BigRedX

[quote name='inthedoghouse' timestamp='1492372333' post='3279768'] I've never done step 3 with my basses but I always do with my 'other' guitars [/quote] I've got one guitar with slotted post machine heads and I use this method for the plain strings. Even then it's not always completely secure, and at some point I'll probably fit some Gotoh locking machine heads instead.

I've been using Schallers since the mid-80s and never had a problem with them that wasn't down to user error. When I bought my Warwick Starbass it came with the Warwick version of the Dunlops. Within 3 months of getting the bass the locking mechanism on one of them failed very embarrassingly just before a gig which resulted in a rather more subdued stage presence than normal. I ordered some Schallers the next day. If you follow the instructions given by EBS_Freak earlier in this thread, you can't go wrong.

IIRC the Violent Femmes use the massive-bodied Earthwood bass which has a unique sound all of it's own and not something I would like to have to try to replicate with a standard acoustic bass guitar no matter what type of pickup and amplification.

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1492114626' post='3278134'] It's definitely a 5 pin on mine. TC says standard midi here [url="https://tcelectronic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/228343988-RC4-What-kind-of-cable-"]https://tcelectronic...-kind-of-cable-[/url] [/quote] Then they are wrong. The MIDI standard only requires pins 2 (the middle one), 4 and 5 the ones immediately to the left and right of pin 2 to be connected. Most good-quality MIDI cables only connect those pins as it allows a far more chunky 2-conductor and screen cable to be used. Can you power the footswitch with a separate PSU? That way it would probably work with a 3-wire MIDI cable. Peavey did something similar in the 90s with their foot switches which would work as standard MIDI patch select pedal using a MIDI cable and an external PSU, but connected to Peavey gear with a 7-way cable, it was self-powered and you got access to a lot more functions.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1492515443' post='3280817'] have I missed an announcement? didn't know you'd stop gigging, what's behind that? assuming you want to tell us of course, if you don't that's ok [/quote] Unfortunately since the end of 2015 Mr Venom has been too unwell to gig, which has effectively meant the end of the band. We had to cancel most of our album launch tour and I've been stuck with about 350 unsold copies of the album... Since then Mr Venom has started a new very low-key musical project that is mostly recording, and I am currently playing bass with The Death Notes.

Of course everyone's audiences are different, but if this helps here is how The Terrortones sales have broken down over the past 7 years. 1. By far out biggest source of income from selling our music was from CDs, Records and Cassettes sold at gigs. This accounts for about 75% of our total income through music sales. 2. CDs, Records, and Cassettes sold on-line either through our web site or Bandcamp - approximately 15%. 3. Streaming via Spotify - about 5%. 4. Actual downloads from Amazon and iTunes - just under 5% in total equally split between between the two services. This has recently been overtaken by Spotify streams in terms of income. 5. Everything else - mostly Apple Music streams and a few from Deezer. Negligible compared with any of the above. So if your band is gigging regularly, then selling physical copies is probably going to be the biggest source of income from your recorded music. Now that The Terrortones are no longer gigging, everything except Spotify streaming has dropped to insignificant proportions. HTH

There is no right answer to this question although the aggregator mentioned in the OP is obviously the wrong answer for everyone except the lazy and stupid. What you have to do is look at the deals and work out which is best for you in terms of projected sales vs up-front costs. Unless you can guarantee a lot of download sales I would go for one with a single fixed fee and who takes the lowest percentage of your sales. If you do go with CD Baby, don't bother with the "Pro" version as they don't offer anything that UK artists with PRS and PPL membership don't already have for free. I also wouldn't bother with getting the aggregator to do your physical product distribution. IME the vast majority of sales come from people buying CDs and records at gigs. If you don't have the technical know-how to set up your own merch page on your website then Bandcamp seems to offer the best VFM. One thing that all the aggregators make a big deal of is how many different service they will get you music on to. However does anyone actual use any service other than iTunes, Amazon and Spotify? When I look at our stats, that is where 99% of our income comes from.

