rmorris

Yes. Copper tape is great. But make sure to use one with a conductive adhesive if relying on that - tales from the EMC lab 🙄. But the OP's bass seems to be correctly grounded. The noise is coming from the player. When the player touches the strings/bridge or anything else that is grounded then the noise stops as the player is held at a fixed electrical potential (voltage).

True. But it will work over most. Now the trick is to play it with confidence. Then if it doesn't 'fit' you can make it sound like it's the chord being played is 'wrong' and not your bass note 😃 +1 for learning the most common chord sequences and permutations.

Yes I get the technique aspect and strings can go all the way from packet fresh super zing SS roundwounds through to old flats and all points between. But my real point was about online presentations where the player carries on apparently fine with, or oblivious to, the amount of 'non musical' noise that is audible. And it's also noticeable that a lot of stuff doesn't really have much low errr...bass in it. And this isn't a case of listening on tinny speakers. It's generally going through decent sized monitors that I also use listen to recorded/streamed audio including my own DI bass.

Yes. And I fully appreciate that some of it is legitimate articulation that you may positively seek to feature - similar to putting a mic pointed toward the neck of an acoustic to get the noise of fingers on strings. And there is always going to be some 'noise' associated with metal on metal contact. Very much depending on the elements involved - string type most obviously. But it gets to the degree that the euphemistically named 'bite' at the front of a note is obscuring the real attack of the note and it becomes difficult to really hear the note itself. What brought it to the fore of my thinking was that I was in a bass shop on Saturday (Bass Gallery in that London) and there were a few people plugged in and playing. So no drums to mask things, no 'mix'. And everything sounded good - and not like a bag of spanners being shaken 🙂. I appreciate that online stuff is likely DI into an audio interface and so not a mic'd amp but it shouldn't take much to turn out a decent sound if you're going to the trouble of making a demo'/lesson/review. tbh it just sometimes seems that people have their actions set too low and are willing to keep a straight face while the note they've just hit a tad too hard continues to bothers the frets in an unmusical way.

I don't know if this counts as "elephant in the room" territory but...is it just me (taking on a standup comedian pose) or do nearly all online bass demos/tutors/reviews etc simply have far too much fret noise and clank in their audio output ?

Again not wood but anyone else remember these - Magnesium Alloy / GRP - and from Pete Townsend's brother I believe...ToneMetal ? http://guitarz.blogspot.com/2011/10/staccato-mg-bass-circa-1986-made-from.html?_sm_au_=iVVQRMM0jS7Jjk2s1F81QKHFkHCjJ

Okay. I think i probably assumed 70s = Single Action. Seems kind of disappointing either way (no pun intended !) though. Good Luck.

Good point. I'm assuming a Squier VM 70's Jazz Bass as per the OP would have a single action rod ?

I have an acrylic bass. It's blue - do other colours sound better ?

Of course. we could bypass the whole timber argument and go all Carbon Fibre ? I'll get my coat 🙄

My old Rocktek Chorus Pedals.

worth reading this write-up https://www.talkbass.com/threads/ebow-vs-tc-electronics-aeon-first-impressions.1352769/

tbf That is proper funny 🤣🤣🤣

But I don't read the posts as framing playing covers in that way. For transparency IIRC I've played (for public consumption) one 'Cover Version' ever. But I didn't listen to the original recording before interpreting it. The guitarist presented it as he would have done with something he had originated and I took it from there.

+1. I don't want to sound harsh but if your bass tech just passed it back to you without suggesting the "washer solution" I have to suggest taking stuff elsewhere in future.

Yes, but the battery switching function is not intrinsically associated with the barrel form. Any TRS socket has the same switching functionality.

