mcnach

I like the EBS Multicomp a lot. I have two of them, one for the tiny board, another for the bigger one. But recently I got an MXR bass compressor (M87) because the Multicomp sounds great but it does have a certain 'colour', and the MXR is more transparent. I like the visual indicator that tells you how much compression has been applied which is very useful to dial soft mild compression... I like both.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1476878236' post='3157984'] Bit off topic, but I got my hands on a 36", 6 stringer my Luthier was building for someone. Was way too much of a bass for me [/quote] I'd look like a pixie playing one of those

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1476872525' post='3157908'] You're agreeing with your own post ? :-) [/quote] well, someone had to

[quote name='NickD' timestamp='1476879243' post='3158000'] Yup, 19m to match my Elwood. If this plays as expected I hope to get down to just these 2, covering everything I do... well maybe a fretless down the line... y'know... just because... [/quote] I already sorted my Jazz with precision body/neck requirements... but a 5-string Stingray type of bass with 19mm spacing is still an attractive proposition. A Jake 5 as a base sounds too damn attractive. Hmmm.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1476857516' post='3157761'] Why would a P need a blend? I thought the stacked knobs on the P Retro did the following: 1: Top - volume (pull for active mode) Bottom - passive tone 2: Top - mid boost one way,bass&treble boost the other way Bottom - variable frequency [/quote] and this is correct

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1476864068' post='3157798'] Although, there's a lot of truth in what Happy Jack says about how the neck sits on the body. [/quote] in my experience this is the one thing that really mattered... I've played 34" basses that were remarkably uncomfortable (some Warwick, and a Tanglewood I once had that sounded amazing but copied a Warwick design, like a Corvette with a shorter long horn, much shorter... and the 1st fret felt like it was in another postcode). Since then, any 'new' shape I look at, the position of the top horn is the first thing I look at. A 35" Lakland 55-02 did not feel any different from my Stingray, scalewise.

[quote name='NickD' timestamp='1476810085' post='3157487'] Exactly how I Imagined... my first ever P type! [/quote] That is really appealing. It looks like 19mm spacing at the bridge or so as well? You're giving me GAS...

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1476868940' post='3157864'] What I discern, even from the more technically minded on here, is that there is no answer as to why bassists now need 1000 watts when back in the day, when gigs and indeed rehearsals were loud enough to make me temporarily deaf, 100 was fine.. So as one wag just said, watts are obviously not what they used to be. [/quote] I think it was hinted at in a couple of posts as a combination of: 1) An increase of 100 to 1000W is definitely noticeable, but nowhere near as dramatic as the numbers suggest to us mere mortals. 2) We tend to use much smaller rigs these days than then. Fewer speakers in smaller cabs. 3) The speakers may be more able, mechanically, to survive higher power, but not all are more efficient... but because power is relatively cheap you still get a similar effect by pumping more power into them. Something along those lines. Personally, as bass player who can't afford a roadie, I am very happy to live in these days

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1476795180' post='3157277'] Plus I like the inset handle a lot more [/quote] ha! I'm with you on that one!

[quote name='vmaxblues' timestamp='1476703456' post='3156382'] So, having made the move to 5 strings and now owning 2 no.35" scale 5 stringers, and loving the change, however I have just come down with a really painful elbow, just like tennis elbow. Only just made the connection, I think it is me practising a lot with my new 5 stringers, what do you guys reckon? And, what can I do about it? Cheers Stuart [/quote] Not sure that the 35" scale has anything to do with it, it's such a small change. When I got my Lakland 55-02 I didn't even notice it was a 35" scale bass. It was the most comfy 5-string bass I ever played. Have you checked your position when playing? Has anything changed compared to what you were doing before?

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1476723764' post='3156670'] The change in tone you can get with varying where you set your volume, is more apparent when recording than playing live,I feel. [/quote] Not if you also use overdrive. The volume and also the tone control can affect the overdrive sound a lot. On my Stingray, when playing in the RATM covers band, I often control the 'apparent drive' simply using the mids control: I turn mids up for more drive, turn them down a bit for a less aggressively driven tone.

[quote name='Trueno' timestamp='1476701744' post='3156352'] The volume knob on my bass... and every bass I have ever owned/gigged... is always set on max. I have a mute pedal on my ore-amp for muting between sets or tuning. If I want to plug or unplug cables I turn down the volume at the amp. Is there actually any use for a volume control on a bass? Am I missing something? I know guitarists can do fancy things with volume controls, but I tend to think the bass might even sound minutely better with a less cluttered signal path. [/quote] I generally turn down between songs. In a song or two I do swells with it. When using a Jazz bass, I like both volume knobs down a fraction: it sounds different from both on full. I want my volume control on the bass too.

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1476647058' post='3155986'] Bollocks. [/quote] you're so eloquent...

[quote name='dyerseve' timestamp='1476642069' post='3155912'] Surely if your lead is producing that much capacitance it is either broken or been terribly designed. The capacitance of any competently built cable should be so low as to be negligble. [/quote] But it isn't. Just try it with any 'good' cable... you can easily tell the difference between a 2m cable and a 10m cable.

