project_c

Joe Hubbard's walking bass book is brilliant and taught me all the basics I needed back when I first started getting into playing jazz. I can wholeheartedly recommend it, very straight forward and fun learning experience. He is a member here I think.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1502889145' post='3354192'] His wife threatened to insert it up to the bridge, if I recall. [/quote] The good thing about these basses is that if you angle yourself above it just right, and slowly squat down at a jaunty angle, you could create an optical illusion and fool your wife into thinking it's a full size bass that's already been 'inserted' halfway to the bridge. She'll thank you for saving her the trouble, and you get to keep the bass. Everyone is a winner.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1502918465' post='3354436'] At least you went for the more tasteful of the flip colours. Imagine a bass like this: [/quote] I quite like that actually, would be nice on a pbass with a maple neck. Dodgem vibes.

Focal Spirit Pro. Studio quality, lots of clear lows. Best sounding headphones I've found in that price range, should fit just within that budget.

I swapped out the P pickup on mine and left the J alone, I just put in a Quarter Pounder which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I found the tone a bit thin for the stuff I play and missed the heavy thump of the QP. Sounds good and it hasn't thrown off the balance. Curious about other options though, I still find that the j side can be a bit upper mid heavy and bright. (I play jazz with dead tapewounds so bright is not what i'm after, but I still like a tone with weight and punch).. What are you not liking about the original pickups? If it's a Pino tone i'm guessing you're also after some more weight and depth.

Why not skip the fostex and go straight to the laptop?

Pretty sure that's a fake. SN number looks fake, it all looks a bit chinese.

I've been thinking about buying one of the new Mustang basses but the lack of access to the upper frets is a big problem for me, I use that area of the neck a lot. It's really hard to get anywhere near the last 3 frets at the top of the neck. Other than that it felt great, and would have been perfect. Might still get one at some point.

[quote name='gareth' timestamp='1502049755' post='3349018'] Sorry,',,,,,,,,,,,,,,but he is a ,,,,,,,,,,,fecking knobhead [/quote] 100%. He is the planet's biggest uber-bellend.

I currently have this in mind: medium scale, all maple neck, 38mm nut, 17mm spacing at bridge, proportionally downscaled Precision body, Quarter Pounder PJ pickups, Fender hardware, amber / natural nitro paint, tapewounds. Basically a slightly smaller version of my Tony Franklin fretted P. Not sure if anyone makes anything like this, I'm sure there's been a few downscaled P bodies around.

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1501703786' post='3346803'] My first proper bass amp, wish I hadn't sold it a few years ago. I keep looking out for the very very rare Commando head just for nostalgic reasons really.... [/quote] Didn't even know those existed!

[quote name='super al' timestamp='1501693433' post='3346651'] I've just gone through this whole thread thinking "am I the only one who could just about afford a Commando 15?" Then "boom" we got one at last! The budget TE that failed me on more than one occasion and baffled the shop that tried to fix it. I eventually gave up and went for an ashdown mag combo which was lovely! [/quote] Yeah, Im surprised mine is still going to be honest, i'm pretty sure the 'deep' button is not working properly but other than that it's fine, i think it's voiced really well for crappy home acoustics. Plus it's massive so I use it as a desk extension. And my cats use it as a scratching post, I've given up trying to deal with that.

I still have a lowly Commando 15 at my home studio, every time I mention that I like it, people look at me funny. Sounds really good to me, and i'm not a fan of Trace stuff at all, in fact I hate all the rehearsal room Trace amps i've played through. But the Commando has something nice about it, very punchy mids, not the usual scoopy tone. I got it for £50.

I am actually guilty of this. Not something i make a habit of, but i've been trying to put a new band together recently and finally found people to play with - but then I was suddenly faced with the biggest workload ever. I am self-employed so if good work comes my way I have to take it, which would not normally get in the way of music, but this time the workload was immense and I had no choice but to put everything else on hold. So it's not always that people are flakey, sometimes life, priorities and mortgages get in the way. Bands are easy when you're 19 and have nothing else to do, but it can be a bit more nuanced later on in life.

I learnt everything I know about setting up my basses from Dave's p-bass videos, he's been a useful source of info for me, and i'm sure for many other people too. I have no interest or opinion on Rickenbackers but I like the guy, he's funny.

Not quite the same thing but i have an old precision with really low frets from years of use, and it feels way better to play than my other 2 precisions. Don't quite know why, perhaps the low frets get you a bit closer to the board which makes it all a bit more responsive. Not at a stage where i'm having intonation issues but they're pretty low compared to the other basses I have.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1500321573' post='3336958'] He wants to take some Ecstasy but pills disagree with him so is asking somebody to crush it for him? Or that some saxophones come in E[i][sup]b[/sup][/i] [/quote] Almost correct, he's clearly referring to a Flatliner, also known as a 'Flat', which was a particularly pokey pill back in the early 90s. He has a fair point, everyone loved those.

I think it's a pointless pursuit. Tone is relative and how it's perceived is determined by what else it's surrounded by, as well as your mood, and the state of your hearing. And then there is the boredom factor brought on by over-familiarity. It's a bit like trying to find perfect flavour. Lots of food tastes perfect, but you get bored with all of it in time. And how food tastes depends a lot on what else you're having with it. You might find the perfect cake, but if you've just spent the morning eating ice cream and sweets, it will taste like rubber because your palette is so saturated with sugar. Perhaps it's just about finding a few flavours that work well in context and not necessarily chasing one singular tone. Having said that, a Precision through an Ampeg, possibly the biggest cliche in bass, does seem to work well in almost any context for me. Still it gets boring after a while, regardless of how great it is.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1500055744' post='3335427'] That's what happens when your business plan relies on not having to pay performance royalties to your content creators. [/quote] Agreed. There's going to come a point where internet businesses realise that the people who keep them running need to be rewarded with more than just likes and followers, especially when those likes come from people that get bombarded by adverts every 10 minutes. These businesses operate on the same model as the "we can't pay you but you'll get great exposure" clan. It may work for a select few, but it's just exploitation for almost everyone else. The whole internet success thing needs a big re-think, it's all pretty sketchy at the moment.

Many sound engineers using digital consoles have a bass preset which they use for everything, it's a bit like using a plugin like Ampeg SVX that makes everything going through it sound the same. But regardless of that they should be able to at least put a decent mix together, it's amazing how many engineers can't come up with a basic useable live mix.

I started at 35 I think. I had a great teacher but ultimately i think it's down to discipline, you can have the best teacher in the world but unless you commit yourself to learning it won't matter. If you can practice every day, put up with being crap for a while, and keep learning even during times when you're tired / not in the mood / busy with other stuff, you will be absolutely fine. Bass is a tough instrument, and needs regular practice, but it's also really rewarding, and progression is tangible, you can actually notice yourself improving almost on a daily basis.

I'm pretty sure Fender do a bit of market research before they release a new thing. The high end Fender stuff is retired baby boomer territory, if you're under 45 it will leave you completely baffled both in terms of cultural reference and in terms of cost. The 'dentist' comment above is in the right ballpark, although I'd say it was closer to 'ex-dentist buying himself a retirement gift to congratulate himself for owning 17 rental properties'.