BigRedX

The last time this very question was asked the general consensus was that the Digitech JamMan was what you needed.

I couldn't agree more regarding the neck width of Bass VI instruments. I have a Squier Bass VI and the neck is narrow even by guitar standards (it's certainly narrower than all the guitars I own) and that's the main reason why it doesn't get very much use. I had a look at the Music Man Silhouette Bass (it's not a very exciting looking instrument IMO) and according to the specs the neck is 44.5mm at the nut - where did you get the 47mm figure from? Also it seems to be marketed as a Baritone Guitar rather than a Bass VI, even though at just under 30" the scale length is about right for E - E stringing. However with 2 humbuckers rather than 3 single coils it appears to be voiced more in the Baritone range and it probably won't sound much like a Fender/Squier Bass VI, or your Revelation Bass VI. And so is it worth getting a custom Bass VI made to your specifications? Well given that a new Music Man is going to set you back around £1,700, probably yes. Where about in the world are you? Here in the UK there are several custom builders who would be able to make something suitable for you. It is important to find a luthier that you get on with and who you can trust to make those decisions that you know little about, in order to get the right instrument for you. My normal advice when picking a luthier for a custom instrument is to find someone who is already making something very similar to what you want. However in this case I think you may have to be even more trusting of your chosen luthier than usual. There are a couple of things that you should be aware of. Firstly any commercial custom luthier who is any good will be busy and you are probably looking at a build time in excess of 12 months. Secondly with a 52 width at the nut you are most likely going to need custom pickups to accommodate the extra wide string spacing and a custom bridge as well. That will all add to the cost and build time. There is one other route you could consider. Here on Basschat we have several talented people building their own instruments and sometimes instruments for other people. I would check out the work of Andyjr1515 in the Build Diaries section. Finally I don't think that this section is the best place for your question. I'd have asked it in either General Discussion or Bass Guitars. If you want to get the thread moved, click on "Report" on your OP and ask a moderator to move it for you. HTH

"Valve Watts" tend to sound louder because when you start to work them, valves compress the signal in a musically pleasing way, which means that the bits in-between the peaks are louder. So even though the peaks are no louder than a SS or Class D amp the average signal level is higher in a valve amp meaning that it sounds louder.

Festivals should be fun in the sun. Unfortunately here in the UK summer is the season when the rain is slightly less cold than at other times of the year. I think I mentioned in a previous thread of yours about festivals that my band did a whole bunch of them a couple of years ago. The only one where it didn't rain was the one where we played indoors in a hall (to almost no audience as they were all outside enjoying the sun). The only good thing about rain at UK festivals is that if you happen to be a relatively unknown band playing in a tent rather than on the main stage you can count on a considerably larger audience if the weather is inclement!

the efficiency of your cabs will probably make more difference than the amp wattage. I used to run one of two rigs both class D - one 300W and the other 1kW. With the input gain set so that I'm just below the point where the overload light comes on when I play my hardest, with PA support I've never had to have the master volume above 10 o'clock on either amp. The only time I've had to go above 12 o'clock on the master volume is when I used one of my amps in combination with someone else's inefficient cabs at an equipment share gig.

At a lot of places where I have worked there is essentially nothing to do during your lunch break other than eat your lunch which takes all of 10 minutes. Because of where the workplace was, if you did decide to go out somewhere worthwhile it generally took so long to get there that you would only have a few minutes to do whatever it was you were going to do. For me lunchtime if I wasn't actually busy with work was wasted time. Personally I'd far rather work through my "lunch break" and leave an hour earlier. In effect what usually happened was that I would be so busy that working through lunch meant I could leave at 6.30 rather than 7.30 in the evening. Luckily I was on paid overtime so working through my lunch was another hour at time and a quarter. The best place I worked at was less than 5 minutes walk from where I lived so I would go home at lunchtime and catch up on TV I had recorded the previous evening.

Until you need to change a string in a hurry at gig, when you'll find that it keeps popping out of the slot all the time before you can get it up to enough tension to stay in place.

If you are close-mic'ing pick the driver furthest from any ports. If both drivers are the same distance then off-axis mic as far away from the ports as possible.

Is there enough room? I recently went on holiday by coach and despite the fact that we travelled in relative comfort, there wasn't that much room in front of me when seated. I certainly wouldn't want spend any more than an hour with a bass guitar travelling this way. Has the OP said where he is coming from?

Personally I wouldn't bother. I've not been to the LBGS but I've been to several other music shows both trade-only and open to the general public, as well as Manchester Bass Day (which was much the same thing but on a smaller scale to LBGS) and every time the overall amount of noise being generated was such that it was (for me at least) completely impossible to make any useful observations about the sound of any of the gear I was trying out. Also it doesn't matter what arrangement you come to with the driver, if the space is required for a paying customer, your bass will be going in the luggage hold. Or you'll be getting off the coach. For a popular destination like London, I wouldn't risk it.

