BigRedX

The basses I use for my gigs, recordings, rehearsals and general noodling at home are by Gus, Sei and Warwick. Noe of them are inexpensive instruments, but I own them because the play, sound and look how I want my basses to look at therefore they get used. I'm careful, but not precious with them. They've all picked up the odd mark and here and there. I'm not a fan of the "road worn" or "relic" look so if any of them got too shabby looking I would have no hesitation in getting it refinished. In fact the one of the Gus basses has already gone through exactly that process as I bought it second hand and it had been poorly looked after by its previous owner. Once I'd decided that I was going to keep it, the bass went back to Gus for a full refurb and refinish.

Rack mounting kit?

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1453293589' post='2958119'] I don't know how old you are, and this is only my opinion, but originals bands are probably a waste of time if you're over 30, unless you want to do music that hardly anybody else is interested in and you only want to do a handful of unpaid gigs a year [/quote] I'm well over 30 and my originals band does pretty well in terms of popularity combined with frequency of good paying gigs. I acknowledge that I may well be the exception to the norm, but AFAIAC if I can do it anyone who wants to invest the required time and effort can as well.

[quote name='dincz' timestamp='1453049167' post='2955934'] Yes, they can be a bit delicate but this is for fixed wiring in a bass so it shouldn't matter in this case. [/quote] In that case unless there are very long runs through sections where it isn't possible use either copper foil or conductive paint as shielding it really shouldn't matter if the cable is screened or not.

TBH These days unless you know exactly which synth(s) is responsible for creating the sounds you are pretty much on to a loosing battle. Back in the days when there were only subtractive analogue synths, it was fairly easy provided that your synth had roughly the same features as the one used to create the sound you were after. However there are now a multitude of synthesis methods, coupled with the fact that most electronic sounds on recordings will probably be several instruments layered up and maybe combined with samples - either preset in ROMplers or those made by the artists themselves, it's almost impossible to know where to begin.

All I would say is pick your replacement P90 carefully. Because the description has enlarged to encompass any large format single coil pickup rather than just the original spec Gibson model. IME some of the cheaper ones seem to have all the less desirable qualities of both humbuckers (less toppy sound) and single coils Hum).

Linn Adrenalinn

I'd go for P90s.

Be aware that a lot of 4-core and screen cable isn't very robust, due the fact that manufacturers try and cram the extra cores into a standard 2core and screen cable thickness. This leads to the the signal cables being very skinny and easily damaged unless you are always extra careful about coiling the cable up when putting it away.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1452940290' post='2954857'] you can get a hard case for £30 - £40, would offer better protection, is there a reason people go for gig bags instead? [/quote] Because a hard case isn't much use if you have a 30 minute walk to your rehearsal or you travel a lot with your bass on public transport. It's all about having the right case for the job. Sometimes you need a gig bag, sometimes a hard case and sometimes only a full flight case will do.

Music first for me too. Plus most of the time when I do listen to lyrics I find them embarrassingly bad. However I do like the sound of voices, so I find myself listening to a lot of J-Pop/J-Rock which has plenty of vocals but because I can't understand what they are singing about I don't find myself cringing at the words.

Having sold many thousands of pounds worth of basses on eBay without any issues I have a sneaking suspicion that the problem is not eBay, but the kinds of basses that are being sold. Mine have all been fairly unconventional instruments, and as such don't really appeal to the "tyre kickers". Also I have a fairly strict set of rules when it comes to selling stuff. Pay by PayPal and I organise the shipping with my choice of courier or cash on collection. Anyone who asks a question that has already been answered in the listing description gets added to my list of blocked bidders on the basis that if you can't be bothered to read the listing properly then IMO you are going to be more trouble than it's worth to have you bidding on my items. Sticking to these I've been able to sell and ship stuff all over the world and have yet to have a problem. My feeling is that the more conventional the things you sell the more likely you are to attract the problem bidders and potential scammers. The one time I have had a problem selling a bass it was a Squier that I listed here. No end of "tyre kickers", dumb questions that had already been addressed in the description, and people saying they were definitely interested in the bass only for me to never hear from them again...

