paul_c2

My sixth sense says its 100% fake.

I don't fully understand the situation you're imagining. I use a 120W bass combo which has a 15" speaker in it; and it does a good job of 1) clearly reproducing the lowest notes and 2) "colouring" the tone, in a nice way, to make it sound more pleasant to my ears than (for example - which I have done on a number of occasions) going straight into a PA or a FRFR amplifier of some kind. If you had an amp of some kind, and then needed another amp (or cabinet) to "help out" with the sound, then amp #1 isn't really doing the job....and you'd be lugging around 2 amps, or you'd be regularly using a bi-amped rig, or something like that. For me, I'll stick with the 0 or 1 things to carry around in addition to the bass. Also, AIUI PA systems are rather good at reproducing what goes in. If you had some kind of pre-amp or effects unit or equaliser pedal board or whatever, which produced that "nice, bass-sounding" signal but from then on you went straight into a PA, I dare say it would sound good - or a simple tweak on the EQ could make it sound good. Subs, in the sound reinforcement world, are there to "take the stress" off the main speakers, because bass needs disproportionately more power to realise the actual acoustic volume, as the volume is turned up and up. You'd typically have a PA system with subs if it were north of (say) 500W, while below that its a non-issue. Or if it is an issue, its for whoever looks after the PA to worry about.

If the mouthpiece defined what family an instrument was in, then it would be brass. But - at least in an orchestra - tradition defines it as not part of the brass family, mainly because of its sound and the type of parts it gets to play. Its a bit of a trick question. And - the mouthpiece/embrouchure is only vaguely similar to brass instruments. And....a saxophone is made of brass, but not in the brass family; of course its a woodwind instrument. But then so is a flute, and they are made of metal and don't have anything resembling wood on them (unlike a saxophone which has a reed)....so its all muddled up. But they're definitely left-handed compared to trumpet/trombone/tuba/other brass family.

Not true. While the trumpet, trombone, tuba and most brass instruments are right-handed, the French horn is left-handed (and also its not in the brass family).

I can't believe PMT are shooting themselves in the foot so badly on this. They surely know that not labelling anything, while saving them a bit of time, is illegal and off-putting to customers. Stuff 'em!

What about the 6+5=11?

I am left-handed but play right-handed. I remember when I first took up the guitar, I tried both ways round and it felt more comfortable playing right-handed (probably because the guitar was right-handed....) so I stuck with it. Of course, nowadays it would be even more difficult to judge because I'm now used to playing the one way. But its an interesting thought that potentially some music - for example that which needed more dexterity/skill from the plucking hand - might be easier the other way round, of course you'd need to invest time in overcoming the way you've already learned. I think a handful of people have done this - similar to how Ronnie O'Sullivan plays snooker.

Realistically how much secondhand is a Fender fretless bass, presumably of the era pre-lined? I don't know whether it was an abrupt stop, or whether some models (probably the higher end stuff?) continued to be available unlined, while the cheaper stuff went lined - that guess based on possibly the change from ebony or a wood very similar; to ebonol (which is a type of plastic). My instinct tells me that "converting" a bass from fretted to unlined fretless is going to be a cost that you'll basically never get back in either resale or simply its value; and personally for me, that cost just isn't worth any perceived advantage/benefit an unlined fretless has over a similar one with lines. (It might do if it were to have some kind of genuine wood instead of ebonol though). And - dare I say it - CITES rears its ugly head too, to do with the particular woods which might be used.

I wasn't aware that all Fender fretless are lined, I've seen tons of unlined ones.

Having played both, there's basically no difference to playing it and lined/unlined is just to do with looks. If you don't like the look of a lined, fair enough.

What's wrong with a lined fretless?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inversion

A chord* consists of the root, third and fifth. 1st inversion is defined as the lowest/bass note being the third; and a second inversion is defined as the lowest/bass note being the fifth. *I know there's lots of other eg 4+ note chords, and chords based on notes other than stacked thirds. But don't want to confuse with all the exceptions!

