bnt

I modified my Hohner B2V for dual outputs, years ago: I wired up each pickup (EMG 35P and -J) to an output, with only a volume control. The second output was a switching socket, so if it wasn't used, the second signal went straight to the first output. (Mixing two EMG pickup signals is achieved by simply ganging them together, they are already buffered to allow that without problems.) However, the main reason for the change was for studio use: record both pickups, separately and as cleanly as possible, and mix them down later, adding effects if required. These days it still makes sense, computer recording tracks are 2-a-penny, and even if you mix them to mono later, you can still e.g. compress each pickup separately and control the balance.

There might not have been that many weird basses in the 90s, but when they were weird... boy, were they weird. Anyone remember this [url="http://www.ctbasses.com/"]Carl Thompson[/url] monstrosity?

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='186958' date='Apr 28 2008, 06:52 AM']well i dont know much about stingrays and sterlings and the like but that site has told me nothing.[/quote] So far, Sterling Ball's [url="http://www.music-man.com/bsj"]blog[/url] is fun, with a few interesting stories about his dad, Ernie. I didn't know that the company really got going with Slinky strings, which were basically re-packaged Fender strings, while Ernie was also teaching. He did so much sheet music piracy that he endorsed Xerox copiers.

[quote name='NJE' post='187469' date='Apr 28 2008, 06:57 PM']Who wants a STERLING 5?[/quote] I want a BONGO 6, against my better judgement, but I think the price will quell the GAS for the foreseeable future. I see that Sterling Ball is now [url="http://www.music-man.com/bsj"]blogging[/url], and so far it seems to be a bit of a biography, about him and his Dad Ernie.

[quote name='budget bassist' post='187439' date='Apr 28 2008, 06:17 PM']That's really nice, the gold hardware looks really nice makes me think about putting gold hardware on my tobias (also bubinga), it's currently black and looks a little tacky.[/quote] It came with the gold bridge and tuners, but the knobs were black, the kind of cheapo Maplin collet knobs I detest. From the brochure I see that those are on all the basses, which is a strange omission, I thought. I think the 5- and 6-string versions of this look even better, and I may do that some day, but I did want a 4-string...

Since I finally got some decent gold knobs for the Tune TWB43-BB I bought last year, I thought it was time to take some "adult" pictures of it. I took it down to my photographic studio*, dug out my old Pentax and tripod, and snapped away. The good shots are in [url="http://picasaweb.google.com/stereoroid/TunePorn"]the gallery[/url] at full size, but here are a few choice selections: Those knobs were $25 for 5 from the USA via eBay, solid brass. Strings are Elite Stadium 40-100 (nickel), not new, so a bit dull. If I ever make it big, I'll be on to the [url="http://www.cc.rim.or.jp/~tune/"]Bass Maniacs[/url] in Japan, but until then, I'll make do with the [url="http://www.tuneguitars.com/"]Korean Tune[/url]. * a blanket on my living room floor

[quote name='BigRedX' post='187064' date='Apr 28 2008, 11:12 AM']As CK says too many concepts copied directly from the guitar without seemingly thinking if they'll work on a bass.[/quote] The thing is... the bass came first, a 5-string made for Steve Swallow, the one on his 1991 solo album cover: The guitar was scaled down from that and simplified, and was so successful that Parker didn't follow up on the basses until much later, and (if the Wikipedia article is accurate) because it was in their contract with Korg. Steve, with this bass, was the one who clued me in to the benefits of High C on the 5-string.

[quote name='peteb' post='186045' date='Apr 26 2008, 05:45 PM']To anyone who isn’t a massive soul fan, Jamerson was just a decent session player who played on a string of hits![/quote] Not as many hits as Carol Kaye, however... Nah - while Jaco does very little for me, I'm of the "if you can't say anything nice about someone, don't say anything" school of thought.

[quote name='Clive Thorne' post='184029' date='Apr 23 2008, 07:14 PM']My understanding was that you'd normally put a much shallower shim in, but only at one end of the pocket, thereby altering the angle of the neck rather than moving the whole thing forward.[/quote] That's what I've done with the Tune, using Gaffa tape layers to build up a wedge. It's about 1mm at the thickest, but has a dramatic effect on the neck angle. For a permanent fix. however, I'd prefer a 5mm block, or (even better) to recess the bridge.

You could try [url="http://www.thomann.de/ie/"]Thomann[/url], they have various 6-ers on sale. They have a Harley Benton for €169, or Peavey Grind for €398.

It's these guys: [url="http://www.plastictoys.co.uk/"]Plastic Toys[/url] from Southampton.

Here's a guy who likes Aluminum - sorry, Alumin[b]i[/b]um: He has a (Flash-heavy) website [url="http://skylabdigital.com/"]here[/url], and more YouTube videos [url="http://ie.youtube.com/user/x9spaceman"]here[/url]. He has 1-string and 6-string basses too, and something called the Vytrobulus...

