tauzero

A double bass for a raft. I'd be a bit torn. My Thumb (an 87) is the nicest bass I've ever played, but the 7-string would keep me occupied trying to get my head round it. And I'm not going to go round the country trying out basses to see if there's another one I'd like more...

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='328803' date='Nov 14 2008, 02:26 AM']I have to confess I've never tried a Variax guitar beyond picking one up in a music shop but it always struck me as a particularly stupid idea. Let's do the processing outboard, eh? I mean, the potential with the Variax is to either like the bass but hate the modelling, or like the modelling but hate the guitar - it's never going to satisfy more than a narrow band of players and its remit is to satisfy loads of us. Really, really silly idea IMO.[/quote] The guitars are great - after all, there are only two guitar necks, and Line 6 cover both of them, depending on model. I'm not so convinced by the basses. I've had a little play on one (unplugged) and didn't think much of the feel of it. If I actually wanted to play a Fender I'd [s]shoot myself[/s] get one. Basses all sound the same anyway.

[quote name='Funkmaster' post='329028' date='Nov 14 2008, 12:23 PM']Is that the Roadhouse in Stirchley tauzero?[/quote] It certainly is. Do you ever go there?

Interesting one last night, not so much from the POV of playing but because of the circumstances. It was open mic night at the Roadhouse, and I arrived to find the stage partially dismantled and a couple of guys working away under it. Turns out that the Roadhouse have parted ways with some members of staff, who then put some booby traps in to sabotage the power and PA system, and also hacked the website. Everything was restored by a few minutes past nine, so it didn't cause too much in the way of organisational problems, but it was a pain in the arse. First time I'd been up for four weeks - did a couple of bits of house bassing and our normal duo slot. Resolved to get there every other week from now on.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='326701' date='Nov 11 2008, 01:08 PM']But this is the bottom line for me; a neatly polished version of Mustang Sally is NOT better than bad jazz, not because it is not good, because it is not professional, not tight, not well delivered etc. It is not better because I know what's coming and don't care![/quote] You haven't heard our version of Mustang Sally with the slap bass and the rapping bit in the middle. Actually, I did work out a rap section for "Knocking on heaven's door". That goes down a treat at folk clubs.

White spirit and some kitchen roll.

If you're near whoever's logging that Antoniotsai 4-string, it would be worth going and checking that out...

The Deluxe 5 looks suspiciously like the Standard P Bass Special V with a Jazz body and active electronics. Nut width is the same at 2.008". If it's the same neck, it's not very good. Useable but clunky.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='320845' date='Nov 3 2008, 12:27 PM']I now know that Ashborys are in tune if you play between the lines & horribly out of tune (a quarter tone sharp) if played on the line. It just seems weird that it was designed like that.[/quote] It could be that the lines were put on in their theoretical positions, and Ashbory in their wisdom neglected to consider the fact that as you fret the string, you also increase the tension in it, and with an action that is presumably quite high in relation to the scale length, that actually makes a considerable difference to the pitch of the note.

[quote name='OldGit' post='323826' date='Nov 6 2008, 11:05 PM']Yeah there's a few new basses on Jon's site.. I daren't look, specially at this headless SC ...[/quote] It's a good job I don't like singlecuts or bolt-ons. And that I don't have £1800 sloshing round looking for something to spend it on...

We went into the studio yesterday to record some tracks. We finished up doing 6 tracks in 8 hours, which wasn't bad productivity at all. We weren't going for big production - these are to help us getting gigs on the WMC and (hopefully) wedding/function circuit, so they really needed to be a reasonable approximation to our live sound. Anyway, see how they sound (and see if you can guess what basses were used): [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/mp3s/standbyme.mp3"]Stand by me[/url] [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/mp3s/impossible.mp3"]Impossible love[/url] [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/mp3s/browneyedgirl.mp3"]Brown-eyed girl[/url] [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/mp3s/valerie.mp3"]Valerie[/url] [url="http://www.break-away.org.uk/mp3s/desperado.mp3"]Desperado[/url]

So am I the only person to have listened to "Night Fly" after seeing it lauded to the high heavens and found it tedious and bland?

