neepheid

I use an EMG-BQC [i]control[/i] with two EMG-HB pickups and I think it sounds great. EDIT - I don't use a BQC [i]system[/i] because it's a Les Paul bass and I don't want a blend control. I have a volume for each pickup (25k pot which comes with the pickup) and a traditional selector switch instead - the summation of all that then feeds into the BQC. I care not for blend controls - I end up using them as switches anyway. I'm sure it makes a difference if you use 66% neck pickup and 34% bridge, I'm just saying that I don't care Obviously, an EMG system as opposed to a control is a waste of money and components on a single pickup bass!

[quote name='briansbrew' timestamp='1424901249' post='2701794'] Can anyone tell me what is to be gained from upgrading to premium, seem a bit pricey at 9.99 a month [/quote] http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/125771-spotify-free-vs-spotify-premium-what-s-the-difference

[quote name='1970' timestamp='1424880523' post='2701524'] hmmm nice, but i'm gagging for a short scale single pup model... someone make me one? something about the design screams short scale to me... [/quote] Yeah you'll have to go custom for that. Gibson did issue a short scale reverse Thunderbird a while back. http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Thunderbird-Short-Scale-Bass.aspx

I have one of the recent remakes. "Reissue" is a bit of a distortion of the truth, they have been remade sort of like how the current Thunderbird is in relation to previous incarnations. I'm pretty sure they're discontinued now. 34" scale, set neck as opposed to the neck through of the reverse Thunderbird. Some pics of mine - note that I changed the black hardware to chrome, I felt it suited the bass better.

Although I can't speak specifically about your 1991 Thunderbird, any time I've worked on a three point bridge the earth wire goes to the post nearest the control cavity, the one nearest the G string ball end. Having had a couple decide to part company with the wood of their own accord I can tell you that they pull straight up, they are not threaded. Same sort of idea as these guitarry ones... Removal? Screw the bolt into the insert then use the bolt to pull up on the insert. Or do what I did once - have the audacity to want to stretch my new strings.

Last time I was in a guitar shop worth the name, I nearly walked out with an Epiphone Toby Deluxe, saved by the fact that they only had one finish in stock and I didn't like it Ridiculously good for the money, didn't care for the electronics/controls but at that price, who cares if you mod it?

I cannot see what the problem is here

If the local Aberdeen scene wasn't so buoyant (and I'm surprised we get any gigs at all, given the obsession most promoters seem to have with rockier/guitar oriented music than we make) I don't think I'd bother being in a band at all. I think we've got good songs and we're good musicians, but we're really poor at promoting ourselves - I'm the only one really doing anything about it, and I'm dreadfully out of my comfort zone, considering I sometimes struggle to justify to myself the amount of space I take up, never mind bigging up what I'm doing with the band. I really am in the wrong business - thankfully I have a day job. We're prepared to travel (the geography mandates it in our case) but I'm not prepared to do it for f-all - why the hell should we when we're likely to get peanuts for the actual performance?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1424773345' post='2700188'] Getting gigs is easy provided that: 1. Your band is entertaining 2. Your band is prepared to put in the hard work required to get gigs in the first place and then to get re-bookings. 3. Your band is prepared to travel to where the gigs are. Simply turning up and playing your instruments is never going to be sufficient. If we wanted, The Terrortones could be out every Friday and Saturday night for pretty much the rest of this year playing songs we wrote to enthusiastic audiences up and down the country and getting paid for it. However we've decided to slightly scale back our gigging and concentrate on better gigs and quality support slots while we record our album. The band has no problem getting gigs and repeat bookings because we put on a show and we put in the hard work making contacts sending out promo material and chasing up every lead we are given. IME for most bands this is just too much effort and unsurprisingly they struggle to get gigs. [/quote] Was it easy at the start though?

I held my fingers to ear, I couldn't hear any tone - any sound at all actually. There was a hissy, scratchy sound when I rubbed them together, but that's about it.

