WalMan

Should have got the cover from Roqsolid (unless you did of course). All my covers from them, even a bespoke one, arrived within a week. And a Stringbusters order was delivered the next day

[quote name='OmeDunk' timestamp='1329302630' post='1540174'] Nice post on compression, 51m0n. Again. Does anybody have experience with the new Alesis 3632? Seems to be a big improvement from the 3630 for a nice price. [/quote] [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1329327653' post='1540775'] I've not used a 3632, I would expect it to be on the noisey side for a studio device, although probably ok for live. If its anything like a 3630 though it will be a perfectly good way to learn how to set up a compressor, it will have all the important controls, reasonalby good metering (ie way better than a pedal!) and a limiter to catch those mega spikes when you open the attack up and whack the knackers out of it. As a cheap device to really learn with I think you could do a lot worse. And thanks for the props chaps! [/quote]Saw one of these in a local Crack Converters for around £40 IIRC at the w/e. Might have to go back later in the week to see if it's still there.

Well the soundclips sound somewhat brighter. Going by my other thread on holding levels in check adding a set of strings with higher output is not going to help me achieve my aim. Probably try a set on the Classic J if I can find some. Pricewise they seem a tad more expensive than the Elixirs I normally use. String life will also be an issue in that event

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1333392369' post='1601118'] Doesn't any of your gear have a pad button on it? Or if you could find a pedal you liked that you could leave on (subtle compression or chorus for example) you could use that as an in-line volume. Or even make a simple volume dial that you can put before your amp. [/quote]Well I reckon the pad is probably the gain button on the Streamliner, and that is set to Off for the actives & On for the Classic J last night. Perhaps I should just accept I am a noisy b@st@rd As above I think need to re evaluate the Nova Dynamics pedal settings as I could not nbe helping myself with the gain makeup setting, otherwise the EBS Chorus &/or Octabass only seem to slightly increase the levels. As for the volume dial in front of the amp the STM has input & pre gain controls and I have the (probably erroneous) feeling that cuts before the amp will mean I am not driving the amp properly / efficiently. I fear this largely comes down to having acquired a far more efficient cab, and possibly the more recent amps tha I have used before.

[quote name='john the pond' timestamp='1333315950' post='1600075'] Volume pedal? [/quote]Possibly. I just wonder that rolling back the levels will not be driving the front of the amp right, none of the input overload warnings are coming up yet with the actives the master out is rolled right back on the amp & like I say I have had that on occasion with the Wal when it is barely on. Need to experiment more with the TC compressor and the gain make up [quote name='john the pond' timestamp='1333315950' post='1600075']Active basses are not always louder than passive basses. [/quote] Sorry, that comment was slightly tongue in cheek

Further update following a r/h with the country rock/americana band. Took the ClassicJ, Genz Benz Streamliner 6.0 & Barefaced Super12T and it sounded great, once I had adjusted settings from the normal required with my other active basses. Gain button in and master up to around 12 o'clock. (Must remember to switch those back before the next r/h with the actives & the main band or I shall be in trouble) Also no obvious drop in level on the A string on the J pup, which is encouraging. Mind I was running it mot of the session on the P. The sound was solid, with no obvious dead spots, and the whole rig sat very nicely.

Tonights r/h with the Tanglewater might give me a clue...stop using active basses! I love my L2500's & the Wal but they pump so much level it's not true. Last proggy gig the Wal was on 3 into the Streamliner with the master back around 9 oclock. Tonight was with the country rock / americana lot and I took the Wal & Tanglewater, the latter being passive and which I ended up using all night, but with everything full up on the bass I needed the stun switch (for which read gain button) on on the amp, and the master up around 12 o'clock. Sounded great, but vastly different from the settings required with the active basses. The MB200 was an "as well as" option for r/h and small gigs rather than "instead of". Perhaps I should go back to the Bass Pod xT Pro straight into the PA. Then at least if I'm too loud it's not my fautl (entirely) Back to the drawing board.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1333281377' post='1599481'] Doesn't your amp have a volume control? I'd keep the amp and get a 112 for the smaller gigs. [/quote]Yes, but I often feel I am getting grief for my volume when I have nowhere left to go, and yes the basses have volume controls as well Perhaps based on Jacks comments I just need a smaller rig. I was sort of hoping that the drop to 8 ohms with the Midget & consequent potential drop in power from the Streamliner would help. Pehaps not. Methinks I need to beg/steal/borrow one to test Had an MB CMD121H for a ewhile before I moved through an MB head & the S12T to the GB Back to the drawing board.

