Woodinblack

Indeed - makes other things possible too, I was surprised that Leo never brought the stacked volume/tone per pickup thing back on the jazz with an active pickup, most of the early work with pre-amps was him anyway But I suppose quite a few people like the pickup mixing on a jazz where turning both pickups full takes the highs out of the signal

No, active pickups were created so that you could use a smaller magnetic field which would have less drag on the strings, giving you a more pure sound of what the strings were doing, but doing that creates less power from the pickup so you amplify it to bring it up to the output level of a normal pickup with a strong magnet. active preamp (on passive pickups, like most basses) was made so that you could control the output impedance of the bass, without the output and frequency response of the bass being governed by the output cable and whatever you plugged into, to give it more consistency between amps / effects. As a side effect you could then also control EQ better, but that wasn't the point. Ultimately all basses are active if you plug them in, it just depends if you want the amplifier before or after the jack cable.

It is unlikely (unless damaged by power surge or something) that it would have a fault in the IC, but there isn't much else going on there is there?

I suppose if you view fender-esque as conventional, then yes. I don't - I consider fender style instruments 4 string basses - I know there are 5 strings, but they always looked like hacks, I view eastern style (japanese / korean etc) instruments as 5 strings.

mine was a Spector RST, about 6.5 lb. Certainly lighter than my euro which is over 10. Most of my basses (which are mostly 5s) are a long way over 10lb, except my acrylic one which is about 14lb, I don't tend to play that for the whole gig!

Oh yes, I suppose that is cheaper these days to have a custom IC. Still the only thing that could produce your results is some kind of board issue. Maybe battery acid dissolved it?

The lightest bass I ever played was a 5 string - not sure where the thing about the weight comes from, like an extra tuner and one string doesn't actually weigh very much at all!

AFAIK, the stylophone uses a resistor network for pitch, so it would have to be a shorted board or shorted resistors on the board. Did you buzz it out?

I really enjoy the album, it does resonate with life in general

no, your reply is absurd because he didn't say he held that opinion at all, so you made up an argument to be outraged against.

Active. Don't even adjust the tone generally

Did no one mention that? I think it is a very ugly headstock, but it so generic now that noone notices it - if it came out today people would be ranting how bad it was. Especially the 70s one.

I got a set of rotosounds recently while checking out new strings, and they were not very pleasant and didn't stay long. Didn't even think it was the non 4 string thing, the other 4s weren't great either!

Indeed - that would upset the "4 string superiority complex' people and then there would just be a war like there often is! Luckily the 6 and 3 string people stay out of it

Maybe that is why. I started playing a bass in the late 70s, it was a 4 string ibanez rickenbacker copy, which I loved, but it got stolen. I had guitars so I carried on just playing guitars until I just sort of stopped playing anything at all in the late 80s. Bought a bass at a local music shop which was a 5string, and it was all the bass I had until the mid 2000s I loved the bass I got but frankly there was always something missing. Maybe it is because I am coming from the point of view that a 5 string is a normal bass, and a 4 string is a bass with something removed, whereas a lot of people are coming from the point of a 4 string being normal and a 5 string having something added. But there aer a lot of very lovely 4 string basses around, I wish I got on with them better. I guess if I was with the right group, I could. I probably would go with that if I found a pitch shifter that didn't sound like a pitch shifter.

Obviously just a feeling you get - I find it exactly the opposite, i find a 5 more fun, the 4 more work and I am lazy!

Seems like a good idea for my mini pedalboard idea, so I got one, at £118 seems a very good deal if it is of use

I only play 5, but certainly I think slap works better on a 4. Luckily (for me and everyone else) I don't do that so its not an issue. Obviously if you want an old bass or something that only comes in a 4 (mostly a ric and such like), you have to stick with a 4 - I often get them because there are loads that look great and I figure that will be good but ultimately I have songs in the set with the band I have been with almost a decade that need a 5 so I end up not gigging them, and I don't tend to hang on to any non gigging basses.

Didn't have any of that, had it at other places, where it was nice.

I picked up a mini pedal board at the last bass bash, now I have a power supply for it..

Yeh, chalk it up to experience, I agree there are biker clubs we have played for before, who have been great but I guess it isn't going to matter any more, the guitarist has put a 'no biker gig' rule in place now.

Well, last night was was a biker gig, but sadly I had mistaken for that term for several biker gigs we had done around here where it is just a group of people that like riding bikes, it wasn't that sort. Tiny area in some clubhouse in a corner on a concrete floor which was damp so we couldn't stick any of the cables down. Stripped out all of the interesting songs and just played rock and blues numbers, they really didn't want abba, 9-11:30 with a break. It was pretty packed but to be honest, really not sure why we were there, noone was really bothered and I think that the only reason people watched was because it was so wet outside! They paid us £50 less than agreed, but we weren't really in a position to argue about it but in the positive side, for a change everyone helped to break down, so after finishing and breaking down / loading and driving home, I was at home within 40 minutes of the last note. The best part of the evening was that it was empty on the roads and there were some great but manageable puddles on the way home!

haha - I didn't mean peoples playing problems (although I do listen to my own to spot things I need to improve, but stuff you dont' notice in a mix, like i have noticed the bass drum has a sort of double tap to it and things like that.