Kiwi

Even with volumes, you'll be selecting different coils because you'll be mixing single coil and humbucking pickups. If you get jazz pickups that are stacked humbuckers (the second coil is a humcancelling dummy) you'll be selecting between different humbuckers in terms of voltage but still get the single coil sound. Polarity is still something to be careful about though when selecting a single coil and humbucker. Aaron Armstrong will be able to make you a custom set of J/M/J pickups and advise on how to blend them.

Ah'a - I see wh't you did there. Have to admit, I'm suffering from punctuation blindness at the moment. The project I've just finished included spending 4 months editing a 25,000 word document I'd written down to 16,000 words and I've really stopped giving a sh*t about details.

I'd suggest talking to someone like Aaron Armstrong about the impact of polarity in different coil combinations too. Having lots of coils makes life very complicated unless the coil switching options are restricted to a few options that work well.

"Lets eat, Grandma." vs "Lets eat Grandma." A comma can mean the difference between life and death. "Lets help Uncle Jack off a horse." vs "Lets help Uncle jack off a horse." Poor capitalisation can lead to a sticky end also.

OK, I didn't see the bit about eq - sorry about that. But with multiple coil combinations you'll still need an eq with an input buffer. It won't help much with the series/parallel changes but it will help between parallel and single coil selections.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360932676' post='1978489'] Great suggestions, thanks for that, but i'm trying to keep it simple in terms of build and controls. I think for now, i'll just have the Jazz with a MM pickup in between. And if needs be, refine it after that. Maybe make a MKII? [/quote] With all due respect, I suggest you don't appreciate how complicated your initial proposals will make your life. You haven't mentioned eq so I'll assume you're intending to run a passive bass. Have you thought about the volume changes between pickups? You won't be able to run a passive bass with multiple pickups and avoid having to adjust the gain on the amp every time you change coil settings. Different pickup designs have different loudnesses, even pickups that come from the same range can change in volume depending on whether the coil settings are in parallel or series. A preamp with input buffers will even things out. Doesn't mean you need a complicated eq, either. John East makes a perfectly good single knob eq, the BTBM-01 which would do the job of mixing mag and piezo. If you want a bass that will do jazz and MM sounds, you'll just need a heavy ash body (wood from near the root) and a bolt on maple one piece neck. But that won't give you the sound that you have described as "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3] great, throaty (steady on) sound, full of mids, bass and treble (respectively)" [/size][/font][/color]unless that description is in context of the sounds that are only available from both those instruments. The point I'm making is that there are other ways of delivering that sound better than a MM or Jazz. BTW, have a go on a HH stingray too, if you would like to see for yourself the impact of volume changes in coil switching without an input buffer. A Lakland Skyline 4402 would probably give you what you are looking for without the risk of failed experimentation.

Neigh.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360704682' post='1975220'] Hopefully all that together should give a great, throaty (steady on) sound, full of mids, bass and treble (respectively). [/quote] I don't think what you have suggested will give you what you are looking for. Choose either bolt on or thru-neck depending on your taste. But you'll need to make sure the neck is just about stiff enough, not too stiff if you want mids to be prominent. A stiff fingerboard will help keep things rigid if you opt for a higher proportion of softwoods in the neck but you'll need a super stiff spine. Maybe consider laminates of mahogany for mids and maple for rigidity and brightness with a nice and thick maple or ebony fingerboard. The body can be mahogany or alder. Chambering can tune things a little. For a broad frequency response in pickups, think about piezos and add a MM humbucker in the stingray position for extra bottom oomph, attack and graunch. You can coil tap it or make it series/parallel for variety. Just run it through a preamp with an input buffer to even out voltage changes with different coil combinations. Try a stingray with piezos out at a bassbash sometime just to see how you feel about it. If you don't like that combination, you can always have single coils added later.

I agree. This horse is 194cm tall which doesn't help.

You could probably set up a patch to do this using a multi effects processor like a Lexicon MPXG2, TC Electronic GMaj or pretty much any unit made by either company since. Alternatively Native Instruments Guitar Rig will provide you with a way to play around with connecting effects up.

They vibrate too much on a hollow stage and move about. The angle of the cab still isn't pointed at my ears.

