Naetharu

[quote name='Monkey Steve' timestamp='1488801932' post='3251824'] Possibly a slightly odd/niche one. In my last band (and a few prior to that) guitars were de-tuned by a couple of frets - E became D, A became G, low B became A, etc. We stuck to identifying notes/chords by their place on the fretboard, so what we called an "E" was in fact a "D", but we all knew what we were playing. My latest lot de-tune four frets, so E becomes a C, which is the lowest note that the guitarists play. Rather than doing that I tune my 5 string up one fret, so the low B becomes a C, the E is now an F, etc. Much nicer to play than having the strings flap around and means i don't need to change for a much heavier gauge (the guitars are basically strung with the bottom six strings of a seven string set). Works fine, but there is an odd element of confusion because what they refer to a, say, an "E" is a low "B" on my bass (and is actually a C). It never occurred to me that this might be an issue, and most of the time it's fine, but i get those odd moments where i can see the guitarist playing something or he tells me a note/chord and my brain has real trouble transposing that a string down. My cunning plan seems to be causing me a few, admittedly very minor, issues. Just me, or anybody else had to struggle through this? [/quote] We also play in a mixture of D standard and drop C (low C with D-standard on the other strings). To be honest we've just learnt to name the notes correctly. It takes a bit of getting used to but in the end it's the quickest way to communicate accurately and clearly.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1488560012' post='3250078'] The Bongo headstock needs to be taken in the context of the body design. Still doesn't make it pretty though, but it makes more sense. [/quote] Isn't that the bass with a body that looks like a slightly melted toilet seat from one of those fancy Japanese hotels? I guess having a bass body that looks like a crapper distracts from the headstock (and thanks Deep Thought, I too am now seeing Pepper Pig!). Still perhaps the most ugly bass to have ever been in mass production.

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1488550701' post='3249934'] Did anyone ever buy an Axe from the Kerrang adverts? I think a lot of it came down to poor setups and lack of experience because all the rubbish gear I played then that I have since played as an adult seems MUCH better. Unless it was just the good ones that survived? [/quote] My foster brother had one of the strat guitars that they made. I don't think it was called AXE but it was one of the cheap brands from the late 80's that he ordered via a magazine. From what I recall the body and neck were not too bad really but the machine heads and bridge were terrible. It just refused to stay in tune, which is a pretty critical feature of an instrument. Even more for one that is aimed at metal players who're going to be digging into the strings and chugging away on the power chords!

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1486295857' post='3230605'] done, but we have the power to stop them, just don't use them, as with inflated ticket prices, supply and demand is what it's all about [/quote] That'll never work. They have you by the balls so to speak. If you want to see a given band and the only way to do it via these expensive tickets then what choice to do you have. Of course, you could sit at home, refuse to go and miss the band. But someone else is going to pay for that ticket, your protest is going to achieve nothing, and you're going to miss the band. Much better to actually do something active about it like this petition.

Wow, that is very nice. And what a great finish. Looks like the sand-blasted stuff that Fender did a couple of years back!

For me it was a supporting band at the Brixton Academy. It was around 2000/2001 and I was there to see Placebo. People were sitting around on the floor and generally milling about as you do before a gig. I seem to recall they were playing The Beatles over the PA. And then these three chaps came wondering on stage. They fiddle around for a bit and then started to 'check' the equipment. Honestly, I thought it was a sound check for perhaps the first 30 seconds of their first song. The guitar player was making odd and somewhat out of time ambient noises through more effects pedals than I can possibly account for. The bass player was burping away on root notes seemingly in a different key to the guitar player. The drums were ok I guess. And then a funny man in dungerees started bounding around and rapping in cocky rhyming slang. To this day I have no idea who the band were, and never before or since have I come across something quite so odd. I also had a girlfriend a few years ago that made me sit through the entire Peter Andre album that came out around 2009. That is pretty bad too I guess. Not that I can name a song, but living through 60 mins of such horrifically bland material was painful.

