neepheid

S'pose I had better 'fess up to my recent pedal acquisition then... I just upped my pitch shifting game with a TC Electronic Brainwaves. Up until now I had been using a Hotone Harmony, which was a revelation and frankly better than I could have hoped for from such a tiny and inexpensive pedal. So intuitive as well - one knob, numbered in semitones, up/down switch, wet/dry knobs. DONE. I had been looking at posher ones, but they all annoyed me in various ways, like expecting you to know that a minor second is 1 semitone (I don't naturally think that way because I'm not a "proper" musician), or having missing intervals (no minor third, Pitchfork, WTF?), or having overly complicated (to me) controls (I'm mostly looking at you, Intelligent Harmony Machine), or being too big/wrong format for my board (Slammi Plus has all the intervals, but it's a pitch shifter in an expression pedal - do not want/need) I nearly skipped the Brainwaves and went for the IHM (which I would probably have ended up sticking a sticker on to write on it which settings meant which intervals) because on the face of it, the Brainwaves is missing a minor second (1 semitone) interval. TC manual is utter garbage - there's all this complexity under the hood with Toneprints etc. and you're basically left to fend for yourself. Well, I stumbled upon a guide which explained how to get that custom interval on the Voice controls to be 1 semitone. The barrier to acquisition was lifted and in I went! It's really good. Was doing some A/B with the Hotone and it's clear that this is a step up in quality. Both track well with little latency, but there's a warbly/artifact-y nature to the sound coming out of the Hotone (especially when you start plumbing the depths) that isn't there with the Brainwaves. Isolated, it still sounds a little "odd" but that oddness is harder to define. What this opens up for me is more options. Being dual voice, you can do cool stuff like be a fake guitar by adding a 5th AND an octave above (sounds really good with some overdrive) or do some of the Sub n Up thing by having an octave above and below - it's less flexible than a true Sub n Up because there's no third octave (you'd have to choose between 2 of octave above, octave below, two octaves below) and you can't individually control the octave levels, they must be the same relative to the dry signal, but it's good enough for a chancer like me! Also the MASH button is fun - push down on it and it gives you an extra tone bend, like a string bend except you do it with your foot. It's obviously not as controllable as an expression pedal, but with practice one could get good at it. As I followed the instructions to create my custom Toneprint to unlock the single semitone interval, I could see that there's a whole bunch of options to play with, you can make the MASH button do other things, change the curve of how it changes the parameter through its operation, looks like sneaky auto tuning with an option labelled something like "lock to nearest semitone" and a whole heap of other stuff. There are other basic modes of operation that I haven't even looked at yet (V1 > V2, WHAM). There is a detune mode, but I'm going to leave the Hotone on the board for that one, because it's good at it and the Brainwaves can't be both a detuner and a pitch shifter at the same time. Apologies for the shaggy dog story, but TL:DR it's a good pedal and I'm happy with my purchase. I'm a lazy boi at heart, I don't want a 5 string and I can't be bothered retooling/relearning songs when the singist asks to do a song +/- x semitones. The ability to be a fake guitar at times will help fill out the sound (as we only have a single guitarist). MASH is fun. That is all.

Well well, look who showed up to a Thunderbird conversation - the fly in the ointment, Mr. Particular has arrived

I heartily recommend the recently released 5 string Triad when they arrive in stock, the 4 string is fantastic.

Going forward, so you can work it out for yourself in future without the danger of subjecting yourself to snippy comments - adding impedances together in parallel works like this: So in your case: 1/R = 1/8 + 1/4 1/R = 3/8 R = 8/3 = 2.67 ohms

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Decided to up my pitch shifting game (as well as eliminate a single point of failure - I've become utterly dependent upon the pitch shifter for the "can you raise/lower this song by x semitones?" requests), so I got a TC Electronic Brainwaves. I nearly didn't get one, because on the face of it it didn't do a single semitone shift. But with Toneprint trickery, you can assign a single custom interval to each voice. It's a little odd in that the one is right at the sweep of the knob instead of its rightful place between unison and 2, but I can live with it. Hotone Harmony has been relegated to detune ("chorus") duties, but if anything went on the wonk with the Brainwaves then it could be pressed back into service as pitch shifter. So, yet another reorganisation required... I'd like to say "that's it", never say never but but to go much further, I think I'd need a bigger pedalboard.

