neepheid

[quote name='woodyratm' timestamp='1330431037' post='1557265'] Was that photo at a Panda eyes gig? Also Lemon Tree? [/quote] Correct on both points.

In general I try to not look like someone has stepped out of the audience and picked up a random instrument. It's not a snobby thing, it's just I feel better having made a bit of an effort to look like I meant to get up there. Generally a shirt and tie, with a fondness for waistcoats. Having said that, last gig was a polo shirt with lots of vaguely automotive patches on it (think someone going to a fancy dress party as a motor mechanic and overthinking it a little) and black jeans. I thought I'd tone it down a bit for the local rock dive bar

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1330350847' post='1555994'] I have read about the "OMG" setting... but what is it??? [/quote] Ou7shined is the man to ask regarding this having studied it in great depth and replicated it in one of his basses, but basically it's applying a capacitor to the output from one of the coils of the MFD while leaving the other to come through unmodified. Don't ask me how but it results in a super bassy sound, like a bass boost and seems louder, which seems impossible considering all you're doing is taking away some of the treble frequencies from one of the coils, but that's what my ears are telling me!

Do what you like. If you keep the original loom and it can be non-destructively removed and put back in afterwards if you decide to move the bass on then I don't see the problem. I presume you're going to keep the first two switches (pickup selector and series/parallel), so what you going to do with the last one? Passive safety valve? Kill switch? Just leave a dummy switch in? Replace it with a battery state LED? So many possibilities I never use the "active" settings on my Tribute L-2000 - the treble boost sounds nasty to me and it's plenty loud as a passive instrument anyway. I've been thinking for a while now of making mine 100% passive and making it possible to switch between humbucker/OMG/single on both pickups.

[url="http://catb.org/jargon/html/B/Bzzzt-Wrong.html"]Bzzzt! Wrong.[/url]

This is the first thing that popped into my head when presented with lyrics about birds and rabbits, a melody and a click track. Pretty cheesy, will probably change it completely once the rest of the band wade in with contributions, but you did ask [url="http://soundcloud.com/neepheid/bouncy-bass"]http://soundcloud.com/neepheid/bouncy-bass[/url]

How old are you? Is it too late for you to age it yourself by having a long an distinguished gigging career?

It all depends. On lots of things. It might be simply aesthetic. It might be to accentuate the bass (or treble) response of certain strings (like a split P pickup). If you think about it, the split P pickup is an angled pickup. Sometimes it's the only way to get pickups with wider pole piece spacing than the string spacing to fit. With blade polepieces it doesn't really matter.

The PJ combo on my Yamaha BB614 is great, and the J pickup is more than capable of keeping up with the P, output wise. I tend to use one or the other - in just about every two pickup bass I've played, using both pickups seems to be the most "polite" sound of all - the characters of the different pickups seem to cancel each other out leaving you with something that sounds like a generic bass sound rather than having any grit or other defining traits. Blend pot? Pah, just give me a switch (which incidentally the passive BB414 has )

I tried one in a shop a few months ago. Nicely finished and put together, but the sound was way too old school for me. Very bassy, even on the bridge pickup. Too much mud for me. I thought I had stuffed cotton wool in my ears. I really had thought the bridge pickup might have lifted the sound a bit but no. No amount of amp tweaking could bring it out. A shame, I wanted to like it. Someone must have liked it, it's not hanging in the shop any more

I redid the test with headphones and I could definitely make out the 17kHz, the 18 was debatable. I'm 36, been playing in bands for 3.5 years, worked behind the bar in a live music venue for quite a few years before that. I think I'm lucky to still have what I have, and I'm more cautious these days with using earplugs and the like. When I say "more cautious" I mean sometimes I remember to wear them. It's not good enough and I must step that up.

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1329990227' post='1550782'] Can you compare Alex James to Nathan east? Workmanlike? [/quote] You sound like me whenever someone has the temerity to slag off Gibson basses Ahh, the sweet and sour of opinion.

Since joining The Oxbow Lake Band last year I have spent most of the time gigging their old stuff (although I have managed to put my own spin on a few tracks) this is the first song where I've had free reign to come up with something myself. It's a live recording from our gig at Banff Castle. The recording is quite bass heavy, unfortunately for you all [url="http://soundcloud.com/oxbowlake/boy-angus-is-a-dreamer-live-at"]http://soundcloud.co...dreamer-live-at[/url] All comments gratefully received.

