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Well I took the plunge. This thing looks, sounds, and feels absolutely superb! Thanks to everyone for all the help and advice.I just need to learn to play it now. 😂 Picked up locally for just over £200. I'm calling that a bargain!

Using this set up at reasonably loud rehearsal tonight. The amp is a CTM100 through a since discontinued 2x15 Schroeder cab (one of the speakers is at an angle hence it looks smaller than a 215) the cab is rated at 800w, far in excess of what I need but it has a good SPL rating of 103 (if you can believe that specology) anyway amp only up at around gain -5 volume -6. I was told to turn it down . It has a lovely edgy tone. The ‘mellow’ button made the room vibrate 😂 .

As of the start of the year, I'm a Spector owner again. I straightened the neck out because I like my necks pretty much bang on straight and dropped the saddle heights down. I wound the Tonepump down to 50%, which I think is a must for any bass with that preamp and it sweetens the tone up so much. On the 100% setting as they come from the factory the gain output is just ridiculous. Even putting the input gain on my Markbass Ninja 1000 way down, it would still clip even when not playing particularly hard. The eventual plan is to swap the pickups out for EMG X series and add an EMG premap with volume, pan and 3 band EQ just to give me more on board flexibility with the mid control. The EMGs in this might go in my Yamaha Attitude. The thing is, while I find the Tonepump to be a little fiddly to use compared to a 3 band, it just sounds so damn good once it's set right that I don't feel in a hurry to start changing parts.

In D&E hock-shop in Edinburgh. Mother-of-toilet-seat scratchplate and rear pup/bridge guard. Unsure of model. The Pedulla is still there...

I didnt know she played bass. Wow! 😲

Maya, probably about 8/10 years old when I got it, over thirty years ago.

A Chris Wolstenholme sig in the standard woven graphite finish - but with blue wraparounds obviously. I absolutely love the finish on them and the pickup spacing appeals to me, as does the positioning of the jack on the side. I'll now get to understand your anguish waiting a few months for it to arrive. 😬

I think he may have been an automotive painter

@steve-bbb he’s a 6’3 Lithuanian who looks like a shaved Ivan Drago. You tell him 😂

A bit like the Bert Weedon book for 6-string guitarists, this was very much a beginners bible for bass playing when most people learnt by copying what someone else down the road who happened to have one did. But it did come out 50 years ago. And 50 years ago, the recommended way to start a diesel truck in icy weather, was to take off the air filter, soak a rag in paraffin, set light to it and bung it next to the air intake while you turned the starter motor. No longer the recommended way.... And 50 years ago it would have been quite difficult to find out even what the tuning notes were, let alone how to set it up to play well! So it was actually an important book even if the general understanding of what works and why have moved on a bit. But you never know...not setting it up with a 1/4" action might be why I'm so s**t at bass!!!!

Valid stuff, but I am just saying it applies to everything in the same sense. £100 bass would do that same as a £4000 bass from the perspective of 90% of people in the crowd, yet how many of us on here play what we strictly need, not want? This is no different. For me, the QC costs less new than my pedalboard added up and adds a LOT more I don't already have as I have made do without (want/need), the difference being buying it all at once. I could never have afforded that or justified buying all from scratch, but selling all second hand now will still pay off the QC. Yeah, if you don't actually sell it off then its a big investment for little gain, but otherwise it's just swapping gear, losing a little in finesse and gaining a lot in practical function. A lot of it is looking at it logically vs emotively. And yes, the quality of my gear ludicrously outweighs my skills as a bassist. And my own financial position. But hey ho!

First sentence - need and want are 2 interchangeable 4 letter words. Being a musician (I wouldn’t call myself that btw, I just like playing) can be eye watering if you sit back and look at what money you may have invested amongst GAS, which is part of the reason we are all here! Crikey, my gear is far far far too good for me. Is the money spent on backline, PA, lights etc. An initial outlay and float for an all purpose loan you intend to pay back to yourself, or is it something you write off for your hobby/semi-profession/profession/enjoyment? Kids are an eye watering expense, but the benefits far far far outweigh it all. Its the Mrs Cuzzie test ”Mrs Cuzzie, I’d like to spend £1.5k on a bit of equipment for my enjoyment. It could potentially replace all my other stuff.” ”That’s nice dear, will you then sell all your other stuff off to pay for it in the 9 month lead time, or in fact ever?” ”Errrrrr.......Unlikely.....” Bonafide stern look and kick in the nuts - hence an eye watering expense

