Count Bassy

OK, so it wasn't actually a probelem as such (except for the lack of vocal cut through), more a case of what's appropriate. I'm not sure of the details, but the one he'se looking at has an active sub unit, an active midrange, and a passive high unit driven by the active mid range unit. All x 2 of course. I've heard this set up in action and I know that it sounded very good to me, but I thought you may have ahd reliabilty problems or something. Thanks for your reply. Clive.

Like most guitarists, our likes it loud, even when practising in our dining room. Everything else then gets loder to compansate, so our practises get pretty loud. Thing is that at times when it the volume peaks, or it may be particular notes, I feel myself going dizzly for a couple of seconds, like I've stood up to quickly. Obviously ear plugs is an answer that I'll be looking into, but in the meantime I'm curious if anyone else suffers this. For information I have a grommet in one ear (not the plastacine dog), which might not help the situation. Clive

[quote name='thinman' post='195676' date='May 9 2008, 08:35 PM']and I'm going to go back to a passive PA using BFM cabs from our current DB technologies active system.[/quote] I have a freind who's fairly serious about buying a DB active rig set up (about 2Kw), so i'm curious about why you're moving away from them. Should I be warning him off them for any reason? Clive.

Well, I put the old E string back on and normal service has been resumed. No dead spots and sustain and tone back, so I guess it was a duff string. The only problem is that my E string is now barely fatter than the A string, so I think I'll be putting all the old ones back on for now, at least till I get something else to try out (half rounds?). I've got a 30 year old Selmer flat wound E string somewhere - I might put that on for a laugh and see what I think to that. As it happens, just before I took it off I played it un-ampliflied and on the 'duff' string there was definitely a light buzz/rattle (not a fret buzz) as if something was loose inside. Are Elites known for poor quality, or was I just unlucky? Anyway, thanks for your thoughts folks. Clive.

I've had a Fender Urge Mk1 (32" scale) for about a year now, I've kept the strings that were on it when I got it, and it's been great, and with a very even response over the whole fret board. Anyway I decided that I perhaps wanted a fatter, less 'trebley' sound, so rightly or wrong decided to fit some heavier strings. This went OK, but extra tension pulled the neck foward a bit, raising the action at the dusty end. I played it like this for a week, and although it didn't have the desired affect on the tone (and in retrospect the E string sound a bit muffled even then), it was playable. So this week I decided to adjust the truss rod to reduce the relief on the neck. Physically this went OK in that it reduced the relief to where I wanted it, and brought the action back down. BUT: There was an incredible dead spot on the E string 7th fret, Not just a bit quieter, but a lot quieter with no sustain at all, almost like I was muting it. There was still plenty of clearance on the frets, and no fret rattle when playing, so it would not seem to simply be too low an action. Anyway, I thought, this is no good, so I put the truss rod back where it had been, thinking that this would solve the problem. But no! I now have a complete E string that is dead, and at the seventh fret is worse than ever. My next plan is to put my original E string back on and see if that helps, and if it doesn't then put all the original strings back on. The new strings are 'Elite Player series', Nickel plated, 105,85,65,45. The original strings are of unknown make(s), 95,80,60,45 Anyone got any ideas? Is this just a duff string? are Elites crap? Unfortunately I bought them about 6 months ago, so can hardly take them back now. I had heard of 'dead spots' butr never thought that they could be this bad! As it happens I didn't like the feel of the extra tension that much, and it didn't have the desired affect on tone anyway (it lost the ploppy sound), so the next step (having solved this problem) might be to go back to a lighter gauge, but try half rounds or something. Any thoughts appreciated. Clive

What gets me is the unnecessary name dropping that goes on. For (hypothetical) example we don't get 'I carry my lead and strings in my gig bag', instead we get 'I carry my lead and strings in my Shuker/Alembic/Wal (delete/add as appropriate) gig bag'. Sure there are discussions where the details of the kit are required, but so often it's not yet we are given it anyway. Similarly great lists of the basses and kit you have attached to your posts is surely not required. We only need to know that your a bass player, and everything else can be revealed as and when appropriate? OK, Rant over. I'm ducking already.

Whoops, Yes, I just found the other thread myself, as I said apologies. I shall go and flagellate mysself forthwith!

