Doddy

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet. I'd suggest getting a decent set of easily available roundwounds-something like Elites, D'Addario, Ernie Ball, or Rotosound- in a standard gauge like .45-.105. A string like that will usually sound pretty good whatever you play and will let you get a feel for the sound and feel that you like.

I don't think I've ever heard, or played in a covers band that plays just like the record. Although a lot claim that they do. I've found that generally if you need to play a line perfectly you'll be given the tracks with your part boosted/soloed or there will be charts, otherwise there is usually room for some interpretation. If that's the case you'll normally have plenty of time to learn your parts, unless it's a reading gig. If it doesn't need to be spot on, obviously you need to be able to play the basic idea and any important riffs that might happen, but no one really cares if you change up a fill that was probably improvised to begin with. Also, you play to the situation.You need to play differently in a trio than you do in a 9 piece. Of course, there us nothing wrong with learning lines perfectly for your own amusement either, especially if it's something beyond your current ability.

I really like the Ashdown class D amps. I had one of the first MiBass 550's that I loved, which unfortunately died when it fell off a speaker stack on to a concrete floor. I also had a PiBass 240 which I used in some pretty big venues.I mostly use this for smaller gigs and with the upright now. My main amp for the last few years has been a Retroglide 800, which sounds great for everything. That's my favourite amp that I've owned.

I've not used the SBL strap but I know thst they are made by Ergo Straps, so it might be worth checking them out. I'm very tempted by one. I've been using a Gruv Gear Duo Strap for a few years and love it. I've not been using the 2nd strap part lately, but it's still a wide, padded and very comfy strap. I like the Comfort Strapp too, but I've found that if I have to wear blacks for a show, and I sweat a little, Neoprene straps tend to leave a white mark on my shirt, so I prefer to use leather straps.

I think there are a few reasons why short scale basses are popular at the moment. A few years ago, short scales were kind of associated as budget instruments, and with either that Hofner/McCartney sound or that old bassy (muddy?) Gibson tone, which fell out of favour when extended range, hi fi basses became popular. Builders like Callowhill, Serek, and Wilcock have been making short scales that are high end and can sound as good in the extended range as any other bass. It also helps that players like Tim Lefebvre, Evan Marien, Kevin Scott, and Justin Meldal Johnsen have been playing short scales a lot. That increases their popularity in the same way that Pino helped cause a resurgence in flatwound strung Precisions.

I'll usually have a Sadowsky preamp on when I'm playing a passive bass. That's as close as I get to having an always on pedal. And, while not always on, I normally use a 3 Leaf Octabvre and an Emma Electronic DiscumBOBulator for my solo sound in a non jazz context.

This is one of the reasons why I don't use a board anymore. Some pedals don't work well with certain basses or don't react well with other pedals, so I don't want to be putting velcro on all my pedals and swapping and changing the board around for every show. I'd rather just take out what I need and what will work best.

I still put everything on the floor. I used to have a couple of boards that I took out regularly but as I like to use different pedals (and have lots to choose from) for different shows, I don't use them anymore. I just take out what I want/need and put them on the floor.

I think it's important for a bass to be have decent sustain. You might not need it a lot of the time but if you have to hold a couple of bars of tied semibreves at ballad tempo, you want to bass to ring out clearly. It's easier to cut a note with technique or foam or whatever, than it is to add sustain that isn't there.

Nice one. Cheers for the info. It could be the same one as was on Gumtree, because it was off a guy from around that way. I swapped my old standard Precision because the guy wanted a white bass. I think I came off best.

Yeah, I think most of them are active. From what I can gather, they were only made from 99 to 05ish. I'm normally pretty good with knowing Fenders, but I'd never seen a Deluxe Series, passive PJ in a matte finish before.

I generally start by keeping the EQ on my amp totally flat, and only use it to notch out certain frequencies depending on the room. With the EQ in my basses, again I start flat and only ever adjust them a little if I have to cut or boost certain range of the bass. With passive instruments I generally run the tone wide open. If I need any big changes in tone, I normally do it with a seperate EQ pedal, so that I can turn it on/off as necessary without fiddling with anything.

This is definitely a matte finish. The serial number dates it to 2002.