It's interesting how acting on negative emotion in the heat of the moment can sabotage perfectly good relationships isn't it? Everyone has triggers from their past experiences and they're part of what make us human. It can take a bit of practice though to recognise when our buttons are being hit and take evasive action before we react.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1360696471' post='1974956'] Kiwi, have you seen GreenBoy's Fearless F115 cabinet? It's not an active one, but it's a full range solution in a kickback sized box. I really like this idea. [url="http://www.facebook.com/fEarfulbass?fref=ts"]http://www.facebook....fulbass?fref=ts[/url] There's also the F112 that features 12" speakers too: [/quote] Now that is interesting! Thanks! Last time I looked on their site there weren't any angled cabs. But that was probably a year ago. Making it active wouldn't be difficult with the right modules and cooling.

I think angled cabs are a great solution for small stages where the mix is 100% through FOH. GK make bass specific 'kick back' cabs and they're very good. But also very heavy. I've been trying to find a company who will make a lightweight version, for the last 6 years but with no success. So I'll eventually make one or two myself one day - based on the GK 1x15 but with lightweight ply and more bracing. Once my life has settled down and I have some garage space.

But for real, this is one that does it for me. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABYnqp-bxvg[/media] Love the expression of innocent joy in it. Reminds me of my childhood and happier times.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1360628198' post='1973828'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcFvt1sLpis[/media] [/quote] Oh yes. Love that energy. But I can top it...sort of. :/ [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4xUSjftm04[/media] Tee hee. I showed it to some female friends of mine from Zimbabwe and they were laughing so hard both at the parody but also in admiration that someone so hugely pregnant could move so quickly.

I have a main bass. The others are justified in one way or another and I like to play them when I have an itch for something a little different.

Would you like me to draw his attention to this thread? You could always drop him a line on Facebook or email BTW.

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1360545221' post='1972235'] What new technology did Clapton use? [/quote] Clapton is derivative. Doesn't mean he's a bad guitarist BTW. But he's not as innovative as someone like...ooh, Robert Tripp for example. [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1360546225' post='1972247'] Is Clapton considered innovative though? Great, certainly, but he wasn't really doing anything that didn't already exist, was he? [/quote] Two words. Robert Johnson.

Do you mean musical innovation? I don't believe it exists. All music is creative in one way or another, so in order for it to be considered innovative, what would it be compared to? I'm not a marketing expert but have observed that innovation tends to be driven by breakthroughs in new technology. The architect Norman Foster has stayed on top of his game by engaging an engineer who was very precise in their calculations and was able to explore the tolerances of both old and new structures. Look at how the internet changed business. What about the impact of mobile phones on how we communicate (for those of us who remember a pre-mobile and pre-internet world). Hell...look at what happened with the electric guitar and music. Initially there's a huge rush to adopt the technology, followed by a scrabble for market share (he who dominates first, wins), followed by a process of consolidation whereby competitors are either bought out or squeezed out, then things start to stabilise until the next leap in technology. Gradually the leaps get smaller and smaller (like they have with the specifications of laptops) until the market goes a bit stale and companies have to find other ways to sustain interest...(like making something fashionable).

It might be that some of you are interpreting Alex's distance as coldness when he might be intending to show respect by not being pushy. Next time you're in there, try having a chat with him and see how you go before judging the situation. He's very committed to customer satisfaction. I've found him to be pretty friendly but he does tend to recognise me. I also tend to be upfront with him about the reasons I'm visiting. If I'm there just to mooch I'll let him know and he can find better things to do with his time like updating stock and following up on orders. [quote name='Dash' timestamp='1360535516' post='1972074'] As a woman, I'm used to walking into guitar shops and being completely ignored or, at most, getting questions from the staff like 'are you waiting for your boyfriend?' so maybe my expectations are different [/quote] Alex's wife Jo is a bass player and an extremely accomplished one too, although most of her work is in theatre pits.

So can Katie Price.

The original Pilot basses were extremely under-rated. Superb value instruments!

Can't help but think the talent is wasted on this song. Something like Chaka Khan's Aint Nobody would offer a little more challenge.

Take up guitar.