Count Bassy

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='739465' date='Feb 8 2010, 10:00 PM']see ive played with compressors a wee bit, I'll be honest and say I've never seen a use for them for me. this may be due to the random way I use my right hand but ive never seen what they add to my sound, often when using them i get annoyed with something changing the way the notes open out. maybe i'm talking rubbish here feel free to educate me what use they should have![/quote] I agree too. Using a compressor, to me, just seems to take control away from your fingers.

If your paying £50 each for two three meter cables then you could buy a 100M roll of Klotz/Van-damme instrument cable for £70 and have about 10 Neutrik gold plated connectors with the change. A few tools and some heat shrink and you're away. 5 cables of whatever length you want, almost certainly cable left over, all for £100. If you want 'directional' cable then you could use microphone (admitedly more expensive) using the two cores for the signal and earthing the screen at one end (the amp end) only. Or indeed you could use triaxial cable (more expensive again) However, if you're like a Gorilla when it comes to soldering then perhaps not such a good idea. In the realms of industrial controls etc the general philosophy on screening has changed dramatically over the last 15 years or so. It used to follow the 'earth at one end' philosophy, to avoid earth loops, based on most interference being 50Hz mains hum. However the main source of interference these days are higher frequency, e.g. switch mode power supplies, inverter motor drives, computer equipment mobile phones and, for us Musos, Class D amps. I.e. frequecies from 20KHz up to the Gigahertz. Because of this the generally accepted best practice these days (for industrial applications) is to screen at both ends, in fact to bond screens to earth wherever possible, and to use screened shells on all connectors - the idea being to form an uninterrupted Faraday cage around everything. Being screened at one end only can come into its own still at lower frequencies, but then it is quite common to use a twin screened cable with the outer screen earthed at both ends and the inner screen earthed at one end.

[quote name='2x18' post='749905' date='Feb 18 2010, 04:01 PM']Hi Im in Leeds and I have a couple of short scale 30" ( Landing L1 and Mustang Hybrid ) and a couple of Medium scales 32" ( Vantage Japan VS series and a Japan Squier P-Bass ) that you are welcome to come and try out! Will.[/quote] Landing are one of the few people who seem to make a 32" five string, so I'd be interested what you think of your Landing even though I know its a 30" 4 string.

[quote name='gabson' post='737811' date='Feb 7 2010, 02:13 AM']spray mount some kitchen foil into the cavity for the cheapest option![/quote] Problem is that aluminium is only half as conductive as copper, tends to tear, and is a pig to solder to. I would say go with the copper foil, and try to get the stuff with the conductive adhesive.

[quote name='OldGit' post='629054' date='Oct 17 2009, 08:20 PM'] [/quote] A version of The Caerphilly March if I'm not mistaken.

[quote name='walbassist' post='734977' date='Feb 4 2010, 01:03 PM']How about one of these bad boys! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4tozjpRL0c"]Kala U Bass[/url][/quote] I want one! (but there's almost 400 reasons why I can't)

I've got an old Westone Quantum for this very same purpose, although it's so good that I'm tempted to us it for gigs as well. It's a bit like the hohner cricket bat, but: Passive, 32" scale, Headless (but takes single ball end strings), 38" overall length. Two pickups with a tremendous sound. The body is more sculpted than the Hohner and (IMO) looks much nicer. Pictures and a bit of info here: [url="http://www.westone.info/quantum.html"]http://www.westone.info/quantum.html[/url] I've got the black one which I think looks a lot nicer than the red. Should pick one up on E-bay for £150 ish.

[quote name='Marky L' post='733756' date='Feb 3 2010, 09:09 AM']Yeah, under a pseudonym. [/quote] Fair enough - as long as you get the royalties!

[quote name='ezbass' post='733451' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:40 PM']I'm so with you there, it's an absolute bloody travesty and it doesn't even go with the song, and I hate that while radio stations will arbitarily edit other great solos, they continue to let this one wail on and on. Absolute tripe, and I'm a Derek & the Dominoes fan![/quote] I bet you wish you'd written it though!

I am in a similar position Netballman: I have a GWB35 and love it, and it was both my first 5 string and first fretless. I am now , in theory, after a 5 string fretted at a sensible price (I say in theory because funds won't allow it at the moment). I have considered an SR505, basically because it would seem very similar to a GWB35 in terms of body and neck etc, and has the same string spacing (16.5mm), and the Ibanezes seem very good value. Also considered the G&L L2500 (Tribute due to costs), because it also seems to tick all the boxes, and I've heard great reports of them. HOwwever, am I right in thinking that they have fairly chunky necks? When funds become available I will certainly be looking at both of these. I have so far however resisted the temptation to try either due to the lack of funds. Ideally I'd want both 5 strings to be 32" scale, but that ain't going to happen unless I build it myself. Let us know what you end up with.

[quote name='molan' post='732912' date='Feb 2 2010, 01:37 PM']It's their promo CD to get gigs so I'd have thought it quite important to get this sort of stuff right?[/quote] But most people are more interested in if a band is fun to listen to rather than if they're perfect or not. Aren't they?

[quote name='jakesbass' post='732869' date='Feb 2 2010, 01:12 PM']not a semiquaver... 16th of one beat.....[/quote] Yes thats what I meant as well, but 5/64th of a beat!!. I was joking by the way - reference to my earlier postings in this thread show that I couldn't hear anything wrong!

