First up is my oldest bass, wot my old mum bought for me, It is :
Larry the Landola. Apparently this bass doesn`t exist, as Landola
don`t make this type of guitar, at least not for about the last 40-50 years..
I aquired a nice new hard case for this fella, (see below). The case is actually for a Hofner Verythin short scale bass, but it fits my old Landola very nicely thank you.
Nice new case :
Snug as the proverbial.
I`ve also just found out / realised, that the pickups on this fella are probably German made Schallers. (I`ve owned this bass for about 50 years and only just worked that out 
).
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Next we have what used to be a Squier by Fender, Bronco, short scale bass, hence the name: "Bob the Broncaster". (Bronco, and add 3 pickups and Stratocaster, springs to mind,--- Oh never mind).
It`s had just about everything changed, only the frets and the middle pickup remain original, but it can cover almost any type of music now, (If it`s got a decent player using it, if you get my drift 
)
This one lives in an ancient 1960`s rectangular hard case that I seem to have had for most of my life.
It still has the original pickup in the middle position, but the neck one is a stacked single coil, and the bridge one is a "Music Man" type humbucker, both from Brandoni`s, If I recall correctly. Locking machine heads, a 4 saddle bridge and an enormously extended wiring loom and side mounted jack socket complete the picture.
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This one I found lying by the side of a road in East Finchley, London, but the only piece
i could use was the Aria neck, (I could have used the body, but it was a bit naff, no offence intended to Aria, but an Approx 25 year old solid ash body from Brandoni`s was just that little bit more appealing), I had to source the rest to make :
Fred the Fretless. it`s a bit big for me, I prefer short scale basses, (Wuss), but it`ll do for now.
Mr Brandoni, from Brandoni Guitars, personally fitted the neck and bridge to this one for me, at my request, just to make sure it was all aligned properly.
I`ve now got me a better case for this fella, it`s a decent quality hardcase and it has cost me notalot, considering it`s barely used, and it fits a treat, Like so:
I`ve also fitted a new very loooong mahogany thumb rest to this one, observe :
I`ll maybe have to attempt to play this one again at some point in the not tooooo distant future, 
. (But i`ve got to have a go at sorting the wiring out again first 
)
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Then there is this, it`s a Hagstrom HB 8, inventively nicknamed "Harry", and it`s the dogs doo-dahs, (No, not doo-doos). It was a present from my Mrs for helping out with a little problem she got slightly lumbered with recently, and it is very much appreciated. It now has it`s own plush lined fitted Hiscox hard case.
This one also has a new very long thumb rest, but in good old aloominum this tme.
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And now for something completely different :
It`s a Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI, iv`e always fancied the original Fender version of this, as used by the likes of Jack Bruce and Jet Harris, (Chalk and cheese there then, google `em, or your dad / grandad might know), but I couldn`t afford it, (they`re about 2 grand for a good one now, actually i`ve just spotted one in Guitarguitar for a quid short of four grand. (Oct 2020), so when this one came along, what else could i do ? 
I think i`m going to call this one Vinnie, (VI--6), Well I think i know what i`m doing,
( that would make a change 
)
I`ve now bought a case for this one, the cheapest hard case that gear4music do at £42 delivered, (Late 2014), but it fits perfectly and is reasonable quality, for the money, observe:
This one has now been sold, to my niece, (nice one Hannah).
She bought it to give to her other half, as an anniversary gift.
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I`ve had to sell this: Roland Bass Cube 100w to make some room for the 300w monster further down.
Nice though my little Roland was, i`m afraid it could never match up to my first bass amp : An Ampeg B 15 N portaflex, which I sold in the 70`s and i`m still kicking myself for that, (You live and learn, (or maybe not), or so they say). It was only about 35 watts, with a single 15" speaker, but it had more nuts than KP, and it sounded brilliant.
This is exactly what mine looked like the last time i saw it: (I actually pinched this pic from somewhere, the Ampeg website, i think, so thanks to whoever for that)
Please see below, while i go off and cry, or something.
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OK, i`ve stopped sniveling now, and consoled myself a bit with this old British beastie from H+H,
It`s an H+H VS100 but i`ve had to flog it as well now 
see Line 6 below.