Epiphone aren't issuing white Thunderbirds at the moment, so you'll have to trawl the second hand market. You have two choices (worth bothering with) Vintage Pro - an attempt to evoke the T-bird of the 60s with chrome pickup covers, two piece bridge etc. Classic Pro - if you must get close to the one pictured it has to be this one - Gibson TB+ pickups with black covers, three point bridge - which you then swap out for a Hipshot, after which you'll pretty much have the one from the video, save for the name on the truss rod cover. Don't waste your time with a bolt on Epiphone "Thunderbird" - that's simply a generic bolt on bass whose body happens to be Thunderbird shaped. Being neck thru is one of the fundamental things that makes a Thunderbird a Thunderbird. Good luck!

Before non-Prime members get excited, that's a Prime only deal

Hasn't been spotted yet is the only reason I can think of.

If your plums are purple, it's probably time to get yourself to A&E...

Bit crowded, innit?

Heh, we call that "the box of death/doom"

Bollox - there'll be something living rent-free in your head... just buy it, you're gonna die some day. Morbid, perhaps, but that's the exact logic I used when I bought my Greco bass. Carpe diem and all that shizz.

Ultimately, I haven't indulged because they haven't made one yet which floats my boat, aesthetically. I'm talking about the entire bass working as a whole for me, it's not the fact that it's multiscale in and of itself that's putting me off. One day it might click. The D-Roc comes close TBF - if I was forced to choose a multiscale bass available today, it'd be that.

Made it to 31st Jan this time though! You're doing great!

I think it was supremely silly of me to sell a Gibson G-3 and a Guild B-402A. G-3s are silly money now, and B400 series basses are super rare, like only hundreds ever made type rare. Sold just out of a desire to try other stuff too. Silly. D'oh!

I like Decibel's takes on the G-3, he's not afraid to mess with the programme in subtle ways, like this 5 string, or a 21 fret neck, but they still somehow look "right". I must confess that I am toying with the idea of a custom made "G-3" for my 50th year of existence next year...

How long have you been here?

Correct. Just been through this rigmarole with a bass with chrome covers on the pickups - they would buzz every time I touch the covers. Had to ground the covers. No idea why one side of your pickup is OK, so belt and braces, do both sides. I would use shielding copper foil (or slug tape) to put a strip across the bottom of the pole pieces, then make sure that's grounded. That should make the buzz, buzz off

Might as well chance my arm while I'm here - anyone got a spare bed I could borrow for the night before?

Changed my mind... PSYCHE! Yes, I will be there, would be bloody rude of me not to seeing as it appears to have been organised around my calendar and availablity The gear (or the answer to the question "how much bass gear can you fit into a 2011 Mitsubishi Colt?")... G&L CLF L-1000 Yamaha BB1200 Sire D5 Sire Z7 Greco LGB-700 Reverend Triad Epiphone Les Paul (not so) Standard Epiphone Thunderbird '64 Squier Jaguar H (with Ibanez CAP double humbucker from ATK200/800 etc) Gear4Music rat bass (with Lace Aluma-P) AND, if it ever materialises... The results of my £150, all new, "giggable" bass challenge - the "ratlet" as I have christened it. Debating whether to take the Markbass combo, or the TC Electronic BH250 and the Markbass NY 121 cab, for some toneprint shenanigans if nothing else... ach, why not both?

That does actually happen! Actually, I thought of a better line - "the only requests I want to hear are "ONE MORE CHOON!""

Yup, crack on. Path of least resistance and all that. You don't need to worry about phase etc - the two parts of a P bass pickup are wired in series (as in sequentially) and it's a single pickup bass so there's no other pickup to fight with. So just install the pickup the way it wants to be installed, take the two wires and wire it to the volume pot as before (black > earth/ground, white > hot).

Requests? Aye, if we've got it, you can have it, we're not an effing jukebox!

An example of every long scale, 4 string, 3 pickup bass ever made.

Weird one last night with Nine Lives at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. When we went in, the place was reasonably busy. Started off OK, but then it went through waves of being busy then dead, then busy again, like groups of people were coming in for a couple of drinks then bogging off, but repeatedly. Very strange! Also a drunk guy who was shouting very loud "encouragement" at us, including one time when he yelled out "YEAH, BABY!" which sounded like he was possessed by Austin Powers which nearly had me corpsing. At the end we were playing to one table of folks who came in super late, like 2 songs before the end. They were enthusiastic, so we played a couple of extra songs for them, and even had one of them up with us for a sing song (because you can have fun like that when it's quiet). On the plus side, we added three new songs to the setlist and they all went pretty well, both in the playing and in the audience reaction, so that's good. As for gear, it was the double, triple threat of the Reverend Triad followed by the Greco LGB-700 into the usual Markbass toan cubes. Sorry, shoe fetishists, no footwear pic, but it was a pair of slip on Vans in a red/white gingham pattern.