budget bassist

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='229582' date='Jun 30 2008, 11:39 AM']Love the look of quilted maple in blue! [/quote] +1000!!!! I've always loved transparent blue on anything. I also like ash quite a lot if there's a nice grain to it:

I'm actually kinda sad that i've tried so many basses and i've pretty much settled on the fact that musicman is for me, and i'm only 17 that won't stop me buying new basses though! Next on the list, squier vintage modified jazz! (for the neck mostly)

Basses here, i play a musicman, and it's the musicman sound i went for, not the ashdown sound Plus the musicman and my tobias are COMPLETELY different beasts.

I've borrowed guitar hero 3 from a friend, and while it's a laugh, i'm ultimately going to get bored of it in a few days and never touch it again. It's not really THAT good. I've never gotten bored of my bass in 3 years, and i hope i won't either! If people want to play their games like that then let them, it just annoys me when people get really good at guitar hero and demand the sort of attention an amazing guitarist would get, posting videos on youtube and the like. I mean for christ's sake, there's 5 buttons! on a real guitar there can be up to 144 on a 24 fret 6 string plus chords etc, there's one word for people like that, SAD! Sorry in advance if that applies to you or anybody you hold dear

Rotosound swing bass strings have red binding and brass ferrules.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='229071' date='Jun 29 2008, 03:59 PM']You should tell him to like or lump it. He can't dictate what you play unless he pays for it. [/quote] lol yeah, i think i fancy a V though, not sure if an explorer would suit me. (V's are cheaper too!)

[quote name='Bassassin' post='228915' date='Jun 29 2008, 10:53 AM']Phrets? He means "fretts" - surely! Hope the kneck's straight... Jon.[/quote]

gotta love a bit of bootsy

If the bass is in some way defective, such as a lot of dead spots or something, then i see no reason why a good luthier wouldn't take it back and fix it or offer a refund, the reputation of their company depends on it, especially if it's a small company. Though if it's something trivial like you decided you don't like the look then i highly doubt it.

Aye, try an ABM out, try some different cabinets too, chuck a 115 in there and see how it sounds, you might be pleasantly surprised! I think, if anything my next rig is going to be an ashdown ABM or something similar.

That's more a studio compressor if anything. Get a pedal, more portable. And i didn't know what a compressor did until a few months ago. In laymens terms it makes loud things quieter and quiet things louder, there's not that many applications for them, i get along without one fine most of the time, though one application would be slapping, slapping is a lot louder than fingerpicking, and if you're switching between the two in a song, the slapping can seem too loud or the fingerpicking too quiet. A compressor smooths out those levels so you don't have such a harsh change in dynamics. Though it can sound crap too if you use it wrong.

Love the neck thru on that! nice looking bass! i never used to like thumbs, but they're growing on me!

Haha awesome story Also i've been thinking about getting a bass similar to that just for my band, but the one pickup version, you might be familiar with them? My guitarist won't let me have the explorer though because he uses a gibby explorer haha, i might get a V tbh when i can afford it. I'm assuming it's the same pickups, so it actually sounds pretty nice? Could you elaborate a bit? How does it play too? Oh and grats, that looks pretty nice! (apart from the skulls... , not too sure about them)

I've tried ashdown stuff in the past and it has sounded pretty woolly and undefined. But i bought an EB180 head with MAG210T and 115 cabs, and it doesn't sound like that at all! Though i did do some experimenting and found that i get a bit of that woolly sound if i JUST plug in the 115 cab, but when i have both, the 210 adds the high end and keeps the sound nice and defined, and it's not far off the ampeg combo i had in terms of sound quality, i really like it. I think the ashdown amps i tried before must have been 115 combos, because i really like this setup!

haha good stuff! glad it's working, i've heard ashdown customer service is excellent!

Aye, that looks to be the exact thing, why do you ask anyway?

lol, barely worth the price he's asking too!

That could be it, i just changed strings the other day (well a few weeks ago, but they're still new! ) and i only just noticed it, that COULD be it... i might swap the string with one on my toby if at all possible and see if it's still there, or order a new string maybe...

It's probably because the neck pickup on your bongo is a single coil, not a humbucker. humbuckers were designed to 'buck' the single coil hum, if you see what i'm getting at. Combined with the 18V preamp, that could be your problem, though i hear the single coil on EBMM basses doesn't sound that hot anyway, but that's subective.

Hmm, i'm sure i've seen them before but i can't think what it is...

When i play my G string open on my musicman for some reason a natural harmonic comes through, it's fairly apparent when i'm playing it silent or tuning up, it's not so apparent when it's amplified but it's still there. It's not a huge problem because as you can imagine, i don't play the G open very often, if at all, but it's still a bit irritating. Any ideas what's causing it and/or how to remedy it? Thanks

[quote name='BassManKev' post='225546' date='Jun 24 2008, 12:35 AM']how so?? gold seems to be used alot on cheaper basses to try n make it look classy, which for me does the absolute opposite, whereas black is less common on cheaper basses, and when used on a black bass or bass with black elements on, it looks absolute sterling. gold looks okay on gold basses, but you dont see many of those, and i think otherwise it just looks a bit tacky. but ye iv never heard anyone describe black as cheap and tacky before...i guess you think your toby pro is tacky then?? coz i think it looks class on your bass all in our opinions anyways[/quote] Actually yeah, the hardware on my toby is really cheap and crappy and my old stagg had hardware of a similar quality in black and since then black hardware has just struck me as cheap. It can look ok on some things but i prefer chrome or gold. I think a nice looking gold can look nice, but i prefer it to be in contrast with the colour of the bass, like on that sequioa gold (more brown than anything) MM or on black guitars like a les paul custom or something. that's just me though, i do agree gold can look tacky in some applications though, on particularly cheap basses or if it's a cheap looking gold. But for me chrome is the way forward, it's just so clean and neutral looking and looks good 9 times out of 10. also sweet bass far0n, i think a white ice PG on that would look sweet Actually what is that? The dark headstock suggests it's a SUB, but the paint on the body suggests it's a ray, unless it's a ray with a status neck? or maybe a cutlass?

Lol, i still don't see how you can do it, i play rough sometimes, but not THAT rough, i never even snapped a string in the 9 months i played guitar!

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='228076' date='Jun 27 2008, 02:58 PM']Oh another thing in my 'Box Of Tricks' is a guitar stand.[/quote] I once watched a gig where the stage started falling apart for some reason, the bassists spare stingray (that was sat in a stand) fell flat on it's face (i think it was ok) and one of their amps was in the process of tipping over too. Oops! Also i always take a stand, a spare bass because i don't want to look a pillock tuning up on stage, i'd rather have another bass, and at least i have a backup. I also bring spare tuner AAA batteries, spare 9V batteries, about 3 leads because i've had my guitarist step on and break 2 of mine in one session before I don't bother with spare strings though, i can't see any of them snapping.