That’s simple, @Al1885. Just mod each of your basses by removing all knobs and preamps. Knob holes can be plugged with all manner of substances. Shouldn’t take more than a few decades to do. ![]()
My black JD3 hasn’t shipped yet. I am 64th on the list. ![]()
Well me too but shipping to Hungary doubles the promise actually so had to pass so far on it ![]()
Same here! On my new tripple Humbucker I just removed the tone pot. Don’t miss it at all…
VAT and shipping to France added “only” about 40% to my JD3, but my 2 Mayones from Poland, my Valiant from Ukraine and my custom 5-string fretless from Lignum in Croatia all cost WAY less than they would in the U.S. Win some. Lose some.
I had some gear sitting around… a 50 watt amp and two studio monitors from my “I don’t need a big amp, I’ll just use nice monitors off my DAI and have a small amp as a backup” phase, when I learned that the acoustics of my house in the only place I could put the monitors sucks everything there is to suck and that the little 50 watt amp I had just did not sound very good.
So, I took them all down to my local Guitar Center and traded them in for store credit. I walked out with this:
That is a brand-new Fender Rumble 500 in the Guitar Center exclusive ivory color. It is waaaaaaaaaaay more than my needs require, but I figure, if ever I start playing with people or gigging, I’m pretty much covered. And the ivory almost perfectly matches my Kiesel! ![]()
That looks sweet. I’ve got the 800 (same 2x10 speakers) and it’s more than enough to gig / rehearse with. You’re set if ever want to play with others for sure. Nice find.
I like the white. Nice combo amp.
Bought myself 300 heavies of bass watts last night, for a whole £125…
This thing sure is gonna give me a workout moving it, but it sounds good and sets me up for the (hopefully) next phase of The Invertants project.
Thats a beautiful looking (and sounding I’m sure) amp. Ya’ll looking to do bigger venues than the neighborhood pub I take it?
It’s more that we want / need to get to the point where we are doing our own shows. We have been playing open mics for the experience and have played a three free ‘festivals’. For these, the backline has been provided. The next step is playing in our own right, but for that we will need a PA and better bass / guitar amps (oh, and 35 songs, and to have hustled some gigs). I saw this amp on FB Marketplace. I’ve played through one a few times at one of the open mics we do and quite liked it, so for £125, though I would buy it. Now just need to wait for everyone to be out of the house, then I can crank it up and see what it can do ![]()
I usually play my Sire P7 in passive mode. I flattened the batteries several times by leaving it plugged in. Now I don’t bother with the batteries at all. Come to that I rarely touch the tone controls on my amp either.
Not mine!
It arrived with a broken switch and is stuck in active mode, LOL. I’ve since received a replacement switch but haven’t gotten around to installing it.
Man, sorry to hear about your switch.
I’ve got the same exact pup config and preamp on my M5 4-string, and I love the wealth of tonal versatility. The various combos of pup splits are amazing. ![]()
The good news is that I really like the Heritage preamp, so I’m not in any huge hurry to replace the switch. The controls are “busy” for sure, but I’m quite used to it as this is like my fourth Sire if I’m remembering correctly.
There’s always a tradeoff between simplicity and optionality, and for reasons all their own folks will have a natural preference leaning in one direction or the other. It’s all good - different strokes and all that.
I find it interesting, though, that many, if not most, of those who strongly prefer passive basses also use a preamp pedal and/or a full board of effects pedals. Same optionality choices go for using DAIs and myriad plugins. I fully realize that pedals/plugins have their purposes, but those are rabbit holes I have gladly passed by. I don’t gig anymore, or record; I just play and compose for the personal joy of it. But to each his own.
For my purposes, I prefer active basses with great preamps and pup options.
Not here to tell you what to do or not, but you ought to reconsider your stance on recording. Not for posting; not for sharing; but even only for tracking your improvement or for jotting down compositional ideas etc. For strictly personal use, recording has many benefits ![]()
Oh, I do know, and I completely agree with the benefits you mentioned. But I’m in a different space than most.
I spend most of my work time editing video, websites, copywriting. That said, my idea of fun ain’t doing more editing. ![]()
I came up musically writing songs. Working out chord progressions on guitar and writing lyrics for them was where it was at for me. And I wrote, arranged and performed lots of my tunes, solo and with others. But I never recorded a thing.
The cost of a decent tape recorder and gear was a nonstarter for me, and, of course, the cornucopia of digital options and resources were yet to be imagined, much less realized.
But that was fine by me. I’ve never been sentimental about my music or playing. I don’t have a written record of any of my songs. I have committed the most momentous to memory, though.
I’ve always played in the moment and for the moment, strictly for the love of feeling and hearing it. In contrast, I’ve never once felt like recording it.
I get that. This is me with synthesizers. I love just sitting and playing with them for hours, playing simple chord progressions and tweaking the sounds, sometimes bothering to save/capture what I am doing, but most of the time not.
Which might surprise you as I am so focused on recording and producing - but that playful creating side is what brings a lot of joy.
I grok, for sure.
I do software all day long. The last thing I want to do when I’m done with work is really learn DAI and audio/video editing software.
I got one of those Roland Go:Mixer things but even figuring out how to get the audio I want playing into it, playing into it makes me toss it into a desk drawer.
I’ve been toying with the idea of picking up, like, a Mac Mini or something just to give GarageBand a try, but meh.


