mcnach

Helix -> Helices

It works in the sense that he gets the effect he seeks and he likes what he hears. But he seems to be disregarding the audience's health and 'listening pleasure', by many accounts... and it is 100% avoidable. Seems a little donkey-headed to me, when he is in a position to be able to afford whatever system he wants to use. If the sound onstage is so loud that it makes mixing FOH difficult... you need to wonder whether he plays for his own pleasure or for an audience.

Exactly. I get very controllable feedback onstage without crazy volume using my Stingray with overdrive by facing the speakers and twidding my mids EQ control. And if I can do that with a bass... There are several ways to achieve it that don't require stripping the plaster off the walls with sheer volume.

Very interesting. A while ago I was tempted to get a bass from a seller/builder on AliExpress that had pretty good reviews. I wanted a cheapish 5 string, and after talking to them it was obvious they could get any configuration I wanted, which was key, as what I wanted was not really available elsewhere, and I was willing to take the risk at around £250... at worst I'd get a wall decoration: I'd have to pay a lot more for a Picasso Their examples showed a Fender logo. I asked for no logo, or to use my own. No problem, they were happy to do that. In the end, I got cold feet and my interest for a 5-string went away so I never ordered anything... but it showed me that if you want to avoid a blatant counterfeit, you can. Some of those sellers do produce decent stuff (for a budget instrument), but it is risky at many levels. I would not spend money that I cannot afford to lose (although AliExpress customer service is good, light years ahead of eBay!, not sure about DHGate), and just don't go for a straight copy using someone else's logo etc.

+1 on Chris

If not, post your general location and I'm sure there must be somebody near that can help. It is a really quick repair.

I'm not sure what @Stub Mandrel really meant with signature sound, but I suspect he wasn't been a precious diva and meant rather basic differences in bass tones that different people use. I haven't got a huge amount of experience recording, but it is interesting to hear what the engineer/producer's take is on bass sound sometimes. I sometimes get a rumbly mess without any definition... and that's most definitely what my bands DO NOT go for. Once you explain, or show them, it's usually "I see!" and they get it right. If you're in a punk band playing a bright precision, you're going to want that 'clank' and not a dub kind of bass. That kind of distinction. Which brings me to your point there: absolutely right. Doing away with loud speakers on stage that interfere with the mix is definitely desirable, in my view. I think a lot of the 'arguments' come from people having vastly different experiences with regards to the kind of venues and bands they play in. The best onstage sounding gigs I've ever played were on large stages, supporting rather than being the main attraction where I could have a reasonable bass rig behind me and/or good monitoring. It makes playing a joy, which I'm sure reflects on the performance. That is possible on large venues. The smaller the venue, the more the onstage sound can interfere with the FOH mix. Bass in particular. Some people seem to dismiss IEMs as something you would only use when you get 'big' and play large stages. I think it would actually be very beneficial for bands playing the typical bar gigs.

True. But unless the sound guy knows what you want, it's a lot easier to give him something close to what you want and let him take care of the mix, than giving him and entirely blank canvas. You can achieve that without an amp, of course, and I can't wait for the time when I can use IEM routinely and be done with loud bulky beasts onstage... but unfortunately I'm not there at this point.

If only...;)

I don't think it's so much arguing which EQ is better, but the fact that someone may want a specific sound and give that to the sound guy, rather than having the sound guy choose the sound as well as doing the mixing.

Indeed. I would have likely bought one if the option existed.

I like the subtleness in Pea by the Red Hot Chili Peppers: "F**k you a**hole, you homophobic redneck d*ck" The phrasing is superb.

Nice amp. I had the pleasure of using one at a recent gig and was very impressed by it.

Just one of their lines. When you think you get use to Fender and Squier lines... they go and change them Basically, Affinity is the bottom series. Some actually are decent, but expect to do some little work. Vintage Modified are definitely ok. I would not say they're amazing although individual instruments can be quite good. Frankly, I would say they're on a par with Fender MIM from the late 90s or early 2000s. Then they have the Classic Vibe instruments. Now THESE are really nice. Or they used to be, as I hear that lately they're not as good as they used to but I haven't tried one in ages. I have owned a couple of CV basses and still own one. They're very decent instruments.

what's wrong with it? seems ok to me

I'd like to say the same. The truth is... once we're there, we made the trip, brought the gear, and we want our fee, so we'd just play. I've played many gigs with less than ideal monitoring. This would just be one more.

In this case it sounds more like someone without enough experience who bought something he thought was a Fender and is now finding out his mistake. Probably thought he got a great deal...

that's a little condescending, to put it mildly

Not a limit whatsoever. The 2EQ gives you plenty of mids, you don't need to turn up everything to the max, you know? I am not one for a scooped tone at all... I like a fat, prominent, mids-rich sound, which a 2EQ can achieve without breaking a sweat Both preamps are quite different, so it's more a matter of which one you prefer the sound of. With a little experience, the 2EQ is pretty intuitive and you just 'feel' how much to turn up or down each control to emphasise low or higher mids etc... I personally prefer the 2EQ. But better even, the John East MMSR 3-band: with the mids set flat (centre detent) the mids module does nothing and it's essentially a late 70s 2EQ Stingray preamp. The mids module has an adjustable centre frequency control that allows you to boost or cut a specific band. I installed that on my (originally) 2EQ Stingray. I don't use the mids module much, but it's great to have it when you want it.

With regards to listening to the sound person: In smaller venues, they may sometimes ask the bass player to turn down a bit. It can be a drag as it can compromise your own monitoring (often your amplifier onstage IS your monitor). I found that generally it's not the overall volume but the amount of low end that becomes bothersome. Offering to turn down the low end instead to see if that works generally does the trick. Onstage I don't need masses of low end to hear myself. Since I got the D800+ with its built-in adjustable HPF I can turn up the HPF until the sound person gives me the thumbs up and I still hear myself plenty. It doesn't happen often, but worth remembering that. On Saturday I had that very situation. My girlfriend was in the audience and has seen us many times in many venues, and she said we had the best sound she's heard in years, in any venue by any band: Trust the sound engineer and work with them, not against them. edit: the HPF only affected my onstage sound

Well, it is what it is. That thing was not weak at all. I think when we say "many people" we're actually talking about two guys in a forum posting a few times At the time I was in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band and for fun I used it a couple of times with the band. That bass also has a pretty cool slap sound. I miss it...

It was not an original '51 (I wish ) It was the Squier CV series one. Output-wise was comparable to... pretty much every other bass I own, on the high side but not by much. Not sure how close it is to the original types, to be fair. The DC resistance, 'though, is not a measurement of output.

I'm not sure the DC resistance of a pickup is a solid indication of its output. For example, a Stingray pickup is typically around 2 ohm (wired in parallel). It's not exactly a low output pickup (I'm talking passive, no preamp). It can be wired in series, at around 8 ohm then, which gives you a punchier sound with stronger low mids, and it is louder, but not THAT much louder. My old '51 style Precision was pretty high output.

what do you mean it's only been a month? The wait... is so hard...

That bass used to be mine... if I had to have a 5 string, that would be the one. Incredible bass.