Osiris

With my JMJ I find that I need to very slightly adjust my right arm position if I'm anchoring my thumb on top of the pickup, but it's only a small shift and was very easy to adapt to and isn't an uncomfortable position - for me anyway! I flare the right elbow out a fraction so the forearm has clearance from the body edge and all is good, that's with the bass on a strap so it's more or less in the same position it would be when seated. But I tend to play with the thumb pushed up against the edge of the scratch plate much of the time and find that that's the most comfortable position for me and doesn't require any adjustment of the arm or hand position.

Another D’Addario rounds user here on my Mustang, although I am still using up my store of 34" scale strings I bought years ago when they were half price somewhere or other! My preference is for Nickel EXL160 50-105's which IMO have more than enough clarity and presence without being too thin, bright or muddy - my tonal preference is for a fairly flat response with deep but controlled lows, plenty of mids and a defined but not shrill high end. Tension is perfect for me too. More presence and definition than with flats but without being too bright or brittle sounding, but still the low end punch. They're usually good for anything up to 2 years of regular gigging before they get too dull for my tastes.

Just received a cheap and cheerful noise blocker from Andy, all good, deal with confidence!

I'd been running my tuner after my compressor for a couple of years without any issues. My reason being the assumption that the compressed signal would give the tuner a more consistent signal to work with - despite almost certainly not hitting the threshold on the compressor as my tuner responds better with gentle sting plucks than the strength I usually play at. But a recent shuffle of my board meant that the tuner went first, before the compressor. It seems to respond ever so slightly quicker this way, but we're talking fractions of a second, maybe half a second max per string. My comp is bufferered, whether that matters or not 🤷 So IME, both combinations work, with my gear anyway (Pitch black custom into LMB-3) with tuner into comp possibly a tiny weeny bit quicker to respond. I'd say just go with whatever works for you.

Just received a Gator bag from Phil, it was new as described, a great price and he kept me informed re the posting. Cheers Phil

If you don't want to use one, don't. Nobody is forcing you to. But I'm also a working bass player and gig regularly and always use one, my bass sound is more controlled and sits in the mix better because of what my compressor is doing. Plus I still have total control over my dynamics, the idea that compression destroys dynamics is a myth that refuses to die... It's worth it to me but if you see no benefit then don't bother.

Compression works on - and benefits - all playing styles when dialled in correctly. And the risk of sounding like a broken record you really need to understand how compression works, what each parameter does and how they interact with one another to apply them properly. It's more of a feel thing than an obvious tonal change, but when done right brings your bass line to life. It's very easy to get compression wrong if you don't know what you're doing which leads to the same old arguments against using it. Do some homework on the subject and it'll start making total sense, so much so that you'll wonder how you ever got by without it!

They do that if they're not dialled in with the right settings, but they do the exact opposite when configured correctly.

I took a punt on it through eBay, I've got one of the sellers civil war muff clones and it's a great pedal so thought I'd try something different. It was this one, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186294077685?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=-rQ31T5FTxq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=gZq2qOSFQFe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Dunno if you're still looking for a pedal that will give you a farty mid range but I've recently picked up a clone of the Way Huge Red Llama and it nails that kind of tone, IMO. It's a very unique sounding pedal, it's a low to mid gain drive but with almost fuzz like characteristics albeit without massive amounts of gain. Excellent bass retention too, I didn't notice any significant low end loss at loud in-the-house volume. I've never played the real thing to compare how close it is to the original but from the couple of YouTube clips I've seen I'd say it's definitely in the same vein.

My thoughts of it are in this thread. In short, I thought it was hilariously 💩.

Interesting, and I'm sorry to hear that. My JMJ lives on one of two Hercules wall hangers when it's not being played, I've had the bass 4 years now and it has been hung on the wall in all that time and there's no visible discolouration or other reaction artefacts where the hanger is in contact with the head. The wall hangers have been up for around 10 years now. When I'm out gigging and rehearsing I use the Hercules headstock dangler type stands too with no issues. But the stands are only around 3 years old. Like you, I had an issue with a pair of older Hercules stands where the plastic clamping system was starting to get sticky and break down. But at this point those stands were something like 15 or more years old and credit where it's due to Hercules, when I contacted them to alert them to the issue they replaced both free of charge, not that I was expecting them too considering the age of them. So I appreciate that this doesn't help in your situation and it sounds like you've just been unlucky. And for what it's worth, I'd be annoyed too in your situation.

Thanks Nick, was it just a case of snipping off the EMG connectors and soldering the ends of the wires to the existing input socket?