BigRedX

Are there lots of these basses? Or is it the same one for sale over and over again? And why do they exist? The joke is only mildly funny once (if you're about 10).

Also depends on the shapes of the basses. While the Hercules models will fit most basses, if your instruments don't have asymmetrical bodies there will be more options available to you.

Bassists in a band we've gigged with a few times has an Airline Map Bass. Looks good, but has the a really low output compared with my basses, so I always have to turn the gain right up if he's using my rig. The Eastwood instruments can appear to be very cool, but when you look closely about the only thing that they have in common with the original instruments that they are supposed to be copying is the approximate body shape. All the electrics and hardware is straight out of the generic Korean and Chinese guitars parts bins. In some ways this is a good thing since many of these parts are a definite improvement on those fitted to the original models. However it also means that a lot of the guitars don't have the full quirky character, and some are missing what I would consider to be essential features that were present on the instruments that they are trying to copy.

Without being able to see a proper screen grab of the page, it's very difficult to tell what is going on. However I suspect that your browser version is too old to support the latest version of Soundcloud. Since Safari is very much tied to the OS version that might not be possible. What version of Mac OS are you on and what version of Safari? In the short term it might be easier to use a different browser such as Firefox or Chrome (although IIRC Chrome is also tied to the OS as it also uses Webkit for a lot of it's functionality).

It would be much more useful if you did a screen grab of the browser window and posted that rather than a photo that doesn't seem to show the part of the page that should have the upload button.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1460112286' post='3022661'] Likewise. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a 5 string version.... [/quote] Me too! However one thing that I haven't seen picked up and discussed is that AFAICS the long scale model uses exactly the same body as the short scale, but with a longer neck, a shorter tail-piece and a repositioned bridge. That means firstly the pickups are more neck biased in their placement on the long scale, and secondly that there is unlikely to be a 5-string version unless the body is redesigned to accommodate the wider neck that would be required. This would most likely require re-tooling which is going to be a significant expense for what is going to be a considerably less popular instrument. However, the fact that their only competition would be the Warwick StarBass which IIRC correctly has a price tag of close to £2000, it might just make economic sense. I just wouldn't expect it to be the fantastic VFM of the 4-string. Perhaps Chowny Bass would care to comment?

I'm sure bands are louder these days, but IME the sound is also much better and IIRC it's poor sound quality as much as anything that causes hearing damage. If there is distortion now it's intentional and generally musically pleasing rather than the horrible sound of power transistors and speaker cones being forced past their limit. The sound at most of the gigs I went to in the late 70s and early 80s probably wasn't as loud as some these days but was generally horrible (Kraftwerk being a notable exception). Vocals were just about audible in that you could tell there was singing but good luck trying to make out the words, and always on the verge of feeding back. Everything else was a distorted mid-range-y wall of sound caused by having all the amps - both instrument and PA - running close to flat out. I'm sure if it had been economically possible to have been louder back then, it would have been.

If you can find one, a MiK Warwick Pro Series StarBass. Far better than the Rockbass version (and full 34" scale as well) and at least as good IMO as the MiG models.

Of course everyone knows that in the end it's how a bass looks that really counts! ;-)

I think it depends on the instrument and the PA. For my bass rig I have some nice gear with an amp capable of delivering 1kW into the cabs I use and as a result rarely need to wind the master volume up beyond about one third. On the other hand my current guitar amp is now only 50W and run through a power soak, whilst back in the 80s I had a 100W amp that needed to be run flat out most of the time. Also when I first started gigging everything went through the PA and vocals were generally mixed at a level where they could be heard, but the lyrics were rarely discernible. These days vocals at nearly every gig are crystal clear and at most small venues the PA is only used for vocals and the occasional kick drum. Also IIRC in the 70s and 80s we pretty much all ran everything flat out until it failed, and it sounded pretty nasty a lot of the time.