Honestly, if it were me I'd just keep them unless you need to sell. I guess if you have one you never play then perhaps get rid but it's always a shame to loose an instrument you like. I sold my Japanese Jazz-Master in Sea Foam Green a while back, and while it was a sensible move (it paid for my bass rig, which I actually use, where as I am a crappy guitarist and didn't do justice to the thing) I'll forever feel a little sad that it has gone.

I can see why you would reason that but I am not sure it is true. Price does not always equate to an improved sound. In the case of the Zoom MS60B I find some of the patches on there to be very high quality. Others less so. Price can equate to quality construction - my dislike of Behringer is more to do with the poor construction of their pedals than the sound as such. And when it comes to analogue equipment it can of course come into play with the quality of components (though whether expensive components really sound better is a matter for discussion). However, when you're talking about Zoom stuff, you're comparing the price that a massive company can afford to construct and sell digital units to the price of small boutique companies putting out hand-wired goods in low numbers. A large part of the price difference is merely economy of scale. I'd certainly never write off a Zoom or other inexpensive unit just because of the price.

[quote name='crompers' timestamp='1488285656' post='3247501'] Been my obsession for a coupla years mate, seen em twice own all the vinyls etc. Spoke to Nick at the lastest gig in Manchester, really lovely fella and they absolutely killed it. The bass tone on Dead Roots Stirring is my perfect sound, grotty, growly, punchy. Thanks for this I will check out Mark Smith. By intervals do you mean tones and semi tones? Rocksmith seems like a good way to get you moving around the fretboard and grooving I think. Although a lot of the stuff I would want to play on there is far too difficult at the moment! (Slayer, Pantera, Mastodon etc) [/quote] Aye, by intervals I mean the pitch-differences between notes of the scale. So for the major scale, it goes tone, tone, semi-tone, tone, tone, tone, semi-tone. No matter where you start, if you play notes up in that order you'll produce a major scale. Later on you'll start looking at minor scales and modes, which really are just the same pattern, but starting from a different place. Try playing the major scale in all the different ways you can all the way up and down the strings. All one one string, two notes on each, etc. That will serve you a lot better than learning a 'scale position'. Oh and in terms of Mastodon, two songs worth checking out that are not too difficult. The first is Oblivion which is actually quite easy(ish) on bass. The most difficult part is the bridge which can be a bit of a finger-twister but if you play it slow to start with and gradually build up speed you'll get there fine. The verse is very simple, just chugging on the low string with a single extra note on the 4 and 6 beat. And the intro is actually very easy to play and sounds awesome as it uses open strings to provide the drone. The Motherload is also a really nice song to learn, and looks a lot more difficult than it is. The basic song runs up and down the minor scale too which is a great workout for learning that. If you want a hand getting started on either pop me a PM sometime and I'm up for showing you them via Skype.

[quote name='prowla' timestamp='1487803055' post='3243167'] I thought fanned frets were really cool the first time I noticed them. But they're just a fad. [/quote] Depends on what you're doing with the bass I think. If you're playing Djent music, with very low drop A tuning then having the long scale length on the thick string makes a world of difference. Likewise having a shorter scale length on the thinner strings stops them from being painfully taught on that same bass. Were I playing this kind of music I'd certainly be looking to a Dingwall or other fanned bass.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1485861522' post='3227212'] Arent we talking passive basses.Not passive amps.It's a given that the amp has an EQ and an active circuit. But the bass itself is still passive. Good point though. [/quote] Actually quite a few amps that have passive EQs. Especially in the tube-amp range. My poor little MiBass is also a simple passive EQ. For me, the active EQ on the bass is just the same as I would use on an amp. I leave it flat unless something sounds nasty in a given room/hall in which case I tend to roll of a bit of the bass or add a little treble etc.

