fretmeister

There aren't many 32 inch scale 5 strings at all! I haven't done any mods yet other than put flats on mine. I do find the "flat" eq setting to be a touchy boomy though. I suspect treble and bass are boosted a little even at the mid point of the controls, and the preamp is hot. So my bass control is knocked back just a little at the time and then I adjust the treble one depending on what I'm playing. I haven't measured the pickups yet to see what other brands might fit. I'll leave that for a while as I'm happy. But I have a few other things to sell and I will be getting another one... and that one is going to get properly modded - basically into a 32 scale stingray 5.

The Sonic Port is great. Can then also download the free app for Amplitube. That will let him access his iTunes library and use Amplitube for a good bass sound.... and slow down the track without changing pitch for practising tricky bits. It's excellent.

I think you might with that Swamp Ash and Maple one. That one is very different to the others. Whether anyone cares about the difference other than the player is a different kettle of whelks.

That one does say it's the same strings. No mention of pickups though. I agree - would be good if they were all the same. In my experience of jazz pickups (the ones I have more experience with) is that the USA ones have loads more high articulation than the cheaper ones.

That video is particularly interesting to me as all the rosewood board basses sound very similar even with different body woods of Alder and Basswood. The Swamp Ash and Maple one is far brighter than the others. I would have loved to have heard that one with rosewood board neck from one of the others too.

I don't think that argument works. Otherwise the same would apply to the body - you'd not be hearing the "sound" of the wood - you'd be hearing the sound of the paint. A tiny layer of lacquer (not on every make) doesn't change the resonances as much as a species change does.

And here is an article by Roger Sadowsky where he states in his (very long) experience, fretboard wood is the most important factor between wood and tone. https://www.sadowsky.com/wood-and-sound-in-amplified-guitars-and-basses/ I tend to agree - I've been playing for about 33 years now and in that time I've had many basses, and sometimes I've had almost identical ones aside from the fretboard. Maple and Ebony are brighter than rosewood. I wouldn't not try a bass because of the fretboard wood, but I know what to expect on average.

Different body woods and different neck woods

It's amazing how awful some amazing bass tones can sound when isolated. Works perfectly in the mix, sounds like ar$e on it's own.

Dunlops on mine. 40s. I've never really found an excellent low B as a flat but these are as good as I've found.

The makers aren't missing a trick. At the moment they get to make 1 unit that can do everything. That is 1 production line, 1 price, 1 set of manuals, 1 training course for repairers and product demonstrators, 1 set of product testing, 1 supply chain, 1 order book, 1 inventory list etc. If they did do a "Plexi only" model or something it wouldn't be a plexi only model. It would be the full fat version that has been crippled and packaged differently (different tolex = more production costs. Different box, different manual etc etc). Even that would need slightly different software to limit it. And then people would complain if that was the same price as the all access version. But if it was a bit cheaper people would then try to hack it to get access to all the features at a lower price. Then the flood of warranty claims would start, or complaints that a jail broken unit can't get firmware updates. Just like what happened to the Digitech XP series pedals when it was realised £3 of parts and some computer knowledge could turn any of them into any of the other ones. I get option paralysis - I have a Helix and sometimes spend more time fiddling than playing. But that's my fault, not Line 6's. But sound design can be just as fun as playing.

I was getting excited... but they don't stock Dunlop. Boo!

Definitely some truth in that. I wouldn't say all the affected teachers are lazy though - many of those are employed by local authorities and are thus under a foul target system based on how their students do in the exams. They have targets for number of pupils taking exams, times between increasing grades, and the grades themselves. In that environment it's little wonder that the product is little robots. I moved both my kids (clarinet and sax) to a new teacher to get away from that. The teacher is independent and has no problem with whatever the aims of a student happens to be. Some want to get to Grade 8 as soon as possible and push for a conservatoire place. Others just want to play with advice for 30 mins per week. The new teacher is not constrained by Local Authority targets. It has made a big difference to both the kids. They are actually practising more, and it's fun again. Their progress has actually sped up simply because it is fun.

When Stringbusters were still around there was good competition between them. But for some flatwound strings it's actually cheaper for me to order from Germany and pay £10 shipping!

You've moved the goalposts a bit there. Rossi (as far as I know) doesn't have the skills to write a symphony. Beethoven clearly had the skills to write anything he wanted to. You have argued that Beethoven's attempts at writing Quo type tunes would have sounded contrived. You have not explained why. I have provided examples of genre hopping artists that do not sound contrived. You have not provided examples of genre hopping artists that do. "Contrived" does not mean 'not able to write it' it just means you didn't like it from an artistic point of view. That's fine, that's just taste. But that's not the same as not being capable of writing the tune in the first place. "Authenticity" is about the biggest load of codswallop in music. It's either a good tune to the individual listener or it isn't. Academic knowledge of music can't hinder. It's not the same as art. The artistic output still requires something more.

So you're saying he managed to play in the MOST contrived environment in the universe - a holiday camp - and not sound contrived on his own stuff. Flea is a phenomenal trumpet player. Yet his funky rock stuff does't sound contrived either.

I will pay it gladly.

I'm liking that a lot. From some angles I thought the Gus was fretless for a moment!

There's no way I can sneak another bass in at the moment. She's only just discovered there's a BF Super Twin incoming!

Alex Skolnick doesn't sound contrived when he moves from Metal to Jazz at will. Paul Gilbert moves genres without that problem. There's no reason it should sound contrived.

I do hope you are right.

Dad go smash! (why is there no crayon font on here?)

I think it's unlikely that Beethoven / Mozart / Bach etc etc could have composed what they did without excellent musical knowledge. I think it equally unlikely that a Beethoven level of knowledge would have actively prevented Francis Rossi writing Quo songs.

I always record direct too. Then muck about with plugins however I feel like. Currently I'm really liking Helix Native and the NeuralDSP Parallax ones. I often blend a couple of sounds together to get what I want.