LukeFRC

would the angle on something like this... be too off centre and funky for you? I don't know why folk don't just stick one or two photos up and then a link to an album - like this one I made before I gave up trying to sell it... http://s1230.photobucket.com/user/LukeFRC/library/JV but then agian maybe the above photo is too funky.... ach you'll all enjoy photos of a lovely P bass

[quote name='dougal' timestamp='1369782981' post='2092805'] I think this is probably the most common 'problem' with playing the bass. No-one really notices, until it's too late. At an extreme, I physically assaulted a guitarist when after playing a song with my volume rolled to 0, he [i]still[/i] claimed the bass was too loud. I'm still ashamed of my reaction to this day. [/quote] i've done that- turned the bass off... thumbs up from the sound desk, band happy. i start pretending to play like flea in the 80's.... still don't notice...

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1369770549' post='2092635'] [sup]Same thing happened to me on here, sold a Bass and he put it straight onto eBay at a pretty big mark up and used my photos, without the courtesy of a quick email. Does it sound like sour grapes....?[/sup] [/quote] I would be right pissed off at that if it were me. Worst I've seen was someone who bought a bass very cheap off ebay (i know as I was watching it) then listed it on here at twice the price a few hours later.... of course no photos and he stalled for a day or two untill he actually got it posted to him.

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1369735087' post='2092025'] No bother Luke. I suspect your ACG pre is a bit more sophisticated than mine - I only have one low pass filter stack so whatever blend of pickups is set goes through that one filter. I was always a big fan of the Wal circuit and the ACG really takes that to another level versatility- wise by offering continuously variable boost around the filter cutoff frequencies and a variable frequency and boost for the high- pass which in the Wal is the switchable "pick attack" at a fixed frequency but with the amount pre-set by an internal trim pot. With the flexibility comes added complexity of course, so if using that bass live, I tend to set up the pre carefully to suit the room/ stage and then not really vary it that much during the gig - that way I can just use the techniques I would use on any bass to vary the tone on a gig - pickup selection/ blend and right (picking) hand position. The trouble with going to town and fully using something like the ACG pre live is that it is so variable. For example, I may think I need just a little bit more bass, so I reach for the bass stack gain but depending on where I have left the frequency control set on that stack, it could be acting effectively as a treble control... or a high mid or a low mid or a subsonic bass! It's not always easy to hear these things in the middle of a gig so I go very canny on these adjustments. For live work the other possible difficulty with using eq at source - ie in the bass or in the amp if you're taking a DI post eq- is the potentially radically different frequency response curves of the amplification chains involved. My big rig cabs are Acme LowB2s which have a very similar response curve to good big PA rig -ie basically flat from 20Hz to 20KHz. So if I'm over egging the bottom end at source, I can hear that and fix it. On small gigs though, I often just take my little Phil Jones Bass Briefcase which has nothing like the low bottom end of the Acmes so it's quite possible for me to be setting up a nice, chunky sound on stage which is far too bass rich for the PA. The sound guy has to then try and compensate for that using eq which is almost certainly operating at different frequency centres from the ones I am using and well, you know what the results can be! So, for me using eq at source live with a feed to the PA - nothing too extreme and set it and forget it for the night! Cheers Ed [/quote] cheers Ed! good reading there Oh and after playing with my amp EQ, and the ACG preamp for hours, I could kinda hear what the PA folk were asking, and compared it to my jazz and I still couldn't dial in the kinda tone I wanted.... so back to basics.... i had changed the strings to ones with less tension.... lower the pickups slightly... and boom there's the top and bottom agian!

