FDC484950

But then headed basses have huge holes drilled through them to fit tuning pegs, so it doesn’t make sense that a narrow screw would split the wood so completely. Smacks of wood that’s not totally seasoned and/or the lamination process isn’t up to scratch. Modern wood glues bond stronger than the wood they’re joining. Not good and definitely one for a warranty replacement.

FWIW the current badass type bridge is far better than the enchanted BBOT the previous models had. I have one on my Dimension and it is solid as a rock. I hear very little if any difference with strings through the body and the break angle on the old bridge was just that - more likely to break strings. Yamaha got the through body stringing bar better with their 45-degree design. I also wonder what real world benefit carbon rods have - a properly seasoned wood, sawn and built properly, doesn’t need additional strengthening, and carbon rods can reduce wood vibration and therefore impede the tone of the instrument. all of which has nothing to do with Fender vs Sandberg. I’ve played a couple of Sandbergs and they are of excellent quality, but personally the used std (of even a Japanese Jazz apps they tend to be better-finished) plus East preamp would be my choice.

Nice one Bilbo but this really should be in cut time. I've laboured through transcribing the whole album and it is a riot to play! There are some really, really difficult but also exceptionally melodic and interesting lines. Not Yet, the last track (reproduced from the 1985 album Why Not, which is interestingly different to the version on this album) is a nightmare to play to tempo

I know exactly what you mean. I got right through the jazz theory book as I had a piano and a sequencer to hand to play/program the examples. However I remember a book about chromaticism and playing ‘out’, by David Liebman I think, (edit: ‘A chromatic approach to jazz harmony and melody’) - I didn’t even get to page 12 on that one

A well-played fretless is a joy to behold (e.g. Pino). However I owned a few over the years and hated the damn things. You can go on about muscle memory and they’re nothing wrong with my ears, but I do think you need to devote a lot of practice time. Problem is, with decent ears it becomes all too painfully obvious when you’re out of tune. Young kids learn the violin and (can) keep in tune on a much smaller fretboard with no lines at all, so it’s definitely possible (e.g. Simandl exercises for us bass players). However, nowadays as I don’t need to make a living from playing I steer clear of the abominations

Very, very good. They’re fairly tricky just to get the notes under your hands, but much harder to get the articulation and particularly the flow and dynamics. I’d be hard-pressed to often any constructive criticism; the only real way to improve would be to play it on a ‘cello! Well done

Are you sure? Thought it was Pino. If it was John he was doing a mean Pino impersonation 😁

Listened to the whole track. I can’t hear anything wrong and wouldn’t have wanted to punch in or do an additional take. If it works with the rest of the track then that’s the most important thing. Id also agree it sounds written as a part (and is quite clever, too) rather than just jammed. Isolated tracks often sound odd or plain wrong, but the end result can be much greater than the sum of its parts.

With the greatest of respect that video is rubbish. On was appropriate and in time, behind was out of time, and ahead was alternating between out of time and the same as on. When he’s playing behind you can clearly hear a nasty flam effect with the double bass. It’s just different terms for the right feel for a style or genre. There is no on, behind or ahead of the beat, only something that is in time. Think about it - if I play ahead, the keys are on the beat and the drums are behind, it’s a train wreck. If everyone plays ahead or on or behind then it’s just in time, which is on.. I’ve heard the beat being described as having a width which permits this behind, on or ahead. I’ve never heard it and never heard anyone I’ve played with demonstrate it successfully either. Don’t confuse feel, timing and especially note length and articulation as this is often what people really mean. All IMHO, of course

Fixed 😀

I can never understand why venture capitalists get involved with musical instrument retail. It’s never been a big money-spinner, it’s certainly not the up and coming thing (quite the reverse) and profits for even the biggest retailers were always slim pickings. I guess perhaps they spotted an asset stripping opportunity, but then most if not all shop space is rented. I agree there’s nothing quite like visiting a shop in person, but TBH apart from a sunburst precision bought from Bass Direct, every bass I’ve purchased since getting back into playing has been used, either from here or eBay/Reverb. The bang for bug just doesn’t compare.

I love playing with a pick and I think it’s much underrated outside of rock/metal. For me I prefer it to slapping for funk and it can be every bit as funky (e.g. Bobby Vega). Having tried a number of different picks, a medium, around or just below 1mm suits me best. I agree with getting a mixed bag - you may surprised about what feels most comfortable. I believe a bit of flex in the pick helps as it means there is a bit of give when playing faster, which aids with fluidity.

