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Everything posted by ped
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Yeah best leave this one alone I think. Thanks all...
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Thing is, I know it's false. A Stingray sounds nothing like a Hofner.
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I reckon the middle pickup would be nice as a ramp - but having never played one I don't know if my hand would naturally fall there either. I think the three pickup aesthetic suits the high tech/futuristic look of the bass though.
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I think to a degree so called pure nickel strings have a steel core as nickel isn't strong enough - might be wrong though...
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Time to address a couple of common ideas often spoken around these parts. The first was brought up in a recent thread and I see the second one a lot, too. Interested to hear your thoughts. 1. "Whatever bass you play, you'll sound like you'' / ''It's all in the fingers'' I suppose to a degree it's right - someone will recognise the style of playing of an individual regardless of what bass they play. A good example would be Victor Wooten playing that Sire jazz bass recently posted here. It sounds like him. BUT - I don't think it's even remotely true to say it doesn't matter what bass you buy, it's all in the fingers. Nobody can make a Precision bass sound like a Musicman just by the way they play. It's impossible. Maybe in front of an audience with poor monitoring and a poor bass sound it would be immaterial - we've all been there - but recorded, or properly monitored, it's obvious to me that basses sound completely different. Otherwise why would we even discuss them? 2. "It doesn't matter what you play (gear wise), the audience won't be able to tell the difference" Maybe not. My mum can't even identify what sound is the bass. But is that a reason not to buy XYZ? Do we do it slavishly for the audience, or do we enjoy knowing our own sound works, and the nuances, even if known only to the player, are worth the journey? Would you be happy playing a really horrible - but adequate - sound as a bass player?
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Are you logged in? Same username and PW.
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I've only really got space for three basses in my life and despite how fantastic this bass is, it doesn't get used enough. It took me years to find and eventually I imported it from Canada at great expense! So here we have a very unusual and rare Vigier Arpege (the Arpege shape have pickups slightly further apart than the Passion range, so it could be considered more of a 'Jazz bass' sort out sound). Being a series II, it benefits from a full carbon neck. There's no truss rod to worry about, just a dead straight (believe me - I've bought and sold enough to know a good one!) neck with thru body construction. The body is beautiful Walnut with a gloss lacquer. Everything is original, because I really like the built in pre-amp although many you see 'used' have been replaced. It's hard to find one that's been left alone! So from the top - Schaller tuners, zero fret, 21 fret neck and frets I would say are in 80% condition. Very little buzz with a super super low action, which I guess most people would raise a bit when playing. With it this low, there's a slight buzz on the G string on the 13th fret, that's it - but we're talking painted on strings so it shows how straight and true the neck is. It has Marvel strap locks fitted, and the strap side will be supplied. Two superb Benedetti single coil pickups with the signature 'tabletop' shape. These are unbelievable pickups, really powerful and clean. The tabletop shape also means they are a really nice playing surface. They are held in with four sprung mounted threaded allen bolts for fine adjustment. The electronics are really interesting! Around this time Vigier were experimenting with all sorts from modular preamps to programmable memory settings. This has the excellent Q filter pre-amp, which means you have the following: Pickup selector switch, series/parallel switch, Q filter selection sweep, Q filter boost/cut, volume (pull boost), tone. The tone control works on both pickups but when the rear is selected it must be up full. Go figure. A later bass I had the tone control worked only on the rear pickup. Just one of the fancy idiosyncratic features of these instruments. Both pickups on full blast it's a tone feast - snappy, fat, hifi tone. With the low action a bit of clank is never far away and rick-esque tones can be had. One of my fave sounds is the rear pickup soloed with a bit of a boost from the Q filter in the lower mids. It's the tightest choppy nasal funk sound ever. Digging in sounds so smooth and 'party' that sometimes I just sit and play the same groove for hours! The finish as you can see is a bit worn in places; there's a few cracks in the varnish but none of which have grown in my ownership. The one where the fingerboard meets the body is common and seen on all these basses. I've stuck a big round transparent sticker on it to prevent my nail clipping it when slapping. The area around the controls has 'bubbled' slightly, for want of a better word - again, seen on all of these but structurally sound with no ill effect. The bridge is thru-body and a bit of a beast - easy to adjust and 18mm spacing. The shape of the body is just my favourite of all my instruments. It's contoured really nicely, balances perfectly and has lots of little details that you have to notice close up. So, I'm sad to have to list it but changes are afoot here at ped towers and I'm keeping a 4,5 and piccolo bass. I'll want your word that if you sell it on again you'll let me know first, though!! Please ask if you need any other details. I'm in York and really flexible with delivery - I can meet you in London, Oxford, along the M1... halfway to anywhere, really. Much rather that than post it. Comes with a fully fitted, highly sought after case. Serial number is 093 making it a 1986 bass (15th December)> Very unusual to see in the gloss finish! Weight - 4.4kg approx (kitchen scale)
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I think she’s away at the moment. Can’t get the staff these days eh!!
