velvetkevorkian

[quote name='Mateybass' post='417488' date='Feb 23 2009, 02:59 PM']I've had a Stagg EDB 3/4 for about a month and after visiting my local luthier, the action is fantastic. Let me qualify that statement by saying that I'm a bass guitarist first and foremost and always found my standard double bass to have too high an action to play as quickly as I play fretless. This Stagg was a cheap experiment (£284 including shipping) and I have to say I'm absolutely delighted. The luthier recut the nut so the strings lie almost on top of the fretboard at the head end, and sanded the underneath of the bridge saddle so I could lower the action to something more comfortable. It is amazing how low it will go and testament to the trueness of the fingerboard. I've actually had to raise it a little from it's lowest setting so that I can play the G-string with a bit more force. Even my luthier, who has done a few double basses in his time, was shocked at how low it went. At the 12th fret position with the current action, I can just slide a pound coin underneath the E string but not quite under the G string. It means for me that I can use my left hand in a manner to which I am accustomed from fretless playing and much less effort is required to press the strings down. The next thing for this eub is a 5 string conversion, my luthier doesn't foresee any problems in doing it and once the smaller footprint machine heads have arrived, he'll be undertaking that job. A 5 string EUB for less than £500?[/quote] Keep us posted on this please, I play a 5 string DB and would like to have an EUB to match, but there seems to be a lack of affordable ones!

[quote name='Golchen' post='416494' date='Feb 22 2009, 09:38 AM']This sounds terrible, but once I bought a secondhand guitar, had it delivered to work, dismantled it and took the bits home over a couple of days, and then announced that I was going to 'make something up out of spare parts that I have lying around". It worked.[/quote] That's genius. Wish I'd thought of it first!

Ha, that's awesome- were you actually playing anything there or was that just it feeding back into itself?

No graphite neck?

I love listening to Meshuggah- most of their songs have a backbeat in 4 but with increasingly twisted rhythms in a variety of odd time signatures played against them. [shameless self promotion]If you check out my band's myspace (link in sig) "The Scaven Cleaver" has a breakdown in the middle which is a cycle of 3 bars in 5 then a bar 7, with a backbeat in 4[/shameless self promotion] I once looked at a piece by a composer named Brian Ferneyhough which was in 4/12. For those who are wondering, a 12th note is an 8th note triplet.

Thanks a lot for sending those through Mark- seems good stuff. Also, there's plenty of notes below the E string which is something I've been looking for in reading practice. Will let you know how I get on.

As others have mentioned, he's a bit of a curate's egg for me, but when he's good, he's really f**kin' good IMO. So I guess that's another qualified yes. I have to confess Heavy Weather leaves me cold though.

Have you got a lead on one already in the country or are you looking at getting one imported? As you say, they get good reviews from our US brethren but I've never come across one here.

Generally speaking, both, IME- I have a full size (4/4) instrument (one of Mr Gollihur's, in fact) and both the body and string length are noticeably bigger than 3/4 instruments. It will depend on the instrument and the maker though.

Also. plugging a bass into the line in probably won't get the best from it- a line level input is unlikely to get a lot of clarity IME.

Do you think you have enough gaffa tape there?

Offset?

Also, the Realist is well known for not having a lot of high end- if you're going for a clicky slappy sound you might want to try something else. £30 is a good price though- I think I paid twice that for mine off this forum.

Here you go. The Arietta in C is fairly straightforward- left hand plays the low notes and the right hand taps the high ones. Just practice each line seperately then put them together. The Pear Tree... is slightly more involved as the lines mix quite a lot- been meaning to do some kind of lesson on this for a while but never gotten round to it Both of these were transcribed on a 20 fret 4 string so should be playable on most basses. Let me know how you get on. Cheers Kyle

Tuba, bassoon, left hand parts for piano/harpsichord/organ, organ pedals. The bass can get pretty far into the treble range as well if you're up for a bit of transposing. edit- low voices from choral parts too. I'm sure I'll think of more later.

I have a couple of grade 1 piano pieces I've arranged for 2 hand tapping if you're interested? Quite short and not too complex.

Hello again. Is there anyone in the UK other than Overwater who sells 7 string sets as a set rather than having to put it together from single strings?

Nails?

The proof of the pudding is indeed in the eating!

I recorded a friend playing a while ago- I used an AKG bass drum mic (can't recall the model- was borrowed) close up and an AKG C1000s at distance straight into a Soundcraft compact 4 mixer- worked pretty well as I recall with minimal processing. Managed to set it up so I could mix the two channels independently in Cubase which is good because you can experiment with mic levels without having to do a fresh take every time!

I've not used one myself but I know folk who have- to be honest its not something I've ever really looked into. Don't think I know of anyone personally who has had issues with it. Sorry!

Why not one of [url="http://www.contrabass.co.uk/humidifier.htm"]these?[/url] Would probably work out a hell of a lot cheaper!

Only one I can think of in my current state is the Pod X3 (I think any of the versions would do- not sure if the kidney bean has an FX loop though). Not a 1U rackmount though.

Why not try the preamp and see how much difference that makes before deciding on the pups?