tauzero

[quote name='bassmasta' post='186216' date='Apr 26 2008, 11:06 PM']i think i will just leave it as it is for now, because, as said, its not really worth it on such a cheap bass. i was wanting to explore the options available, but they are too expensive for such a bass. i will just invest in some nicer strings for now.[/quote] What you could do for notalot (£15 to £25) is put an Artec preamp in it, which would at least make it active and give you a bit more on-board possibilities.

I wasn't that impressed by the guitar, TBH. Didn't find it all that wonderful to play. I've certainly played quite a few better for quite a lot less.

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='185030' date='Apr 25 2008, 07:53 AM']While writing this epistle, I remembered looking at the site Nissan set up for the Qashqai car...this was some time ago (they've changed it since, but this is still way better). That's how options should be shown. [url="http://tinyurl.com/4ly3pq"]Nissan Site[/url][/quote] Didn't show up within ten seconds. I left. The disparity between form and function will only continue to increase as web "designers" insist on using Flash more and more, and people using them are taken in more and more by the glitz and ignore the functionality and search optimisation.

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='185324' date='Apr 25 2008, 02:32 PM']In my first band I did both - I think I concentrated on the bass playing, actually... I guess the trick is to write a good bass part and learn it perfectly before trying to sing over the top of it; so learn each part separately[/quote] I think that's what I did. But I was a rubbish vocalist anyway [1] and went over to having a proper vocalist after a while. [1] This should not be taken as an indication that anything has changed

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='184531' date='Apr 24 2008, 02:35 PM']We have one coming up next week for special needs kids, Downs Syndrome I think. Its a charity thing so we're doing it for nothing but unfortunately I can't make it. Shame really, they're very entertaining when they dance and they're having a good time as well which is what its all about for us.[/quote] The barn dance band did one for a Downs Syndrome lad's 18th birthday. Of course most of his friends were also Downs - they made a really good job of the dancing, and Kaz didn't dumb it down for them. One thing was particularly touching - Kaz uses a headset mic and goes among the dancers to call but doesn't join in. On one dance, I saw her leading one of the children, a lad of about 12, who looked a little lost. What I didn't realise was that the reason he was looking a little lost was that he was blind, and Kaz managed to get him into the dance all the same.

Google again - I saw a Digitech Bass Harmony Machine on That Ebay, wanted to find out more, and google found someone selling one on Basschat. I never did buy it after all.

[quote name='gonzoromirez' post='185104' date='Apr 25 2008, 09:50 AM']Any ideas what this could be? or what to check?[/quote] Have a look in [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17922"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17922[/url]

[quote name='neepheid' post='182910' date='Apr 22 2008, 04:10 PM']Anyone know where I can obtain some maple dowel suitable for filling in tuner holes (9/16" (approx 14mm) diameter)? Turning a 6 string neck into a 5, at least one has to be filled but I might do all 5 and redrill them all for optimum placing.[/quote] Just go headless...

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='184356' date='Apr 24 2008, 10:41 AM']To give you an idea of how much wax I use, I've had up to 15 Warwicks in my possesion all at one time (and clocking on for having owned near 50) and I've yet to finish a tin of wax that I got 15 years ago, though I have started using my spare tin as the original wax is more brown than yellow To balance that I am aware of Warwick Forum members who go through a tin every couple of months... I've yet to figure out how [/quote] I think I've used one tin now, having had one Warwick for 20 years and the second for three or four years. Actually, it might be two tins. I did have a bit of a session with the two of them a couple of years ago, cleaning them off with white spirit, allowing them to dry, then linseed oiling them, then re-waxing when that had dried. Current regime is to wax them whenever I change strings. I haven't been using the JD and the fretless gets used on open-mic nights, so the last string change on both was just over a year ago. Um, probably time to try out those Trace-Elliot strings on the fretless then... Oh, and why is it you can't get thick dusters these days?

