chriswareham

I've been reading Peter Hook's latest book, Substance, which chronicles his life since the end of Joy Division and start of New Order. There are some "nerd" sections describing with various accuracy his recollections of equipment and recording techniques, including a discussion of his preferred string gauges. He uses 105, 085, 065, 065 on his four string basses - including the Yamaha BB1200 and BB1200S that he recorded New Order's albums with. (Apparently the Eccleshall semi-acoustics he's played live for over twenty years aren't used in the studio). I decided to try out Hooky's choice of gauges on my BB1200. I found the 065 on the G string to be so over tensioned that it was painful to play, so I switched to a 060. I'm finding the result be a a bit of a revelation. The increased tension on the D and G makes it much easier to play across strings without accidentally bending them or popping the G string off the side of the fretboard as I occasionally used to do. There's also a greater consistency of tone and notes on the high tension G really ring out clearly when playing double stops or with the D as a drone.

These were amongst, if not the first, CNC made guitars. This meant they were made to very high and consistent tolerances. Quite a clever move on the part of Peavey, as it kept costs down on a US made instrument at a time the Japanese makers were hammering the big names like Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker on price and quality. I played a very beaten up one for a couple of years, not realising how exceptional it was until I'd sold it (my second bass so I didn't know better). I don't really remember it being heavy - the early model Westone Thunder 1A I used subsequently felt much heavier.

There's been a couple of threads on this recently in the general discussion forum. For higher melodic playing a five string strung EADGC or EADGB is great. The C in a five string set will sound fine dropped a semitone.

Radiohead for me as well. Thom Yorke's voice is an irritating whine and the music shows an utter lack of ideas.

Interestingly, I checked the Orange site to see if I could spot the Terror Bass I tried and it looks like they've stopped making Class D bass amps entirely. It's all solid state stuff apart from the classic all valve monster, which is now the standard professional touring amp according to John Henry's (the big hire and leasing firm).

I've spent most of my playing time in bands with two guitarists running full bore on big Marshall stacks, and really needed the big speakers and high power amps I used at the time. Now I play in a band with one guitarist who has a tendency to leave his master volume very low at rehearsals to clearly hear how he's interacting with the rest of the band. In this situation 100W is totally sufficient, albeit still into bloody big speakers. So if more guitards could overcome their belief in running amps flat out we'd not need these Class D thingies - my solid state head weighs little more than a 1000W Orange Class D I tried (Terror Bass I think), and is hardly an awkward size.

I bought Jamie's Ibanez Artcore bass. Beautiful bass, and Jamie brought it with him on a business trip to my neck of the woods for collection :-)

Back on topic ... Jamie used Boss pedals, so matski's suggestion of a Boss CE-2 is a good one. When Jamie joined Death Cult (shortly to become The Cult) as bassist, he switched from lead guitar and gave most of his pedals to the bands guitarist Billy Duffy. He still uses most of them to this day.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1483933980' post='3211222'] Well the thread reads, "How do I get this tone" I wasn't sure why chorus and compression were mentioned as they don't give anyone tone. [/quote] Yes they do.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1483605466' post='3208540'] As I said in the other thread I could never get a tone I liked out of the high C string. I tried several different sets of strings when I experimented with it a few years ago and without exception the C string had all the character of a cheap and nasty guitar. The same notes played on the G or D strings always had a lot more authority, so I've stuck with B - G on my 5-strings. [/quote] I'm thinking of going the Peter Hook route, and using a G string tuned up to C - Hooky does something similar with the strings on his six string bass as it gives him a much better tone than using conventional guages for the high strings. He says in his recent book that he had to experiment with different gauges until he found some that didn't snap or were so over-tension as to be unplayable.

I'll be going EADGC on a five string soon, and was wondering what strings other people recommend for this. I prefer the sound of roundwounds and fairly heavy guage.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1483374839' post='3206644'] Dont know why musicians moan about the content of the Hoot, after all it has to appeal to a huge range of tastes. [/quote] Really? I can only think of one act I've liked on Jools Holland's show, and none on a "Hootenanny".

[quote name='Downdown' timestamp='1483206509' post='3205434'] You've all got the wrong partners if this sort of thing is an issue. As long as you can afford it and haven't sold your first-born into slavery, what's the problem? Mine wouldn't care a hoot. In fact she'd probably not even notice amongst all the other music/PA gear stacked up around the house. But happy new year anyway. [/quote] Exactly. As long as you're not buying it with credit or putting off a more important purchase by buying it, then where's the problem? Since joining this *@!?ing forum I've gone from three basses to nine!!!

Finally got down to my brother's and picked up the Maya Jazz bass copy that was posted above. It's in good shape, the only thing wrong with it is a missing retaining nut and knob on the treble volume control. In the meantime I ordered a pair of John Birch Hyperflux 3 pickups to replace the standard Jazz style pups. John Carling at JB made the pickups with black covers and mounting rings - delivered to me within five days of ordering, and they look the business. I'll start a (re)build thread soon.

Reads like a pack of lies. If they've got the industry connections they allege then they'd have management, because no one else in the industry would deal with pre-pubescent spiel like that, and then they wouldn't be advertising for band members on Facebook. The influences they have suggest they're highly unlikely to get a deal - Steel Panther only managed it by being a parody, and there's little point interest in a more "sincere" glam metal revival. As for a "street team" (FFS) of 87,000, I doubt even someone of the stature of Metallica could manage that many people pledging to do free promotion for them.

Is that one of the Hipshot bridges?

Never gone lightweight, and been underwhelmed by class D stuff when I've heard others playing it - sounds loud on its own but disappears in a full band as though it doesn't put out enough low end. So I'll stick with an all valve head and old solid state stuff (Acoustic Control and more recently a Trace SMX). The solid state stuff makes wonder though. The Acoustic 140 is very light, but astonishingly loud, so I don't get why class D stuff and is considered particularly lightweight.

Just bought a Commodore 64 and Steinberg Pro 16 sequencer software as a Christmas present to myself :-) MIDI sequencing like it's 1984!

I'll repeat what I said on Facebook :-) Wow. Is there any sign of a serial number that could be used to trace the age and possible first owner? Can't have been a big seller, and somewhat specialised, so if the current JB staff have any records from the eraly days ...

Lots of bull in that description. There are no lava flows on Vesuvius currently, only sulphourus steam vents. I don't think there has been any lava flows since 1999.

Left To My Own Devices by Pet Shop Boys "Che Guevera and Debussy to a disco beat"

Here Today by The Chameleons Written in the first person about John Lennon's final moments.

Totally Random Man by Therapy? "I feel like Captain Beefheart sounds"

If you can get a name and address, then try the small claims court since you have a record of the transaction including his bank details. Keep all the texts and emails, but don't agree to anything other than a full refund in one lump sum. When you win in the small claims court he will have a grace period in which to pay you, otherwise you can apply for a court order to send the baillifs in. I have gone this route once and it worked (the debtor paid me in the grave period). When the police say it's a civil matter, then this is the course of action to take.

I've got five 18" speaker cabs and access to one more (three SWR Big Bens and three Vox Foundations). I'm sure I could run four of them in a bi-amped setup just for the hell of it!