thisnameistaken

Very sad. I only knew him on the forums, he came across as a really friendly guy.

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='924889' date='Aug 14 2010, 02:16 PM']Is this the case with the bulk of synth pedals?[/quote] TBH I doubt the earlier poster has polled other Deep Impact users as to the strength of their input signal. It might've solved the issue adequately for him given a particular bass and signal path, but for others who knows what their problems might be (assuming they have problems at all). In short though: No. Generally the single best thing you can do to improve tracking into a synth pedal is string your bass with flatwounds. That's a bit too extreme for some, so pick nearer the neck, solo the neck pickup, roll the treble off, etc. - simplify your signal, mute open strings well, pick accurately, try to leave the pedal with as much pure fundamental note as possible to listen to without harmonics confusing the issue.

The BMS does its stuff by stacking octaves and having a proper mint filter at the end of it, so no, you won't get a BMS sound out of it. But: It can do some useful synth sounds, the square wave from the attack synth is a decent starting point, use the harmoniser to double it and/or a chorus/overdrive combo to thicken it and you can get some interesting sounds. It leans more towards synth pad sounds that proper gnarly bass sounds though. That's why I kept my Octavius Squeezer.

Minging. Looks like an ACG or something.

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='923402' date='Aug 13 2010, 12:29 AM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=A13mmk5Wzns&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=A13mmk...feature=related[/url] for good measure[/quote] Wow, Flea smoked Stanley Clarke on a P-Funk tune. I can hear the Basschat anoraks' brains exploding up and down the UK.

That crack on the neck joint looks a bit suspect. Apart from that I reckon cheap basses are much of a muchness - they're never going to blow you away tone-wise but if you don't like it you'll probably sell it again for £300 easily enough. Also unless you are only interested in slapping you'll be looking at a new set of strings, so factor the price of those in.

That's a good act, I approve. I've seen a lot of wannabe- quirky folk acts lately and most of them aren't very good.

TBH you could probably get close enough to that with a gated fuzz pedal and a bit of chorus to lush it up.

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='922657' date='Aug 12 2010, 01:00 PM']I'm after a bass synth effect, but haven't got a clue where to start having never used one before. Sound-wise I'm after an 80s type of sound, like on: * crush on you by the jets * Let The Music Play by Shannon etc..[/quote] That fast re-attack is something that all "synth" pedals struggle to do. Even with the best playing technique in the world, the hardware often won't keep up with you. Avoid the Korg G5 (which has the wishy-washiest note attack of all effects ever), try to find a super-responsive low-pass filter that can close to 20hz or so maybe. I do have a patch on my Octavius Squeezer that I use for this '80s-style percussive bass sound which can just about manage something like 'West End Girls' but I'm sure it would choke on 'Into The Groove', if you see what I mean.

I was expecting something like Funky Kingston.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='922487' date='Aug 12 2010, 11:11 AM']No expert but I can see that trying to use four fingers in half position would leave you vulnerable to intonation problems over an evening due to fatigue[/quote] But further up the neck, say around A/Bb on the E string, if you're spanning a whole tone with fingers 1,2 and 4, and say you have to play a repeating triad pattern (as bass players are often required to do) that's going to be a change of position during each one (and a change back again to begin the triad again). Surely this is going to be more tiring than simply spanning three semitones with your hand (if your hand is big enough) and playing the triad without changing position? I appreciate I'm arguing against accepted wisdom here but it's something I genuinely don't understand the objection to.

[quote name='owen' post='921920' date='Aug 11 2010, 07:45 PM']I do realise that this could be a contentious statement, but you could use 1 finger per semitone. It is probably easier to do this if you are kicked off by a teacher who espouses that technique. The thumb placement is key. There can be an element of pivot on the thumb.[/quote] I'm still not sure why I'm supposed to not use my third finger. I'm not doing it, just in case it's important to not do it, but I can't figure out why yet. Sure at the very largest stretches it makes more sense to just span three notes, but if I can span four comfortably then why not use my third finger?

