Silvia Bluejay

Go on, guys, create some new threads like this for your basses, you never know, you might strike lucky!

OK, here is my take on the strings after playing them for three weeks as a non-gigging, Chrome-loving bassist. Off to fill in the online questionnaire. [quote] Now, I must state upfront that in general, I am not a fan of roundwound strings. I currently have eight electric bass guitars, most of which have D’Addario Chromes, one has D’Addario tapewounds, and one has D’Addario half-rounds. When I accepted the challenge of testing a set of rounds, I decided to use them on my very first ‘student’ bass, which I bought new as a beginner, and played for a year or so before upgrading; it still had its original, pretty dead rounds from the factory. It’s a 4-string Ibanez clone made by Crafter, still in mint condition, with passive electronics and two J pickups. Would the new D’Addario set make that bass enjoyable to play? As always, I carried out the test by playing first through a PJB Briefcase and then through a PJB Bass Buddy headphone amp with PJB headphones. All the EQ sliders on both amps, and all the knobs on the bass, were set to centred (‘0’) position. I played a few bars from two basslines, one with a pick and one fingerstyle. Feel While playing the NYXLs for the first time, it’s immediately evident that even someone like me can find them pleasant under the fingertips; I felt no need to use Fast Fret or similar products, my fingertips didn’t hurt even after a longish session on some driving, rock basslines, and they produce very little finger noise even when I deliberately ‘drag’ my hand while playing, or indeed when I slide along a string. Compliance Thanks to the set’s regular-light gauge and to the fact that I am accustomed to flatwounds, I don’t find the NYXLs particularly high-tension or fatiguing to the fingers. In fact, the truss rod needed tightening a little to raise the action, even after I had lifted the saddles. Tuning The NYXLs were easy to tune and – rather surprisingly for roundwounds – took a very short time to stabilise fully at a reasonably constant room temperature. Sound The NYXLs sound bright, crisp and clear, and I can detect no harshness at all in normal fretting, and very little finger noise. All that on a budget bass with cheap, passive electronics which tended to sound pretty muddy with the previous set of rounds. With the bass set up to suit the new set of NYXLs, with action, saddles height, intonation and pickups height properly adjusted, the strings sound very well balanced to my ears. PJB Bass Buddy headphone amp With the NYXLs through the Bass Buddy, playing fingerstyle results in a warm, pleasant sound which is less bright than playing fingerstyle through the Briefcase. Playing with a pick obviously sounds far brighter and has greater attack than fingerstyle. PJB Briefcase All parameters being equal, fingerstyle on the Briefcase sounds brighter than on the Bass Buddy. As for the picked sound, the increased attack is still audible, but the difference is less noticeable on the Briefcase than onthe Bass Buddy. I will keep playing the NYXLs in the next few months to see for how long they maintain all their excellent chracteristics. Verdict after three weeks of having the NYXLs on the bass: I was actually very pleasantly surprised at how agreeable I found them to be, what with, y’know, them being roundwounds and me being a flatwound sort of bassist! Although these strings haven’t replaced the Chromes in my affections, they are definitely the rounds I will buy if I decide that a certain bass or a certain project needs a wider choice of tones than that offered by flats. In the meantime, they are staying on my now-rejuvenated first-ever bass. [/quote]

You have a point! For me, the best part of the show are the masterclasses, immediately followed by the performances (on stage or at the booths), then the actual stands and, especially, the people working on them. So it's a whole-day activity because there's always something happening somewhere that you want to be part of.

I don't think I'd be happy to do the show in just three hours, but if that's all the time you have, make sure to arrive at the venue at least 20 mins before the doors open. Once in, have a clear idea of what your priorities are - first of all, check out the stands you want to visit, have a look round for what you want to buy, and then, if you have time, check out the masterclasses and the performances which happen to be on while you're there.

In diary. I'll add my name to the list and create a FB event in due course.

Excellent. We already have a couple of offers for talks - stay tuned

More NYE antics, and a bit of dancing, with Back In The Night: https://youtu.be/sTUdPwiU4zY

Very nice basses here! GAS is strong. This is Happy Jack's latest fretless Precision:

More Warwick fretlessness here:

LOL William I'm one half of a two-bassist household, but the only lefty, which means that the total number of basses in our possession at any given time can be scary, or even embarrassing... but GAS always wins!

I could spend all day in the Gear Porn subforum, drooling at basses. I think I need to keep up the lefty side on this thread, though, so here you are: ten of my 12 basses (the other 2 are uprights). The chintzy green sofa's function was to add some reference colour to the scene, but obtaining something approximately resembling the real colours of the instruments also required a bit of photoshopping.

Tweeted.

Every time you change the strings you'll need to move the saddles in a different place to fix the intonation, unless you're putting on a set with exactly the same specs and from the same manufacturer (and sometimes not even in that case!). I usually install the strings first, then wait a few hours (re-tuning the open strings periodically) until they are settled, then move the saddles as necessary. Remember to check the intonation again if you decide to change the height of the saddles or of the nut (if applicable). On my 5-string basses I have taken the spring off the low B saddle in order to intonate the string correctly. Intonation of the low B is a problem particularly on 34 inch scale and below.

Another video from the Dogs' epic NYE 2015 gig - Addicted to Love: https://youtu.be/SxGvBFJ5Eac

I've decided to use my test set to revitalise my very first bass, a cheapo which still had the strings it originally came with. I played it a little with the old strings earlier today, to remind myself of what it sounds like, and then installed the NYXLs. I'm now waiting for them to stabilise, then I'll set the action and the intonation, and report back.

Welcome to Basschat, Ashweb! When I started playing bass in my early 40s I had never played an instrument before. Don't let that deter you. I also used the Dummies book, but to start with I would recommend a few one-to-one lessons, or at least a short course in a small group of students, with a good teacher. Believe me, it makes progress as a beginner much easier, and cures you of any bad habits you may not have realised you are acquiring. Take a look around the forum, find a Basschatter who teaches near you, and have a word with them. And join us in our discussions. Feel free to post any queries you may have - we have a lot of very helpful experts who will be happy to give you answers.

Welcome to Basschat, Royston! I second what Seashell says. Many of us started playing bass for the first time in our middle age - it's great fun and it keeps body and brain young! Do have a look around the forum - you'll also see that there are quite a lot of us lefties on here.

Yup. That's our His n' Hers pic

Jack, remember that guitarists measure noise according to neighbours' complaints, not children crying...

If you're certain to be able to attend, I'd go for the advance ticket, which allows you to skip the worst of the queue at the entrance, provided you arrive on time.

Cover of the new issue of BGM with that announcement:

Yup, he's there on both days: [url="http://www.londonbassguitarshow.com/news-2/metallicas-robert-trujillo-to-perform-on-both-days-at-lbgs-2016/"]http://www.londonbassguitarshow.com/news-2/metallicas-robert-trujillo-to-perform-on-both-days-at-lbgs-2016/[/url]

Yup! [quote] We’re delighted to announce the appearance of [url="https://www.facebook.com/RobertTrujilloOfficial/"]Robert Trujillo[/url] of [url="https://www.facebook.com/Metallica/"]Metallica[/url], the biggest heavy metal band there will ever be or has ever been. “Hello London!” says Trujillo. “We couldn’t have been more excited to be invited to the 2016 London Bass Guitar Show. I'm looking forward to jammin’ and representing the low frequencies with Mass Mental. Join us and embark on the funkified magnificuss borderless voyage where many tribes unite and create musical havoc. See you there!” [/quote]