It's a great idea to try and discuss these things with the engineer that will be recording you. If you want your "live" sound in the studio then it is best to use your rig and insist that it is mic'd up, or that the engineer can quickly demonstrate that they can replicate this sound to your and the band's satisfaction from a DI source. IMO DI should always comes second to the sound of the bass rig mic'd up and is used only if the mic'd sound requires a bit of extra weight, or as a safety track that can be re-amped should the overall sound of the song change so much at the mixing stage that your original bass sound is no longer appropriate. The other thing to avoid IMO is the temptation to try instruments and amps in the studio that you are not familiar with. This fine if you have unlimited time and budget for the recording, but that's very rarely the case, so stick with what you know and like.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1459939375' post='3021016'] Don't all guitar synth pedals sound a bit like that? Just listened through some decent headphones - sounds good. The only issue I have with my BSW is that if the note you play hasn't got a smooth decay it either warbles awfully or cuts off, seems the processor in this unit is a lot more powerful and actually does something with it. BRX I don't use my BSW to replace a keys player, it's for snippets in songs. I had a Korg G5 for a good while and we used to do "Freak Like Me" by the sugarbabes (sample of Are Friends Electric...) and the G5 was ideal - just a pain to use. This looks like a good compromise between the two - as without a hex pickup or even an actual synth it's always a compromise. [/quote] I went back and had another listen running the sound through my studio monitors, and it doesn't sound quite so awful. But... I think it was a mistake to make a demo of a song with such distinctive synth sounds and not really get very close to the original. The part where they play what is very obviously a guitar part on the recording using the pedal sound is just hilarious! I've been interested in trying to use guitars (and basses) to control synths since before the technology was available and have been following (and trying where ever possible) what has been available from the first proper guitar-controlled units from Roland, ARP and Hagstrom in the 70s onwards. Unfortunately pitch detection is never going to be the solution since the laws of physics are always going to be against you. Having spent a good deal of the 80s trying to make synths sound like guitars and then much of the 90s making guitars and basses sound like synths, I know that while it is possible, it is neither easy or particularly satisfying to do - other than as an exercise to show it can be done after a fashion. Ultimately I found it far easier to develop some rudimentary keyboard chops that allow me to play synth parts quicker and more accurately then wasting hours modifying my guitar technique to do the same thing, but with less consistent results.

Are we watching the same video? All I hear is a way of making a couple of decent guitars sound like a Casiotone put through a cheap fuzz box.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1459894415' post='3020722'] Don't they still make these? [/quote] Warwick make a more modern version.

Yes the bass (just like every other instrument) has to serve the track. However sorting out the "band sound" is surely one of the things that you've already done in the rehearsal room when you wrote and arranged the songs. IMO I'll allow the engineer/producer to override the band preferences for sound only if they are a big name producer with a proven track record who has been specifically hired to create an awesome sounding recording that will make us all rich and famous, in which case they can do what the hell they want. Otherwise I'm paying them and they can knuckle down and sort out the getting the band to sound how we want and not what makes life easy for them.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1459883518' post='3020609'] This is curious if you ask me. Styling isn't at its finest though. [/quote] Liking the styling has a lot to do with familiarity. I'm sure if the Fender Precision hadn't turned out to be so popular, we'd all be laughing at its clunkiness every time an example popped up on eBay.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1459878993' post='3020558'] That's a good point. You can put it through an octave such as an OC2/3 with no dry sound & then some dirt & filters & you'll have yourself synthy goodness. [/quote] Or far more conveniently you could just buy yourself a cheap synth.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1459873305' post='3020480'] Fair play. Go on then [/quote] If someone was to supply me with the original high resolution photographs of the bass and pay me $50 I would most definitely do it. ;-)

It's based on Yamaha's [url=http://www.vocaloid.com/en/]Vocaloid[/url] technology and it's a little bit more involved than just a formant filter.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1459870710' post='3020435'] Is it something you could improve upon? Genuine question. Not being facetious in the least. [/quote] Absolutely - it's my day job which is why I feel so strongly about it.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1459864064' post='3020340'] Doubt they had a huge spend for an April fools? [/quote] It's all about image and marketing even if it is only an April Fools post on Facebook. And for a company like Fodera that pride themselves on the quality of their instruments and attention to detail, if a job is worth doing then it should be worth doing properly. Besides if they spent even a little time on it they would have been able to find plenty of Photoshop artists willing to to a completely realistic looking job for under $50.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1459863665' post='3020337'] Appart from that being posted on April 1st the "relic" job is photoshopped. It's easy to notice if you have the picture big enough. Here are the most notorious tells: In this pic, the worn on the body on the arm rest not only removed the clear coat but it also removed the hole top wood leaving it with something with a different grain.... Even though the neck is worn and descoloured it still can shine a flash like a mirror??? It's obvious that Fodera wouldn't ruin a $$$$ bass just for an April's foul joke, it's cheaper to pay for photoshop but they could have paid a bit more for a more beliavable job. [/quote] If they paid anything for that Photoshop work then they were done!

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1459857498' post='3020268'] But... some genres of music do benefit from harder compression, bordering on brick wall limiting. [/quote] Have you heard the Sleigh Bells album "Treats"? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iI606ERE6Y

But tone is entirely personal too. Especially judging by the number of threads I see on here purporting to show off killer tone, most of which leave me thinking that if I sounded like that I would be seriously re-evaluating my playing technique and choice of equipment. And a good tone IMO very much dependent upon the type of music you play and how the other instruments in the band sound - what works with one type of music and musicians doesn't automatically work with others.

I don't understand the question. Having grown up in the 70s with basses (and guitars) that only just qualified as musical instruments in terms or sound and playability, my experience is that just about every single modern bass performs perfectly adequately in a band context on both counts. And judging by what others say about playability and tone, both attributes are entirely subjective.