DiMarco

No worries, I have been going my own way for 30+ years on bass now.. Starting off on a fretless 4 string in 1990, playing hardcore metal on it. Even back then the stuff I did made people raise a brow. Whatever you guys do be authentic to yourself BUT keep an open mind towards others. Me I want to keep learning and exploring so there's no telling what I will be playing next year, maybe a fan fret monster of some sort? Or even an upright or a balalaika bass.... There really is no limit and it is such fun! This morning I have been jamming on my 8 string (4 with octaves) and even that now plays more easily and faster then ever before. I do blame my six string. It forces me to improve my hand positioning and this pays off on all my other basses as well. For this reason alone I would encourage every bassist to play a six for a while even if only at home. It also expands your fretboard knowledge since when you include some chords - it makes the fretboard boxes tick (LOL!).

Ah you're still here... The six string works and sounds great. But the five string Fodera has been regaining its ground a bit again. I prefer its character. Life is good. It doesn't matter how many strings a bass has. Love them all. Still, playing a six is intriguing and I do reach for it every day.

That said, I use valve and hybrid valve/class AB amps mostly. They just pack more punch.

But then Andertons are selling TC RH750 for 349 quid! https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-amps/bass-amp-heads/tc-electronic-rh750-bass-amp-head I have owned both the VT500 and RH750 and the TC to me is a much better sounding and more flexible amp. The VT500 D.I. out responds to the master volume on the amp, rendering that D.I. useless.

Oh dear...

I am now very certain there are. Holy hell! Trying to reason will be useless so I have kept quiet in the thread for a while. Some people know how to use a compressor, a lot of people do not. Some minds will never open. It is what it is.

Last night I had rehearsals with my punkrock band and brought the six just for kicks. Most of the songs only need two or max. three strings. The reason I brought the six is because it is new and I was wondering if I would experience any limitations while playing regular fast rock stuff. I will be completely honest here: Nope, zero limitations. I must add that I regularly play five string basses so I have taught myself how to keep the lowest strings from droning quite some time ago and always mute with both hands. I did find I have to work somewhat harder if a song has a lot of stuff going on on the low B string since that is a bit more of a stretch (my bass has 19mm spacing) but that's no biggie and I can get used to that pretty quick I reckon.

Maybe I'm an idiot but that would make a two string bass the most ideal situation. I work from anchor points whatever substitution I choose. the 3rds, 7ths etc. exist in different directions from those wether I choose to run on 1, 2, 3 or more strings from there. Having more strings does not make this any more complex, imho. You just have more choices, speaking of fretboard awareness.

Read my post again, but more carefully.

Nor are any other effects. Your point being? Playing good doesn't nullify the added value of fuzzes, choruses, wah pedals and octavers does it? What is different about compressors that people say they don't need them because they are playing good? It is rubbish really.

Yes.

Don't know if I ever drooped this in here, but this is mine since last year. One of the very few basses I bought new.

A 6 can't be more complicated then a 4, your scale just extends further up and down from the same position. On a 4 however you will need to move up or down the neck more to play that extended range. That said, with each way of playing the same stuff comes different inspiration. And that is my main point. A 6 inspires in a different way then a 4 does and vice versa. I want both. And a bunch of 5 strings. 😁 The only problem with a six string I can think of is playing comfort - some people can't get to grips with such wide fingerboards and there's nothing wrong with that. A 4 string bass is perfectly fine. But you know... 30 years of playing 4 and 5 strings. Adding a 6 is just a lot of fun.

Day 10: - Still playing nothing but the Patitucci. My focus is entirely on getting to play that without thinking too much about string muting etc. trying to make that process become second nature. @Paulhauser wow that Spector looks very tasty! About the JP: You get used to the 19mm string spacing pretty quick. I play five string basses with various string spacing and actually feel the 19mm works easier once you get used to it. I do not have big hands by the way so I think it is mainly a mentality thing.