I have also just got hold of an old empty WEM (Watkins electric music),
(they`re British as well y`know), 2 X 15" speaker cab, and after a bit of speaker juggling, it`s going to have 1, 15" and 1, 12" speaker and a front mounted port.
This is it with it`s coat off and up for a fight:
Have now got a pic of the front screen, and this is it:
I know it doesn`t look quite standard, (Doh, that`s coz it`s not), the badge should be bright red, but it was battered to bits, so i took the rest of the paint off of it and polished it up. It should also have a diamond pin-striped face, but there again it doesn`t have original WEM speakers in either, but it IS a WEM cabinet, (and it`s bl***y heavy).
And It`s now SOLD.
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Also, plus, Look out Mark, i`m going to try THIS, Line 6 bass floor pod, let`s see what sort of mess i can get into now.
As pedals go, i don`t think it`ll make me play any better, (none of the others did), but it just might make me sound a bit better 
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RIGHT, This is the last bass amp i`m buying, and i`ts NOT going to please the neighbours one little bit 
It`s a Line 6 LD 300 Pro, That`s 300w of grunt, and all the magic modeling you could ask for, and it`s far too clever for me, (even on it`s own), but i`m going to stick the Floor Pod in front of it, like this:
I`ve also now got one of these to go with all of the above:
Not getting ahead of myself, MUCH, eh, 
I`m going to just shut my eyes and go for it, wish me luck, 
.
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Of course I`ve now had to sell the H+H, the Roland Cube, the three Line 6 items, AND a few other bits and bobs to make room for this slip of the E-bay finger below, but needs must, as they say.
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OK, Spot the lie ! A little farther up I said I wasn`t going to buy another bass amp, well, I was just mooching about on E-bay, and this just sort of jumped into my purchase history list:
It`s a terrible pic, but it is of an Ampeg PF 350, that`s 350 watts of solid state muscle that my Mrs could fit in her handbag, (mind you, I think my Mrs could get the whole stack into her handbag 
), going through 1 X 12", and 1 X 10" cabs, both ported. I`ve now had to sell the floor pod, the Line 6 amp and floor board, because this little monster is as close as i`m going to get to my much loved old B15 N Portaflex, (a bit farther up).
The cabs didn`t come with it, I`ve made them up from a couple of old Vox cabs I had, and just bullied some decent bass speakers into them, (It`s not that the Vox speakers were dodgy, it`s just that they wouldn`t handle the grunt or the bass frequencies from this amp), all working great, so far.
Here`s a (Very) slightly better pic of the amp on it`s own:
Note to self : I must learn how to use a camera properly one day.
Ahem, and this is how it should look 
:
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Now, I want to get one of these, an Ampeg SCR-DI
Ampeg only knows when they`ll make it to the UK, AND, they cost £200 or thereabouts, so maybe if I behave myself this year Santa might chip in a few quid towards one for me 
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OK, so, what is 45" tall, 18" wide, and can blow your windows out ?
Looks like fun, doesn`t it ?
. Look out neighbours !! 
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I`ve now decided to ditch all of the above bass pedals and concentrate on using this:
Having had a little run through it all, I`ve come to the conclusion that there is Nothing else effects wise that I would ever be likely to need 
.
In fact, i`ll probably never get round to using half of what`s in that little lot anyway 
I`m now going to do the same with my guitar pedals, so that should be me sorted for a while, at least until I get the urge again 
.
For anyone who`s interested, (even a little bit), the pedals, from right to left, are by, Digitech, Electro- Harmonics, Behringer, Boss, Joyo, and a Powerbank AC- DC9 transformer / distributor.
There is also a little switch on my guitar board that switches an Alesis Microverb 3 in and out on a separate circuit, so I can have reverb with either set of effects.
I`ve also treated me to a Boss NS2 noise reduction thingy as i`m getting a bit of unwanted noise when not playing, (That`s saying nothing about the unwanted noise when I AM "playing" 
), but that comes with the territory when you put too many effects pedals on at the same time 
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As i`ve mentioned on the guitar page, the pedal boards are getting a bit oversized, to say the least, so i`m going to use this while i`m in the house instead:
For anyone interested, the details are on the guitar page 
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(Taken from the electric guitar page).
