tauzero

Isn't the idea of pole pieces on pickups that the strings go over them?

I use one for one band where I'm not doing any effects changes - it's easy to have one effect switched but trickier when it's more than one. Not really viable in the same song but as long as you remember to switch the active effect between songs, it's fine. Good tuner, and the effects are good too.

I think I'm in three of my current bands through JMB, though I find it extraordinary that their search function should be so utterly appalling. I'm in the fourth band because I'm married to the other 50% of it.

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1508523803' post='3392801'] Trace Elliot Elf or GK MB200 - both will fit in your gig bag, or even your back pocket! [/quote] So, does anyone know what the E stands for?

I don't know if it would be called flamed, but I have an example of that sort of figuring in bubinga hanging on the wall at the other end of the room. A 1987 Thumb. Not as extreme as yours but still quite unusual.

Squier Standard V (or some such name) - 5-string P body with J pickups. Bought it as I wanted to try 5-strings again. Then a cheap Vietnamese Antoniotsai that I'd bought on That Ebay arrived and I got shot of the Squier straight away, having finally found out what a decent 5-string neck felt like. Hofner violin bass - absolutely horrible to play otherwise I'd have bought it. Of course, I couldn't know the future then, investing £75 in a 60s violin bass would actually have been a good idea... Bass Collection (SGC Nanyo) fretless 4 - lovely instrument but at the time I was using Warwick Thumbs and it felt too light. I keep an eye out for 5-string ones as I think I'd get on with a light bass now (I do, in fact, my Sei Original is very light).

Tecamp Puma 900. No amp GAS since buying it a couple of years ago. I've had assorted Laneys, Trace Elliots, Ashdown Superfly and Superduperfly, and the EA iAMP 800 (that I can remember off the top of my head), and the Tecamp has the beating of them all.

One came up on That Ebay a few days ago at a very reasonable price, collection only from That London. So I bought it and arranged to pick it up the same evening. Went down on the bike - it didn't quite fit in the topbox, but it only meant the lid didn't quite close, so a couple of bungees to hold it closed and off I went back to Tamworth. Most impressed by the cab. I did a side-by-side test with a Berg AE112 and it has plenty of volume and (as you'd expect with no tweeter) rather less crispness, which is fine for the purpose for which I bought it (quiet band consisting of keyboards, guitar, vocals, and bass). Should be able to overwhelm them, in fact. A pair of them would certainly be usable with the other bands, but tonally I'd rather have the Bergs or an equivalent for those bands, just for that extra bit of tweetery bite.

Spaceman came travelling by Chris De Burgh. There's a quite impressive version by Celtic Woman on Youtube.

I like travelling at the speed of light.

YeastieB says exactly what I was going to - being worst in a good band is one thing, but being worst in a band of virtuosi would be (for me) a horrible experience. Conversely, if you're best in a group of musicians who are a little worse than you and are capable of self-assessment, it can trigger them into improvement. So either the best in an only slightly worse band, or the worst in a moderately better band, would suit me. Fortunately, the bands I'm currently in contain members who are all around the same level of ability as me.

Sorry, yes, indeed I know it's not MIDI. I have a Roland GR20 to use with it. I've tried emailing Martin a couple of times about it and had no response. Sounds like Jon Shuker is my best bet.

I'd like to get a MIDI pickup (Roland GK-KIT-BG3 - the internally installed one) fitted to one of my Seis and don't feel competent to do it myself. Could anyone recommend a luthier, preferably in the Midlands but may go a bit further, who could do the job?

Style Council. I have great admiration for Paul Weller otherwise.

I've kept websites going for the defunct and hibernating bands - will close them down at some point. They're Spiral Six (now defunct, we thought we might get back together but nothing as yet) and The Lightning (defunct but doing one more gig, and we may well reunite on more than that occasion as Mrs Zero is still working with the guitarist as a duo and Mrs Zero, the drummer, and I are all working together in a prog rock covers startup). Used the same code for the menu and scaling from big screen to tablet to phone. All put together with my own fair hand (I've done some other HTML/CSS, although that's not my main programming skill) and hosted on a VPS with bitfolk.com. I think having a website makes a little difference, though I couldn't quantify it. Sadly, a Facebook page seems to be considered a "website" these days, much to the disdain of those of us who are proper internet snobs.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1504777096' post='3367208'] I thought his Precision v Jazz one was pretty tentative. There was a slight difference but nothing a bit of tone tweaking wouldn't sort. Adjourns to specially strengthened Fenderista-proof bunker [/quote] I didn't bother watching the video. There are so many other, more rewarding things I can do, like washing my hair or picking my nose. However, I will say that any comparison between P and J is a comparison of single and twin pickups (unless you're like Dave Swift, who sticks all his twin pickup basses onto "neck pickup only"). The twin pickup sound is inherently more complex than the single pickup sound as there are assorted reinforcement and cancellation effects between the two pickups which the single pickup doesn't have. Neither sound is superior to the other, they just have different characters.

