radiophonic

I ripped all my CDs to a big HDD about 5 years ago and dumped all the plastic boxes (9 bin liners full). These days I buy vinyl for lower risk purchases or where audio quality and mastering chain is a known quantity but buy D/L in preference to CD. I've had no end of stuff from bandcamp and via sites such as boomkat and bleep. Some of the D/L are 24/96 anyway and were still cheaper than the 16/44 polycarbonate disc. If I were in a position to release any material, I'd probably go for the D/L via bandcamp option and maybe press up a deluxe vinyl version in low numbers.

[quote name='FarFromTheTrees' timestamp='1493201299' post='3286387'] Thanks man. Handy to know but 180 mile round trip might be a bit much just to try one out. [/quote] It sounds a lot, but I'd definitely recommend trying before you buy. I was totally GASsing for an LX, but the demo cooled my heels a bit and made me love my Stingray a little bit more. There are no perfect basses (well - strictly speaking, our preferences aren't very stable), so it's better to be sure about what you can live with and what you can't before shelling out. What do you play now?

[quote name='FarFromTheTrees' timestamp='1493133270' post='3285930'] Thanks very much! That helps a lot actually. About the neck dive, could that not be remedied somewhat by moving the rear strap button to where they re typically placed? I could have this done professionally as a friend of mine is a luthier who actually used to work at Overwater. I dont think I could stretch to an LX. Even going for the rebop is a stretch for me if I go ahead with it :/ Thanks man. Given you think the sound of the two was similar overall, do you think extra cost of the LX was worth it? [/quote] Personally? Yes. It felt and sounded like a much better instrument. Price tag reflects this of course!

I demoed a Rebop 4 next to a Euro LX and found neck dive to be an issue with the Rebop. Not everyone is bothered by it though. The Spector necks are mostly pretty chunky front-to-back. Personally, I thought the Euro was a considerably better instrument, both in terms of sound (deeper and more solid although similar overall) and balance. I only hesitated on the Euro because of the deep neck and I still need to try an Ian Hill signature for comparison.

Phones are a really handy tool for recording practice sessions, but the SQ sucks pretty badly. Shure launched the MOTIV8 mid-side mic as one solution (I think they are intended for bootlegging live shows) and now I've stumbled across this Focusrite pre-amp. Both seem to do 24/96 recording. The Shure is obviously stereo, although the capsule must be tiny, whilst the Focusrite is a single channel pre, however you could couple a very good large diaphragm condenser to it and potentially get vastly improved audio using a very compact device. Anyone used ether of these? Reviews seem thin on the ground.

Yes, but you have to pick the right pub. Some pubs just expect and demand classic rock cannon and a band that play rock like a rock band. I have zero interest i it, but it's a market in itself and if you're in that market, you have to play those rules. It's true that in a lot of places 'Live Music' is now synonymous with 'Live Classic Rock Covers / Tribute', whereas when I was first playing in the 80s, it almost invariably meant an originals band. When did this change? Somebody suggested playing originals. It's a different thing entirely (I'm assuming you haven't already done it) and rarely plain sailing. Set length is a big issue - and what this means for playing standalone vs. mixed bills, since pubs usually assume a standalone set. 90+ minutes of unfamiliar original material is a lot to ask of a general audience, irrespective of how good you are. We're playing next weekend and the landlord knows exactly what our weird and specific Hungarian prog-folk schtick is, since we've played there before and sometimes rehearse upstairs, but he wants 90 minutes of it. Personally, I think he's nuts and we and he and the audience would be better off with a couple of 30 minute mini sets or 45 minute face melting greatness, rather than every song we've got just so he feels like he's getting VFM. If you want to do something different you probably have to think about other types of venue or event and make a different set of compromises.

Sonically, the flashback is great. I love the Tape delay setting. However, I find the switch pretty annoying tbh. The very light latch and the position of the LED means that I'm never confident I've engaged it! I've stuck it in a loop with an LS 2 as a workaround. Big clunky reliable switch, LED right at the top. I do need to switch it in and out a on the beat a lot though, so it's kinda critical.

