BigRedX

Surely he's removed all the mojo?

There was also a technique popular in the 90s where guitars with light-coloured woods for the body (top) would have the colour coat carefully removed around the edges before clear-coating to produce a faux-binding effect.

The simple answer is that you can't. AFAIK the Basschat forum software has never supported HTML within posts or signatures, just BBCode. Plus, in order to improve security, all that is currently supported in the forum is a cut-down set of BBCode which means that you can no longer add the tags manually by typing them in, but have to use the forum interface (the line of icons at the top of the "post" dialog box) to do this. Additionally there are limits to what can be placed in signatures as for some reason a lot of members were using multiple huge images.

I use a Line6 Helix Floor with my Bass VI where I am often playing "bass" and "guitar" parts in the same song, and the alternative would be some complicated and unwieldy switchable dual amp and cab rig. TBH most of the time I'm not using any amp or cab models as IMO a bass amp is just an EQ section and maybe drive if it has some valves in it and bass cabs are essentially LPFs, so the right EQ and drive models are far more useful to me as I pick and mix and be tied to a particular EQ and drive sound from an amp. When I do use an amp model it has been picked mostly because I like the drive sound, and I'll try and set the EQ on it flat and use a separate EQ module to fit the sound into the band mix. I've found that the trick with all modern multi-effects is to program with your ears and not your eyes. Ignore what the various modules are supposed to emulations of, and just decide whether you like the sound they produce or not.

AFAIK the same editor works with all of the Helix range, so I find this a bit strange, as on my 14 year old MacPro there is nothing slow about it when programming my Helix Floor. What other devices do you have on the same USB bus?

The Newtone Axion Bass VI set is just a touch heavier and considerably cheaper than the LaBellas.

As recommended, I shimmed the neck which increases the break angle over the bridge and this combined with the increased tension of LaBella round wound Bass VI strings was enough to render the vibrato mechanism inoperable.

As everyone is sick of hearing me say now. Line6 Helix Floor. As my core sounds I'm using the 10 band graphic EQ, Teemah! Distortion and 70s Chorus for one band; and Obsidian 7000 Distortion/EQ, 70s Chorus and Elephant Man Delay for the other. No Amp or Cab models, except where I'm using an amp specifically for the drive sound on a couple of Presets.

As some who plays Bass VIs exclusively with one of my bands, these are my thoughts: The neck is narrow. In fact of all the Bass VIs I have played or obtained specifications for (and it's a lot of them) the Squier has the narrowest neck of them all. Mine was one one of the first batch, bought almost 8 years ago, and I believe the more recent examples have a slightly wider neck by a couple of mm. However it is still very narrow and consequently the string spacing is very tight at the nut, and the thicker bass strings don't help. Think 70s Stratocaster, but with thicker strings and you'll get an idea of how narrow the neck is. Like a lot of people my Squier Bass VI was bought on a whim and when it was very cheap, and it was largely unused for several years until the guitarist left one of the bands I play with and we decided to continue with no guitar player and me using the Bass VI instead. As a consequence of this I embarked on the mission to find something with a wider neck and therefore more playable for me. There's a multi-page thread about this which I can have a look for if you think it might be useful. The upshot of this is that the Squier was initially replaced with a Burns Barracuda, and more recently an Eastwood Hooky. Since it isn't even my back-up bass now I've been thinking of selling mine, but haven't got my act together to list it. The other main issue is that the supplied strings are bit on the light side for bass players, which means unless you play with a very light touch you'll find the E and A strings far too compliant and floppy. The good news is that there are at least two manufacturers making heavier strings that are more bassist-friendly - LaBella and Newtone. However I found that fitting the heavier strings while improving the feel of the E and A, the increased tension rendered the vibrato mechanism almost useless. Some users have also reported intonation problems after fitting a heavier low E string. On the plus side it looks and sounds great. If you can get on with the tight string spacing at the nut and the supplied light strings, then it's a great instrument. For me the compromises with the strings and the vibrato bridge plus the tight spacing meant that I've had to look elsewhere for a suitable Bass VI, but it did get me started and realised that the Bass VI concept would work for me and my band. Just not the Squier model.

"Real" is entirely subjective, as is what constitutes a "powerful, low, fat bass sound". I'm a Helix user, but either device should be capable of producing a suitable sound so long as you program with your ears and not with your eyes. Despite having ditched my traditional bass rig for just the Helix going direct into the PA, I very rarely use any amp or cab models. Remember that the important elements of your sound that the amp gives are the EQ section and, if it has valves, the drive sound. The cab is just essentially a LPF. I found that using a good EQ module and a distortion module is far more flexible, as you can mix and match to find a combination that you like, and the two elements are not tied together in a single amp sim. If you do decide to use amp sims don't forget to try all of them - not just the ones that are supposed to be for bass. Remember that many vintage bass amps are simply guitar amps with a different name and occasionally the EQ frequencies adjusted for the lower notes. And unlike the real thing there is no possibility or damaging anything by using the "wrong" amp model. The worst that can happen is that you won't like the sound, in which case you can move on and try another.

