BigRedX

Thanks Pad. It's not individual strings that I need, It's the ability to send different combinations of strings through different instrument/effects combinations. Usually split 4 lowest and 2 highest or 3 & 3.

Interesting. I'm intending to use this with a Bass VI. So by using the individual string volumes for each instrument block I could have the highest 2 strings only being processed by Instrument 1 and the other 4 only processed by Instrument 2? The block diagram in the SY1000 manual seems to indicate that the instrument and FX blocks of the same number are always linked. Is this not correct? One more question (at this stage): Does sending the device tunings from the controlling instrument other than what it is expecting cause any problems? For instance with the Bass VI the strings are EADGBE (the same as a 4-string bass with two higher strings) while the six string bass option appears to imply a tuning of BEADGC and the guitar option would expect the strings to be an octave higher. Also just to maybe make things more complicated, I actually use EADGCE because I require a drone C on a couple of the songs that we play. Edit: And another question: How much lag is there when you change patches? Do things like delay tails pass through a patch change un-effected?

Thanks @Woodinblack Having had a quick scan through the manual it looks as though there is an editor program for the SY1000, and it looks as though you can assign the panning of each string so hopefully I could pan some strings hard left and others hard right to achieve what I want. And according to the black diagram in the manual each "patch" is made up of 3 instruments each feeding their own effects block. Also it appears (if I have understood this correctly) that the level for each individual string can be adjusted in each instrument, so as long as you don't need all 3 three instruments for a sound, you could set some strings to zero on Instrument #1 and the others to zero on instrument #2 and therefore have some strings being processed by Instrument/FX1 and the others by Instrument/FX2? Or have I completely misunderstood? Or do you need to have all 3 instruments assigned to a string in order for it to sound any good? If that works then I just need to find a suitable 6 string pickup...

I've just had a look at the Boss web page for the SY1000 and I'm intrigued. I'd originally written it off as yet another guitar synthesiser with all the problems that pitch to VCO/DCO/MIDI conversion brings (especially for bass guitar), but it looks as though it does modelling by signal processing each individual string as well. However the description is rather coy as to how the different sounds are achieved. So some questions for SY1000 users that I can't find answers for on the Boss web site: 1. Can you apply different processing to individual strings (or groups of strings)? 2. Can you route individual strings to different outputs for processing via external effects? 3. How much can you alter the input sound without using the synthesis engine? For instance can you apply an alternate tuning via modelling? 4. Is there a computer-based editor for it? 5. Is the USB connector the only digital output? If so does anyone make a USB to S/PDIF converter with close to zero latency? 6. Does anyone make custom pickups for this with non-standard string spacing - specifically I'm looking for a 6-string pickup with 11-13mm string spacing. Thanks!

Surely the Roland VB system is just as obsolete as the Variax Bass? Don't get me wrong I've seriously looked at the VB (and the Variax Bass) several times as a possible answer to one of my band's sonic requirements, but I can't bring myself to invest in some fairly complicated technology that is no longer being supported by the manufacturer.

Not at all. All the good ones have individually adjustable saddles for each string in a course.

I think my attitude is slightly different. Being self employed allows me to work when I want as long as I deliver on time. Even when I am having time off from work, I always have time for a quick email to acknowledge the receipt of anything that has been sent. Edit: Also I work in a "creative" industry (as I would count someone who does guitar finishing) designing packaging for other small businesses, and often my customers/clients are busy creating/producing what they do during the day and only have time to look at what I have done for them afterwards (evening and days off), when they will reply with comments. IMO it is good business practice to send them a quick acknowledgement that I have seen what they have sent me and will be attending to it during my next work period.

IME the popularity of a band has very little to do with whether they play covers or originals and a lot to do with how entertaining they are. In this respect covers bands should have a head start as they have a vast selection of crowd-pleasing songs available to them, but in actual fact lots of covers bands make poor set choices and then stand in the stage area in jeans and t-shirts taking up valuable drinking space in the pub while delivering little in terms of entertainment that couldn't be bettered by a well chosen iTunes playlist being broadcast over the venue speaker system. As a punter, I find nothing important about live music per se so, if I'm going to pub with live music on, then I want some visual entertainment to go with the sounds.

I'm self employed, and while I don't respond to work emails 24 hours a day, I would take the time to reply (especially to a new customer enquiry) ASAP even if it was only to say that I had seen the email and will give a more comprehensive answer on my next working day, and let them know when that will be. I suppose it might be down to how many of these "refinishers" do it as a hobby rather than making a full time living out of it, but if you are offering a paid-for service then it is poor business practice IMO not to reply reasonably promptly. Maybe they are best avoided - after all if they can't find the time to answer a simple email, who knows how long they will take to refinish your instrument, and how easy it is going to be finding out how things are progressing while they do?

More importantly with only a single saddle per course how do you play it in tune above the fifth fret?

I doubt you could get a 76 or earlier Gibson Thunderbird (which is what this copy is based on) at that price.

This. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these basses with a 3-point bridge and through-body stringing as well.

Depends on the finish. Generally rosewood boards are natural and maple boards are lacquered, however I have owned basses with unfinished maple boards and layered rosewood ones (although I wouldn’t recommend anything with an unfinished maple board based on my experience). In the short term lacquered boards are the easiest to look after. Clean them well with a DAMP cloth each time you restring. Unfinished rosewood boards require lemon oil and a little more elbow grease to remove the finger crud unless you are replacing your strings more often than once a month. In the long term the finish will begin to wear off the lacquered boards, and the only way to return them to their ordinal state will be to get them refinished, which may mean refinishing the whole neck and will definitely involve laborious and time consuming removing the finish from the frets. HTH

Very much this. Even if you're not tech savvy enough to work out how to create an auto reply, it takes less than a minute to copy and paste a standard we’re closed or too busy to take on new work at the moment into an email and hit send. I very much doubt that any of these businesses are getting so many emails every day that they cannot keep up.

You could condense this thread down to just saying go an buy the greatest hits/best of album or the first live album any band puts out.

A slightly better time for originals bands then. Time for everyone to hone their songwriting skills.

IMO this is an appealing state of affairs. If your a business and don’t want to deal with your customers by email, then don’t give out an email address. However in this day and age if you can’t deal with email enquiries you probably shouldn’t be in business.

Surely for the Ramones it would be the first “It’s Alive” album which is all the best songs from the first three studio albums. The only thing missing for me is Rock n Roll Radio.

1 or 3 IMO.

TBH the only times I've had to adjust the truss rod on any of my guitars or basses is either when I have fitted strings with a completely different tension, or when I bought an instrument from a country with a very different climate to the UK. The rest of the time I leave it alone. I can live with the very tiny fluctuations in relief caused by the UK climate.

IMO there is no such thing as "a set up". Set up is very much a personal preference and what suites one musician may be seen as unplayable for another.

For monitoring you want brutal rather than forgiving. IIRC the point of those nasty Yamaha NS10s that every studio had in the 80s was that if you could make your mix sound good on them then it would sound good on everything else.

All of my custom-made guitars and basses have solid colour necks that match the body, it's only the cheaper, factory-made ones with bolt-on necks that have a natural finish. Also I never understand why people think that necks with solid colour feel sticky compared with those with a natural finish. Coloured necks should have the same clear top coat as the natural finish ones, so it must be psychological.

Also do you have a multimeter or continuity tester? IME trying to track down even simple wiring problems is extremely difficult without one.

Good luck with joining the forum. I registered back in March and I only got my approval email (which allows me to actually post on there) last week!