Superfly editor: I've had success with it. For a start, you need to be connected via USB, not MIDI, and the switch needs to be set to USB. Also, and this really was crucial, I couldn't get it to work through a USB switch - can't remember if I tried going through a hub as well. You need to connect the Superfly direct to the PC, which seems a rather poor USB implementation by Ashdown. Latest (last) software is available for download on [url="http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?ID=199"]the archived Superfly webpage.[/url]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='184467' date='Apr 24 2008, 12:48 PM']Prisons - I was playing at HMP Latchmere House the day that the Twin Towers fell - the PRISONERS called for a two minute silence before we had the night of our lives. There was a band made up of staff and prisoners that ROCKED and their singers were the best![/quote] I played on Telethon '90 and the band before us were a prison band called Inside Out. Apparently when they got back to the prison, they were no longer a complete band. I'm not sure whether the departure of some members was due to musical differences.

Barn dance band - the guitarist only has to load and unload his guitar and his tuner, and generally avoids doing anything to help with the other gear. Our leader, who gets the dosh and brings the PA, has now adopted the system of only paying him when all the gear has been loaded, so he doesn't bugger off without helping. Covers band - it's the singer who does that. But it's not just that, in two and a half years of playing exactly the same f***ing set in exactly the same f***ing order at every f***ing gig, he still hasn't learnt either the words or the arrangements, so we have to be alert to every occasion he might suddenly decide that there should be an extra chorus or one less verse or the vocals should come back in seven bars before the end of the solo (or three bars afterwards). Oh yes, and asking for requests, which we won't be able to play because we don't know them. And asking for guest singers, who will want to sing songs which we don't know in a random key very badly. And just not stopping rabbiting on between songs, when the guitarist is giving him the chord for him to start singing again and again. Next gig Saturday, after not having played together or rehearsed for nearly two months, so there may be something ranty in the "How did your gig go?" thread on Sunday...

[quote name='dlloyd' post='184183' date='Apr 23 2008, 10:41 PM']Well, you could... they used to add methanol to it to make it kill you if you drank it, but that didn't bother some, so they started adding stuff like denatonium instead, which just makes it undrinkable because it's so bitter.[/quote] I don't think they add the methanol, that's just in there because the distillation can be less accurate if it can include the methanol fraction as well as the ethanol. The possible ready-made cocktails of meths are listed [url="http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1987/Uksi_19872009_en_5.htm#mdiv15"]here.[/url] Some may recall the conversion from town gas to natural gas, around 35 years ago. Town gas was smelly (and toxic), natural gas was odourless (and non-toxic, though it would, of course, asphyxiate you). So that people could smell the gas (which does pose more hazards than just asphyxiation), a scent was added to it, which was (mildy) toxic. A day is never wasted if you've learnt something...

[quote name='foal30' post='184285' date='Apr 24 2008, 08:19 AM']I can tune my bass by ear, it may be out of tune for sure, but it is in tune to itself, if you know what I mean. It sounds in tune to me across the range. and absolutely peoples in-tuneness is as variable as different electronic tuners. hence my comment on using the SAME TUNER.[/quote] None of my bands use the same tuners (and haven't since they stopped being major investments and started becoming affordable). None of us have any problems with not using the same tuners. Um, except the once fairly recently, when I somehow managed to recalibrate the one I was using (Korg CA-30s can go a bit funny after they've fallen off the table onto the tiled floor a couple of times).

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='180973' date='Apr 20 2008, 12:26 PM']I have just taken a Gallien Krueger 800rb in part ex. It has a degree of distortion (buzz/fuzz particularly as the note decays but heard pretty much all of the time) which isn't attenuated by reducing the input gain, depressing the -10 db pad, or using basses with lower output. I've also tried plugging into either of the pair of 300watt outputs and the separate 100 watt output, still the same.[/quote] Have you tried running the effects send into line-in or effects return on another amp? You could at least establish whether the distortion is happening at the front end or the rear end. Conversely, you could run from an effects send on another amp into the effects return on the 800RB to check the power section out.

[quote name='phaedrus123' post='182517' date='Apr 22 2008, 08:15 AM']Hi... i'm the guy who did the Phaedrus Instruments, and the address is changed permanently [url="http://www.skylabdigital.com"]www.skylabdigital.com[/url]. There's all sorts of new stuff on there, with Youtube links, etc. Sorry, none of these are for sale (they are all one-of-a-kind prototypes), but feel free to try to make on of your own. Cheers![/quote] I'm curious about them. Did you need to use a truss-rod with them or were the necks stiff enough not to have to?