Aberdeen's pretty decent on the whole, 5 venues regularly put on original bands, not including the larger venues typically used by folk who have "made it" (Music Hall/AECC/Lemon Tree) and many pubs which regularly have covers bands in. I find it's everywhere else that sucks - so far I'm finding it really hard to find venues/promoters who are willing to at least meet our travelling/subsistence costs never mind the band actually making any money. That's when you get a reply at all. I'm not very good at all this and I feel like such a knob for even having the audacity to ask for expenses sometimes, but we're not running a charity here and when you can't even secure a gig at cost, it's pretty poop. But it's probably my fault - the language is wrong, the promotional material's wrong, no-one's taking a punt on out of town bands any more, I dunno. I think we need a manager. Someone organised and savvy who's willing to get us gigs, in return they get a sixth share of f all.

You'd need to check the dimensions but I'm guessing that something made by TV Jones might fit: http://tvjones.com/pickups-2/bass-pickups/

The Gibson RD Artist, if that's weird enough to qualify.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1424450269' post='2696487'] There must be a market for a decal that reads 'Fender Imprecision' in the correct logo/font for cack handed blokes like me when faced with a fretless P. [/quote] Been there, done that

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1424385548' post='2695904'] At a wedding gig a little old lady came up to me with a tea tray, tea pot cup n saucer etc. and asked if I would like a cuppa. She then poured the tea, pulled over a chair and left the tea on it for me. [/quote] Brilliant, I'd love to play a gig as civilised as that. We do like a cuppa, there's at least 10 cups consumed between us at every rehearsal.

I have never left the UK to see a band. The only time I've left Scotland to see bands was when I went to Download 2007. They can come to me - even Maiden did in 2011, first time since 1990. I'm a patient man

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1424433552' post='2696222'] Active doesn't (necessarily) = better. Passive pickups have greater dynamic range and are more responsive to playing touch. After years of playing active basses I've recently rediscovered the simple joys of my old passive Fenders. They just sound more open and expressive to me. But then I am getting old and steadily regressing to my 60s roots when of course everything sounded better [/quote] I would have said the exact opposite. I just got back my twin EMG-HB wearing Epi Les Paul bass and I have to really watch how cleanly I'm playing, it picks up everything - every careless string mute, every slight snag of a fingernail, got to be clinical playing this beast.

Well it's really weird but the now previous owner got in touch with me 5 days after I posted on this thread. Dunno if he has an account here, so I don't know how spooky it actually is. I sold it back to him back in June 2010, it's been away quite a while. I did my first proper gigs with it. It's an important part of my musical life, but I wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't A) so damn fine looking and so bloody great sounding

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1424379162' post='2695782'] Nice one! Was it the Epi LP Bass? How did you do it...cash, blackmail, murder???. [/quote] It sure is. Cash, along with registering an interest with the now previous owner about a year ago. You don't ask, you don't get

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1424345867' post='2695325'] Average payment to artist per play on Spotify $0.007 [/quote] Yay, I'm contributing.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1424259565' post='2694408'] I did think of getting a couple of those picture frames , where you put your fave album sleeves in . Has anyone on here done that? Audio quality; do you prefer amp/ speakers., or is a dock the way forward? Soundbars off the TV anybody? I know things have been said before about the above, but I'm trying slightly different angles;) Cheers [/quote] Yes, I've done the LPs in a frame thing, bought a couple of LPs to support friends' bands despite not having a device to play them on. They look nice on the wall. I have a Bose Soundlink Mini and fire everything to it via Bluetooth, either from laptop or phone. It's surprisingly good sounding for the size of it, and being portable, if I want to listen to some tunes while doing some dishes in the kitchen, I just pick up the thing out of its charging dock and take it through with me. Not quite as swish as a Sonos multi-room setup perhaps, but works for me

Jack Bruce and cherry red over mahogany did for me. Took me a while to get into it beyond a quick plonk now and again, but been playing seriously since 2009 now, loving it and hating that I didn't realise it was the instrument for me sooner than this - got a lot of ground to make up!

Played it for a laugh at rehearsals a few times, didn't have a pick on me so I used a coin instead, that was convincingly zingy/clanky. Strings probably didn't thank me for it though