BigRedX

According to the Ed Friedland video, the Sidejack pickups are mini-humbuckers, but the Eastwood site describes them as P90s...

There's no need for vinyl to be expensive. The Terrortones only did a 500 pressing of our LP "SnakeOil For Snakes" but we are still able to sell it with its fancy packaging at £10 + P&P and make an overall unit profit. However it's when record shops want to add their markup that the prices become ridiculous. We approached Rough Trade here in Nottingham to take some, but couldn't agree on a compromise price where the shop would actually be able to sell their copies and everyone would make some money.

@basselfman Spurred on by using my Bass VI in one of my bands and deciding that the neck really is far too narrow I started this thread which has thrown up some interesting possibilities that might suit your quest for a wide-necked short-scale 6 string bass.

I've also found this from Music Man. Its slightly under 30" scale length and pickup type and placement seem to indicate it's more of an A-A Baritone guitar than a Bass VI, although it does have a 44.5mm wide nut. It's also probably the blandest of all the instruments listed here IMO...

I'm aiming for more of a post-punk sound - two note chords and alternating drone and melody string plucking. I also have my Bass VI tuned E A D G C E Maybe the Moserite styling of the Sidejack will be slightly more suited to what you want from the affordable end of the bass VI options.

And there's these from Mensinger. More "conventional 6-string bass" styling, although I do like the look of the 3 Hollow-body versions with the twin pickups.

A search for 6-string short and medium scale basses on Thomann has also brought up the Gretsch G6120TB-DE Duane Eddy. It doesn't appear to be available yet and when it is it will be a snip at just over £3k...

As someone who also owns a Baritone Guitar (one of the Harley Benton dekos) IMO there is a place for both, but for Baritone I would go for 28" scale and tune B-B. With the right strings (the heavier of the two D'Addario Baritone sets for me) it gives a rich low tone that is still clear even in 1st position chords. Pickup position and type also has a lot to do with whether an instrument should be considered a Bass Vi or a Baritone guitar. Those on the Gretch (and the Sidejack) are very much in the Baritone position and type IMO.

Those Agile Bass VIs don't appear to be available anywhere. I couldn't even find a web site for them! Also some of the configurations are more in Baritone guitar territory than bass VI. Without confirmation of a 30" scale length I couldn't take a punt on one even if I could find one for sale.

That Burns Barracuda Bass is very nice looking and according to the specs has a 45mm nut, so hopefully more comfortable string spacing. Pity the pickups are Rezomatics rather than Tri-Sonics. I have a 60s Burns Sonic with Tri-Sonic pickups that has a fantastic sound. According to the Eastwood rep I was chatting with on line the other day the Sidekick Bass VI is still available. The Schecter Hellcat VI has been discontinued. I found it in the "vault" section of their website.

A proper "bass" pedal board should always be a more reliable option for what you want. However if the Behringer FCB1010 will work in the way you want, then it will be more versatile since you can attach any Midi Note Number to any foot switch and not be limited to a single octave.

