BigRedX

The performance royalties alone must add up the a decent amount. Another reason to be a songwriter and not just a musician.

A rare and collectable bass in what appears to be very good condition (certainly compared to a lot of examples I've seen in the past), so the price is hardly surprising. BTW Travis Bean guitars and basses were essentially neck-through as the aluminium part extended all the way to the bridge.

There are no 100% reliable wireless systems. Even the very expensive "pro" models that require paid for transmission frequencies are prone to problems. As has already been said the 2.4GHz systems are definitely to be avoided now as they are competing with far too many other devices for bandwidth (every audience member's mobile phone for starters). Right now 5GHz systems appear to be better but expect them to get less reliable as more devices start using this frequency. I used to have the Sony device mentioned previously in this thread but stopped using it after a couple of instances where the transmitter pack mysteriously changed channels mid-performance breaking the connection. On both occasions I noticed that the PA mix was being done wirelessly using a tablet - whether that was the reason I don't know but I wasn't prepared to risk it again to try and find out. Right for both my bands now all mission-critical connections on stage are done with wires.

I've had two signature basses. Firstly a Yamaha BJ5B which is the Terry & The Blue Jeans (well known Japanese surf band) signature bass. It was a limited edition of 50 instruments and the only way to get a 5-string bass with the SBV body shape without having something custom made. Unfortunately for me, other than the shape it had nothing in common with the SBV as everything else was taken from the TRB2. And combined with the fact that it was by far the heaviest bass I have ever owned, it was sold on when I had my big clear out of unused instruments. I currently own an Eastwood Hooky Bass 6. I have to admit that I'm a big fan of Peter Hook's bass playing, but I wouldn't have this bass if it wasn't for the fact that it's the only Bass VI with a suitably wide neck for my playing style. This is now my main bass with one of the bands I pay in and I can see myself keeping this until I can either get a Gus Bass VI made with the same neck width, or I no longer have a need for a bass VI of any type. I don't have a problem with signature instruments, apart from the Eastwood Hooky, the signature instruments that I have been interested in have been down the specifications of the instrument itself, and most of the time I have zero musical appreciation for the musician with whom they are associated.

Gimmick band with one decent song. What do you expect?

Warwick Black Label Tapered 135 B. Bass goes direct into the PA via a Line6 Helix. Also lowering the pickups on the bass side has helped with note definition.

Actually for one band my stage wear doesn't have any pockets. Luckily this is the band where I play all the songs with a pick... Currently the spare picks live on the shelf that holds the computer. However I'm hoping to be able have the confidence to move it somewhere off-stage.

While conventional wisdom says distortion goes near the front of the effects chain, there are no hard and fast rules, and if an unconventional effects order gives you sound you want then it's the right order. This is one of the big advantages with a modern programmable mug;ti-effects unit in that the effects can be in any order of your choosing and be completely re-ordered for the next patch, and called up at the press of a footswitch.

Never had any problem switching between pick and fingers. However I mostly use a pick that produces a very similar tone to my fingers and I use a multi-effects with a separate set of patches for each song. For me the choice to play with fingers or a pick is almost always down to feel rather than sound. The biggest problem these days is finding somewhere to put the pick when I'm not using it now I have dispensed with having an amp and cabs.

If you really wanted a Fender Japan bass, then why not go to Japan to get one? Not only will you get to try before you buy (a prerequisite for any Fender bass IMO), you be able to go to the shops that won’t deal with “weird foreigners” on line, plus you get a holiday in Japan.

Thick enough so it still has sufficient structural integrity when the fret slots have been cut? Paging @Andyjr1515

You could always open the control cavity up and have a look at where the wires go. That will tell you what the controls do even if they have been modified from original.

Time for a technical rehearsal IMO. This is where the band concentrate on getting the sounds rather than the notes right. You'll probably find that whole band will benefit from this.

Until recently I have never used reverb on any bass sound be it bass guitar or synth, simply because it ends up making what should normally be a fairly rhythmic part sound unrhythmic and indistinct. I use delays quite a lot, but always matched to the tempo of the song either by MIDI sync or a tap tempo function, and unless I'm using dotted 8th note delays they are always relatively low in the mix compared with the dry signal. However I have recently completed recording a new song where I ended up using a massive reverb sound on the "bass solo" part. Admittedly the arrangement drops down to kick drum, bass sequencer and a low-level keyboard pad at this point in the song so there is plenty of sonic room for all that reverb.

I suppose it depends on what you consider the important characteristics of a bass are. Is it the body shape or the elements that go give it a characteristic sound? Most "Thunderbirds" made since 1976 are simply thunderbird shaped basses that have little in common otherwise with the original Gibson bass of that name.

Sign of the times as they say. See all the other threads about amp-less stages and FRFR rigs... I'm glad I was able to sell all my big amps and cabs 6 years ago when they were still worth something.

