pete.young

Could you achieve the same effect with your existing bass and an octave-up pedal ?

We have played Liberty by Steve Vai once or twice, but it might sound a bit thin with only bass and drums behind the guitar.

Bop till you drop by Ry Cooder was the first mainstream digitally recorded album.

1 hour 15 minutes by train to Leamington Spa from Marylebone gets you to Bass Direct, who have a lot of interesting stuff.

[quote name='tonyclaret' timestamp='1387182363' post='2308971'] Can you assign the patch switching order on the b3 like you can on the ms60b so it cycles through assigned patches? [/quote] No, you can't do that on the b3.

If you were to read the String Information page it explains the term speaking length. You need a speaking length greater than the distance from the ball to the nut. With a semi acoustic bass with tailpiece you may well need a medium or even long length string even for a short scale length.

Thanks BigRedX that's very helpful. I think I will try a set of status half rounds they work well my other short scale bass.

Does anyone have a Hondo Alien or a Kramer Duke and know what strings will fit properly? It's short scale and the taper needs to be in the right place to fit through the tiny guitar-style tuners.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1386839921' post='2305098'] If that's the case, then it's piss-poor design. An effects loop should be either series or switchable. I can't think of a single instance when parallel only is more useful. [/quote] Markbass are parallel by default, switchable with a jumper inside the case. I assumed that most amps would be done this way, but it seems that I'm wrong, and that series are more common. Apologies. From the circuit diagram it looks like it is indeed a series loop. The point about the line level signal still stands. One reason given is that, even if something fails in the loop, you still get a noise coming out. Another reason is that it may allow to you blend the clean and effected signal, something which some older effects units may not offer.

In front. Guessing that like most amps, the effects loop will be parallel so you will only be EQing half the signal. Plus the loop will be looking for a line level device not an instrument level device like your GEB-7.

Someone should also fix the blog so that 51m0n's excellent 'everything you need to know about compressors' post is available once again.

They wear out eventually. Mine has, only lasted 40 years. Get a new one.

As a pogues tribute, we could use a snow machine on every gig. The cheap ones are utterly useless, it's much better to hire a really expensive one for a one off gig.

From our set list from last night and Thursday: Rockin around the Xmas tree Merry Xmas Everyone I wish it could be Xmas every day. Still trying to get the Showcase Showdown classic in there.

Thanks to everyone for the great response to this thread. An update: Yesterday I took the bass up to ME Strings at Monks Eleigh and handed it over to Peter, who is going to glue the split and drop the action a touch. Peter is a great guy, very friendly and helpful. He mostly does violins and his workshop is a bit bijou for two chaps and a bass, so the kitchen table served as an operating theatre :-) Should have the bass back soon so I will let you know how it worked out. The bonus is that Monks Sleigh is right in the heart of some beautiful countryside and yesterday was one of those clear calm bright Suffolk winter days that makes you glad to be alive.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1386260873' post='2297893'] My Hiwatt has a Bulgin plug. [/quote] I'd be taking that round to the amp tech in very short order to get the Bulgin plug replaced with something modern and safe. I voted no, but there's one exception: if I was sold something as 'PAT Tested' I'd expect a tested lead to be included, since this affects the test period of the lead.

Wedgie anyone? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aria-WL-The-Wedge-Custom-Series-Bass-1985-Matsumoku-Made-in-Japan-SUPER-RARE-/221327011259?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item33881e2dbb

Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated. The bass is plywood, a Czech factory one from the early 1970s. The split is the full length of the cutaway, about 300mm. I think modern central heating has dried everything out unfortunately. Point taken Henry, in my defence I fixed the peg box back on with glue and interference fit dowels when it fell off and that repair is still OK some 15 years later. I also reattached the fingerboard. Thinking I might talk to ME Strings so are just up the road from me and see if they will take it on. If anyone has had dealings with them please let me know.

Took my old upright out of its gig bag today for the first time in ages to find that the back is coming away from the body on one side in the middle cut away between the bouts. Its not the first time this has happened, about 10 years ago a local Luther repaired it and it appears the glue has deteriorated. Its not worth spending a lot of money on this bass so I was thinking about getting a couple of sash clamps and repairing it my self. Has anyone else done this sort of thing got any tips? What kind of glue? The guy who fixed it last time is no longer around and the local violin shop charges top prices.

There's one other option. Ditch the banjo and persuade the guitarist that what he really needs is a Line 6 Variax, the 300 or Acoustic 700 models will do. They both have a brilliant sample of a Gibson Mastertone banjo and there are no problems with achieving significant volume. You can even put it into banjo tuning with the Workbench software.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1385654076' post='2290739'] # Really? We mic a sax all the time and it works just fine. [/quote] I'm sure it does. This thread is about banjos.

We've never had much joy with microphones. They're OK for an acoustic band but if you're trying to amplify something against a drummer and backline they're not much use. I've got a Shadow bridge pickup on my tenor which is OK but requires a preamp. I've also got a Tesla which needs to be set right against the skin of the banjo (which makes it sound a bit dull acoustically) and it also requires a preamp - I use a Behringer AD121 for both these. The other catch with the Tesla is that it needs to clamp to the rods inside the banjo - I ended up modifying the bracket to fit my Tanglewood 5-string. Better than either of these solutions is what our 5-string player uses, which is a Schatten . But it 's £100 - depends what you call reasonable I guess. I've also experimented with a chopped-up PZM but that wasn't much cop either.