[quote name='crompers' timestamp='1488211501' post='3246827'] Haha, I'm using Rocksmith as my 'Fun time Rocking out after a few beers' stuff. Other than that at the moment I'm learning C major scale, trying to get this shape absolutely down before I move on, thinking of buying the Scotts Bass Lessons membership. [/quote] Rocksmith is a fantastic tool to have, regardless of your skill level. Aside from anything else it means that you're playing along with music right away which is perhaps the most important thing. It also has a great variety of music on there, especially if you import the tracks from the original version (I assume you're using 2014, which is the practice tool, rather than the classic version from 2012 which was more Guitar Hero with real guitars). I'd never recommend someone learns ONLY from Rocksmith, but I would certainly suggest it be something everyone has as part of their practice routine. It's just so easy and fun to get playing good music, and it will make you try things from styles that you might otherwise ignore. I'd also point you in the direction of Mark Smith and his Talking Bass channel. He's a fantastic player, great tutor and has some top notch lessons on there. I took some 1-2-1 lessons with him too, and he was really good. Worth every penny. Finally, I would say that when it comes to scales, starting with the major is the right way to go. Basically all scales are just modifications of the major scale. However, I would advise that you think about it in terms of intervals rather than fret-board patterns. This was a tip Mark gave me when I was just starting out and it opened up the fret board for me over night. It'll also pay massive dividends when you come to thinking about different keys, scales and chord tones.

As I understand it: [list] [*]Affitnity are standard range - these are the Squire versions of the current Fender line-up [/list][list] [*]Vintage Modified are classic designs with some more modern features. Here you'll find modern version of bridges, pick-ups etc. I have a Squire guitar from this range, which is a Strat but with a hard-tail bridge and hot-rails humbuckers rather than single coils. [/list][list] [*]Classic Vibe are their reissue instruments. Here you'll get stuff like the 70's Jazz with the oversized headstock and block inlays. [/list] I don't think there is any quality difference between them; they're not tierd like Mexical/US-Special/Standard are. They're just three different loose groups of instruments to cover a range of styles. I think they do make very low end budget stuff that goes under the Bullet banner. This tends to be very cut down (for example, the gutiars often have cheap bridges without the strings going through the wood and no tone controls) and for the most part these come in packages along with tiny started amps, straps and so forth. Are they £400 instruments? Not really. I'd say they are decent and if you pick one up 2nd hand for under £200 you'll likely be very pleased. But £400 for what amounts to a middle-eastern made factory bass with generic passive electronics and a few rough edges stikes me as expensive. Especially when you could get a 2nd-hand Mexican for the same price and that would keep its value.

I'd chip in that I ended up going for a half-way measure with a Maruszczyk Elwood. Not a custom bass as such, since it was based on an existing model they did, but they did let me choose anything and everything I wanted for it including number of frets, neck profile, scale length, body woods, electronics and pickups (type and position), hardware make, style and colour etc. I think the point that people have already made, insofar as it works if you really know what you want is perhaps important here. For me, I wanted a Jazz bass look, but with an MM humbucker in the bridge, 24 frets and a neck profile closer to a P-bass. I've not had a moments GAS since getting the bass around 18 months ago. Perhaps one day I will get another bass, but it would only be because I wanted one with a very different set-up (I have nylons on my main, which I love, but are not good for some styles of music of course). Price was not crazy either. I know Maruszczyk are known for excellent value. But when you consider that an off-the-shelf fender top end Fender would set you back the best part of £2000.00, and that is a factory mass production instrument, then even some of the less affordable custom instruments start to look very appealing. I guess some of the very famous workshops (i.e Fedora) charge a large premium, not because they are higher quality per-se but rather because they simply have the demand that means their limited instrument output can command that higher price.

[quote name='yorick' timestamp='1487952604' post='3244535'] It's a Kindle Fire, so no idea on software!!! [/quote] From what I can see it uses a special OS which, while based around Android is not quite the same. It is worth noting that you can actually install Android on it, if you wanted to go down that route. You'd lose any special Kindle features, but would gain access to the full PLAY store and the various apps on offer. There is a guide to how you can go about doing this (in a way that is reversable if you don't like the results) here: [url="http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Android-on-Kindle-Fire"]http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Android-on-Kindle-Fire[/url]

The only one I have ever come across that does this is a Japanese bass that my guitarist buddy has. It's from the 80's, looks cross between Thunderbird and a Gibson Explorer in shape and is red and red/pink sparkle finish. It has no branding on the headstock (which is pointy a bit like a Jackson). He picked it up from Gumtree a few years ago, and was told that it was a Japanese 'custom' bass. It's pretty cheap and nasty looking to be honest, so I'm guessing it comes from the era where lots of knock-offs were coming out of Japan. Really heavy and does not balance on a strap at all.

