6stringbassist

So they ship the parts from the US to China, they're then built up and finished etc, then sent back again to the US or to wherever they're going to be sold. Surely by the time they've done all the shipping back and forth they'll end up costing more to produce.

Check out the Level 42 video for 'Living it up' where Mark sticks his head first into a sand dune. I have a picture somewhere of one of Mark Kings Panborn basses, it has a dragon inlaid on the fretboard with LED eyes and brass claws.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='266010' date='Aug 20 2008, 12:24 AM']I was all thinking it was a unique custom, but he appears to be playing the same bass as this guy: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCdGO2PZC-0&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCdGO2PZC-0...feature=related[/url] Unless its the same bass.[/quote] He used to play Foderas, he now endorses Yamaha basses.

[quote name='geilerbass' post='265942' date='Aug 19 2008, 10:42 PM']I went there about 7 years ago to do the 1 year diploma, when it was still fused with the Guitar Institute. It was a really fun experience and I would probably do it again, but there were some negatives. The facilities were crap and there seemed to be some ropey organisation in the office. Considering the facilities that the ACM was offering at the time, it was quite shocking how archaeic the Institue/Drumtech's facilites were. It was also very expensive - though you possibly have funding? There were some really good teachers at the time (John Currie, Terry Gregory for example) but I'm not sure if they're still there as a lot of them left with the Guitar Institute when it moved to Kilburn. I think Andy McKinley (or whatever his second name is) is still there and he was a very nice chap and new his stuff. It should definitely be a great experience, at least for the opportunity to play with loads of other musicians and hopefully the current owners have bothered to pump some money into sprucing the place up![/quote] I was there in the early 90's. Terry is now head of bass studies at ICMP in Kilburn. He's a great player /teacher despite playing upside down and back to front, he's a good mate of mine, I still see him pretty regularly.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='266348' date='Aug 20 2008, 03:13 PM']The argeggios focus on what is central to the bassline, without the fripperies of the non-chordal notes. Rather than mindlessly go up and down the scales, find the chord sequence to a song you like and then work on applying the relevant argeggios to each chord to create a bassline. Also look at the original bass line and relate that back to building it from the arpeggio. Focusing on scales as a bass player is as useful as a beginning drummer focusing on fills - start with the essentials! Alex[/quote] That's cool if the bass line is only built on the R, 3, 5 or 7. What about 2 (9), 4 (11) and 6 (13). If the original bass line has notes outside of that then learning the scale will tell you that, you'll reach a point when you know what scale tone is used. Why only learn half of it ?, if you're going to bother learning something you may as well go that little bit further and do it properly.

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='266259' date='Aug 20 2008, 01:08 PM']Ok... I've printed off a few... (recommended by guitarist) A natural minor E minor pentatonic A major E minor blues.. those any good? lol Am I right in thinking that the Root is just the position of the fretboard.. so if I played the 'a major' starting on the E it would then become an E major scale?[/quote] That's right. Those are good to start with, once you learn the pattern for one then it's a simple matter of changing the root note.

[quote name='Alastair' post='266228' date='Aug 20 2008, 12:41 PM']I know a few scales and theyre very useful but I prefer to just figure what works and what doesnt out by myself![/quote] I prefer to know what works.

Don't whatever you do try a set of single ball ones, the string clamps/locking nuts or whatever they're called don't work with flatwounds. I know from experience

Major and minor are the best to start with. They're actually quite easy to learn, since all the scales of each type follow the same pattern of construction, and the fingering on the fretboard. ie. T, T, S, T, T, T, S - For a major scale and T, S, T, T, S, T, T - For a minor scale T = Tone or 2 frets S = Semitone or 1 fret So start on any note, C for example and follow the formula you get C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C or C major. Make sure to mentally 'say' each note as you play it.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='265997' date='Aug 19 2008, 11:58 PM']Your hands certainly control the tools as is the case for any other craftsman but I still maintain you'll never get a p bass to sound like an alembic any more than you'll get a V-shaped chisel to carve like a round shape. The technical stuff was interesting though.[/quote] Totally agree. You may sound like you playing whatever bass, but the basses will all sound like whatever they are.