Cutlery isn't particularly exciting these days either. Let's have a bitch about how boring forks have become. These new forks aren't as good as the classic forks of my childhood etc. etc. ad nauseum.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1329911518' post='1549456'] They certainly broke the mould when they came up with that one. What does that big bar (which looks like one of my kitchen cupboard handles ) do? [/quote] From the bumf that came with it: "Finger bar rest. Extra long, for new comfort when playing." Clearly, long is the new comfort

I don't really see what everyone is bitching about. I guess that makes me wrong.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1329874708' post='1549080'] I've decided to give my Blazer a much needed clean. It's old and it's gone a bit grubby, could do with cleaning up the tuners, the bridge and the frets. The body's going to get a makeover too at some point but as it's my only bass, I can't really have it out of action for any period of time. Anyone got any tips on getting these bits nice and clean? The bridge is a solid chunk of brass and the tuners are chrome. Im guessing the frets are stainless steel. I have no problems with taking everything apart too, so I can leave all the bits in solution if need be! Thanks in advance! Alex [/quote] Dismantle, dismantle, dismantle. I clean frets with Brasso - mask off the fingerboard first! The other stuff I'd soak in (cheap) diet coke for a while as already mentioned. Remember to rinse off the cola thoroughly and dry the parts thoroughly before you lubricate/reassemble.

Not the best environment to be trying this (at work with lots of computers whirring away in the background and a slightly rumbly ventilation system) but I could hear up to 16k. 17k was debatable - I'm not sure I could hear it but I could hear when it ended? I must try this again with the external USB sound interface and headphones when I get home

Not clearly. I was so keyed up on adrenaline that I don't even remember being on stage. Someone took a vid of it and on the whole I think I did OK (I had a music stand with cheat sheets off to the side which I can be seen perusing between songs), but I really can't remember any of it. No drinking. It'll be easier in front of an audience you know half of. My first gig was a paid one for a 40th birthday. On the plus side, we were on last and the crowd were pretty well oiled by then

[quote name='BB3000S' timestamp='1329771944' post='1547181'] Came across this at the EBMM forum, and can't seem to find it already posted on here. Anyway, apparently a gifted bass player could win a 1-year bass scholarship at The Institute, London. Short notice, last day to apply is Feb 24. http://www.icmp.co.uk/institutecontent.asp?ContentID=28&ID=67 [/quote] Now why did you have to spoil it with the word "gifted"?

What exactly are you afraid of? By getting over that hurdle of asking to try a bass you have already moved beyond those who go to the shop to browse but never do more than that. It's not an audition, it's not a gig. No-one is going to care, apart from the type of person mentioned before who is jealous of your ability to sit down in a shop full of people, pick up a bass and give it a shot. You don't have to impress the salesperson - you're the one with the money to spend. The last time I tried an instrument in a shop it was in quite an open space and there were other people in the shop but to be honest they either just carried on with their business and I didn't even notice they were there when I was playing (a bit like a gig then ) If it helps, decide what songs/riffs you're going to play before you even go to the shop. When I finally got the confidence to ask to try a bass in a shop when buying my first bass I worked out a couple of bassy things (Peaches, Sunshine of Your Love, that sort of thing) on the bottom 4 strings of a guitar I had lying around before I went. That helped eliminate the "mind gone blank at the crucial moment" thing.

I think I could be easily replaced, my playing skills - while improving all the time - are still fairly rudimentary. But I'd like to think I bring other stuff to the table apart from rudimentary bass playing - I'm reliable, punctual, have own transport/gear, am reasonably easy to get along with, can do web/computer stuff, can usually badger a couple of mates into coming along to gigs etc etc. There's always the inertia generated by an aversion to the hassle of getting a replacement also to fall back on

I'm going to a friend's house tomorrow night because his daughter has expressed an interest in taking up the bass. I'm flattered that he asked if I'd take a bass over and see what she thinks of the whole malarky. She's 13 so I'm thinking that she ought to be able to handle 34" scale (I haven't got any shorties anyway, so tough!). I'm thinking I'll take my Yamaha across as it's the thinnest necked bass I've got and it's not got that intimidating aura around it that basses like Ritters give me these days. For variety (as well as maybe showing her some stuff without having to swap all the time) I was thinking of taking two basses. Should I bring across one of my bonkers Gibsons, or should I play it safe and take the G&L? I've never done this before so I'm wondering what best to do - maybe try and play along to one or two of her favourite songs, maybe show her some arpeggios/scales, maybe take the first RGT grade book along and see how it goes from there? I guess first and foremost it should be fun, so not too heavy on the theory (what little I know of it anyway )

I really enjoyed that. I feel quite inspired now - I think I'll go pick up a bass