thisnameistaken

[quote name='Toasted' post='377893' date='Jan 12 2009, 04:20 PM']I'd personally wait until they sort out the dodgy firmware.[/quote] That's something that will be sorted out by simply flashing a ROM chip somewhere though, surely? It's not as if there are irreparable faults on the current units.

Before I go to all the trouble of getting a friend in Australia to buy me one of these and ship it over, I thought I'd ask to see if anyone knows of a UK retailer selling them for a price that isn't totally heinous. Or if anyone knows any private individual that's considering selling one used? I've decided I definitely do need one now, it's just a matter of where to get one.

Er... Play with a pick, add a bit of overdrive, add an octave down from an OC-2 / Multiplexer / Octabass or similar, heavy compression. I think.

Would [url="http://www.tonebone.com/tb-dragster.htm"]this[/url] do the same thing?

It seems every weekend in my local there's at least one table of blokes who can't talk without shouting, and like to laugh especially loud to show what a fun-loving bunch of stupid twats they are. They must peak well over 70db. Does this mean they can be thrown out into the street? If so I'm all for it.

[quote name='pete.young' post='375614' date='Jan 9 2009, 08:28 PM']This is the EBS Octabass? I have one and it doesn't behave quite as badly as yours. It's fine down to the 5th fret on the E string (A) and certainly doesn't misbehave at 7th fret on the G.[/quote] That's a common place to have a dead spot on a bass guitar, which will completely **** tracking on an octaver. [quote name='agoulding' post='375761' date='Jan 9 2009, 11:15 PM']yeah it is the ebs one. The plan is this - Im buying the AMT Slap bass compressor and a drive pedal. Ill see if anything mkakes a difference[/quote] Honestly I doubt they'll make a measurable difference. If it's not working for you - with various basses - then either you need to tidy up your technique using the points I raised above, or you're expecting too much of it, or it's broken.

I don't have issues with odd meter. The tricky tunes for me are songs that rely 100% on the swing. I mean, [url="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11tjh_janes-addiction-been-caught-stealin_music"]this[/url] has just three notes but it's rock hard to get that feel going. You've got to have the drummer feeling it too or it doesn't work at all.

"Normally" I play with my fingers (I learnt to pick with three fingers, it's not big or clever, and some people can play faster and more accurately than me with two, it's just that I taught myself to play and I ended up playing with three, for better or worse), but sometimes I get a pick out and bash through some old tunes (The Jam, The Smiths, The Cure, Pixies, Stone Roses, Ned's, etc.) for the hell of it, and I do enjoy it. I'm actually tempted now - in my middle-age - to buy a P-bass for the first time ever, just to have an authentic "thrash it with a pick" bass to play when I feel like doing that. It sounds good, but feels wrong, to do it on a Thumb bass...

[quote name='ARGH' post='373514' date='Jan 7 2009, 09:20 PM']Kinda makes you wonder why they bother making 4 string basses anymore.[/quote] Bizarrely enough, some bassists still don't have egos big enough to fit a 6-string bass. Some do, but tried a 6-string bass, realised they didn't necessarily need one and didn't enjoy looking like a total anorak while wearing one, so they went back to 4 strings. To be fair the one good thing about 6 string basses is that they make some people think having even more strings can be legitimately explained as being a necessity for self-expression, which gives the rest of us a good laugh.

[quote name='bremen' post='374544' date='Jan 8 2009, 10:33 PM']'Yah, it's really retro!' Acute genius, as ever :-) -totally relevant to the Fendermania we're seeing on Ebay right now![/quote] I was looking for - but couldn't find - another similar skit where he sells a table to Sophie Winkleman that is "genuine sh*t", and she says something like "I hate the way now they fake things to look like sh*t when they're actually good".

[quote name='blunderthumbs' post='374326' date='Jan 8 2009, 07:11 PM']no dead spots[/quote] If it really has no dead spots I'll give you £20000 for it.

The Micro POG is the one to have if you want bomb-proof note tracking, it's miraculously good. It sounds like a digital harmoniser though, a bit stark and plain. You won't get that warm synthy purr you get from an analogue octaver. Maybe you could warm it up with a more organic-sounding pedal after it.

