neepheid

Fingers, I've dabbled in pick playing but never got the hang of it. Fingerstyle just feels so much more direct and natural to me.

Search broken again. Couldn't get it working last night, it's the same this morning. Message count got fixed when I got a PM, that seemed to reset the count.

I don't know if changed is the right word - more like came home. My first bass was an Epiphone EB-3, and I flirted with lots of other kinds (P, J, so many others) but I had an Epiphone EB-0 for a while then I got an Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass and realised that I would always like the Gibson side of life. Collection began with a G-3, since augmented with a Victory Artist and an IV. Broadened my scope to be "under-appreciated American basses of the 70's and 80's" with a Guild B402-A. Remaining things on the hit list would be a Gibson RD Artist and possibly a G&L El Toro. I do have a couple of "sensible" basses - like the G&L Tribute L-2000. Sometimes (like when playing a venue for the first time) I want something I know just works - one less thing to worry about! As for choosing what to play, I try to be fair and equitable between all my basses, they go on rotation. It doesn't matter a damn to me which bass I use in the practice room as long as I can be heard, and to be honest I feel kinda the same when playing live. The only time I would actually have a proper think about it would be when it comes to recording, but I haven't done a lot of that - still learning

Been playing "properly" for three years or so. Highs: Joining my first band, recording for the first time, people asking me about my gear at the gig (and seem to be genuinely interested), the quantum leap forward in my playing since I started taking lessons. Lows: First band breaking up (prematurely in my opinion), one gig where I made the same mistake at every chorus of an old song I ought know backwards, having virtually no recollection of my first gig - too much adrenaline/nerves!

I don't think I've ever encountered a dead spot. No, I do not want someone to point out where they all are on my basses, I'd rather continue in blissful ignorance thankyouplease

Lots of bridges exhibit a small degree of tail lift. The bridge on my Gibson Victory Artist has it, you can slide a piece of paper under the back of it behind the mounting screws. Doesn't seem to affect performance (break angle over the saddles) and bear in mind it's taken 30 years to move as much as it has. Could be worse:

Simon is a great seller - I bought a Yamaha BB614 from him. He sent it to me promptly and extremely well packaged, took the trouble to remove the neck so as to reduce postage cost and maintained great communication throughout. Flawless!

Nice one, cheers

That's a couple of times now in the past few hours that I've been unable to search the forum. I get this error: temporary searchd error: server maxed out, retry in a second Also I'm being told that I have -1 new messages. Dunno if that's related at all.

[quote name='gt4ever' post='1297772' date='Jul 8 2011, 10:46 PM']Bit of a general question here, but when the pub is full of people and youre setting up you equipment what are your favourite warm up riffs you play when sound checking. I've only done a handful of gigs with my current band so limited experience and was just interested in what people do and play. tunes not in their set, scales? any favourite harmonic riffs to practice to while live audience in the midst? ta Rich[/quote] I play bits of the songs I'm going to play at the gig. I play in originals band, so it's not like I'm boring everyone with the typical top ten bass riffs

You could try looking for a Tascam bass trainer. Bass in, headphones out, that's it. You'll get bells and whistles like speed up/slow down/pitch change/bass cut/boost/enhance and tuner, metronome, effects too. You should be able to pick up one of the old CD based ones quite cheaply, and even the MP-BT1 shouldn't be so bad now that it's been superseded. Plus it'll be handy at home too.

So... anyone need a T-40 neck?

I can only speak for myself but I've learned more in two months of lessons than I did in the entirety of the three years previous that I had been playing and just bumbling along. For me lessons bring knowledge that I can apply and give names to the things I happened upon by accident but didn't know how to explain.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1296398' date='Jul 7 2011, 08:28 PM']About the vintage fender mustang: I've seen some go for below £200 but this was before people started putting premiums on them cause they are old. Old doesn't equal good but does equal high price tag to some. The best short-scale bass I've owned is the jack Cassidy signature by epiphone. Fantastic sounding bass, very precision esque, warm and woody and the varitone is interesting.[/quote] The Jack Casady Signature bass isn't short scale though... [url="http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=116&CollectionID=12"]http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?Produc...CollectionID=12[/url]

