BigRedX

[quote name='markstuk' timestamp='1485434161' post='3223925'] I quite like this one :-) [url="https://de.aliexpress.com/item/2017-new-arrival-4-strings-electric-guitar-bass-guitar-acrylic-guitar-bass-free-shipping-headless-guitar/32780041716.html"]https://de.aliexpres...2780041716.html[/url] [/quote] That seems very expensive. My Wesley acrylic bass cost £60 second hand.

I had a Wesley 4-string as my first fretless bass. The acrylic body is more dense than most wooden bodies basses, but this one had a relatively small body so the overall weight was very similar. Was quite bright sounding, but nothing that couldn't be tamed by rolling the tone control off a little bit. IMO was vastly superior in sound, playability and looks to the Squier VMJ that I bought supposedly to replace it.

While there are plenty of bands that both me and my other half would love to go and see together there are also lots that only one of us have any time for. In those situations we're quite happy to go and do our own thing separately. She'll probably go with some of her friends, and I'll go on my own as I've learnt through experience that unless I go with people who are likely to enjoy the gig as much as I hope to, the evening will invariably end in disappointment for somebody.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1485121167' post='3221392'] I'm fascinated with this concert film. [url="https://youtu.be/i_0l1zxNeKg"]https://youtu.be/i_0l1zxNeKg[/url] I was a Senior in High School in 1972. My take away is how serious you guys take Rock & Roll. Obviously a good thing IMO. I am not sure why. It might be because at the time we took it for granted and it was harder for you guys to access. It looked like such a cool show and must have been a lot of fun. It also looked like an event where you could get in trouble. I wish I could have been there. You can get the point of the movie from the first few minutes in the opening scene. Comments please. Blue [/quote] If you've seen the flyer/poster that was in one of the other links in this thread you'll see that the complete bill was a lot broader than that film would have you believe, and there were some contemporary bands playing as well as those that had made their names in the 50s and 60s. Plus Britain is only a small place and getting to London even back in 1972 wasn't that difficult, so the organisers had the whole country to drawn on for their audience.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1485259916' post='3222518'] You best call them all and tell them that they are making toys, not suitable for serious gigging. [/quote] Which is of course what they are doing. IME any connector used in a gigging situation that doesn't lock securely into place is a failure just waiting to happen. I would include the 1/4" Jack in that category as well. It doesn't matter too much if it is just the cable connectors that fail as they can simply be replaced with one of the spares you are carrying, but it's generally the cassis-mounted socket that bears the brunt of the wear and that's far less easy to fix at short notice.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1485258658' post='3222491'] The older I get, the less I move around so that would not be a huge issue for me [/quote] My experience of them is that if you have to keep plugging and unplugging them, they sockets eventually fail. Also the cable tends to be thin a weedy and prone to damage simply through normal use. And of course if you replace it with something more substantial you add to the strain on the socket which makes it even more liable to failure. The only 3.5mm connectors I've had that have been completely reliable were those that were plugged in once and then never touched again.

Not sure about the strap. 3.5mm jack connectors, so not a really serious piece of gigging kit unless they are the locking kind like those fitted to some wireless units.

Vocals. Apparently I had a great singing voice until it broke. These days I sound like the Red Dalek trying to carry a tune.

[quote name='mrn1989' timestamp='1484920237' post='3219724'] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1979-MUSIC-MAN-SABRE-BASS-NECK-made-in-USA-/122315679902?hash=item1c7a95289e:g:KhEAAOSwTA9X2wl4"]http://www.ebay.co.u...hEAAOSwTA9X2wl4[/url] [/quote] You must be new here.

A "Custom" bass covers a wide variety of possibilities from a Fender-type bass in a configuration that Fender don't produce as standard to something that is completely new in terms of design and playability; and everything in between. If you want to stick with a UK luthier there are plenty to choose from. I have over 50 bookmarked, all of who AFAIK are still in business. By all means have a look at the luthiers being mentioned, but before placing an order be sure to try at least a couple of examples that they have made. There's more than one luthier mentioned so far in this thread that has some very tasty looking instruments on their site, but when I've come to actually try some, I couldn't get on with any of them. I've had 2 guitars and 2 basses custom made for me and they are still among my favourite instruments that I own and play. Here's my criteria for picking a luthier to make you instrument: 1. Find someone who is already making something very similar (if not exactly) what you want. There are hundreds of luthiers in the world producing custom basses. At least one of them should already be making something close to what you want. 2. Try some of their instruments. It doesn't matter how wonderful they look on the web site. If the instruments don't speak to you when you play them then it's unlikely this particular luthier will be able to make what you want. 3. Talk to your prospective luthiers. IMO getting a good rapport with them is one of the most important things when commissioning a bass. 4. Don't get bogged down on the minute details. This IMO is where most custom builds go wrong. You commission something that is a combination of all the things that you liked about individual basses without considering how they are all going to fit together and end up with the bass equivalent of "Homer's Car". For my most recent custom build I picked the luthier because I liked one of his basic designs. I then went in with what I wanted in terms of sound, playability, and a colour scheme, and left the details of woods, pickups and hardware to them. Good luck!

When I was running a MacBook for my bands backing, it was mounted in a 3U rack case with a detachable top. MacBook sat on the top 1U space on a shelf and the MIDI and audio interface occupied the lowest 1U. Everything was hard wired together inside the rack including the PSU so that there was no chance of anything becoming unplugged mid-gig. There was a patch panel on the back for the audio and MIDI outputs from the interface all on clearly marked XLR connectors. At the gig I simply set this rack up on it's stand removed the front, back and top panels, plugged in the connections for the audio and external MIDI gear, one mains plug for all the equipment in the rack, and then opened up the MacBook and I ready to go. As others have said, you need to Max out the RAM and replace the HDD with the biggest SSD you can afford. IME spinning disk media is not reliable enough in most gig situations, the vibrations from the bass content can set off the hard disk protection, which might be the cause of your audio glitches etc.

