thisnameistaken

If any "popular" bassist had put out records featuring such horrid noises he would've been roundly castigated by his peers in spite of anything musical he'd produced previously. Wooten only gets away with it because he's one of those few musicians who is better known for his instructional videos than he is for his playing. Maybe that's not Vic's fault - and I do think he's a rocking bassist when he's being a bassist - but let's face it he does spend a large proportion of his time either showing off his chops or composing elevator music. If he's a sh*t composer he should leave it to people who are good at it.

[quote name='urb' post='365908' date='Dec 30 2008, 12:14 AM']despite what some have said here about Wooten lacking soul etc and being all about technique really need to see him live. He can play one note and make it groove like crazy[/quote] When he grooves he's amazing, he should do it more often instead of playing a million notes as fast as he can using that horrid-sounding double-thumbing technique he's so fond of that makes every note sound like a tonne of attack noise and little else. I can admire people who have chops but also the taste and decency to use them where required instead of everywhere. Wooten seems to lack those important characteristics. Maybe he's a bit railroaded by his audiences given that he only really plays to other bass players, so perhaps I'm being unfair. But bloody hell he can make some bad sounds, and he even puts them out on CD!

[quote name='Golchen' post='365827' date='Dec 29 2008, 10:26 PM']I am not adverse to RH pinky action myself but then I do play a Chapman stick as well.[/quote] One bored afternoon when I was 17 or 18 I tried picking with my pinkie (I use the other three fingers anyway, that's just how I learned to pick, although my technique isn't very disciplined!) and found it was easy, but it didn't sound very good - especially picking over the bridge pup - and I got a massive blister, so I stopped. Don't think I ever did it again.

[quote name='TKenrick' post='365445' date='Dec 29 2008, 01:19 PM']When I hear Michael Manring, I hear music, not chops: [/quote] Still sounds pretty muzacky though, doesn't it? Sort of thing you might hear in the background of a documentary about beavers or something. I'm impressed with the guy's playing, but I wouldn't choose to listen to it. There's just nothing vital about it. I don't think there are many really compelling composers of instrumental music around at the moment, and more to the point none of them are bass players.

Unfortunately it seems there's a lot of extremely bad-sounding bass w***ery which overshadows the occasional OK bit of bass w***ery. I can't listen to people like Vic Wooten - just too many notes. Although I'm sure it sells a lot of instructional DVDs... I don't think the number of strings on any given bass is relevant - there is ample opportunity to make any bass sound bad. I'm sure many bass "soloists" do favour bonus-stringed basses, but the resulting w***ery is still the fault of the bass player, not the bass.

The G5 manual says "Be sure to use only the Korg VP-10 or KVP-001 volume pedals as the fc pedal". I've got the KVP-001 which works well enough, but to be honest I rarely use it. The annoying thing is the envelope still sweeps the filter a tiny bit even with an expression pedal plugged in and decay at zero. If you can find out the impedance of either of those two pedals you could probably find another pedal that works just as well. [quote name='EskimoBassist' post='363455' date='Dec 25 2008, 11:37 PM']What does adding an expression pedal allow you to do with the effects?[/quote] Forgot to answer this bit. On the G5 the pedal sweeps the cut-off frequency of the filter. So it's a bit like a wah pedal.

[quote name='tauzero' post='362024' date='Dec 23 2008, 02:35 PM']It actually doesn't have different levels for each channel if you're going two As to one B - the level control 1 does the level exactly the same to both channels. If you're going one A to two Bs then the level controls affect each channel separately.[/quote] Then maybe a Boss LS-2 would be a better solution (if matching two volume levels is the issue, which it clearly isn't in the case of the thread starter).

[quote name='Rusty Shackleford' post='361833' date='Dec 23 2008, 11:45 AM']york used to but not to sure anymore.[/quote] Just for the record, no, there's nowhere in York that stocks decent gear.

[quote name='bassman2790' post='361457' date='Dec 22 2008, 09:47 PM']I have one of those but it's not really a volume/gain issue ... It's the difference in tone between the basses that's difficult to compensate for.[/quote] Just use one bass. It's a lot easier than trying to make two different basses sound the same. Or, if you really want to use two basses for some reason and there's a particular glaring deficiency in the sound of one of them, get rid of it and buy a better one, or experiment with new electronics. I wonder if you're trying too hard to get a particular sound out of a bass that doesn't really have that sound available. Do you use a lot of EQ? Or maybe you were too quick to judge the sound of the second bass - try swapping basses in rehearsals and ask the band if one sounds better than the other, and what they think is missing from the "bad" one (if either).

