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Earlier this month, I completed a free bass plugin (badly) named Bass Better-er with this forum's help. I just released a significant update, and I will maintain it as free and accessible. I'm so thrilled it's been downloaded so many times. I hope you enjoy the new distortion and octave up channels I added!



I have also been (with feedback from the forum) building a premium version called Box Of Bass, and while it's in beta still, happy to offer a ~3 month trial version - downloadable here. It will lock on 1st October, but you can have unlimited usage until then! Just let me know thoughts here is all I ask, so I can make it (and the free version) better!

I have crammed just about every extra feature in the premium one I could:

• Multi-output
• Internal side-chain routing (including from external sources)
• EQ map (similar to fabfilter)
• Build your own channel configuration
• Fuzz/Distortion editing (to a really granular level)
• Improved tones (more accurate sub etc)
• Improved UX
• Improved performance

So yeah...enjoy until 1st October! I've worked my hardest to put other premium plugins to shame and I hope to take it to Plugin Boutique and similar within the next couple of weeks - and anyone who does help here, I'd be happy to arrange significant discount for after october upon request.





It is not currently for sale yet, so I hope this keeps me within the forum guidelines

pepj said:

How many we talking about?
1 per gig and how prepped on the song are you..if at all.

If a regular set around 2hrs, 0 is ideal..1 is not great. 2 plus is a problem

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A couple years ago I landed with a band playing 4 sets 5 days a week. After I got comfortable with all the material, I'd count my "clams", with the goal of playing a "perfect set" analogous to a baseball pitcher (if I made a mistake, I was then working on a "one-hitter", etc.).

I was hard on myself, a single wrong note, missed note, a note that didn't ring properly... anything that didn't sound like what I intended was a mistake, whether anybody but me noticed or not. I didn't allow myself to get away with a bad pitch.

It was only occasionally that I would play a perfect set, even rarer to get two perfect sets in a day. Perfect gig? Never.

I still have my 420 and it is amazingly versatile and punchy. I have it paired with a Genz Benz 1288 cabinet which is just awesome.

My lowly, but very much beloved, LTD B4-JR, that I got for what equals about 60$ used.

It had one of the worst setups I ever experienced, and a loose output jack socket, when I got it, but otherwise it was pretty much flawless.

Perfectly leveled frets and all.

Rosewood fretboard, on a maple neck, with a Basswood body, but even if the stock reverse P pickup actually sounded pretty good, I replaced it for an EMG Geezer Butler P.

It is just 28.5" scale length, which though is perfect for the tenor bass tuning I prefer to play with, which is G#1 standard tuning, using Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings of the gauges .068 - .052 - .038 - .038 for this.

Anyway, here the beast is, I named it "Dud Bottomfeeder Jr.":


My main instrument of choise at the moment.

New old stock. Relatively hard to find. Genuine ovation Magnum 2 pickguard for sale on reverb at a decent price, for whoever is looking for one
Not mine

and here it is!

great stand and NITRO friendly.

I ended up with the Tyler Deluxe...

Truss rod wheel issue on my 2023 MetroExpress JJ. The wheel wouldn’t tighten and the neck was a little too bowed so I removed the neck and then I removed the wheel to see if there was debris in the nut. The nut looks ok but when I insert the wheel shaft, I can’t turn it to fasten it. Anyone have success re-installing the wheel? Maybe I’m just not using enough force when I try turning it. I’ve read some of these wheels require plenty of force. That said I don’t want to risk breaking the rod.

Zombie thread.. but question after all hype is settled - anyone still plays their Suhr P?

I use 3 distortion pedals at once, or rarther 2 distortion pedals and a fuzz, plus an overdive after.

So to be specific my basic "clean" tone is actually overdriven by a Tech 21 Oxford, preamp pedal, that I have blended with dry signal, at an about 2:1 drive/dry ratio, this goes after my high gain distortion setup, which consist of an EHX Tri Parallel Mixer, with a Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, in Turbo RAT mode) in channel/loop 1, a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone in channel/loop 2, and a Behringer FZ300 Superfuzz in channel/loop 3, all blended parallely in about equal measures with dry signal.

This gives me a monsterouly ballsy and heavy distortion, that however still retains a surprisingly amount of attack and definition, thanks to the dry blend, which does sound like it sits on top of the distortion, but blends in perfectly, thanks to the fact that is is overdriven.

A case of the sum being greater than the individual parts, and gives me the oppotunity to switch between combinations of drive tones.

Sounds glorious!

Parallel drives is where it is at!

You might have problems with a 4-string pickup on a 5-string bass. EMG offers a different config for 5-string but not for DW set AFAIK. Your A string may sound weak. I would call EMG and ask if they can make it a 5-string DW version. If you're not dead-set on DW, EMG-P5 might a better choice for you.

These are layouts for 4, 5 and 6-string P :


You also need to pay attention to string spacing with that J pickup.

I sold an Eminence this way, too. Showed up in perfect shape.

