Wolverinebass

Adam Clayton was actually one of the reasons I play bass. However, I've had no time for him as a player for a long time. The reason being is simple. Everything post 1997 has been immensely boring. Look at everything up to Pop and there are a few moments here and there that are interesting. After that, there aren't any. I don't hate him for that at all. I'm just disappointed and it's very difficult to reconcile this apparent lack of effort to someone who wrote New Year's Day or Lemon. Maybe it's just that U2's output since then I haven't liked at all, but that's probably just a component of it. However, there are plenty of people who are much more suitable for derision as being utterly talentless and have made truckloads of cash. To name but 2, Paul McGuigan (formerly of Oasis), a man so proficient at bass that he couldn't actually play the songs and Noel Gallagher plays bass on Definitely Maybe. How rubbish must you be to not be able to play that?!! Secondly, Guy Berryman of Coldplay. I regard him as Adam Clayton's talentless nephew. The band's are kind of similar, but Berryman has never played anything even remotely interesting. Nor will he ever do so. I don't hate either of these guys, but I do think that they are without imagination. Which to me is quite depressing that they've got so far on that basis.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1470337836' post='3105319'] It's also that the one stipulation I have been given is that it has got to be red - otherwise heaven knows what I'd have come up with You can never tell until you start staining these things for real, but this is more like the shade it will come out: [/quote] Where do we place our orders?!!

How much is this costing?!! I bet lots of folk on the forum would be interested in getting in on this. I don't even like Gibsons and I'd be up for this. Plus it'd beat paying £6500 for the equivalent EB3 Warwick copy.

Will be along. I guess as Paul Herman will be there I should bring my Wal Mark2!! Should be fun.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1467970686' post='3087619'] It's ok for a classical quintet to use music stands. The likes of SikTh, Periphery, Meshuggah and other bands that are playing arguably as complex music, not so. [/quote] There is a reason for this. An orchestra is playing something that they have had no hand in writing. If you're doing a dep gig with ludicrously short notice then stands are acceptable too as neither of these scenarios are the fault of the performer. However, if Misha Mansoor went onstage with a stand, my respect for him would end and I'd bottle him. Immediately. I would then leave the venue and go home and burn my Periphery albums. Why you ask? Because he wrote the songs. I don't care how technical they are (I've been auditioned for bands by way of an instrumental Periphery song or even Meshuggah) if I can play them without charts or even vocal cues then the folk who wrote them can too. Plus in the case of a djent or progressive metal band you'd just look like a bellend going onstage with a stand. None of this is to say that I can't read music of course, as I can and could do a sight reading gig if I had to, it's just I consider for the medium I play in and write in, it's just wrong and I'd never be given sheet music.

[quote name='GremlinAndy' timestamp='1467355249' post='3082991'] Well... This is how it's gone.. amp arrived early this week after delays in customs, and Parcelfarce didn't send me the slip to say they'd got it. I had to phone around and find the depot which had it, pay them the customs charge and wait for them to deliver it. And when I unpacked it... f***ed! As soon as I unpacked it, I knew. I could hear some loose bits inside the case rattling around. Inspecting the case I found a shiny corner, indicative of an impact. One of the 'handles was damaged and bent inwards a few degrees too. Opened the bottom of the case... Found a loose IC chip, and a piece of plastic which would have been a circuit board mounting clip. And the circuit board was thusly not attached to the case... Disappointed. So the result is that I've had to send it back. The shipping back to Canada has cost me another £66 now. Plus a £30 customs charge, and at the moment, I have no amp. Preston, the guy at wounded Paw has agreed to pay for the return shipping, but I haven't heard back from him about how he intends to do this yet... And no doubt, when it's replacement arrives I will get hit for customs AGAIN! Until I get my working amp, I suggest you hold off on purchases. This is going to be a test of Wounded Paws customer service, I think. [/quote] That sucks big time. I presume that this damage was despite the amp being bubble wrapped and packaged within an inch of it's life? I'd ask for the shipping and tax back myself otherwise you'll have paid for the amp almost 1.5 times over once the VAT and stuff is taken on board. If it's insured then surely he's not losing money by refunding you at least the shipping? Refunding the tax as an act of good faith in truth would be nice and certainly put a line in the sand for customer service as it were. Hope it gets sorted for you squire. Keep us all posted.

