Two Years' Worth of GAS.......

[Ferryman_1957]

I've been lurking for several years since work became too high pressure and stressful to allow time for music. But I've always been planning to get back to making music once I retired. So in the last couple of years, I have acquired the following items:

Squier Jaguar short scale bass:

My old fingers can no longer play a long scale bass so I switched to a short scale. Glad I did, because this Squier is a little beauty. Plays well and sounds great, especially with a replacement Seymour Duncan bridge pickup.

Strymon BigSky reverb unit:

This thing is the Rolls Royce of reverb units. Basically a synth for guitar and/or bass, capable of some amazing effects.

Darkglass Alpha/Omega Ultra:

The most evil preamp/distortion unit for bass currently available, so I'm hoping for some pretty heavy stuff from this. Check out the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Z8TqWRwX0

Finally, after reading about Harley Benton guitars from ORH, I bought this:

It's a six string guitarbass, same E to E tuning as a guitar but an octave lower. Should be great for someone like me who is an average guitarist that plays bass with a pick. My plan is to try to create something a bit unique with this baby. However, she needs a bit of work before she can be used. The frets are really rough and need refinishing, and it needs new strings and a setup.

I've also upgraded the home studio with a new PC and Izotope Ozone 8 and Neutron for mastering and mixing. I will still record on the BR800 but transfer everything to the PC for mixing and mastering.

EDIT: I forgot these babies as well:




An Arturia keystep to act as a keyboard controller for soft synths and my Mopho, and the Arturia SparkLE drum machine.

So I've retired now. I will not be able to afford to buy any more gear pretty much ever again, which is why I have been stocking up while there was still money coming in. What I have to do now is to actually use this stuff rather than fantasise about buying it!

[bazz-bass]

You must have a very big cupboard with a lock on it

Baz

[Farrell Jackson]

Those are some nice goodies you've gathered over the last two years Ferryman. That Darkglass Alpha/Omega Ultra bass pedal is quite impressive. I look forward to hearing some cool music coming from your new gear and your retirement!

Farrell

[bruno]

Loving the Strymon :-)
I'd be interested on your thoughts on it!
B

[Oldrottenhead]

now that you have time on your hands, i can't wait to hear what you are gonna do with all that lovely gear.

[Ferryman_1957]

Thanks all. I'm busy practising at the moment, building a few song ideas but mainly getting the hands used to playing again. I'm actually learning some scales and music theory for the first time in my life!

The Darkglass pedal is epic, I'm already enjoying that one. I've barely scratched the surface of the BigSky so far. It is quite complex and there's a lot to learn but the different reverb models are very impressive. It's expensive but I think that pedal on its own will allow me to do a lot of experimenting. It's ideally suited to ambient/doomy/shoegazy stuff.

There's only one thing left I am considering, which is a looper pedal. I quite like the idea of building complex soundscapes from a single instrument (that;s the plan for the guitarbass). But I have to sell some stuff on eBay before I can get that.

[Mike_S]

Good to hear you getting back to music... I am in the "too much work and v little time for music" too.

I had the same problem with my Harley Benton, almost exactly as you mentioned:

" she needs a bit of work before she can be used. The frets are really rough and need refinishing, and it needs new strings and a setup."

mine was pretty much unplayable too. I got a proper luthier to do all the things you mentioned as well as getting the tuners replaced - they were awful. BUT... after getting this all done she plays like a dream... an absolutely super instrument was lurking under the surface, but it did need a fair bit of TLC (and money unfortunately )

Good luck with the music.

Mike

[T.C. Elliott]

I'm digging your toys. I've been collecting a few things as well, but all on the cheap side. You got me droolin'

[Ferryman_1957]

mine was pretty much unplayable too. I got a proper luthier to do all the things you mentioned as well as getting the tuners replaced - they were awful. BUT... after getting this all done she plays like a dream... an absolutely super instrument was lurking under the surface, but it did need a fair bit of TLC (and money unfortunately )

Good luck with the music.

Mike

I'm hoping to do all the work without needing a luthier (can't afford one now!). The main issue is the sharp fret edges and I have some jewellers files that seem to work ok taking the rough edges off (only tried a couple of frets though). I've been watching lots of videos on guitar setup and am hopeful I can get the setup correct myself. Most reviews say a move to heavier gauge strings (which I have) solves a lot of the issues. I've got the Jaguar bass playing quite nicely but to be fair it didn't need much apart from the intonation doing.
 

[Redler]

Congrats for the new gear. I'm looking forward to hear new music from you - It's fine that you're back!

It seems that Alfa Omega has made in Finland - on these days they're usually designed here and made in China...