BigRedX

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1473766316' post='3132886'] Long detailed answers very welcome! [/quote] So dood, care to enlighten us on the purpose of this poll?

The only thing to watch with the Ibanez Artcore guitars is if they have a Bigsby-style vibrato, check that it's happy with your playing style, as the break angle over the bridge is very shallow and anyone who plays even moderately hard will have the strings popping off their saddles.

No. I'll buy the one that I like the best, although I'd probably pass on both if the one I liked the best was the more expensive one and didn't look/play/sound significantly better than the cheaper one.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1473935095' post='3134256'] Which we know and afaik no one disagrees with? Even two maple necks the same cut I the same cnc machine would have differences, changing necks totally would no doubt change things. The only way I could see this bring proven would be to rig up done kind of computer driven playing device with the bass clamped in ay a set nm torque then shave the neck without removing the neck or strings then retest it, maybe even shave the neck with the bass clamped in place. The results would be of no interest and totally pointless after so I'm struggling to think of a university or lab that would take the task on! [/quote] Even if you did this, the only thing it would show is how altering the thickness of that particular neck attached to that particular instrument at that moment in time alters the sound.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1473931328' post='3134198'] Other than changing the neck does alter the sound of an instrument. [/quote] It could be that simply removing and replacing the same neck will change the sound of the instrument if you don't put it back on exactly how it was before.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1473864504' post='3133670'] Mine too. A quick search indicates that this is not uncommon and occasionally leads to the stand failing! Time to find an alternative brand i think. [/quote] I can't afford to replace 4 stands and TBH I haven't found a better alternative to Hercules that is actually any good for holding basses with asymmetrical bodies. Maybe it's time to email Hercules and see what they say.

I have 5 of the standard Hercules GS414B stands and recently the rubber on the grip section used to alter the height has become sticky, but only on 4 of them. I can't use these at gigs any more, because every time I fold them down and set them back up, the grip leaves a nasty sticky residue all over may hands. Any idea why this has happened? And how can I get them back to their non-sticky condition?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1473857361' post='3133598'] Minute differences can be heard in the best studios and by those with good ears. On a stage? Not so much. I would guess most of those differences wouldn't be relevant to any of us here. [/quote] But how can you tell that those differences are down to the thickness of the neck and not to the multitude of other variables that exit between two instruments (ignoring the fact that 2 instruments is a far too tiny sample to have any real relevance)? Even if you used a single instrument and a second neck, how do you know the differences aren't cause simply by the fact that you have removed the neck and then refitted the neck? Or that the strings haven't become aligned differently or damaged during the neck replacement process? You'd need to remove and replace the same neck a couple of hundred times first and see what effect that had on the sound of the instrument before looking at what effect the alternative neck had on the sound and even then because it is most likely made out of wood and EVERY PIECE OF WOOD IS DIFFERENT, you still won't know exactly what effect the thickness of the neck actually has.

Weird isn't it how the Fender bass is supposed to be the staple of guitar bands and that all other brands are unplayable and sound bad. Certainly when I was getting into music as an impressionable teenager in the 70s that wasn't what I saw in the bands that I liked. If you were to divide up bass guitars into Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker and All Others, in the bands I liked at the time Gibson Basses were by far the most popular followed by Rickenbacker and then All Others. Fender were by far the least common. Of course it might have been that Thunderbirds, EB3s and Ric 4001s were distinctive and easily identifiable, whereas in the band using a Fender Bass to the young, untrained eye it was difficult to tell it apart from the guitars. ;-)

[quote name='Ashborygirl' timestamp='1473782035' post='3133075'] Is it just me or do Gibson have a nasty habit of buying emerging bass companies & running them into the ground? I can think of Tobias, Trace Elliot & Steinberger all being bought up by the big G only to either disappear completely or become far-eastern budget instruments. [/quote] Fender are equally guilty: SWR, Genz Benz, Guild, etc...