I'd be having one of those as a pre-amp only. Sounds devastating. Sound clips when you get it please just to feed some gas. The only thing that would make it perfect would be for all the knobs to be midi controllable with patch changes. However, one can dare to dream....

[quote name='Tuco' timestamp='1466627739' post='3077442'] How do you rate it friend? [/quote] I think it's great. Bear in mind it's mono of course. I think as with all things it depends how you want to use it. How I use mine is that I send the treble end to a Digitech 2120 for distortion and effects above about 400Hz. In the main, I tend to use this most for 12 and 8 string basses to really get the best of the high end. I then re-combine it back to mono with a mix box that Max at SFX made for me. I don't change the crossover point much. I think the advantage it has over the Behringer unit is that it's 1/4 inch input jacks and it's really small. The Behringer will have more control over the frequency split, but it's a rack and you might not want that? Plus it's xlr input and outputs which is a pain. I would imagine that if you're using the crossover in a loop as I am, possibly the Behringer will be better for the most control if it's something that you are going to change a lot, but I doubt that you'll change it much though once you've found a point you like. If you're using it on a pedalboard with the bass signal before the amp, I'd get the Rolls due to the smaller footprint. Hope that helps.

[quote name='Tuco' timestamp='1466331400' post='3074938'] The dudes on talkbass recommended me this http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=SX21 Looks PERFECT for me but it's only available in the US and I need a quick fix Any UK alternatives to this bad boy??? [/quote] I use one. You can get it off thomann.

[quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1465118609' post='3065354'] 1000W not enough then ? [/quote] I wouldn't be using it bridged at 8 ohms. 500W at 4 ohms is an absolute minimum for me and my current Yamaha power amp is more than that anyway, hence why I'd like a marginal amount of more power for headroom if it's an upgrade, if you see my point.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1464886391' post='3063567'] Yeah.. I need to spend a bit of time with the knobs and switches. I'm not sure what they all do yet..! [url="http://www.jollybeggars.co.uk/bassforum/hb/rfsheet.pdf"]Here's a bit of blurb about it...[/url] [/quote] Such a pity it's only 500W per side. If it was 800W, I'd probably grab one. Sound samples please!

[quote name='JamesTun' timestamp='1463946905' post='3055265'] Yer, Tesseract are from Reading, Sikth from Watford and Haken from London. So yeah you'd be right in saying that the South East is probably the most prominent area. [/quote] And yet, we find nobody looking for a bass player in this vast progressive metal/djent paradise....

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1463643209' post='3052956'] If one buys Prog magazine at WHSmiths you'll realise that Prog isn't really Prog anymore. It's largely metal/math Prog. [/quote] Exactly. But seemingly nobody is up for doing that. Does my head in as it's so frustrating.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1463511815' post='3051998'] Prog is, for most people, a minority interest music, like Jazz. Finding four musicians willing and able to invest the time necessary to develop something intelligent and original will be like searching for the Holy Grail. Investment vs. return ratio would mean it's for a very dedicated few. [/quote] Thanks Bilbo, that's cheered me up! At least I know I should find a like minded group of people to form a band soon.... Ha!!

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1463467693' post='3051489'] Is this actually true? I mean, from this thread there is certainly a strong interest. [/quote] You would think so, but it's just not the case if you're interested in the more grunge type end of the spectrum as I am. I'm not really interested in playing the other end though I like listening to it. In the last 4 months I've found one band I liked that were looking for a bass player and they were in Milton Keynes. Since I live in south east London that wasn't going to work. Seriously though, have a look. You'll find nothing more than a barren, featureless desert if you're interested in what I am which considering roughly 10% of the UK population live in the greater London area is pathetic. That's why I said nobody wants to do it because if nobody is advertising in the metropolis, considering the population density and diversity, where are the folk who want to play this stuff then? Oh well, on with the coldplay tribute band then....

Some really good stuff here. Some I'd heard and some not (really cool though), but in some ways it sadly doesn't really cut to the heart of the matter in that nobody wants to do progressive material anymore. Frankly, I'd sell my soul to Satan if I could join a band that sounded like Tool, Tesseract or Soen. Not only do such bands not exist in London, people don't want to create them. Go on Gumtree/Join My Band and you'll see the usual sort of indie/covers (my favourite recently being the call for members for a Nickelback cover band - like how low does one have to stoop?!! Ha!!) but nobody wants to do more complicated stuff. To illustrate this with some comedy, I tried to explain to a friend once that the section he was trying to play along to was in 11/8. He just couldn't understand (nor play it) and yet professed to be "really technically proficient." I thought that I better not try to explain what a tuplet was as he might think it was some sort of French hat. I suppose what I'm trying to say is where does one find people?!!

