project_c

The LMB is a limiter, not quite a compressor. It’s sole purpose is to make sure your signal doesn’t go above the volume you want, you only really need it if you’re clipping from getting huge jumps in volume when you’re digging in. It’s a utility, not really a tone shaper. A compressor evens out all your dynamics, while a limiter just stops them being too loud. Don’t bin it, sell it.

I suspect it’s just life for most people. I just bought a flat and a car in the same week, so that’s pretty much shut my bass budget down for the next 30 years or so. Both bought out of necessity - needed somewhere to live, and my current car is 16 years old and decided that last week was a good time to die. The flat was under budget surprisingly, but I spent way, way too much on the new car.

Genzler Magellan combo. Or Genz Shuttle if you can find one used. I have the smallest one, I love it and gig with it regularly. Will prob buy the Magellan combo soon though, not sure if i can resist it.

No effects for me, straight in, Fender p or j into a Genz combo, gain up, bit of treble cut, that’s all. Very occasionally I’ll use a compressor if I’m out of shape and my dynamics are all over the place, but that’s to compensate for my shîtness rather than to make nice sounds. I don’t even have a tuner pedal, I tune up when I turn up using an old Boss metronome and that’s that. Clutter bugs me and public transport stops me from being able to carry anything except my bass and my combo, so I’m as minimal as possible. Even that feels like too much to carry, if I could minimise it more I would. The horn section turns up with a tiny case, and they’re straight in, no faff. Quite jealous of that.

I play through headphones at home, I have never found an amp that sounds good at home volume. There’s nothing more uninspiring than the sound of a bass amp at minimum volume for me, plus the acoustics of your house will have a huge impact on your tone, and every house I’ve lived in for the past 10 years had terrible acoustics. My amps sound great in the garden, but I don’t always want my neighbors to hear me fudging my way through some random jazz solo I’ve just transcribed. Studio monitors are probably a better idea but also need a decent sounding room, and relatively tolerant neighbours. What works for me is a decent interface (all the ones you mention are fine) straight into Logic, no plugins, and some proper studio quality headphones. Input levels and gain are key to getting a good tone, too quiet and you’ll sound thin and crap, too loud and you’ll clip and distort. Lots of people can’t stand a dry signal or playing through headphones though, it’s a personal choice.

I bought a used Fender P in NYC about 8 years ago. I was fully prepared to declare it at customs, I stood there for 10 minutes with the case in my hand, nobody showed up. All the guards were over in the ‘nothing to declare’ area trying to catch people sneaking through and they completely ignored me so I just left. I thought I scored but the bass turned out to be a fake anyway.. Legit neck, random body. Still my favourite bass though.

I still have a 2012 imac, running Logic and Adobe CC without issues. I’ve maxed out the RAM on it, and it’s been fine. The only slowness happens when I use AfterEffects for really big projects but for audio it’s been great. I’ll get a new iMac when it dies. The new laptops: I have a brand new Macbook Pro which I got given at work, curious what people dislike about the keyboards? I hate the keyboard on that laptop but I can’t figure out what I hate about it. I know that I mistype stuff on it all the time and that trackpad along the top is incredibly annoying. The features on it are great, but as you type your fingers invariably touch it by accident and you end up deleting stuff by accident etc. So I would avoid the trackpad personally, it’s a poorly implemented addition. The computer itself seems fine though. Latest Adobe stuff is buggy as hell but that’s another story.

D’addario tapes are low tension, and they sound very nice, better choice than the Labellas I think. Also they will fit without having to mess with the nut.

In my experience the science has little to do with what feels right. I have relatively small hands but I find the wide flat neck on my 83 P the most naturally comfortable to play. I do usually end up playing a thin jazz neck though just because it’s hard to play fast stuff on the P, but I never feel ‘at home’ on a J neck as much as on the P. I don’t actually think there’s much science behind it, it’s just about feel. Gut feeling will probably be your best guide, just go back and play them a few times if you’re unsure.

Agree with all the above, you won’t find a pickup with bigger lows than the quarter pounders. Very crunchy highs too. String wise I’m going to say Blue Steels, but HiBeams will sound better in the long run.

How about this very simple solution: 1. ban everything that isn’t electric: lorries, cars, cabs and public transport etc 2. introduce rent control 3. ban empty foreign owned ‘investment’ homes 4. carry on cycling 5. introduce flexible work hours 5 simple steps - would fix most of London’s issues in under 5 years. Will it happen? Will it fük..