The drummer and the metronome both keep time, one is usually more constant and reliable. The trick is to get the metronome to groove, it's actually quite simple with practise. If you can keep time with a drummer then you should be able to with a metronome and vice versa, although there is usually more going on with a drummer to listen to, and to lock in with. If I practise a piece at a given tempo with a metronome, and live with a drummer the tempo changes, I follow, what's the problem. The idea of a metronome, or a drum machine is as good, is to provide you with something to keep in time with, as you would a drummer, or other musician. A lot of bands use sequencers live, and a couple of function bands I dep with use backing tracks for keyboards etc, being able to keep really good time is essential in this scenario.

[quote name='foal30' post='265166' date='Aug 19 2008, 04:02 AM']Can the metronome help you play in time? I think it is best to groove, which may or may not be "in time". Try and get as much practice in with a drummer or piano player. Playalongs are way better than metronomes. Unless you plan to record or perform with a metronome I can't see them being much use.[/quote] I think a metronome is an invaluable tool for improving your time. Lots of bands use click tracks live, and most of the recording I've done has been with one. And isn't a drummer and a metronome the same thing, just one more accurate than the other. I found the best way to practise with one is to set the metronome to say 120bpm to start with, but only play every other beat, so essentially you're playing at 60bpm, and the metronome will be playing quavers. Just tap your feet along with it for a few minutes, concentrate on the down beat, but be aware of the extra 'click' on the upbeat.

Steve Lawson charges £25 I think, or £40 for two hours. A friend of mine who's head of bass studies at ICMP charges £25, so yeah I'd definitely say £35 was a lot.

[quote name='deksawyer' post='265103' date='Aug 18 2008, 11:58 PM']I received mine on Sat. but won't have a chance to use it until my new bass is built. Great service (thanks Alan) and I'm supposedly the first owner in Scotland, which is nice. It's going in a fretless and I know how much a filter based pre works in that scenario.... Sound clips 6SB!!! D.[/quote] I'm going to be ordering a new fretless in the next few months, one of these is definitely going to be going in it. My only problem now is, I'm about to order a Status Kingbass, and going form the ACG/East pre to a 'normal' pre just isn't going to be the same. I spent about 7 hours playing on Sunday, just experimenting with the sounds available, it really is amazing how rich and varied the tones are that you can get from this. I don't have any means of recording at the moment, unfortunately, cos I'd love to share how this sounds with you.

[quote name='ped' post='264541' date='Aug 18 2008, 01:34 PM']We discussed that idea but ended up deciding it wouldn't be very productive. Sure, some people might be encouraged to join in, and some may post 10 posts saying '+1' or similar, annoying everyone. At the end of the day if someone signs up to advertise an item, that means more gear for us to look at and buy, and it helps our google rankings when people search for that particular item, and the quality of the forum isn't watered down by making people post when they don't really want to. The more the merrier I say, and if people want to stay in 'items for sale' then fair enough. At the end of the day if the situation got really out of hand we would HAVE to do SOMETHING, but as it is, I can count the number of problems on my hand, and most of these were things that could have been avoided if the guidelines and advice were followed. I think that is quite incredible considering the number of things that are sold and advertised here every day. I like it nice and casual. Easy now ped[/quote] +1 !