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1296398' date='Jul 7 2011, 08:28 PM']About the vintage fender mustang: I've seen some go for below £200 but this was before people started putting premiums on them cause they are old. Old doesn't equal good but does equal high price tag to some. The best short-scale bass I've owned is the jack Cassidy signature by epiphone. Fantastic sounding bass, very precision esque, warm and woody and the varitone is interesting.[/quote] The Jack Casady Signature bass isn't short scale though... [url="http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=116&CollectionID=12"]http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?Produc...CollectionID=12[/url]

I have to say that in my work in computers my motto is "silence is my praise". Keeps me sane. Good bass related stories - Schaller sent me four free (despite my offer to pay) replacement capstans, pinions and screws for the M4S tuners in my Victory Artist restoration - I only needed one! They also sent me a sticker and some plectrums. What a jolly good bunch! Whoever was dealing with Hartke in the UK at the time sent me a replacement knob FOC for my 3500 head, even though it was second hand to me. Gibson Restoration and Repair in the States were able to find me a NOS set of Posi-Lok strap buttons for my Victory, when Gibson themselves had washed their hands of my query very quickly. Axesrus are always awesome. Quick and FREE postage. One thing in particular comes to mind - I ordered something small and it never arrived. They sent a replacement straight away. A couple of months later (!) the original parcel arrived. I contacted them to see if they wanted it back but they said to keep it. Nice one

Apart from some mild noise about how the Fender Precision bass is the only bass worth having (which I just ignored and took even weirder basses to practice next time), I have not been coerced into buying anything. I would leave any band where that happened. Completely out of order, except in serious tribute bands which aim to replicate the original band's sound, looks and instruments. Then that's kind of understandable, but you still shouldn't be coerced/pressured.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1290140' date='Jul 2 2011, 02:53 PM']I wouldnt mind one at all...but I know the reissue Rippers are VERY expensive [/quote] You'd be much better off scoring an original one. Like most of Gibson's reissues of late, they've completely missed the point. The reissue Ripper is not strung through the body, the pickup switching's all been changed and yes, they've priced it all expensive to hell. That's nothing compared to the reissue Grabber - set neck? 3 point bridge? Messed up the headstock shape? Chrome pickup cover? Expensive? Unfortunately, all these answers are yes, and for the original Grabber, the answer was no. I'll say no more, I could do myself a mischief if I keep going.

[quote name='solo4652' post='1289984' date='Jul 2 2011, 12:09 PM']Just in case the seller does get back to me, can the G&L experts out there offer their opinions on: How does the tone of the L-1000 compare to the L-2000? I generally play the L-2000 on "combined pup" setting, occasionally front pup only setting. What checks would you carry out to satisfy yourself the bass is genuine? What would you be prepared to pay for it? Steve[/quote] The L-1000 has three modes on the switch - humbucking, single coil and OMG mode. The stock L-2000 lacks single and OMG modes in favour of series/parallel, but does have two pickups. OMG mode is a weird thing where the humbucker is connected in series and a cap is applied to one of the coils. What should end up as less sounds like so much more, probably a trick of the ear because it makes no sense electronically to me. I'm considering changing my Tribute L-2000 to be an all passive affair with a single/humbucking/OMG switch for each pickup and a selector switch. I never use the active options (active is just a line boost as far as I'm concerned and the treble boost just sounds nasty to me) and the EQ is passive cut only so I'd rather explore the deepest, darkest depths of the MFD pickup. I also think it would be interesting to hear the bridge pickup with OMG mode. A bridge pickup with some meat to the sound? I hope so.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1290051' date='Jul 2 2011, 01:16 PM']I really want a Ripper but they seem hard to come by.[/quote] Go west and seek thy fortune. In other words, source from the USA. Having said that I've found two of my Gibsons in the North East of Scotland, so keep your ear to the ground - they are out there.

[quote name='lozbass' post='1289883' date='Jul 2 2011, 09:39 AM']try a few and I hope you'll be flying the flag![/quote] Oops, I think I got that the wrong way round

It is possible that there is also an EMG EQ circuit, judging by the standard issue EMG knobs. Given the number of knobs I'd say that it's separate volume for each pickup then a BQS control which is bass, treble and a sweepable mid on the concentric (top bit is the mid level and the bottom bit is the mid frequency). If I'm right then two of the knobs (governing pickup volumes - probably the ones nearest the pickups) will not have centre detents (where there's a bump where the knob would like to centre) and then the other two (bass and treble) will have the detent. The concentric will have a detent on the top bit but not the bottom bit. That's my guess A photo of inside the control cavity will confirm.