BigRedX

You're obviously listening to a different Glitterband to the one I remember, as IMO their songs weren't even good enough to be filler tracks on GG album.

For me there is no single bass that covers all the musical situations right now let alone whatever music I might decide to play in the future. Despite the fact that both my current bands fall into the same basic musical genre (post-punk/goth) the musical arrangements and the role the bass guitar plays in each is very different and consequently I play very different basses in each band. One has a fairly standard line-up of vocals, guitars, bass, drums and synths (on backing) and for that I use a Gus G3 5-string bass (tuned B-G). The other is just vocals, synth, bass and drum machine and for that one I use an Eastwood Hooky 6-string Bass (tuned EADGCE). While there are a few songs in each band that could be played on either bass, most absolutely require the specific bass that I use for that band. Haven't really had a "#1" bass for about 25 years. I've always used the bass that was most appropriate for firstly the band and secondly the song that I was playing with that band.

The best method for avoiding recording latency is to monitor in hardware rather than software. Might actually be a more cost-effective route for you.

That EGC Bass Vi looks lovely! If you don't mind me asking what is the string spacing at the nut and bridge? Also how are you getting on with the pickups in the "guitar" positions rather than the "bass" ones?

Fair enough. My personal experience with Powerline adaptors has been variable, and has also been that they are dependant upon the other devices using the mains they are attached to. Just be aware that if you add anything with a large current draw to either end of the Powerline circuit it may not continue to work as well. Also as I said previously there is documented evidence that they can introduce noise into the mains which in turn can affect audio equipment.

When you consider that 3 of the best known Wal users - Mick Karn, Justin Chancellor and Leigh Gorman - all sound very different there may be some truth in that...

I would venture that here on Basschat those of us who post reasonably frequently are not the sorts of customers the typical music shop is aiming at.

Same here. But when I do I also pay someone to fit them.

I thought you were having some sort of dedicated point-to-point wireless connection for the internet? What happened to that?

Firewire plugs do not fit into Thunderbolt sockets. You will need an adaptor. However which adaptor you need will depend on what sort of FW socket the interface has (FW400 - most likely - or FW800) and what sort of Thunderbolt sockets the Mac has - standard Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt using USB-C. However, and more importantly Firewire as a protocol was depreciated by Apple 10 years ago and many FW audio interfaces are no longer supported. Personally I wouldn't buy a FW one unless it was by RME. To get some proper advice we will need to know: 1. What audio interface are you looking at? 2. What is the exact model of MacBook Pro? 3. What version of Mac OS X are you running?

I don't think that's really an unpopular musical opinion. Just one that most people are afraid to voice. Unfortunately the truth is that while the first four singles were glam pop genius, the rest of his musical output is filler or poorly conceived cover versions.

I used to own the 8-string version, and the bridge on mine was not like that (although it did have individually adjustable saddles for each string). Mine had suffered serious headstock and neck damage at some point in its life which had been disguised by an excellent repair and refinish of the neck, which made me wonder if this had suffered a similar fate, and the headless conversion was that owner's solution. Edit: Or not, based on Bassassin's reply...

To completely derail the thread it would be interesting to see how closely the back of that body with the tuner/tailpiece mechanism removed resembles that of the 8-string version of the bass?

Almost no bass cabs (despite what the manufacturers figures may claim) will produce fundamentals under 50Hz at any significant volume.

First off I take it you have read this article on the two Notes web site? Pretty much every device designed to go between amplifiers and speakers has been made with guitarists using relatively low-powered amps in mind (generally 100W max) and the captor is no exception. Remember that for bass guitar the amp power required is not all about overall volume but also the reproduction of significantly lower frequencies than the typical guitar produces, so you might need to turn down even more to avoid damaging the circuitry. Line level will not be sufficient to drive this device. The whole point of it is to process and attenuate speaker level signals. I've not owned a Captor, but I used to have a Marshall PowerBreak in conjunction with a 50W all-valve guitar combo. The PowerBreak also features fan cooling, but has a significantly larger fan than the Captor. I would run the power stage of this amp at about three quarters maximum (this was an acceptable compromise between hearing the power amp valves working and not wearing them out too quickly) and many of the guitar sounds I used would cause the fan to go into overdrive. Using the PowerBreak to set the speaker volume to home practice levels, the fan noise was often audible over the sound of the guitar and the draft of air produced could easily be felt if I was standing in its path. Remember that this fan is driven entirely by the current produced by the speaker outputs of the amplifier (no external PSU required). At gigs after a 50 minute set the PowerBreak would often be close on being too hot to touch and would need to be given time cool down before it was safe to pack away. That's using it with a amp of half the recommended maximum power (and one tenth of the power of the amp you want to use it with)... Finally as a device designed for guitarists are there suitable bass cab sims available for this unit? Or are you after the sound of your bass going through a virtual guitar cab?