Changed again, but only a little bit. I`ve added this:
I`ve gone and stuck a Boss PW-10 Wah pedal on the side. It wah`s in about six languages, does a few distortions and a tremolo effect, and that`s just on it`s own, and it works with bass guitar.
(It`s getting silly again init 
)
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OK, OK, unless my lottery numbers come up, this has GOT to stop.
But I just couldn`t resist this one, it`s just so retro --- man 
AND, it doesn`t need any of this "ageing" nonsense.
As cool as a really cool thing, it`s a Gherson Italian made short scale, and IMHO, I think it looks a lot cooler than the Gibson SG bass I had my eye on 
Some guitar snobs out there, (and that`s all it is, NAME snobery), will say that there`s a distinct lack of taste there, but c`mon It`s Italian and it`s got a zero fret, therefore cool, and i`m no great bass player, so if it doesn`t sound exactly like what it`s supposed to look like, I couldn`t care less, coz it sounds and looks like I want it to, so there ! 
P.S. whilst rummaging in my loft, I found an old hard case which fits it perfectly --- like this:
And, also being a bit retro, it looks the part as well, Sorted !
P.P.S. While rummaging around (I do a lot of rummaging around), in my local charity shop, I found a ladies belt, which i`ve now converted into an extremely overly blingy strap, like this:
(she must have been a BIG girl, so thank you madam, and my condolences to all the pies 
).
Even more, Sorted !
This one has now been stripped down, given a good clean, had the fretboard oiled, and been re-assembled with a nice new set of flatwound strings, it now looks and sounds even better than it was before 
.
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I`ve just worked out that I won`t be getting an Ampeg SCR-DI, At least for the time being, because i`ve gone and bought one of these:
It`a an Electro-Harmonics Bass Big Muff Deluxe, and so far, i`m lovin` it, and if you stick a Boss ODB3 in front of it, it`ll tear your face off, and it`s got a balanced DI out as well,
If you like that sort of thing 
.
And this is what it looks like with the small pedal board:
Cute, init, 
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Small update on the board above:
The addition of a DigiTech Hyper Phase Stereo Phaser, should hopefully stop me buying stuff for a while, and i`ll maybe get on with trying to play guitars and things. 
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Gone and treated me to one of these, it`s an Ampeg PF 115 LF, (some serious bottom, if you`ll pardon the expression), to go with my PF350, (further up), and one of the smaller cabs, (for a bit of top end), and it`s sounding good, so far 
Although, i`ve got to admit, that "little" (350w), amp does look a bit lost on top of that big cab 
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I`ve also gone and changed the pedal board a bit as well, it works with guitar and bass and now looks like this:
It covers most sounds, I might even get it right one day, but at least I`ve still got one of my own on there, for now anyway 
.
This may be changing again soon, as my De Luxe Big Muff doesn`t seem to be working properly, (Oooo-er Mrs 
).
Now changed it to this:
March the somethingorother 2018, i`ve stuck a Behringer V-tone Bass BDI 21 in place of the Big Muff. Not much in the way of distortion or fuzz, but one hell of a bass end, 
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I`ve now put some serious castors, with brakes, on my new cab, just to make it easier to shift, observe,
New wheels, one way,
Then the other 
With the 10" extension, it`s a bit brighter for guitar,
but with the 12", it`s bass all the way.
And there`s always this option, a 250w 1X10" half stack, which would cope with guitar or bass, and it looks thus :
or 1X12" 250w , half stack, more bass, thus :
I also have absolutely no idea why those pictures have come out all different sizes and one of them is on it`s side ???
Or, this gear can of course, be used in the "Spot the lie" Configuration found way up there somewhere 
OR, there`s always my Bugera loaded Behringer 2 X 10" cab that I can fit in somewhere, like this:
Or on it`s own, like this:
Or indeed with either of the single 10" or 12" cabs as they are all 8ohm cabs. Pick a cab, any cab, or two cabs if you like, and off you go, so to speak.
Any one cab, 8ohms =250w, any two cabs, 4ohms = 350w.
