BigRedX

Can someone on Basschat who has experienced ski-jump due to a non full-length shim on an instrument they own please post photos?

TBH I have found other people's presets mostly useless because they are only one part of the overall sound. About 6 months ago Line6 were offering Peter Hook's main Helix patch as a download. I have to say that as a fan and someone whose current baselines are extremely influenced by his playing I was somewhat underwhelmed. I'm sure the patch works perfectly well for him, but in my case the one I had come up with on my own that uses the same type of modules (distortion, chorus and delay) as he does, but completely different actual models works much better for me.

As everyone is probably bored of hearing now, I sold off my traditional bass rigs over years ago now and I haven't missed them in the slightest. I the band is running its own PA I would consider replacing your existing rig with an FRFR that could double as foldback if required.

On a more serious note, I suspect that one of the reasons that boutique pedal builders opt for low-cost graphic solutions is that they simply don't produce their devices in sufficiently larger numbers at a time to be able to afford anything else. For anything reasonably professional looking they would need to be considering a production runs of several hundreds minimum. I wouldn't be surprised to find that some designs are only made to order, in which case the graphics need to be capable for being produced one at a time too. The other thing is that most boutique pedal builders won't have budgeted for "design". As someone who makes their living doing graphic design (mostly for food packaging) myself I deal with quite a few clients who are doing low volume production runs. Despite the fact that I consider my rates to be competitive, many of them simply can't afford for me to create anything much more complicated in design than their logo and product name printed in a single colour on the box or label.

I've solved the iLok problem by simply not even entertaining the notion of having any software that requires it on my Mac. IMO iLok is brilliant idea, but the company that currently owns the technology doesn't have the resources to properly support it to the level that is required by their users. You need to face up to the facts that everything points to insufficient testing by PACE. The problem only affects M2 and M3 Macs - maybe PACE couldn't afford to buy one in order to check out the pre-release versions of the OS. It is their responsibility to ensure that their product keeps up to date with the platforms they support. It is also my experience with both music software and copy protection, that many developers think they know best and try and make use of loopholes in the OS rather than properly optimising their code to make it run as efficiently as possible within the guidelines set up by the OS. Therefore it is unsurprising when it breaks with a subsequent OS update because the they haven't followed the rules. Also unless you have just bought a brand new Mac there was no reason to update your OS in the first place.

When I last had an album produced on vinyl the recommendation was for no more than 12 minutes a side and to have a a running speed of 45RPM rather than 33. Longer running time and slower playback speed would result in reduced audio quality. Our album had a total time of just under 34 minutes, with roughly equal length sides cut at 33RMP, and there is noticeable difference in quality between the vinyl and CD version. IMO 53 minutes is really going suffer with just two sides to play with. Have you had you recording specifically mastered for vinyl? We had two separate masters done one for vinyl and one for digital, and if I was doing this again now we would have 3 - Vinyl, CD and iTunes. Also has Cram discussed the running order with you? There are certain compromises that need to be made regarding song placement with respect to the fact that the last track on one side of a disc has to extract the same amount of information from less than half the groove distance of the first one. This is why fast, loud energetic tracks are placed at the start of each side and the last track is something much more relaxed and downtempo. We ignored this on the last album I made and the final track on side two suffers as a result.

The 80s is a very broad church which goes all the way from post-punk to acid house, via synth pop and abrasive guitar bands. Unless you cover all these genres you'll need to supply a bit more info regarding your set list.

If this is the correct PSU for the Reussenzehn BassMax then it most likely means that the bridge rectifier that converts the AC from the PSU to DC is in the pedal rather than the PSU. There are plenty of devices that do this and have AC PSUs.

According to the schematic it should give three pre-set tone shapes. However Kramer from that period were notorious for changing specifications as parts availability demanded it. Also that circuit board looks very home-made, so without checking the components against the schematic you simply can't know.