[quote name='ahpook' post='921536' date='Aug 11 2010, 12:58 PM']also...look how cool they make you look ![/quote]

It's funny listening to some of the more eccentric English acts of the late '70s / early '80s and hearing what Fishbone must've been listening to when they were kids:

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='921544' date='Aug 11 2010, 01:03 PM']What do you think of Derek the Draw taking over the Dury role? He's clearly functioning as Dury Mk. 2. in the band, but while such a thing is usually a travesty, particularly when it was a record company decision that DtD would do all the lead vocals, IMHO with The Blockheads it works.[/quote] I've not heard Staring Down The Barrel - is it any good? I think Derek's a decent pick as a singer of Ian's songs but he's not such a front man and of course he won't write like Ian, which was Ian's biggest talent.

I'm a big fan of Ian Dury and anybody who would put up with him.

I used to have a Jazz that did this, I did a few gigs with an allen key in my pocket on stage which I would take out and re-raise the E between songs. Replaced the bridge with a Badass and that made the problem go away.

[quote name='Doctor J' post='921259' date='Aug 11 2010, 08:27 AM']Snapped the truss rod while making a fairly basic adjustment on a Corvette. Fine, my fault, I'll pay for it, I thought, even though I've been adjusting necks for 20 years and have never had a problem before. Spent about a year trying to [b]buy[/b] a new neck from Warwick but, as there isn't a Warwick dealer in ROI, they were as accomodating as a crotch rash. They're just not interested in dealing with customers directly and, if you can't go through a dealer, it's tough sh*t as far as they're concerned. You'd think a neck that chubby might be a bit better built but, wh, there you go.[/quote] That's a shame. The truss rod went on my Corvette Proline 6. The distributor (M.A.D. at the time IIRC) asked me to send them the bass, which I did. They sent it to Warwick, it came back 3 weeks later with a new neck, an explanation and apology that the old (predominantly maple laminates) neck design wasn't stiff enough so they'd replaced it for free with an all-wenge one with a volute, and sent me a bunch of free goodies like strings, gig bag, new pot of wax, etc. I was pretty pleased with that. Especially given that I'd bought the bass used.

I like her voice but I can't stand that song.

Don't forget to listen to all the other Jamaican pop music sounds to broaden the range of what you can do on bass. Especially the souly feel of rocksteady and the simple and powerful bass in dub and roots reggae. A lot of it is just 1 and 5 but the feel is what makes it work. Don't be shy of mixing it up a bit (ska is a fairly limited sound after all) but only go where you can take the drummer with you. Avoid blues licks.

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='920199' date='Aug 9 2010, 11:29 PM']Are we talking classic ska like Byron Lee, or American sh*te like Reel Big Fish??[/quote] Fixed for you.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='919374' date='Aug 9 2010, 10:48 AM']Best trombone solo ever? 'Spiritual Awakening' off Marcus Roberts' Deep In The Shed (on Spotify) - now THAT's musical...[/quote] Funnily enough I've been rehearsing a tune with the band that we're doing "unplugged" next week that usually has trombone and voice on the intro, and I'll be bowing the trombone part. It sounds great, must listen to more trombonists and rip them off mercilessly.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4OhIU-PmB8#t=3m00s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4OhIU-PmB8#t=3m00s[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ZVbw74OhU#t=2m50s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78ZVbw74OhU#t=2m50s[/url]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' post='919164' date='Aug 8 2010, 11:47 PM']would you say it's like a clown's pocket?[/quote] I came here to post that, but someone already had.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='919271' date='Aug 9 2010, 08:39 AM']A whole bunch of very sensible responses above, so I'll go off on a bit of a tangent. Assuming you buy at least reasonably wisely in the first place, a boutique bass is unlikely to lose a large proportion of its value and could even end up making you a profit.[/quote] Well... You're looking at a smaller resale market, and if you add any vanity features (LEDs, custom inlays, signature, etc.) then resale gets harder, or if you pick a colour that nobody with working eyes would like or the colour you pick goes out of fashion, etc. I can imagine a lot of custom instruments wouldn't re-sell very well at all, and it seems a lot of people who commission bespoke guitars and a lot of people who manufacture them have rather bizarre tastes. Also bear in mind if you're gigging a £2000+ custom instrument, the feeling you'll get from watching a teenager with a Mexican Fender make better sounds than you is going to be worse than it is for the rest of us.