[quote name='Prosebass' post='323621' date='Nov 6 2008, 05:59 PM']ouch.....hard words for a Warwick....you will reap the wrath of someone saying things like that. It is hideous and I have just spent all afternoon designing around just that problem . I am using a combined tuner / bridge ala Steinberger and if I extend the body past the tuners it looks wrong. If I shorten the body the tuners stick out and you cannot stand it up without risking damage. A problem indeed...[/quote] I'm not keen on the Warwick Nobby either. I've rather gone off cricket bats in general, in fact. The standard approach to what you're trying to do it to have the body a little extended so it's about flush with the ends of the tuners, then put a strap button each side on the wings so the bass will stand up on them. Due to its tuners sticking out of the bottom, the Warwick Nobby has a special stand which, as far as I can make out, goes right up its bottom. On a more general note, I'd love headlessessesses to be more fashionable, then there would be more of a choice as regards neck profiles and body shapes. I'd really like a brace of 5-string headlesses, fretted and fretless, with neck profiles like my main gigging bass, rather than the thick neck of the 5-string Jack. Must try out a 5-string Status sometime to see if that's nearer the mark.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='323495' date='Nov 6 2008, 03:19 PM']I once did a gig in Cardiff and the horn section from Lionel Hampton's big band dropped in! There were all these young guys playing theirs asses off and setting their horns on fire.[/quote] They nicked that idea off Jimi Hendrix. And back to the OP, it's nice to know that there's such a clear unambiguous expression as "in the pocket" which describes playing exactly on the beat either just ahead of or behind it, locked in perfectly with the drummer so you don't play exactly together but the drummer leads the bass who is leading the drummer, and now apparently you also need to have your horn on fire. What happens when there's a hole in the pocket?

[quote name='uptonmark' post='322746' date='Nov 5 2008, 03:48 PM']it has installed ok but i cannot use it as it requires an activation code which i seem to have lost i know its a long shot but wondered if there is a way round this, like a crack code perhaps, otherwise i`ll have to bin it have already e-mailed native instruments and no reply [/quote] They've got a forum - you could try asking on there.

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='321990' date='Nov 4 2008, 05:38 PM'][quote name='MythSte' post='321352' date='Nov 3 2008, 09:32 PM'] Seriously though, Basschat should open a bass shop. One in manchester and one in london. We'd own the world.[/quote] If I had enough money, I would! [/quote] But the name "The Bass Fence" might attract the wrong sort of customers...

[quote name='The Funk' post='321030' date='Nov 3 2008, 03:57 PM']But spread the eye contact around the room - if your eyes get stuck on one particular girl in the crowd for too long, she might get uncomfortable and leave. Take it from me! [/quote] Can be a bit of a problem in some WMCs, when there's only one half-decent looking burd in the place and the rest are the sort that if you woke up next to them with your arm under them, you'd chew your arm off to avoid waking them. It does mark something of a transition when a band goes from staring at the drummer all evening to looking at the audience.

Definitely natural - the only painted instruments I have are the two electric guitars.

[quote name='Pissman' post='316189' date='Oct 27 2008, 09:40 PM']Was just wondering outa curiosity...what do you gain from having a fretless bass? Or a headless? (Apart from looking good)[/quote] You get rid of those heavy frets, so there's much less neck dive. If you get rid of the head too, the neck dive is completely abolished and the bass stands up on end. [quote name='Pissman' post='316189' date='Oct 27 2008, 09:40 PM']Another one....how loud can acousto-electrics go?[/quote] That depends on how hard you stamp on them. [quote name='Pissman' post='316189' date='Oct 27 2008, 09:40 PM']A third random question!...How does the sounds change as the neck scale increases/decreases?[/quote] If the neck scale increases and decreases, you have made a fundamental error and you are trying to play a telescope. [quote name='Pissman' post='316189' date='Oct 27 2008, 09:40 PM']Is it true that red basses make you play faster?[/quote] That depends on how they are being used. "Play faster or I'll hit you with this red bass" would make me play faster, "play faster and I'll give you this red bass" would make me consider it, depending on the red bass in question. [quote name='Pissman' post='316189' date='Oct 27 2008, 09:40 PM']And finaly...how are you today?[/quote] Just recovering from norovirus, so make sure you spray the keyboard with a chlorine-based disinfectant.

You might be able to drill a little hole through the end of the socket in line with the axis of the plug and use some thin proddy thing to push the bit of plug out. Spare jack sockets can be a right pain to find, not to mention cost a lot. One or two of my jack-socket-equipped devices have had plain ordinary jack sockets as replacements for the originals, with short flying leads to the PCB, although sometimes that's not possible.

[quote name='Mr.T' post='321569' date='Nov 4 2008, 09:33 AM']Anyone care to share their views on the Korg?[/quote] I bought one recently. Still exploring it, there were a couple of sounds which I specifically wanted which I was able to get reasonably close to what I had in mind, and there's still a lot in there which I must find by experiment. I like the switching, sequential switching is OK for swapping between two patches but a pain if you use more than two in a song and need rapid switching from one to another.