[quote name='ash' timestamp='1369759173' post='2092417'] If you look at Google images for a particular piece of gear often you'll come up with pictures of items seen or that you have sold on here or on eBay. For example today I was looking at JV Squier basses and I found pics of several I have owned and sold on here - it was especially poignant since there was one I really miss! I guess that once published on a site they are in the public domain for all to see so they could be used anyway, unless you add a 'watermark' ID or copyright. [/quote] see my one? that normally comes up too

took the jazz to practice yesterday - sounded great straight into DI (different venue) might take that this week.... as my wife says - the other one sounds better but the tomato soup (my jazz) one has more low end.

having had a brief facination with old japanese basses ply wood was something you avoided - it's interesting that your luthier goes for it.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1369648834' post='2091128'] Could you explain your comment about the action and neck-curve, please? [/quote] so this isn't some expert here, just a loon who's messed around with basses a bit.... I've found my P basses sound a bit more full with the action up a bit and a bit more curve in the neck - that might just be down to how it's played.... but truss rod tightness (and how tight the neck is bolted on if the truss rod access means you take the neck off...) I think does affect the tone.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1369646162' post='2091091'] Sorry Luke, when I first read your 'new cable' suggestion I thought you were joking! Good call - I tend to take cables a bit for granted, though IME it's guitarists who seem perfectly happy to stand/walk on cables. I can't bear standing on mine. [/quote] oh I'm pretty sure in the OP's case it's about the action and curve in the neck - but cables can have an odd effect on tone - esp (obviously) on passive basses.

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1369643720' post='2091056'] Really? OK - That's easily done. [/quote] yeah, as they get damaged (stood on etc) the bottom end is the first to go..

try a new cable too

[quote name='EMG456' timestamp='1369394419' post='2088664'] It's your sound Luke. The job of the sound guy is to reproduce that as accurately as possible and then blend it with the other instruments and voices so that everyone can hear *everything* that is going on. Go to 90% of gigs and you can see what the basic problem is with this thought! So, some sound guys can do that and many others can't. A lot of the "education" in music technology nowadays also suggests that the best way to get separation in a mix it to divide instruments up into frequency bands and separate them that way. So all the bass players end up with a wooly, ill defined boomy sound because that doesn't get in the way of the vocals and guitars/ keys. To beat this approach I find it's best to go in with a collaborative approach. Be nice. Ask him does he want a DI out pre or post eq. Explain to him the sort of bass sound you like to use. Quietly give him the confidence that you know exactly what you are doing and that you're somebody he will enjoy working with - that way he'll do the best he can for you. Sometimes of course it doesn't work out but if you're going to be back there on a regular basis it's worthwhile trying to sort something out. Overall stage volume can work against you as well - could the whole band be persuaded to play a little quieter on stage to help out with the sound? Lastly (thank goodness I hear you say) I'm interested in your comment about the ACG preamp. Any gear you're not completely familiar with can cause you to misjudge your settings. I did a gig recently supporting another band. The bassist let me use his rig for convenience - it was a nice rig, Acoustic Image Clarus head and two EA cabs. It wasn't quite bright enough for my liking but I didn't want to mess up his eq settings and I had brought along a Jazz Bass 24 that I have recently acquired so I just set up the tone using the on- board preamp in the bass. I did actually get three comments from people in the crowd that didn't know me saying that they loved the bass sound but when I got home and next plugged the bass into my little Phil Jones amp that I use in the house, I realised how extremely I had tweaked the sound - huge amounts of top end which I simply wasn't hearing from the rig on the night. Now, I have an ACG filter pre in one of my basses and whilst I love it, I am also aware that it is perfectly capable of providing any number of completely unusable, extreme sounds, capable of speaker destruction even at seemingly low levels. Couple that with some of it's controls being slightly counter- intuitive on occasion and it's possibly making life more difficult for you in a live situation? If in doubt. Simplify and build from there - if that means take a P-Bass the next time, then do that and see what it's like. Hope it works out. Ed [/quote] Lots of good thoughts there guys! Thanks... I've done a fair bit of PA stuff before so I can appreciate - it was partly in interest in where they were going that I let them dictate my tone - to see what would happen (I didn't think it could go as badly as it did TBH) so now I can have nice discussions about how what they think bass should sound like isn't nesserserally what I will sound like or where I will fit in the mix.... but I am very flexible. Ed/EMG465 thanks for the long one! I've had the ACG for ooh 6 months now so in terms of being able to dial in sounds I want and adjusting on the fly (if needed) I can work that out.... any thoguhts/advice based on how you set yours up? I tend to go for a good rock tone on the front pup, a more middy sound on the back one with a bit of boost and then use the blend to set my sound with treble added if needed.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1369342864' post='2088239'] "Otherwise why not call it a Tokai..." Because they aren't made by Tokai. If they were, then it would say "Tokai" on the TRC. You can check this out by going to Music Inn on Canning Circus where they have two rather nicely made Rickenbacker copy guitars both showing the Tokai logo. They also have some Rockinbetter basses, which when you compare them are not at all in the same league when it comes to build quality and finish. [/quote] what i was going to say...