From three sessions of playing with mine the amp model I like the best is the Roland Jazz Chorus! I also don't see any reason why you need to use an amp and cab models. After all an amp is just an EQ circuit bolted onto something to amplify the signal enough to drive the loudspeakers. For many years my bass rig was a Peavey multi-effects unit going into a power amp.

I think it's more that the cab is producing the actual sound of the basses including frequencies that would normally be attenuated in a traditional bass amp and cab.

Have you actually played one? Of the two I've owned the XKB-10 did have a tendency to neck-dive, but that was down to the body shape are than the neck, it would have been no better with a conventional wooden neck. The 450B was fine and weight-wise considerably lighter than the majority of Fender bases being produced at the same time. I've never had a problem myself from the temperature of the neck either in feel or tuning stability. Most of the back of the neck was taken up with wooden inserts and whole neck was lacquered.

Nothing wrong with a good Kramer aluminium-necked guitar or bass. I've owned two and the only reason I don't have them anymore is because I don't play 4-string basses enough to justify keeping them.

Yes. It looks like a DMZ4001.

Gibson even took the actual Les Paul model out of production from 1961 to 1967, at it was only with the rise in popularity of "rock" music and the fact that many of it's prominent guitarists were sporting Les Paul Guitars that persuaded Gibson to start making them again.

Some more seemingly random observations that are actually interlinked. Whatever you end up getting, make sure it is capable of running whatever is the latest version of Mac OS at the time you buy it. Right now that's High Sierra. The thing that makes Macs obsolete more than anything these days is when they can no longer run the latest OS and then by extension the latest software. Another reason not to buy a second-hand copy of Logic. Because the latest version is a App Store only purchase and tied to the purchasers Apple ID there are no legitimate copies for sale second hand. That means the only legal copies of Logic that you can get are Logic 9 and earlier. Of these only Logic 9 will run on the most recent versions of Mac OS (and personally I would bother with anything earlier than El Capitan for a new machine) and even then getting to install and run is a bit of a faff and not something I would want to inflict anyone who isn't well versed in Mac troubleshooting.

It's arrived - a bit bigger and heavier than I was expecting - especially in the box. I've only had one chance to use it with my Helix so far, and initial impressions are good although there is some excessive top-end zing. I believe there was a post in the Helix thread about using the LPF on the cab model setting to sort this out, but I haven't had time to go and look for the specific information. Hopefully work won't be quite so busy next week and I'll have at least half a day to sit down and get a basic sound sorted out. One of my bands have some high-profile supports coming up in April and May and I'd like to have everything ready for then.

The59Sound does have a point though. There's something terminally sad about musicians (especially) being proud of their ignorance of modern music. Just like the old fart prog rockers when punk came along. It was a bad look then and it's still a bad look now. You don't have to like new music. But please don't be revel in your lack of knowledge.

I'd start by looking at clearance and refurb deals from Jigsaw and Apple. These will have been tested and repaired if necessary and come with a full warranty. Those bought from Apple used to come with full 3 years AppleCare as well - I don't know if that is still the case. On the whole Macs do tend to last longer. My current MacPro is 10 years old and still going strong running Adobe CC and Logic and is the Mac I use to make a living doing artwork and graphic design - although it was pretty much the best MacPro you could get when it was brand new. This Mac will only get replaced when Adobe CC requires a newer version of Mac OS then mine can run. My MacBook Pro is a 2012 model (EoL'd from John Lewis - also worth a look for clearance deals). Personally I wouldn't have a problem buying second hand off eBay (my current MacPro was bought that way for the grand sum of £350), but then I know what I'm looking for and my first action when buying any used Mac is to wipe the hard drive completely and re-install the OS from scratch. If you do go the second hand route, don't be tempted by offers of installed software unless the seller is also prepared to supply the original discs (if it was't a download) and serial numbers. Also remember that any software bought from Apple's App Store is tied to the Apple ID of the person who bought it and therefore cannot be transferred to a new user.

And what exactly do you think is wrong with that bass?

Be very wary about buying a second-hand Logic licence. Unless it comes with a box and all the install discs its cloned and probably won't work. Also the latest version Logic X is only available as a direct download from the App Store and is linked to your Apple ID so can't be transferred. The file format has changed from Logic 9 so while Logic X will open up older versions projects (7, 8, and 9) older versions won't be able to open Logic X songs.

Unless he definitely needs to be portable, I wouldn't necessarily consider a MacBook. When you go portable you sacrifice the ability to upgrade the memory and you also pay a premium for lightweight portability. Put it another way an iMac which costs the same as a MacBook will be more powerful and have a bigger screen - and as a Logic user I know you can never have too much screen real-estate. What ever you get buy the fastest one you can afford and if possible get the maximum amount of RAM the machine will take. Also check that your audio interface has drivers available that work with the latest version of Mac OS.

Why? He looks a lot sharper dressed like that, than the naff t-shirt and shorts posted earlier.

But that wasn't really a musical collaboration. Belinda Carlisle simply needed a band to mime behind her on TotP.