TBH I've never found the need to have to adjust EQ on my bass rig to overcome bad room acoustics, except on two occasions. The first was in a long low-ceilinged space full of hard reflective surfaces, where nothing I did made the bass sound any better than my default setting (if there had been a control for removing room reverberation I might have been able to do something), and the other was in an octagonal shaped hall where the walls acted as a parabolic reflector so that when the bass sounded fine out in the audience, it was virtually inaudible on-stage unless I was stood directly in front of my rig, which was a pity since it was a nice big stage with plenty of room to move about.

Surely Leo Fender, and now Sterling Ball would want to use a Music Man bass amp?

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1484861091' post='3219269'] Ooooooh, not sure that I buy that from a physics point of view. If a room has resonances which artificially amplify certain frequency ranges to cause those to "bloom" and "boom" then reducing the input signal into the room in those frequencies (i.e. eq-ing them out/reducing at the amp) will reduce the level of the resonant frequencies in the room - the amount of boom. That is surely what people mean when they say they "adjust the EQ to suit the room"? That's why sound engineers/designers measure the frequency response of rooms in which they install PA systems with white and pink noise and then set graphic EQs to reduce (or enhance) frequencies which are dominant (or phase cancel a bit). [/quote] The problem is that the frequencies that are enhanced or reduced by the acoustics of the room depend to a certain extent on the position of the sound source and also that of the listener. So using EQ correct the problem may well make it go away at some points but can also be too much correction or make it much worse at others. EQ will get you some of the way towards correcting room acoustic problems but it's not a consistent solution for the whole room. Remember that if you could sort out the acoustics of the room completely by using EQ then recording studio control rooms wouldn't need lots of expensive acoustic treatment to give the engineer and producer the ideal listening environment. They could simply slap a 31 band graphic in front of the control room speakers and use a spectrum analyser to set it up. In fact this was actually fashionable for about 15 minutes in budget studios in the mid 80s until everyone realised that it only worked at the point at which the sound was being sampled and that the required correction changed every time the something in the room moved.

Everything you need to know about playing the guitar: [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/sideburns940_zpsee5sb9rk.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1484839415' post='3218982'] I think your way is right. Adjust your amp for the room, set and forget. Use the EQ on your bass to make changes per song. [/quote] Two problems with this approach: 1. You can't fix what is mostly a time domain problem (bad room acoustics) with a frequency domain solution (EQ). 2. And if you could, then every time you make an EQ adjustment on your bass, you are potentially negating the correction you've applied at your amp.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1484837799' post='3218953'] Were ELP ever critically acclaimed? [/quote] Depends what publications you read. I recall a very prog-rock orientated magazine from the mid 70s who seemed to think ELP were the greatest band ever.

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1484833632' post='3218896'] I can't help wondering what all the artists mentioned in this thread would make of the music made by the (mostly) hobbyist basschatters? I do include myself here btw. [/quote] Really? I would imagine that they don't care in the slightest. The albums mentioned in this thread have all sold rather well. I'll take money in the bank over critical acclaim any day. No matter how awesome a record you make there will always be more people in the world who don't like it than there are those who do. If as a musician you haven't developed a thick skin to criticism, then you should probably take up something safer and less subjective instead. I stop worrying a long time ago about what other people thought of the music I was producing. I just get on make the music that I want to.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1484783293' post='3218504'] Do you find you like the EQ sections in all preamps? I don't. The preamp on my Stingray is nothing like the EQ section on my LMIII or my Streamliner 900 which is again different. And there's a good reason why they're different. So no, onboard preamps do not necessarily duplicate the controls on your amp. That's like saying that all basses sound the same. [/quote] TBH apart from a GK amp in the rehearsal room that had a generally confusing control layout, I don't think I've ever come across an amp that I couldn't get EQ'd to give me the sound that I wanted out of my bass. And for me, in a band mix (and lets face it, that what really matters) most basses do sound the same. Although I think that's mostly down to me adjusting my playing technique and amp EQ settings to get the sound I want. Maybe other people will play up the strengths and weaknesses in sound of different basses. I find myself tending to play them down. These days my choice of bass to use is entirely down to image and how easy it is the play the songs on it.

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1484794189' post='3218533'] I'm in Las Vegas at the moment and tempted to drive to NAMM for a day - any tips? Can you buy tickets for entry at the door? [/quote] IIRC it's supposed to be a trade-only show and not technically open to the general public, so unless you have a contact there who can get you in, I wouldn't risk it.

It shouldn't take too long to try all the options. The tuner should ideally go at the front of the chain so it gets the cleanest signal, but as has been suggested it might be worth putting it at the end to use it mute noisy pedals when you aren't playing. Otherwise just try swapping the order of the other two. Personally I'd start by putting the chorus last, but it's purely subjective and what sounds best to you.

With that specification, surely the Thunderbird should have "Gibson" on the headstock. Can't believe that the "budget" brand is selling a potentially more authentic version of the bass than the parent company.

[quote name='MisterT' timestamp='1484740926' post='3217932'] Oh lordy... full size keys... [url="http://www.korg.com/us/products/synthesizers/arpodyssey_fs/"]http://www.korg.com/.../arpodyssey_fs/[/url] [/quote] And an extra £500 on the price.

The answer is obvious. It's all in the name. So one of these: [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/_86_zpsi4czssjb.jpg[/IMG]

The decos are still there although it looks as though the mini Warwick has finally sold.