Just received this as part of an E-mail from Roland - apologies if it's old news: Sound Control stores close You may have heard earlier this week that Sound Control, who also own Turnkey and Media Tools, went into administration. The insolvency of this company has led to the appointment of Deloitte and Touche LLP as administrators and the immediate closure of nearly half of the stores. Clive

Thanks for that link 3V17C (are you related to R2D2?). Thats a much better price, although still beyond my original target. I'll have to get to try one out, and see if I can re adjust my idea of what I want to afford!

Thanks for your thoughts people. The GBW35 looks like a good one, although at £508 from Thomann somewhat more than I was hoping. Anyone out there got one of these taht they don't want to keep??? (well you've got to ask). I'd quite lke the 16.5mm string spacing as well! I've only got small hands, so if that makes the neck narrow then so much the better. The only squier jazz fives I can find on the net seem to be fretted - if there is a fretless one then thats got to be a strong contender. I've looked at the Warwick fretless rock basses on Thomann, It doesn't say specifically in the description, but from the photos most of them seem to be unlined (except one which does appear to be lined, but the description is identical to the others). I've never played any form of Warwick, so I've no idea if i'd like them or not. I have found, on the web, a Dean edge fretless fiver with lines, thats about £400, so probably also worthy of consideration. Am I right in thinking that Deans have a variable reputation? Still looking into the Aria's Looks like a trip to the shops in the offing! Keep the ideas coming if you can think of any others. Thanks.

I had a bass for about 30 years, but have only been playing seriously for about the last two years. The thing is that I've always played a four string fretted instrument, and mostly a 32". In my lesson a couple of weeks ago my teacher said, 'here. have a go on that', and handed me a 5 string stingray that he'd just bought. 'sh*t' I thought, that extra string is really going to throw me, the only time I'd tried 5 strings before was in a shop, at a time when I used to sweat like a pig if I thought anyone could hear me! It was a bit confusing a first, but, lo and behold, after a minute or two I was loving it. I ended up playing mostly in E playing up around the 5th fret, across the BEAD strings, with only the occasional foray to the G string, and only dropping below the 5th fet to get the extra 5 notes. It was really nice to be in E and still being able to drop below it, and nice to know that you had a two octave range almost within the span of your hand! Rapid foward one week to my next lesson: ' Here try this' he says passing me another 5 string. Had a quick jam around in E again, and when finished I said that it played really nicely, and had quite a different tone, and that the action was nice and low. I then looked my glasses off too look more closely and then, and only then, realised that I'd been playing a fretless. It was a lined fretless, with golden coloured lines, and what with that and the state of my eyes (and, it would seem, my ears) I had not noticed what I was playing! Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I'd always thought of myself as a died in the wool 4 string fretted man, but I now find myself GASing after a 5 string fretless (and its my birthday soon). So the thing is, and what I'm leading up to is, I'm now looking for a five string fretless of some sort, and am looking for any suggestions. I suspect that I'm looking for a lined one (one step at a time eh?), and I accept that its likely to be a 34". The one I tried had a musicman style pick up, and I've got to say that it sounded good, but I'm flexible on that. I don't want to spend too much as A: I may decide that it's not for me after all and B: My standard of playing doesn't justify spending too much. I guess I could probably justify up to about £300 (i.e. 4 tanks of diesel). So any ideas anyone? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. (oh dear I seem to have rambled on a bit - Again!)

As others have said, factor in the cost of diesel, wear and tear on the car, and your own time, add that to the agreed price and then decide whether that is a price you are prepared to pay. IIRC, if you drive your own car on company business they can can typically pay you up to 40p a mile before the Inland Revenue start to think you're making a profit on it. Ie they accept that it costs 40p a mile to run a typical car (I think this assumes a reasonably new car, so depreciation a significant part)! 700 miles at 40p per mile equals £280!, thats before you value your time! Even if you just work on the diesel, say at 40 miles/gallon, you are looking at 9 gallons, so at about £6/gallon, then your looking at £105, plus your time (YMMV !!!!). It's your call of course, but if it was me I'd not bother.

"Pick up the pieces", and "walk this way" before that.

You're right about electrolytic capacitors. IIRC they actually degrade more quickly if not used for a long time than when they are being used. They can be 'regenerated', but at the cost of a new one it's not worth the bother. To anyone considering replacing electrolytic capacitors, remember that they are polarised. If you connect them the wrong way round they will fail very quickly, and posibly with a bang.