I recently got offered a trade on my old Mexican Standard Precision, for a Mexican Deluxe Series Precision Bass Special. I happily made the trade because the Special is a really nice bass, but I can't find much info about them. It's got a passive PJ pickup configuration, '60s style slotted bridge, and is finished in matte black with a red tortoiseshell scratchplate. The tuners and truss rod cavity look the same as my old Japanese Jazz Bass. Does anyone have any info on these basses, as I haven't seen a passive PJ with a matte finish before.

What chorus have you been using? I really like the sound of the old DOD Icebox, although I mostly use a TC Electronic Gravy. Both of those can get a pretty extreme if you want, without going too crazy. They are good sounding pedals. The Eden one is cool too, but a bit of a pain because it runs off 15 volts. None of those are particularly expensive, but they are good sounding pedals.

When I say busy, I don't mean one note semi quaver style grooves. I mean playing up and down the neck, fills, chord tones- going full on Jaco at times. Of course, it's all about knowing when to do it ( you're not going to do it on every tune) and having a rhythm section that allows you to do it, and actively encourages it at times. But, I think this is a different conversation for another time that isn't really helping the OP

I tend go the other way on this. I find that I can play busier in a 9 piece funk band than I can in a rock trio. But a big part of that is dependent on the guys you're playing with.

David Garibaldi posted on Facebook an hour ago that Francis 'Rocco' Prestia passed away last night. He was a super funky player, and his sixteenth note groove was a big factor in the Tower of Power sound. Sad news.

You could probably get away with playing any of the notes C7 chord, but it really depends on the context. What chords come before and after? Sometimes playing the 3rd or flat 7 can make the line flow more, especially if you are walking. You really just need to look at how the chords fit together. For example (I'm assuming that you're in the key of F), if the C7 is followed by an Am, playing a B flat might work well as you are decending to the next chord. But if the C7 is followed by an F, you'll probably be better off playing the roots in order accent the perfect cadence. I hope that makes sense. It's late, so it might not.

Try it both ways and see which you like best. If you put the EQ first, the octave will respond to the way you've got the EQ set. If you swap them around, you are changing the EQ of the octaved sound, so you'll get a different result. Personally, when I use an EQ pedal I put it first in the chain because I want my effects to respond to any tonal change I might use.

It's not that strange, we're just hearing things differently. I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan of digital octave pedals but to do the octave up thing, it's the only way to go. To me, no octave up pedal sounds natural but for what I want I prefer the Digitech, especially when I run it through a Muff style fuzz to get a fake guitar sound. You mention using the toneprint editor to play with the EQ- I think the toneprint idea is great, but I don't want the hassle of plugging a pedal into a computer and searching for sounds. I want to be able to turn a couple of knobs on the pedal and get the sounds I want, especially on stage. So for me, I can get the sound I want quicker and easier on the Ricochet.

Most analogue octave pedals are going to struggle getting a clean note below around a low A.They are also mostly monophonic. If you definitely need polyphony and super low tracking, you need to look at a digital pedal really. Personally, I think that octave pedals sound the best playing single notes around the middle and upper ranges of the bass, because they can start to sound muddy otherwise. Both the EBS and the OC2 are great. The EBS is maybe cleaner and not as synthy as the Boss, but the OC2 has that classic sound and that killer sub. I prefer both of them to any of the digital octaves that I've got.

I've got both the Whammy Ricochet and the TC Sub n Up, and I think much prefer the Whammy. I think it sounds and tracks better, especially in the upper octave. I can get a good faux organ type sound out of of the TC, but it's still my least used octave pedal.

I've lost a ridiculous amount of work this year. I'd got a load of guaranteed shows, which obviously all went, and then the work that normally comes in throughout the year. The self employment payments helped, but to be honest the 2 payments combined worked out to around the same as I would have got in about 6 weeks because I'd scored a better paying gig which has now been rearranged for next year. It doesn't help that at the start of the year I had paid for a new bass and put down deposits for my wedding. Luckily my house is paid for so I've got minimal outgoings and can get by without having to do anything else just yet.

The Boss will obviously outsell the 3 Leaf. I reckon that the OC3 outsold it too, by a big margin. You're comparing a big company who's pedals are available everywhere to a small business that is more specialist. I think that the Octabvre is possibly the best octave pedal on the market, and is worth the price. The OC5 seems cool in that review though- It sounds better than other digital octave pedals,to me.