jazzyvee

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1432743319' post='2784529'] Not this again ......... I do not use anybody's gear other than my own I do not let anyone else use my gear either. End of discussion. [/quote] Same here except when it's a festival and a backline is provided by the organiser. Then I usually take my own bass head.

I've just today re-ordered another set from ACS as somehow I lost the last pair last December. Expensive blunder. I've again gone for the Pro 17's

It was 2009 when I did the stripping and it took a few coats of the stuff before it all came off. I think it took about 4 days in all to get it from blue to sanded clean. I wiped it over with white spirit to get any grease off first then I used a regular flat scraper to get the paint off once the nitromors did it's stuff. That is the one I used. [attachment=192581:IMG_0856.jpg]

I had a blue stratocaster and called John Diggins, (JayDee), to get advice on how to strip it back to the basic wood. He advised me against burning it off and recommended removing the finish using nitromors. It took me a few days to get it all of but eventually it did, sanded it down as advised and he re-assembled and sprayed it with clear finish for me. Here are a few pix to show the process. [attachment=192531:BOB_F6GW2059.jpg][attachment=192532:BOB_F6GW2069.jpg][attachment=192533:BOB_F6GW2071-2.jpg][attachment=192534:BOB_F6GW2077-2.jpg][attachment=192535:BOB_F6GW2084.jpg][attachment=192530:Bob_6GW2741-2.jpg] [attachment=192536:BOB_IMG_0077.jpg]

Hmm I take the paint off and go commando with the natural wood and maybe stain it to enhance the grain, then get a contrasting pick guard. I'm thinking of stripping my black bass back to the flame maple and refinished in a clear coat.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1431245886' post='2769059'] [attachment=191702:Hercules.jpg] Hercules. I've used them for years. You lower your bass into the spring-loaded clip and it closes around the neck. [/quote] I wouldn't use that type of stand personally. I had one for christmas about 3yrs back and found that when they accidentally get knocked from the back or side the bass swings forward like a pendulum and falls face down. Fortunately this happened in my home and I caught it before it hit the deck. I wrote to the manufacturer about it but got no reply and I exchanged it for this one shown below. [url="http://www.herculesstands.com/guitars/GS415B.html"]http://www.herculess...ars/GS415B.html[/url] which I find is much more stable.

[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1431348955' post='2770228'] I had this problem and it turned out to be a short [/quote] Hmm I doubt if that's the case for me because I don't have that problem with regular duracell or energisers I change them as soon as they stop tingling on my tongue test.

I bought two boxes of Duracell Procell 9v batteries and they didn't last long at all. All done about 20 of them under a year. I wouldn't use them again for basses. I now have gone back to whatever Duracell or Energiser I find and they are fine.

+1 I use pro steels and I have wondered the same thing.

Patrick Eggle Berlin pro is a great guitar with that configuration.

Now that's my kind of bass.....!!!

Hey BigYouth, good to see you here on this forum. May I also add that Big Youth is also a member of a Stanley Clarke tribute band called School Days :-)

Stanley Clarke, Aston Barrett, Victor Bailey, Gary Willis.

If someone took a photo of their instrument with their mobile phone then when that picture is put on-line with the advert, the GPS data embedded in the file can be used to locate where the photo is taken. That would enable the found locations to be mapped onto a maps.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1429555844' post='2752614'] In answer to the OP , and not intended to be smart in any way , but you don't have to put up with it at all . Just avoid the warehouse/stadium type gigs , you have a much better chance of hearing clarity in the proper theatre size gigs . If it is the music you want to hear then the stadiums seem poor all the time , but if the overall experience is a must, then I guess it is a compromise. [/quote] No problem, not taken as being smart. I'm enjoying reading the inputs to the thread actually. I rarely go to the kind of gigs you mention because hardly any of the bands I like are big enough to play these huge venues. But even at the medium theatre gigs I've attended the sound on the bass guitar is usually lacking clarity. I don't want anyone to think I'm bashing sound engineers, far from it. I'm hoping there is a logical reason to aid my understanding of why this problem occurs in larger venues.

