Lfalex v1.1

I'd probably tune to C standard on a 4; C,F,A#,D# The five I'd leave in Standard B,E,A,D,G Primarily because I like to keep my fingerings patterns consistent.

The drummer in the band I left now has a gong. There's a few things I cannot tolerate in a band; Gongs Wind Chimes Band members wearing their own merchandise. (I'll barely wear anything with conspicuous branding) Looks like my exit was well-timed.

I really wouldn't sell ALL your gear. Keep your favourite bass or two and favourite effects (or a multi) If you haven't room for an amp, a small headphone one will do for when the itch returns and needs scratching.

But please bear in mind that they're not mutually exclusive!!

The last thing I jammed did NOT end well. It's week 2 in a new band (I've since left) Both the guitarist and drummer are, on the face of it, more accomplished than I. We've gone through all the material, and have some time left. Drummer; "Wanna Jam something?" Me; "Sure, what've you got? Guitarist? Both; "Nothing" Me; "OK. Well I have this..." Plays riff in 6/8, in a Blues scale with an extra sharpened 7th. (Almost sounds like "Paranoid" collided with "Communication Breakdown") Drummer; "Woaaah. That's not in 4/4!" Guitarist; "What's that progression?" It All falls down. We never jammed again.

Yep. That's the one. As for peak thrash, I see your early Anthrax in a good venue and raise you; Clash of the Titans (1990) It wasn't the big 4. More like 2 of 4 with excellent support. All fielding their classic line-ups. Slayer- Araya, King, Hanneman, Lombardo Megadeth- Mustaine, Friedman, Menza, Ellerton Testament- Billy, Peterstone, Skolnick, Christian, Clemente Suicidal Tendencies- Muir, Trujillo, George, Clark, Herrera. Best of the night? Controversially, Testament. But no-one sucked. Particularly Slayer. They were superb.

Anthrax were better than Iron Maiden when I saw them play together. That said, Maiden had just lost Adrian and replaced him with Janick. They were touring "No Prayer for the Dying". Hardly their strongest album. Anthrax were mostly covering "Persistence of Time" with bits of "Among the Living" and "Euphoria" thrown in. Line up? Belladonna, Benante, Bello, Ian and Spitz. That's as good as it gets. • When I saw Metallica in '89, they had no real competition from their support. Metallica were "good", but there wasn't much of a yardstick.

I've had it said about my choice of amplification and cabinet at auditions. More than once. "Looks old. Will it be ok/enough?" I don't bother to rise to it. They may not be the Emperor's new lightweight compact clothes, but Messrs Ampeg, Markbass and Schroeder put everyone right back in their places.

[Don't throw rocks at me for this] Coming from DB to BG ought to be a doddle, even allowing for the relative unfamiliarity of the dimensions. BG is a whole lot easier to play in general. You could get a custom made neck (and bass) made to your specs, and a good bit of strap adjustment might well pull the neck upwards. But not as much, I suspect, as you're looking for. Back in the day, both Ampeg and (iirc) Gibson did endpins for their BGs. Have you tried a BG and did you really not get on with it? If not, can you give us any insight as to why?

Meh! Editor reposted an old post. But while I'm here... Taking their time with the custom thing. Fairly sure there's plenty of customers (particularly in the U.S.) Who'd pay top dollar for a really nice [Insert EBMM bass of choice] with a few personal touches in terms of finish, neck finish, neck material, magnet material (Alnico/Ceramic/Neo), EQ, Hardware...

Quite outside of the band, the thing that struck me about the audition footage was how under-rehearsed some of the bassists seemed. Trujillo being the notable exception. I believe that I read that Newsted learned the entire back-catalogue before he applied. Best bassist for Metallica? Cliff. For no reason other than that he had the respect of the rest of the band, and could rein in James and Lars when necessary.