It's not really 4 "bass Players" though is it? It a band with 4 musicians who happen to play the bass guitar. There is an important difference.

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1492019865' post='3277287'] I assume you mean the RC4 foot switch, [url="http://www.tcelectronic.com/rc4-remote/"]like this[/url]? The cable that came with mine (I bought it new a few years ago) was an 8 pin midi cable and was around 5 meters long. It was a bit flimsy feeling and I was concerned about how long it would last. It was replaced by a sturdier 8 pin one that our keyboard player had going spare. But obviously that's no real help to you at the minute! Amazon have a no quibble returns policy. I'd send yours back and order an 8 pin midi cable to replace it. [/quote] Are you sure you meant 8-pin? Looking at the specification and the photos of the RH750 on the TC Electronic web it is most definitely a 180° 5-pin DIN connector on the amp. And to be fair to TC Electronic it doesn't say MIDI anywhere in their on-line specifications or description for the connector. The problem haas arisen because the original MIDI specification was never supposed to use DIN plugs as their connector standard, but 3-pin XLRs, and that the DIN option was an alternative to be used in low-cost cases only. Of course everyone went and used the DIN option rather than the far more professional XLR one, and the 5-pin connector was used because it was the most common.

Nothing wrong with liking J Geils Band. Their music saw me through the uninteresting times between Glam Rock and Punk in the 70s. And IMO Centrefold was one of their weaker songs.

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1492019118' post='3277276'] Worryingly, the plug ins are acting up too, without fx being used anywhere else. I put it down to having an i3, but wonder what difference an i5 or i7 would actually make. I've no reason to be cynical, just a nature flaw [/quote] If you want to get the maximum out of your current computer try the following: 1. Make sure you aren't running any applications other than your DAW program. 2. Turn off Bluetooth and WiFi 3. Unplug any USB peripherals that aren't actually being used for making music. For a laptop that should be everything except your audio interface, and external audio drive if you are using one (you really should be). 4. If you are feeling really brave make sure you are complete disconnected from the internet and turn off your anti-virus programs. Don't forget to turn them back on when before you reconnect! Does your version of Cubase have meters for showing the amount of processor and disk usage while it is running? These can be invaluable in tracking down performance bottlenecks. IME the biggest performance boost you can give a laptop is to replace the system drive with an SSD, and then buy a big fast external USB 2 or 3 drive to store all your audio files on.

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1492013565' post='3277210'] I'm new to all this, like a week in. Already, possible laptop issues are presenting themselves. I have a 2-3 year old HP, i3 processor and 8GB RAM. Running Cubase Elements, but getting a lot of processing issues so need to constantly freeze tracks. I use a lot of inbuilt fx and instruments so wonder what, if ever, would be a worthy upgrade? [/quote] Probably. However if you are using a lot of effects it might be worth thinking about how you are using them and work in a more efficient and processor friendly fashion. There is a great temptation because it is quick and easy and you can use each effect as many times as you want (given that you have enough processing power) to slap each effect onto the instrument or audio channel that it is processing. However if you have several channels all using the same effect with the same or very similar settings, then it is far more efficient to route all these channels to a bus and put one instance of the effect on the bus.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1492013789' post='3277214'] A 70's effect pedal with a siren? Cool! [/quote] IIRC it wasn't so much an effects pedal as some circuitry designed to produce a siren sound housed in an effect pedal shaped case. There was a foot switch to activate it, a volume control and an output jack socket. It didn't actually process anything so there wasn't an audio input.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1492005055' post='3277098'] And all the bodies need to be cut to the same shape and depth. Otherwise the size of the piece of wood could have an effect. [/quote] And if the bodies were made from multiple pieces the joins would need to be in the same place on each body, bonded with the same type and amount of glue.