Indeed. I too did not expect this but the Yamaha is right up there with the Zon, Sadowsky, Fodera when it comes to build quality and playability. Tone wise, the Fodera (with its huuuge body) is a notch up from the rest in my mind, but then again tone is highly subjective. Also the Zon has a pretty unique snappy sound with its carbon neck. Diversity in tone is why I have so many basses in the first place and the Yamaha definitely holds its own in that department. Maybe not considered high-end but the EBMM Stingray 5 Neckthru is also seriously good quality. I am a lucky man.

Thanks for the remark on my TRB. It is a John Patituci signature (1 not 2, the 2 are 35" this one is 34" scale) and the amount of detail in its design is just jawdropping. Body is a 7 layer waffle of maple, ash, alder and what seems to be ebony. Quality is about as good as the Fodera 5 I have. Never really looked at Yamaha before but this bass seems to be reasonably epic. 🙂

You know... Every bass is good whatever the amount of strings. Some even use a guitar with two bass strings 🙂 I just find the new options having a six string intriguing and this particular bass has me playing more creatively at home. I keep coming up with nice new licks and stuff. And getting the creative juices flowing is probably the part I find addictive about it. I am just very happy I have no problems with the huuge fretboard, it actually plays light and fast. Here's a pic of it getting some new strings on earlier this week. The Yamaha weighs 4.8kg so it is perfectly manageable.

I think there are some misconceptions about using a compressor in your signal chain, and a lot of bassists seem to not know what a decent compressor can actually do for you. Last week, again, a fellow bassist told me "I do not need a compressor, my playing is good enough". Why do some players feel using a compressor is a bad thing? Any sound engineer will ALWAYS compress your signal anyway and you do not use a compressor to "fix bad playing technique". First of all: You need a GOOD compressor if you want it to get you a good sound. I tried a number of cheap comps and wasn't at all happy with what they do. For instance the Spectracomp on my TC amp is completely RUBBISH compared to my two pedal comps, it is acting like a limiter not a compressor. There are two compressors in my big drawer of pedals, and they both have very different characteristics. Most of the time I will use my Cali76cb, which has a high pass filter that keeps it from squashing the low B on a higher ratio and it has a dry/wet blend so I can combine the compressed and uncompressed sound. I have it set up with a pretty long attack time, low ratio and I blend in a fair amount of the uncompressed signal. This way the compressor doesn't do much when I play softly but when I dig in it will add punch through the attack phase of the envelope (the attack phase of each note I play). It makes my basses sound more 'in your face' when I play hard, exactly what I want it to do. Then there's the Black Finger which is adding tube warmth to my sound. This one (kinda like a Diamond compressor) works particularly well with Pbass tone and adds that tuby on the verge of breakup grit if I want it to. If I had to describe the effect I'd say the Black Finger makes my bass sound bigger. So there you go. One compressor for punch, one for warmth. None for "fixing my touch". Anyone out there who also find their compressor improves their tone? If so, in what way?

Current incarnation: (do have drawers full of pedals but these are the ones I actually use) Yes, a bass wah. It is great fun! Then there's a polytune (tracks the low B better then the Korg pitchblack does), the cali76cb is set for punchy attack and boosts the signal a few DB. Two fuzzes. The Pickle does 'Muse' like, Giygas a more organic 'Beastie Boys' like girth. Then the Le Bass has a lovely tube drive in its fusion mode and spices up the overall tone a bit, giving it even more punch. I hear a lot of misconceptions about using compressors from fellow bassists, might start a thread on this topic soonish. Compressors are NOT used to compensate bad playing technique and several different comps can be used to either warm up your tone or make it more punchy and aggressive. They don't level out your touch but envelope each individual note you play when you set them up properly, emphasizing your touch rather then smashing it. My board too sits on a pedaltrain with a HB powerplant stuck underneath. The cheap HB seems to do just as good a job as my pricey VoodooLab PSU does and takes less space since it fits underneath the Pedaltrain.

Why am I hearing Sméagol's voice when I read that...

I have 9 basses in total, an 8 string with octave strings included. Each instrument inspires in a different way and makes me come up with different stuff. If I could only maintain one then that would be a hard choice to make. Purely from a functionality pov, I really only need one five string for the stuff we play with the band. I do own two four string basses but rarely use those. Playing on the six is just a lot of fun, I don't really need one at all for the stuff we regularly play.