janmaat

Not sure if this was posted here before... I guess it was... http://youtu.be/1WcsV7hQ1V4

EBS Microbass is expensive but great for 2 different DB-pickups (and more)

EBS Microbass could be worth a look at.

I started playing rock music in my teens and soon hair started growing in all the weiredst places ! So I cut down on rock music and played more Jazz to stop the effect !

Thanks for the advise! - I'm planning on the end of the chain, since I'm playing an active (really hot!) fretless bass, and then I compress that signal and run it to an envelope filter. So it's a bit fiddly to get that sound right in the first place, trigger the envelope at the right point -- when I turn the volume on the guitar down, even when I play with a lighter touch, that changes the sound too much. Hence my thinking about placing that volume pedal at the end of chain - suppose, any low impedance would do? Chain now is: active bass -- ebs multicomp -- emma discumbobulator -- (volume pedal?) -- ebs microbass preamp / DI.

To be more precise, what's that difference between high-impedance and low-impedance pedals I keep reading about?

If you use the compressor on stage, that is before the PA, it will of course effect the sound that goes to the board. The sound man is going to love you for that

Having joined a band where the volume changes quite dramatically (some sort of Brazil-inspired fusion), I think I need a volume pedal. What do you guys use and recommend? Does any volume pedal do, or is there something specifically bass related to consider? And where do you put it in your chain -- suppose as the very last thing, ie. in front of preamp/di (in my casse, ebs microbass II) ? Thanks!

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/181797-poll-time-shoes-and-bass/

I wonder why nobody has yet made a bass in the shape of a shoe...

Phantastic idea, pretty hard to solve but great exercise for those who like that stuff... [url="http://euge.ca/2012/07/06/dodecaphony/"]http://euge.ca/2012/07/06/dodecaphony/[/url]

Zombie thread (2010!), zombie bass! Can't help you out, i returned it to the guy and he's moved house to an unknown location (and so have I)

of course you can do punk with a fretless though mind you attack is not the strong side of frettless and I guess that's why they are less common in harder music. It depends a lot on what you want, and how you play it, what pickups and pickup positions they have, and active / passive / preamp makes a huge difference too. I'd say go for the defret cheapo but you gotta just try a fretless, you won't be looking back much they're just so much more expressive (which again is probably not really needed in punk) so be warned, too, you might end up playing ... uhm.... jazz....

Wow yeah I'm not going to give up bass but I'm also really gas-ing for a synth. Problem is that I have never really owned or played such a thing except some noodling on bar pianos and cheap casios. However I like the hands-on approach as well and would love to hear some recommendations for a cool synth.

I only recently discovered Hydrogene drum sequencer for Linux, and found practising some odd stuff like 5/4 helpful (have never done that before but I listen to a lot of world music where that's not at all uncommon). So I now practise funny time signatures for a while, exploring possibilities and expanding my limits. Then I start fiddling with sounds for a while and do scales over some mad sounds. The idea is to sometimes merge the two. Apart from that, I play in a crappy rockband, which I count as practise (mainly a practise of patience really).

Great show, first outdoor gig this season! Open air theatre music for a performance, last day of the International Performance Festival Berlin "Escape", yesterday night at 10pm in the beautiful garden on former industrial area, now artist studios (BLO-Ateliers). Performance consisted of Amy J. Klement (naked, with wings and feathers) hatching out of a giant egg (paper mache and plaster), then laying an egg herself (an oystrich egg), moving to the kitchen, frying and serving it (Spätzle oystrich egg - yum). Build a nice nest for the performance and a really nice little sound setup in the bush, virtually bush music. Chaospad, Moog, microphone and weired sounds, frettless bass, effects. So we had a little nest there too, perfect with outdoor-backstage, thanks to us being wise enough to bring various lights, torch, knife, food, blankets and refreshments. Great jam in the afternoon / during soundcheck with a very competent musical partner (Lars Crosby). The fretless sounded amazing and the little markbass combo was loud enough. Bass looked great in the sunshine through the leaves during the day... Hang around all day really, it was lovely, from time to time playing some music, from sound collages to really groovy stuff with moog + fretless... Wow. My lavoiser-mic got destroyed in the show but will be replaced. Used that to get the sound from inside the egg. Audience of about 150 and many compliments for both the performance and the music. All impro to clues from the show. All on video, can't wait. Came home at 6am.

