STU-SBL

[quote name='geoffbassist' post='118571' date='Jan 11 2008, 02:51 PM']fantastic strings, great service. Ive used them for years........[/quote] You would say that Geoff... but then again so would I

Perhaps he'll lend it to you? Go on!

And I originally sold him the aforementioned TRB 6II at the start of 06. Great guy to deal with and really into his basses Stu

Hi Al. I asked my brother (who builds basses for a living) and the best option would be to clean as much of the hole as possible and fill it. As for filling, the usual option is to fill with matchsticks and glue. This is usually the DIY route as materials are readily available. I'd/ we would recommend filling the hole with a hardwood dowel and make it fit the hole you have. If you have access to a reasonably reliable (as in 'true') pillar drill use that and a sheet of sand paper to reduce the dowel to the right size (slightly tapering if needs be to give a 'plugged' effect). This can then be glued into place using super glue or wood PVA like tite bond. Once it's gone off you can roughly trim the excess and sand flat. It's worth doing well... take you time Stu

I appreciate you comments and advice guys... I was out until 4.30am this morning..... pretty Sh*tty gig to be honest. Horrible room with a pretty unresponsive audience, but by by the last set I'd taken one on my Shure's out and started to play with my sound a little. I think that because the few songs I slap in are in the first set, by the time I get to the last few songs I've just about worked any kinks out....... perhaps move the set around.. hmmm Also the lack of any real sound check didn't help last night.... we blew a tire on the way to the gig in the middle of Scotland raining hard to. Oh well happy new year! Stu

Looks great! I imagine it looks even better in the 'wood' as candy/ met finishes are notoriously difficult to photograph (and I've been trying for some time now ) New hardware would be the icing on the cake. Right... off to plan my new build Stu

Slap sound wise I'm partial to that of Mr Miller... although I appreciate a lot of that is in his hands The EA iamp 800 will put 800 into 4ohms and 1000 into 2... so it depends on what the cabs are! Stu

Thanks for that Steve. I did consider the all EA route, but after A/B-ing the available combinations I preferred my 310 (I owned the Epi before I got the EA, having previously owned an SWR 750X). I may however look at getting a 210 as I've spent quite a lot of time playing through them and while I never disliked them, they may require reconsideration. I'm gigging tomorrow night so I'll take the time in sound check to see what I can do. I'm going to add a compressor into the equation to see if I can tame my slap sound. I really like my overall sound when one-on-one with my gear (something I've spent a number of years working on) - it may just be the gig situation that's colouring my ears. Stu

[quote name='The Funk' post='109760' date='Dec 27 2007, 04:40 AM']I chatted with Nick Fyffe ex-Jamiroquai once and he said that he left on in-ear in and one in-ear out. Maybe that could help?[/quote] Funny you should mention that - I've been doing the same thing over the last couple of gigs. I think I'll look at adding something in the form of a pedal so I have the option to 'stomp' a sound I like. Thanks guys Stu

[quote name='jammie17' post='109630' date='Dec 26 2007, 08:23 PM']Some bassists can make their guitar sing. But you HAVE to have fresh strings!! How do you think you cut through the mix? EQ the heck out of a dead set of strings?[/quote] Thanks for the the reply. Again I'd like to point out I'm not having trouble with the in's and out's of obtaining the sound, or infact how to play slap. I think my choice of title was a mistake I've been playing long enough now to know when to change my strings and have enough experience to know how to get my bass to sing I suppose I'm coming from the point of view of a regularly gigging bass player. I get paid to perform and my sound is part of that performance. As I don't have a non paying gig if I sound bad my playing can and has been compromised ( as per your last comment I agree) It seems to me that there seem to be a lot of questions about technique, how to get a sound or a style down - but always within the context of the practice session or bedroom. I'm sure there may be players out there who identify with my situation. My frustration is probably aided by my guitarists egotistically driven tone trip (masses of pedals, too many guitars etc). I usually have my amp and a bass.... I'm probably answering my own question - perhaps I need to buy a few pedals - then sell them on here when it doesn't work out lol

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='109568' date='Dec 26 2007, 05:31 PM']what do you mean by a "lack of feel"?[/quote] What I mean by that is the feed I get from the desk is balanced but very sterile to my ears. I know that the sound in the crowd is acceptable (as I've had my brother crit my last gig) but a large part of playing slap for me is the feel I get - the response of the bass and the sound that fills my ears. Thinking about it, it's really a problem of two parts. 1. I suppose I'm having more difficulty accepting that the sound I hear will be very different to that which the audience hears due to the small in ear monitors (opposed to the powered PA cabs). This I can live with if part 2 can be addressed. 2. I mention that I leave the EQ of my EA flat. I have played EA for a long time and know that the EQ has almost an infinite number of tone shaping options. I however, having always used the limited EQ on whatever bass I play and my hands to create 'my sound', I will use the amp to shape the sound to the room/ venue/ location.... or if pushed for time, bypass the EQ via the DI out and use the desk. I then find myself with a decent sound - but not for every extreme we play (I can only do so much with the bass). I can either get very good at EQing the amp 'blind' and hope that it all works. or I was hoping for some suggestions from anyone in a similar situation. As I mentioned I had a Sans Amp that seems like an option. Thicken the sound a little?

Sorry for the rather brief post this morning. As you can see from my signature I use a 5 string Overwater J5, an Epi 310 and an EA iamp 800. I try to keep the head as flat as possible and eq as much as I can from the bass (Audere JZ3). It's not so much the idea behind gaining a decent slap tone that I'm struggling with (that I can sort out) more cutting through the general mix. I thought others may be in a similar situation. When playing live I don't have a lot of time to EQ between songs and by the time I've ended one song I've got very little chance to hear what I sound like before I'm slapping my heart out I did have a programmable Sans Amp Bass Driver Di which I thought was great, but at the time had no real use for. This is the kind of thing I'm thinking of.... the ability to pre-set. Stu

I'm currently playing in a long established covers bands... you know the kind of thing I'm talking about, Soul, Rock, Funk, Pop. I'm pretty happy with the overall sound levels and I monitor in-ear. We have a very large PA consisting on 3 cabs per side (stacked small to very large) and I'm struggling to dial in a slap sound that I'm happy with. The problem I face is the sound I hear lacks any feel, which means EQ-ing from my bass is nearly impossible. My usual slap EQ doesn't cut it live. Anyone out there use any pedals or similar to help? I've used a small amount of compression in the form of a pedal - any other suggestions? I own a bass pod (first version) and I'm willing to try others. Cheers Stu

Orange basses rule! It's looking great - and although I'm not the biggest fan of Warwick basses I do appreciate wenge necks and the build quality. Stu