Osiris

As has already been mentioned, you cannot go wrong with the Ibanez Mikro, it's 28 and a half inch scale makes it just slightly larger than a regular 6 string guitar. *Shameless sale plug*, but I have one for sale which I bought with the intention of teaching my son but unfortunately, he wasn't interested in playing. Drop me a line if you're tempted

I'm not sure which predates the other but someone has covered the others video while paying different songs.

The original 80's pop song Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat And a superb cover and rework of the song by Paradise Lost, which puts its own stamp on the song while retaining much of the feel of the original. I much prefer this to the original; Then there's the post punkesque Diane by Husker Du, nothing special in itself IMO, Which was given a haunting rework and a superb cover by Therapy? There's no question as to which the more powerful version.

That answers that then 😃 Cheers.

Inspired by @dave_bass5 I'm starting to think of doing something similar, i.e. using a midi controller with my Stomp which would then live on top of the amp out of the way. Now, I know absolutely nothing about midi, but like Dave I like the look of the Tech 21 midi mongoose, but from what you're saying you don't think it would work as a block on/off switcher? It'd be a shame if it doesn't as that's all I'd want it to do, just 2 or 3 footswitches to kick things on and off. From the Stomp manual it says on page 48; Block Bypass via MIDI 1. Press PAGE and PAGE together to open the Menu. 2. Press Knob 1 (Bypass Assign). 3. Turn the Upper Knob to select the block whose bypass you want to assign to incoming MIDI. 4. Press PAGE and then Knob 3 (Learn). Send a MIDI CC message from your foot controller, keyboard, etc. The CC number appears above Knob 1 (MIDI In). Incoming CC values 0-63 turn the block off; values 64-127 turn the block on. Note that some MIDI CCs are reserved for global functions and cannot be selected (see "MIDI CC"). NOTE: To manually select a MIDI CC, instead of step 4 above, press PAGE and turn Knob 1 (MIDI In) to select the desired MIDI CC number. Am I right in thinking that you could use something like the midi mongoose to switch blocks on and off? As I understnd the blurb from the manual it looks like it should be possible (unless I've misunderstood it, as I said I know nothing about midi!) Ideally I'd also want the LED to indicate on and off but from what you're saying it wouldn't work like that. Any thoughts?

No, it's not just you, I'm the same. Although I use online resources I still like having a book to refer to but I've found that many of the ones I've bought over the years have explained relatively simple ideas in needlessly difficult ways so that if and wen the penny drops I end up thinking "is that it"? Modes are a prefect example, I'd spent ages trying to get my head around them and once it clicked I couldn't understand how anyone could have made such a simple concept into such a complex subject. The book that made the penny drop on modes and a few other things was actually Bass guitar from Dummies, someone bought it for me as a novelty Christmas present years ago (I'd already been playing for 20 or more years by that point) and it's perfect for my style of learning. It's just simple, straight forward paragraphs that make no effort to blind you with science, there's music and tab plus a CD to play along to too. You have to ignore the Americanisms in it and the bland humour but otherwise I highly recommend it. It's the theory book for people who don't like theory books. I've got about 3/4 of the way through it but still reference some of the earlier stuff from time to time.

It's not something I've tried or needed to do as I don't find that the controls are in the way for the way I play. But I can't see any reason why it couldn't be done if you wanted to move them, although you'd probably be restricted as to where the routes are under the scratch plate unless you're thinking of doing some additional routing. Obviously you'd only be able to move the 2 on the scratch plate itself as the third control is on the metal strat style input thingy. Out of interest, why are you thinking of moving the controls?

I've had my Talman for 2 or 3 years now so I'm well and truly over the honeymoon period you get with a new toy. But for me the Talman is still very much my go to bass. As you said, they're great, and not just for the money. I've gigged mine dozens of times and it has always been comfortable, easy to play and sounded good*. It's a little overweight for a short scale but not to the point that it's a problem. *I bought it off a mate who'd changed the original pickups so I can't comment on what the stock pickups sound like. For the past couple of years I had a set of PJ pickups fitted from, I think, a non DE Scorpio Peavey Zodiac. These sounded very good, but I recently picked up a PJ set of Entwistle neodymium pickups from a guy on the forum and now it's a beast, what a huge, clear and punchy tone! I've only played it in the house, but I'm itching to try it with a band once we're able to. These really are superb little basses and a couple of inexpensive upgrades can make them compete with instruments that cost several times the price.

This is mine, (apologies for the crap camera phone pic), with replacement chrome knobs... Plus a replacement £10 eBay high mass bridge and a set of Entwistle neodymium PJ pickups. The end result, one of the most comfortable, biggest sounding basses I've ever played in more than 35 years of playing bass.

@Frank Blank, do you still have your Helix Stomp? I think I'm right in saying that you can use that as an interface, although it's not something that I've done myself.

You didn't used to be able to, but I think (don't quote me on this just yet, I need to double check on my Moby) on the newest version of the Tone Print app there's a pencil icon in each Tone Print, and if you click on that you can then see the behind the scenes parameters and edit them to create your own patch, which you can save and beam to the pedal through your pickups. Having said that, I found it a really difficult to dial in the settings on a phone screen, especially when trying to add the parameters of the sweep of the control knobs as the knob position (ooh err) icons are tiny. But it can be done with a bit of patience.

The tone prints are a load of pre-set settings that you can't easily edit unless you go out of your way, you can edit them either via the phone app or by hooking up to a PC. But most of the tone prints are a great starting point and can give you a taste of the variety of compression types you can get from the pedal. But if you're in the editing software, that's a whole new world of pain if you don't know what you're doing 😀. Saying that I used the editing software to craft my own multiband patch for my HyperGravity as there's no off the shelf pedal that delivers what I want it to do.