It gets a bit complicated... If I'm rehearsing with the barn dance band, I just use a bass or EUB and the GK 200MB, so I bung a jack-to-jack and a kettle lead into a carrier bag (along with tunes lists if I remember) - tuner, strap etc are in the bass case. For gigging, I got a nest of Al cases from Maplin, and a single Al case, from B&Q. The future Mrs Zero has one of the Al cases for her wireless headset, we have a little one for the barn dance band to hold CD player, a few CDs, business cards, etc in. Next one up is for my wireless kit, which I use with the other band. The biggest one is for me and holds DI box, kettle lead, several J-J leads and a couple of XLR leads, A-B box, 9V PSU and daisy chain, spare PP3s, and a cable tester which may one day actually get used. It randomly holds a tuner or not, which is why there's one in with the bass too. I also have a sports bag which holds my Digitech BP-200 and a Rolls MIDI controller footboard, if I bother taking them out.

[quote name='OldGit' post='179673' date='Apr 18 2008, 12:41 PM'][quote name='Bigwan' post='179609' date='Apr 18 2008, 11:16 AM'] There's a double battery box route on there already and it's a full size control cavity too so loads of room for adding a circuit at a later date.[/quote] Sorted then It adds lightness to [/quote] Only adds lightness if you don't go and fill it with bloody batteries...

[quote name='foal30' post='182645' date='Apr 22 2008, 11:18 AM']you got to be able to tune your instrument by ear.[/quote] I can tune mine within a semitone by ear. If the whole band did that, we'd have jazz. Er, a cacophony. Do you mean tune up when the strings are already pretty much right? And how do you guarantee that your right will be the same as the guitarists's right (which is probably the drummer's left)?

Probably my Zoom RFX-1000 - it's nominally a multieffect but can only really do one at a time.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='182185' date='Apr 21 2008, 08:02 PM']I just taught myself from 15-ish. No books, TAB or lessons, and I can't read music. I just played along to records, and got in a band environment as quickly as I could.[/quote] Pretty much +1, except that I was 17, already in the band environment, and got volunteered to play bass as we had a sufficiency of mediocre guitarists. I have occasionally set out to try to learn to read music but not persevered sufficiently.

[quote name='bassninja' post='181396' date='Apr 20 2008, 09:55 PM']We also played a wedding reception at about the same time, and were similarly paid off on arrival, as the groom's divorce from his former wife hadn't come through in time. I bet that went down well with the new in-laws...[/quote] Hmmm, my second marriage was nearly like that - picked up decree absolute on the Thursday and married on the Saturday. Wish I hadn't bothered now... Still, on the original subject, was once (c.1990) with a heavyish rock band and we got booked in to a pub somewhere by an agent. Turned up, set up, played first half, and the gaffer paid us half and asked us to go. Apparently he'd asked for a charts cover band, rather than an originals rock band (and the audience rather bore that out, bunch of stiffs and trendies). We weren't best pleased with the agent.

[quote name='chris_b' post='180401' date='Apr 19 2008, 11:56 AM']A few years ago Marcus Malone ran a jam night in south London. You got 2 numbers and if anyone took 10 mins to tune up he counted that as their first number. After a few arguments everyone came on stage ready to play!![/quote] This is something that seriously annoys me at the open mic night I play at (and occasionally host). I've got a tuner available for people to use if they're so ill-prepared that they don't have one, and still some people go on stage and start tuning up (to the house instruments, which have been tuned using my tuner...). Incidentally, I've got three of these [url="http://www.eaglemusicshop.com/details1.asp/ProductID/3931/sid/339/tanglewood-e205-tuner.htm"]Tanglewood E205 tuners[/url], which I keep in cases with basses, as I have an appalling memory. Also have a couple of Korg CA-30s (the chromatic ones), which are OK but not very resilient and tend to go wonky if dropped from a table onto a tiled floor. Back to the original post, one guitarist I used to play with didn't like to use electronic tuners (he had a tuning fork) but would get me to tune his guitar up using my tuner. Ah well, he's off exasperating musicians in Wales now...