I voted "Don't Know" However the answer is most likely yes, but the effect is almost impossible to quantify and therefore irrelevant. I have owned lots of basses with different neck thicknesses and they all sounded different. However they were all made out of different types of wood of different ages and some weren't even made out of wood. Construction was different from one bass to the next, pickups and electronics were different hardware was different - even the strings used on the various basses were different! Give this multitude of variables it's unsurprising that they all sounded different. However with only a couple of exceptions when I played them I could get a decent sound out of all of them that worked equally well in a band context. Therefore for me the only concern with the neck thickness is comfort and playability. Until someone manages to find the time and funds to do a proper scientific study into all the different effects of materials and construction and how they effect the sound of a solid electric instrument, I'll declared the anecdotal "evidence" being trotted out in this threads and others like it as irrelevant bullshit. In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy playing the instruments that I find aesthetically pleasing, comfortable to play and that in my hands can make the sounds I want when I play with my band, and not worry about details that have yet to be quantified in any meaningful manner.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1473762497' post='3132823'] That would be my solution if volume is the issue. IME the sound of output valves being made to work for a living is very hard to simulate. I used to use a Marshall Powerbreak with a 50W Dual Reverb for pub gigs. Don't know if you can still get them though (there's bound to be other technologies out there - didn't Palmer make this kind of kit as well?). [/quote] As is speaker break up. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to reproduce this at low volumes over than software modelling. I think the OP needs to identify what parts of the valve sound are important to him (pre-amp valves, power amp valves, speaker break up) and work from there.

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' timestamp='1473750608' post='3132688'] So valve amps out the question? Are the valvetronix amps any good? [/quote] No not at all. Valve Amp > Power Soak > Speaker.

Whatever amp you want or can afford and a power soak if it's too loud when you get the right sound. Unless speaker breakup is part of your sound in which case I'm afraid you are stuffed.

Do you NEED to change your tuning to match what the rest of the band uses? On the two occasions when I've played with guitarists who down-tune or use non-standard tunings I've kept my bass tuned as normal and haven't had a problem. In fact IMO it generally leads to more interesting bass lines and overall arrangements since I can't always do the same as the guitars but an octave lower.

The Vaccaro design was then either bought out or licensed to Hartke for their XL and XK basses.

If possible try before you buy. I had a Schaller neck-mounted pickup on my acoustic which because of it's (lack of) width was always down in volume on the E strings. Low E wasn't too bad, but high E was thin and weedy sounding compared to the B string. I also had a piezo pickup on the bridge and TBH I could get just as good an electric guitar sound out of it as I could the magnetic pickup, just because I was running it into a guitar amp.

Yum! Needs an ebony fingerboard and a hot pink neck to match the body, to be completely delicious though!

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1473338371' post='3129258'] I didn't "get away" with anything, the value of the item was printed on the postal label, and I paid the charge I was asked to at the time... If it was incorrect, that would have surely been the fault of whoever worked the amount out? The only person to "get away" with anything is the idiot who thinks he can deal with the public in any manner he sees fit..... [/quote] If you only paid £6-7 as you said in your OP - did that item also get delivered by Royal Mail or Parcel Force, or did it come by some other delivery service? It was Royal Mail or Parcel Force, then someone made a mistake and you were lucky and benefitted from it. I've never seen a handling charge of less than £8.00 (on top of VAT and import duty as applicable) in the last 10 years of buying things from outside of the EU. And while the reported attitude of the employee you dealt with leaves a lot to be desired, there has been plenty of information posted here on a regular basis about import and handling charges so there shouldn't have been any surprise on your part in the first instance.

Using an external image host is a much better idea since you not only free up resources on the Basschat server, but also AFAICS using the Basschat image upload places a maximum size on the photos which means that most of the time they come out tiny, not at all what you want when you are trying the show off an item you have for sale.

