SubsonicSimpleton

The only musician you should be making comparisons with or trying to be better than is yourself - no one can realistically master every possible technical aspect and style on their instrument, so it is inevitable that you will always be able to see things in other musicians playing that leaves you thinking "wow they can do [xyz] way better than me" regardless of how good you are.Treat it as a source of inspiration and motivation to hit the woodshed.

What about P-P, or reverse P-MM(putting the treble coil of the P in front of the bass coil so the MM can go in the MM sweet spot)? edit: If the bass owes you very little and you can live with a big scratchplate, you could swimming pool route the body and use it as a test bed for whatever pickup configurations take your fancy.

There are loads of videos on the youtube channel for this site https://www.youtube.com/user/Sofarsounds/videos I lucky dipped a few, and the standard was consistently high (much like jaminthevan and NPR tinydesk concerts) - my take is that this is really a site that caters to people who enjoy good live music who are willing to go see artists that they haven't heard of before, and another small scale gig/online promo opportunity for non-mainstream artists (although I did find a video of Hozier doing a solo acoustic gig in manchester last year). I would guess that the last minute secrecy might involve an element of red tape avoidance, but also trying to create a sense of excitement (like going to underground raves back in the day).

[quote] [b] [font="Courier"]Weights only 97 lbs. 5 oz. which is light for a 70's Ash body Fender Jazz Bass![/font][/b] [font="Courier"][/quote][/font]

When I first started experimenting with sitting, I didn't have an adjustable stool, so I used a folding bar stool with a seat height of 28.5 inches and experimented with resting my feet on various flightcases, phone books etc. As well as discovering that the ideal seat height for me was 24.5 inches, I discovered that sitting on such a tall stool meant that I needed to extend the endpin exactly the same amount as the ideal for me to stand and play pizz. Using the tall stool with a suitable footrest, I can transition between sitting and standing very easily without making any adjustment to the spike.

Try playing sitting down - took a bit of experimenting to find the right relationship between seat height and bass angle, but the mechanical benefits of having the bass completely stable with no input from either hand is great for arco and pizz. I found that a lowish seat with both feet comfortably flat on the floor was most comfortable, YMMV but worth a try as long as you don't play a lot of slap.

Do you like the way the pickups themselves sound when you solo them? If the issue is lack of fine control in blending them together, it's probably worth asking KiOgon about your options for vol/vol/tone or pan/vol/tone looms, as he is well respected in the art of quality drop in looms for passive basses.

Can you still buy protools bundled with an 11rack hardware interface? The 11rack is fairly well regarded, so flogging it and keeping the bundled protools might be an option.

I borrowed an old wah pedal from a mate's dad many years ago that used to pick up the local minicab companies very reliably - it didn't sound very good as a pedal, but I used to take it to jams and rehearsals just to switch it on at random during quiet bits or in between songs for comedy value.

The world of veblen goods is fascinating - ownership seems to have the same psychological effect as being a member of a religious cult. Maybe the question you should be asking is "Are we conning ourselves?"

Do you have a good arco teacher that you can ask about whether your current bow is fit for purpose? Lots of the cheap bows have artificial hair(useless) or poor quality horsehair which makes them perform badly regardless of whether the stick is any good.

Because reasons obviously

Maybe the reason that the OP was fixated on non-boutique products was because he wanted to find a rig that could be easily specified on tech riders for gigging/touring overseas - doubt that it is easy to find a Bergantino cab in Romania or Kazakhstan, but Hartke probably no problem.

Found the link to this on another forum, but thought I'd share the link here as it is pretty funny. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gibson-les-paul-/201424998846?hash=item2ee5dd91be It may be sacriledge to link a listing for a skinny string, but the description is great, basschat forum advertisers take note.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1441273285' post='2857369'] Depends if the teacher is any good... [/quote] This. Lots of musicians look to supplement their income by teaching, some are genuinely passionate about teaching their students and inspirational to study with, some are more interested in the cash you put in their pockets than passing on their knowledge, and some are simply not very good at teaching - if you can find a tutor from the first category (and it is worth going out of your way to find one) then it is money well spent. [quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1441258479' post='2857265'] A good teacher pushes you out of your comfort zone into stuff you would not do on your own! [/quote]

You could give this site a look http://www.musictheory.net/lessons It is very piano centric, and there is no tab in sight, but all the necessary information on chord and scale construction that would allow you to start making sense of why a bassline works against a chord progression is there.