You're not helping, 'cos I know it makes sense

I've been thinking of a smaller rig for r/h and the more bijou affair but am currently torn between: [list=1] [*]getting something like the MB200 to sit on the BF Super12T for a lower powered amp for places where the others mutter about bass level; or [*]getting a 1x12 8 ohm cab (BF Midget) that will drop the output from the Genz Benz STM6 and also have the benefit of smaller size, but be more stuff to find space to store at home, which'll go down badly with MrsW [/list] I suspect with the 5's the former would probably be the better option, but in many ways I think I prefer option 2 subject to the right cab. Of course option 3 is the MB200 AND a smaller cab, which would also have the benefit of giving me something to monitor the bass synth/pedals with at the prog gigs (but be even MORE cr@p to contend with. All this from the idiot who downsized from a Laguna Estate to an A3 Spotback "because I am using less and smaller gear now" DOH!! HELP!! whats a boy to do

I bought my now vintage plexi SuperBass 100 second hand for wait for it £50 Other than that it was a crappy Selmer T([sub][i]it[/i][/sub]) & B([sub][i]um[/i][/sub]) IIRC then an even more cr@ppy Carlsbro 15 combo

I'm not bothered about that one ... it's a bit of a bash Routinely used to damn new songs in the set early in their shelf life and generally consign them to the dumprster

So I have finally recorded a few bits, though possibly of no great help - I was noodling to a loop a couple of nights ago. Put them on Soundcloud [url="http://soundcloud.com/aka_walman/sets/overwater-by-tanglewood"]HERE[/url] hopefully. Recorded with the Tanglewater Classic J into an EBS Microbass II (but using that purely as a DI switched to pre EQ) through a Novation nio 2|4 into Mackie Tracktion. All that has been added is a smidge of plate reverb with IKMultimedia CSR Plate reverb on the Vintage Plate default patch on a low level send on the fingerstyle versions only. The six versions are recorded as: - J pup alone - P pup alone; and - with the pup pan in the middle so a mix of the two They all sound a bit similar in tone to me, though there is some difference - the P is a lot warmer than the J to my ears and obviously as you sweep through the pup blend it warms from J to P EDIT: having added three more with a pick in a rockier style I am a bit worried that on the J alone the A string seems to drop level compared to the others. They also had the benefit of the Microbass though reasonably flat. The strings are what it came with (38-98 I believe) and lighter than I use. Was going to add a set of 45-105's and get it set for that, but need to investigate the A string anomaly first Apologies for the sloppy playing I was somewhat distracted by the A string at the time

Gramma pad +1 Check the guitarists amp settings to make sure it's not his boom contributing. As before from my moan about one of mines settings. since I had a word at r/h (backed up by the other guitarist) he has made some changes that IMV make a huge difference without destroying his sound.

[quote name='Rayman' timestamp='1332350397' post='1587146'] I use a Mono strap. It's very comfortable and I prefer it to the Comfort Strap I also have but never use. To be honest, I also have a couple of wide and long Levys straps, the car seatbelt type ones, and because they're wide, they're very comfortable indeed. [/quote]What he said

Well then. Friday. Good night in a gig with space, a stage (with a riser) and even a backstage area of sorts (not a star on the bog door), house PA & lights and he generally tries to look after the bands. Reasonable crowd - better than many Fridays apparently. Described as "an eclectic set" by a friend there but all were enthusiastic. Guitarists adjusted tone settings, well the one mentioned previously (rolled off bass & more pushed mids) really helped the mix, well IMHO anyway. Videoed the lot, but for some reason the digital recorder I use for better sound than the camcorder was not running for the first set. A few new numbers in the set and it went fairly well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUiob-8QWk - lets overlook my SNAFU's shall we <_< First go through live in the reworking (changed key as well) and in over 18 months since we last did it I should think. Needless to say I had got it right everytime at r/h the previous Wednesday. Saturday. Hmmmm, well we played fine but it was all a bit dispiriting really. Realised as it came up that this was the 6 Nations final w/e with three matches from 12, and it's a rugby pub, which is fine and I had spent all afternoon watching the matches, BUT by the time we arrived most in the pub had been drinking since 12 and were full and ready to go home for a little lie down. By the time we started @ 9:15 it had substantially thinned out and so we played two sets to a fairly high degree of indifference - so I fear that's another gig where the others will be saying what's the point, knock it on the head, when gigs are a trial to get. Of course that is until the last number when they wanted more. Sadly that request was countered with "sorry we've run over already" (true but I don't think it would have mattered). and we packed up, picked up the gig cash & fecked off. Smetimes I wonder what the point is. Perhaps we're all to old & should give up, sell up and let the kids get on with it