Hey Al, I know there's been a few replies but I'll quickly address a few points here: EMG HZs are passive, but if you can adjust the output on your preamp, you can still try it, it's very easy to do and you can test it on the fly, so if you don't like it you can put it back how it was. I haven't played a Spector with HZs and the Tonepump Jr, but if you play another active bass, then plug your Spector in and play without adjusting the volume and think your Spector makes your rig way louder than the other bass, then the Spector could likely do with a gain reduction. The problem with the super-high output of the Tonepump is that it hits the input stage of your amp really hard and causes clipping, particularly if you have the Tonepump on maximum output. If you have a clip light on your amp if might flash to indicate that your input signal is clipping. Basically this will not help your tone and will also risk damaging the tweeters in your amp if it has them. You can just lower the input gain on your amp to prevent clipping, but your amp will work best if the input gain is turned up but still set below the point where your playing causes it to clip. In effect, you're just hurting the quality of your tone if you run the input gain turned right down. I tend to pop and slap a few notes (as this generates pretty much the highest amplitude in your signal that you'll get in normal playing) and if my clip light flashes, roll back until it doesn't and then roll back a tiny bit more for some safety margin. Adjusting the gain on the Tonepump is really easy. Just take the backplate off your bass, and find the main preamp module, which is a little box, which may be attached to the inside of the bass by velcro (like on my Spector). Pull the preamp out and find the the adustment screw, it's a tiny phillips head screw. All the way to the right is 100% gain, which is how it comes from the factory) and all the way to the left is 0%. If you plug your bass in and play a note, then adjust the preamp all the way to the left, you'll hear the bass go silent. Then wind the screw to the right until you find a sound you're happy with. I find about 50% open is best for me. I always find the secret recipe for good tone is a nice smooth signal from the source instrument. With a smooth, clean signal, you can add effects, shape the EQ etc very effectively. I find that when a signal is too hot and spiky, you spend more time and effort taming the hot signal and it tends not to play so nicely with pedals and amplifiers and can sound harsh. It's counter-intuitive, but a smooth output signal allows for a richer tone at the end of the signal chain when you're actually hearing the tone. Pickup companies for example, prey on this ignorance by selling super-hot pickups to guitarists who think that a hot signal will give them the ultimate metal or shred tone (because hotter must be better, right?!) , when in fact all they get is a harsh mess that is wearing on the ears.

I thought we were talking about Cheryl Cole -must remember to read the thread properly

Her first (& most famous) album was almost completely written (including bass parts) by the songwriting collective known as the Tuesday Night Music Club which featured Bill Bottrell, Kevin Gilbert (RIP) etc.... She has managed to take credit for it all and didn't even thank them on her Grammy speech. She doesn't have a great reputation thanks to this and a number of other similar events...

Playing at a charity festival at Ascot Racecourse in a big open marquee stage facing the festival. We started play our first set and the bass sounded great on stage. Big and round with a sort of cool ambience - surprising in the circs. We finished playing turned off the wireless transmitter and I set my bass back on the stand. Only to hear my bass amp announce what a treat it was to have the band, that they would be back later and the next event would be over at the... Yes, my bass wireless and the announcement mics were on the same frequency. The reason for all that “ambience” was that I had been treating the entirety of the racecourse beyond the music area to a 45 minute funky bass solo through the Ascot Racecourse tannoy system. Swapped to a cable for the next set!

I recall someone saying that Prog is the only popular music that does not originate in dance. Which is why a lot of us gravitate to it.

I know organisations/places like the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame don't really count for anything - but it's still nice when a band who deserves more plaudits receives such worldwide recognition. Today, one of my all-time fave musical acts - 'The Doobie Brothers' were announced as 2020 inductees! Can't wait to see my good friend (and bass influence) Tiran Porter finally reunite with his old band for the induction ceremony/performance, along with other alumni including original drummer John Hartman and guitar legend Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter!

Hi everyone, I already posted here before, but that was a while ago 😉 I'm Kevin Hensels from Belgium. I play in a band called HEMELBESTORMER which is (instrumental postrock/postmetal). The gear I use are: - Black musicman stingray 3 band EQ from 1995 tuned in B - Black musicman stingray 3 band EQ from 2005 tuned in B - Ampeg SVT classic from 1996 - Ampeg 810 1995 - Boss effects - D'addario and Ernie Ball strings. Always 130's - Dunlop 1mm picks

Yeah, just not on this thread please 😂 For the avoidance of doubt this is NOT a NBD thread for folk who have a weird understanding of the word 'abstinence' 😁😁

Many thanks 👍. Rest assured, NBD photos will be issued.

I'd be on board with all that. To be honest, besides me, I'm not sure anyone in the band knows specifically what a producer does. Blue

For any folks interested in Neil's books, Audible has made the audiobook versions free for this month. The list is here, though the Clockwork Angels books are not included. If you're going to try one, I'd recommend Ghost Rider.

I saw this band on YouTube the other day. Pensioner on guitar who was the spit of Steve Howe and four people I didn't recognise. They were even calling themselves Yes!

OK, so we finally know why the Neanderthals looked like that and it was called 'the stone age': rock-'n'-roll lifestyle and too much dope 😁

I didn't join this years party as I knew that I'd fail pretty early on. However, although I have failed already (I've placed an order for something bright and shiny from Colchester) I am genuinely going to try to make that my one and only purchase this year. To me it's a strangely alien feeling, but I currently have absolutely no gas. 😧

An eye watering financial abyss

So in summary we can say the Quad Cortex is an expensive unit, not dissimilar to other high end processors. Taken in the wider scheme it could potentially be replacing multiple items which collectively would have a similar total value. Plus it’s new and shiny and kids are a financial abyss!

