BigRedX

If the band's management and label are actually any good, there won't be a lot for you to worry about since they should be doing all the day to day organisation of the band, leaving the musicians to get on with doing the the things they should be best at - namely writing and playing the music. However don't sign anything without getting it checked by a lawyer who specialises in the music business. Now would be a good time to join the Musician's Union since they can put you in touch with the right legal people and also offer a free contract check for members.

IME glossy necks look and feel great. All the basses I use regularly (Gus, Sei, Warwick Starbass) have high gloss necks and I've never had any problems with them. Maybe the finish that these manufacturers use is more suitable than that found on cheaper instruments? The stickiest necks I've ever come across were on new Warwicks with an oil? finish, followed by a Traben bass that had such a thin satin finish on the neck, I could feel the grain of the wood. Neither were very nice to play.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1480081397' post='3181521'] Of course they'll do so while using a full stack, whereas they would accomplish the same effect using a sensible 50w 1x12 combo, giving an entirely new meaning to the term 'dummy load'. [/quote] But there are some genres where playing with anything other than a full stack behind you, just doesn't look right, and when it takes up the same floor space on stage as a combo on a tilt-back stand, what's the harm?

[quote name='Grassie' timestamp='1480067524' post='3181377'] Mmmm... the posted image isn't very big on my screen, although the actual image is 300dpi... Any suggestions to enhance your viewing pleasure...? [/quote] An unfortunate side-effect of using the Basschat image hosting and the need to conserve space on their server. Try an external image host like Photobucket.

Dummy loads are for guitarists who want to make the power amp valves in their amp work hard without producing ear-splitting volume.

If you are on a desert island by yourself it doesn't matter what tone you have. They all work.

[quote name='BassBunny' timestamp='1479844334' post='3179760'] Unlikely going to carry any distance except for 1 Gig a year that I use Manchester's Metrolink to get to. I think this is why the Mono Bass Sleeve is so actractive as it is definately smaller/thinner/lighter that an ABS case, and this what I am after [/quote] I have a Mono M80. From a protection PoV it's great and you can squeeze into spaces in cars where a hard case wouldn't have enough give in it to fit. Unfortunately as a gig bag I find it very uncomfortable to wear on my back for any length of time, as the straps are too close together at the top and because of how they are mounted in relation to the height of the case and the fact that I'm only 5'6" means that the lower part of the case hits the back of my thighs on every step as I walk. However other Basschatters with the same case don't seem to have any problems with it, hence my recommendation to try before you buy. I picked the M80, because at the time it offered a good amount of protection, but was smaller and lighter than the rest of semi-rigid competition. I should also point out that after 5 years of less than once a week use mine is starting to wear out. The exterior is looking a bit shabby and the main zip has become damaged at the bottom, which means I can no longer fully open the case. If I was buying another gig bag without being able to check it out first I'd settle for a standard well padded bag at around the £30-40 mark. The Ritter one I had previously was far more comfortable to wear, and although it only lasted 3 years of weekly use before it was too worn to trust it to protect the bass inside, to me it would make more financial sense than an expensive semi-rigid case.

Unfortunately it's only the standard sets. So if like me you favour something like the 10 - 52 set you're going to be out of luck.

The differences in level between instrument (before the amp) and line (in the effects loops) shouldn't be such that they will damage your pedals. It might not sound very good if your pedal doesn't have sufficient headroom to prevent input clipping, but unless it has been poorly designed with low tolerance components, it won't break.

The reason the neck moves sideways is two fold, Firstly the routing templates for making the neck pockets were wearing out meaning that they were routed over-size. Secondly Fender didn't have required engineering tolerances to make the micro-tilt neck adjustment work properly. If the plate that the micro-tilt screw acts agains hasn't been fitted perfectly flat, then the screw will act sideways as well as up causing the neck to shift in the over-size pocket. There are a couple things that you can try. It might be possible to reseat the plate so that it is perfectly level with the flat part of the neck heel, but it will need to be absolutely level. Alternatively you can wind back the micro-tilt screw so that it doesn't have any effect, and use a shim instead to get the required neck tilt angle.

Are you going to need to carry it son your back for any distance? If so don't buy without trying it first. Not all of them are comfortable to for everyone wear. If not, then almost anything with a decent amount of padding will do. However check the specifications first. A lot of the semi-rigid cases like the Mono ones are only marginally smaller and lighter than a Hiscox case.

IME deps are simply too much hard work for an originals band. From personal experience you have to limit your set to songs you have decent recorded versions of, so unless you are promoting your latest album, it's going to mean digging up material that you'd stopped playing ages ago. And unless you actually manage to get a rehearsal or two in with them before hand, you have to trust that they have learnt all the right nuances. Finally, just getting them to look the part image-wise for the band is generally an exercise in futility. Even a simple instruction like, wear black, no visible band or brand logos and no trainers is too difficult for some.

Depends on the effects and the amp and sorts of sounds you hope to get out of the effects and amp. Some pedals benefit from being before the amp and others in the effects loop. With your set up since the amp doesn't have valves, it's contribution towards changing the sound is in the EQ section as most amps have the EQ section before the effects loop (although I would check your manual to be certain), so consider where in the your signal chain you would place an EQ pedal and then wire in your amp appropriately.

