BigRedX

[quote name='randymussel' timestamp='1470723569' post='3107856'] That does make sense, and I did wonder about the gauge of the strings I tried - I find most basses are strung a bit light for me off the shelf. [/quote] If you look at string tension charts (from those manufacturers than can be bothered to publish them) you'll see that in most sets the highest tension string is the D and the tension drops as you move in each direction from it. IMO most sets could do with heavier gauge strings for the low E never mind the low B to give better consistency in feel and sound.

As a musician I'd rather be hated than ignored.

There is nothing wrong with finding you don't like a bass after you've tried it. However IME trying before you buy is massively over-rated since there are so many important things that you can't really get a feel for in the shop or even at someone's house if you are buying something second hand. For instance the last time I bought a bass having tried it first in the shop I ended up selling it after 3 months because it didn't hang comfortably on the strap and I couldn't get it to work sonically in the band mix, despite sounding perfectly adequate on its own.

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1470727787' post='3107892'] Yep - same here, when I was using a 5 string (I had a sandberg VM5) these are the strings I put on and had no trouble with floppy B's. Great strings and the non-tapered .135 makes a real difference. [/quote] And this is why it's just as important to find the right strings for your 5-string bass. For my Gus basses a tapered low B is an absolute necessity it getting s decent feel and sound.

It might be worth investigating the possibility of putting the strap button on the bottom of the upper horn. Also is the body going to be as thin and countered as an SG/EB? If so you might not need any chambers as that might get you back into neck-dive territory again. I do like the red stain though. EB basses generally don't look right if they're not cherry (unless they are white with gold hardware)!

Do you get any difference in sound between the two positions that work? The middle position should be both pickups together, which probably means that there is either a problem with one pickup or its associated wiring. A good photograph of the inside of the control cavity clearly showing all the wires will help.

Unfortunately IME there are no cheap and good 5-string basses. There's more to making a good 5-string than simply widening the neck and pickups and adding an extra bridge saddle and machine head, which is all the cheaper end of the market does. Even if they are currently out of your price range, go to a specialist bass shop such as Bass Direct, Bass Gear or The Gallery and try some around the £2k mark. Then you'll see why you've been unsatisfied with the budget end of the market.

IME adding an inch onto the scale length of a bass in order to get a better feeling and sounding low B is a complete red herring. In reality it's all about the right string (which varies depending on the bass) and a decently stiff neck and a great neck joint (ideally neck through). Therefore the problem with cheap 35" scale basses is that money has been spent making the neck longer (and most likely less rigid) rather than on things that might actually make a positive difference. I can't help with any specific models except at that price point he's going to need to be looking at something second-hand and deeply unfashionable in order for it the be cheap and good enough. Get him to try everything he can and then budget another £60 looking for the right strings to down tune it another 2-3 semitones.

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1470652864' post='3107303'] Ah but the thread title uses the word 'bassist' to also include upright and Chapman stick players, and not the word 'bass' which could include tuba, church organ, Bryn Terfel.. [/quote] But what exactly is a bassist. The band [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikinki"]Chikinki[/url] have a member who plays the bass parts on synth (and only bass parts and only on synth). Does he count? And would a Chapman Stick player who uses it simply for tapping chords and melodies and never ventures below the low E of a normal guitar count?

It's a studio recording. The problem with that is even if you have the bassist on the recording's actual bass guitar, effects and rig there will also most definitely be extra EQ and compression added in the recording and mixing process to sit the bass nicely into the final mix and this will have a significant impact on the sound of the bass. Also IME it won't sound right without the same mix for instruments supporting the bass. I'd start off with some drive/distortion and a volume boost, play high up on the neck and lower strings, and then play with the EQ and drive settings to fit it in around the rest of your band's sounds.

Go through the "goods to declare" channel and pay the VAT and duties if applicable. There's a good chance that you'll just get waved through anyway and told not to waste the customs time (although don'y count on it). Also remember that if you're buying in the US for export you shouldn't have to pay US sales tax on your purchase.

What the OP is proposing isn't bi-amping but two channel operation. True bi-amping involves splitting the signal by frequency using a cross-over and running each half into a cab designed to accommodate the frequencies being delivered. I used to run a bi-amped system built around a Peavey BassFex which had a crossover module which could be place anywhere in the signal chain with the relevant effects then added to each side of the crossover. That fed a two channel power amp with a 1x15 cab for the bass and a custom-made 2x8 cab for the top end. The Line6 BassPod XT Pro also supports true bi-amping although its effects routing isn't as flexible unless you are using external modules.