One of my bands has gone entirely amp-less (although we're no on IEMs yet). We simply turn up, and set up in front of whatever backline is already on stage an ignore it. We have our own DI boxes for everything should the venue be short of them oversize the sound engineer can decide whether to use our's or his own. When we finally do go for IEMs the plan is to get something like a Behringer X18 rack and run everything through that. We'll do our own IEM mixes from that and then supply FoH with either a full stereo mix or individual instruments with the relative volumes already set so they can just EQ the instruments separately to suit the PA and venue.

For me (with my guitarist's hat on) once you've made the switch to multi-effects/modellers and IEMs, the only reason to still have an amp and cab on stage would be for feedback and sustain effects. I've shared the bill with a few bands now who are on IEMs and amp-less apart from something small and full of valves for the guitarist to do just that.

Depends on the bass to which it is fitted. On the Gus G3s the straps are both 1290mm long from strap button centre to strap button centre. On the Eastwood Hooky it is 1370mm On other basses I have owned in the past the straps would again have been different lengths depending on the design of the bass, the position of the strap buttons and how I played it. Regarding practicing sitting down or standing up, even in the days (early 80s) when I played with the bass high on my chest, I still found that I held the instrument in a different way when I was sitting or standing, and anything complicated that I learnt sitting down would require a bit of adjustment before I could play it as well standing up. Since I discovered this I have always played standing up.

I suppose if it makes them happy and it's do-able then get on with it. However you need to be playing a certain level of venue and have absolute control over the backstage area in order to make this work. That probably means some poor member of the road crew has to sit for the entire gig minding the amps (and listening to just the guitars at ear-splitting volume as seen in the video) to make sure that no-one unplugs them or otherwise messes with that rack. There are also some moments in the video where it appears that either the band or their tech have completely misunderstood some key aspects of signal chain order especially those regarding echo/delay/reverb and distortion, where most of the time you need all the distortion producing devices (including valve power amps and speakers if you are driving them hard) to come before your delays and reverbs otherwise your sound turns to mush as described in the video. Of course, occasionally that mush might be exactly what you want, but most of the time if you are going to be putting delays on the sound you want to be able to hear them as delays. That means running a 4-cable system between your effects and amps and maybe even adding the delays and reverbs post microphone at the desk. So all they seem to be doing is swapping one set of compromises for another. I can see this system being worthwhile if you are making a very detailed recording of the songs in the studio. However, ultimately I doubt whether a single member of the audience notices, hears, or appreciates the lengths that these musicians have gone to in order to be able to use real amps instead of modellers.

I think the Vox logo might be a bit of a red herring, although it is a Vox logo it's not the one that usually associated with their guitars and basses which uses script style lettering. Having said that the neck could well have started off life on a Vox Phantom 12-string guitar, the headstock looks like a modified version of that shape, and the middle two pickups also look like they might have come from the same instrument. As for the rest of it, who knows? To me it looks like an 8-string version of a Bass VI. The bottom four strings look like bass guitar strings, the top 4 strings might be paired but it is difficult to see from the photos.

From what I have seen with bands not using their own PA, IEMs and what you can do with them is a bit of a lottery. The plan for my band that have already dispensed with the backline will be to invest in a digital mixer that will allow us to do our own IEM mix and still send individual outputs to the PA with a 90% correct FoH mix on them. Technically all the PA engineer needs to do is push up all the faders to the same place and little corrective EQ to suit the PA speakers and venue and we're ready to go.

It's obviously less important if you also have to bring the PA to gigs, but for those of us playing venues with in-house systems (originals bands) ditching the backline makes transport a lot more cost-effective. One of my bands gets all our gear plus the band and our roadie/merch seller into a single estate ca. If you consider that the typical guitar combo takes up the same space as a full box of T-shirts, it means more stuff you can sell and less stuff potentially mucking up your sound.

But if you don't require your backline for your tone (I don't) then what is the point of it? Most guitar and bass cabs are far too directional to act as monitoring for the whole band unless they are positioned pointing across the stage rather than out at the audience, and almost no bands do this. Once one of your band members wants to hear more of a particular instrument in their monitor you might as well dispense with the backline and use the foldback to monitor the instruments on stage. When each musician can have exactly the mix they desire from either from the foldback speakers or IEM system. Personally I'm not a fan of needing "volume" to get the right feel - it always seems to be as thought there is a problem with the songs you are playing if this is what is required.

I sold my real Gramma Pad a long time ago. There were a couple of places where my band played, where putting the rig on the Gramma Pad caused it to sway alarmingly in time with the action of the kick drum pedal, so I stopped using it at these venues. Strangely there was no difference in sound without the Gramma Pad, so I stopped taking to all of the gigs with no ill-effects, and finally sold it.