BigRedX

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1476450539' post='3154436'] £20 for 30M ? [url="http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=T100&cm_mmc=Google-_-pla_gen_google-shopping_packing-and-mailing-_-packing-and-mailing-_-T100&s2m_channel=544&_%24ja=tsid:34770|cid:242833697|agid:16600084217|tid:pla-91709944697|crid:55356844337|nw:g|rnd:3695745357732024944|dvc:c|adp:1o4&gclid=CjwKEAjwhILABRDwo8mlqt6ug38SJACNSq_kG_WdLLkfKavZu5M1AhJwmSF81EYN4JFH4yujtD8b3hoCqEvw_wcB"]http://www.viking-di...D8b3hoCqEvw_wcB[/url] [/quote] [url=http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bubblewrap-Small-LARGE-Bubble-300mm-500mm-750mm-1000mm-1500mm-10m-100m-FREE-P-P-/222020264781?var=&hash=item33b170634d:m:m0P2TGdRSEYaDjFbLhAB9iA]1m wide x 100m long for just over £20 including delivery[/url]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1476446493' post='3154383'] I bought a roll from B & Q a couple of years back. [url="http://www.diy.com/departments/04008590-cs-bio-bubblewrap-500mm-x-100m-roll/1120598_BQ.prd"]http://www.diy.com/d.../1120598_BQ.prd[/url] Still not quite finished it, despite best efforts [/quote] That's expensive - I'd be wanting a 1m wide roll for that price.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1476442968' post='3154340'] Its mainly down to a bass being crap as a trigger... [/quote] If you want to do pitch detection (to enable you to use other wave forms and therefore open up all the synthesis possibilities and not just filter and amplitude modulation) then for all pedals and most "guitar controller" systems the laws or physics are simply against you. In order for them to detect the pitch of the note being played they need a minimum of 1½ cycles of the waveform. And this is for the very best pitch detection systems - most of them will require a few more cycles to accurately detect the pitch of a plucked string. 1½ cycles of the waveform for the open E string on a bass guitar is 36 milliseconds. That's well into slap-back delay territory! At around the open G string you stop getting noticeable latency between plucking the string and hearing the synthesised sound. Of course that's before we consider instabilities in the detection system due to the playing technique not being completely clean and the accuracy dropping of as the note dies away. Tony James of Sigue-Sigue Sputnik who has been using synth bass from pitch detection pretty much longer than anyone uses a guitar controller (where the latency is half of what it would be on a bass due to the strings being an octave higher) but still has to play slightly ahead of the beat in order for his synth notes to be in the right place rhythmically. If you really want to play synth type sounds from your bass you do have a couple of more useable options. 1. You could daisy chain a load of pedals together, with something like a distortion feeding into a filter and envelope shaper. However your source tones are limited compared with a real synthesiser and you are also restricted by the note length and to a large extent by the envelope of the original bass guitar signal. Also setting up a new sound is nowhere near as quick and easy is pressing the button on any programmable synth. 2. Look for a system that doesn't require pitch detection to produce note information for driving a synthesiser. There are plenty of "game controller" type devices that will produce MIDI output from something that looks a bit like a guitar. 3. If you really need to use a "normal" bass guitar then your only option is the [url=http://www.industrialradio.com.au]Industrial Radio[url] system. This uses sensors in the frets to detect the pitch of the notes and therefore does away with most of the latency of the pitch to MIDI systems. You are also able to use it as an ordinary bass too. I've played the previous version of this technology that was licensed to Peavey, and it is by far the best of all the guitar type systems that I have used, although you still need to clean up your playing technique to get the best out of it. In the end I found it was easier to just learn how to play a bit of keyboard. I got the results I wanted far quicker and far more accurately and consistently than any bass to synthesiser system, plus I could buy whatever keyboard I needed to get the sounds I was after. If some with very little technical ability like me can do it, then anyone can.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1476442927' post='3154337'] The main problem with Skegness is the lack of motorway there. [/quote] Plenty would say that's a good thing!

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1476438196' post='3154265'] I get the bass porn angle but it gets frustrating as I know I'm not likely to own anything costing £1.5k plus. It's not the money per se, as I could go out and buy a Stingray today, but I cant justify it to myself I'm a hobbyist and there are too many other things competing for my hard earned. [/quote] That's fair enough. But you don't need a magazine to tell you what to think about a bass at the less expensive end of the market. There are plenty hanging on the walls of music shops all over the country for you to try out for yourself and allow you to form your own opinions. And unless you are actually in the market for a(nother) bass, then all magazine reviews are essentially bass porn irrespective of the price point.

