dave_bass5

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1401279341' post='2461933'] Loud amp, comfy bass, no one cares in the audience. [/quote] or on stage in my band :-(

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401201152' post='2461092'] Now I'm dabbling with dual-pickup basses, it's a bit different... I think a preamp works in a Jazz (for example) because as you have more tones at your disposal anyway, a preamp turns a Jazz into an uber-Jazz... YMMV, etc. [/quote] Yeah, there does seem to be a lot more active jazz basses off the shelf than P basses

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1401200702' post='2461072'] Thanks Dave! I see you have a GZR and a fralin too, how do they compare? My other temptation is to swap the Fralin out for a GZR. [/quote] No problem. It's just a personal thing of course. Another reason for going back to the BDDI was so I could have that awesomeness on all my basses, not just one. There were sown great tones coming out of the P-Retro, and playing in a covers band it seemed perfect. Thing is I've been playing for the past 10 years without needing that versatility, same goes for effects. I really like the GZR set. To my ears it lacks some of the low end mud that my Fralin has. It still thumps but it's a cleaner thump. There seems to be a bit of upper mid boost that I've not heard in a P before. This helps get a bit more growl with the neck pup, but it can still definitely do vintage warmth. The bridge pup is dead silent, and while not as strong tone wise as my Fender Super 55, it seems to work better when blended in than my pervious set up. In fact the tone I have now with both pups on is more or less the tone I was looking for with the P-Retro in my Squier CVP bass.

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1401199603' post='2461040'] To be honest I'm just wondering if it will make my Bob glaub any more awesome than it already is or take away from the awesome that I have. I currently run a sans amp BDDI, but that's mostly for dirt and garaunteeing a good DI sound, rather than tone shaping. It's probably gonna be a waste of money/time as I'm not a fan of activeness anyway. [/quote] Exactly what i was hoping to do. Ive been using a BDDI for a few years, always on, and hoped the P-Retro would help me replace this so i could have all the control on the bass. It didnt work like that for me, unfortunately. I too am not really an active guy, although i have had them, but these days im just back to using a BDDI and a passive bass. It can make it sound more awesome, but so can the BDDI IME. Keeping it simple.

Im pretty sure there are already threads about this on here, but for what its worth (normally not a lot) i use a cut off form one of those brillo pads with the large foam body. Its quite soft so doesn't seem to effect intonation at all, and does a good job of producing a nice thump (i play with a pick). Only downside is its not quick to get it in and sometimes if a song is called out that needs it quite often illl not bother, or ill just keep it in for as long as i feel like it. I am on the lookout for a more elegant solution myself, but not going to go as far as that overpriced Bass mute bridge..

I had a P-Retro last year. Its all everyone says it is, but for me it had one big negative (although this is a personal one). Too much control, and i found myself going from never needing to touch the two knobs on my P bass 99% of the time, to constantly fiddling with the 4 controls. I felt that the tones were pretty good, there really wasn't anything i could find fault with, but for me it was overkill and one more thing to worry about.

Nice one. Good luck with it. I've been meaning to put mine up for sale since Jan lol.

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1400835166' post='2457331'] Thanks for all the replies guys, Paul S, thats the sort of thing I was hoping for, setting up 3 of 4 'sounds' and using the foot switch to cycle through em. Bit of a bummer about the bad tuner though, my B9 is pretty good for tuning. Lozz, good point about the DI, I always like that backup option, looks like a B3 might be the way to go. *heads off to for sale section* [/quote] No issues with the tuner on either my 60B or B3. I have both and a although on paper the 60B seems to have the advantage with its 4 effect slots i found it too fiddly to use live. The B3 seems more immediate and easier to change things in a live situation. The DI has a very nice tone and for a while replaced my BDDI. In the end i just didnt need effects live so stopped using both live. My B3 is up for sale here ;-) http://basschat.co.uk/topic/237538-zoom-b3-for-sale/

How the neck dive (if there is any)? One of the very few complaints ive read by a few owners have mentioned this.