If I had a case for every bass and guitar, there wouldn't be any room in the house for me (and, more importantly, Mrs Zero). Most of the basses live hanging from walls. The ones I use regularly (two) sit in cases, as does my Variax guitar and one acoustic guitar (and the Esh Poseidon V which I really must get round to selling). There are two cases upstairs to transport any ad hoc basses I may want to take somewhere. The neck of the 7-string is too wide to fit in a hanger, and I've run out of space for hangers anyway.

My back pain issues aren't weight related, so may not be relevant, but I use a stool on stage (not all the time, but it's always there if I need it). You might try sitting down when the pain starts kicking in, and if it helps, look at getting a stool (Kinsman/Harley Benton - incorporate a guitar stand too).

I skipped the last four pages, but I did read the first six and almost lost the will to live. Maybe I'm very strange, but I read tab and ignore what it tells me about position. I play 5-string, so generally just add 5 to the fret number for a start, then mentally jig things around until the fingering makes sense. So I finish up using the tab to tell me the notes to play, and work out the fingering for myself. Once upon a time I learnt standard notation, but that was 45 years ago and on the treble clef. I've just been learning "Sylvia" by Focus, and finished up writing the notes down from an almost-accurate tab. Ironically, 44 years ago (soon after I'd learnt and forgotten standard notation), when I thought I was a guitarist, I bought the sheet music for "Sylvia" and in order to play it, worked out what the notes were and wrote them down on the score.

Relax - Frankie Waterfront - Simple Minds With or without you - U2 And one which is a brilliant bassline for a song that we're doing in the prog covers band that I still can't quite play: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznS7X9BOxs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OznS7X9BOxs[/url]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1500558127' post='3338697'] As I keep saying "[i]amps didn't get better, they just got lighter[/i]" - nobody sells a TE because it doesn't perform [/quote] I did. The fact I later bought a second one, then sold it again, just shows I'm a slow learner.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1502886933' post='3354175'] Any other deal-makers or breakers on the amp front? Throw your thoughts down here and I shall read and think and ask questions. The amp design is already a long way along (and has come from what I want as a bassist and also what I see other bassists wanting/needing) but nothing is yet fixed in stone - I'd hope I haven't missed anything but you never know! [/quote] I thought that the programmable graphic EQ on the Ashdown Superfly was an excellent idea - let down somewhat by the power amp section. There's a pedal with something similar now available - [url="http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/toolblox/programmable_eq.php"]http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/toolblox/programmable_eq.php[/url] which looks like it was designed for guitars and the bass bit was put on as an afterthought. Are you going down the graphic EQ route or one of the others (parametric or conventional)?

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1502787997' post='3353479'] I'm excited about it! Looking back through our records, we actually started the amp project in 2011 but it got going properly just over two years ago. [/quote] How many hefts will you be fitting it with? And will they be the right class of heft?

Reviving a zombie topic - looks like Status aren't doing these any more. Are there any other nylon tapewound which compare with the Status ones, and at a not-dissimilar price?

I use a Stagg UPC 424 (currently has my B3 plus expression pedal in it, the B3n is going in shortly). [url="https://www.gak.co.uk/en/stagg-upc-424-pedal-case/33153"]https://www.gak.co.uk/en/stagg-upc-424-pedal-case/33153[/url] I fastened the B3 plus the expression pedal to a sheet of ply using the fixing brackets you can find on That Ebay: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEDAL-LOCK-Tour-grade-pedal-board-fixings-with-screws-in-black-/332341610248"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PEDAL-LOCK-Tour-grade-pedal-board-fixings-with-screws-in-black-/332341610248[/url] and velcroed that into the lid.