acidbass

Drums are king

Used to rinse the 'Fragile' album as a teenage aspiring bass player, Squire was very impressive. Tried listening to them again last year, didn't like them at all! And I thought prog was something you appreciate more as you get older. Still enjoy the ARW videos however, nice to see such intricate music played live so expertly.

Agreed. I have watched a lot of interviews with rock dinosaurs where they often say 'I hate chart music but there's this singer called Lady Gaga who is actually quite good' as if no one else has heard of her.

Micky!!!! Should have known by the username! Hope you're well buddy

I'd go for a good basis to build a modded bass - quality neck and body woods would be a start. Sometimes those Squier bodies are a step up from plywood and not very resonant! I'd be looking for Alder or Ash personally.

Did a drive in concert a couple of weeks ago - all very socially distant. The gig was shite though both for band and punters, a big crowd but I'm not sure people enjoyed sitting in cars watching.

There's an Ashdown ABM500 for sale at the moment for £125 in the Ads section. Incredible! I paid £500 brand new for one around 8 or 9 years ago and loved it. Would buy another in a heartbeat!

Yeah I guess the 2 band is mostly used like that!

Two small strips of paper/plastic/cardboard inside the pickup cover (between the cover and the pickup itself) help to lower the pole pieces so they are flush with the cover, or actually slightly lower than the cover. Works a treat!

These are really interesting! I like the look of the 4x10 and 1x15 cabs. There's something about front porting that I just prefer over sealed/rear porting, they just work better in more venues as rear porting definitely results in variables depending on where the cab is placed. May take the plunge on the 4x10, for £165 it would be rude not to!

I personally didn't like the East MM preamp - the lack of centre detents really put me off. I like to have those as a reference point. Just personal preference!

5) The G string is quiet

A lot of Stingray owners employ the neck shim technique to avoid this issue. I still find it incredible that basses can pass QC like this

For me this is the most important aspect of modern bridge design, sets these bridges apart from the traditional BBOT

"Play me the intro to Sweet Child o Mine/Sweet Home Alabama/Smoke on the Water" "I can't, this is a bass guitar" "What's the difference?" Proceed to explain for 5 seconds the differences before punter stares blankly and walks away

I love the look of that white one but would be instantly removing the stack knobs, so probably not quite for me!

It seems I'm not the only one guilty of this having read your latest post. Let's agree to disagree and leave it at that

I'm not sure there is an accurate figure for such a thing to be disputed, how would this even be available? I don't think it can be argued that the Fender bass and more particularly the P Bass is the most recorded bass in history. I haven't noticed this myself, fair enough bass guitar isn't always used in modern music in place of synth but other than that I can't agree. If anything, the way bass is mixed and processed by engineers nowadays can be much better. What do you mean by fundamental? My reply that you quoted was in relation to the bass 'cutting through' which to me is not really what I want my bass to do at all, nor do many band leaders or engineers in my experience. To me, a fundamental instrument forms the base of the music and allows the rest of the instruments to build around it. I think so yeah, there's just something magical about the P Bass (and to an extent the J Bass) as it can sound unremarkable on it's own, but sit perfectly in the mix. It's not an accident that engineers prefer it. A bit like the SM58 vocal mic, it's easy to work with and sounds good in the majority of settings. Apologies for the tangent

Ah great, another amp with no heft!

I think that's the appeal of the P bass in general and why you hear it on 90% of recordings on the radio! It just blends so well.

I know the Cioks DC7 has a USB out. Could power your clock and the rest of your board too!

Decent pickup alignment! The Acidbass hallmark of a well made bass

Yeah that photo is not the worst example, but I have seen Stingrays where the string is barely in line with the pole piece at all, maybe only fractions of a millimetre. Seems strange to me that a variable that could be fixed so simply by manufacturers is often wildly different, even on basses of the same model (see Fender Geddy Lee!)

For me, the change is the way the string vibrates. If it's positioned directly over an exposed pole piece, there is surely a certain amount of magnetic pull, whereas if it's off centre (or in the case of J and P basses, not over a pole piece at all), the pull will be less. I'm no engineer, but this could certainly affect sustain or tone.