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1476427481' post='3154120'] Some fuzzes can cause problems in the loop. There was a thread on thefretboard by some amp builders as to why. Something about causing output transformer modulation and instability. I'll see if I can find it. [/quote] Unless there is something before the effects loop that filters out whatever nasties are being produced by the Fuzz, I can't see why this would be the case.

Having spent a lot of my time since the early 80s trying to make basses (and guitars) sound like synths and synths sound like guitars or basses, I've finally learnt that the easiest way is to use the right instrument in the first place. If you need a synth sound buy a (keyboard) synth. I found it easier and quicker to teach myself enough rudimentary keyboard technique to be able to play what I wanted, instead of trying to find the right pedal (or combination of pedals) or invest in a guitar to synth system, and then spend even more time learning how to modify my playing technique to make it work properly.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1476431181' post='3154152'] I'm happy to faff about cutting cardboard to pack a bass. It's not hard. The last cardboard I got, I lifted out of a skip at the back of Mothercare. I didn't ask, but I'd be amazed if they got upset. IMHO the more prized contribution to packing a bass is the bubble-wrap. I get loads with the stuff my company ships out to me, but where do others get it from? Or do you always sell a bass with a case? Otherwise, what-else do you do to protect the bass inside the cardboard? (I too should get some work done too now ) [/quote] I buy mine off eBay. You can get a roll 100m x 1.5m for just over £30. Not a brilliant price if you only have one bass to ship, but excellent value if you send lots of things that need it.

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1476437103' post='3154240'] I agree with ead about the bass reviews. These are largely geared towards kit costing £1,500 plus. If BGM is meant to be targeted at the ordinary bloke/ette in the street it'd be more useful to have more reviews of sub £500 basses. I buy it for a read on the train/plane and on balance it's a decent mag IMO, except when there's any mention of Gene Simmons. [/quote] As I say whenever this subject comes up. I don't need to read reviews of sub £500 basses. If I want to find about them I can go into a music shop where there will be plenty to try which beats even the best of reviews every time. For me the interesting reviews are of those instruments I can't easily get my hands on. Those tend to be the more expensive ones.

Bear in mind that the Ibanez is short scale. I'd want to hear how good that low B string is before buying one. Most semi-acoustic and hollow bodied basses have slim bodies - certainly all the ones that I've played are. I own a MiK Pro-series Warwick Starbass which is 1.5" deep at the sides and a little bit more in the middle with the (slightly) arched top and back.

In in case anyone is wondering what we are on about here are two photos of one of my stands showing the affected part: [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Stand%204.1_zps9hiwurds.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/Stand%204.2_zpsmfavnv2b.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1476433364' post='3154179'] Mine's gone sticky but it's the only one I have and used every gig, can't really do without it at the moment so can't send it back for replacement until theres a break in gigs, maybe December. Its only the bit you briefly touch to lower and raise the centre shaft, it doesnt come in to contact with any instruments. The foam bits that touch the body and the headstock grabbers are all fine so far. [/quote] That's the only bit that has gone sticky on any of mine, but it was disgusting and I needed to wash my hands every time after handling, so it really wasn't suitable for gigging use. You don't need to send your old one back (I didn't have to return any of the 4 I had with the sticky grip). Simply photograph the sticky part showing that it is sticky and get in touch with S&T and they should send you a brand new one.

Actually, thinking about it I have only rarely in 40+ years of buying magazines, bought one on the strength of what was on the cover. When I first bought a magazine - International Musician in the mid 70s - it was simply because that was AFAICS the only publication that covered the musical instruments I was interested in. It didn't matter what or who was on the cover. In fact IIRC the very first issue I ever bought actually had a picture of a miner on the cover and headline asking what the MU was going to do for me, so the cover really had nothing to do with wether I bought it or not. I bought it every month. Several years later when I discovered Beat Instrumental, I bought that as well - after all in those days I wanted to get as much information about the musical instruments as I could, and the two magazines were quite different in the musicians they interviewed and the gear that they reviewed, so both were equally relevant to me, although the late 70s and early 80s incarnation of Beat Instrumental tended to be a little more left-field and the music and instruments that it covered so if I had to choose between them, that would have been the one that got my vote. After that in the early 80s there was a massive proliferation of magazines covering musical instruments, and so I tended to buy all of the ones that covered whatever my current musical obsession was, be it synths, home recording, guitars or bass. I tended not to buy ones full of notation and tab, because I have zero interest in being able to play other peoples songs and TBH it's instruments (and the people who make them) that I am interested in rather than the people who play them. Over the last 5 years I've pretty much stopped buying print magazines, mostly because by the time they are in the shops the information is already out of date compared with what is on the internet. I haven't bothered with any of the on-line magazines either. What I've seen of them has been a disappointment. For me they manage to combine all that is wrong with print magazines without really embracing the possibilities offered by non-linear interactivity of the electronic medium. The videos could be great but they all go on too long before they get to the point and most of "presenters" are simply unwatchable, because they need a proper script and education in the use of the edit. These days the only time I buy print magazines (on any subject) is when my band is in them. The one exception is Wire magazine which I buy on the 3-4 occasions each year when it has the Wire Tapper cover mounted CD.

if you can get the bass restored back to it's original condition under an insurance claim then why not.

