Osiris

Me again. I just bought something else from Marc and wanted to say thanks again for going the extra mile to accommodate me, he'd listed a rack case as collection only and not only agreed to post it but also delayed posting it for a week as I was on holiday. How's that for top class service. Thanks Marc, it was most appreciated!

I assume so as once I'm happy with whatever the AI has generated I save it as a jpeg or gif file and go from there. So assuming you can load standard file formats into Photoshop (I've not used it for years so can't remember) you'll be good to go.

@Happy Jack as young Francis says, I've been dabbling with AI for band posters for a while now. The main thing I'd highly recommend is spending some doing a bit of homework first. Identify which AI system you want to use and then sink some time in learning what's called prompt engineering, which is essentially telling the AI what you want and to get it to create what you have in mind. Different AI bots react differently to different prompts so it might be worth selecting one AI system and then spending some trying to figure out what prompts work best for your needs with that variant. For example, my current preference is for Microsoft Copilot which, for me at least, consistently generates better results than something like Adobe Firefly even though the former is a general AI bot and the latter is a dedicated image generator. But a couple of pointers, IME, are to; Sink some time into learning how to use it as the more refined the prompt the more impressive the result will be. Can't stress this enough. But it's not that difficult if you're even a little bit tech savvy. In the case of Copilot at least, treat it like you're talking to a toddler, use clear and concise language. Often, specifying what you don't want is as important as specifying what you do want. Generating photo quality images is tricky but can be done once you know how what prompts the bot needs to work with. But getting images that look like you or the other band members, for example, is much trickier and beyond my current level of understanding, so if you want people and faces, odds are you'll end up with a generic AI generated face rather than a mirror image of whoever. Getting it to generate band logos is a bit more tricky and most of my efforts have resulted in typos despite telling it what text I want. Here's a couple of examples of images I've created, The above image was generated in Copilot and the logo and text overlaid in PowerPoint. The photo below was created in honour of @Raymondo who frequents an ale house called The Burnt Pig. It took me a while to get the prompt right for this but it shows you can get something close to photo quality with a bit of trial and error.

Just received a power supply from Marc and everything went smoothly as expected. The unit itself was extremely well packaged too.

Just received a bass bridge from Steve and the man is a legend, Basschat royalty no less!

Not a PJ set but I've put a GZR P in my Sandberg shorty and it sounds great, not quite the classic precision sound as the pickup position is 15-20mm closer to the bridge relative to my Mustang (which nails the classic P tone) but it sounds great, definitely no booming in the lows. It's a punchy low end, bags of mid range detail and enough highs to add clarity without getting abrasive. Dunno if it matters but I always string my shorties with rounds whereas a lot of guys use flats but I find flats are too dull and lifeless, which some may interpret as boominess 🤷

With my JMJ I find that I need to very slightly adjust my right arm position if I'm anchoring my thumb on top of the pickup, but it's only a small shift and was very easy to adapt to and isn't an uncomfortable position - for me anyway! I flare the right elbow out a fraction so the forearm has clearance from the body edge and all is good, that's with the bass on a strap so it's more or less in the same position it would be when seated. But I tend to play with the thumb pushed up against the edge of the scratch plate much of the time and find that that's the most comfortable position for me and doesn't require any adjustment of the arm or hand position.

Another D’Addario rounds user here on my Mustang, although I am still using up my store of 34" scale strings I bought years ago when they were half price somewhere or other! My preference is for Nickel EXL160 50-105's which IMO have more than enough clarity and presence without being too thin, bright or muddy - my tonal preference is for a fairly flat response with deep but controlled lows, plenty of mids and a defined but not shrill high end. Tension is perfect for me too. More presence and definition than with flats but without being too bright or brittle sounding, but still the low end punch. They're usually good for anything up to 2 years of regular gigging before they get too dull for my tastes.

Just received a cheap and cheerful noise blocker from Andy, all good, deal with confidence!

I'd been running my tuner after my compressor for a couple of years without any issues. My reason being the assumption that the compressed signal would give the tuner a more consistent signal to work with - despite almost certainly not hitting the threshold on the compressor as my tuner responds better with gentle sting plucks than the strength I usually play at. But a recent shuffle of my board meant that the tuner went first, before the compressor. It seems to respond ever so slightly quicker this way, but we're talking fractions of a second, maybe half a second max per string. My comp is bufferered, whether that matters or not 🤷 So IME, both combinations work, with my gear anyway (Pitch black custom into LMB-3) with tuner into comp possibly a tiny weeny bit quicker to respond. I'd say just go with whatever works for you.