Is it just me who wants to hear what the bass player is playing at large venues? Is it just physics, bad engineering and I have to live with not hearing what our bass playing brothers and sisters are doing? For a recent example. I went to a Parliament Funkadelic gig last night at the O2 Academy in Brum. The gig was awesome by the way. But there was an enormous amount of bottom end coming through the FOH PA mainly from the kick drum and bottom end of the bass. As a result but I could see what the bass player was doing but not hear the individual notes just an overall "in key" sound. Because I knew most of the songs the band played I was able to imagine what the bass line was in my head. He was playing a two pickup musicman, i think it was a Sterling 5 HH and from what I know from owning a musician bass before, they do have a good sound in the mids so there is no reason I can see why that wouldn't be possible to get out front. Even when he came out front to play a slap solo his sound had no midrange at all so most of it was inaudible. Is this something I have to live with or do sound guys need to up their game and make the bass heard clearly as well as being felt? It really is a disappointment for me and puts me off going to large venue gigs.

I remember at one of my gigs in the late 70's in my soul/ funk band. We'd done a run of Ewf, Commodores and isley brothers numbers and a middle aged couple came over to my side of the stage got my attention and asked me if we could play something by the Nolan Sisters.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1428919061' post='2745838'] You just need to play both basses until you don't notice their differences. [/quote] + 1 I have 35, 34 and 30.75" basses and don't find changing between them a problem. There are only certain tracks I play on the short scale bass so my fingers are pretty much calibrated to that bass when I do those songs. But as others have said It's just time on those instruments that make the transitions between different basses more comfortable as neck widths, string spacings and position of tone controls can be different. After a while your fingers just know which bass you have and taking control of it becomes more automatic.

I've never paid £11,000 for any instrument though I have bought used instruments that would have been more expensive than that new. I would not be averse to paying that kind of money for a new bass if it was the price needed to get a true custom instrument and I could specify exactly the things I wanted for it to be my perfect bass. The reality is that I don't believe I am at a stage as a player yet to find the major limitations of my own instruments, and I don't know enough about basses to enable me to confidently do that and get it right first time. I can't afford an expensive mistake.

[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1428343913' post='2740441'] I always think it's more to do with note choice, phrasing, timing, groove, etc. The tone will change but not the technique or style so much. Great players sound great regardless usually! [/quote] +1

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1428415526' post='2741059'] . After you get your new wonder bass, do you then have to upgrade your amp and cab. No good putting aa £11000 bass through a Laney combo. Then are you going to find a new band, where all their gear is as good as yours....don't want to lose all that quality in a mess of lesser instruments. Then there is the PA.... That will have to be pretty good to show off the full potential of the bass. Also, make sure you have a top notch engineer... You cant mix something like that without a bit of expertise... you don't want it sounding like a run of the mill Fender. What about boomy stages, funny shaped rooms, and stuff that changes the sound you want that you have no control over. Then there is living in the fear of theft or damage. These mega basses sound great on there own, but once you introduce all the other countless things that make up a band, and the things that make a bands sound, your £11000 investment won't sound too different to instruments at a fraction of that cost. I use a Yamaha Bb2024....cost £1400 new... Not everyone's cup of tea, but It's a great bass that can take a few knocks, built like a tank, and out Fenders most new build Fenders in terms of sound. If you have the cash or desire...why not buy a super bass,, but don't forget that it won't sound like it did in the shop when you start gigging it. . [/quote] You do raise a good point about putting an expensive bass through a budget amp. I think if someone is spending £11k or up that way for a bass, it would certainly make sense to think about their rig and upgrade where necessary as you could be stifled by the weakest link in the signal chain. ( Not sure what you do if the bass player themselves are the weakest link), :-) I can bet there will never be a consensus on what constitutes a good rig suitable for a bass of that calibre. So many variables and options like you suggest above. I'm glad people want to buy Fodera's whatever the price, personally after trying a few I'm not interested in buying one. I'm happy listening to musicians who make great music with them. Ultimately echoing what has been said before, market forces will decide if the price is right and if it isn't Fodera can decide to cut the price or stop making any more. Which will probably put the prices up for used ones even more. Also the price of them gives the forum something to let off steam about at regular intervals. :-)

Ive tried out a few foderas in recent years and whilst i dont like how i sound playing them, they sound great when i hear other bass players using them. James genus was playing one with herbie hanock live at the symphony hall in brum and it had the best live bass sound ive heard in that venue. That said if i had £11,000 to spend on a bass i'd buy an Alembic.

Maybe it just wasn't meant to "B"

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1427121733' post='2725975'] ....... I am starting to realise that my preference for a pure, clean sound is maybe less common than I assumed. I am used to very low levels of distortion, and anything that adds even a small amount sounds (to my ears) to be unacceptably "different". It is very difficult to describe sound in words. [/quote]\ + 1 on that. I really don't like anything on my bass rig that to my ears sounds unclean. The best way I can describe it is like the bass is being played through a very slightly overdriven guitar amp. Not the sound I want from my bass at all.