To the OP: There's a whole bunch of threads about importing musical equipment as this subject comes up time and time again. There's even a pinned one in "Bass Guitars" that is chock full of information about import duty, VAT and handling charges for the various carriers so as a fairly regular poster here you should have seen at least one of these recently. Things you need to remember about importing stuff from outside the EU: 1. You pay VAT and import duty (when applicable) on the value of the goods [b]PLUS[/b] the cost of shipping. 2. The value of the goods is what the sender marks down on the export form when they post the item, not what you actually paid. This can work both ways, but bear in mind that if the value is under declared and you need to make an insurance claim, it will only be allowable for the declared value. 3. Customs clearance handling fees vary depending on the carrier at the UK end of the chain. I've seen fees as low as £8.00, and so far a maximum of £15.00. 4. Just because you've got away with not having to pay import duty and VAT on an item over the threshold on a previous delivery doesn't mean you'll get away with it again. Sometimes you just get lucky. 5. Assume that you'll be paying an extra 25% plus another £10 on top of the combined price of the item plus the shipping cost, and so long as the sender doesn't over declare the value on the customs form you won't be in for any nasty surprises. HTH.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1473263312' post='3128472'] One thing I used to do back in the days of playing crap venues was to carry a couple of large dyed-black duvets, some extra springy clothes pegs and a couple of folding airing stands. Slap them up across the back of the stage area and it will soak up SOME of the crap and is quite unobtrusive unless the whole place is painted white or indeed any Don Johnson-style pastel hue! [/quote] A rather nifty time-domain solution for a time-domain problem.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1473241425' post='3128204'] Put everything through the PA and use an 80 band EQ to ring out the venue. Search for booming and natural resonance. [/quote] Except that unless you are very lucky, you'll only fix the room acoustics at the point where the PA desk is. In other places in the room you may well make it much worse. Bad room acoustics are a mixture of time and frequency domain problems. You are never going to be able to cure this with a frequency domain only solution (EQ). You are going to get a far more effective solution by trying to make the room work for you instead of battling against it. Draw any and all curtains to cover the windows - my covers band used to regularly play a venue where one side of the room was floor to ceiling windows and drawing the curtains over them made a massive improvement to the sound there. Also experiment with the direction of the speakers for the PA and instruments. If you can't cover up the reflective surfaces, you should be able to minimise their impact by how the speakers are positioned and angled. Finally remember that nothing cures a bad room better than lots of soft bodies in there, so make sure you attract a sizeable audience.

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1473169355' post='3127613'] I'd class myself as very much an outsider compared to that sort of experience so I may be talking tosh, but I've always thought that 'making it' in the music business is more about luck than talent, which makes it the tough nut to crack that it clearly is. The old thing about "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and variations on that theme. [/quote] But you could also repurpose that old golfing cliche about practice and luck to say that for bands the higher your profile the luckier you get. The more you do the more people you get to know and it's much easier to find yourself in the right place at the right time if you are out there gigging and promoting your band as often as possible. Unfortunately, from my experience what has happened over the last 10 years or so is that the industry has reverted to something similar to it's pre-punk attitude where it was almost impossible to get noticed if your band doesn't have someone with a proven track record in it, combined with the fact that there seems to be a lot less right places and right times these days. And to go back to your point about the record labels looking at music colleges for new talent; I imagine these days that music college teaches far more than just how to play your instrument and that the importance of image etc. is also on the curriculum. It makes sense for record labels to target artists who already know how to present themselves, rather than to have to go to the expense of hiring stylists and people to teach them how to get the best out of an interview when this has already been covered in the course.

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1473237305' post='3128151'] Because even if you play originals you will learn a lot from playing stuff that other people have written. [/quote] Yes you can, but IME it can also stifle your creativity if you're not a very inventive musician. By all means listen to other music and soak up the influences, but there's no need to be able play any of it note for note (or as best you can make out). When I'm writing I go for the notes/chords I can hear in my head, not the ones that fall most easily under my fingers.