bnt

Flow My Tears - Stuart Hamm

Starman - David Bowie

I have looked at the BTB before - but I forgot to mention that I’m also keeping an eye on weight! (Picky, I know.)

There's obvious variation between basses, and we're not going to tell pros like John Myung, Will Lee or Tony Levin that they're wrong for sticking to 34" scales on their basses. In my case, I have been thinking about multiscale in some form for literally decades, mentally chasing a "piano string" low B that has eluded me. I've owned only one 5-string, and was never happy with its low B. The fundamental B just didn't "speak" and I knew I was hearing more overtones than fundamental. I even went High C, eventually, before getting rid of it and using 4-strings for over a decade now. I'm not a professional musician, however, and can't justify the expense of a Dingwall even if I liked they way they look, which I don't. Spector's recent NS Dimension MS 5 is more my style, and I may end up geting one. (Neck-through is another selling point for me.) I do want that 36" or 37" low B, but on a budget, and none of the current lower cost mutiscales offer that. I'm not in a rush to buy anything, but that's where my head is at. There are Steinway concert grand pianos where I work, and when I go to one and hit a low B ... that's what I want!

To me it’s about the relationship between length, string gauge, and tension. If you look at the tensions on a standard set of bass strings, the higher strings always have higher tension. If you want even tensions, what do you do? make the higher strings thinner? Then they will sound thinner. That might be OK depending on your preferences. make the lower strings fatter? That’s what some do e.g. D’Addario make a few “BT” balanced tension sets, but the only only that actually comes close (according to their tension numbers) is the EXL160BT set at 50-120. I have one of those sets but haven’t left it on, since it only makes sense to me for dropped tunings. Maybe if I had a proper P-Bass with a baseball bat neck. multi-scale. It seems a more natural solution to me if you look at how e.g. a piano is constructed. A harp is also multiscale.

Has anyone here tried one of these yet? According to Nate Navarro, the company saw his demo of the Lizard Queen with a separate blend pedal, and realized they needed to make a bass-specific version with blend.

The new Sub-Atomic from DSM&H looks interesting, I'm looking for a price. It looks like it's taking their Simplifier Bass Station concept but made the channels switchable. (Correction: it does still use parallel processing, with the LPF on the parallel path as on the Simplifiers.) I'm actually using my Simplifier clone with an A/B switch in the loops to give me two channels, so this already has me interested. PS: US price will be $259 (Sweetwater).

I mentioned here that I'm trying the ToneX One on my "small board", with A/B switching between that and the "SVT-style" preamp in my Simplifier clone. I was concerned about the presence of a second cab sim in the latter, which I want to keep on, so I'm technically getting dual cab sims when the ToneX is looped in, but it seems to be a non-issue. In case it ever does, though, I have the option of turning off the cab sim in the ToneX Editor. I'm also trying the JHS Colour Box (low gain) from ToneNet as the Stomp Box option. PS: I've learned that you can switch between A/B and Stomp modes without the Editor, as follows: engage Preset Browsing mode by holding the footswitch and pressing ALT. The three knobs show the A, B and S presets, with the active preset flashing. You can switch between all 3 by pressing the footswitch. (You could select any of the 20 presets for any slot, if you know its colour, by turning the respective knob.) To get to Stomp mode, select the 3rd S preset, then exit Preset Browsing mode with footswitch + ALT. Do the same - but select A or B - to get back to A/B mode.

DSM&H have the Simplifier Bass Station that has split FX loops, and I see they've just launched a new & improved version called the Bass Master which looks like it's a bit more flexible e.g. what used to be the Parallel FX loop can now be switched between that or the Preamp channel.

Ruby Baby - Donald Fagen

(Ask) Dr. Robert - The Beatles.

Bangarang - Skrillex

Installation is through updating the ToneX CS app and making sure ToneX Editor is selected as an installation option. It's a totally separate application, which is exactly what I thought they should do, so there's no more risk of double processing.

Thanks - I didn't see that NBD thread, obvs! The idea that you can't lower the pickup far enough is concerning, even if I'm thinking about replacing it. I'll be in the London area in May and will try to get out to Guildford for half a day to check it out.

French Kissin’ - Debbie Harry