thisnameistaken

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1342007764' post='1727863']I think the issue with Flea and RHCP is that musically he overshadows the band. I doubt whether anyone who rates Flea as a bass player, but isn't particularly a RHCP fan could name either the drummer or the current guitarist. And while their sound is to a certain extent dominated by the bass playing it's still a band and each part should be equally important.[/quote] I don't listen to their recent output because I find it all a bit plodding. On their earlier stuff where they were actually interesting they were all young and part of that funk/rock scene in California where overplaying was part of the sound, even still Flea shows a lot of restraint on the stuff towards the end of that period (Blood Sugar Sex Magik doesn't have much in the way of over-playing on the bass, and hardly any slapping). I disagree that he overshadowed the band; Kiedis was a great clown at that time and Flea was more of a sideshow. Perhaps you're right in that people who rate Flea but isn't an RHCP fan might not be able to name the other band members, but you could level that at any highly-visible bass player. I know that Vic Wooten played for Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, but I couldn't tell you who the rest of them are. I could have a guess at one of them being called Bela Fleck I suppose... I don't really know why people look down their noses at Flea. He's been successful because he worked really hard on his thing. And I know you think that the visual aspects of a performance are really important so I thought you'd at least credit him with being very good at that.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1342002042' post='1727662']Also I'm a great believer in the importance of the song and the arrangement over the instrumental prowess of the individual musicians. To me if as a musician you are more noticed that the songs you are playing that means either the songs themselves are weak, or you are over-playing. Either way IMO you've failed as a musician.[/quote] So you don't play basses that look like futuristic sex toys to get noticed, then?

The silver thing is probably a Muff clone given that they've made it look like one. Which Muff is anybody's guess.

Stop playing for a few days and see if it goes away.

To me it never sounds good if you compress a dirty signal, it's better to do any compression you want on your raw (or raw-ish) input signal before you start adding to the sound. Of course it depends to some extent on how you're using the compressor - if you are making a deliberate and obvious compressed sound you might want it later in the chain so it sounds more obvious, or you might want to feed a boost into it from your dirt so it squishes harder. As you said earlier there's no right way it just depends what you're going for.

In that case EQ is probably best where it is - after the dirt. I might prefer the BDI after the compressor but to be honest I've never liked sansamps and I rarely use compression, and certainly couldn't imagine using both of them at once so I suppose it doesn't matter.

There isn't really a 'correct', no. What are you using the BDI for - just as a DI? What are you using the EQ for? Those are the only two I personally would think about changing the order of, but it depends how you're using them.

[quote name='bassfunk' timestamp='1341751311' post='1723515'] My only problem is, what do I GAS for now? maybe a new amp? an EUB? What am I going to do if this bass really is the one?[/quote] Dude you might have to start... [i]practising[/i]. :/

There shouldn't be an input impedance issue - AFAIK the onboard preamp should be pulling it down into bass guitar territory. Have you tried the bass through another amp? I'd be concerned that there's a problem with the bass if it's sounding weedy through your regular amp. Lovely sounding basses those things, I miss mine. For what it's worth I always used mine through an electric bass combo, I think it was a Peavey but those days are a bit of a blur...

There are 'formant filters' which are a pair (or more) of band-pass filters that make vowel-like sounds. Most common is the EHX Bassballs and there's also the TWA Little Dipper if you want something ridiculously overpriced. Another interesting way to get robotty vocal sounds from pedals is putting a gated fuzz into a low-pass envelope filter and then into a sample rate reducer. I came across it by chance one day and accidentally made a whole forum want to buy a Bugcrusher...

Quite often I can't look at the neck because I'm singing, but if I'm not singing I do look at the neck. On double bass I don't look at the neck really, because looking at it doesn't really help.

Post came on in the car the other day, haven't heard it in years, good album. Although I still prefer Debut for stuff like this. What a stunning voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiHZ35TPfM

Oh should've had a smiley, I was sincere - I have to shave my head these days.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1341581271' post='1721294'] Wear a dress - works for me [/quote] If I had your hair I would.

Violin corners though - they get caught on your pockets! Reminds me of a Les Paul.

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1341574217' post='1721108']I wonder if thats the problem - perhaps their waiting on the edge too see if something wil take off and if it doens then they havent wasted too much effort[/quote] That might be the case with one of them, but the other two have a bunch of songs they want us to work on and we have been working on them, so it's been as much their project as ours. I don't know, I think they're just a bit flaky generally. It's perhaps not surprising that the three who are difficult to organise are the three who smoke weed.

[quote name='chaypup' timestamp='1341333871' post='1717264']If I were you I'd book some small gigs. When there's a tangible objective it gives people much more motivation to turn up to rehearsals.[/quote] Actually, two band members have tried to put us on bills already, and they are the two least-reliable people. I said no!

I've got a Bassmax on my ply bass and a Realist on my carved bass, both are good pups, the Bassmax produces more of the sound of the string and the Realist produces more of the sound of the body, I suppose the position of the pickup is the cause. I would say the BM isn't so good for bowing because it can sound very scratchy, and it does have a strong mid hump that I have to dial out. The Realist on the other hand could do with more brightness if anything. I can imagine the Full Circle - given its fitted position half-way between the foot and the wing of the bridge - ought to sound ideal, but I don't have one (yet).

Are these photos of bands or geordie stag nights?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTkxwIlFpg

Debaser - Pixies Gigantic - Pixies Cannonball - Breeders

[quote name='fumps' timestamp='1341322234' post='1716983'] In a way I would love just to sit with a teacher & ask him questions, no playing just questions.......some of them would be mind numbingly dumb, some would probably be complex but I have scowered the books I have & just cant find the answers to my questions.[/quote] I agree, but sometimes you need someone to tell you what the right questions are.

That's the other thing we actually all get along very well, which makes it more frustrating that three out of the five of us cancel commitments routinely for reasons that I can't altogether appreciate. The pianist in particular comes up with some rum excuses and has managed to attend about half the rehearsals we've arranged, the vocalists have managed most of them but often put the start time back at short notice (half an hour's notice). The drummer has cancelled none, despite having suffered pretty serious epileptic seizures the previous day on two occasions and turning up with cuts all over his face. I've cancelled two but without wanting to turn this into a sympathy thread I had about the most acceptable excuse I can think of. I don't know. It makes me realise how lucky I've been with band members in the past.

Short rant: Spent the best part of a year looking for a good drummer, found one, hooked up with a couple of vocalists who I'd been in the process of putting something together with a few years back but it never happened for whatever reason, they involved a talented but flaky piano player, the more people that got involved the less likely rehearsals became, and currently the drummer is the only person who has responded to my texts and phone calls for the last three weeks. Spoke to the drummer just now and he's said if he doesn't hear from them this week he's not going to bother with it. Thankfully he's still interested in playing with me, but man I am annoyed. :/ Planning to spend a week demoing tunes without leaving the house and then cast around for more players, but with the instrumentation I want it's difficult. And we had a good sound going on. I hate flaky people.