Sounds like a slight out-of-tune situation, but its impossible to say without hearing it etc. I guess it depends a lot on what voice/patch the keyboard uses. A minor with E in the bass, E isn't the root but its the lowest note. I am not sure if this is what you mean when you say it feels like the root - but its not, obviously! I don't think there's any obligation or "standard" or "norm" of what one instrument plays, when another plays an inversion. I am not sure of your musical situation but if it were a well-known piece or reading written music, then you'd play what was written or expected etc. The only similar situation I can think of is with "rootless voicings" on eg extended chords, here the bass would be expected to play the root since others aren't. Again, I am not sure how you're interpreting "root note feel". But if the chord is notated Am/E then that defines that the bass would play E (not A). All the above assumes that the bass (guitar) would be the lowest pitch, ie is defining/playing what would be the lowest note across the ensemble of musical instruments playing. This is normally the case but not always, and definitely needs to be clearly understood who is playing what when you're playing with a piano/keyboard player who has the full range of their instrument available ie the left hand could be playing a bassline which is the same pitch range as the bass guitar. Its a bit difficult to generalise but in my experience the left hand of a piano part would normally be the same bassline as the bass, or very similar (one or other would have a straightforward/simplified bassline, the other would have a variation). Or, the piano would have a more widely-ranging left hand part where there are occasional low root notes played, alongside an upper part maybe consisting of chords or other lines not-too-low ie on the bass clef say 1-1 1/2 octaves below middle C.

You've said it all better than me!

Can you let us know what you ARE smoking? .........so we can all avoid it.

Do we just keep waiting?

There's something about a black bass which is understated and classy, where a red or unusual colour (like a bright orange, lime green etc) would stick out, some more than others. I guess the same could apply to white too (classy and fits in). Whether you want to stick out, or let the music do the talking, is another matter.

If that really were the case, I don't think Fender would be able to sustain their sales or success long term. And also I think its rather dismissing that many will have made an objective decision and chosen Fender, based on eg trying out many basses. I can personally relate to my own experience when I went searching for another bass - I went in with an open mind and tried many; and chose Fender after that process. Also, I don't get "saddened" by others' (buying) decisions. I fully recognise that others are free to choose something else, and that Fender isn't a "one size fits all" - but also neither is any other bass guitar manufacturer, or anything else really.

I would have thought that for most bands (obviously appreciating that all bands vary.....) the singer somewhat "defines" the sound and the feel of the band - its not so much a case of "here's the band with a singer" its "here's the singer with a band"? So having a dep for the singing role seems a bit funny to me.

ALL music is derivative, in some way or another. Its just a matter of degree.

Top tip - the surfaces of (some) basses is quite shiny, so it will reflect and show the person taking the picture. Please, wear your clothes when you take the pic. Or do it at an angle, etc.

Nah, I "get it". I'm just not posting any pics!

You definitely won't like what the baritone sax player does at approx 3 minutes then!!!

My understanding was that while no cab is truly "neutral", its possible to place multiple speakers in a reasonably scientific way to minimise their interference with each other; and that the better cabs/setups would have a not-too-far-from-neutral response to start off. Then, the sound engineer would put a series of tones through the system and use a calibrated mic and db meter to determine the non-neutral response, then correct it using a (eg) 31-band graphic eq. Of course, there's a million other things which affect the sound, including the difference of an empty hall and one full of people, but the above is the rough idea. When it comes to cone size, then accepting that the system isn't PERFECTLY neutral you'd see a fairly flat response but it would tail off at something like 60Hz for a decent 12" speaker; and a 15" speaker might start tailing off at (say) 40-50Hz. Of course, its a gradual thing, not a sharp cliff edge. So if those frequencies are important, then a bigger cone would obviously be the one to use (but at greater cost, weight etc). If it were a FOH PA system, then the main drivers would probably be supplemented by subs, so would not be expected to cope with the lows, so its not particularly relevant anyway. But with a bass guitar setup using FRFR it probably is a factor.