Mick Karn? (although the vast majority of his best known work with Japan was recorded with him playing a Travis Bean bass). The thing with Wal basses is that although they are still being made, the current build times are being measured in years rather than months, and if you want the "Wal Sound" there really is no alternative (some ACG basses will get you close though). The price reflects the fact that you will be able to take this bass home right now rather than wait for Paul Herman to build you one (that's if Wal are actually taking new orders at the moment).

Is there any good technical reason for the truss rod to work in the opposite direction to most other guitars and basses? IIRC Maruszczyk aren't the only manufacturer to do this.

I've always tried to open to all sorts of music. True, I don't like most of it, but I like to listen to everything I come across or that is recommended to me, at least once so I can make a proper decision. There's nothing wrong with not liking anything made since the mid 70s, but at least be aware of music produced later on, rather than being totally ignorant. Conversely I also don't like musicians who claim to like "everything". Firstly IME they don't like everything. It's just that they are once again unaware of anything outside of their preferred genres, and secondly if they really did like everything all it shows is that they have no musical filter. IMO the best musicians and composers are the ones who are properly focussed on the kind of music they want to play/create, but are aware of as much other music as possible.

Whatever looks good and goes well with the look of the rest of the bass. Probably something very dark (or painted black).

I'm only a few years younger than you and IMO that opinion is nothing to be proud of if you call yourself a musician.

I've completely given up on cab sims when using my Helix. IME all bass cabs are a compromise that muck up your sound and in a conventional rig a good bit of your amp EQ settings are there to overcome the limitations of the cabs. Most of the time the cabs are basically low pass filters so simply rolling off the very high frequencies will do the trick. The best thing about this method is that you can use your ears to get the sound you want and you are not fighting against ancient "technology". I've also ditched most of my amp sims too, as again an amp is simply a set of EQ controls with a baked-in sound when they are set "flat". The only amp sims I use now are there for their distortion sounds. Edit: as has been said many of the great recorded bass sounds are simply studio EQ and compression and no amps or cabs were used in the process.

That why what we want from guitar synths is different. For me effects and swell are far better and more easily triggered from a proper keyboard. I'd want to use a guitar or bass to play lead and sequencer-style parts - the sorts of things that are less easy to do from a synth keyboard. Unfortunately the laws of physics for this are against me.

There will be quite a bit of latency. The GM70 is only one generation ahead of the pitch detection system that was designed to go with the bass we're discussing in this thread, so it's still relatively primitive. The very best systems (which unfortunately does not include your GM70) require at least one and half cycles of the fundamental to detect the correct pitch which for low E on a bass is a minimum of 37ms, and approximately twice the delay of a typical slap-back echo. And that's before you factor in the the additional latency generated by the MIDI conversion and processing, since the GM70 has no built-in sounds of its own. To give yourself an idea of what it will feel like, get a delay pedal and set it to 40-45ms delay with no feedback and with the direct signal turned off so you're only hearing the echo. Then try and play along with something...

Or the band whose guitarist showed up with an enormous pedal board that covered half the available floor space on the stage. He then went back to the car and brought out a second one that covered the rest of the area...

But where do you stop? And do you regularly test your backup equipment to make sure it is in good working order. When The Terrortones were gigging at least once a week I had a spare amp that lived permanently in the band van. I never had the need to use it. However, when we had to stop doing gigs and I got it back, I discovered that a some point over the 2 years since I had last tried it out, it had stopped working. These days I have a spare of any non-standard lead I need (i.e. anything that isn't jack-to-jack or XLR -to-XLR) and a new set of strings. I'll take a second bass to any important gigs but that is it.