Kiwi

[url="http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5518499/Twelve-fingers-and-Cuban-man-is-proud-of-it"]http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/5518...-is-proud-of-it[/url] Imagine if Jaco or Victor Wooten or Billy Sheenan had six fingers on each hand...

[quote name='urb' post='1353355' date='Aug 27 2011, 09:04 AM']she wants to bring improv back to the mainstream - which sounds good to me [/quote] Hell yes. Can the woman do no wrong?! If she ever releases a funky/disco house improv album with Prince, I'll be erecting a modest shrine in her honour...she even makes a flabby sounding Fender Jazz sound good.

[quote name='retrohelix' post='1353265' date='Aug 27 2011, 01:48 AM']ffs quitting bass[/quote] I felt the same way. She grabs the brain, the heart and the balls all at the same time. Here's an interview with her: I'm utterly transfixed by her bottom lip when she speaks BTW. I can never predict which way its going to bend...

If I could afford it, I'd pay up to 5000 quid for an Alembic Series II graphite with a deeply grained top.

Well there's a spot of good news on this. Turns out the Deep Impact doesn't need repairs for now. Plus I figured out a patch that gives me the bass part to Donna Summers 'I Feel Love' on my MPXG2 using a LFO controller on a volume pedal patch. Woooo!

Awesome, I've also found a bloke here who has offered to take a look at it. I've discussed getting a replacement PCB made and reinstalling all the original components just because I'm fed up with the pedal breaking down on me and the tracks can't really take much more soldering as they're starting to break after being lifted. I'd prefer the problem is fixed as well as repaired. Maybe that will involve soldering insulated wire between the power socked and the damaged PCB rather than direct mounting.

Having the perfect bass and being able to play what you feel aren't opposite ends of the spectrum. Its possible to have both. Whether someone has the patience or luck to find the instrument that does exactly what they want it to is another matter.

Cheers Paul

I figured out the patch for "I Feel Love" over the weekend. Basically I used a square wave LFO to control the volume using Guitar Rig Kontrol on my laptop. However for me to replicate the same setup with my MPXG2, I need a tone generator. While I could look at the offerings including the EHX Micro Synth and Chunk Octavius Squeezer, however I'm also mindful that my trusty Deep Impact pedal is lying in a drawer after one too many repairs to tracks on the PCB around the power socket. I was always fond of this pedal and I'd love to get it up and running again but last time I looked, Akai weren't doing any repairs or offering parts. I did also approach the distributors in the UK before I left and they couldn't help either. Could anyone please advise whether this situation has changed in the last 2 years?

[url="http://headlessusa.com/headless-parts.htm"]http://headlessusa.com/headless-parts.htm[/url] Ebay will be your most convenient source if these guys don't have anything in stock.

Spectors aren't particularly narrow. Delberthot is right about the mid 80's Yammie 5000's, and Steinberger XL25A's were similar, converted from a 4 string. Many 5's from around the mid 80's have similar design approaches.

IIRC 8x10 cabs tend to be highly sensitive with ratings around 103dB. The SWR amp I've owned plus others I've tried had scoopy colouring so that might work with the colouring of an 8x10 nicely I guess.

I don't believe its possible to design pickups for fretless, the laws of physics don't allow the mid frequencies to be targeted without losing other things as well. Just get a set of pickups that are as neutral as possible, they will allow the mids to come through. Also look at getting a flexible eq with mid sweep so you can manage the mids easily if you suspect you will need an upright sound for one song and something parpy for another.

These were coming up all the time on Ebay about 5-7 years and not selling, even for that price.

Sell the jazz 4, p bass and 2002 ray, keep the pre-EB ray and SR5, get a custom Jazz 5 string. Job done. Unless you're doing motown covers, the jazz will make a p-bass-ish enough sound for gigging esp. if you get a parametric eq installed.

Heh. I went from hero (in my own teenage mind) to zero. Had rudimentary lessons from a multi instrumentalist but it wasn't until I went to a specialist teacher with a passion for the instrument that my world really opened up. My first lesson with him was the same week Jaco died, and the second session I had started with the newspaper clipping of his death and so, out of respect, he introduced me to Portrait of Tracey which still remains one of the most musically phenomenal tracks I've ever heard.

I just remembered these people too: [url="http://fibersonixx.com/"]http://fibersonixx.com/[/url]

Thanks Eric, I've PM'd Phatmonkey. He may need more information from you.

There was a time about 5 or 6 years ago where you could easily pick up a used TRB Mk1 thru neck for 600 quid on Ebay. I knew then they were being undervalued and would have had one were it not for the width.

I think the injection molding approach produces a better sounding result anyway. The fibres are suspended in epoxy resin around layers in a wooden core before the resin-fibre mix is injected. The core can also be tuned for rigidity prior to injection as it still plays a structural role, unlike the monocoque construction method. Fabric isn't needed, the process is more like fibre reinforced cement although the trick is to ensure the fibres are evenly distributed throughout the mold. It's a much quicker way of producing a warmer sounding neck. The same approach for a whole bass would result in a massively heavy instrument though. My Steiny weighs more than my Alembic