NAMM snap

I'm a new Yankee on basschat so if this book has been mentioned forgive me. I recomend it to EVERYONE. "The Indie Band Survival Guide - Randy Chertkow & Jason Feehan - St. Martin's Press NYC $18.99 US 2nd ed. is 2012 I don't know if it's been updated again but it talks about everything you can do on your own or when you may need help. If any ofthe moderators review this & reccomend mebe it can help some of us thumpers out there

I agree with you - I've seen (and been guilty of) plenty of laziness, and - my god - have I ever seen the above martyr complex writ large! But I wonder whether Andy's situation is one part laziness to two parts ignorance. He mentions that the band are all mid-30s upwards (not that this is a problem in itself), but I have observed that the older some musicians get, the more wedded they become to the "old model" of doing things. Their drummer clearly thinks that if they plough time and money into re-recording one of the songs with extra unicorn dust, they'll be able to waft it under the nose of some publicist or booking agent who'll pluck them out of obscurity and make sure the whole world hears and adores them. Which, as plans go, is obviously cobblers. But then, our drummer insisted that the only reason we weren't already filling stadiums was that "our show wasn't good enough." I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but he was the oldest member of the band; in any case, he believed dogmatically that if we just quit our jobs and toured more intensively, our fortunes would just magically reverse one day, and we'd rolling in it*. He scoffed at the idea that I was making better progress by pushing it to audiences via social media. When I pointed out that I'd sold more CDs that way than we'd at all of our gigs that year, it obviously stung: he grumbled that perhaps we should stop playing live altogether. A few weeks later, he tuned back into the same old channel and was banging on about how it was high time we quit our jobs and hit the road. It can't just be an age thing, because I know there are plenty of people on here who are older than him and far more savvy about this kind of thing. But it did feel like there was an aspect of Old Dog / New Tricks about it. *Also known in some circles** as "The Underpants Gnomes' business model." **me, when he was out of earshot

Funnily enough, I wrote musician first... and thought it was a bit too derogatory. We could start a whole thread on lazy musicians and I could spend the rest of my days reporting on it. Musicians : Always somebody's else's fault "You wouldn't know what it's like because you aren't a musician" "I struggle for my art" (so much I don't get out of bed) If they worked on their art 9 to 5 like an office job, their level of musicianship would be a lot higher etc etc... "Poor me, poor me." Anyway, don't get me started. I seem to be surrounded by lazy musicians at the moment and it's really getting me down. Which brings me onto musicians being one of the greatest sectors with mental health problems. It's no wonder... they are all complete c**ts to each other. All nice to each other faces - but quick to stab each other in the back or attempt to nick each others gigs. Toxic world. I tread very carefully.

Just thought I'd revive this thread and see how many other Tune players might now be on Basschat. Also, here's a bunch of pages with various specs from the Tune catalogue.

It also seems Ms Kay doesn't have confidence to describe how to adjust neck relief, so maybe she hasn't got a clue how to set up a bass at all.

Yes! It only becomes a covers band when all the songs (or realistically 90%) of the songs are covers. If the set list is 2 hours of material all original bar 3 or 4 covers then you are legally entitled to call it an originals band. I can prove this to three decimal places using a Kerplunk game and two washing up bowls.

This is how we play it, right or wrong I do not know😁 Paint It Black.pdf

Ideally, that needed a few more guitarists.

Yes, mostly Dan Schwartz on bass on the Tuesday album.

Having gone to full modelling, we initially tried just our FBT x-lite 12s tops but sound was a bit compressed. Changed to ALTO 312 tops which cope a lot better and okay for smaller gigs. Added two cheap active subs - Evolution sub 15 - much improvement but tops still getting full range signal as no crossover on the sub outs. Finally added a single ALTO TS312s and sound is amazing, if I say so myself. More than adequate for most gigs we do and a super quick set-up and take down.

Pretty sure when I played this years ago I just played the B and E for the verse and it worked well for us. Trick is the timing. Go one beat out and itll mess with your head and sound like you're playing it backwards.

Just before assembly, we used to put drawing pins in the felt of the hammers in our school piano. The music teacher would play 4 bars at the start of the hymn sounding like she was in a honky tonk bar.

Well. I was all for pushing, a modest budget on Facebook will work wonders. Anyhow, the first EP was a rush job, the songs were new ish, and we’d only been together a few months as we are now, it’s 6 months later and the new songs are developing as is the sound of the band. The idea of a producer is for the second batch of songs. I don’t think we need producing as such. Just a bit less “good live recording of a band” and a bit more creativity, using the studio as part of the instrumentation. Unfortunately a lot of studios available to us on day rates make time money and unlike my previous bands who self recorded or had a company budget behind them - its a bit restrictive. anyhow, here’s me playing a marimba when money wasn’t an issue...

I suspect this chap carefully stuffed socks into his ears prior to working out the bass part.

In the States you can fill out festival applications until your blue in the face. If you don't know anyone you'll never get a slot. Not even a 10:30 AM slot. Blue