Make a list of the things you want to enjoy and achieve. Cut out all the other crap that diverts your time/energy away from those goals. Enjoy every moment of the journey.

Moveable do solfege can be used to combine ear training and sight reading - a big part of my double bass adventure has been taking classical lessons and learning to read, and my teachers approach to reading is to stick a part in front of me and ask me to attempt to sing it off the page before making any attempt to play it. I had always been mystified how the teacher at the theory evening class I attended many years ago could look at my homework written out on manuscript and comment on how good (or not) it sounded before playing it at the piano, and discovering solfege has been a real lightbulb moment.

How were you positioned in relation to the guitarist and the nearest wall? Getting close to a wall will increase the bottom end (same coupling effect as putting your bass rig in the corner of a room) and can reflect some sound back to you, but being in the firing line of an acoustic guitar will make it really difficult to hear yourself regardless (at a local community center group that play in a circle facing each other, I can never hear myself (although everyone else comments on how the bass fills the room)).

Just buy Marcs Czech Ease, smaller than a 1/2 size but proper scale length and pro quality.

You might want to get a second opinion about repairing the trussrod - not all luthiers are equal in terms of skill and experience, and if every luthier refused to touch challenging jobs, then no-one would be able to get vintage instruments repaired. For a neck heel adjusted trussrod, it is possible that the anchor is situated underneath the block inlay at the first fret, if it is then there is no need for invasive surgery, it might be possible to do all the necessary work under the inlay - here are examples of how this process casn be carried out on a non block neck. http://guitargarage.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/one-way-to-repair-fender-trussrod-63.html http://www.guitarrepairshop.com/repairtrussrod.html If you do a google image search using the term "fender trussrod replacement" there is quite a lot of information and documented repairs on valuable vintage fenders. If you choose to go this route, make sure that you check the reputation of the person doing the work really carefully - of course the economics of the situation need to be considered as well, but whatever choice you make, don't assume that your existing neck is worthless firewood on basis of a single opinion.

Try recording yourself practising at different tempos - listen back later and be honest with yourself about what you are hearing, good time, dynamic control and co-ordination between the hands is crucial to make your bass lines feel really solid regardless of tempo or style, and it is much more productive IMHO to focus on good timing than playing faster. You might also need to take a look at how you are practising - effective practice is more important than just time with the instrument in your hands, but many people fail to make a proper distinction between playing and practising which can really limit their development (IMHO you need to do both and find a balance - practice is work, play should be fun, the benefits of practice should inspire your playing and the joy of playing should inspire you to practice and work on the things you need to improve).

Dings are pretty meaningless on any guitar or bass which gets serious use - no matter how hard you try to keep your instruments pristine, sh*t can and will happen if you are using them for the purpose for which they are intended. Not all instruments respond the same way - ask yourself why Geddy Lee who has a massive collection, and the resources to buy pretty much anything regardless of price tag still cites the beater jazz bass he bought in a pawn shop for $200 as his favourite. I would be looking to get a partial refund for the cosmetic damage if the playability, ergonomics and sound were spot on.

Standard terminology for stereo 1/4 jacks is TRS(tip, ring, sleeve), I would guess that on the diagram tip=tip, center=ring, barrel=sleeve, but if there is any doubt, then I would verify the connections on the component with a multimeter/continuity tester and a patch cable before getting started. In order for the jack to perform switching for the preamp power, then the connections have to be made "respectively" in order for the circuit to be broken when the jack plug is removed from the socket, if you wired them together, the preamp circuit would remain on continuously until the battery was drained.

Usually the tip carries the signal, and the battery(-ve) and preamp(0v) are connected to the ring and sleeve so the preamp only powers up when a mono jack plug is inserted in the plug, shorting the ring and sleeve together. It is usually fairly obvious when you look at the wiring in the cavity, but it would probably be a good idea to post full details of the bass/preamp and a pic of the cavity if you want help wiring it.