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1331825800' post='1579540'] What ever happened to Bassist?? It disappeared whilst I was on sabbatical from bass [/quote]It became BGM. Going through cupboards at home recently I found my stockpile of I think virtually every issue since #1. I ought to do something with them as they are using a lot of space, but can't bring myself to dump them in the paperbank, or work up the enthusiasm to set up an eBay listing for old copies - the thought of the time in doing that doesn't bear thinking of!

Ta for the suggestions. I shall have to investigate - or just get a Bass Collection PowerP

So as mentioned in the Tanglewater thread my drummer looked at the Classic J at r/h & said something along the lines of "that needs a mirror scratchplate". Now as I got it because I was after a cheap P type (OK go figure, but it has a P at the front pup) for the Lizzy look it got me to thinking "Now there's an idea". But of course life cannot be that simple because the Tanglewater is basically Jazz with a P at the front. So I can find mirrored P & J plates, but not a J plate with a P hole (that sounds wrong but you know what I mean!) So can anyone suggest where I could find such a beast, or will I have to get a mirror blank and cut it myself (not a good idea with my DIY skills)?

Yup. Put one on my Wal about 20 years ago. Never had a problem & a great little device. Particularly fun for confusing other bass & guitar players when you get practised in surreptitiously flicking down & back up again with your thumb mid song

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1331799781' post='1578894'] I have totally got used to the light strings now and really like the tone they produce. I have recently acquired a reserve set just in case! [/quote]Took this as my only one to r/h last night, forgetting that it would need to be detuned a semitone. Should have taken the full rig not the Orange Crush so it was all a bit farty & indistinct. Almost certainly more re the amp not the bass, but light dont help. I shall need to take it tomorrow to the gig & see how it goes there. Got compliments on the bass generally, though my drummer said "needs a mirror scratch plate" which got me thinking Is it a standard Jazz plate that I could just swap over? Edit: to which the answer is "probably, but it's a P pup not a J"

[quote name='Monckyman' timestamp='1331664779' post='1576889'] So um... not a bassist then? [/quote] DOH!!

[quote name='tbonepete' timestamp='1331667627' post='1576959'] [attachment=102427:IMG-20120301-00055.jpg][attachment=102427:IMG-20120301-00055.jpg]Well done WalMan, I too have a similar bass, although I bought mine secondhand, and in terms of appearance its just about mint, although it took some time, and a new nut to sort the action, intonation out to my liking ( way out of tune, very high action, and a nut that had been cut in a dark room using nothing but a sledge hammer, and a spoon!). Im interested to hear about the apparent difference in pup outputs, Would you mind telling me what height from pups to bottom of strings are please?. I keep faffing about with them, and think Ive cracked it, only to reveal something out of balance later. I know that its personal preference but If your bass has been set up by Chris, theres a fair chance its going to be at or near optimum set up. P and J passive completely new to me (an active 5er player from the start), but it looks so good, and individually the pups sound retrotastic!!! Great bass at any money I think. Cheers Pete [/quote]I'll have a look at the heights & report back. Re the pup difference, I think that is actually just tone. Initially I thought the J was lower output and a bit thin when wound back to that alone, and that it warmed up / got louder as the P was wound in. But actually I don't think there is anything on levels, it's just that the J is closer to the bridge so the P nearer the neck is/was bound to be warmer. I got drawn in when I said I had been looking for a P of some sort and think that I'll probably be using this with the pup knob more middle to P than the J end, but you never know, and to be fair it has only really been run through the little Orange Crush 25 practice amp, not the main rig and I suspect that has a fair bit to do with my initial thoughts. Also my Wal went Active in '96 and this is the first passive bass I have had since so I need to get back into reflective passive mode as opposed to active roar Tomorrow it is coming to r/h with the rig so we shall see.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1331657829' post='1576732'] Crikey, that looks nice - are you able to PM me the price you paid? [/quote]Done...just don't say "you were!!"

My Wal is 30 years old and still going strong. The older of the two L2500's is getting on a bit and that still rocks out, so.....