Wolverinebass

Not necessarily. Most people play downstrokes only on a 12. In actuality I play fingerstyle on mine. As for string sets, D'Addario make a set which cost about £30. Not bad really. As for Hagstrom, their 8 string is pants. It's a 4 saddle bridge and doesn't stay in tune above about the 7th fret. Yes, I've played one.

I think the cataldo was $3200. I don't think that's bad at all. Hamer were selling the chaparral for £4000 before fender shut them and that's 6 years ago.

The Spector is an 8 saddle bridge as I've played one.

So, just discounting the octave strings part of the tone then? Clearly, immensely close and dare I say it, no doubt indistinguishable.

It was factory strings. If you played 5th fret and below you were laughing. Above the 7th things started to go awry and by the time you reached 12th fret the octave string was almost a half step out.

@Al Krow you won't be able to turn an 8 into a 12 by using pedals. Generally an 8 is more middly sounding. The 12 is much fuller. An 8 is marginally easier to play, but I had my 12 set up with such a low action it's almost insane. If you can't bend the strings, fair enough, but it's not that much of a leap of you work at it. Once you do when you switch back to playing a normal 4 string it'll feel like a toy. You're welcome to pop round to mine to try them if you want.

As you go higher up the neck the octave string goes out of tune. My mate tried to record with his band at my studio. He ended up having to use my 8 string as his was really straying out of pitch and sounded awful. Try it out. After the 7th fret it'll start to sound a bit out.

I know someone who had one of them. It's a 4 saddle bridge. It won't stay in tune above the 7th fret.

I await the sound samples of your 12 string emulation. If only any of us had known that the rich, textural properties of a niche instrument could be replicated with 3 stompboxes...

I've played one. They weigh a ton because the body is so large. Plus, they don't sound the same as the guts are totally different.

I very much doubt that. Nothing sounds like a 12. The problem with Ament and Peterson's tone is that once the full band comes in the top edge gets wiped out. Listen to any other part of Jeremy barring the intro. He could be playing anything as all the cut is gone. It's why I use my Hamer with much more aggressive sounds than they do so you'll still hear the ring and chime with the full band. On its own it'll tear your head off, but in context, it just kills as there is so much harmonics and overtones added. Having played a few other 12's, the Hamer easily beats them on virtually all fronts. The fact that Peterson's Gretsch has a 4 saddle bridge and costs $12k is laughable in the extreme. Jog on. With Hamer no more (thanks Fender!) I'd be getting Tom Keonig to build one as having conversed with him he seems like a really nice guy who happens to make exceedingly good cakes.

Baggage handlers would be dying in strange, almost Final Destination type "accidents" if that had been my instrument.

The Aguilar is 67kg. Yeah, I'd imagine if you have the cloth grill on the Mesa you're saving your back for maybe 5kg, but it's still heavy. The only 4x12s I know that are less are the GK (43kg) and Schroeder (37kg). I hasten to say I've not played them.

The 4x12 weighs 61kg. Not exactly light on a set of stairs I'd wager. Pity. If it was 20kg lighter I might buy it.

That's about 5 minutes on the bus from my house. Sadly, I'm not quite old enough for it.

The first 2 Audioslave albums the bass is in bead. The third one I don't think is as Revelations is in drop D.

When I was younger, I had a dream of owning a Mesa 4x12. I promised myself that I'd get one if I could lift it. Shortly afterwards I ruptured my cruciate and tore up the cartilage something rotten. I bought light cabs, but never truly gave up. Only after getting my knee reconstructed a 2nd time 3 years ago has put the kibosh on the whole idea. Bummer. I've played the 4:88 and it was monstrous. The low end above 10 o'clock was just insane. Grit for years, but obviously will weigh a ton. It's a pity the cabs weigh so much. Also a pity that Westside Distribution are price gougers. I'm sure I read that they were going to refuse repairs on non UK sold Mesa gear or something like that. Bonkers.

At least it's worked out for you though it's a pity that your main amp has died. If you don't mind me asking what cab were you using?

I'm going to use that as I've struggled for some time to adequately describe preshape buttons on amps. "Suckmode." Genius!

Yeah, so probably £350 here when it comes out. I'd certainly be intrigued to try one. Pity it doesn't have presets. I guess the tuner is useful, but since I don't use pedals the space it's taken up is a bit of a waste of the chasis. For me at least. I bet it'll absolutely kill though.

Not really. @Bilbo points are well made and rational. Originals bands don't get paid much because people don't know the songs. Covers bands do for the reason people do. Like many people here, I'm not going to do cover bands. Not because I think I'm above that, but because I have no interest in it, even for money. To me, the writing and performance of something original is the fun. Now, you can make a comment about me going back to my bedroom to write things nobody else cares about. Hopefully not though! ? In truth, my disinterest in covers is so great that I wouldn't play any even if they were songs I loved by my favourite bands. Even if I was going to be paid for it. It just doesn't work for me on any creative level. Everyone's different though.

I am indeed. Actually, I have an 8 string Warmoth explorer as well as my Hamer Chapparal. So, as to how they differ. The 8 (and all 8's I've ever played) have a more mid-range tone. The Hamer is much fuller in the low end. I've played loads of each. Only my opinion, but here we go. The Dean edge 8 is quite good. Circuit and pickups could get changed, but not bad. When I played a Spector I didn't like it. It's actually the circuit rather than the bass which plays well. A friend had an Esp (not the Frank Bello version). It was crap as it was a 4 saddle bridge. Avoid that and the Hagstrom for the same reasons. As for the 12's. I didn't like the Dean at all. Neck is ludicrously wide. The Hamer is much thinner and has better pickups and circuit. There's a reason they cost more. I've played a Jeff Ament Hamer 12 and the neck profile is the same, but of course the body is different and it weighs a lot more. As to how I use them, I use signal splitting via a crossover. Top is sent to a Digitech 2120 for distortion and in the case of the 12, quad chorusing. It's all mixed back to mono and there we are. I don't subscribe to the idea that an 8 is easier to get around because of the lesser number of strings. Set up well it doesn't matter.

Most definitely a vote for open strings. Triplet pulloffs are somewhat easier with them. Even if I didn't do that, open strings are great anyway. I've always kind of felt the way they ring is totally different. More overtones and harmonics, but it was just my thoughts.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1509732070' post='3401308'] From the original post... Just sayin'. Having listened again to the track referenced in the OP, I'd say the drummer's using brushes; that makes an enormous difference to the snare (and the rest, but mostly the snare...). I don't think that that drum track was done using close micing (certainly not close micing alone...); it should be perfectly possible to get that 'feel' with four mics, as detailed in posts above. Just my tuppence-worth. [/quote] True. That's what I get for reading too quickly! 4 mics can be done, but of course the room, tuning of drums and placement of mics is key as has been said.

I don't like using the Glyn Johns method. I've tried it several times and haven't liked the results. For anything with intricate parts or a dense mix it's useless. I tend to double mic the snare and sometimes the kick, then one mic each Tom and hi hat, 2 overheads and possibly a room mic for character. That's what works best for my studio. Generally 10 channels. If you're near SE London, I'm happy to record you.