Pinball

aah not the simple answer I was hoping for. They are very nice whatever they are. They are bright red. They have a shiny brass ring at the bridge end but I'm guessing most strings do. If I had bought it in the UK I would have guessed roto's but it came from Spain. I'll have to do a bit more research and look all these up. Whatever they are they are very nice.

Hi, I have a rather nice set of flats on a quitter I bought. They have red windings at both ends and are nice and shiney. Any suggestions?

Hi, I'm kind of missing my humble Spector Legend 4. I always thought that I would upgrade to a higher spec model at some stage and I see them come up for sale fairly often like Rebop's or LX's but don't feel I know enough about the range to make any decision. I have occasionally noticed that some players give the reason of "don't like the neck" as a reason for sale. I have to say that I found the Legend 4 neck really nice and never noticed any problems. Are there differences between the NS's Legends, Rebops and Lx's are all the necks pretty similar? Note: I did briefly have an early 90's 5 stringer that was build like a tank, 5 stringers are a totally different matter Any advice greatly appreciated.

The link from 51m0n is very useful to see graphs of the result of different playing styles. It makes total sense that I'm looking for something subtle as I play finger style for 90% of the time. It also point out that I should re-assess compression needs if I change to slap or pick. No wonder there is so much written about this when you take into account all the variations of gear, playing styles, music styles individual tastes and compressors themselves. its a complicated subject and down to using my ears I guess.

OK thanks. [quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1357661890' post='1926244'] there's a post somewhere with a massive description on how to set up a (proper) compressor properly. Think of anything with one or two knobs as a cut down version that only lets you change some perimeters- then try and understand how each one works. Otherwise you'll just get a list of folk saying "i like this pedal" etc As a direct response- the ashdown amp compression is a very woolly beefy up type thing. Not all will be like that. It depends why you want compression? [/quote] Basically I want something subtle and don't want to loose much character from the sound. I've put a lot of effort into finding basses that I'm happy with. I accept that I will be altering the sound but I don't want to loose their character. Also I want to be able to retain the ability to give more "attack" through my playing style. It's finding a compromise I guess.

Hi I'm easily confused and there are lots of posts discussing compressor/limiter pedals on here. I read a load of posts which explain what they do, with lots of different recommendations and advice. It seems to me that this subject is more confusing than any other subject on basschat. Anyway I'm sure I would benefit from some sort of "limiter" to cut out the peaks when playing live-not something that I have done yet with bass but i'm headed there. Before taking the plunge I thought it best to check out the following. 1. My Ashdown Evo 2 300 already has a "compression" setting and although using it "beefs-up" it beefs-up the sound, I just don't like the results. Is this typical and does this mean that I going to be wasting my money on pedals here when my amp already has compression?? 2. The Harke Bass attack VXL tone sharpener/pre-amp is my favourite pedal in terms of tone and to my ears it seems to have some natural compression., Is that correct and if so am I wasting my time looking further? Sorry to bring this subject up again but any help would be much appreciated. I do get the "it's a personal taste thing" but need some advice to get started.

Well in my limited experience it depends on the individual guitar. The few American models I tried were all good, some were great, The Mexicans were generally pretty good but seemed to vary in terms of set up and lacked the edge of the current USA PUPs I was hoping that you were going to be open to other suggestions as the Sandberg Umbo is my current weapon of choice. Also I played a G&L JB-2 today which seems a nice simple jazzer-stronger sound than the Mexican but a slightly different tone to the American Fenders I thought.

An interesting read, thanks for posting. I currently have a couple of Sandbergs and want to sell or exchange one of them so that I can get a TT. I tried a few Sanbergs several times with the intention of buying. Differences between the VM4 (PM4) and TM4 is largely style as they are both very versatile. I tried 2 TM4's, a VM4, an Umbo and a TT4 in a couple of local shops in Bristol. I loved them all. The sound and handling of the TT and Umbo are superb/top class but the others had more sounds so it could be argued that they are more versatile. I also noticed that I could dial in the VM4's to get a sound similar to the TT sound without much trouble and I actually thought the TT was a passive bass until kind assistant pointed out otherwise. To my ears the Umbo has its own personality, probably down to the use of different pickups. I had the money saved up to buy one but then snagged a 2nd hand California Supreme on basschat and with the remaining dosh snapped an Umbo that come up BIN on ebay. My experience since owning them is that I play the Umbo all the time and fiddle around with the California occasionally so the California is up for sale. Its the old trade off of simple verses complicated I guess. They are both great basses so its down to personal preference. Another thing that I noticed was that i preferred one of two identical PM4's. I couldn't figure out why and kept swapping between them and after a while decided there was a subtle difference in the hotness of the pups. The one I preferred had Sandberg rather than Delano PUPs. Nothing wrong with either of them so again its down to personal preference. You did the right thing in trying them out! Congratulations on a nice bass!

I instantly fell for my P fretless. I wasn't even sure it was what I wanted but the seller offered it to me after I mentioned I was looking for for a fretless on basschat. He had owned it for 16 years because he felt it was *sonically right". I agree and he had it set up right too. Definitely exceeded my expectations. Thanks m8 if your reading this.

Not exactly bass related but I got an Alesis qx25 midi keyboard. to help me record stuff.

[quote name='Dr M' timestamp='1356109580' post='1907048'] Fair point with Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, but I thought basically all Warwicks and Sandbergs were active? Sandberg's website certainly only seems to list one or two models that don't have a preamp. [/quote] Sandbergs come in loads of options or custom builds. Most active Sandbergs have an active/passive switch and I know there are passive only Panthers and Californias-the Umbo is a passive.