[quote name='KingPrawn' timestamp='1491978777' post='3276830'] When your not changing in the toilets �� [/quote] IMO there's no need to be changing in the toilets whatever level your band is at. I've found that a polite word with someone in charge at the venue will always result in being shown a room with a dry floor and that doesn't smell of piss where the band can change. [quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1492005235' post='3277102'] When you get paid for playing original music [/quote] I've never had a problem getting paid for playing original music. Still haven't "made it" though. [quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1491984980' post='3276886'] When someone comes up to you in the street and says 'are you that guy from..?' [/quote] Happens to me quite a lot, including once at a HIM gig in London, where someone recognised me as being from The Terrortones despite the fact we're not local and hadn't even played in London recently. [quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1491981882' post='3276856'] when you can pack up your day job [/quote] /Thread.

[quote name='Light Grenade' timestamp='1491569892' post='3274037'] You don't need to use apple products. I've been using a Lenovo PC and a Dell laptop 5 years with no problems at all - I just can't merit spending £1000 on a Macbook for average power. Either of these laptops will work just fine, and will only struggle with crazy sessions, and I'm talking 70 tracks with about 8 plugins on every track. [url="http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-15-7567-laptop/pd"]http://www.dell.com/...-7567-laptop/pd[/url] [/quote] I don't think I've ever spent £1000+ on any Mac (including my desktop models) apart from my very first Quadra 650 in the mid 90s from the days when Macs were very much niche products and priced accordingly. I've owned 3 lap tops starting with a PowerBook G4 in 2001 and I'm currently using a 2012 spec MacBook Pro which cost £700 from John Lewis when it was EoL'd last year. By my reckoning it should last me until 2023... If you look around there are plenty of EoL, reconditioned, B-stock and second-hand Mac bargains to be had. My desktop Mac is a second-hand 2008 3GHz 8-Core MacPro which came complete with 32GB of RAM at a total cost of £350 including delivery. [quote name='SH73' timestamp='1491687157' post='3274848'] I use Ableton live and no way I'm getting Mac. It's overrated..... [/quote] Fair enough. Your loss IMO. Do you absolutely need the portability of a Laptop? IME for the same price as you would pay for a laptop you can get a desktop machine and a 24" monitor with far more performance and power. You also get a lot more options for audio interfaces if you are not just relying on the USB ports a laptop has. Having said all that unless you are intending to go out a buy a couple of huge orchestral libraries and run 50+ tracks of that with multiple instance of convolution reverb plug-ins, anything with an i5 processor, SSD drive, and at least 16GB of RAM should do.

Any decent multi-effects unit will have a tap-tempo function which is by far the easiest way to ensure your delays are in time with the tempo of the song; and something that is notable by its absence on a lot of stand-alone delay pedals.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1492002094' post='3277063'] It's a easier than you think. Whatever you want to be the variable, just change that. Swap bodies but move over all the hardware and strings and measure pickup heights etc to be identical. If comparing necks - then even move the tuners and string retainers over and bolt to the same body for the test. [/quote] [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1492002631' post='3277073'] well, even then... because all bodies made of the same material are actually not identical, you're going to need to measure quite a few to get a sense for their natural variation, and THEN you can assess whether the distribution of both body materials are distinct enough or not. It seems like a lot of work when we already know the answer. Who needs facts? [/quote] Also you'll have to check that just the action of dis-assembling and then re-assembling the instruments isn't changing the sound either.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1491907867' post='3276311'] the best story I've got is where we played a small, very small, festival and the supplied kit didn't have a floor tom, one poor drummer couldn't get his head round it so played an upturned plastic dust bin instead, oh how we laughed [/quote] I used to play in a band whose drummer only used one rack tom and no floor tom. He was always quite happy for the drummers from other bands on the bill to use his kit and we always made sure that we told all the other bands we were playing with, that if they wanted more than a single rack tom they need to bring their own. And every time the drummers from the other bands would turn up and look at our supplied kit with dismay...

[quote name='Dropzone' timestamp='1491830355' post='3275686'] I did wonder about the truss rod, but thought the tension wouldn't be too much more. Ta [/quote] The tension will be a lot less. Low B strings have a significantly lower tension than the high G as any string tension chart will show you.

