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A good filter pedal with a controller should be on your list for getting good synth sounds. My choice is the Moog MF-101, but there's a few good pedals out there.

Have you tried adjusting the drive & output dials & have you checked that the patterns are playing/sliders not pulled right down?

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1390345660' post='2344466'] You don't think he writes his own lines? That's what I would call plodding but then the drummer and guitarist are plodding too. The whole song is a standard rock song. [/quote] He probably does write his own lines & yes, I think the guitarist & drummer must get bored too after a while. I do when I play guitar & the set is strumming chords constantly. I'd long for a song where it stays in the one chord & I have to make it work with the strumming technique.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1390344902' post='2344453'] I've played REM's Losing My Religion that's not particularly 'ploddy', it moves quite a bit. The problem is the more instruments you add the simpler the arrangement tends to be to avoid treading on each other's lines. If the bass is going to wander off and do something interesting it has to fit wig what others are playing (harmony, counter part, unison etc) and some other instrument needs to be solid if the bass isn't taking a traditional approach. We've all heard bands where everyone seems to be playing a different song. Duck Dunn will more often than not have strong rhythm guitar somewhere. [/quote] I agree with you. It's about fitting in, but there's plenty of songs you & I could name that have an interesting bassline & several instruments. Listen to almost any album by The Beatles, Michael Jackson, RHCP, Frank Sinatra, Jamiroquai or Bill Withers to hear a great variety of basslines, from simple grooves to "I need more practice" basslines all on the one disc.

See, he can play. Why not have more good basslines? Adam Clayton has more good basslines than he does!

Played with a pick (not exclusively) for years & will use anything between 0.4 & 1.5 mm, but my fave is the yellow .73. Get a few different pics & take em to your next rehearsal.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1390343445' post='2344424'] I'm proud to be a plodder. [/quote] Your avatar says otherwise!

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1390342518' post='2344402'] But, as I posted further up thread, not even ZZTop, Stereophonics, Muse, Status Quo, Rush, U2 etc, have setlists entirely of songs with straight 8 bass lines. Is Rocking in the Free World straight 8s? I've certainly heard some bass players murder it by plodding. I'm sure I don't play straight 8 roots. [/quote] I'd never said that they're all straight 8 basslines, it's bands that have the poor bassist as a filler & provide a simple bassline that sits in & doesn't do much else. Fine if you're getting paid to provide those basslines, but to play them all night for a beer? Another fine example is a band that I really like, REM. Poor Mr Mills is a great bassist, but how many of us on here have you heard say they want to play just like him? Duck Dunn & Pino Palladino are 2 examples of bassists that have provided basslines that are just what the song requires. Do they plod?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1390338700' post='2344308'] That's what drugs are for! [/quote] Cocodimol?

They can be fun & there's a lot of ways to play a straight 8, but what if every song in your set list was so simple to play that there was no challenge (that's regardless of your ability)? Don't you think by the end of the set you'd be plodding rather than playing? In my last band we did a folk cover of Rocking in the free world. I enjoyed it, but I never listened to the original song & made a bassline to go with the vocals & the mandolin.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1390309854' post='2343809'] On mine it doesn't actually say built in input, just built in mic. [/quote] Most strange. Does your Mac have an audio input (other than the AI unit)?

Just a thought... With Garageband open, have you went to "Preferences" > "Audio/Midi" & then selected the Input Device as "Built In Input"?

I had an Alesis imultimix mixer/interface, but I get much better results plugging into my old imac's "mic in". Anytime I have latency issues, shutting all the unused programs fixes it.

If it's an actual Neutric Speakon, if it says Combo on it, then you can pop a 1/4 jack in it.

Mind & give the board a wipe over first to take any grease, etc off. Once you've stuck the Velcro on, give the glue a short while to set.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1390179450' post='2342418'] I'd get a 410 or 2 210's. You'll get a lot more punch and attack out of the 10's. [/quote] That really depends on the drivers in question. If they're from the 80s, then definitely.

I've got the poly tune app. It's good, but you're better gettingGuitar Toolkit. It has a brilliant tuner & you get a lot of other useful things too (metronome, chord chart/finder, scales, etc & it does several instruments). Well worth £5.99.

Heavy Duty Velcro should do the job. Not the cheapest, but worth it.

What's your favourite soup? Mine's a Markbass 2x10.

The Markbass combos use the jack socket to connect to the head & I use a jack to jack lead to connect another cab (the speakon on the LM head is a dual speakon/jack socket. Before speakons came to be, all cabs & PA systems used 1/4" jacks.

I use my combo at home for practice (it does go quiet too ). I turn up with the combo I one hand, pedalboard in the other (which also has the cables to go to both bass & amp in there) & the bass is over my shoulder in a gig bag. You can always add one of your cabs for the big gigs too. If a 2x10 combo is too large (mine is the same size as a large 2x10 cab), then It might be worth considering a good 1x12 combo & adding a 2nd 12" cab if you need to at the bigger venues.

There's many good lightweight combos that are plenty loud enough for gigging without PA support. The reason I went for a combo was due to needing something that I could turn up with at a gig without having to make 2 trips to the car & easy to get in/out of the venue with. I got a Markbass 2x10 BTW.

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1390121653' post='2341559'] But only while we are still in the EU. [/quote] You've got a point there! It's got me thinking, what happens if Scotland goes independent? I would no longer be in the EU. But more importantly, there would no longer be an UK, which would mean it couldn't be Basschat.co.uk anymore. Basschat.org? That would solve your problem.

And it depends if the fx you have can be replicated in your DAW. It's a lot easier for me to plug my board in than it is to try & get VST fx to try & emulate filter sweeps & Murf sequences (which would probably be impossible without Moog filtration).

Hear about the dyslexic viola player?.... Voila!