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='374470' date='Jan 8 2009, 09:26 PM']I find old Fenders completely overrated and their prices likewise, a complete nonsense, marketing victims queueing up to be ripped off and go oooh ahhh [/quote]

I've got a CEB-3 here (that I'm not using, if you do decide you want one ) and I think it sounds a bit cold and harsh. Yes it does thicken things up (I used to run it after a Blowtorch to get a sizzly '80s synth pad sound) but... I don't know. I'd be looking for something a bit more organicky-sounding if I were you. Avoid the [i]Nano[/i] Small Clone by the way - it's bad. Maybe look at the Stereo Electric Mistress.

[quote name='agoulding' post='374351' date='Jan 8 2009, 07:35 PM']Its strange, with a pedal this thing sounds pretty good, by its self it doesnt seem like it can hold any effected note properly, the effect just cuts out randomly while i play.[/quote] OK, well, let's try the usual tricks for getting the best tracking you can get: 1) Solo the front pup (if you only have a 1-pup bass then skip to #2). 2) Pick nearer the neck than the bridge. 3) Don't pick too hard, or at least try to avoid pick noise and fret rattle/clang. 4) Avoid dead spots (probably somewhere between the 5th and 8th on the G string). Analogue octavers are great for finding dead spots you never knew you had. 5) Expect any note below B on the A string to crap out very quickly. 6) Don't feed it a distorted sound, give it the cleanest signal from your bass you can. 7) Make sure you play only one note at a time - no sloppy muting, no accidental open notes ringing, no stray harmonics. I think that's about it. Don't expect miracles though - analogue octavers don't track so great even given ideal conditions. It doesn't sound like your pedal is broken though. Have you tried boosting the signal going into it? Does your bass have a particularly weak output? It might be worth putting an overdrive (on a low drive setting) or clean boost before it to see if that improves things. It might not help though.

How long can you sustain a note? For the sake of example let's pick that E on the A string - does it track it OK for a second or more? It sounds to me like it might be just typical tracking quality for an analogue octaver.

I think I'll probably cave and get an Octavius Squeezer and a Micro POG this year, but if they work out I've got other boxes I can shift to part-fund them. I'm also interested in putting a graphite neck on my fretless Stingray. But first I've got to give all my money to the tax man.

[quote name='Zach' post='367862' date='Jan 1 2009, 04:37 PM']Did anyone else notice the drummer for duffy? he was bouncing about really strangely, more so than most drummers[/quote] Yeah, he really wanted to be on telly.

[quote name='Rowbee' post='367749' date='Jan 1 2009, 02:18 PM']I reckon Svang, the harmonica group were the best band of the night.[/quote] Yeah, my girlfriend tapped their name into her phone as soon as they started playing, definitely have to pick up their record I think. It was great to see Rico perform, shame he wasn't up for a trombone solo but he must be ancient now. I think Dizzee and Ting Tings stole it, they out-popstarred everybody effortlessly.

I think starting on a 5 is feasible, but it might mean that right-hand muting is trickier at first. Go for it though if you want to, there's no rule that says everybody has to start on a 4.

I had a couple of old BBs (a BB1100S fretless first, then later got a BB3000A) and they were both tasty, sounded great, played like a P-bass. Well worth the money. Sorry I haven't tried the new versions but I'd be surprised if they weren't good basses. Yamaha have a good track record.

If you want a "modern"-sounding distortion then the Bass Blowtorch will probably do you right. And yeah that tweakable midrange is a godsend sometimes, as is the blend control. It's a clever pedal, they really thought it out, and it's typically MXR, it behaves nicely. My only complaint about it is that - for me - it was too tidy. Even with full-on fuzz it sounds neat 'n' tidy somehow. I'm used to Muffs and Superfuzzes and pedals that put out nutsy harmonics with stupid gain, and the Blowtorch doesn't do that. But then the thing that always bothered me about "classic" fuzzes was the hiss that needed gating, and you don't really get that with the Blowtorch. Currently I'm settled on a Woolly Mammoth and a Robot Factory Pulse Synth (not strictly a distortion pedal but I use it as one with some settings) which are both sharply gated between notes. If you like the vintage insanity of a Muff-type fuzz but it's just the noise that turns you off, there are lots of gated fuzz options (Woolly Mammoth, Brown Dog, Hairy Balls, Flying Tomato, etc.) to try. One other funny thing about the Blowtorch: Stick a chorus after it and it sounds like a thick '80s synth pad. Not something I ever found useful but it was interesting.