The problem is actually the other way around in that Gmail, Hotmail and the other free email providers have started rejecting email from other email hosts that don't have the very latest authentication features. This has mainly affected small business who are paying for their own email addresses as part of their hosting services. The problem is compounded by the fact that there are no error or rejection messages received by the sending service. The emails simply never reach their intended recipients. It's a simple fix for the owner of the host that involves changing a couple of settings. Unfortunately if your are on one of the bigger hosting providers like Fasthosts, they have so many accounts that it is taking time for the hosting service themselves to update them all. I ended up doing the one I administer myself after a week of no-one with a Gmail address receiving any email from us, but it's a process that looks daunting for the non-tech-savvy, so they may leave it until the setting are updated automatically by the hosting provider.

Marketing emails will have been sent using a bulk email service like Mail Chimp, and although it will have a Bass Direct "return" email on them, they won't have actually come from that address.

If bass direct have a domain name associated email host and they haven't recently updated their security certificates, then a lot of free emails services like Gmail etc. will be blocking what they send, as part of their attempted clamp-down on spam. If Bass Direct's email host is any good they will eventually be doing this for them, but if they are with someone popular it may take a couple of weeks to implement. Bass Direct could do it themselves (it's fairly easy so long as they follow the instructions to the letter, I've had to do it recently for an email service I administer), but until enough people complain I suspect it won't be high on their list of priorities.

I have very little talent when it comes to playing the bass but the additional strings actually make a lot of what I play much easier.

In a couple of years time everything made in the Twentieth Century will be at least 25 years old.

Spend a day each at Bass Direct and The Gallery and try anything and everything that takes your fancy. It's the only way to find out what YOU like.

That's what I was about to suggest.

As Bill said you'll need to supply the INTERNAL dimensions of the cab (and probably also the port specifications).

Apart from a couple of years in the early 2000s where I played 4-string fretless basses and more recently where one of my bands uses Bass VIs, I've been playing 5-string basses as my main bass since 1989. There have still been a surprisingly large number of 4-string basses that have passed through my hands since I bought my first bass in 1981. They break down as follows: 1-string basses: 1 fretless 4-string basses: 12 fretted, 7 fretless 5-string basses: 8 fretted, 3 fretless 6-string basses: 3 fretted (all Bass VIs) 8-string basses: 2 fretted (all 4-course) Currently I own two 5-string basses and three Bass VIs (all fretted).

Also remember that the people who post outside of the for-sale section tend to be more interested in "less conventional" basses. So proportion of us playing basses with a string count other than 4 will be much higher. In the same way that the only people I know using flats are either on here or those haven't changed their strings since they bought their bass in the 60s or 70s.

It was be useful if people replying to this topic could say when they were at school. I suspect almost all the positive music lesson experiences will have occurred for those whose education came after the mid 80s.

That's very true. In the days when I had an office job working alongside other people I finally, after a couple years, managed to persuade some of my colleagues to come and see my current band play. What struck me the following Monday was the number of people telling me that they were surprised at how good the band was - as though they hadn't noticed my drive for perfection with the artwork I produced in my job, and therefore why should the band be any different? Unfortunately, the fact that they enjoyed the gig wasn't enough for them the go and see us play again. On the other hand before that, most of the audience I been playing to was made up of musicians from other local bands, and they tend to be the worst audience ever - either bitching about how crap they think your band, is or seething with jealousy because you're getting more attention then their band is. I had to admit I've been guilty of that in the past. luckily for the last 15 or so years I've played in bands that have been entertaining enough to generate our own decent following without having to rely on friends, acquaintances and work colleagues in order to have a decent sized audience.

The next gig for both my bands (Hurtsfall and In Isolation) is Goth At Brewery in Whitby on Saturday 27th April as part of the Whitby Goth Weekend: It's an afternoon gig at the Brewery (opposite Whitby Abbey), with Hurtsfall opening at 2.00pm, In Isolation on at 4.00 and sandwiched between us Chaos Bleak (also from Nottingham) at 3.00. For those who don't know, this is a very popular event and if you're not there early you'll probably have to watch and listen from the courtyard - although this will only be a problem if the weather ins't very good, in which case there is all the more reason to arrive in time to get a place inside! BTW this is a free gig.

Thanks! It was pretty nerve-wracking on the way in as we could see our predicted ETA getting ever closer to when we were supposed to be starting our set. Once we'd got to the other side of the Thames it was easier going but we were nearly thwarted by a bus broken down in the middle of a junction were we needed to turn left. Next gig for both my bands is WGW which should be a lot easier as most of us are there from at least Friday (the gig is on Saturday afternoon) and the only challenge will not getting too drunk the night before when we go and see Westenra and Auger play.

I play in two goth bands. Party? What's that? In all seriousness there's no way I could play most of the songs I use then Bass VI for on a standard 4-string bass.