Yep, I have both Jazz and P in the Squier CV range, and for a while loved the jazz, but its not been used for about 3 years. These days I use a VM PJ and it seems to give me the best of both. Neck wise whatever bass im gigging has the CV Jazz neck on it. I really love that neck. Even though I have a lovely Lakland maple JO neck its the Squier one that gets used most.

I had one of the old Squier special P 5 string (I think that was what it was called.). It had jazz pups IIR and the widest neck I have ever had the misfortune to play. It wasn't my first 5 string but it put me off them for a few years. These VM's look much better and I wouldn't hesitate to gig with them. In fact I've only gigged Squiers for the past 3 or so years. Ive been meaning to get a 5 string again, just really need to decide on a P or Jazz. Love the look of Jazz basses, but I'm more used to the P tone. Maybe I should get one of each lol.

[quote name='apa' timestamp='1400694007' post='2456210'] But as 5 strings go its not a wide neck. The nut is 46mm compared to some that Ive seen at 50+mm. There are, of course, narrower ones but at this price?!!!!! A [/quote] Ah, you're right. I took the comment as compared to other 5 string basses but it's almost the same as my old Laklands, and less than my old MIA P 5 Bugger..GAS resumed.

Almost got a VM PV last year. In the end I got the VM PJ and it's my only gigging bass now. I had planned to get a VM PV or Jazz V this year, but after reading the comment about the wide neck I'm not going to bother now. Good review though. If I wasn't so fickle about neck widths and string spacing I'd be gassing for the above.

They do sound good, and although I wasn't sure what they would sound like in my bass, I had heard sound clips comparing them to pups I am familiar with and felt it was worth a shot. As much as I do like Geezer I wasn't looking to get his tone, but they definitely suit my playing. I know these are just passive pups but Im surprised at how cheap they are.

I really like them. The P has a bit less low end mud than my Fralin, so things sound clearer and with a bit more growl. This really came in handy at a gig recently where we were in a very large room with a large stage. I'm not sure how the Fralin would have worked, but having played some really boomy gigs recently the GZR juzt seem to have a bit more openness to it. The bridge pup is nice. It's a bit weaker than the Fender Super 55 it's replaced, but not quite as brash, so blends in better with the neck pup. It's dead silent which is good. Not sure about uk suppliers but Thomanns should have them in on 25th may. Price is around £110 IIR. It's on their website.

We've got 3 TP-Link home plug things here and they work really well. Hardly any issues with them. We got the ones with the mains plug socket on the front, so we don't loose any sockets. Ours are the lower end versions, so the PC's hooked up to them don't get the same speed as my main PC that's wired directly to the hub, but then I can't have the kids hogging all my bandwidth ;-)

I don't see that you are helping, you just sound like you have a bee in you're bonnet and need to sound off about it. The DR strings have a certain tone, look and feel. How is recommending a completely different string, and slating the DR's off to those who use them helping? I personally don't care for your opinion or attitude, ( and I expect that's mutual )but you are of course welcome to express it.

This thread isnt about what stings to use, it's about DR's. They aren't hyped crap, and many people love them.

[quote name='Leonard Smalls' timestamp='1400340480' post='2453068'] Careful now! I started by buying a Focusrite 2i2 in order to email basslines to the rest of the band. Then I started to play with the free Ableton that came with it. Then I entered a daft ditty into the Basschat composition challenge. Now I'm going to buy a keyboard and a full Ableton [/quote] Sort of what happened to me. I use my PC as my home rig for rehearsing etc, and I got a 2i2 to replace an ageing M-Audio 2496 card (after seeing how good USB audio interfaces are these days with my B3). First thing i did after getting it up and running was to buy a Midi lead and hook up my old Korg 5N. 3 days before i even plugged a bass in. Previously i hadn't played keyboards for almost 10 years. I do prefer Sonar to Ableton though, but mainly as i know my way around it.