I think that's basically the point. The difference in feel and playability to the bassist can make a huge difference to the performance. As can many other factors like monitors etc. Audience will not generally ascribe this to s particular instrument. When did you last go to a gig and think that the bassist should be using a slightly lighter/ heavier gauge of string ? Or neck profile ? But it will feel different to the player and influence the performance. Emphasises that setup can be more important than the bass itself. Obvs there are limits - Don't try and 'do' Mark King or Peter Hook on a Precision set up with flats and a high action a la Jamerson 😳

Ha! I guess cassette heads are a very niche interest now - some retro interest notwithstanding. It's never going to be like Vinyl. Young people have never experienced seeing long lengths of cassette tape in gutters after a jammed cassette was thrown out of a Ford Capri in frustration 🤣 But I guess there are still some Big Reel tape decks where the same cleaning is applicable. For that it's hard to beat IPA tbh (Isopropyl not Pale Ale 🙄) although I recall that it was important not to use the pure stuff on the rubber capstan wheel as it would dry it out and cause it to crack. +1 for DeOxit 5 btw. Think whether the flushable or non-flushable version is best for your application.

yes it can be useful to have the option to work at 'non-professional' nominal level eg -10dBv (lower level and different dB reference - standards are great - that's why we have so many 🙄) and I have been in the situation where I've chosen to configure a DIY attenuating pad to archive some stuff from DAT (remember when that was a thing ???) using my now old multichannel TDIF interface that has unbalanced inputs at a low nominal level. But I still prefer to work at +4dBu until I have to attenuate. In reality all audio going into an ADC is going to be squeezed down to a 5V range or less. But attenuating directly before the ADC gives best SNR. Also worth noting that signals that are impedance balanced or 'Ground Cancelling' are likely to be at -2dBu nominal level. Since the -ve leg of the signal isn't driven. As for mixers that don't handle +4dBu - tbh I'd just say use a different mixer.

Yes. I guess I'm more biased toward recording rather than live work. Agree wrt your keys player - unless his keyboard is mains earthed itself and so the DI would give him the opportunity to avoid a hum loop in the system.

Good points re terminology wrt Pre-Amp / DI etc. Much of the time people are discussing what is really a preamp or effects unit that incorporates a DI output. A "Pure DI" function isn't intended to colour the sound. It just provides a low impedance balanced signal suitable for a mixing desk channel or similar. I have to dispute that it should necessarily produce a low 'mic' level signal though. This has certainly been the 'traditional' practice and it's basically inherent in a passive (transformer only) based DI that is taking a signal directly from a passive Hi-Z pickup*. But now that mixing desks / interfaces etc often have proper Line Level inputs there's often no advantage and some disadvantage in deliberately attenuating a signal when you don't need to. Much depends on what goes on 'under the hood' of the receiving channel in terms of gain/attenuation - but in general it's not a good idea to attenuate then amplify. It's all about 'Gain Staging' really. As it happens this has recently been the topic of a discussion on a pro audio orientated forum where I dabble. One member was most adamant that only mic level was 'legitimate' but couldn't really articulate why. There are, of course, good reasons why mic level might be preferred eg the user simply likes the sound of a particular mic pre working at some gain. And more pragmatically a live mixing setup may have a default configuration of expecting only mic levels from the stage lines. And mix in whether active DIs are being powered from Phantom 48V and whether line level is accepted on the XLR Inputs or only on TRS Jacks (Where there won't be Phantom 48V). * Technically this never seems a good idea since using a typical 5:1 stepdown transformer into a typical mic channel input with 2K2 input impedance presents c. 55K impedance to the pickup. When an amplifier etc input typically presents a minimum of 470K and often 1M0. Additionally driving a transformer from a high impedance will tend to increase distortion. But I'm aware of at least one DI box that has/had options to use a buffered output or go straight into the transformer - and have it on the designer's authority that for bass guitar most people preferred the direct to transformer option. EDIT: Reading this back it occurs to me that I should mention that the designer in question is Cyril Jones of Raindirk fame. The obvious question is what was the specific transformer. Unfortunately when I asked him more recently he couldn't actually recall the detail.

Yes. Good point. Though not exactly convenient 🙂. and you may also want a "ground lift" circuit in the Screen connection. It's a lot to fit in a standard Jack plug body - although you can get those larger bodies jacks from Neutrik...

Yes. 1K0 is a common output impedance for fx pedals etc. I meant that it high for a DI output. I understand that it is not intended to be a DI. A post indicated that the poster thought that it was a DI so I was correcting that. Yes - you can of course use a separate DI (active or passive) - but I still say that in general it's a shame to miss the opportunity to provide an impedance balanced DI signal on most audio units. I do understand why it's not done.

Your luthier should be able to tell you ?