[quote name='gillento' timestamp='1476691873' post='3156235'] I have played the Baer ML112 and they seem to be based on the same concept. In the end I did not like them when playing with a pick. I just re-read a message by Tommy and he confirmed that the 1126 have neo speakers. My hope was to use traditional ceramic speakers again. So I might be better off with a S212 after all. [/quote] I owned both simultaneously for a while. The 1126 sounded bigger and had a lot more low end, for sure... but the S112 sounded much better to me. It was tough to realise I had spent £1500 on the pair of 1126 when I was a lot happier with a pair of S112... Of course that is not to say you'll also prefer the S112!

Finally I got to use it in a live situation last night. It was only as onstage monitor at the smaller O2 ABC in Glasgow. MarkBass LMIII, Stingray and the Two10 vertical. The onstage sound was not fantastic... but I had no problem hearing and feeling the bass. This thing can get pretty loud, it really doesn't compare to the other 210s I experienced before. I turned the bass control on the amp down a bit. The stage sound was clearer that way, and this cab is not short in lows. I'm keeping it. I can't say whether I like it better or worse than the TKS S112s, but this cab is definitely a cool one. I had a bit of space to move about too, which I did, and it was nice to hear the bass clearly... and it had a bit of 'thump' that made it feel it was a lot bigger than it was. It was an enjoyable experience. Someone was estimating this could be as loud as a pair of S112... that sounds about right from my experiences so far. A bit deeper too, but the lows are tight, which is great. The midrange may not be quite as sweet as the S112 but the semiparametric mids on my Stingray got me where I wanted... Promising! And I can fit two in my boot, for sure.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1476542327' post='3155096'] Only just had a chance to watch this, I presumed they didn't cover the cabs/amps rather than there being no BF ones. [/quote] well, they did go a little into the amps/cabs too. He didn't mention BF at all, and showed a lot of love for the ultra heavy Ampeg ones. In fact he went as far as saying he is looking for another Ampeg 210 (I forget the particular model) and encouraged people to let him know if they knew where one was available...

[quote name='AlexDelores' timestamp='1476475685' post='3154730'] Wakrat are currently touring as the support band for prophets of rage so I'd imagine he's using the same rig for both. perhaps his roadies have done something wrong and he's punishing them by making them lug those ampeg cabs around for a few weeks [/quote] yeah that could be an explanation The logical conclusion is he didn't like the BF ones enough after all.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1476458065' post='3154536'] Where are the BF cabs? [/quote] I think this is the Wakrat rig, and the BF were used on Prophets of Rage... but I don't know why he'd use different cabs on each. I was surprised too. Has he gone back to Ampeg already?

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1476449717' post='3154421'] You're a smarter man than I, Jose. [/quote] I don't know smart has anything to do with it the reason I knew was that those words are similar in Spanish so they stood out to me.

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1476447820' post='3154396'] [/quote] I confess I had to use google translate, my level is nowhere near enough to understand that... but the 'korpus' and 'palisandrowa' gave me a very good indication of what it was about

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1476439831' post='3154288'] [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Essential Polish: [color=#212121]Topem z klonu płomienistego, korpus jesion i klon szyjka z palisandrową pokładzie palec (courtesy of Google). [/color][/font][/size] [/quote] nah, not a fan of rosewood fingerboards

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1476435990' post='3154221'] Neat! This trip could finally motivate me to take some Polish lessons - been meaning to do it for years but never got round to it. [/quote] I have a "Polish for Dummies" book my gf gave me when I expressed an interest... but I'm enjoying the "Duolingo" app on my phone right now. I'm using it for Polish and to improve my Italian as I barely use it these days. Just 5-10 minutes a day, slowly... it starts with just a few words, and little by little things fall in place and they start making sense. The trick is to use it every day, just a few minutes will do. For people like me who lack the discipline to sit down and follow proper lessons seriously it's great. You will not become fluent overnight, but it's amazing how quick you pick up things, and it doesn't seem like work at all. Then I use the book as reference to check verbal tenses and when I have 'proper' questions.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1476422111' post='3154098'] Great player, great tone. Rage were revolutionary but Prophets of Rage are awful. [/quote] I quite like what I've heard so far...

[quote name='pmjos' timestamp='1476423968' post='3154101'] OK here's my bit. I stopped playing for a decade. Been back for 2 years ish after a hard 20. 5th rehearsal after staring a new band. It took 3 months to get the line up. Now three months later bitching, moaning , and the whole sh*t train. This is the reality of a band. It's hard work and its not for everyone. I know many a musician who just doesn't want to be in a band for that reason. [/quote] the ability to recognise fundamental personality incompatibilities soon, and quit bands or fire people is very useful. I see people stuck on the same unhappy situation again and again and stay just out of inertia. It is hard work... but we need to help ourselves a little by doing everything possible to find the right people. And even then it won't be all roses! People, eh?