It's also known as "Nottingham By The Sea"

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1476376705' post='3153811'] Christ, am I talking to myself? To re-cap: We had a Brexit thread. It ran, had its 15 minutes, and is now locked. The subject is therefore closed. We have a longstanding 'avoid politics' policy. It's there for a reason. I've already asked once (and repeated once) that politics in general and Brexit specifically should be avoided in this thread. Comments have now been unapproved, as will any more that appear. [/quote] In that case you need to have a blanket policy of no longer discussing the prices of any musical equipment on the forum, as these day it is completely linked to the current political situation.

I have zero interest in the cover "star" if it is a person. A particularly unusual bass on there might persuade me to buy a copy though.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1476366902' post='3153688'] Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V [/quote] :-))

Go to your local bicycle shop and get one of the boxes that a full sized bike comes in. Made of considerably stronger cardboard than any bass or guitar shipping box I've ever seen and the shop staff are only too happy to get rid of them.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1476038031' post='3150725'] I must say I love the epiphone thunderbird classic but its pretty much a Gibson anyhow same materials nearly the same construction same pickups same woods etc etc. [/quote] Really? Only the Classic-IV PRO is anywhere near close to the [i][b]current[/b][/i] Gibson version of the Thunderbird, the others are all different construction (bolt-on necks) and different woods, hardware and electronics. Even then the current Gibson Thunderbird has little in common with the original from the 60s other than the basic shape.

You use whichever note sounds the best to you.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1476354393' post='3153521'] So, what's the general consensus about a cure for the stickiness? [/quote] Get in touch with Strings And Things who are the distributor for Hercules in the UK, send them some photos of the affected stand and they will send you a brand new replacement free of charge. Just in case anyone hasn't read through the other thread which I started, I have 6 Hercules stands bought at various times over the past 7 years, and 4 of them developed the sticky grip some time during the course of this year. To me it looks as though the plastic used for the grip has started to break down. The two that haven't developed the sticky grip show no signs of doing so, so I wonder if the formulation of the plastic has been changed at some point? Anyway after getting in touch with Strings and Things and sending them photos of the affected stands showing the sticky areas on the grips I received a large box with 4 brand new stands completely free of charge. That is excellent customer service in my book. Well done to Strings and Things!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1476039217' post='3150736'] There have been many threads about bass tones but what tone/effects do you like/hate from guitarists. Personally I can't stand overdriven/distorted guitars but love Envelope filters and reverb. You?? [/quote] Depends entirely on what all the other instruments are doing. Just like there is no perfect bass tone there is also no perfect guitar tone.

I think that unless all you do is play covers by learning the lines exactly from the original recordings, all of us have more than a little bit of theory under our belts. We just don't always know how to describe what we do know. I think a lot of it comes down to how the other members of our various bands communicate their musical ideas. As someone who has spent most of their musical life playing music I've written myself or in conjunction with my other band members, my little musical knowledge is exactly enough for what I need to be able to create and play the music that I want to hear. I don't need to know what key a piece of music is in (and BTW how do you tell whether they key is the major or the minor one that uses the same notes?) and I doubt many of my fellow band members could tell me either, because I can hear the bass line I want to play in my head, and then it's just a question of finding those notes on the fretboard. Even getting the guitarist to tell me what chords they are playing is often only a portion of the overall musical picture. A lot of the time when I'm playing in a band with more than one melodic instrument, a good deal of the time the contribution of the other instrument(s) will completely change what the actual chords are at any given moment, and sometimes it's my bass contribution that will shift the note emphasis from one chord to a different one - something I find myself doing quite a bit. I think that because a lot of rock and pop music is written by people who don't always know what they are doing, it has a tendency to either be completely obvious, so obtuse that basic theory will no longer help you out.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1475875574' post='3149520'] there isnt any right notes. that's up to you. Music is very free in that way. [/quote] Very true, but for any given style of music some note choices are very much better than others. And IME they vary from one style to another. Is there anything in music theory that can explain this, or is it simply down to individual taste combined with a good working knowledge of the style(s) of music you are playing?