IMO it very much depends on how you view the recording (is it a fully-formed finished product, or just a "demo") and what formats you are intending to make it available on. However there is also the issue that, unless I've misunderstood your post, you've only recorded one song. In which case there is probably little point in putting it out on CD or another physical format as people want at least a couple of songs before they are prepared to part with their money. That pretty much leaves with with downloads only. IME audiences will only download from sources that they feel comfortable and confident with. That means for a lot of people if your song isn't on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify or one of the other major streaming or download services it doesn't matter if you are giving it away for free somewhere else they won't download it. Therefore what I would do is to find an aggregator service that suits you to get it on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc. where it will be available at the usual price, but also sign up for Bandcamp where you can give it away for free. Actually the best method to use on Bandcamp is to ask for a donation (which can be nothing) and then people will pay what they think it is worth. You'll be surprised by how many people still pay even though they don't have to. Finally as Len_derby says, depending on your audience demographic, you'll be surprised by how many people will actually want to buy a CD or vinyl off you after a gig. And a CD sold at a gig is a guaranteed sale with money in you pocket. A free download card is most likely to be lost before the person you've given it to gets around to downloading the track. Case in point. I saw two bands on Saturday. The Society (ex-Danse Society) and Hands of Industry. The Society had CDs to sell and I bought 2. Hands of Industry had nothing, but they do have a single for sale on the main download sites. If I remember to do it this week, I'll probably download it if I can work out which site is selling a non-data-compressed version, but had they had CDs at the gig I'd have bought one there and then.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1491824014' post='3275586'] Did they not share UK distribution with Tokai for a while, or something like that? If shops were ordering them from a distributor with "Tokai" in the name, I can see how the name might become associated with them even if it tells us nothing about the manufacturer. [/quote] The UK distributer for Tokai uses the tokai-guitars.co.uk web address for their site although the actual company is called RKM Supplies Ltd. It does seem to be the same people running it since Tokai guitars started appearing in the UK again in the early 2000s. They may or may not have also been importing the Rockinbetter basses alongside their core business of Tokai, but plenty of distributors in the UK handle multiple lines from different manufacturers, and so that doesn't mean anything. In my dealings with the UK distributor I found myself wading through a lot of BS, and was so disillusioned with them, that when I came to buy my Talbos I got them direct from Japan rather than through the official UK channels. All this dis-information stems from the fact that Tokai guitars are no longer made exclusively in Japan, and while models like the Talbo and the top of the range Love-Rocks are still MiJ, there are a lot of instruments bearing the Tokai name on the headstock that are made elsewhere, and it certainly shows in terms of lesser build and QC, and IMO doesn't do the Tokai name any favours. The general consensus regarding Rockinbetter and Tokai, is that if Tokai was going to make a 4001/4003 bass it would have Tokai on the TRC. They've made RIC-style guitars in the past all of which had the Tokai logo on them, but I've never seen a Tokai-branded 4001-style bass. With the wonders of the internet, I'm sure if one existed, there would have been a photograph of it doing the rounds by now. The fact that no photographic evidence has come to light is good enough for me to say that Tokai have not, and do not make a 4001 or 4003 style bass.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1491767605' post='3275261'] Who is it then? [/quote] As far as anyone knows, Rockinbetter is the brand name dreamt up by either an importer or a Chinese guitar factory. This might be same Chinese guitar factory that also makes, under licence, instruments at the cheaper end of the Tokai range (as well as instruments with lots of other brand names on the headstock); but that is it, as far as the Tokai association goes. Given RIC's litigious nature it's understandable that the company(s) and individuals involved want to remain anonymous, and this all helps with the "mystique" surrounding the brand. However there is little evidence to suggest that the link between Tokai and Rockinbetter is anything other than tenuous at best and most likely non-existent. It's notable that all the people trying to convince us that Tokai and Rockinbetter are one and the same are those who want to sell us a Rockinbetter.

Nord Lead - any version

Rasputina: Possum Of The Grotto. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VfUe0aIRqA