Lines. Unlined lookscooler but I'm under no illusions about my intonation and I need the training wheels. I only started playing fretless late last year and I was actually pretty surprised that it wasn't as hard as I'd feared. I guess I've got the 34" scale more or less programmed in by now. If I had infinite spare time to practice - rather than a job and two kids - then I'd aspire to an unlined neck but in reality I'm just never going to have the time to get good enough. Anyway, Jaco and Mick Karn had lines, so I don't feel too bad about it.

[quote name='highwayman' timestamp='1492257742' post='3279033'] "the two EQ is where that killer stingray tone is at!" What settings of the 'Ray controls do you suggest for the 'killer' tone? (obviously amp, etc. come into play too). [/quote] Irrespective of what amp I've used, bass wide open and treble wound back about 20-25%. I set my amp flat as default and tweak depending on the room. It sounds exactly as expected. I've got a bit tired of the Stingray tone tbh (the brittleness in the treble specifically), but I've yet to find another bass that is as comfortable to play. I don't know if I just lucked in or if they are all this good, but the neck on mine is absolutely perfect. And the battery seems to last forever, before suddenly dying without warning. I always carry a spare and a screwdriver.

Very entertaining singer you have. Power metal meets NWOBHM to my ears. Reminds me of being 14 all over again. I work in Coventry, but domestic complications prevent random night out unfortunately. You may be unaware of it, but the M2TM event is getting mentions in the City of Culture bid.

I tried BD again a few weeks back, looking at Spectors. They do have an impressive range for a small shop, but seemed unaware of where some of their stock was (possibly upstairs, but unavailable to try out, apparently). I got enough of a feel of a Spector to know that I love the sound but dislike the neck profile, so 'GAS extinguished'. I just think that Marcus (if that is who the blond guy is), is rather awkward and probably shouldn't be in sales. The lad they had in that day was fine. It was all a bit 'too cool for school' though, which at my age, I find a bit embarrassing. PMT are more professional in the sales department, but their stock of basses at the Nottingham store is lousy and shows little sign of improving. Even their range of Fenders is pretty imbalanced (loads of Jazzes, not much else). I rarely bother going in on spec any more. Maybe there just aren't that many bass players out there?

To the OP - is it the natural one they demo here at 5.26? If so, does yours sound like this? They compare a whole bunch. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mo1tY-abAg"]https://www.youtube....h?v=6Mo1tY-abAg[/url]

Was Roto 66 40 - 100. Now Ernie Ball Slinkys for the 45 G. However, I'm playing more and more fretless and I really like the Cobalts I have on that. They do have a slightly weird feel when brand new, but they've stayed relatively bright (for a flat) and I've had them on since December.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1492071692' post='3277598'] No job and no family. Blue [/quote] What about the rest of your band? Even if I were footloose, nobody else is. Our singer and player are married to each other, which does simplify things a bit though.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1492010773' post='3277180'] I'm not sure what a "whole pile" of gigs actually means. In the States local bands with a heavy schedule of paid gigs, at least 70 gigs annually do not advertise publicly. Blue [/quote] 20 booked between mid-Nov and early-Jan. We ended up cancelling a few, but that's the ballpark. Two a week basically. We could be doing that now, but we're working up new material which is time consuming when you're writing arrangements from scratch. There's only so much free time when everyone has a job and a family.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1491922202' post='3276503'] If was after playing in any of those bands I'd certainly get in contact to have a chat. There's limited mileage in trying to 'decode' an advert IMHO. It's an rough description and invitation to get in contact, that's all - I've replied to ads that looked ideal and didn't work out, and also replied to some so-so ads and played with some great people. Maps and territories.....not the same. [/quote] I don't attach much to the content of an ad. I play originals though, so it's a different market and claims about gig rates and regularity of work don't mean the same thing. If you are famous, I'd have heard of you. My current band's ad just said 'bass player wanted for folk-rock band' and gave a youtube link to a couple of live songs and a soundcloud page. I then looked on facebook and saw for myself that they had a whole pile of gigs booked for several months in advance. That told me everything I needed to know (do I like it, can I play it, can I bring something to it, am I better than the departing bass player, what kind of gear do they have, is anyone really out of it, how old are they, is there an audience etc.). The only real decision to make was whether we could get on. They seemed to take the same attitude with me.