Interesting thing happened last week.... I'll start several years back - supporting Glasvegas at a u18 night (yeah i know) and was borrowing thier lovely fender bassman silverface amp - with a P bass - got a lovely low thumpy sound that suited our band to the tee.... the sound guy came down and asked if I intentially wanted to sound like a Dub bassist and re-eqed my amp to sound like, well the liberines or that indie-play-with-a-pick high mids djang djang... which didn't fit with what the rest of the band were doing.... settled somewhere in the middle. Last week I played for the first time at the church I've been going to since moved down to Leeds. Took my warwick, and the tec amp set up - dialed in a nice mids based sound which to my ears sounded good, made the wick sound good and sat nicely in the mix. At the end the guy running the PA said it sounded "boxy" and too loud. The next week took the same set up, this time in an even more busy mix. Decided to let the PA fella play to see what he wanted.... well boxy apparently means middy - and i've a middy bass and cab, and too loud was... well any point where they didn't have "control" -which as i used to run PA desks I have some sympathy with. So volume wise... anytime my amp was on was too loud - gain and master volume right down, the channel volume trimmed on the rear of my amp right down.... Boxy-ness.... well the fella's idea of bass tone was to crank the low end on my amp and then scoop both the high and low mids..... now my amp is quite full in the bottom end... and even with the mid focus the streamer has quite a big bottom end.... so what happened? Well, as much out of interest as anything I let the fella do what he wanted... by scooping my amp I then couldn't hear it myself much to play... so natually start playing harder - look around to see my amp input peaking - ramp the gain right down... really can't hear myself.. so playing while not being able to hear much - not much idea of how the dynamics of playing is - not fun, focus on just playing smoothly and (hopefully) in time oh but the fella boosted the low end, and everytime I hit anything below an Bb the whole room just goes BOOM and even I can hear something doesn't sound good. not fun. So from my point of view- one week great tone fitting well to my ears - not happy PA guy, the next week me unhappy - PA guy gets his way (but still not happy) So my musing... my thought is that he had a fixed idea of how bass 'should' sound - (wooly ashdown, preshape in, mids scooped is what is normally used) whereas I have another.... but I can't hear the FOH to be so confident what I think is right, and also what's my amp for if it's (in not a big room) not wanting anthing to go to the FOH from it.... the complication here is my ACG preamp can dial in a load of tones - and that while what I had sounded good to me i'm still learning to use it- so not as confident as could be - I have a suspission that all this palaver wouldn't have happend with my P bass.... so who says what bass sounds like?

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1369259702' post='2087138'] What exactly is this new extension of copyright? There doesn't appear to be any new UK trademarks registered by RIC. Has another case within the EU set a legal precedent? I don't suppose he's offered any evidence or documentation to back up this claim? It's just that he does sometimes seem to talk as if the entire world is under the jurisdiction of the US legal system. [/quote] if you read the fender bodyshapes case that someone else posted a while back - under the US system he has to be seen to be trying to stop copies within the US to keep up his trademark on the shape as otherwise there would be a good case it could be claimed to be generic and not specific to rickenbacker. So there is a kinda logic. Under european and british law however he's talking out of his bottom. Personally I think that all this talk about banning all rickenbacker chat on the site is a bit OTT - but if it were added to the swear filter and came out as R******** that would be quite apt, or maybe approach a certain german music store to sponsor a big banner ad. at the top of the site....

