Dood

I think the only issue I take with this is that ears don’t actually recover from damage caused by excessive noise. The effects of damage such as tinnitus and loss of balance etc are caused by the brain misinterpreting the signals it is receiving verses what it should do. I suspect caffeine inhibits the brain getting used to these new signals rather than caffeine being an inhibitor to any sort of physical recovery. Whilst we’re on the subject of damage, a key point that so many active musicians don’t realise is that ringing ears after a gig etc is an indication of actual damage. When the ears stop ringing, that’s not recovery. The damage is still there. Next time post-gig ringing happens it is more damage on top of the last. It’s cumulative. Until one day, after thinking you’ve been lucky all this time, the ringing doesn’t stop. The white noise begins and your brain can even have a hard time dealing with this indefatigable mental noise. Some people struggle with depression caused/exacerbated by the effects and there is even news of a lad who was so traumatised by tinnitus he took his life.

Firstly Zalastar, you are not alone. I have had at least a couple of students who have also had serious bike accidents and now suffer limited movements in their hands and wrists which led to left hand positioning problems. One certainly found it easier to 'broom handle' the bass neck rather than having an open position with the thumb on the back of the neck. Secondly, as Ace' has suggested quite rightly, you may benefit from an excellent tutor who can look at your hand position to see if there's anything that can be done to assist. I've heard that even physio could help loosen up muscles if they have gotten used to their limited movement. I'm not a doctor so maybe seeking some professional advice there could assist too.

The fan fret bass design wasn't about being any more 'playable' than it's parallel fret cousin. Ergonomics was secondary to the original design goals. A side-effect, if you will, that some will see as either a benefit or detriment to the design. Incidentally, not all fan fret instruments are the same. It is possible to adjust the fret slant angle across the strings as well as the amount of scale length difference between strings. The two of course work together and drastically change the playability of an FF instrument. I think Dingwall have it bang on actually.

It's a great sounding little pedal and does a great TS tone. I did blend clean low end in with it and at the time favoured the 'just biting' tones rather than maxed out. The mid bump in the EQ is pretty good for bass too. - I also liked the Digitech Bad Monkey.

@Al Krow - Did the Valeton OC arrive yet?

If I ever get this flipping solo EP, album thingy written, can I name a track The FireDragon Triplets?

Learn to play Smile by Lily Allen. Don't stray, noodle or embellish. Get the dynamics and the rhythm spot on. Understand how the bass line groove works against the drums on paper. This is an exercise in restraint, focus and time to concentrate on technique. The first person to say 'oh that's easy, it's 4 notes' has totally missed the point of my post. K.I.S.S for a reason.

As an after thought, unless it is a slow moving piece, switching from finger style to pick and turning down either amp / bass at the same time might prove to be awkward?

Rather than louder, I would say tonally different. It doesn’t have to be louder, if you see what I mean. My slap volume is pretty much the same volume as my finger style. Unless it’s a sound check in which case I will give FOH my loudest sound to set up gain levels. Nothing like striking the low B with a bit more gusto than usual!

Absolutely. I do this with all of my right hand playing techniques. Also worth practicing stood up too in your chosen performance stance. This is because often people will hunch down on say a sofa and practice like mad, but when they get up, all of their playing angles change and undo all the hard work.* * (I know that you didn't mean specifically sat down Ambient, lol but it did allow me to offer another view point too) On the subject of your gear - The EMG pickups (non-X models) do a certain amount to control your levels. You also have a compressor already on the Reidmar 500. You could look at it's operation and see if that helps in the meantime whilst you try some technique drills.

I think that is partly down to the unfortunate problem we have with the cost of shipping, excise and VAT. It ends up being cheaper to use homegrown in the shape of Newtone Strings.

Sounds like a good plan! I haven't looked, but certainly I was able to buy some XLR Right angled jacks made by Neutrik that could be configured for exit direction. Hopefully they do the same for DIN connectors too!