In the end, unfortunately, whatever gets decided by this petition is completely irrelevant. If it suits them (and at some point it will) all the airlines need to do will be to cite "security issues" and they can insist that you musical instrument goes in the hold. If you want to fly with a musical instrument, get a decent case for it and put it in the hold. Job done.

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1470474675' post='3106225'] My dad still has his Nakamichi 1000ZXL Limited (gold front) and it does actually still hold it's own sound wise. Mind you it would have been a very expensive bit of kit back in the day and what they sell for now is astronomical! [/quote] Because it was a properly engineered piece of equipment designed to compensate for as many of the shortcomings of the compact cassette as a music delivery medium as possible.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470470370' post='3106176'] Now hang on a minute. If it weren't for tape (paper tape at that), how else would programmers do their voodoo back in the day? Would you have them revert to cards? [/quote] Surely cards came after punched tape? IME cards (one line of code per card) were far more convenient because if you made a mistake it was reasonably easy to replace the relevant card(s) with updated ones. With punched tape you pretty much had to input the whole program again to correct a mistake, unless your geekiness was so great that you could read the punched holes well enough to be able to identify the problem areas and splice in new tape.

"Digital" and "tape" are two words that should have never gone together ever.

I knew that was going to be a Musicvox before I even clicked the link. And guitar-sized machine heads are perfectly adequate. It doesn't have to be a chunky and clunky as a Fender to work you know.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1470398772' post='3105734'] I've wondered about that too, at the time I can't remember anyone loving the Juno stuff, they were pretty weedy sounding. [/quote] I know plenty of people who owned them back in the day, but as far as I can recall not a single one of them bought one for any reason other than the fact they were the cheapest polysynth available. The only advantage I could see was the high-pass filter could allow your sounds to cut through a guitar-biased mix by reducing the overall bassiness of the sound. I've never been a fan of single oscillator and envelope generator synths. They are simply not versatile enough. When I bought my first mono synth I compromised on playability and interface options by getting an EDP Wasp simply because the sonic possibilities were far superior over ever other synth in the same price range.

[quote name='Alec' timestamp='1470319034' post='3105074'] If it's a kettle lead, then you'll need a 13A fuse, as most kettles are around 2,500W, and so will draw more or less the full 13A. If, as others have observed, it's an IEC lead (as it will be for supplying kit), then all of the previous posts make it clear that IEC connectors have a 10A rating, but may be fused at 13A. And, in practice, that makes the most sense for a generic set of IEC leads. After all, they will be swapped between different bits of kit, which puts lower fuse ratings at much more risk of being blown. [/quote] /Thread. There you go. That's the definitive answer. If you want to go and do something else based on previous experience that's fair enough, but the above is the correct information.

When I joined a covers band they were doing several Thin Lizzy songs, and the band neglected to tell me that they played them a semitone up to avoid having to retune. I learnt them all by ear from the CDs which meant that the next rehearsal was "interesting". TBH I didn't find any of the songs particularly taxing in it's original recorded pitch on a 5-string bass tuned to standard and at least one of them was actually slightly easier compared with playing it a semitone up.

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1470259079' post='3104629'] Neither, it says Made in China on the back of the headstock. [/quote] Interesting. Your photo made it look as though it has the Pro Series arched top. IIRC the Rockbass version is supposed to be flat?

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1470251473' post='3104525'] My new Warwick toy. [/quote] Very nice. Is that one of the old MiK models or a new MiG one?

[quote name='gs_triumph' timestamp='1470242312' post='3104438'] I too was a remain voter but that horse has bolted... One good thing I think can come of it is that home produced goods will become more attractively priced versus their imported (tariffed) counterparts. People might decide to buy a UK produced custom bass over a US built example. [/quote] Unfortunately it will only work out cheaper if all the materials and components are also UK produced. Anything that has to be imported will bump up the price.

Plenty of light controlled opto-compresssors too.

All this talk of whether or not to use compression is fairly pointless because: 1. If you drive any part of your audio chain hard you are compressing the signal. 2. If you use valves in any part of your audio chain you are compressing the signal. 3. If you use any kind of drive/distortion/fuzz in your audio chain you are compressing the signal. 4. And don't forget that at all but the quietest of acoustic gigs the audiences ears will be adding their own compression.