I find this really depressing. You would think in London that there would be people who could play progressive metal? To date, I've met one. He was one of the most phenomenal guitarists I've ever played with and a truly lovely man as well. The down side was that he lived across the other side of London from me and when we tried to do file sharing it didn't work very well as we weren't in the same room for the interaction. The definition of the genre was one of the main reasons for the fizzling out of one of my last bands. The guitarist's idea of "progressive" material was Rush, Kings X or Alter Bridge. Don't get me wrong, I love Rush and Kings X, but to me stuff that's for the most part in 4/4 just isn't progressive at all. I was writing songs which weren't in 4/4 and he couldn't be bothered with the effort and I found more conventional material boring. No falling out, but certainly musical differences. "Prog" in itself to me suggests people in capes playing garish keyboard solos in the 70's which I don't care for at all. Ironically, it's modern equivalent of that style a la Porcupine Tree is something I love. For me, trying to find a band that either sounds like Tesseract or Tool is just impossible even in London. I find that statement so profoundly depressing as I realise how it limits my options for doing anything except recording my own material.

Zero fret! Result! Superb bass.

Some absolutely stunning basses here. For those of you that have bought one, how much is customisable? There doesn't seem to be a list of options unless I'm being stupid. Can the nut width or fingerboard radius be changed? As an example.

Both bands I've been in recently have been on hiatus for more than a year each. With one, I've done some recording which has fizzled out due to other commitments from the other members. The other band was stupid enough to put up an ad for bass player wanted (for some really silly reasons) and think I might not notice it. So, surprisingly enough I just said that I wasn't really into it anymore and come get your stuff from my studio before I put it on Ebay. The problem I have is that not many folk want to do progressive material. I'll probably take the rest of the year off from bands and just concentrate on my own stuff and record online. I certainly couldn't be more morose about the whole band thing than I am at the moment so I doubt I'll miss it as much as I love playing live. Sod the aggravation.

Superb work there! Will you be open for business and custom orders soon?

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1459009154' post='3012829'] I'd disagree - I have massive hands and found that playability wasn't a problem, even though I have never played an 8 string in anger. I had more problems with my picking hand, none with my left. But hey, everyone is different and that's fine with me. [/quote] Very true mate. I suppose I'm used to wider necks per se and although a 1.65 inch is fine for a 4, it was just feeling to cluttered for me at the nut end. Looking at the specs for the Spector now I see it's 1.57 at the nut. Since I dislike Jazzes for that I guess I can see why I didn't like it on a simple playability level. Ironically, I don't have massive hands, but I just can't get on with necks that are thin at the nut and taper widely to the heel. It's not like it wasn't well put together or anything, but the neck profile sadly put me off. I didn't like the preamp that much either, but that's not something that would be a big deal to change. I would still say the Dean Edge is a better 8 string for the money, but that's only my view.

I'd get a Dean Edge. At the budget end, it's the best one. If Dood is talking about the Spector 8 string that they had at the recent bass show, I'd avoid. The neck profile is wrong as its just a thin C neck with 8 strings. At 1.65 inch at the nut your hand will bunch up. Lastly, the active eq I found to be lacking. Okay, it was only £400 or so, but it was still just a 4 string neck with 8 strings and more than a tad pants. I say that and I like Spectors. If you were really wanting a conversion, get the neck from warmoth and Schaller 471 bridge. Job done.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1458585830' post='3008880'] Yep... deadly serious but don't ask why, I can't be ar$ed to explain it, tbh. [/quote] Classic. Have you played one to experience the options of the pickups yourself? If not, what are you talking about? On what basis or evidence is this statement built on? You've just put a couple of "meh" comments on someone's nbd thread. What's that all about? On the other hand, I'm sure the op is dying to know why he's wrong to have bought such a gimmicky bass.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1458510130' post='3008254'] Thanks, that makes sense. So I guess there's still a truss rod? I'm just interested in the tech - not many people manufacturing graphite necks now Cheers ped [/quote] There was indeed a truss rod. I share your concern about lack of graphite instruments. Not in fashion it would seem. It'll come back round though once it's figured out how to making tooling cheaper. If that ever happens.