I've recently started using my Squier Bass VI a lot with one of my bands and while the sound and extended range fits in really well, the extremely narrow neck makes it very difficult for me to play accurately. So I've started looking at alternatives with roughly the same sound but featuring a neck with a more comfortable width. One of the problems I've come up against is how do manufacturers define this measurement? Is it the actual width of the nut from edge to edge? Or is is the distance between the centres of the highest and lowest strings? While defining the measurement as the actual width of the nut is the obvious choice, this measurement doesn't make any sense to me as it doesn't allow for how far in from the edge of the neck the outer strings actually are, which from a playing comfort PoV is far more important to know. So what I really need to do is to try some of the alternatives and see what feels and sounds the best for me. Anyway on with the choices... First and most confusingly the latest version of the Squier Bass VI appears to have a wider neck than mine (bought about 2 years ago). The Fender web site specifies a nut width of 42mm. Does anyone have a one of the latest models to check for me? My Bass VI has a nut width of 40mm and measures 35mm between the centres of the two E strings. The there are two models from Eastwood. The Sidejack Bass VI appears to be very much a baritone guitar with a 30" scale neck rather than a Bass VI. The nut width is given as 41mm. There is also a Teisco influenced version - the TB64 which has the more typical 3 pickup configuration and a seemingly more generous 43mm wide nut. I'm still waiting for Eastwood to get back to me with confirmation of these widths and hopefully also actual string spacing at the nut, since the last customer rep I spoke to thought that both models were the same. Does anyone have any recent experience with ordering from the Eastwood web site? How are they with returns since there doesn't appear to be any way of trying before I buy? I would have liked to try the Schecter Robert Smith Ultracure Bass VI, but it doesn't appear to made any more. I couldn't find it listed under either guitars or bass on the slow and difficult to navigate Schecter web site. Finally as a sort of left-field choice Ibanez do a 30" scale 6-sting bass - the SRC6. It's rather conventional looking compared with the other choices and is more like a normal bass guitar in design rather than a bass VI. Also the nut width is only 42mm. So does anyone actually own one of the above instruments and would care to comment on their playability and sound compared with the Squier Bass VI? Alternatively are there any other Bass VI type instruments that I should be looking at? I think the wider the nut the better. I couldn't say for sure until I've tried them, but I do know that the 40mm nut with 35mm E-E spacing of my Squier is far too narrow for me. I'm not bothered about having a vibrato - with proper bass VI strings on the Squier the tension renders it virtually useless. I do like the voicing options of the 3 pickup design which gives me both guitar and bass like sounds as required. Any ideas?

Especially considering that every time you play your vinyl you are wearing it away very slightly.

As I said anywhere with a hot and humid climate. Right now here in the UK we should be safe for the moment, but there's climate change to consider and the fact that micro-organisms show a remarkable ability to adapt.... However if you've ripped your CDs to a hard drive and have well-maintained local and remote backups the music contain on your CDs should last your lifetime.

Read my post above. Given the wrong climatic conditions even glass-mastered manufactured CDs will deteriorate to the point where they will no longer play. It's not a problem that we really need be worried about in the UK (yet), but in other parts of the world the CD is not the permanent musical delivery medium that it was originally hoped to be.

If you can already read the treble clef why do you need lessons specifically for the bass clef? Surely it's just a transposition exercise?

For those of you using Spotify exclusively now, have you checked to see how much of your old CD and record is missing from Spotify's catalogue? Spotify is fine for new music - provided that your tastes are firmly Euro/US-centric, but otherwise for me there is simply too much music that I would class as indispensable missing.

Actually there's more than a grain of truth in the fact that CDs are not as indestructible as Philips would have us believe. Here in Northern Europe if properly looked after they should last a very long time, but in hotter, more humid climates there are micro-organisms that will attack the playing surface of the CD eventually rendering it unplayable. CDRs are even worse. In an adverse climate their life can be measured in months at best. Even here in the UK I would suggest that anything on CDR is backed up to a more durable medium, and even if looked after for their life to be 10 years at the very best.

Yes there is. Although there isn't an actual photo of it on the the Keith McMillen website just an illustration... I don't know why they just can't built MIDI DIN connections into the 12 Step in the first place. After all USB connectors have no place in a gigging environment.

I though I recognised the roller work bench! The guitar looks nice too.

Possibly (the 12 Step isn't specifically listed as a supported MIDI device), but's another box, more fiddly computer-style connectors that aren't robust enough for gigging use, and it might even require yet another PSU depending on how the 12 Step draws and outputs power on it's USB connection, and then you've still got to convert the DIN connectors to XLRs to make them suitable for live use.

AFAICS the 12 Step only does MIDI over USB. Is there any way of using it with devices with a traditional DIN MIDI socket without having to have a computer in-between.

Any MIDI footswitch that will send MIDI note on (and note off) commands and will let you assign separate MIDI note# to each switch will do the job. You'll probably need to study the manuals in detail to find out which ones will and which won't and of those that will which have enough flexibility for your needs. I'd start by having a look at the Roland FC200 and the Behringer FCB1010.

Pretty much all the features that make a Les Paul Triumph bass desirable have been removed.