BigRedX

I'm seriously interested in a 5-string Thunderbird, but right now I can't afford Mike Lull prices (and I'm still not 100% convinced about the bolt-on neck). So as soon as I saw the OP, I got in touch with [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Maruszczyk through their web site contact email. A week later and... nothing. Not even an [/font][/color][font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]acknowledgement that they have received my email, but right now are too busy (or don't as yet have the required information) to answer my questions.[/color][/font] [font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"]I have the money to place an order right now, but I'm a bit reluctant to want to do business with a company that hasn't even the manners to fire off a quick email to let me know [/color][/font][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]they have received mine, and will be sending me a proper reply once they have the time and the information I was asking about.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Before I give up on [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Maruszczyk does anyone have a more reliable contact email than the one on the web site which I can try?[/font][/color]

What did you buy, how much did you pay, and what were you using before?

[url=http://strangecircuits.com]Strange Circuits[/url] In Isolation will be supporting them on Thursday 16th November at The Tap 'n' Tumbler in Nottingham.

Thanks everyone! The video is now on the [url=http://www.trappist.one]official Trappist-1 website[/url] (in the stories section). More exciting news to come soon...

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1509740232' post='3401392'] Not being a fan of these basses what's the issue with the positioning ? I always assumed bass tuners were heavier duty because of the string size but everydays a school day. Do the larger size tuners not help secure the strings and prevent string slip and de-tuning. ? Dave [/quote] Remember that the highest tension strings on a bass are the D and G which are the same gauge as the heavier E and A strings on a guitar. The other bass strings get lower in tension as they get thicker. The larger diameter winding post can be useful but only if the gear ratio has been adjusted to take that into account. You only need 2 complete turns of string around the machine head post to prevent slippage, and you should only wind more if you need to for the break angle over the nut. The biggest issue with using guitar sized machine heads is making sure that the thicker strings fit through the hole in the post.

If you like Fender designed get the Squier Vintage Modified Fretless Jazz. If you don't like Fenders get the Ibanez Gary Willis bass.

Unless not has improved massively over the last year or so Android isn't very good at timing critical apps like musical ones.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509801006' post='3401735'] My other guilty pleasure is ownership of a Roland TR606. How I wish I'd sprung for the 808. [/quote] In 1983/84 I was lucky enough to be in a band that owned a TR808. Compared with the affordable competition, it was streets ahead in terms of programmability and the range of sounds available. Up against the other fully programmable drum machines of the time such as the LinnDrum it was quite a bit cheaper. There was fair amount of tweak ability to the sounds, and the individual outputs meant that there were even more possibilities. Programming patterns was simple even for someone who was a bit rhythmically challenged like myself. However that's it as far as the good stuff goes. Pattern memory was limited to 32 1-bar patterns or 16 2-bar patterns. Most songs unless they were very simple used up nearly all the available patterns. Programming the patterns into a song meant running it in real time changing the patterns as required while the device recorded what you were doing, and while it was possible to edit a song, it was almost always easier to start again from the beginning if you made a mistake. While it remembered everything when powered off, there was no way of saving your programming for one song so that you could work on another. Not even the good old cassette dump interface. I had hundreds of photocopied sheets with pattern grids drawn onto them, so that we could write down the rhythms for each song. And the sounds while they were adjustable, you very quickly discovered that there were only really a couple of good sounding variations for each drum. And unless you were doing hiphop/electro no-one used the cowbell! I did see a band who somewhat managed to get their complete set into an 808, but they only used a handful of different rhythms for all their songs and all the fills had to be triggered manually. And the fact that they had managed to achieve this was unfortunately the most remarkable thing about their music. We sold ours and replaced it with a Yamaha RX11.

Every "song" is an instrumental until it has some lyrics written for it.

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1509716243' post='3401139'] look like guitar tuners to me ? Maybe not up to the job of bass strings ? I'm just guessing here. Dave [/quote] Guitar tuners are perfectly capable of dealing with bass strings. Plenty of basses have used them successfully over the years. You don't need those massive ugly things that Fender insist on fitting to their basses.

What about them?

The fewer mics you use the more important the room and the basic sound of the kit become. 1. Make sure the sound of the kit is exactly what you want. Tune the drums properly, damp as required and make sure that there aren't any unwanted rattles and other noises (squeaky bass drum pedals etc) being produced. 2. Spend plenty of time experimenting with the best position in the room for the kit. You also want to experiment with acoustic treatment around the drum kit. 3. Only after you are completely happy that you've got a great sounding kit in the best place in the room to produce the drum sounds that you want, should you start to play with mic positioning.

I was at the WGW last weekend. Highlights were: Hands Off Gretel, Massive Ego, Vince Ripper & The Rodent Show, and The Birthday Massacre.

Nice John Birch guitar...

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1509710475' post='3401072'] I'm not sure I've still got the project. If the band reject them then there's no point in keeping them IMO. It was 5 years ago DAW has had a hardware refresh since then.... [/quote] I keep everything that has developed far enough for it to be worth committing to tape of disk. You never know when it will be useful.

If you've done it on your DAW then you'll be able to go back on listen to each part solo'd to work out what is playing what.