Meanwhile, back on the necks:

Here's another very important fixture that needed to be made up:



Most of you have seen my Neck Horse on other threads around here. It's a big contraption that clamps to the front of my woodworking bench, and holds a neck in a solid position for shaping and sanding. For the Pulga project, I needed to make up a custom holding fixture, which clamps into the Neck Horse. It's built up from scraps of MDF and plywood. The spine down the center is only 1 1/2" wide.

Here's the walnut prototype neck, clamped face down, ready for the finish shaping of the back.



This fixture gives full access for filing and shaping the back.

By swapping around some parts on the fixture, I can also mount the neck face up, for sanding and finishing the fingerboard surface.

Chicken Wing said:

So I put some heavy flats on my precision bass because that's what you should do, right??? LOL

I'm on stage thundering like Thor, and then suddenly I am told we're going to play "rock & roll" by Zeppelin at a million BPM. Never played it live.

Halfway through I was cursing these new strings, but i was able to hold on. So much fun.

I've always wanted to play that song live. We had a female singer, it was killer. Anyway, I had a chuckle to myself on stage.

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I have La Bella DTFs (49-109 gauge) on my fretless Sire P5 and D'Addario Chromes (50-105 gauge) on one of my Ric 4003s. But... I tune to D Standard, so neither set feel that tense. I can still feel like Thor and not have to sweat playing eighth notes at 209 BPM.

Best of both worlds!

Jazzdogg said:

What makes it better, less friction against your thumb? That's a fairly simple fix.

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That’s correct. Painted neck will get a bit sticky with time. That happened to my Sub and will happen to my Bongo too. Nothing that makes it unusable, but the wood finish is superior IMHO. What's the fix you are talking about? Thanks

LouisF said:

I don't know if it's any closer (about 4 hrs) but you could ask Keiji Nishimura La chiave di Basso, in Matsuyama

西村啓志／NISHIMURA Keiji

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LouisF said:

I don't know if it's any closer (about 4 hrs) but you could ask Keiji Nishimura La chiave di Basso, in Matsuyama

西村啓志／NISHIMURA Keiji

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Matsuyama is still quite a long trip for me!

The luthier I bought this bass from in Kyoto, Mr. Kadomoto, is also an excellent craftsman. I bought it on consignment, but it seems the previous owner didn’t know much about the bass’s history either. Mr. Kadomoto took a close look at it, but even he couldn’t find out much about its origins.

I may be letting my caprice go if anybody is still wanting one

H13 said:

Yeah I don't want to use the entire Amplitude suite for the sake of one envelope filter. That feels like using a bazooka to kill a mosquito...

Mind you having a look at all the pedals in Amplitube, they pretty much have everything available...

How big of a pedal chain can you set up in Amplitube?

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Not sure, personally I avoid effects in the box in most cases. You may be able to demo the Moog filter I linked, and its not too expensive to buy.

Root 5 said:

An EQ pedal will change your life. It will affect & improve your tone much more than ‘that new pickup’ you’re considering. And most guitarists/bassists I know don’t have one!

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true, i actually stopped looking after i found out that I can just do this haha. I might consider an eq pedal but considering the eq values i have i don't think an eq pedal can work (like straight up 10-28db of highs) and more controlled stuff (how large or small the band is).

bass player 53 said:

As far as the piano (and horns, etc.), I think it’s far more difficult to play slow ballads. You’re not churning out licks, quick arpeggios or fast scale fragments, etc. The really creative players (all instruments) go in harmonic directions that the bass player, if they’re listening carefully will engage in. Those moments are less frequent, but truly special. They bring smiles on the faces who hear, recognize, and appreciate.

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Listening to what we played, I figure out I'm not so far from what they want, some and a lot of technical defects can be heard...
Do you know what the pianist says when I'm playing out of tune or the wrong note ?
"The bass is not supposed to be heard."
We laugh a lot !
French is not his mother tongue so when he is giving advice or something else, he is as harsh as I am when I'm talking to you here.
"Don't play like a disable, everyone can play like you do, do what you want, explore, find something, the audience doesn't care if you're a beginner, if it's out of tune we don't mind, do something ! The bow, the bow... Some bow is good but not too much, if you can avoid it it's good but we want the bow !"

Swamp_Ronin said:

what is the best cab for metal

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The one that Travis Bickle drove

CamJazzBass said:

What Keeley did you go with?

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Bassist Limiting Amplifier. Seems incredibly straightforward and exactly what I'm looking for.

Photos -1982 Standard Jazz bass ‘Dan Smith’ 1st issue .By early/mid ‘83 the 2nd issue was launched , most notably featuring a single ply one piece pickguard which also housed the controls.

edwinhurwitz said:

Maybe, but if any Guild bass were to get that kind of money, it would be this one.

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An original M85-II, the “Sheryl Crow Bass”, is quite hard to find. I looked for years and finally found a USA reissue that I paid $2k for. It’s a great instrument, but I think I will change the lo-cut toggle to a master volume, like Ms. Crow did.

If OP was selling, not less than $5k…