mcnach

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1458737685' post='3010318'] I should avoid these cheap bass modding threads. I don't have the space, the cash, or the need for another bass, but something in the back of my head is saying "Hmm, what if I picked up the HB 5-string Stingray copy and made a proper 2-band preamp for it?". I must resist! [/quote] Ha! I still have a 5-string Stagg Stingray copy. I liked the string spacing (wide) and that it looked like a SR4 not a SR5 (pickguard...). Got the preamp, a SD pickup... it's still unfinished. Such a procrastinator! It doesn't help that I made some mistake with the preamp and I can't be bothered to figure out where each wire goes now... I just need some space and time... and hopefully the will will show up

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1458734566' post='3010265'] Thank you, sir... my latest plan is to do one more P and then have a go at a HB Jazz/Precision neck swap (where I get to keep the Jazz with a P neck - as you know I don't get on with J necks but like the J sound)... [/quote] sounds like a great plan... I'm thinking of letting my Jazz basses go and just get a Maruszczyk shaped like a P with two J pickups in the right place, as I really don't like J necks... but your plan agrees a lot more with my pocket right now

Ingenious! I think I'd rather play sitting down if that were an option, rather than using a stand. Or move to an Ashbory bass... it's an entirely different instrument but so much fun, and it can sound great... not nearly as versatile as an electric, 'though.

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1457963665' post='3003394'] Didn't mean to offend anyone! If anything I would think more of someone who wanted to tune the band as a whole, and I'm not suggesting we should do without tuners. I just think maybe we all rely on them too much. Even the very best orchestras often tune up between movements. Regarding the perfect pitch thing, I can transpose in my head, but It takes a LOT of concentration! [/quote] Ah, I see what your point is now. I thought you sounded like one of those proclaming "kids these days with their fancy gizmos know nothing anymore!" Apologies if I sounded a bit off. Dunno. If people depended on them to the point that they could not tune unaided, then I'd say they're ignoring an important skill, but I cannot say I've met anybody who is unable to tune by ear. It's just that tuners are faster, usually, and more accurate, and can be used in any situation, noisy or quiet, without others listening to your tuning process... so I'm a fan.

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1457957481' post='3003283'] Do you not tune to the other musicians in your band then? As a matter of fact I do have perfect pitch, but I still always check tuning with guitar, keyboard etc. If you can't get the rest of your band to shut up and tune up, not much of a band IMHO [/quote] I see a lot of advantages in the ability to everybody tune by themselves anywhere at anytime... so I own a couple of tuners and I nearly always have one with me if I'm playing. I'm pretty sure you manage just fine, but it really strikes me as odd being surprised that many other people use electronic tuners.

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1457914832' post='3003051'] Can you guys really not tune a bass? [/quote] is that really a serious question?

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1457705452' post='3001152'] Whenever I've bought a bass that has came with a case I've always sold it on (usually with another bass right enough). I don't see a point in having a case lying around doing nothing when I'm always just going to take the Mono with me. [/quote] That's me too. I keep a MusicMan case and another lightweight one whose brand now I can't recall, and that's it. I nearly always use a Fusion F1 and accumulating hard cases is just not practical for me. Same with gigbags... I tend to give them away or include them when I sell another bass if it didn't have its own hard case etc...

I hate to be the guy who ask this, but it has to be asked: the battery is ok, right? If in doubt, replace it. I'm not trying to insult you, but the number of times that I have overlooked something as simple as that is enormous and I wouldn't have minded someone pointing out the very simple things first, before I go crazy

[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1458128201' post='3004906'] Thanks mrn1989! I do that too, top to bottom, but here I'm specifically asking about whether anyone angles their pickup towards the fretboard (front to back) so it follows the line of the strings when you're looking down at it (i.e. when you're looking at the pickup from the top, it leans towards the fretboard and away from the bridge). Do you do this with your pickup, or keep it straight? [/quote] I keep it straight. I doubt it makes much difference to the sound... but ultimately it is a matter of: do you like the result? the it IS correct The only angling I do is to make it closer to the G string and farther on the E string.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1456854488' post='2992925'] Lighter fluid might be more "Rock n Roll", but the effect is no different from White Spirit. [b]Better still would be a slightly damp soapy cloth[/b], then dry it off with a towel, but where's the fun in that? [/quote] That's what MusicMan recommend on their instruments, I believe. They have a section on cleaning necks/fingerboards and various products... worth a visit