I have a guitar with a built-in amp and speaker. A while back, over time the sound got more and more distorted (and not in a good way). When even changing the battery for a brand new one didn't fix it, I took the back off an found 5 or 6 ball-ends of the strings that had broken attached to the magnet on the speaker all vibrating away in sympathy with what I was playing. Removing them all fixed the problem. What I'm saying is that I'd open the cab up properly and check that nothing has become attached to the speaker magnet. Especially since you reported in the OP that the unit had got damaged in transit. And while you are in there check that there's nothing loose in there either (bracing etc.)

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1509702071' post='3400930'] Me neither and I like the Undertones but it's one of their weaker songs and one I always skip Anyone recall That Petrol Emotion which was formed by ex-Undertones? A fine and underrated band who were much better than the Undertones IMO. [/quote] I never really "got" the Undertones either. My first encounter with them was "Teenage Kicks" on TotP, and my initial impression of both the band and their music was that it was some clue-free A&R Man's idea of how a pop-punk band should look and sound.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1509703505' post='3400951'] Hmm..I know what you mean. I think it is just character. Despite being mainly a bassist, I think the guitar side is much harder to get right as I am SO used to pretty clean and powerful bass amps that I use a pedal or three with for say an Ampeg tube sound, or just use the amp as it is for the sound of my bass. Guitar is a different world. Getting that low level of hair on the notes is very hard to get right. Nothing sparkles like a Fender Deluxe/Twin when just plugged in with single coils. Etc. [/quote] I think that a lot of the time musicians get over-precious about having to have a particular piece of kit in order to get "THAT" sound. I now have a very nice guitar amp (Hughes & Kuttner Tube 50) but I was able to get equally pleasant guitar sounds out of the all-transistor Carlsbro Rebel 90 that I owned in the 80s. I can make all my different guitars sound the way I want them to simply by changing how I play them, and I don't even have anything like fantastic technique. So I usually end up picking an instrument for it's looks in regard to the band I am playing with, as everything else can be fixed with playing style, EQ and effects.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1509703227' post='3400948'] 1: You won't need the manual unless you are deep diving into MIDI. Some have moaned about not having a paper one, but the L6 guys said that printing it out in about 30 languages costs a fortune and there's just no need to kill that many trees anymore. The manual is also on the website so you can print bits of it if you want to read in the bath 2: Dunno what the rubber thing is for - I've got the rack version 3: Allen key is for the expression pedal. 4: Firmware 2.21 is the up to date one. So no need to update that at all. But you might as well download the editor on your PC / Mac. The editor only works when the Helix is plugged into it but some people prefer to edit like that rather than on the unit. I don't - I do everything on the unit and only use the editor when I'm backing things up. You will need to use the editor if you decide to disappear down the rabbit hole of third party IRs 5: Get plugged in and use some headphones while you are waiting to get your cable from that scummy guitarist! 6: I don't know what pickups you have in your basses. If they are hot you might want to use the INPUT PAD. Some think the whole unit sounds better with the Pad on anyway. Highlight the INPUT BLOCK on the screen and it will show at the bottom. 7: Ask me anything you like! [/quote] Thanks. Unfortunately real life intervened yesterday and I didn't even get a chance to switch it on. Firmware 2.21 is what I downloaded from the Line 6 site. Can I apply that to whatever previous version is on the Helix (assuming that it's not already on 2.21), or are there certain upgrade steps I need to take first. The instructions on the downloads page of the Line 6 site are confusing and full of dire warnings in red. I don't want to mess anything up. All my basses have a fairly high output so thanks for the Input Pad advice.

But what does an amp sound like? For me it's just some EQ attached to a device that makes my bass loud.

[quote name='Manton Customs' timestamp='1509644927' post='3400588'] A wise man . The approach would be something like - Remove frets Fill slots True up fingerboard and completely remove finish due to the gaps the frets will have left and possible damage Apply a hard finish such as Epoxy Level the epoxy. So yeah, it'd be pricey. [/quote] How hard a finish is epoxy? How many hours of fretless playing with round-wound strings would you get out of it before the fingerboard needs true-ing up again and re-epoxying?

OK then. Wear black. Unless you are the focal point of the band, something simple and black always works. No obvious logos, band or otherwise and I would have said no trainers well, except for 90s and 00s indie trainers are fine. So long as they are dark. Preferably black.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1509632472' post='3400465'] Other band's T shirts ?? Never , never , never. Regularly I change out of one into something else to play. The punters wear band T shirts - the moment you step on a stage you're an artist , not a punter. [/quote] Very much this. IMO the same goes for anything with an obvious and visible brand logo on it. Unless of course said brand are paying you a sh*t load of money to wear it.

OK, the manual was on the USB stick. What do people who don't have access to a device that can read a USB stick do? Also according to the manual "USB flash drive containing the Helix Owner's Manual you’re reading right now and more" - what more? All I can see is the manual in 6 different languages. It also explains what the allen key is for, but not what the rubbery nodule does. Is it supposed to cover the bolt for adjusting the pedal stiffness? At this point I have discovered that someone (probably an ex-Terrortone guitarist) has "borrowed" my spare long jack-to-jack lead, so it will be some time while I hunt for another one before I can actually fire the thing up and get some sounds out of it. I believe that there are software and firmware updates for the Helix. Does Helix V2.21 contain everything I need or are there other things I need to download first?