BigRedX

I have honestly never been into the idea that for a certain sound a certain bass is required. I've just wanted something that sounds like a "bass guitar" and besides IME most of the sound comes from how you play it and how you treat the electronic signal it produces rather than the actual instrument itself. Also I've been told that most of the "P-Bass sound" comes from the type and position of the pickup, so anything with the appropriate pickup in the right pace should get you close enough in the band mix.

I think it very much depends on how important music (whatever else it is that "changed your life") is to you. Music has very much been the driving force in my life and many of the things that I got involved with in other parts of my life have come directly from my musical activities. I would have been unlikely to end up the job that I do now if it hadn't been for the fact that I learnt to design and print in order to produce posters, t-shirts, packaging for records/cassettes in order to further my musical activities. I really do have an "album that changed my life". It's not very well known or even particularly well played or recorded, but the fact that it exists and that I owned a copy completely influenced everything I did in the 80s and since then.

Not me. When I bought my first bass (A Burns Sonic) in 1981, I did try a couple of the Grant and Columbus P and J copies, but they were harder to play, more expensive, and probably most important of all they looked boring.

It's this actual one from Gus Guitars which I had refinished in Candy Apple Red.

First gig since December 2019, and a last minute addition to the HRH Goth line-up for Sunday's Leeds gig. Two mega 6-hour rehearsals to get up to speed after having not played as a band for 18 months. Nice big stage, great sound and a decent-sized audience considering that we were on at two in the afternoon and main attraction for the weekend (Fields Of The Nephilim) were on the previous night. Here's a few photos...

For my take on the ugly bass just imagine that I have posted photos of every single bass that Fender have ever made. Not only are they ugly but they are also boring.

I've just ordered four 5-string sets from Thomann 2x Warwick 40301M Black Label and 2x Warwick 40300 ML Black Label and the whole lot comes to just over £100 with shipping. When I consider that my previous string of choice (LaBella Steels) were over £40 a set, I'm perfectly happy to pay the shipping costs.

Is the problem that he just needs different sounds for each song, or is it that he is aways making adjustments because a change of venue means the guitar sounds different due the room acoustics? If it's the first a good programmable multi-effects unit should sort out the problem, although if he also relies on his amp as part of his sound, he'll need something that supports 4-cable wiring which may rule out some of the more affordable offerings. If it's the second then unfortunately there is nothing he can do, other than to stop being quite so precious about his sound.

Scrap all that. We've been offered and have accepted a last minute slot at HRH Goth in Leeds on Sunday (yes in 3 days time). Mega rehearsal tonight for us all to get back up to speed, followed by another mega rehearsal next week for the "acoustic" gig (supporting Mark Burgess of The Chameleons).

You prefer the sound of one bass over another superficially similar one.

Having barely played during the pandemic except for writing and recording a song with the other band, it turns out that In Isolation's first gig since the end of 2019 is to be an "acoustic" set, with the following week a normal gig. So not only have I got to remember how to play all the songs again, but I've also got to learn and remember completely different versions for the acoustic gig. Wish me luck.

To the OP: how doe the audience hear your bass sound? From the rig or from the PA?

There was a venue we used to play in my Dad Rock band and the biggest improvement we could make to the FoH sound would be to draw the curtains that covered the floor the ceiling windows all the way down one side of the room. Just playing with EQ, you are going to have to accept the fact that no matter what you do you are making the sound worse in some other part of the room.

But you can't fix a poor acoustic space with EQ. If you could, studios wouldn't expensive acoustic treatment to the ceilings and walls and could get away with simply slapping a 31 band graphic across the monitor feeds. Room acoustics are a mixture of time and frequency domain issues and EQ is just a frequency domain solution. Sure you can use EQ to fix a problem at a given listening position, but your are just as likely to make the sound much worse in other parts of the room. EQ is a compromise solution only, and at some point you will have to live with the fact that it can only do so much towards fixing a poor acoustic space. You may get just as good results by repositioning the speakers to change the location of the sum and difference nodes caused by sound being reflected from the various surfaces in the room.

