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borntohang

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Everything posted by borntohang

  1. I've had a few of the series they're great for the price. I use the G3 as a guitar practice setup with headphones and there's some nice amp sims in there; the stereo effects are excellent too, but I'm not into most of the drives. If the MS50G had an XLR out I'd have one on my board as an always on preamp even if just for emergencies.
  2. I got my Inca Silver for 200 on gumtree and it's a steal at that price. Bought my Late 50s P brand new for twice that but it was still a good price, even if buying new for a change pained me! The CIC models are slightly more desirable because of the rosewood fretboards instead of laurel, but after some spotty fret and nut work in the early runs I think the CII stuff is just as good quality now.
  3. To neatly tie all three threads of this er... thread together here: I used flats for a long time and have just gone back to rounds BUT I do stick a lump of foam under the bridge because 1) I like the thumpy string response of flats and this is a fair emulation and 2) because it saves a lot of effort muting. I do about the front half of the show with a P and the foam and then take it out later for the heavier fuzz stuff; the foam just cuts down on some of the ring so I don't have to concentrate as hard at keeping squeaks and sustains down. Pure laziness but also I like the tone in a band! My Jazz is currently on with Bass Centre Groundwounds which are a nice middle ground. There's something unpleasantly dull and mid-choked about flats with distortion through my IEMs even though I prefer the feel so I've come to a compromise on most of my instruments. My shorty P is definitely traditional flats though.
  4. I think a Jazz show is slightly different as you're already prepared for a barrage of unlikely harmonies in every tune (and the trumpet showing that he can play HIGH and LOUD twice a break) and are presumably there because you enjoy that sort of rum thing. In other gig environments I feel it's considered polite to make an announcement and take a short break prior to a potential bass solo so that non-combatants and those of a nervous disposition have chance to clear the field.
  5. They're usually called Precision Specials or similar. Squier did a run of PJ with Jazz necks in the Standard series which pop up if you're after a cheapy.
  6. The gear onstage is for his personal enjoyment, IEMs or no. The crew are all there to work for Adam so if he wants fifteen amps mic'd up with identical speakers because he feels it makes the vibe better then they make it happen. The FoH crew will always have their own opinions about what sounds good out front and will be treated as valuable partners in that discussion during pre-production (because otherwise why employ professionals?) but ultimately AC gets to make the call. They aren't just going to run his bypassed tone through a Radial for the sake of ease... On a side note my guitarist knows one of Edge's techs (not Dallas, but the other one) so when U2 played the O2 during the E&I tour my band got to do a walkthrough of the main LCD system and tech areas. Was gutted to miss out as I had another gig that night. - it's an absolute beast of a rig!
  7. You can blame Cadillac for that one. Introduced in 1955 so possibly an attempt to cash in on the space race/supersonic jet imagery?
  8. It's a stupid thing for sure but I figure if I'm not happy two days into the honeymoon it's probably not happening. Was a really close decision though as it sounded incredible and hope the replacement is just as good. My main touring bass for the last three or four years has been a CV 60s Jazz from the first run and that's great too. I'm glad they seem to have got over the teething problems from the Indonesian models; my only remaining reservation with the new ones was laurel boards so I was very happy when they started to make maple ones.
  9. Decided after much pondering that the grain is going to irritate me too much, and more importantly that I'm just not enough of a fan of white to make it work, so unfortunately this one is winging it's way back north to Glasgow. Hopefully a sunburst one will be back down in a few days!
  10. I will say they've nailed the anodised aluminium finally! Nicely gold but not overly orange or brassy like the early Mascis JM's.
  11. Just picked one up as well but you've pretty much covered my comments. I was torn between the sunburst and white as although I generally dislike sunburst I've been after a '59 with anodized, a la Michael League, for ages. I went for white in the end as I felt there were more options for changing pickguard out in the future but am second-guessing myself now as the transparent finish shows some not particularly attractive dark wood under the upper counter of the body. This isn't a shadow in the pic below - it's the grain. It's a real shame because the rest of the bass is gorgeous. The neck is really nicely done and it sounds incredible - it's that grindy P bass sound I've been after in my head for years and I don't even have to try that hard to get it. It's good enough that I would consider swapping the body out at a later date, but I'm loathe to do that on a brand new bass rather than just returning it and getting something I'll be happy with. I'm going to leave it sat up in my living room where I can see it to percolate for a bit longer and see if it's a dealbreaker.