If you are using plastic wasters they need to isolate the rack gear completely from the rest of the rack. AFAIK Humfrees are the only solution that do this. The normal plastic washers simply protect the rack ears from scuff marks caused by the rack bolts. If the hum is intermittent and comes and goes when you move the rack it could be caused by the metal casings of two adjacent units which are both connected to earth sometimes touching. If you have the space in your rack case try having each device separated by at least 1U and see if that cures the problem.

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1452654814' post='2952116'] Yep agreed! Ahh feels like an enternity since I made that last comment, I've now found out legit deals on: A minimoog voyager old school An EML 101 maplin ETI 4600 (has matrix patches like an EMS VCS3) [/quote] I couldn't possibly recommend the Maplin synth unless you are (or know) a very good and experienced electronics engineer with access to all the appropriate tools including a decent oscilloscope.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1452864358' post='2954206'] my mate uses the stage legend one for his acoustic guitar and we've never had a problem [/quote] A small lightweight instrument that on the stand presents a low centre of gravity. The symmetrical body coupled with a deeper body depth means that it will sit securely on the stand and not lean back. Probably one of the few instruments that can safely use this type of stand in the gig situation.

Anything in the rack being powered by wall-warts or similar external PSUs? I once had to completely rewire a rack so that all the signal cables ran as far way from the mains and PSU boxes as possible in order to cure a particularly nasty buzz.

I've got a Hercules Mini Stand, and like all these small stands it's fine for a guitar with a symmetrical body at home. Anything else anywhere else goes on something much more substantial.

If there's any 5-string sets still available I'd like to give one a go. They'll either go on my Warwick StarBass or the red Gus G3. Check the link in the banner that is my signature to see what I am doing musically at the moment.

The Axxe is essentially half an Odyssey - only one VCO so it won't ever sound as fat, and only a single envelope generator. However if you are going to use it like Pete Townshend to process external polyphonic sources then the single VCO won't matter (although the single envelope generator applied to both the VCF and VCA may be a problem). There was also an Octave "version" called The Kitten. One thing to watch if you are buying an original ARP synth is that the design of the later models had the keys overhanging the casing. This means that they are quite exposed and prone to being broken.

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1452552156' post='2951189'] haha cheers mate! Any suggestions? [/quote] If you want a self-contained unit that will sequence filter and VCA process any instrument you feed through it, then IMO you can't go far wrong with a [url=http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/adrenalinn-iii.html]Linn Adrenalinn[/url].

The 2600 is essentially ARPs modular synth. While there is a market for modular synths these days, it's all niche and boutique and not really the sort of area that's going to be lucrative for the big manufacturers. However if you really want the 2600 sound it should be possible to find all the Eurorack modules you need to re-create the various elements.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1452549884' post='2951161'] One of those will cost you almost as much as an original Odyssey these days. [/quote] That's a pity considering that when they were both current, the Octave was considerably cheaper than the ARP.

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1452545629' post='2951104'] thanks BassTractor! Oooh excellent, what was yer favourite one? I'm thinking of purchasing a mk2, its on deal for me at £1,300 essentially, I want to kinda make sounds similar to The Who on their 70s material in order to make demos (apologies if me bleating on about them is getting tiresome!) How did you find the odyssey in this regard? In terms of its versatility and ease of use? Thanks! [/quote] If you are looking the recreate the kinds of synth sounds on Who's Next etc. I think you'll find it's mostly organs or guitars going through the VCF and VCA modules of ARPs 2500 and 2600 modular synths. The Odyssey doesn't really feature on the recordings despite Pete Townshend being mentioned in adverts for the synth in the 70s. If you are after the same type of sound rather than recreating them exactly then any synth with an audio in before the filter or a polyphonic synth that allows external triggering of the VCF and VCA envelopes will achieve a similar effect and you should be able to find something that does the job at considerably less than £1300!

If you can find one, the Octave Cat synth is essentially copy of the Odyssey.

Looks very nice. How loud is it acoustically?