The Xotic BB is nice for very low gain sounds, but I didn't like it so much once the grit really kicks in. The EHX Bass Sould Food is pretty good sounding, to me, and does great with low gain sounds as well as higher gain, it just doesn't go very high gain. The YouTube videos on this pedal are all terrible, by the way... do not judge it based on them. The VT-Bass is very very versatile. It covers a very wide range of types of overdrive as well as low to high gain... if you don't have much experience on overdrives I'd probably suggest this one first. It's easy to find used, and if you hate it you'll sell it fast too. Regardless, it would probably allowe you ot experiment with different sounds and figure out what kind of overdriven bass you like best. From there, if you feel the VT-Bass is not exactly it, you can get much more focused suggestions later on if you tell us what you liked... The DarkGlass Microtubes Vintage is also nice, but I found it a bit too dark and I sold mine quickly, we didn't get along.

If you *need* a true bypass switch, then return it... but chances are you don't, and other than that it's just the same great compressor. I like the Multicomp a lot, I have two in fact! (not used at the same time!). I use it as an -always on- pedal, so the type of bypass really means nothing to me.

Those Kickback amps are pretty good. The Roland is ok, but it's not very loud at all. It sounds like that is not an issue for you and the ability to run on batteries may be cool, although I feel for that price you can get something better... yet a bit heavier. Sometimes there are surprises, like Behringer's BXL45A. I doubt it's in production anymore but they may have something similar. I bought one back in 2007 for around £100. It's a 'kickback' design as well, with aux input so you can plug in your mp3 player/laptop etc... I just wanted a cheap small amp at the time. It is surprisingly good! Over the years I've had a bunch of better amps, some small too, but I kept using the Behringer at home. It just sounds like a bass, whilst many practice amps just sound boxy. It gets used every day, pretty much. Moral of the story: don't ignore brands that may not look great, just try as many amps as you can and see. I'd go second hand if I were you, so you can get a pretty good amp with £200. As for headphones... if you want that, many practice amps offer that option, but many don't sound great. If headphones is something you want, then an amp with "amp simulation" and effects etc would be your best bet, like Line6 or the Roland you talked about. Headphones themselves are very important too, of course. I had the PJB ones and sounded alright. Good but not amazing. I hated their fit on my head 'though... way too loose. Mine malfunctioned after 2 years or so... I thought it was the cable and Phil Jones sent me a cable free of charge,, awesome! ONly it wasn't the cable. I was careful with them but... oh well, I have a pair of Audio Technica M50-X that are a bit more expensive but much better sounding and fitting, in my opinion.

I love that some basses have terrible action/setups like that. It's allowed me to get some bargains over the years! I once bought an OLP from a guy... he was asking £120. The bass was in great condition, just terribly high action. I was happy to give him £120, and he said "you know what, because the strings are so high and old, just make it £100". Twenty minutes after getting home the bass had new strings and a good action... Even with a poor set up you can gauge what a bass feels and sounds like.

Looks and sounds fantastic! If they came with that lovely tint, my debit card would be already in danger of being utilised. I sold my Squier CV50 and I miss it sometimes...

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1458669079' post='3009709'] Our band had a policy of if a gig was booked and someone then decided they couldn't do it then it was their job to ring the venue, apologise, explain and book another date with the venue...I think that is a fair policy. Why should you do all the hard work only for a lazy guitarist to go and create a load more for you. I broke my arm the other year and I was still made to ring round and do the grovelling, despite a couple of months notice we still lost two venues who wouldn't tolerate bands cancelling gigs...as the above post says it is very easy to damage your reputation and very hard to recover it [/quote] I have wanted to do that... but there are some members I would not trust much to do a good job of it, and they tend to be the ones more likely to have to cancel. I don't want to risk losing further bookings with a venue.

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1458666961' post='3009685'] I hate this kind of situation. If you have taken on the job of booker it's your reputation that gets damaged when having to cancel or renegotiate with the landlord. It's happened to me before and I wont tolerate it anymore. Assuming you've collected band member's diary details and they've made commitment-type noises. It sounds like you've done that. [/quote] Yeah, I hate that it's you who looks like an idiot because someone else screws up. We use an online calendar, but I only use that as a guideline, to block some dates out, but I still confirm with everybody before agreeing 100% to a gig. We have a chat group on whatsapp for that and it generally works fast. It's still more convoluted than necessary but it minimises cancellations because someone is a dick. Most people who never book gigs don't realise just what a thankless job that is, and I hate when lightheartedly they come back "oh, I forgot I needed to go away that weekend"...

