Kiwi

I bought a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D pedal amps a couple of months ago and was surprised how good they were. I found a set of these attached to the underside of the ODR and wondered what they were...! Cheers.

Ronnie Wood played bass on Maggie May didn't he? It wasn't really bass as we know it, more lead guitar on a bass.

I'm spoiled for choice. I could even make my own from factory second parts. Not tempted in the least, however because often what one gains in appearance is lost in functionality and poor fit. There are some excellent PRS clones for 700 quid but the rest of it I would steer clear of.

It's a detail that gets in the way of communication IMHO

Xotic AC Booster Not made any more. Send it into a Fender amp and it'll give you thick articulate boost overdrive with a little something extra in the character which I haven't identified yet. Just luscious. Way better than a tube screamer and sounds magical with the ODR and Amptweaker below. Amptweaker Tight Rock The original one, it does fabulous distortion. Use whatever boost pedal you want to emphasise a different character. It does plexi as well. Super quiet and robust build. Nobels ODR This took me by surprise but it's an audio oxymoron. Really pleasant sounding overdrive while remaining articulate in the mids and presence frequencies. Great as a boost pedal too. Does everything well. Crowther Hot Cake Utterly unique drive pedal that does fat and grungy sounding distortion which teeters on the edge of fuzz but never quite goes there. It can be used as a boost as well. The presence control really does mids and it can be tweaked to a very entertaining level of intensity. It's the best drive pedal for a Vox AC30. PRS is a fan (which is probably a good thing) Joyo JF14 American Sound A copy of an old Tech 21 pedal. Use the voice control to move between tweed and twin midrange. The only criticism I have is the components are not as durable as they could be. Slightly higher noise floor. Otherwise, warm, articular midrange distortion from a Fender amp, use it with the ODR1 or the AC Booster for different takes on that mid to late seventies Rivera modded Fender thing. Mosky Silver Horse A little more versatile than the Goldern Horse if you are in the market for a Klon clone. Also, if you don't want or can't find an AC Booster, this does something similar but to a lesser degree for the cost of peanuts second hand. Slightly higher noise floor too but I use it as a boost pedal into the amptweaker for modded tones. That's it, I don't need any more drive pedals. Oh wait, there is the MXR Rockman...

Noise floor can sometimes be higher though

In my defence I'm left handed and footed in everything else, Sir.

Not me, I've played right handed from day one. Mainly because my drum teacher made me play the skins right handed two years before I took up bass. I've never really learned to play left handed and there's not a lot of motivation to learn given Mark King is left handed too. I can play drums ambidextrously more or less, but need the kit set up Phil Collins style.

Pretty much every UK luthier can make a tele. They are the simplest popular guitar to construct. Most of the sound comes from the pickups so body woods can be anything from pine to ash. Just choose one closest to you, pre-purchase the neck and pickups and get him to make a body to suit.

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

There is a Chinese amp maker called Grand who ghost built the Classic series for Peavey at one point. I have a couple of their handwired 5W Princeton Tweed amps for home use. They're sold under various other brand names by resellers on Ebay but they would fit your needs perfectly. Or...you could look for a used Peavey Classic 20.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

Looking forward to some bass guitar related content...

Checking frets with with a fret rocker would be the second thing to do after checking the neck relief and string height.

I really like PRS Mira pickups. I have two sets installed in guitars and feel they're a bit of an industry secret for those who aren't label and trend orientated. Loads of upper midrange and note definition in the style of a Seymour Duncan 59 but without shrillness. If I want a classic rock (think AC/DC or GnR) then I'll sling a set in.