Had a similar good experience with PMT southend a while back. Really friendly and patient staff that were more than happy to let me try a bunch of instruments without any pressure. Was a real pleasure shopping there and I would certainly go back again in future. Saying that, I've generally had good experiences in most local music shops to a point. Some are disapointing due to poor stock (especially when it comes to bass) but the staff are generally decent. I did have one poor experience many years ago, when my foster-brother was looking to buy a new Gibson Les Paul. He'd saved up for months for one, and we popped into a smallish store that has long since vanished. The chap clearly assumed he was a time-waster and let him try the guitar for about two mins, before declaring he'd had enough of a go to make his mind up and snatching it back...needless to say he spent his £1500 elsewhere. But of late, pretty good experiences all around. Certainlty PMT are nice chaps. They sometimes get a bad rep because they're a bigger store. But in my experience, the Southend branch at least, are very dencet folks who know their stuff and care about their customers.

Well nothing very flashy for me; I'm still very much a learner. However I guess the ones that stand out would be: [list] [*]Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold: I don't play a lot of metal and so it was lots of different techniques, quite fast right hand work with reguliar notes that needed to be clean and clear and then an interesting shift in rhythm with some modest left hand movement for the bridge and chorus. [*]Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder: getting my hands around the run took ages. Much like the folks talking about Hysteria by Muse (A song I have not yet tried properly) I probably took eight to ten weeks to learn this one, starting really slow and gradually increasing speed. I'm still not to a point where I would be comfortable gigging it but it's getting there. [/list]

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1487770147' post='3242627'] If the whole band came through the PA it would make infinite sense to my mind to have in ears, but just to hear your own "awful" playing it seems a bit like overkill. [/quote] This I agree with; in my case the whole band is using some form of DI into the PA and therefore it makes sense. But if you have people going via traditional amps only then I can certainly see that it would be a less good idea.

Just a quick suggestion but you might want to check out the ESP/LTD range of basses. They make some very nice 'metal' instruments and the quality seems to be fantastic. The prices are very reasonable too. [url="https://www.thomann.de/gb/esp_ltd_f4e_ns.htm"]https://www.thomann...._ltd_f4e_ns.htm[/url] go for around the £650.00 mark new but I've seen 2nd hand ones go for well within your budget range.

I'd chip in with a counterpoint oppinion. I've tried the BH250 and the BH550 and I found both rather disapointing. Both times was via TC branded cabs, but I must admit I forget which. I honestly found the lacked bottom end and sounded quite thin to my ear. I tried one right next to a Hartke 3500 and there was no comparrison at least to my mind. Saying that, perhaps you are looking for a different sound to me

Perhaps depends on what you're going to play on it. I have a 33-inch scale 6-string cheepo bass and even that I find the B tension lower than I would like. However, that is with playing moderate to speedy riffs in mind. Too much slack to get the string back in a neutral position for the next attack etc. If on the other hand I was looking to be playing more chordal stuff, rather than many constant fast rhythms on the B, perhaps it would be less of an issue.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1487933314' post='3244242'] They are great... but they can also fail. The metal plate contact is bent to spring against the battery terminals, but over time this gets looser.One day you find yourself with intermittent trouble and if you're like me you'll check ANYTHING before that - don't be like me Different brands of batteries als have slightly different dimensions, with some feeling decidedly looser. Another thing to consider. [/quote] Ahh you have a good point (and I have a good idea you might be talking about they very same battery bay as I am ) - well at least I won't feel like I caused it like I will when I inevitably pull the soldering loose on the Ibanez one day!

Really nice! Loving the colour

[quote name='prowla' timestamp='1487944045' post='3244411'] Well, it's not the bass for me, but the OP said he wanted to do metal and doom stuff, and it would fit right in! [/quote] Totally agree it looks awesome. Just think that for a new player choosing something that balances well is probably an important point else playing is going to be much more difficult and bad habits will grow.