I've no experience of the Stingray version of events, though I DO own 2 basses with piezo bridges. I was concerned that the SR might not be a full-range piezo (such that it covers only the higher frequencies), but according to TB, it is full-range. I've found full-range piezo pickups to be a useful addition. Not entirely necessary, but nice to have. Some designs are built around them; •Many EUBs and Acoustic basses. •The Ibanez Affirma and EDA series, which mix magnetic and piezo. They certainly work. My NS5 CR EUB has the potential to sound massive if required, yet humble if not. The Ibanez EDA is intriguing because of its adjustability. There's an ability to adjust the piezo bass and treble independently of magnetic EQ. The controls of the Stingray (vol,pan, B,M,T) suggest this isn't the case. Furthermore, the 'Ray has a strong sonic identity. Does it need a piezo? The piezo component has the potential to sound more airy and "acoustic-like" Is that what you need from the bass?

As requested! ZoomB3 doing Tremelo, Chorus and Reverb duties to good effect.

Yamaha SBV. Because.... well, why not?

After some further messing around, I've found that sacrificing "stereo" for mono and using a valve preamp pedal for just the slightest bit of drive really helps some of the duller patches come to life. I've also pressed my Zoom B3 back into action for Reverb, Delay and modulation fx duties. That's proven to be similarly interesting, but it'd be great to have a user-definable stereo "fx loop" to which a given sound could be assigned, subjected to various FX, then blended back into the overall mix. I guess you just buy a more expensive keyboard with onboard fx. Or a second keyboard.... GAS. Is it like this for all instruments?

Dart 3? If it's like Tony Levin's 3 string Ray, count me in! If not, then Meh! 🙃 Ooh...Can I have the (non-existent) 3 string Ray in Kiwi w/ black hardware..

I'll have a Bongo 4HH in Kiwi Green, please. Black Hardware, of course.

How else will they get that "Weak G"? 🙃

In an attempt to diversify a little, I purchased a Roland GO:Keys61. Well. It would be 61 keys. Because they don't do a 76 or 88... I have, of course, taken to it like a fish to air, with my embarrassment only being spared by judicious use of a headphone socket. The keys are nice, it's solid and functional enough, and I'm sure I've barely scratched the surface of what it can do. Nonetheless, there a degree of tactile response and immediacy that's lacking compared to bass guitar, and I don't think that weighted keys would address that. Furthermore, it feels like they've held back all the quality tones and sounds for the better models (Juno, Jupiter, Fantom etc.) Have I been spoiled by too much contact with good basses, I wonder?!

Well said. Therein lies the real danger.

Interesting how the grain patterns are so very similar. Are the images photoshops or are the tops photoflames, I wonder? I'll have a look for more (different) images.

A NUX Mighty Plug or similar and decent headphones is great for such things. I've been known to try out instruments in Cash Converters etc. with it, much to people's bemusement.

I'm fairly sure it'll not be an issue, but I'd like to try a keyboard amplified through my head/cab. My understanding of such things is that it ought comfortably to withstand it. I'll be running it via my Zoom B3 as it has provision for better reverb control, delay and a limited HPF facility. I realise that the keyboard out will be line level, and therefore "hot", but that can be addressed via its own volume control, and I'll wind the gain up gently. I don't intend to play LF sine waves through it for hours on end, and overall levels should be modest at most. I've not missed anything important, have I? For reference, the equipment is keyboard >> Zoom B3 >> Markbass CS450 >> Schroeder 21012L. Thanks again in advance.

I recently used the DI out from my Two Notes Le Bass preamp for a bit of recording work with a band. I engaged the cab sim that it offers, settled on a tone that I liked and just got in with it. What came out the other end was most gratifying. I used my head/cab for monitoring on that occasion.

Quite apart from judicious use of the master volume control, some sort of compression and possibly an HPF (or something that acts like one) can be a worthwhile addition. Tames nasty peaks, and prevents unwanted low frequencies that the cab can't reproduce from making it past the HPF.