uk_lefty

Beautiful! Would be interested in our advice... I hack around on guitar, have played at acoustic nights and so on and 9months ago picked up an electric for messing about recording, though I never expect to play ripping lead like Hendrix. I don't really want both guitars and considered something like this as a good single instrument to cover both... Is that realistic or are these more of an acoustic than a 50/50 between acoustic and electric?

Thank you both. I'm looking at what I can pick up for a good deal on fleabay, my vocal work has improved a lot in the last few years by backing a decent singer, a lot of it down to maturity and knowing my range, so in the past when someone said "let's do an Aerosmith song" I should have just said No. Does the mic mechanic help with pitch correction? That's the bit I'm looking for as I have half an idea to front a three piece while playing bass, that's where I'd need it most. For BVs it could help but I'm happy enough with most of what I'm doing now.

Not sure if this is the right place... I'm tempted by a TC Helicon vocal pedal. Either a voice tone or a mic mechanic, but open to ideas. Basically I can sing a bit but I can easily run out of steam or lapse here and there when playing bass. I'd like to see if a box of tricks could help me cheat the system a bit. Any advice gratefully received!

Hi everyone. How has anyone's new bands, or new projects, been going at the moment? Anyone started anything new or joined a going concern? I love my band, great guys, but we aren't doing enough for my liking. I need another project, something very different... I've looked in the usual places and the "established" bands that are looking for bassists are not my cup of tea either from description or from recorded songs. I have thought of contacting singer song writer types and saying "hey! Want a bass player?" but I'd rather have a bit more say in everything. Is anyone managing to form something new or get good slots in interesting bands? Where is best to look these days? While I look I might write some songs and record the guitar, bass and vocal parts, and hope i can attract a drummist and guitarer who would buy in to it...

Not sure when you compare it to the Warwick Star Bass, rockbass version, it seems OK. There aren't many lefty semi hollows out there.

They're made in Japan but with US pickups was my understanding... Though that rings a bell... Either way, they're decent.

I had an MIJ PB70 and sold it to fund a CIJ JB75-US. Coincidentally both are "US" versions so had Alder bodies and US hardware. Excellent, excellent basses. The PB was great and I was reluctant to sell, but other basses were doing its job and I'm more of a jazz bass man at heart. My CIJ Jazz is unreal. The quality of build is flawless, you can see woodgrain through the butterscotch paint, everything is fitted perfectly, the neck feels great and could only be better with a more satin finish, but the gloss is the best gloss neck I've played. It looks, feels and sounds stunning. And second hand it was around half the price of a new USA jazz bass. The only change I may consider is to add ashtrays and a thumb rest. The pickguard is pre drilled for them but the body isn't.

One of our last gigs we kept hearing "PLAY AC DC!!!" At the end of each song. So the guitars plays the opening riff of back in black, hecklers get excited and without any prior rehearsal the three of us with mics all said "nah, we don't know it" couldn't have done it better if we tried. Never got asked for it again.

I rarely tell people I work with that I play music. Because it's usually followed by: Snorts of derision at doing anything creative "I played in a band at school..." followed by some bull story about being really good but not having x, y, z and then giving up. Turns out they had a my first guitar book and gave up after a week. I know someone in a band, they play all the Oasis songs... Yawn, boring story about someone you don't know and will never meet being in a band. We should have a Finance Department/ Marketing Department/ whatever department band at the end of year do, it will be great! (it won't) Did you play this weekend?! With excited mouth open expression followed by air guitar action, very loud so the entire office can hear and thinks you and the lunatic are rock music buddies.

How does it handle active and passive basses? I've had a go with lesser pedals that were great for passive basses but unusable for active.

Decent price... No lefties though, I expect.

Was it sold as new or from their B stock clearance?

Passive

This pickup is a brand new Kent Armstrong replica of the original Aria, should be fine

Have tried different strings. It's definitely an electronics issue.

That was my thinking this morning too.

The frustration continues.... I got nowhere trying to contact the luthier or the pickup maker about the issue so I took matters in to my own hands. The jack would be cheap and easy to replace, surely?! So I did. My soldering skills are poor and my soldering equipment is budget range to say the least. Had a friend who knows what he's doing, and has built a bass before, help me out. He's my drummer so we did it in a break at rehearsal. Even less output now, including with the original jack. He commented that the solder joints look poor throughout. I might look in to ripping out the original guts and replacing in full... This bass will be resurrected. It will. I hope.

Today I'm on four basses, two guitars. One multi amp set up, one bass gig rig, one bass multi effects, a new guitar multi fx, an acoustic guitar multi fx.... A mic, mixer, zoom handheld recording device. I have no excuses. I have very little time to play but I like the chase of buying something and trying it out. Everything I have music wise is sellable, though I love my Kramer fretless as it was an 18th birthday gift, and my Stingray was bought brand new and would lose too much money if I sold it so I'm keeping it forever... And its my number 1 bass. I'd like other basses, currently listing after another fretless, but I don't think I'll bother. Really, 4 basses is at least 2 too many. The guitars? I want to get back in to writing songs and do some recording. I have an electro acoustic and a squier Telecaster, both are adequate for my dreadful guitar playing.

It's pretty obvious what the brand is from the logos on the box. Not what you'd expect from them at all, or anybody, indeed. Hope it gets properly resolved for you.

I think this is why Warwick run a successful global guitar company and I don't.

Hmmm... Models I want not being available left handed annoys me a lot but also saves me a lot of money. Mixing different hardware colours, so chrome Bridge and gold tuners is a big no. Recently pondered buying a black bass that had some gold hardware, thought I could replace the chrome bits with gold but it had silver blocks on a rosewood board, just looked wrong. General cheap rubbish hardware is an annoyance, just seems to be a cost cutting measure on a lot of basses selling for less than a grand. Bad relic jobs. By this I mean every single instrument looks the same and the relic just isn't realistic. Or it looks like it got washed up on the rocks at Flamborough Head. A relic on a modern instrument is just wrong. Good quality relic and genuine wear are OK in my book though. Warwick making basses that have maple necks just isn't right. To me a Warwick has to have a bubinga body, ovangkol neck and wenge board. Nothing else will do. Their maple bodies look quite nice though, I'll give them that, the one I had was a stunner. Bad flame or quilted maple tops. They can look stunning. They can mainly look dreadful on cheaper instruments. They always look like something from the late 80s / early 90s and not in a good way.

I see lefty ones every now and then on ebay. There's a silver one on there right now. Didn't think they were much more than cheap far Eastern tat, but have never played one. Seems they could be a hidden gem!

Top advice there. A set up can make a massive difference. I think I'd been playing for about ten years before I'd even heard of a set up but once you've had a good set up you'll never go back. Think of it as having a service on your car, the way it drives and sounds much smoother after all the filters and fluids are changed. Changing strings can completely change the character of your bass too, but don't just think if the sound think of the feel, it's a very personal thing so be prepared to experiment. People on here sometimes sell second hand strings after trying them out for a few mins so could be easy to try a few sets.

Awesome!

It's just a different way to raise money. Quite inventive. I like the idea, but of course the only people with a realistic chance of winning have to have more than 50 thousand dollars spare, good for the band, not great for aspiring music students etc. But however it is done I can't see it being fair in that sense.