I don't really listen to funk but I can appreciate most of the bass playing and players that do it. But what I really don't like is the pulled octave sound, it's an awful, abrasive sound to my ears and when there's load of them in quick succession it sounds like a tumble dryer full of cutlery. Combined with the excessive use of ghost notes, the guys who play that machine gun slap style leave me cold and I can't listen to it for more than a few seconds before moving on. But as has been said, used in moderation and done tastefully it can sound great. And is it just me who thinks it all sounds the same when you're watching a YoutTube clip of a new piece of gear that you're interested in? The guy or girl slapping the bass to death makes it sound like every other slapper, it may well just be me but I can't hear any differences or nuances when gear is demo'd like that.

Can one also assume that self deception (with an optional side salad of ego) also works the other way too? I.e. "I spent a considerable amount of money on this bass ergo it's conclusively better than anything of lesser value". Apologies if this is not what you're saying but having read your last 2 posts it does very much seem to be the implication. At the risk of making this post all about me and deliberately evading the OP's question, in my own personal experience I have played and owned dozens of basses over the years at many different price points, there have been good and bad (for my personal tastes) examples of each regardless of cost. For example, one that stands out as being laughable in its build quality was a Fender USA custom shop jazz bass. It was up for just shy of £3000 but the pricing was clearly out by 2, arguably 3, decimal places. There was a gap in the neck pocket of 2-3mm, the transfer on the head stock was wonky, and from the right angle under the bright lights in the shop you could see where the paint work on the body was streaky. Needless to say I didn't even pick it up let alone plug it in. In contrast to this, my current favourite bass that I own cost £150. New. Admittedly it's had a few hardware upgrades, New bridge, machine heads and pickups, but that's still no more than another £80 or so on top. But the neck is perfect for my tastes, it just feels right. The bass resonates as well as one costing many times more. It plays brilliantly and sounds fantastic. And it has none of the quality issues that the custom shop jazz had despite being built to a budget of some 5% of the former. The only gripe is that it's a touch heavy, not prohibitively so but if it was around a kilo lighter it would help. Admittedly, I've only been playing for around 35 years so I'm still at that stage where I can comfortably delude myself that this is the right bass for me, that this bass is somehow the best. What is also unhelpful is nebulous terms like "the best" which usually seem to go unqualified for some reason, what metrics are being used to measure bestness? Ultimately, in my own personal experience - which may well be the absolute antithesis of yours - the "best" bass is the one that's right for you, the one that puts a grin on your face every time you play it. It doesn't matter whether it costs £50 or 5000, in my experience price has only ever been indicative of cost, a higher price not always giving the guarantee of improved quality. And while we're talking about me and my ego the size of a planet, Basschat is almost exclusively a friendly, helpful, relaxed and fun place to hang out. With a couple of your first posts suggesting that some of the members may be delusional and egotistical may not necessarily be "the best" way of being welcomed by other members.

Cheers, Stub, I'll see if I can find some suitably sized neodymium magnets.

By this, do you mean use the neodymium magnets as an extension of the pole pieces? I.e. with the originals pushed further into (or out of the bottom of) the pickup, with the neos pushed up against them and acting as new pole pieces? Or push them down and place a neodymium magnet over the top of the (now flat) pickup? Or something else? The reason I'm asking is that I've just received an Entwistle PJ set and they're so good that I'm looking to turbo charge one of my other basses.

That colour looks more Asda than Woolworths to me.

I just couldn't get a sound out of the BDDI that I liked. I've heard others use it and it sounded great but no matter what I did with it I couldn't get the sound that I wanted. Ditto the Dark Glass B7K, it sounds great when I hear others using it but I can't get a sound out of it that I like or works for me. That's not to say it's bad, just not for me.

It goes up to 12.

Cheers, Davie, it's been an absolute pleasure.

I contacted Davie in response to a wanted ad for a short scale neck, which he didn't buy but in the course of our ramblings I ended up buying a set of pickups from him 😀 As has been said above he's a great guy to deal with, friendly and funny, and he was honest and humble enough to refund me some money when I inadvertently overpaid. He did that of his own accord, highlighting that I'd paid too much. That makes him an absolute gentlemen in my book. Cheers, Davie, you're a Basschat legend.

Me too. And the VT Bass. I desperately wanted to like both but couldn't get on with either. But the dUg Pinnick pedal was awesome.

I was doing something similar where I was running the same signal to FOH and my IEM's, a dual mono output as I don't use any stereo effects. There was a subtle additional EQ curve added at the desk but otherwise the signals were effectively the same and this worked really well for me. I think there might be a way to route the signal how you want, however have a read through the Stomp manual first to be sure, you can download it from the Line 6 website and it's very clearly written. If I understand what you're trying to do correctly, you might be able to build a single signal path and then split the signal into 2 (one for each output) at the end, and maybe put an additional EQ block on one of them.

I've got one of the older (2015 I think?) black ones with what looks like a rosewood fretboard, it's been modded a little; new bridge, pickups, pots, jack, some metal silver knobs, stick on mother of pearl block markers and some lighter weight machine heads. But that was probably less than £50 worth of upgrades. And as everyone is saying, these are ridiculously great basses. The neck is sublime, more on the chunky side than some other shorties but far from cumbersome. It's one of my favourite neck profiles and in more than 30 years of playing it's one of my favourite basses that I've ever played. Mine is also what I'd call medium weight, heavier than my Mustang but not so heavy that it's a problem. I've gigged it many times and not had any shoulder or back ache from it.

Exactly, I probably only only use 5% of what my Stomp is capable of, including amp and cab modelling as well as EQ's mimicking speaker profiles. There's a ton of stuff in there that I don't use but it's good to know it's there should I ever want it.