Earplugs are fabulous. I got mine with rehearsals and gigs in mind, but now they come in handy in a lot more situations -- snoring partner, cats being noisy in the night, open window noise at night, loud gigs, power tool, public transport. When there's too much light, one can close one's eyes - who adapt to different levels anyway; no such with the ears. Now the earplugs are such a cool thing, wearing them compares to wearing shades for my eyesight reallz -- it's just so damn cool. Suddenly, I can actually feel comfortable in an ueber-noisy environment. I just love having them on my key ring.

Yes, huge change, and if it is just this: now I can control the sound. The B is huge. The whole thing now makes sense as an instrument, couldn't possibly work with the VVT. Stock pickup. Different jack plug socket which was a bit difficult to squeeze in there. Still wanting to route the battery compartment but have not found decent set of chisels by now. The preamp is actually wrapped in some plastic foil and the battery is squeezed in under the scratchplate too, which was a bugger to fiddle together and it will be a p.i.t.a. to exchange the battery, should that day arrive. One more thing I did was to add another washer on the headstock since the G string tended to pop off the nut, which of course fixed that problem. Now it's "weapon of choice" when I want to be really noisy.

BC's own Higgie made a MM-2-band for me, which does a perfect job in my OLP MM3. That said, I believe he's playing the bass on a cruise ship right now...

OK so in the mean time, I had a look at the N2 and a chance to compare to the original. The new one is a good deal larger (20cm as opposed to 15cm), there is now 24-bit rather than the previous 18-bit, and instead of just one analog knob, there's that wheel with presets. I got an N2 and it didn't work so I had to return it immediately. I didn't like it either, particularly because of its size (the cool thing about the Nanoverb1 was its tinyness in my opinion). I am going to get one of these smart little original Nanoverbs, since (a) it's smaller, ( now cheaper, and (c) it is more intuitive and the analoge knob is cool when changing the speed of effects etc. on the fly in a live situation. That'll do for me, nice little trick box.

So a long time ago I had a Nanoverb which I did like. That was before I picked up bass though, I mainly used it for sitar, and I liked the fact that it gave me a good reverb (plate) and sometimes I used the rotary effect for some spacy "sitar from space" effect. Now I am looking for a reverb, mainly for my fretless playing, and it seems still an interesting option since it could sit neatly under my microbass2 on my rack. Now, there has been an upgrade from Nanoverb to Nanoverb2, the former analog parameter knob has been exchanged for a wheel that lets you switch from one configuration to the other, and apparently, some other things have been improved as well. However, I have not seen a true comparison between the old and the new one, both of them are available in a shop here with the old one obviously a wee bit cheaper. I wonder if anyone has an N2 and could review it? The obvious alternative would be a stomp box reverb... Many thanks for your thoughts.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1335789432' post='1635984'] The tone is in your fingers!! [/quote] I can hear it!!!

I don't think the members of the band I am in at present notice any of what I am doing. However they seem to notice when I don't -- meaning, they don't practise without me, though they bloody should -- rant over.

What's your guys take on his strange blend of accent, the fact that the spelling of the title seems correct (he's literate), his outer appearance, and the fact that he owns / shows off rather expensive gear? Seems all very strange to me.

I have in the past cleand some seriously dirty and greasy guitars Keep in mind I am no pro restaurateur, but my experience was: for the real hefty greasy dirt (if there is) yes use soap + water and soft side of a sponge and elbow grease. I make sure though that the water would not sink into the wood so I always wipe it dry with lots of tissue straight after. When the dirt is gone, I re-moister the finger/fretboard using a nice oil from the local wind instrument shop that they use for recorders (they have a whole shelf ful of differnt oils there but it's pretty much a question of smell+taste, apart form the purity, of the oil). Not much oil needed, much better to do a little and wait a little and if needed, do it again. This method worked multiple times for me.