A multitude of multitudes, as they say, 
spoilt for choice, eh 
.
The little white thing on top of the cab beside the amp in those two pics is a Boss NS2 noise suppressor, as my pedal board is being a wee bit noisier than it should, and that seems to calm it down a bit.
All good so far. 
.
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And now a little snippet from the guitar page:
I`ve also been fiddling with my pedal boards, (they can`t touch you for it 
), and this is the result: 
The NS2 is now on the little board on the left, (1-5-2018), Gettin` silly again, init.
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I also picked up one of these a while back, but didn`t say anything about it, as I intended to sell it on. But now i`m having second thoughts, observe:
It`s an old, (1975), Selmer T + B 50 SV valve job, not quite as easy to move around as the PF 350, (coz it`s `eavy, init), but this could get quite serious indeed
(AND, it`s got my initials in the name, Yaaaaayyy).
So, with a Boss AB-2 switch, as above, so that I can run a bass OR guitar through it, and paired up with a cab or two, like this
It`s not quite as loud as my PF350, but I couldn`t give a ------ , care less 
.
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It turns out that I might only be able to use one of the cabs with the T & B, as it is 7.5 to 15 ohms output impedance, and both of those cabs together equal 4 ohms, but that 2 X 10 at 8 ohms is probably up to dealing with most situations that i`m ever likely to find myself in anyway. Sorted 
.
I`ve now been informed that if I get me one of these:
Its a Palmer PCABM Passive Cabinet Merger, and by using it I can run both cabs if I want to keep my big fat bottom, as they say, in the best possible taste 
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OK, being a tight-a---d git, I cheated, found a wiring diagram and built one, and here it is hanging on to the back of my 1 x 15 cab:
Changes the impedance to a nice usable 15 / 16 ohms so I can use the T+B OR the Ampeg, with both cabs just by flicking the little switch, or shuffling the cables about
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------OK, I`ve given in and treated myself to the Palmer cab merger, as my version seemed to be a bit hit and miss. I`m going to strip it out and re-do it at some point, but i`ll stick with the shop bought one for the time being.
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And THIS is what the T+B looks like wired up and ready to go, now that it`s been serviced, (thanks to Richard at Electrohill), generally tidied up, and had it`s knobs polished.
I`m not letting this one go in a hurry 
I`m running it through my 2 x 10 cab, and it`s all hunky dorry so far. 
(By the way, polishing it`s knobs has probably just about halved it`s value, you know what these traditionalists are like, but I don`t care, I like it like that), 
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I``ve been rummaging around in my loft, and i`ve found one of these:
It`s a Roland Bass Micro Cube. I forgot that I had it, and it`s been hiding in my loft for at least that long, maybe longer.
If it comes up to (quite high) expectations, i`ll hang on to it, if not, E-bay awaits. 
It`s a bit late now, so i`ll have a little go on it tomorrow.
.
(And NO, i`m not thinking about getting rid of the Selmer 
)
I`ve also found the partner to it, a standard Micro Cube for guitar, so iv`e knocked up a practice rig for use in the house, (see bottom of the guitar page), let`s see what happens from here, some of this, 
hopefully.
Well, not much of that , 
so far, but I may be doing a bit of bodging with both of the little Cubes in the not too distant future.
Bass Micro Cube, now sold to my next door neighbour.
And the standard Micro Cube has been turned into a separate pre-amp unit with no speaker, which works really well, but it may yet be returned to it`s original state ---we`ll see !
Yes, you`re right, I`ve abandoned that idea as well, that`s both of them sold now, and I STILL don`t seem to have any more space ???
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And then this happened, (This is now number six )
It`s an Epiphone EB0, which i`ve de-fretted, added new knobs, a sustain bar behind the tailpiece, and one of my long thumb rests. I messed up the position markers a bit, (I think it makes them look like little ghosts boogying around where the frets should be, or is that just me ?), but that doesn`t make it sound any worse, I can manage that all on my own 
.
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October 2020.
New and hopefully final amp set up, please refer to the electric guitar page.
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The brand names printed in WHITE on this page are all company names or registered trade marks belonging to those particular companies and are merely being used to describe the origins of the particular item.