I think the OPs point 4 is the most important. This applies to all kit sharing. If everyone knows what happening in advance, there's much less scope for bad feeling. I can remember a time when this was normal too. I do get irritated when the venue tell another band they can use my amp, but don't ask me up front. I bring the gear I will need to play our music and it won't necessarily be suitable (read: loud enough) for another band. There's also not much point sound checking if someone is going to vandalise your stage volume before you play.

I wonder what a multi effect unit would be like if it cost as much as some of the boards I've seen posted on here! Some individual dirt pedals cost as much as a Zoom. Personally though, I prefer real switches to menus and if I need to adjust a delay parameter because the guitar payer has started the intro too fast and I have 3 bars to guess a the right adjustment, under stage lights, I'd rather just a have a rotary pot in front of me. I don't use tonnes of effects and i'm happy to have spent my money on a decent and bomb proof multi-band compressor plus a small number of other boxes whose parameters I fully understand. Our guitar player uses a multi and he's happy to concede that my board is more transparent sounding than his, but he thinks the convenience is worth it. I think he'd benefit from a less generic overdrive sound, but he'd need three different OD pedals so maybe he has a point. YMMV.

At best, most non-bassists have a very skewed idea of what a fretless sounds like (i.e. 1980s Paul Young records), so they'd probably rather gnaw their own arm off rather than advertise for a fretless player. For years, any ballad demanded fretless and too much chorus and the world rightly wearied of it. See also, slap, freeze dried guitar shredding and the Yamaha DX7. In reality of course, fretted and fretless overlap massively in terms of what they can sound like, so unless you are required to play mostly slap or to slide harmonics all the time, either is fine for pretty much anything. Depending on the set list, I take one or the other if I can get away with it rather than lugging two basses.

Is this your first Jazz? It may just take some time to get used to the sound. If you've been playing a bass with humbuckers, it will be a big change.

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1491405984' post='3272798'] Cheers, the nano plus sounds promising. If you get a chance, do you mind measuring the width anyway, please? Yes, I'd got it in mind that it might be difficult to mount the power supply underneath so I've also allowed room for it up top too, to be safe. Re pedal gas, I've been playing for more than 30 years now and have dabbled with effects on and off but I find that I prefer not to use them as such other than a bit of subtle drive and compression. But I'm not against them at all, I have a Zoom B3 that I use in the house for messing about with and have great fun with it, its just that I prefer to keep things simple when gigging. [/quote] I've been playing since 1984 and I'd only ever had a Boss compressor pedal until about two years ago and I didn't even like that (not remotely transparent). I'd just not been prepared for how much better pedals are now. Decent PSUs, true bypass and vastly improved buffering have been game changers. No more tone suck, no more battery fail! I'll give the Nano+ a measure tonight.

I was in your boat a year ago. A straight-plug daisy chain cable does protrude enough from a Boss pedal that I disconnect it when I put the board in the soft-case. A right angled one is safe enough though. Unlike the bigger boards, the Nano+ isn't sloped and although there is some room underneath, once you have cables routed it may well be too tight for a PSU. I've found a Nano+ fed my pedal GAS though. I thought I just needed a TU3, some delay and a compressor. But then a Phase 90 fell my way and now I have to choose between a Muff and a Pike Vulcan and quite fancy a Mel9. I'm going to need a bigger board soon. Might be worth allowing a little more space than you think you need immediately.