As long as my gear does what I need I'm more interested in playing. I've actually got 5 basses at the moment, but each one brought something else to the table at the time. To be honest I only really use two of these regularly, a 5 string 34" fretless and a 4 string 32" fretted, regularly, plus the 32" 'compact' (Westone Quantum) for lugging round hotels. Ideally I'd have one 32" 5 string fretted and one 32" five string fretless of a reasonable quality, and a 4 or 5 string 32" 'cricket bat' style for lugging round hotels.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='729840' date='Jan 30 2010, 04:30 PM']I'm really shocked by that Rush one, definitely an editing error. Some dingbat shifted the global track along by about a 1/16th of a beat[/quote] I'd have thought closer to 5/64 than 1/16 . Has anyone put this into an editor and measured trhe error?

To continue my previous theme: Do these 'mistakes' matter? would Maggie May have sold anymore copies if it had a 'Correct' bass line? (probably not), would have sold less copies and be less memorable ? (Possibly). Does playing a C where it 'should' be a C# really matter as long as it works (or even adds something) in the context of the song? And surely pushing and pulling the timing is part of what brings music alive and gives it swing or whatever. Music is an art, not a science. It may have 'rules' but , unlike the laws of physics, but they can be broken and bent, and who cares as long as the result is pleasing to at least someone.

[quote name='chris_b' post='728900' date='Jan 29 2010, 04:36 PM']Rod Stewart is off key in places[/quote] But surely Rod Stewart's ability to put it slightly off key and make it work is what made him famous. I can't help but feel that the whole musical word is suffering from over production and the expectation of perfection. Music is still mostly (thankfully) produced by human beings after all. Personally I think a bit of humanity adds so much to recordings. Anyone with enough time, technology, and 'takes' can 'produce' perfection. To play a song live and get it mostly right, with some feeling takes real skill. Give me real live music with some flaws and personality over a perfect studio production anyday of the week.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='728860' date='Jan 29 2010, 04:04 PM']Give in.... sounds fine to me [/quote] I can't hear anything wrong either, kept my foot tapping along right through it - obviously cloth-eared.

Don't get drunk, or anywhere near, before hand - limit yourself to one of whatever your tipple is. Stay sober until it's done and give it your best shot, plenty of time to drink afterwards. Try not get too wound up over mistakes as this will only lead to more (advice I need to take myself!). Try to relax and enjoy it. Remember that you will be your own worse critic and that things that sound like glaring errors to you will not be noticed by the audience. I know it's easy to say these things and harder to implement them, because I can clearly remember my first public performance but, if you get anything like the buzz I got from my first public outing, despite the nerves, then you'll be chomping at the bit to do it again. Best of luck with it.

4 out my 5 basses are 32" and I love them, although 2" might not seem much I certainly find the stretches easier, especially when playing/fretting two notes at once. There are some things I can play on a 32" which I physically can't do on the 34". The 34" is a fretless fiver, but the only reason I went for the 34" was that there are so few 32" fivers around, and none that I could afford. However one advantage of the 5 string is that you can play a lot of things 5 frets up, so you're effectivley playing about a 27" scale. Obviously some tonal differences in playing 5 frets up however.

The Bass solo at the start of Handy by Wishbone Ash. Unfortunaetly the only Youtube copy of the original I can find misses it off, though there is a cover of it, which I wouldn't reccomend

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='710008' date='Jan 12 2010, 02:08 PM']Why aye, man. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Thompson#Partial_discography"]And loads more[/url]. Highlights include Kate Bush, Everything But The Girl, Peter Gabriel, Alison Moyet, Talk Talk ([i]love[/i] those albums!) and T Rex.[/quote] Could I add Richard Thompson to those highlights please?

[quote name='keving' post='719953' date='Jan 21 2010, 11:34 AM']Reminds me of a contract that a band I sometime dep with had. It was a standard contract with number and length of set etc, and then at the bottom it stated: YOU WILL NOT PLAY MUSTANG SALLY. More contracts should contain this clause [/quote] Although I've never played it personally, I wish people would lay off Mustang Sally. It is a victim of it's own success, but that success is because it's a fine song and audiences love it. I for one certainly wish I'd had the skill and foresight to write it and one or two other 'Standards', and if I had I would be very proud of it, not to mention considerably better off. Who here can honestly say that they would not have written such a successful song given half a chance?

[quote name='spinynorman' post='720154' date='Jan 21 2010, 02:34 PM']Oh, and I'd ban covers of Hallelujah entirely.[/quote] I think the original of this is my favourite Leonard Cohen song, but I really would not like to be without the Jeff Buckley version, so I have to disagree on this.

[quote name='nobody's prefect' post='713607' date='Jan 15 2010, 12:14 PM']Unless it's a VERY recent Roscoe, it's 35". Then again, Roscoe feels like 34" to many. (Myself included)[/quote] I very nearly posted the same thing, but on reading Simon's post again I think he meant that going back to the 34" 4 string was easy after the 35" fiver. Edited to add: A shame really cos I'd be very interested in a 32" fiver

The copper sleeves (AKA bootlace ferrules) are meant to slide over your cable end before you put it in the hole and screw it up. It prevents the action of the screw, and/or the concentration of the force on one or two strands from breaking strands off, and also ensure sthat all the strands go down the hole. Ideally you'd have a bootlace crimping tool which crimps the ferrule tightly onto the cable end before you put it in the hole, but decent ones of these are quite expensive (£100 +).