Every festival I've played in the last 15 years - especially those where good quality backline has been supplied, the monitors have been more than up to the job. Most of the time as soon as I've stepped away from being directly in front of the bass rig I've been able to hear more of "me" in the monitors than from the rig. Unless you play at levels where the backline is seriously interfering with the FoH sound, it's for show only.

I wouldn't bother with the backline at all. Bass into the Helix. Helix DI'd into the PA. Bass sound from the Helix in the FoH and Monitors. Job done.

If you want a custom graphite neck, I'd talk to Simon Farmer at Gus Guitars. IIRC he does all the graphite necks for the Enfield basses.

The other thing to consider is what the rest of the band are expecting in terms of bass parts. If there's lots of octave/unison riffing using open strings then you are going to need to match the tuning of the guitars. However having a standard tuned bass with the down-tuned guitars may allow you to come up with some more interesting/less conventional ideas if you don't have to slavishly follow the guitar riffs. On the few occasions I've played with down/drop tuned bands I've stuck in standard tuning on my 5-string with out any problems.

Firstly what exactly is "drop C#"? On the guitar "drop D" is standard tuning with the low E string retuned down to D. So do you mean: 1. Standard tuning with just the E string down to C#? (C# A D G) 2. All strings tuned down a tone and the E string down to C#? (C# G C F) 3. Everything tuned down 3 semi-tones? (C# F# B E) Then what sort of a feel do you want for the strings? And what sort of sound are you after? A lot of the time with down-tuned bands that slack feel of loose strings is exactly what is needed to give the right sound. Other times you just want lower notes than standard tuning but still the standard feel to the strings. All these things will influence what is the right advice for the OP.

Depends on the bass. However the neck and body must match. Plain necks with painted bodies just look cheap to me.

From a business PoV telephone conversations are terrible because unless you record every call (and if you do you also need the consent of the whoever is on the other end of the line) there is no permanent record of what was said. Having been stung in the past by "agreements" made during phone calls I no longer do any business solely on the basis of a telephone conversation.

IIRC he only had the Eccleshalls because he liked the look and wanted something that could be made to feedback on certain songs. Otherwise he's have played the Yamahas all the time. As for the Shergolds, they've been pretty much replaced with the Eastwood copies. Having played an original Shergold and owning one of the Eastwoods, I'd say the differences between the two are insignificant, and if someone is stupid enough to bid £3.5k (last time I looked) for a Shergold when they could have a brand new Eastwood for a fraction of the cost, then you'd be an idiot not to offer it up for sale.

I've said it a couple of times in this thread, but it's probably worth repeating now that my contributions are pages and pages back in history. I too was inspired by the earlier posts to investigate the FRFR route, especially since almost every single gig I have done in the last 20 years have had the PA as the main FOH source for the bass, and also since I played a number of gigs where I was asked to turn down on stage in order to prevent my rig from interfering with the FOH sound, to the point where I could hear myself louder in the wedge supplied for the guitarist on the other side of the stage then I could from my cabs immediately behind me. I went all out and bought a Helix Floor and RCF745 speaker and I haven't looked back. It may seen expensive to some, but the bass rig it replaced had cost me more than I paid for these new, and that had all been bought second hand! Also after selling all the gear the Helix and RCF had replaced I actually came away with a small profit! As well as bass guitar I also play Bass VI and synth in another band so being able to use a single two-component rig for processing and monitoring cuts down massively on the amount of gear I need to take to gigs and consequently set up and sound-checking time. It also makes life much easier for the PA engineer. I can't ever seen myself going back to a traditional rig.

No.

As I've said so many times in the past that you are probably all bored of it, if a company doesn't want to communicate via email they shouldn't publish an email address. These days, a voice call unless backed up with some form of written communication, is a terrible way of doing business, because unless you also record every call you make and receive there is no permanent record of what was said.