thisnameistaken

Thanks all. Might have to see about getting the post adjusted then. It's a nice bass to play, it seems a shame not to be using it.

The soundclip also seemed like a smart idea but apparently didn't sound very good. Will be interesting to see if this is an improvement.

I never really use this one amplified though, so filtering isn't an option. I don't really understand what the soundpost does but that's the sort of thing I was wondering about.

I've got a 3/4 laminate bass that looks like it came from the Musima factory in the '60s. It plays nice but the sound is a bit odd - it produces a TON of bass. I've tried a few sets of strings on this bass. It arrived with evah mediums on it, I tried spiro weich E&A and evah weich D&G, I've had silver slaps on there and currently it's wearing innovation honeys. I can hear the character of the different strings particularly the D and G, but still, notes in the lowest octave absolutely boom out. Is this just what the bass sounds like or is there anything I can do to make it more even-sounding? I like the bass and while it sort-of sounds impressive it's not really a 'good' sound.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' timestamp='1359107006' post='1949866'] Did it have parametric EQ rather than sliders? If so it will have been one of the old Peavey Century heads which I thought sounded nice. [/quote] Definitely no sliders on it. I can't remember much about it really, I laughed at the 'Fuzz' knob, plugged in and it sounded good as it was so I didn't look at it any more than that really. Had a quick google and it was probably one of these: TBH I was more surprised that the cab sounded good - I've never really had any complaints about Peavey gear, everything of theirs I've used has been well designed and reliable.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1359067186' post='1949533'] I once put my bass through a really old Line 6 Spider guitar combo.. Not only did i not blow it up, but I got an incredible distorted tone [/quote] I once put my bass through one channel of a 2-channel H&H head, which actually DID blow up. The mains socket on the back wasn't screwed to the chassis, or came loose, or something, and it basically fell out while I was playing and I suppose the bare wires touched the chassis. Anyway, massive flash and a pop loud enough to deafen me temporarily, and some magic smoke and that was the end of the H&H.

I had a similar experience at a small festival once, where it turned out the backline was an old Peavey head (never seen one before or since, but it had a knob on it marked 'Fuzz'!) and a home-made 15" cab that had never even got a coat of paint, no grille and as you might imagine a dinged dust cover on the speaker. I expected a flappy, farty, awful noise to come out of it but actually it sounded really nice!

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1358958115' post='1947648'] I put " Nightswimming" on instead. [/quote] Or 'Sh**e Singing' as it's also known.

Hmm. I imagine that was technically difficult to do, so well done to whoever did it, but the outcome is pretty plain.

I've done a fair bit of busking[quote name='alexpea' timestamp='1358809086' post='1945594']I've only done a few completely acoustic gigs however I have done a lot of acoustic outdoor busking. I have gut strings on my D + G strings and steels on the E + A. I definitely find that for the style of music I play, the guts keep the bass sounding nice and punchy. I find this blends nicely with the 2 steels. However, I mainly play in Klezmer and Folk bands, often without drums so I like the bass to sound quite percussive. It may look a bit odd but it works for me. [/quote] I've done quite a lot of unamplified busking, mostly playing '60s ska/rocksteady/reggae tunes. I use a laminate bass strung with Silver Slaps, it absolutely booms, and I play HARD - the bass can carry 100 yards through shopping crowds in York! As for gigging without backline - last summer I did that a lot at festivals, just turning up with my carved bass, two pickups (Realist, Bass Max) and a pair of Fishman Plat Pro preamps. I gave both signals to the sound guys, asked for just the Realist back in my wedge, and told them to use whatever they wanted in the FoH mix. It was no worse than any time I've used my own backline but that summer put me off piezos for good and resulted in me buying an Ehrlund EAP. Gigging with the EAP is so much more pleasing - I can really hear the sound of my bass on stage, it totally fills me with confidence that it sounds good out front and also means I can hear my intonation really clearly. Great bit of kit.

I don't suppose Kelly Groucutt got bored because he was singing those ridiculous falsetto harmonies the whole time. When I was a kid I shared a bedroom with an older brother who had all ELO's records so I know all of them and even like some of them. I've got one acoustic duo gig going on with a singer/guitarist and I've been thinking of suggesting we do 'Wishing'. Lots of scope for cool harmony vocals to make up for the missing instrumentation. Bless ELO.

I like them. The Thumb is my favourite but the Dolphin sounds quite similar. Couldn't get on with the weird slopey shape though.

I think you're only going to potentially get problems if it's below zero - the lack of moisture in the atmosphere could dry out your bass and that's when cracks start to appear. A laminate will cope about as well as possible though. Standard advice applies I suppose - try to let the bass cool down and warm up gradually, so perhaps arrive early and leave the bass in the bag for a while, then unzip the bag but leave the bass in it for a while, really anything you can do to slow down the change in temperature would be good. FWIW I've taken my laminate out in the street in cold weather (not sub-zero) on a few occasions and not had any problems yet.

Yeah that's the main thing, I'm a bit embarrassed about how crap it can sound. I gave it a go quietly the last couple of evenings and it does work but it's harder to play quietly. I suppose that makes it good practise.

Usually when bassists have problems being heard it's because of a guitarist who doesn't know how to work an amp, but that doesn't stop people changing basses every few weeks...

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1358604553' post='1942060']one of the best bass players in the buisiness[/quote] I'm not going to disagree with you but if so it's a good argument for nobody ever to play a solo on bass guitar.

If you haven't found 'your sound' yet I don't want to spoil the surprise but it's a P bass into an Ampeg, no effects 'or any of that rubbish'. I've seen enough 'OMG I found my sound' threads to know that it's always the same sound, and it's odd because it seems like it would be the first sound you'd try.

[quote name='Fender_Greg' timestamp='1358553636' post='1941499']A bit of an acquired taste then If I'm being brutal.....I very much don't like a single sound from it![/quote] I don't think he did a very good job of demoing it, but yeah they probably are an acquired taste. It's a very destructive type of modulation, so you need to be going for an electronically-destroyed sort of vibe, really.

Looks like [url="http://www.effectsdatabase.com/model/pigtronix/philosopher/bass"]Pigtronix[/url] have got one coming out.

[quote name='MandShef' timestamp='1358589759' post='1941702']I've only ever tried an orchestral mute, so I don't know tbh. Hopefully someone on here will know more ... In the meantime is it worth asking your neighbours if they mind? If you pre-arrange a time when you're gonna make some noise, and promise it'll only be for 20 mins, they might be OK with it?![/quote] I've never had any complaints from my neighbours at all, they're nice people and I never do any playing after 9pm to avoid annoying them. The problem is that I'm worried they'll hear what it sounds like!

Another rosin tip: Don't leave it in a bag in your car in the sun. No danger of that right now of course but if it does melt it tends to run into weird shapes and then re-solidify, which makes it an arse to apply to your bow.

You should be paying VAT at 20%, and there may be a 3.something% import duty if it's classed as musical equipment, and usually there's a handling fee of about ten quid from ParcelFarce, so honestly you seem to have got off quite lightly there.

[quote name='FLoydElgar' timestamp='1358543142' post='1941304']a thought, instead of spending money or wasting time on mutes etc... You could practice playing quiter with the bow! The bow is capable of playing Pianmissimo as well as Forte ;-p[/quote] Half the fun is getting your arm behind it though. And I think if I tried to play soft I would just get squeaks and harmonics and awfulness. Not that I don't manage that anyway... I will try it though.

Do they really work? It doesn't look like it would do much. Maybe I should get one anyway, no harm in trying.