I know. We nearly left last year so we looked at other options and the lack of transport / NHS / police / infrastructure and massive amounts of poverty in the places we looked at was crazy. I got lucky and got offered a job which allowed me to stay, otherwise I would have gone by now like many of my friends. London is screwed but nowhere near as screwed as many other cities.

100% this. No dislikes from me, I’d rather drag an Ampeg fridge tied to my nutsack across London than have to deal with the hell that is London traffic and pollution. London is gridlocked and it stinks. They should of course be doing much more than this, because it only punishes the people that are forced to drive due to the ridiculous cost of living which has forced them into the suburbs and beyond. Public transport in London is awful, and trains are beyond a joke. I spent 25 minutes waiting in a queue just to get to a tube door this morning. There was literally a queue of people by each tube door, 1 in 1 out. It took 5 trains till I managed to get on. So it’s a much bigger problem than something that an extra charge will fix, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

I’ve played with a drummer who did this, it’s basically a really stupid idea that only works if you don’t want any kind of bass other than the kick in your overall sound. There’s no good reason for a kick to be put through a bass amp in a live band. Dance music maybe - but even with dance music one of the first things you do to control a mix is cut the lows on the kick to make space for the bass. Same thing as when a guitarist boosts his lows or the keyboard player decides to ‘double up’ on bass. Recipe for disaster.

I agree, I always get rid of white plates too. i’d go with the cream, it will suit that burst really well.

In my case it was more like a lukewarm guff of stagnant air. Clearly the amp’s fault of course.

At least you gigged with it all. When I first started playing, I bought and sold about 4 rigs and 5 combos (some nice ones too) before I realised the problem was that my playing was shït and my room acoustics were horrible. I sounded like àrse through everything. All the gear and no idea. So much money wasted..

I teach a huge number of people who have dyslexia (graphic arts rather than music but they have to submit written theory work alongside the practical stuff). In very general terms you just need to take it a bit slower and consider that certain things which are logical and straightforward to you may not instantly make sense to someone who has dyslexia / dyspraxia.

I think a short scale Warwick Thumb would be boob / small person friendly. It has a small ergonomic body, and without the long neck there would be no neck dive issues either, which would fix that old problem too. I have no boobs but I am short, if Warwick made a short scale Thumb I would be digging into my savings. Always wanted a Thumb, never got on with the long neck though.

Never heard of her so I had a look, she’s pretty cheesy compared to the kind of kids Fender are showcasing tbh. Having a token shiny female in the corner is a very different approach. But i’d be interested in seeing the stats, if Gibson / EB’s demographic is also 50/50 then fair play.

If your Fenders aren’t audible in a mix, you’re possibly playing them wrong (or playing in a metal band, in which case it doesn’t matter what you play as long as it’s going through 72 Darkglass pedals*). The old brands - Fender, Musicman, Gibson - have a heritage which keeps them cool, and by sponsoring events full of young bands and giving out free online lessons, Fender have clearly got through to the next generation. It’s worth looking through Ernie Ball’s yt channel, it’s basically videos of men (often old men) playing metal. It’s everything that a teenage girl finds deeply uninteresting. Even I am bored to tears by it and I’m a 45 year old male. And I love Stingrays and Sabres. It’s simple, if you want a younger / female customer base, you just need to embrace that demographic. EB and Gibson could easily be doing the same thing if they were bothered. *(that’s probably not true. I don’t know anything about metal)

Not bass, but check her out, Fender is pushing this stuff out through social media and it's obviously getting through to the right people. She's cool, unpretentious, and talented. If I was a kid and I saw this, I would instantly be drawn to Fender because of this, regardless of my gender actually. They're way ahead of other brands with this stuff.

Of course you could argue that for many women or men, Fenders are likely to be all the bass they will ever need, and they will probably look a whole lot cooler playing a sexy 4 string Fender in their noisy indie band than if they stood there with a cheesy 7 string Ritter made of gold and spalted elephant bone. More importantly though, it’s worth pointing out that this may well be down to the fact that Fender are putting a lot of work into reaching out to young people, they sponsor some really good events and they offer free lessons to new players, which makes them a whole lot more inclusive and accessible than any other brand. So it’s no wonder that people who are normally put off by music snobbery and elitism are turning to them. I think it’s a good thing. If you have small hands, and you want to play in bands, the Mustang is probably the coolest bass you can own at this point.