fretmeister

Everyone can have an off day, and sometimes it's not the fault of the band either. And then there's Queens of the Stone Age. Seem them twice, were bloody awful both times.

Sometimes I think about routing my Fender P to put the bass coil towards the bridge. I often tune to C standard but with a precision and a dirty tone it just doesn't work. Too much gronkiness going on and a lack of clarity on the low notes. I reckon having the bass coil further back would improve things no end. But I've got other basses in C so then I can't be bothered!

Walter Trout - Milton Keynes. It was so loud it was actually dangerous. Left after 1 song. Not even Motorhead were that loud. I genuinely thought my hearing would be destroyed if I stayed. That was the last gig that I attended without ear plugs. I always take a set now just in case. Page & Plant at Wembley Arena. Far too much fog - caused an asthmatic episode in my missus and she doesn't even have asthma!

If I’m getting paid then I take a spare head, And a spare bass, and I’ve always got a di available. Anything else isn’t professional.

Always. Unless the PA is good enough and then I'll take some form of DI / Preamp pedal instead.

Considering Alembics are really plywood I'm going to say no - not a bad thing. If it's built right, then it's built right.

Mr Blue Sky ending.

I do.

If I'm using a 4 string then I use a Digitech Drop to turn my usual EADG tuning into BEAD when I need it. But most of the time I'll play a 5 string if I need that range. Another option is to tune the bass to BEAD all the time and relearn the 4 string stuff for higher up the neck. But that only works if you don't need the upper frets on the G string. No "Sir Duke" then!

I've adapted to most things reasonably well. Typing and calculator use is very annoying as I could touch type and use the calculator without looking as well. Shoe laces are a right pain in the derrière, as are bottle tops and jar lids. But on the plus side I haven't done any washing up since December! At some point the kids will rebel and buy me some Marigolds but they haven't thought of that yet.

Went back to the hand therapist today. It's not progressing as they want so the splint has been re-shaped and is back on again for another month-ish. Then we'll have another look. 1 finger typing continues. Annoying because I can touch type normally.

Guitar / bass / sax. Piano skills are long gone.

Nice. I always fancied a black Jackson PJ like David Ellefson had in the early Megadeth days.

Erik's bass demo - 5 presets, 5 basses

I've got a Zero Mod one for my Ray5. It's good - comes with slightly longer screws and the bass doesn't need any modifications.

Sounds like you need more basses so you have some in your PC room as well. Next to my PC I have 1 bass in C standard and one in E Standard... and the same in the lounge!

Have you got some good PC speakers or proper monitors? If so you could use a plugin that mimics the sound you want and not deal with a notched volume control (they are horrible things!). I never use my main amp to record with, I've got a bunch of plugins and an interface for that. Very easy to use and more controllable than a real amp too.

That was fantastic! Right up my street that is!

I practice at home with either an 800W Markbass head or a 900W Darkglass head into a Barefaced Super Twin. I have no difficulty getting the volume set so low that the natural acoustic sounds of the bass are louder than the amp. I really don't understand why you are having trouble. What am I missing?

If it's only home practice and for some reason a bass Vol control, a gain and volume on the amp won't get it quiet enough then this: https://www.gak.co.uk/en/blackstar-fly-3-bass-battery-powered-practice-amp/130750 Tone just isn't important for practice at that low a volume.

Clearly the only answer is to buy all the pedals and try them. Then buy a bigger pedal board because they are all too good to send back. Tell the significant other that there has been a committee decision and you can't do anything about it. Rulz is Rulz.

You posted the pic of that amp on purpose!

I'd have a look at the Tech 21 Steve Harris pedal though. It's amazingly versatile. Demo of all the suggested settings: The Motown setting really is that good in real life.

I use my B3K for trad sounds. I set the drive low and it just adds some harmonic content and thickness. Sounds brilliant for Stevie Wonder stuff. Just enough grit to cut through when playing hard, and a lovely rounded tone when played gently. I actually prefer the B3K for that than the Vintage models.