Annoying Anticipation

Happy Face said:

It sounds mighty good.

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That's just because your band is winning battles

Happy Face said:

It sounds mighty good.

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Happy to hear! there is nothing cooler than a Guild bass.

although I am not exactly clear on the entire monster...does it still have the Dark Star pickups? Either way very cool! Phil and Jack would approve!

Tnks Mav. And it still has Darkstars.

Last night had an amp flake out on me. Thankfully Mr Redundant here carried a spare.

Pretty cool that Happy Face, of all our members, has discovered a mod so compatible and useful with a freestanding Darkstar, which is very well respected on its own, for his Guild. I love the JS basses. I'm surprised more people don't play them. I wonder what the HF mod would do to the Guild Humbucker

I was enjoying the feel and tension of the Pyramids flats on the JS-II. "Fat" and "Big" being how the bass sounded out in "the crowd".

Never to leave things well enough, I put TI Jazz Rounds on bass last night and then worked on intonation tonight. Went as far as to put rosewood saddles back on.

I know that a certain Guild aficionado who we miss proclaimed that one should put Jazz Rounds on and leave 'em there. You know what, he's right about the first part, at least. I just fooled around through a practice amp, but it sure sounds like the rounds are more amenable to the filters. The range of tones just doubled. We'll hear how it sounds next Friday & Saturday in live action.

*** Good karma from LTG. A fairly large bat was in my house tonight. I made a couple efforts to net him, but he was evasive. So I left it and figured the dog would find where the poor thing was sleeping tomorrow.

But as I typed the string update above I felt the bat going by. When I finished typing, there it was, up on a drape. All tuckered out and happy to be netted and brought outside. Must have been good LTG karma since wife and mother are arriving tomorrow. ****

Used it last night. But found that Mr Sloppy here had not accounted for the higher action I had to use to intonate the D & G strings. The E & A boomed, the D & G were barely audible. Spent two breaks raising the pickup poles. Need to do more work. But the sonic flexibility is there.

Cannot give a decent sound report yet since I am being pressured to cut the bass frequencies and boost the mids for the stage mix. If I want an 80s sound, I'll use a different bass and amp.

Got things all aligned properly. Today I finally got to play it through my "big rig" Orange tube amp & cabs. It killed, at least according to our frontman and the three other bass players in the audience. You know, we all tell each other how good you sounded.... bass player code of conduct, right? But these guys were really struck by the sound of the activated JS-II.

Most fun ... the sound crew let me play the amp loud enough to hear on stage. Now that was a real pleasure. Like the old days, guys.

Happy Face said:

Most fun ... the sound crew let me play the amp loud enough to hear on stage. Now that was a real pleasure. Like the old days, guys.

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And you still have enough hearing left to appreciate that...

Happy Face said:

I just put this rig in. http://www.bestbassgear.com/acg-eq-01-preamp.htm ... I'm almost tempted to do the same to my M-85 but that would involve too much butchery.

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what butchery does that involve? can you not do that mod w the pickups out? I have a GSR M-85 II with "Guild Bisonics" I may swap one or both for Novaks, or possibly consider your mod. or just leave it alone. they sound pretty good but not quite like a vintage starfire. Am feeling the neck pickup in particular could be swapped or modded. although I have not tried flat strings yet, it still has a long way to go to sound like a vintage Starfire. although it does sound good as is...and it plays/feels amazing.

Sorry, I was referring to putting the filters and battery inside. Not changing the pickups.

Also, my read is that you have the solid body M-85 version? Then no problem. It would be like the mod on my JS-II.

(Mine is the hollow one so putting in a battery would require some nasty modifications.)

I played my last gig as an "official" member of the Substitutes yesterday afternoon. I left the modded JS-II which has been my main bass at home and used the M-85 and my Rick instead. They all sound so good.

Happy Face said:

Sorry, I was referring to putting the filters and battery inside. Not changing the pickups.

Also, my read is that you have the solid body M-85 version? Then no problem. It would be like the mod on my JS-II.

(Mine is the hollow one so putting in a battery would require some nasty modifications.)

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no, it is fullly hollow. but about the depth of the solid one (a little deeper), much skinnier than the vintage semi-hollow one. it is the New Hartford GSR M-85 II. and yes the battery, i hadnt thought of that. thanks

Happy Face said:

I played my last gig as an "official" member of the Substitutes yesterday afternoon. I left the modded JS-II which has been my main bass at home and used the M-85 and my Rick instead. They all sound so good.

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PM or email me with the story, unless you want to share

Thanks for asking Frono. It's just a case of competing demands on my time taking precedence. The band is becoming too busy!!

I'll certainly miss it but I plan to be a substitute Substitute when needed.

Happy Face said:

Thanks for asking Frono. It's just a case of competing demands on my time taking precedence. The band is becoming too busy!!

I'll certainly miss it but I plan to be a substitute Substitute when needed.

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OK. My day job pays more than I am ever likely to make playing music so "too busy" makes a lot of sense. Still it is a problem I would like to have