I don't understand why people get so brand-loyal over something as utilitarian as a computer. I suppose I can sort-of understand it with Macs, because they're pretty and the software is good and some of the sadder buyers think they're buying into a lifestyle, but I really don't understand why Windoze users are so defensive. I've used Windows since 1993. It used to be OK before the 9x way of doing things came along, and since then it's been a sorry excuse for a Mac OS. That's the way it is. Yeah it's a shame that you have limited hardware options if you want a Mac, and that you have to put up with some design flaws because aesthetics are more important to Apple than they are to any other manufacturer, but ultimately I think it's worth it for the interface. Most people don't, or haven't tried, so that's fine, enjoy your Windows boxes, but I'm beyond tired of Windows (and especially the performance issues with Windows) and the Mac way of doing things just works better for me. To the Linux advocate earlier: I tend to try a Linux install every couple of years and for me it's still not quite there yet. My main concerns are integration between the filesystem, email and a project manager (which I can do with Mac's spotlight pretty well), a particular method of productivity from mail, FTP and an editor which I spent AGES looking for on Linux and was never entirely satisfied, and finally - automation. Which of course is great on Linux because I can shell-script anything I need, but I can do that on a Mac too. And the Mac already gives me apps that work the way I like. I will continue to evaluate Linux though because I think that platform is the inevitable future of computing. It's just a shame that open-source development is so slow, because open-source developers are constantly forking interesting projects due to - as far as I can tell - pure ego.

[quote name='saibuster' post='355223' date='Dec 15 2008, 05:55 PM']If you think about getting a pro sequencer, dont bother with logic(Time stretch in time machine anyone?! ). I've been using logic for the last 10 years and recently switched to cubase. I'd go for a second hand Macbook pro 2.4ghz with 2 gig ram. that should be enough for a big project with cpu hungry plugins like waves.[/quote] ProTools LE/M-Powered are good "budget" options, and the hardware usually comes with drivers for both Windows and Mac. I use my M-Audio kit at home on a Windoze PC and also at my singer's house on her Macbook. Again though, all the good interfaces are firewire, so the new Macbooks would be no good.

I've never had a 5. I had a few sixers years ago, but never a five. My experience with the 6-strings was that they were useful for some stuff, but not useful often enough to justify the wider neck, heavier bass and looking like a bit of a ponce/anorak. I also found it very liberating every time I picked up a 4-string, instantly more comfortable and easier to just thrash through songs. Of course times change and these days five string basses are acceptable in most bands, so I'm thinking of getting a couple of fives myself. I'm sure I would prefer them over sixes.

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='354679' date='Dec 14 2008, 11:20 PM']1968-16 years old, dead caterpillar on top lip, playing as part of my Dad's "Resident Band" at a Local Working Mens Club Dance Night. Second-hand, hand-painted Artist Bass. God, how the time flies. [/quote] I'm digging those stripe position markers, not so much the string spacing or the scale...

[quote name='metaltime' post='354727' date='Dec 15 2008, 12:27 AM']i think they go on ebay for about £70 to £80 been a while since i looked tho.[/quote] Yeah I've seen a few go lately for about £70.

[quote name='~tl' post='354697' date='Dec 14 2008, 11:40 PM']While you do pay a premium for a Mac, in my opinion it's worth the extra cash. The new, aluminium, MacBooks are rather nice computers, but the lack of Firewire may be a slight hindrance if you're planning on doing any professional recording with it.[/quote] Yeah I completely fail to understand why they've nixed firewire on the new Mactops. IMO the one good thing about the new ones is they've only recently come out, so all the tragic Mac fanboys are busy selling their old-model Mactops to buy the new one, so you should be able to get a decent deal on a used older model. [quote name='YouMa' post='354703' date='Dec 14 2008, 11:47 PM']Yeah good idea lets all have apples stamped on our heads,ok go get a mac there great! hope you are a graphic designer and the company pays for the computer and the software. Get a mac and once you have got bored of the limited expensive software and you have decided to learn a bit more about real computers but cant on one of these machines, blame these guys.(bloody hairdressers computers,lovely pastel shades though.)[/quote] Bleh. I've been using PCs for 15 years, Windoze derivatives of 9x for most of that time, and I am sick of it. The Mac OS is worth the price of admission IMHO.

Yeah I saw that at £560 with 10 minutes to go, bloody snipers. I didn't bid FWIW. But only because my mate's got a Stingray 5 and he's always banging on about how ace it is - I don't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me buy one.

Yeah it does sound better with a bit of chorus, but only a bit. Actually the CEB-3 works well here because it's got a low-pass knob on it, so you can set it so only the upper octave (and particularly the higher notes) pick up the chorus effect. Back to work.

I'm sorry to say I think you're right, there is a bit of chorus in there. Should I go downstairs, get my CEB-3 and try it again? It's either that or debug a bunch of broken PHP... Be back in five.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='352808' date='Dec 12 2008, 03:38 PM']The problem i find with a lot of effects is that i can't hear the pitch properly after they've been applied.[/quote] Yeah I avoid delay-based effects for that reason, they sound too messy to me. I do use a lot of filter effects, fuzz, a couple of VCOs, octavers, but currently nothing in the way of modulation. I have a phaser on my board but I think I'm selling it.

I should add it's also really easy and fun to play, even if you're a rubbish fretless player.