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Ah that’s cool! Pedro is a gent and was brilliant to deal with, I spent months dithering and selling things to raise the money and he was very patient. Yep the combination just seems to work perfectly. I rather like the sound of the front pickup soloed which is unusual for me but of course 99% of the time it’s both on full, flat and fat!
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Cheers, yes I’ve always loved their sound but they are quite hard to find in the UK, especially at a reasonable price. Really got lucky with this one! It needed a couple of screws for the cavity cover and I’ve had a new jack fitted as the old one was a bit saggy. It’s a weird one, took me a while to find. Some sort of switchcraft flush mounted stereo jack. Far too fiddly for me to fit but the local music shop did a great job and they also sold @charic a guitar at the same time 😂
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Just been finding out a bit more about the bass from it’s serial number. The front and back is figured Koa (FK in serial number). Then there’s a maple layer with a mahogany centre. The neck is graphite reinforced, maple and morado five piece. As I hoped, this bass sounds exactly like John’s bass in this track!
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We solved that particular pattern with some clever behind the scenes gubbins. Any time there’s a problem with a seller we step in and either resolve it or end up removing the dodgy user. However I can honestly say that since opening the marketplace (paid) we’ve had very few problems. In fact I can’t recall one off the top of my head. As always my advice is to speak to the seller on the phone if in any doubt whatsoever and feel free to send the team a message if you’d like us to check them out (we can see if they’ve send an unusual amount of PMs or have used different IPs or have more than one account etc. Cheers ped
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I don’t have a Helix but have a similar unit which ‘does everything’ and although at the time it cost about the same, and seemed like a massive indulgence, it’s saved me hundreds of pounds since because it ‘does everything’ - so I no longer need to muck about with separate effects and so on. I’m still finding new things to ‘make’ and it’s ticked off a load of things from my ‘would be likely to spend cash on’ list, including headphone practice, audio interface, effects, amp and cab sim, DI, Stereo, synth... so to me these all in one boys are the bees knees and if you get one you’ll save a ton in the long run.
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EQ settings for upright tone when using a fretless?
ped replied to Sweeneythebass's topic in Effects
More about varying the playing style imo. Play up nearer the neck, basically. I don’t adjust the EQ or anything else. -
I’ve always refuted that idea. I mean yeah what you actually play will sound like you, but the bass itself will sound different. Said bass might sound different again depending on who plays it. Example, if I play a P bass then a Zon Legacy, you’ll be able to hear a difference. Now if someone else plays them they will still be massively easy to tell apart but they might sound slightly different to when I played them due to technique. Which definitely won’t be a patch in mine. Lol. As far as I know, I’ve always loved graphite basses for their consistency and feel. I’ve also always seen Smith basses as having the ‘ultimate’ slap sound. It’s taken me about 10 years to get one.