Tuning by ear at a gig? That must mean the crowd is nice and quiet... If you tune by harmonics, you're not quite following the equal-temperament scale any more. Which is OK for a 4-string or fretless in a non-critical situation, but the deviation could be a problem if it's an ERB, and/or you have keyboards overlapping the bass range.

My old [url="http://www.korg.com/gear/info.asp?A_PROD_NO=AX1B&category_id=6"]Korg AX1B[/url] has a decent basic tuner function built in, activated along with a mute mode by holding the pedal down for a second. It indicates sharp notes like G# with a tiny unreadable dot, so I might not tell from the tuner alone if I was a whole semitone sharp - so but it's fine if you tune from below a note. (I didn't use it for several years, but pulled it out again after I got the Tune, and it sounds better than I remembered.)

If you view that seller's other items, there's more Cheapness than a man can stomach. Anyone for an acoustic bass with soundhole pickup? On the other hand, that thru-neck bass also comes in [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-STRING-THRU-NECK-BASS-SOLID-MAHOGANY-WILKINSON-PU-S_W0QQitemZ160230498212QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4713QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]6-string[/url] for £20 more.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='177157' date='Apr 15 2008, 04:38 PM']There was a comedian I heard once who was taking the piss out of duran duran because their basslines were all the same. Was it Richard Vranch? He was funnier than Guy Pratt anyway.[/quote] I'm pretty sure it was Guy, he did that when I saw him live. It was a bit harsh, I thought - it could be classified as part of JT's style, and I easily point to songs like [i]New Religion[/i] or [i]Ordinary World[/i] as counter-examples.

Since I mentioned Tina Weymouth in the "Babes" thread, I've been trying various Talking Heads bits, including [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MA3ZE3mb7DU"]And She Was[/url] and [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4NXkM8PsPXs"]Wild Wild Life[/url], but try [i]Heaven[/i] for starters: Dig those 80s threads! Also, since I last looked at XTC's [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo"]Mayor of Simpleton[/url], someone's posted a video of the bassline, which looks spot-on to me: [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vVcFsdPD8kw"]here[/url].

[quote name='phatmonkey' post='175838' date='Apr 13 2008, 08:23 PM']Good idea, i'll stop people uploading BMPs.[/quote] If you do that, I also recommend blocking TIFF (or TIF), the uncompressed format used by Macs.

[quote name='tauzero' post='173768' date='Apr 10 2008, 11:04 AM']It still takes time to download. And one point is that if you take the photo, load it into something like Irfanview and then save it again, at exactly the same resolution, it will be considerably smaller.[/quote] Is that because it's a BMP or other uncompressed format, instead of a JPEG? Or do you mean a JPEG quality thing? Not many people know about the second factor, so I should say something about that: You can usually choose the quality setting when you save a JPEG file, and save a lot of disk space (and bandwidth) that way. A typical value is 85%, which is OK, but 95% is usually unnecessarily big. I've taken JPEGs down to 60% and struggle to see any difference, at 1/4 the size.

I thought at first this would be about the picking hand - my pinkie is too short for that. On the fretting hand, always. I've had to work at using the [i]ring[/i] finger properly, and still lapse in to index-middle-pinkie on the lower frets if I'm careless.

The way I understand it, "hot" is not so much about raw level, but the signal/noise ratio. The original idea behind onboard active circuitry was to boost the signal close to the source, with a short run of wire between pickup and amp, because long cable runs can mean loss of signal while picking up more noise. EMG took that idea to the extreme, putting the preamp inside the pickup casing. Amp boost stages also introduce noise, so a higher low-impedance signal helps minimize noise in that way too.

And here's Victor unhinging a few jaws...

[quote name='Rich' post='169738' date='Apr 4 2008, 12:40 PM']I simply fail to understand why so many people seem to be quite so anti-ERB (or for that matter, anti-4string). At the end of the day, surely we all play music because we love doing so, not because we think it's clever? Can't we all just get along?[/quote] Well, are that many people anti-ERB? I see a lot of comments along the lines of "I don't see the need", or "it's not for me", which I don't construe as anti-ERB. If I tried telling people "you're wrong to want an ERB", that would be another matter, for which I would expect to receive a nastygram or three. Personally, I've been torn between the GAS for a 6-string and the realization that I probably wouldn't make effective use of it. If I ever find an EBMM Bongo 6 in Teal Green in a shop, you may need to get a mop and bucket to clean up the drool... but in the next couple of years I may need to travel light, live out of a couple of suitcases, and I have nowhere to store stuff that doesn't charge per week. That makes GAS fairly easy to resist, and GAS is my only justification for an ERB.

Let me share one of my secret artists with you - or, I should say, why-is-this-guy-a-secret? artists: [url="http://www.keneally.com/"]Mike Keneally[/url]. Here's a recent video of "Dolphins" with bassist Doug Lunn, but he's also worked with Bryan Beller extensively.

I've just heard that my old Stick arrived safely, and it was a pleasure dealing with Mego on the sale. I was more worried about DHL than anything else, no worries about the transaction. - brian t