Al Krow

You really must stop thanking me now, once is fine 😁 Although tbf I guess it's pretty easy to confuse me with some other random bass player who actually knows what they're taking about...

Here you go - Mark from Talking Bass is my absolute favourite online bass tutor. So much so, I've actually paid (shock horror!) for a couple of his courses. Here's some of his free material aimed at beginners: https://www.talkingbass.net/beginner-lessons/

For those of you lamenting missing out on the £16.69 (inc. P&P) from Kenny's, there's another 10 from this site on eBay which is only another £3.30 on top (i.e. £20 all in), so still pretty bargain basement: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-Headphone-Amplifier-SC-01-Session-Mixer-SESSIONCAKE-Red-/254565767588 And as Gav mentioned, you can get the posher blue one for £30 from either Amazon or fleabay.

Impressed! I've only ever managed one bass at a time.

Nah, fret not, there will be a bunch turning up in the FS for £9.49 plus P&P in a while 😉

Love to hear some sound samples with and without the SBP2 if you have recording capability? Also really like the little markers you've got for your default settings for the VTBDI - I may just have to filch that idea for mine and maybe see if I can get away with with two or even three sets of colour coded strips for different favourite settings. I s'pose I'd better get luminescent ones for gigs 😁

I was waiting for the delivery of a bass a few months back and was checking the progress of my ticket number online (I can't remember which courier now) and then got an email saying I'd not been in when they tried to deliver!! Like heck I wasn't! Managed to get through to the store pretty quickly who told me I'd have to rearrange delivery as the van had told her they were now on their way out of my neck of the woods. I pointed out that on the delivery T&Cs they were to call me on my mobile 30 mins before etc. Anyway she kindly got back onto them and they were back here within 10 mins. They said they had called but couldn't demonstrate any call log and were pretty sheepish. Anyway bit or a shaggy sheep dog story for a sunny lock down afternoon... Hopefully it will turn up soon or a refund provided.

Really annoying when that happens!

Yeah and it's very likely to be flatwound. Frank defo recommended starting on rounds.

More than just a great first bass. It's simply a great bass!

Hah! I didn't even know that was possible on YT (something I've hitherto done using Song Surgeon software). And it slows down tempo without changing pitch, which is key (excuse the pun). That's the most helpful tip I've had on BC in 2020, alongside @dave_bass5 recommending me getting a VT Bass DI, but this one's completely free! Thanks Chris!

Yeah that does make it a no brainer to all be on just one platform. Agreed that Reaper is a very popular DAW with BCers, I suspect partly 'cos it's such good value for money and has had widespread 'community validation'. Mixcraft is, from what I can tell, only recently starting to compete with the some of the better known brands and a couple of BC'ers I've asked had never come across it. Like Reaper, it's also at the budget end and has a very decent feature set including video editing and, on the surface, seems to have intuitive and easy to use work flow which for a beginner is going to be key. How did you come across it and what persuaded you to jump in and not swim with the prevailing Reaper tide?

Oooh that's very nice. Hmmm, I think I'm getting early onset Wal GAS 😂

I've found a nice Sadowsky decal and my Sire has promised not to tell if I don't when we start gigging again. Besides Andy will shortly be onto Wals, no doubt one he accidentally gets in a trade for a couple of Sads...

Better late than never (btw - that applies to me more than anyone else) 😁 Are you still a fan? - I think Mixcraft has evolved (now on ver 9 from ver 6(?) back then) and become ever more popular since your post a couple of years back. Quite a few positive comments about Cakewalk Sonar on this thread. From what I've gleaned it seems that Cakewalk Sonar is an easy to use more intuitive version of Cubase, which is popular with pros, and Mixcraft seems to follow in Cakewalk's footsteps, but also adds in decent video editing capability so you're not needing to use two separate bits of software for video and audio (a little annoying given a recent investment in Adobe Premiere Elements!). This would be just the ticket for beginners who are also wanting to do YouTube videos. http://forum.cakewalk.com/MixCraft-may-as-well-be-Sonar-m3694340.aspx

One point to about the VLE is that it's a shelf EQ. This cuts a more dispersed range of high frequencies as you turn it up: But there’s no real way to boost the treble in the 3kHz to 5kHz range on the amp itself to address the high-end roll off from the MB cabs, hence my two earlier suggestions.

The MB rig you've got will have a lot of similarities to the AC 121 Lite combo which I gigged for several years (I've moved onto to DG AO900 & BF BB2 / SC for a lightweight gigging rig and Mesa M6 & Fearless112 for home 'studio' use). In addition to the treble roll off that Lozz mentioned, there's quite a gaping hole in the older LM2/3 EQ between the high mids at 800Hz and the high at 10kHz which compounds the treble roll off issue i.e. there's a gap in that 3kHz to 5kHz 'usable treble' range. So I would make two suggestions before you swap out what is otherwise an excellent rig: - a decent EQ pedal to give the 'usable treble' a boost at around 3.5kHz - perhaps even better, a preamp pedal to brighten up the tone. I'm really enjoying my VT Bass DI - its 'bite' button seems to be a key ingredient. This provides a boost to the upper mids and treble so that the tone becomes more pronounced and 'present' especially in a mix. It also has a subsonic filter (i.e. HPF) to tighten up the sound. I wonder if I had discovered this earlier (I kinda got way-laid by its predecessor, the BDDI, which didn't do much for me at all) whether I might have stuck with my MB rig in the first place!

😂

Bringing things much more up to date and apologies if you've heard me be a bit of stuck record on these two: the 'synth' P bass tone of Charlie Puth's - Attention, which is not dissimilar to Dua Lipa's - Don't Start Now, is a tone I'd happily use widely!

@Jonesy would I be miles out in hearing quite a distinctive Geddy Lee "clank" in Bob Weston's live sound?

Haha @krispn - believe there have been plenty of "new and different" sounds I haven't taken a shine to, so I suspect that it's a little more than that 😁 @White Cloud - yeah John Entwistle and Geddy are both bass heroes for me. Do you know what rig John was using for his live performances of My Generation?

Speaking of Ampeg, I've always really liked Krist Novoselic's tone on Teen Spirit – I’m pretty sure he was going through an Ampeg SVT400. Maybe why I've taken an instant shine to my VT Bass DI pedal - that tone was clearly already there in my subconscious!

This one, right?

Cheers @Lozz196 - some great tracks to kick things off. I can see this thread quickly turning into a must listen Spotify playlist, certainly for me!