I do think that we should have a similar thing to the Steve Lawson forum, whereby you have to have posted a certain number of postings before being allowed to advertise in the for sale section. I'm not talking about hundreds or anything, but 10 would be a good number. Apart from that I think it works well. I've bought and sold a few things, and met a few really nice people in doing so.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='263705' date='Aug 16 2008, 07:32 PM']An hour and a half, what were you doing? Alan even has the Jack socket supplied and soldering into the circuit! I think there's lots of bits and pieces about Alan's filter based pre amp around but I'm not sure if there is a dedicated thread. Maybe placing a 'sticky' on this thread would be a good idea? Moderators? If you haven't already you'll soon find the 'blending' intuitive. I'd go so far to say that it actually makes more sense to me now than a 3 EQ ever did. Set up the low pass filter to get the tone where you want it, add the resonance as required to get the 'bite' then dial in the treble you need. Much more 'organic' and creative than adding or subtracting a bit of this and a bit of that. I have 4 basses equipped with the ACG pre's, an 01 in my Harlot and 02's in my Warmoth Darkstar, Jazzbastard and Modulus Flea. The pre-amp complements them all and doesn't take away from the instruments essential charactor. The 01 of course has the benefit of two low pass filters, one for each pickup and a blend too which gives the wonderful option of setting up the pickups individually and then dialling in a blend of the two to get the desired result. This is a really useful onboard pre-amp not just an on the fly adjustment to tinker with the amp tone. I've not tried the passive tone control option that Alan also offers with the 02, not enough holes! If anyone's not tried one of these and is passing Kendal they're welcome to. A revelation! Alan, as we all know is an absolute Gent, albeit a Scottish one Peter[/quote] Look I'm hopeless right, I have the DIY skills of a tadpole ! and I really wanted to make sure that I didn't scratch my bass or anything. It is really, really intuitive, and does actually make a lot of sense, I've only been playing for an hour or two with it. I've also done what you say, I have the 'bass' controls set at about 'twenty past eight' as you look down at them, and I'm just add treble as required really.

Yeah, that's the one. I'm going to take it along to John Diggins in the week though, I had to do a couple of joints, the earth on to the bridge, and the live from the battery, the battery compartment is miles away from the pre compartment, the wires are just twisted together and taped up. And it's kind of a bit crammed in, so I'll get him to do it a bit more professionally for me.

I don't know if there's a thread about this already, I know there's quite a lengthy one over on Talkbass. This thing is absolutely amazing, I previously had a John East 5 knob deluxe preamp fitted, that was good, but this is a totally different ball game. I fitted it myself, and that's no mean feat believe me, I'm dangerous with a soldering iron, but this doesn't require any soldering. I had the old one out, and the new one fitted in about an hour and a half. I only finished about an hour ago, but I'm so blown away by the sounds that, I just had to post this thread. The sounds produced are simply amazing, it can be very 'Wal like', so anyone who wants a Wal but is put off by the ridiculous prices, get one of these fitted. It's actually far more versatile that I remember either of my Wals sounding. I did think it was going to be a bit awkward getting used to the controls on it, it's not a simple cut or boost preamp, but it's very intuitive, and very easy to use. It's only available from Alan at ACG, he's a really nice guy to deal with, I paid for it yesterday and got it today, and he didn't mind me asking him stupid questions on a Saturday afternoon.

Order a custom one, most builders make one. They have a Fodera NYC jazz type at the Gallery which is very nice [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/foderanyc5.html"]http://www.thebassgallery.com/foderanyc5.html[/url]

I'd definitley agree with Steve. I spoke to Alan earlier about a preamp, he's a really nice guy, and it's obviously not his fault that some total utter moron wrecked the bass. It does make you wonder what goes on though, they're very security consious at these places, so there must be CCTV inside, so don't they get picked up for damaging parcels. I doubt it would go down too well where I work if I started to do things that affected our customers, and resulted in us losing business. I'd also feel inclined to go and collect the guitar this time, where ever it came from.

[quote name='Smash' post='257942' date='Aug 8 2008, 11:35 AM']Still toying with the idea of these basses, which of the 4 woods on offer has the best sound for a warm growly sound? I am not into bell like glassy sounds. I tried calling Status Graphite and also emailed a few times in the past couple of weeks but no response as yet, they must be busy.[/quote] They were shut for a 2 week holiday, they started back on Monday.