thisnameistaken

I really don't know much about these guys, and to be honest I've always been really dismissive of their band having been playing out in the USA when they broke, but they must be all way too young for a fate like that. Horrible news and a sad loss.

[quote name='E sharp' post='846749' date='May 24 2010, 06:50 PM']I'm suprised that no one has mentioned the Viger Excess models and the like , as they all now have wooden necks , graphite rods , and no trussrods (Vigier state the trussrods can affect the tone - as Ped stated) . This may be a good halfway house for many .[/quote] Actually yeah removing the truss rod would be a welcome change, I seem to have had a disproportionate number of truss rod -related issues with my basses over the years. [quote name='E sharp' post='846749' date='May 24 2010, 06:50 PM']Like alot of things (ie 6 string , light cabs , micro heads , valve amps) , once bitten , you're unlikely to deviate much , just ask Rich aka OTPJ . [/quote] Hmm. Well I went back to four strings from six... But yeah I would be willing to try graphite if I could get a satin neck, rosewood board and a painted headstock, but it would have to do something amazing like be totally deadspot-free for it to be worth me replacing a wooden neck that's already doing a perfectly good job.

[quote name='ped' post='846676' date='May 24 2010, 05:22 PM']99% of people wouldn't shoot with a 1950s film camera, but I do, because I like it.[/quote] I don't use a 1950s film camera because it doesn't say Fender on it, and because I'm too conservative. It's nothing to do with me not really being that excited about cameras. [quote name='ped' post='846676' date='May 24 2010, 05:22 PM']I also like graphite. Most people haven't even tried it, which is fine. But for those of us who have used it for years or even just had a quick go, the benefits are obvious - as are the differences that some may see as drawbacks. I don't think the fact that most people wouldn't notice is one of them!![/quote] And I'm sure if the default neck material was carbon fibre everybody would be using carbon fibre. But it isn't. Why isn't it? Because wood doesn't need replacing. Actually, if you're going to argue for some everyday object to be made using carbon fibre, pick furniture. After lugging three couches up four flights of stairs this weekend I would gladly accept any weight saving in a couch.

[quote name='4 Strings' post='846480' date='May 24 2010, 01:42 PM']Sounds like she has a soft spot ...[/quote] No it's nothing like that. I think she's probably been bragging to someone about me being a good bass player and now she needs to show me off to prove it, but I'm having none of it. Good bass players don't solo.

Our trumpet player is always pushing to get me to take a solo. I keep telling her bass players don't solo because nobody enjoys it when they do, but she still brings it up every rehearsal.

Yeah I guess. Personally if I could get a painted front on the headstock and a satin finish on the back, and preferably a wooden fingerboard (I don't like phenolic boards), and it didn't cost any more than a decent wooden neck, then I'd consider a graphite neck, but we're getting into "Why not just have a wooden neck" territory there. If it came with a cast-iron guarantee not to have any dead spots anywhere on it, then that would interest me. But AFAIK basses with graphite necks are prone to dead spots too.

[quote name='RhysP' post='846374' date='May 24 2010, 11:38 AM']That is absolutely NOT what I said. All I said was I pretty sure 99% of bassists wouldn't notice any difference in FEEL if they weren't told it was a carbon fibre neck.[/quote] True, you didn't say what I said you said, you said they wouldn't notice the difference. But most people don't like paying extra if they can't notice the difference. [quote name='RhysP' post='846374' date='May 24 2010, 11:38 AM']I also clearly stated why I think carbon fibre is superior to wooden necks.[/quote] Fair enough but I wasn't arguing superiority, all I said was that wood is good enough for most people which is why carbon fibre never caught on. Carbon fibre is a much better solution (in performance terms anyway) for road car bodywork but the overwhelming majority are still built with metal alloys. And it's not because car buyers are too stuffy and conservative.

Do these have a Stingray or Sterling -type neck, anyone know? I like the look of them and the electronics look good but I can't get on with clunky Stingray-style necks.

[quote name='RhysP' post='846309' date='May 24 2010, 10:31 AM']They haven't "caught on" mainly because of the conservative nature of the majority of bassists & guitarists - if Leo bloody Fender had started using them everybody would think they were f***ing awesome.[/quote] It's a sledgehammer/walnut situation though surely? I can see why carbon fibre is useful in Formula 1, but I can't see it being worth bothering with on a guitar when they're already using wood and it works. If there was a massive need to make bass necks lighter or stiffer then maybe more people would be interested in using carbon fibre. Nothing to do with being conservative, it's just that - like you said - for 99% of bassists there's no point in using exotic composites.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='846152' date='May 23 2010, 11:34 PM']"thisnameistaken", would you think i be better of with a octavius squeezer?[/quote] In all honesty, probably not. It's a brilliant pedal, very versatile and it's been awesome for me for the last year or so because I can store so many sounds in there, but you need to carefully work around its shortcomings sometimes (tracking can get difficult to manage) and to get the most out of it you really need to understand how to program it. If you're not much of a tweaker then leave it well alone! I think it would frustrate a lot of people. [quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='846152' date='May 23 2010, 11:34 PM']I'm not a big fx addict (still i have 6 pedals in my board and looking for 2 more, lol), just need one good synth sound. I'm a "set and forget" guy. The synth sound i was looking for is something like the keyboard synth sound on Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" intro. Do you think the octavious can be closer than the BMS? Thanks[/quote] The EHX BMS is best suited for doing old '70s synth bass (Moog, ARP) sounds, although it can do some other things well too. I call it my Stevie Wonder pedal. The Octavius Squeezer... Can sound more raw and gnarly sounds thanks to the oscillator. When I'm using it for synth sounds (it's a great individual filter and fuzz too) I tend to shoot for G-Funk -style sounds, and thanks to ADSR on the amp and filter it can do percussive-style '80s synth bass sounds - think Madonna's "Borderline". It's only got one oscillator though so it would struggle to do that doubled-up keyboard part on Just Can't Get Enough. I had a Korg G5 for a while too. Its sawtooth octave down voice is pretty decent and you don't get the tracking issues you get on pretty much every other "synth" pedal. I found it sounded a bit fluffy around the edges though - no doubt a result of modulating the input signal to produce the waveform rather than tracking and triggering. TBH for that Depeche Mode intro (and I'm recommending this a bit blind because I've never tried one) the Markbass Super Synth might be your best bet. It's got three voices you can tune, and while you're limited to them all producing sawtooth voices I think it would get closest to that sound. And apparently the tracking is stellar. It seems to me like a beefed-up Korg G5 in a smaller box, well worth looking at. Don't even bother considering the Deep Impact they're selling for absolutely insane money to Muse fanboys these days.