[quote name='BigBassBob' timestamp='1369255737' post='2087044'] Anyone want to make a Matsumoku TRC for my 4003? [/quote] comment of the month for me there

[quote name='John Schoen' timestamp='1369243303' post='2086849'] They tried it with the shape of the Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars and the Precision bass and failed: [url="http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91161403&pty=OPP&eno=246"]http://ttabvue.uspto...pty=OPP&eno=246[/url] [/quote] interesting reading. The precedenct of it seems Mr Hall is in a bit of a hard place- in order to keep his trademark for the headstock (and now body) he has to keep opposing copies of them regardless. So in his defence he has to oppose things he sees. Interestingly in looking while the body shape, it's not generic in the same way a fender one and is copyright trademark in the US i'm not sure it is in the EU- how it affects Basschat is quite interesting - anyone know how talkbass have dealt with the same issue? While I understand that the company HAS to oppose copies, and protect their trademarks, What I do find slightly objectionable though is the fact that the company president sends off whatever nasty emails he does himself (as I presume he does) - he has a UK firm who look after his IP in the EU based in London according to the trademark postings - maybe the site should ask for written legal documentation from his EU based lawyers in order to understand precisely the legal imperatives? Also in respect to the company generally I found this interesting... [quote][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=1]Rickenbacker ® , the "R" Design, Triangular Name Crescent Design, RIC, Hamburg, Atlantis, Colorado, Dakota, Frisco, Sierra, Liverpool, Shasta, Comstock, Shiloh, Cheyenne, Laramie, Jazz-bo, Laredo, Laguna, Miami, Jetglo, Fireglo, Mapleglo, Autumnglo, Toaster ®, Toaster-Top, Astron, and logotypes are among the trademarks and service marks in the United States and other countries of Rickenbacker International Corporation. This is not a comprehensive list of all trademarks and service marks of [/size][/font][/color][b]RIC[/b][color=#000000][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=1].[/size][/font][/color][/quote] How on earth are Hamburg, Altantis, Colorado, Dakota, Frisco, Sierra, or flipping Liverpool a trademark or service mark for them??

Ironic isn't it that if I had written some top hit song about the same time the 4001 was designed it would be out of copyright about now.... on another note - while I have no problem with a company trying to stop factories making new bracer shaped products- it's interesting legally that you can take a (worldwide???) trademark out on a product's shape 40-50 years after it was developed and retroactively try and apply that to 30-40 years of products using that shape. would be nice to see someone in europe test that in court (but not basschat).

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1368870669' post='2082424'] I like the idea of only having one bass, and, should I ever stop gigging, that`s what I`ll probably do. One bass, practice amp, home player only. [/quote] would laugh, after it all if you settled down o one bass.... and it were a jazz bass.....! Myself.... the warwick streamer I love - that's staying. but... you're going to want a passive option too for somethings. so two is a good number. Three is what I'm currently on, but wouldn't mind selling one and getting something new

someone else was saying that too! try it for me.... seems ok

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1368618293' post='2079194'] I quite like witty slogans on T shirts and wouldn't object to a Fender headstock design either. BUT I currently do not own any T shirts with slogans on and the reason is that they always seem to be printed on really naff T shirts which do not suit a woman of my shape. They always seem to have really high, tight, round necks which look hideous on a woman with a large chest. And at my age they make me look like a batty old volunteer in an animal shelter. So, Luke, if you have any option to think about the style of T shirt as well, please consider V necks, low cut round necks and more fitted styles. (I'm probably a niche market though ) [/quote] We do womens fitted T shirts (U necks though) - I actually think they are nicer than the mens ringspun ones- google Gildan Softstyle Womens fitted... I dunno if that sorta thing would suit - if not would be interesting to find something that would! Tshirts is a funny thing we tend to use nice tshirts, which arn't super thick and look great. Except a lot of sellers use the heavier fabric tshirts - which I hate - but for some sizes it's better. [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1368618418' post='2079200'] How about making one with a silouette Ric********* headstock? [/quote] thought of that - but don't show the headstock in the photo! [quote name='HeavyJay' timestamp='1368622843' post='2079313'] I used to have one of these: [url="http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/151029748656?_lwgsi=y&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=64&ff19=0"]http://compare.ebay....&ff14=64&ff19=0[/url] Which in principle seemed very cool but I quickly decided it wasn't for me. Got a few relatively obscure band t-shirts but nothing specifically bass related. [/quote] I've seen that one. It's an odd one it's almost cool - but you wouln'd wanna wear it..