it either time. Too much mute and no adjustability. I've gone with foam on a pbass, cut on a slight angle to give more muting to the E-side and less to the G-side (in standard EADG). It cuts the overtones nicely.

I emailed Mighty Mite and and a rep offered to send me a replacement truss rod nut free of charge. However, letting him know I was in Aussieland threw a spanner in the works on the freebie front. The rep is gonna see if there is a work around for that. The rep mentioned that my neck was made in the same factory in Indo that makes Cort basses, and to keep my eye out for a bunged up Cort and get the truss rod nut off it. Anyhow, customer relations at Mighty Mite is terrific.

The resistors are in the cabinets, the second pair of lines of the four conductor cable make that connection between the speakers and the amp.
I remember checking into it for some service work at an installation.

I finally found a friend with 3d printer. I can now confirm that the bjelkeman pickup cover print files for mid 80s pickups work well.

Now what pickup to try under there???

Mally Mal said:

Any recommendations for electronics to match Bartolini B Axis 5 string bass pickups. Looking for fatness, clear biting highs and punchy lows.

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What we need to know first is how much space is available in your bass. Not much room? Something passive or an on-the-plate preamp. Rear routed? Plenty of room for a module preamp. So on and so forth…

I have a set of B-Axis pickups that's moved between two basses. This one was passive with a push-pull pot for series/parallel switching. They sounded great, so when I parted this Projekt out, I moved the pups to a body that could accommodate a Tone Monster/Guitar Fuel SEB2-ABPA+ preamp, which I like even more.

Full disclosure; I replaced the Tone Monster's blend knob with their dual-volume pot and upgraded it to take 18 volts for more headroom. Also, it should be mentioned that the tone control works separately from the treble/bass EQ controls. Personally, I prefer it that way, since rolling off the treble alone sounds less muddy to me AND I can have both set exactly where I want them, then bounce between them with a pull on the master volume knob. Still, others want the redundancy of simultaneous tone and treble control. Tomato, tomahto…

First bass…


…second bass.

Those YBA- 3 amps are very good, there were basically 2 versions , one with a choke and one without a choke ( you can tell the ones with a choke, it will have a small transformer between the two larger ones ), some people say the ones with the chokes sound different/better, I have 2 YBA-3's and there is a slight difference, but they both sound good, just have the electrolytes checked out, or replaced, those amps were set up as 8 ohm amps, and the extension jack is wired in series, but, those amps will run a 4 ohm load with no issues, mine currently runs JJ EL- 34L's in the power tubes, also have the " death cap " removed, and a 3 prong, grounded cord installed, sometimes the cooling fans get noisy or turn very slowly, I have used oil used for electric motors, most fans have a small cap in the middle of the fan, gently pry it out, and a drop or two will work, a lot of people will swap out the fan, for something of current manufacturer, if you do that, the operating voltage is 120 volts, have fun playing that amp, some of the early fans have the plastic fan guards broken out, you can use a metal fan guard, and bolt it over the fan, the later YBA-3'S, had the fan inside, and blowing directly on the power tubes, the original power tubes of the later era was Phillips 6CA7, if memory serves me right, the early one were Sylvania 6CA7, those amps run somewhat hot, so make sure the fan works, the other tubes ( 3 ) were 12AX7/7025 , those usually don't go bad, but do make an effort to keep the metal shielding covers on them, as they will pick up noise without them in place, also there is a website " Velvet Black" ,Velvet Black - Traynor Tube Amps - History, Models, Dating, Links, Information, Amp Maintenance, Opinions, Pictures and it has some good info on a lot of Traynor stuff

Stefan Verbeeck said:

Curious how this turned out!


Warwick now also sells affordable passive mec branded "rockbass" without the "dynamic correction". I wonder if it's the same.

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I forgot all about this.

Well what i recall, It didn't end up sounding very good at all. Quite low output and not a good sound. I was quite surprised and disappointed. The MEC pickup came out the next day.

Both set off their perspective basses nicely.

TeeSee said:

No mate, I was referring to the template you sent me in the post a couple of years ago

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Ah right, I'm with you now.

Have PDFs of peghead shapes if those are any help.

Just print out on card then trace round the outline or paste to MDF and make a router template.

Couple of points worth mentioning though I haven't worked on any PB-50s produced after 2020, mine were 2013 to 2018. I expect there will have been factory changes since then; PG is on it's 3rd version now.

PB-50 body is smaller than a Fender body, which puts the centre line is in a different place. Photo below shows just how much smaller they are.



Similar deal occurs with Fender peghead vs PB-50 peghead. If you set the template by the nut area, red oval below, then the template will not conform to the PB-50 peghead; it will overhang in some areas.



Just work with the straight edge above the tuning pegs and find the best position

Talking of tuning pegs.

Centres of the PB-50 tuning pegs don't quite match those of Fenders. Should you want to fit 'vintage' tuners with the large mounting plate then you'll likely find the plate for 'G' projects passed the peghead.

Far as tools go, despite having 4 palm routers and 4 heavy duty models at my disposal, I found it was quicker and easier to use a pull saw then clean up with rasp/flat file.

The only thing I can say from my experience is that with untreated wood the principle is that the dryer the air the more moisture leaves the outer pores of the wood and shrinks the fibers as they aren’t holding water molecules so the space isn’t taken up. With heat sometimes it’s a drying sun bleach effect or sunburn almost if you will. Freezing for instance you can have moisture freeze into the wood which as the wood contracts and expands as wood naturally does it can cause its own set of stresses from having solid mass pushing on it. That’s why if you’ve ever seen old buildings chances are you’ll see some stress cracks here and there. The seasons and rain, snow, sun, it all adds up over time. The way I’d think of it is that wood is a living thing and it expands, contracts, sweats, freezes and burns kinda like we do.

I can identify with that story as a once unenlightened bass player. When I was touring and a working pro in several guises I met and got to hang with a few legendary bass players that I was not aware enough of their contributions to be in awe. In more than one case it was much later that I became awakened of just how imcredibly important they are and will ever be. I just thought they were interesting people. Phil Chen, Scott Thunes and Bob Babbitt for example.

Lusithand pedals, nice.

I have a Red hot Dano LH and would like to change the pegs with standard "Ibanez" 2x2 or the recommended Gotoh gb707's, and use a 3/4 mustang or bronco / like bridge. I would also like to install string thru ferrules if possible. Is the headstock worthy of a beefier peg ? and, any string thru bridge mod suggestions welcomed. I am told I will sacrifice some of the "woody" tone with an all steel bridge change. True? There should however be some advantages to making it string thru if there's a beefy enough block in there. Thanks for any straight ahead advice.

I was going to recommend a water based moisturizer.