Nice review, very cool pedal I'm tempted to get one even though I already have two perfectly adequate tuners! I don't understand this recent trend towards "unboxing" ceremonies on the web though. I hope it doesn't catch on in here.

[quote name='RhysP' post='845661' date='May 23 2010, 12:22 PM']To be honest I think if you gave 99% of players a carbon fibre necked bass & told them it was a painted wooden neck they wouldn't be any the wiser.[/quote] Which is probably why they've never caught on. Wood's been doing a sterling job on guitar necks for centuries.

I went for a few goes with a band last December where the guitarist had brought a bunch of songs and he basically wanted me to play whatever he'd been playing with his thumb when he played them on his acoustic guitar. Then at the third or fourth practice he asked me to make my sound as bassy as possible, and didn't believe me when I told him my sound could not get much bassier (I'd cut everything above 300hz), so I decided they could probably get by with anybody playing the bass - preferably someone who didn't know how to do it - and I told them it wasn't my sort of thing...

The main thing I don't like about graphite necks is the sticky-feeling glossy finish on them.

Incidentally, on the subject of tracking performance: This might not be a suitable solution for some of you, but try a set of flatwounds. Probably won't improve a dead spot issue, but it will get you a more reliable response from low notes and considerably longer sustain without glitching.

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' post='844365' date='May 21 2010, 04:47 PM']Can you extend a bit more your thoughts betwen both these Synts, please? I'm thinking in buying a MBS in a near future but never herad the rumor that the old one is better. Thank you [/quote] Negatives: The new one's suboctave will distort if you play loud, low notes into it - the old one will just deal with it. Generally the new one doesn't seem to produce as much bottom as the old one. This I can't describe very well, but I found there weren't the same powerful, bassy sounds in the XO model, it really disappointed me having had an older BMS on my board for a couple of years and got familiar with how big it sounds. The 'rate' slider on the new one is a pain in the arse to use, the first half of the slider pretty much sounds the same, then there's a quarter of it where most of the useful settings are, then the last quarter is pretty much all the same again. The old one has a much more useable rate slider. The sliders on the new one are smaller, making them trickier to set. They're also fairly loose, so they're easy to un-set! The old one has slightly longer sliders and they have a bit of resistance to them, so they tend to stay put a bit better. Positives: Old one is 24v and needs its own PSU. New one is 9v which looks like a plus, but you can't daisy-chain it, so what's the point. New one is smaller and a bit lighter than the old one, but once you get jacks into the in/outs you're really not saving much space on your board. And the new one's stomp switch is a lot nearer the sliders than on the old model. New one is true bypass. The old model has a horrible tone-sucking buffered bypass, but it's actually dead easy to mod it to true bypass - I did it myself and I don't know anything about electronics. Still, the new one wins here but I don't buy pedals based on how they sound when they're switched off.

Nah I don't have the patience to play music I don't like. Which is most music. I also wouldn't play well if it was music I didn't like. And I can't read dots anyway...

I've got a Squeezer too. Excellent pedal. Worth every penny if you use a lot of synth noises.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='844130' date='May 21 2010, 01:41 PM']Just checked out the 3Leaf Groove Regulator and it sounds/looks fantastic - anyone got one that could give an honest appraisal of it?[/quote] Look on TB - a member there "Spencer" builds them and they have been a huge hit since he started producing them last year. Lots of positive opinions on there.

[quote name='Bassnut62' post='844059' date='May 21 2010, 12:51 PM']EHX MBS can be picked up for £100 second hand; but make sure it's an old steel 24v one. I've heard the new small 9v ones are not nearly as good.[/quote] I think I started that rumour. I meant it though - I was really disappointed with the XO model it doesn't have the same grunt as the old one, the controls are harder to use and it feels cheaply made. I sold it and bought another old 24v model and modded it for true bypass.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='844022' date='May 21 2010, 12:27 PM']Lovetone Meatball - sounded great when Nick Fyffe used it with Jamiroquai but big, heavy and very expensive.[/quote] There are three more compact clones of the Meatball on the market now, with a variety of prices and features, but all would have to be ordered from the USA unless you see one for sale used, so you'd be adding import duty, VAT and a handling fee to these prices: [url="http://www.3leafaudio.com/"]3Leaf Groove Regulator[/url] - No expression input, lacking a lot of the controls from the original Meatball but apparently it works very well on bass. - $230 [url="http://www.martoneaudio.com/meatwad.htm"]Robot Factory Meatwad[/url] - Almost all the controls from the original, + expression input, in a SansAmp-sized box. - $350 [url="http://www.bargeconcepts.com/mb.html"]Barge Concepts Grinder[/url] - Looks closest to the original, larger and more expensive than the other two. - $410 I've got the Meatwad, it's a top filter. Mine's got a couple of extra sneaky features so it's got more switches, I feel like a scientist when I'm operating it.