TBH the problem is with PACE who run the iLok system which has been flakey for years and who appear not to have sufficient resources to test new versions of Mac OS when the beta copies are released to developers.

If the shop has to order something in I might as well buy it on line. It will be delivered directly to my front door and probably quicker too. This might be down to the fact that the last time I relied on one of my local music shops to order something for me (a box of 100 Herco Flex 75 picks) it took over a month and twice when I had been told they had received them it turned out to be the wrong item. This is for something that should be a simple order from the distributor (String & Things).

Forward tilt is a "feature" of guitars and basses that have one of the strap buttons behind the heel of the neck.

For me it's musicians who appear to be well regarded as musicians simply because their band is popular. However, I'm not really that interested in technical prowess at any level unless a lack of it gets in the way of being able to play the music properly. I think the important bits are songwriting, arranging and production. Everything else is just icing.

Your backup bass with the alternative tuning.

IMO it really depends what you want to achieve with your home practice. For me the is no point is practicing at home unless I'm using the same instrument and effects that I will using with the band. I even play standing up, because that's what I do at the gig. The only compromise I make is that I'll be listening on headphones most of the time rather than going through my FRFR cab.

The problem with all music shops is that now we have the internet to see what is available throughout the world they can no longer carry sufficient range of stock whether it be picks and stings, high-tech instruments and effects or anything in between to satisfy anyone other than those with the most mainstream of tastes. And nor should we expect them to. Consumables are easier to buy in bulk on-line where the choice is unlimited and the only real restriction is price. Even the ability to try before you buy IMO is over-rated. In the last 20 years I have tried 2 basses before paying for them. One was fine played sitting down in the shop. Within a week of getting it home and using it with my band I discovered so may short-comings that it was moved on and replaced with something that I bought on the strength of some nice photos and a decent reputation of the brand. The other has had a couple of years of use but has now been relegated to a back-up instrument as a result of buying something else on-line. For me trying in the shop is close to worthless. It's only when I'm playing with my band that I can make any meaningful decisions about an instrument or other piece of musical equipment. The last time I went to my local music shop to get a hands-on demonstration of a pice of musical equipment, the department I wanted to go to was closed and no-one appeared to be interested in opening it to serve me. So I bought something from Amazon on spec alone knowing that if I didn't get on with it, I'd be able to return it for a full refund, no questions asked.

Not only that but IME PSUs with plastic earth pins don't fit as snugly and securely into the mains socket. Mine came out just far enough to kill the power to all the connected devices in my rack case mid-gig. These days I won't entertain any device that doesn't have a standard UK mains plug with metal pins at the end of proper cable for gigging use.

AFAICS most "boutique" pedal builders seem to be content to use artwork produced by their young children.

I didn't see that (hence my comments on lateral thinking) as it's cunningly hidden on the side.

Is it possible to do some lateral thinking with the panning on the HX Stomp so you can use the R input and output as an effects loop?

Remember that the D'Addario string tension calculator is only accurate for D'Adddario strings. Other makes may have different tension due to materials and construction methods being different. Also don't forget that compliance will also have an effect on how stiff a string feels on a given instrument.

The iconic bit is the guitar part and the composer of that gets paid ever time the tune is used. As has been said £600 for a few hours work some 20 years ago re-arranging what was already an iconic tune is pretty good going. Even more so since the rest of the arrangement appears to have been cobbled together using stock samples and loops. Remember the real money is in actually writing the songs themselves.

You know that this one will run and run...

Goth/Post-punk is a niche genre, but IME it's a very we'll supported niche genre, and it's not just people in their 50s and older trying to re-live the glory days of the mid to late 80s. Certainly both bands that I'm in at the very worst break even when gigging. It may help that here in Nottingham we are better placed to take advantage of all the gigs happening further north and as we all know "It's Goth Up North". Hopefully at some point one of my bands will be doing a gig with The InSect and we'll be able to catch up.

Yes and here's how it's worked out.