What’s the B string like? The 1605 I had for some reason didn’t have a very good B, and I tried both tapered and non-tapered strings but the BTB has an excellent tone (35” scale like your EHB) with a non-tapered DR HiBeam B. I’m very interested in the EHB For the ergonomics, and a more even tension - the C on the BTB sounds too thin and stringy, which I put down to the 35” scale.

Pickups are Big Splits in these I think? Other than construction differences that may account for a different sound to the 2605, perhaps. I’m not a big fan of the Ibanez bridge theory - monorails may prevent crosstalk but the fixed hole for the ball end always risked me twisting a string when fitting and on the SR’s I owned the bridge adjustment seemed unnecessarily fiddly. Never had this issue with a regular bridge. The other issue I’ve found out to my cost when trying (and failing to replace the preamp) and pickups on my BTB-676 is that they’ve constructed the bridge with an individual grounding wire for each unit - together with grounding wires for each pickup, this means EIGHT additional wires to solder to ground. The new Bart preamp and harness is so tight there’s not enough room to fit it all in the control cavity 😡 Maybe the lack of tool/instructions is a new product teething issue (but how hard can it be to get the right info into an owner’s manual?)

Neither. I owned a TRB1006J and the neck was overly thick, and the tone rather dull and uninspiring. For that kind of money Bass Direct has a used Ibanez SR1605 with the very nice Nordstrand Big Singles, and it’s very light in weight to boot - used, but you always get more bang for your buck used.

+1 on the Zoom. Whilst not a Jeff Berlin fan, I’d paraphrase him and say practising with a metronome is largely uninspiring. Wherever possible play with some kind of groove, then you’re playing music rather than an exercise - even if it is an exercise

Hearing chords is just an extension of hearing one note after the other. If you hear two notes played separately, say C, followed by an A (higher in pitch) and you can tell that’s a major 6th, then hearing chords begins with picking out the same pair of notes played together. This is where a keyboard comes in really handy as you can play any combination of notes together and hear ‘that’ sound. My ability to transcribe the right chords came on leaps and bounds when I got a keyboard. It’s also the instrument any classical or jazz musician should have in addition to their main instrument for learning harmony. It’s really easy to hear and play chords and their inversions. Worst case, record random pairs of notes on your bass, leave it a while then play it back and try to identify them by ear. The other things I’d say is the simpler the sound, the more likely that the chord is more basic. So a C major chord sounds very “straight” compared to something more exotic like a Cmaj7#11. The Augmented and Diminished chords and scales are symmetrical so have a specific sound. But enough of the theory - your ears are more important

Tension off the neck and strings slackened for transport I can understand, but no tension on the truss rod and strings at pitch just seems to be inviting issues if shipped and exposed to lots of temperature variations IMHO.

No problem sharing a list of “great” players (which is different for different people) but greatest really is pointless without some kind of context - best technically, or most famous to random strangers, or most admired by other bass players etc? Even then, it’s all subjective - and this isn’t the first thread on this kind of topic. I’m not showing disinterest in this thread - but to put the viewpoint that 100 greatest is lazy journalism (Channel 5 filler anyone), how about 100 great bass players you may never have heard of before (ie non mainstream in terms of popularity, record sales or published influence)? There are loads of fabulous players out there that never make it into publications. This would spark a healthy debate, people might discover new players or music without endless squabbling about who should be in the top ten

Clickbait. Like the endless “8 cool ways to thread a fishing rod” crap that seems to clog up every form of digital media. There are no 100 greatest or 1,000 greatest as it is subjective and art isn’t a competition. If you said 100 top bassists by number of records sold that they played on then it would be technically possible but equally meaningless.

If we’re talking 70s theme tunes then The New Avengers was a classic. Nice pick workout on the bass. Sadly the show didn’t quite live up to the music Laurie Johnson, the composer, also penned the theme to The Professionals - another show that IIRC had some pretty decent bass on the incidental music.

I picked up a Focusrite Scarlett Solo off Amazon at well under £100. It has USB-C (not sure how recent your MacBook is); together with some desktop monitors (or even PC monitors at a push, which aren’t great but do the job) it’s all you need. It outputs decent sound, there’s very little to set up and works flawlessly. It all depends what features you need. I take it you can use GarageBand or something similar for building tracks?

As you seem to fail to understand what anyone is saying about churning out another clone in a crowded market segment, the answer is both. No doubt you’ll be able to continue arguing the point but it will be with yourself.