Long shot but... would anybody within a reasonable distance from Edinburgh be willing to lend me their Barefaced Big Baby 2 for an evening of loud rehearsals? I'd be happy to leave some pre-arranged piece of equipment with you as security, of course. I already have one. I have used it together with a Gen2 Compact in the past and recently sold the Compact. Due to a number of reasons (long and boring story) my go-to rig consist on any number between 1 to 4 TKS S112 speakers. I am holding on to my BB2 because it's such a nice speaker and fits so well in my boot and it's loud and... but I'm rarely using it these days. I would like to be able to try two BB2 in 'real life' or as close to it as possible... so not a gig, but a rehearsal that we can be loud at, and see how it feels compared to my TKS rig. It's a dangerous thing, as instead of saying "it's ok, I dig the modularity of the S112 rig and I'll just let my BB2 go" I might end up saying "hmmm, I want another BB2!" but we like to live on the edge, don't we?

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1458148714' post='3005132'] Both my CV bridges are 20mm spacing, that was my reason for changing them as i prefer 19mm. If i can still find a bridge at home ill take some measurements. [/quote] you could buy a set of threaded saddles and just replace the saddles. Then you can adjust the spacing the way you like it.

[quote name='thebuckets' timestamp='1458072248' post='3004473'] Thinking of picking a squier p bass (cv60s) great reviews but im put off by the bodywood. Bongos are basswood so it cant all be like cream cheese. Have i anything to fear? Also can you fit a std bbot bridge to the 5 hole fixing on the cv60s bass Ta muchly [/quote] Nothing to fear at all, and yes you can fit a standard bbot bridge. I did that using the threaded Fender saddles so that I could adjust the string spacing... the holes may not all align though, I don't remember... but I installed it ok all the same.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1457952370' post='3003206'] Expensive when new 2x15 puts out more volume and bottom end than a new cheap 2x10, yep must be the class of output stage amplification, can't think what else could be at play here? Lol [/quote]

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1457898765' post='3002835'] Not impressed with the TC Head - fair enough. That should have been the title of the thread. There are dozens of class D heads about that are way better than the BH250. [/quote] Indeed! Also, quite often the lack of volume can be fixed by using different (or more) speakers. In this particular example the two rigs are quite different, speaker wise... not surprised about the outcome

[quote name='DBerriff' timestamp='1458076411' post='3004558'] Yes, the Twin could bury the One 10 and me as well. But as we are both playing at volumes appropriate to the band he is indeed a very polite young man. I think we are going to get on just fine. [/quote] sounds like a keeper, that guitarist! Treat him well! They're so rare!

[quote name='DBerriff' timestamp='1457771325' post='3001630'] Hi tony. I have been using a single One 10 with the Puma 500 I bought off you and with a 15 piece big band rehearsal it is not even breaking sweat. I was asked to turn it down last week. It is quite a turn around to see the guitarist struggling in with his Fender Twin amp while I waltz in with this tiny cab and pull the Puma out of my gig-bag pocket. [/quote] He must be polite... because a Fender Twin will drown much bigger bass rigs than that without breaking a sweat I love the Fender Twin, but operators must be licensed

[quote name='CHW' timestamp='1457272183' post='2996887'] I spent 10 years or so playing in a ceilidh band, and there were plenty of occasions when we arrived at a venue, and had to set up with the room full of guests and no opportunity to do a sound check. In the end we came up with a solution that worked really well. We'd get everyone plugged in to the PA and check all of the signals, then start off with the squeezeboxes, bringing them up to the right level, I'd then introduce the acoustic guitar, drums and bass, one by one, ensuring that I got the mix right. The bass player would be out at the back of the room and we'd communicate through some simple hand gestures. When the bass player would come in, I'd go out to the back of the room and he would adjust himself as needed in the PA. Finally I'd pick up my electric guitar and the bass player would fade me up through the PA, as I joined in from the back of the room (Wireless). The whole process took about 3-4 mins. There were times that we actually used this method for the first dance, managing it with a floor full of people It worked very well and numerous customers commented on how professional it seemed. The most pleasing comments were from staff at venues, who would often comment on how well it worked in comparison to other bands setting up. [/quote] that's a great way to do it!