tauzero

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1445008918' post='2888162'] Just saw Aquila do a 5 string set E - B. Maybe losing the E and tuning the B up to C would work for Ghost_Bass. [/quote] I'm sure Aquila or Pacahoe (?) do 5-string sets for Kala U-Subs which would be B-G, so just omitting the G string and tuning the rest a tone down would probably work.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1444949687' post='2887689'] @Tauzero - just out of curiosity, what does the Mrs think of the Revelation lap steel? [/quote] Well, she likes owning it but it's getting used as much as the ocarinas I bought her, and the didgeridoo I bought her, and the theremin I bought her, and the stylophone I bought her (there may be an emerging theme here). She does keep saying she'll do some practicing on it soon. She does use the tambourine I bought her, so there's hope yet. My own thoughts on it: lap steels aren't exactly complicated. They consist of a plank with tuners and a nut at one end and a bridge at the other, with one or more pickups and associated controls. No truss rod as the strings don't contact the fretboard, so it just needs accurate lines. This has a slotted headstock with upside-down classical type tuners. Tuners seem reasonable quality with no slop, nut and bridge are flat, the pickup works (I haven't yet determined how good the tone is on it). The one negative I'd raise is the odd way one or two of the strings run from the tuners to the nut - the D and G need to emerge from the tuner shaft as close as possible to the gear end of the shaft to avoid the string catching on the edge of the slot, so care needs to be taken with the way the windings are put on.

I thought that myelin was there to incease the speed of nerve impulse propagation (basically, the nerve impulse skips over the bits of axon covered in myelin and goes from node to node) and it stops being produced in adolescence. I haven't studied physiology for 40 years or so though. Which talented musicians allowed their brains to be picked apart to check for myelin? Other than Ozzie, that is.

I prefer A from that small sample but I'd want to spend a bit more time with them and try them with songs I do. How heavy did each of them finish up?

Funnily enough, we rehearsed at a place with a SVT-350 (the SS one) and a fridge, and I thought the sound was absolutely dreadful with no depth, all mids, vastly inferior to my own gear using two 1x12s.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1445510824' post='2891986'] Am I really the only one that would use a P bass for rock covers? I'd want to be using the bass 90% of the songs I was replicating were recorded on. [/quote] Why?

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1445510256' post='2891977'] Well yes but you're not playing dad rock covers in pubs, I've never been asked where my fender is either... [/quote] I play dad rock covers in pubs. I do get the occasional compliment on the Sei Original headless fretless 5-string. Never had anyone question the absence of Fender.

I use a Tascam GB-10 either on its own or plugged into a mixer, into which is also plugged the PC, a drum machine, and a Roland MIDI sound module, which then goes to a hi-fi amp and thence to bookshelf speakers or headphones. Someday I might actually use the drum machine and Roland MIDI sound module.

The Warwick Alien has a drinks cabinet built in.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1444892365' post='2886968'] The only time an esoteric bass like a Wal is any use is if you have the freedom to be using something that sounds a bit different. It wouldn't be any good for dad rock pub covers [/quote] Why on earth not? It's a bass, it will make bass noises in a pub rock band as well as any other bass.

I went a bit higher than you, AT. Definitely not three figures though. And not only is it up to three figures (before the decimal point), the first digit is 3.

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1444810351' post='2886166']This, of course, is the heaviest Wal of all: [/quote] Not showing up any more. Let me guess, it was the Great Wal of China. Hadrian's Wal would be next and then the comparatively lightweight Berlin Wal, although Jeff wasn't entirely happy with the neck profile and traded it in

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1444769225' post='2885920'] Meanwhile, in Saudi Aribia, a 3 times cancer surviving 73 year old man is expecting 350 lashes for having wine. [/quote] He could wear a Wal on his back, that should help.

[quote name='DavidMcKay' timestamp='1444758211' post='2885711'] I have never heard a bad word about or against Wal basses - and that makes me ultra suspicious! [/quote] Personally, I don't like the neck profiles, so I wouldn't have one. Other basses that I have tried and didn't like the neck profiles of - Fodera, Spector, some Warwicks.

It's the Squier Standard Precision V or some similar name. I had one briefly, one of my occasional poor purchasing decisions.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1444598300' post='2884472'] Ha ha, imagine what mid-70s Fender motorcycles would have been like [/quote] They were called Harley-Davidson. The Sportster 1000 was notorious for selecting two gears simultaneously, with unfortunate consequences.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1444217164' post='2881171'] why do people need so many basses or guitars for that matter? [/quote] I don't need them. I just want them. And that's my justification, although I do have to provide something a little more concrete to Mrs Zero. After all, it's her who has to cope with the diminishing amount of space caused by about 15 basses.

[quote name='Shonks' timestamp='1444319217' post='2882228'] Fender basses changed the world. The design is so fantastic it's hardly changed over the years and all the brilliant boutique basses out there, while being master built, are mostly Fender copies lets face it. [/quote] That's because bassists have no imagination.

I was wondering about the wonky bridge, then I realised it's a fan fret design.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1444476544' post='2883521'] I had a look at pictures of the Alembic 'hippy sandwich'. There's definitely influence in terms of the stripey through-neck. However, the body shape and pickups are very different. If we compare an Aria SB900 (for the double pickups). with the Mania basses (and many other basses) There is more similarity than just the stripey through neck, or even the double humbuckers and wood grain top, as the Alembic had. The body shape is the same, and this IMHO makes it more of a copy (though not exact) than an 'inspired by' as in the Alembic. Are there earlier instruments that were a more direct inspiration than the Alembic. [/quote] The body shape isn't that close - the Aria is as close to a Fender Jazz as it is to a Zephyr or Grind shape. The Zephyr/Grind/Mania top horn is much slimmed down in comparison, and the Mania and Zephyr have symmetrical bottoms rather than the forward slant of the Aria, Jazz, and Grind.

If you look at his other auctions, it seems highly probable that it's someone else who's buggered it up and the seller has got it in a house clearance or the like.

And you can use the extension pole to play pool. It looks quite nicely made, though there's not really enough close-up photos. The bridge does intonation in pairs, not individually, which isn't ideal.

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1443997438' post='2879399'] I don't belirve that Passive EQ can boost. With controls set flat it cuts everything by a certain amount but mimics boost by cutting some frequencies less than others. You need a lot of gain before or after passive eq to make up for the loss of signal. Passinwnd is the best guy to ask though as he designed the preamp that we are using with active bass and mid but a passive treble control. The real answer though is to use your ears. [/quote] I suppose it depends on what you count as boost. The Baxandall design makes up for the fact that the James network cuts the overall signal to about 1/3 of the input level so the whole lot needs more amplification afterwards. However, the tone controls don't behave as cut-only.

That's a Grind shape but doesn't seem to have the scoop. It's all so complicated...

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1444195902' post='2880973'] Oops! If I was to buy a grind, I'd have to research further to be aware of mis-labelled zephyrs. [/quote] I'd go with either TBH. The neck on the Zephyr is a little fatter - just enough that I sold mine rather than hang on to it. It did get used in one studio session - I was recording in the control room which was packed with electronics, and my Antoniotsai was picking up interference, so I used the Zephyr. While they're both made to a good standard, there's something about the sandwich-wing Zephyr [1] which makes it seem to ooze quality. [1] Other Zephyrs are available. Avoid the Ford Zephyr, it'll be rather long in the tooth and all rused out now.