You could ask FlightCase Warehouse to build to your exact specification of course. They do have that facility. Or, if you like to create on your own terms, then have a look at Thomann's Live Case Builder (or named something similar) where a graphical interface will allow you to see what the final design will look like with your choice of hardware. A bit more expensive but not the most expensive cases I have seen. I found that actually I needed the 44cm depth because I mounted a 4 way power adaptor on the back of the board permanently so that I could leave LT plugged in as well as some USB power adaptors, rather than having to unplug those every gig. Also, with the added depth it meant that straight instrument cables were not hanging off the back of the board to get stood on. (My board lived inside the flight case all the time.) To lift the board out of my flight case, well, the FCW boards actually have a cutaway on one corner meaning that you can get your hand underneath to lift it out. However, I did leave about 2cm between the edge of my LT and the board perimeter to help with getting it in and out. I also bought some of those really thick stick on foam/rubber feet usually for house furniture to put on the bottom of my board. It did lift the board up so LT was more level with the lip of the FCW case, but mainly to make it sit on the floor more evenly and not get too messed up underneath when playing on uneven surfaces.

Yes indeed it really is just a cheap Peli! - It does have a rubber seal but I would say this case is splash proof rather than airtight so I wouldn't foresee too many problems.. I wasn't expecting it to be great for the money, it was more bash protection I was after so I am actually really impressed. Yes, I have two different sizes of case from @64 Audio. They are still housing my IEMs. I actually prefer using the larger case at the moment - but they always end up in my flight case anyway so the size of the Peli isn't a problem. What I was actually after was a little pouch to hang around my neck on a lanyard for my Ear Plugs. The ones from various IEM providers including 64 don't have a hanging loop. Whilst I was searching I found this little "Peli" which is not only solid but does have a really good loop to attach it to well, anything. This little box is much, much smaller. it's width is just 8cm odd, hence why I'd mentioned that you might squeeze some IEMs in there but earplugs, no problem! I think the next step for lanyard style holders (temporary storage) would be to talk to our own 3D printing genius @intime-nick ... Now that could unleash all sorts of geekiness! I basically want Nick to build everything I can think of ha ha!

That's interesting, as I've found that IEMs and big cans do a great job of left to right spacial awareness but really don't seem to have any height or front to back translation. My IEMs and my DT770's fail to get the full effect. However (and I don't have them anymore) a set of earphones that sit actually on your Pinna flat provided the best 3D spacial experience. I think they were a set of Sony monitoring earphones and not particularly expensive ones. The effect is further enhanced if the recording device's microphones are in an ear canal rather than just in the vicinity of the ear too. Ideally the Pinna should be as close to the same shape on both source and destination but hey, that's pretty impossible unless you're listening to your own recordings ha ha!!

I absolutely must listen to these as I LOVE binaural - anything that fools our senses I find exciting. Even sleight of hand tricks have me laughing at how easy it is to confuse!

Just adding to the pile of accessories, I (probably over spent) and bought one of these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Compressive-Earphone-Case-for-High-Fidelity-in-IEMs-earbuds-earphone/381663300456?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=650732655007&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 to put my sets of ear plugs in. It has just arrived now and I have to say I'm really pleased with the quality. Really strong and a padded interior. There's room in there for IEMs with a short cable.

I used the FlightCase Warehouse XL sized case. It fitted in the case perfectly and the board lifted out. The XL was large enough to mount a couple of pedals and a power strip on too: https://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/industry/product.asp?item=spider-guitar-effects-pedal-board-flight-case-extra-large-7628-4748 There's an XXL and a Medium size board should yo need larger or smaller. Great prices and built like a tank. However, my LT is still mounted to a board but I had RoqSolid make me a super tough padded carry bag instead due to the amount of venues I have to climb stairs lol..

Do you mean EMG HZ pickups? (They are passive, so if you are using a battery, I am expecting you are operating with a different model that requires a battery) I am assuming the bass has no other preamp on board? Have you rechecked your solder joints? Is the battery flat? WAIT, edit.. so you haven't soldered the wires properly? I should do that first! The vibrations of the instrument either playing or in transit could be enough to mess with the physical (albeit loose) connection.

You suspect correctly!