Just received a Gator bag from Phil, it was new as described, a great price and he kept me informed re the posting. Cheers Phil

If you don't want to use one, don't. Nobody is forcing you to. But I'm also a working bass player and gig regularly and always use one, my bass sound is more controlled and sits in the mix better because of what my compressor is doing. Plus I still have total control over my dynamics, the idea that compression destroys dynamics is a myth that refuses to die... It's worth it to me but if you see no benefit then don't bother.

Compression works on - and benefits - all playing styles when dialled in correctly. And the risk of sounding like a broken record you really need to understand how compression works, what each parameter does and how they interact with one another to apply them properly. It's more of a feel thing than an obvious tonal change, but when done right brings your bass line to life. It's very easy to get compression wrong if you don't know what you're doing which leads to the same old arguments against using it. Do some homework on the subject and it'll start making total sense, so much so that you'll wonder how you ever got by without it!

They do that if they're not dialled in with the right settings, but they do the exact opposite when configured correctly.

I took a punt on it through eBay, I've got one of the sellers civil war muff clones and it's a great pedal so thought I'd try something different. It was this one, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186294077685?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=-rQ31T5FTxq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=gZq2qOSFQFe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Dunno if you're still looking for a pedal that will give you a farty mid range but I've recently picked up a clone of the Way Huge Red Llama and it nails that kind of tone, IMO. It's a very unique sounding pedal, it's a low to mid gain drive but with almost fuzz like characteristics albeit without massive amounts of gain. Excellent bass retention too, I didn't notice any significant low end loss at loud in-the-house volume. I've never played the real thing to compare how close it is to the original but from the couple of YouTube clips I've seen I'd say it's definitely in the same vein.

My thoughts of it are in this thread. In short, I thought it was hilariously 💩.

Interesting, and I'm sorry to hear that. My JMJ lives on one of two Hercules wall hangers when it's not being played, I've had the bass 4 years now and it has been hung on the wall in all that time and there's no visible discolouration or other reaction artefacts where the hanger is in contact with the head. The wall hangers have been up for around 10 years now. When I'm out gigging and rehearsing I use the Hercules headstock dangler type stands too with no issues. But the stands are only around 3 years old. Like you, I had an issue with a pair of older Hercules stands where the plastic clamping system was starting to get sticky and break down. But at this point those stands were something like 15 or more years old and credit where it's due to Hercules, when I contacted them to alert them to the issue they replaced both free of charge, not that I was expecting them too considering the age of them. So I appreciate that this doesn't help in your situation and it sounds like you've just been unlucky. And for what it's worth, I'd be annoyed too in your situation.

Thanks Nick, was it just a case of snipping off the EMG connectors and soldering the ends of the wires to the existing input socket?

@Old Horse Murphy I'm also thinking of putting a pair of EMG Geezer Butler pickups in my Sandberg short scale. You mention the jack socket being too big to fit the jack plate, by this I'm guessing you mean the little plastic cover that holds the input jack in place on the edge of the bass? Was it much of a difference, i.e. could you just enlarge the hole a fraction on the little plastic jack plate to get it to fit? Or was there also an issue with trying to fit the jack socket through hole from the control cavity to the outside of the bass? The reason I ask is that I'm a bit cack-handed at this sort of thing and if there's any extra mods required to make the GZR's fit the bass then I might need to have a rethink.

I don't want to pi55 on your chips but the CS-3 isn't really a suitable bass compressor - unless you want that super squashed compression as an obvious effect type of sound. I used one for a while years ago but quickly moved it on as it was too heavy handed even at minimum settings for what I look for in a compressor. You might get away with it if you have a way of running it in parallel with some of your dry signal, or you might just enjoy it for what it is, but you can't argue with the price!

Bass the world have got a new video up demoing both units, both sound good to me, especially the 1176 😎

I've had my JMJ Mustang, which I believe has a nitro finish, for 4 years now and have used Hercules wall hangers as well as their tripod stands with the neck gripping thingies*, and never had any issues with the materials they use in their products reacting with the finish. *One of these.