£6000 is actually pretty cheap for a buy on considering it is a 9 date tour (although I wonder if the figure is significant to the genre - do the maths!) I'd be looking to your record company for advice. That's some of what they are there for after all; and if they can't supply it, I be pondering the wisdom of actually being signed to them. This would be my check list: 1. Check the popularity of the band and the venues being played. They might be using the buy on to finance a tour into less tried and tested areas for them. 2. Find out what the plan and deal is if any gigs are cancelled. 3. Find out who else is going to be on the tour. Personally I'd only consider a buy on if it meant my band was going to play immediately before the headliners. There's no point in spending all that money only to find that you are opening a four band package and mostly playing to no-one. 4. Make sure you have loads of merchandise to sell. That's where you are going to make some of your buy on fee back, and that's what helps your potential fans remember who you are after the gig is over. Also I'd be looking for some sort of contribution from the record label. If it's not forthcoming them maybe they don't consider being on the tour good value for money as regards promoting your band.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1479807345' post='3179359'] The problem with bands is that they contain other people... [/quote] That's also their greatest strength.

OK. That makes sense. My "why bother" comment was based on all things being equal, in which case there is a definite difference between playing bass lines on a bass guitar and playing them on a keyboard. So... if you are thinking about making the switch remember it is a whole different game. Things that are trivial to play on the bass guitar might not be on the keyboard and vice-versa. And all those little nuances that you take for granted on the bass guitar and probably do without even thinking about them, for instance ghost notes, pops and slap (in the middle of a standard bass line) are either near impossible or are going to take a lot of programming skill and then a lot of playing practice to master. However there are plenty of styles of music that make a point of using keyboard bass rather than the bass guitar, so If you are going to be forced to look at playing the bass part from a keyboard, it might also be wise to start getting into some of those...

Getting a realistic bass guitar part out of another instrument is not just about duplicating the sound but you also need to duplicate the playing style. A keyboard is simply not the same as a bass guitar, the whole approach to what you play on each instrument will be different. Of course you could send loads of time programming up the sounds and then practicing so you approach the keyboard playing style in the same way as you would a bass guitar. But really? Why bother? Maybe it's because I can play both to an adequate standard, I pick one or the other depending on the both the sound and feel I require for the part.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1479733006' post='3178784'] Do you press on the strings at both sides of the nut and saddles to create witness points, or you don't bother with that? [/quote] I do with the E and B on my Gus basses as they bend at almost 90° over the bridge and need a little help to bed down properly because of their girth. I don't bother at the nut because all my basses have angled headstocks and properly cut nuts, so the strings bend properly anyway.

AFAICS the silver on the original Fender logo is actual silver ink. I would have thought that these decals are screen printed two colours: black and silver with the silver being printed "behind" the black. There's not really any way you can replicate this with an ink-jet printer, unless you go for a high end one that supports custom metallic inks, and even then there is more than one shade of silver, so unless it happens to be the same as the one that Fender use, it's still not going to be right. BTW the difference in spacing on the word "BASS" on the two decals is a classic example of how a screen printing stencil breaks down with use.

[quote name='nash' timestamp='1479465322' post='3176724'] I've just started to explore this part of bass playing but i'm wondering if there's a go to piece of stand alone gear? [/quote] TBH any decent synth that you find easy to program will do the job.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1479682100' post='3178486'] But, which one is best if all you want to do is play bass lines and sound very much like a bass guitar? [/quote] A bass guitar.

Bubinga5, you really need to go and try an Enfield bass for yourself. It has plenty of variety when it comes to getting different tones out of it. Whether any of them are the one you want I don't know, because AFAIAC, every single bass sounds different, but ultimately the only thing I am bothered about is whether I can get a usable sound out of it in the band context, and with very few exceptions for me the answer is yes, irrespective of what the bass is.

[quote name='christhammer666' timestamp='1479726254' post='3178702'] I wish I had your confidence [/quote] Unfortunately if you don't have that "confidence" then you are probably never going to have any chance of "making it". Buying on to a tour was always the norm in the past. It's partly how the headlining band finance the tour in the first place. With no support band buying on then there's probably no tour at all. And others are right in saying that this is what your record label should be paying for (recoupable from your sales of course). However IME these days most record labels simply aren't worth the bother, because they just don't have the financial resources required to make it worth a band's while signing to them.

Most strings need to be stretched out, because the material that they are made of has not been under tension before, and therefore still has some "give" in it that needs to be worked out before the tuning will stabilise. This is separate to any issues that you might have from strings bedding in around the machine head tuning posts. I don't bother stretching out my strings unless I'm going to be playing the newly strung guitar or bass with other instruments in next couple of days. Instead I just tune about a semi tone sharp and let the excess elasticity in the string work itself out. I suppose it could be possible to damage the string by excessive manual stretching, but I've never had it happen myself, and I would generally suspect that the string was faulty anyway if it occurred.

It might have had a list price of £29.99, but now it's out of print and therefore entirely at the mercy of supply and demand. Having said that, you should be able to pick up a copy in "new" condition for around £50 plus postage if you shop around.