  12. Well that's where you have to rely on your roguish wink and natural charm to get you the gig, obviously. Failing that, or if you're a drummer, then being able to consistently turn up on time and sober is a close second. You'd be amazed how many gigs that trick has got me even when I was having to turn down in the tricky bits for the first couple of shows...
  13. There is a gentle winnowing of the great field of musicians as you pass through life. Early on everybody sucks and consequently nobody really cares; as you get older the untalented, the unmotivated, and eventually just the plain mediocre slowly drop out as other things take priority in life (partners, kids, jobs, making rent). Eventually you end up with only the truly talented or the truly delusional still available playing, and the truly talented are rarely struggling for gigs or advertising on classifieds... That's not a knock on your level of playing at all but unfortunately most people are going to have to go through the audition mill a few times until some of the bigger lumps get knocked out! I've always felt that you should never be the best musician in a band and often it's actually better to be the worst, so long as it inspires you to get better rather than give up.
  14. Flats, relatively low headroom amps, big speakers with no tweeters... T'was truly an age of mud and thump. Ox was one of the pioneers in high treble clarity, but even he used a pick when he needed the extra help.
  15. I don't think EastGlove are intended to look as much like an authentic relic as just an unique 'distressed' finish. A bass isn't going to look like that unless it's come out of flood waters or a house fire. Actually, I once had a chap pop through the shop with a charred telecaster. His house had burned down at some point with all his gear in it, and with the insurance settlement he bought a partscaster and gave it an extreme burned finish. He admitted he was probably still working through some issues. 😄
  16. What circuit are you basing that on? I haven't run one through a frequency analyser, but always found series wiring is more of a low-mid and output boost than any kind of scoop. You do lose a lot of treble though so it can be pretty muddy with high output pickups. To answer the question, I wire all mine parallel but having a push/pull option for series is a great trick. It should be stock as a 4-way switch on telecasters too - it's perfect for a passive boost.
  17. So it's just the tuner output with a new label then. Snooze. This is usually what I do - or if I don't have an adapter to hand I just used a patch cable with the preamp gain turned off so it doesn't pop if you catch it.
  18. Yes, the pedalsynth. Actually kind of interested in this as I double on Moog bass and it's always annoyed me that the Return/In jack on my ABM500 is muted unless you plug a lead into the front. Sometimes I just want a clean power amp! The 'Full Range' output on the front is interesting too - presumably that's for sending synth/sub signal to a DI?
  19. My guys do a full guitar change about every three or four gigs, except for the acoustic which only sees one song so usually lasts twice that. Bassist gets a fresh set at the start of the tour and then only if they break. They're all on Elixirs and I wipe down with Fastfret before and after every show so we could easily make them stretch a bit longer without degrading but if they have the budget I'm happy to do them - can do a full five guitar clean and change in about 45 minutes now as long as I don't have to do the Gretsch. They're all keen on recycling so old strings get put to one side, electrical taped together in a little bag, and then at the end of a tour I'll take them all to the recycling centre (bass strings get kept separate to use as emergency spares). Bit wasteful overall so ideally if somebody could turn them into art or jewellery we could sell on the merch desk that would be perfect, but I'm still working on that side.
  20. I set the relief till it's choking around the 9th to 12th frets and then dial it back a bit so I can dig in and get a little rattle but not when I play softly. Action gets set the same - down until it's rattling and then back off a touch. It's not an exact science for me.
  21. I'm happy to double on pick and pluck, but there's definitely something pure about the connection to the instrument when you play plucking style. I used to use pick for anything that needed consistent rhythm but it got to be a pain switching up between songs so I've just worked on improving my two finger straight-eights/sixteenths instead. I'm perfectly happy to get through a gig without having a plick on hand now but generally keep one just in case I really feel like using that sound. I even switch up more on guitar these days, although nowhere near as much as bass.
  22. I'm lucky in that I rarely play with a singer who doesn't also play an instrument, which helps a lot for basic theory. Massive fan of singers trying to teach other musicians parts via mouth guitar and semaphore though. "Can you make that second fill more like babab baba babababda!"
  23. Picked up a bag of used Rotosound flats off Andy - turned up practically next day and zero issues. 👍
  24. The UK was actually well placed in that regard as US bands could fly in here to pick up crew and backline, do a few shows around the country, then head out for Europe and do the reverse on the way back out. Sort of an Airstrip One/forward operating base kind of deal. It's still expensive and monotonous to negotiate the visa requirements, but most touring agents were aware of how to minimise the issues.
  25. Oh wow, that's incredible and I'm touring in Bristol in a couple of weeks too... Would you take a deposit to keep it on hold?
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