It sound to me like you put the 'shim' across the whole of the pocket, thereby moving the whole neck 4mmm forward, without changing the angle. 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. If you do this then the effective shift at the bridge is given by the (thickness of the shim) x (the distance from the pocket to the bridge) / (length of the pocket), hence shims are generally much less than 4mm. Then again, I have been wrong before. Clive

Sorry, She still does nothing for me, bass wise, or otherwise. I'm sure she's very talented, but what she chooses to play is (IMHO) just so dreary!

Very impressed by the original link, but I'm afraid that neither Lydia nor her bass playing do much for me. Clive

Just some thoughts on PMT: I was sort of warned off PMT by someone, when looking for an electric drum kit for my lad. As it happened the other shops (in Northampton) did not have the model he was after so we ended up visiting PMT anyway. I've got to say that the service we got from them was brilliant, we were there for a copule of hours while my lad tried out many kits, and the staff were very helpful and obviously real enthusiasts. After a couple of hours the bloke we were dealing with said that his boss had asked him 'why he hadn't closed the sale yet', but not to worry about his boss, he understood that £600 is a lot of money and that we couldn't make a snap decision while stood in the shop (he obviously had more idea of how to sell that his boss did!) The deal that they came up with matched pretty well anything off the net, so later that week we phoned the order in and it was delivered in a few days. However, we didn't have any headphones (it had never been mentioned as part of any deal - so that isn't a complaint) so I rang up to see try my luck in getting a deal on some headphones. They said they'd try to find something and a few days later a pretty decent set of headphones (it said £29.95 on the price tag) appeared in the post totally free of charge. I.e. they'd thrown in some headphones after the original sale had already been completed! I've got to say that I was pretty inpressed all round, and it meant that I'd bought from a real shop (albeit a chain) rather from the net, so I would certainly reccomend PMT (The Northampton one at least). Oh dear I seem to have gone on a bit.... I lived in Brum from 79 to 86, so I remember Musical Exchanges when in Broad Street, but they had moved to Snow Hill by the time I left Brum - A real Aladin's cave in those days. Clive.

ADDENDUM: Just come back rom band practise and played all of you really got me going with my thumb clear of the neck - a little bit of extra strain in the forearm by the end, but apart from that I didn't notice much difference. also, in answer to someone's question I play with the bottom of the body about an inch above the belt, and a such an angle so taht the bass head is about level with my own. Clive.

Alex, Bilbo and Matty, Thanks for your helpful replies. What's this thing called a technique that you all refer to? I've checked in my bass case again, but I don't seem to have one! Seriously though I take all your points on board. As I said in an earlier post I can see that if what your playing needs or allows your hand to move around a bit then the disrtance betwen the fets is less critical, but in my example the first finger has to sat on the seventh fret while the little finger stretches up to the 11th fret on the next string, otherwise you can't play the two notes together. I've had a quick go at using the 7th on the A, 9th on the D and 6th on the G and yes it does work without the stretch, and allows you to go to the 7th on the G as well if you wnat. But, on a 4 string at least, you can't move it up a string in the classic progession, and if you slide it all up 5 frets then you havn't got the root note on the open string anymore. It's a useful idea and I'll start to incorporate it, but it doesn't solve everything. Regarding the fretting pressure, I think i've got that about right, I've not tried to lift my thumb off, but suspect I probably could. One of the problems I have with the stretch in this regard, is that when I'm playing the example I gave, the little finger won't reach as far as just behind the 11th fret, so I do have to press a bit harder than ideal in this case. I really do appreciate all your ideas and thoughts and will give them all a try. I am a young player (well I'm 50, but you know what I mean), so am more than happy to take as many hints and ideas as I can on board. Clive.

Matty, Thumb to little finger , very tip to very tip is about the same as yours, ie 21.5 cm. The wrist joint isn't that specific, but I guess thats also about the same as yours. Stretch from the middle of the first finger tip to the middle of the little finger tip, which I guess gives you your nominal span for fretting, is about 14.5cm. Maybe it is a stretching issue. I can certainly reach things now that I couldn't when I started to play half seriously, about two years ago. However if I were to go to a 34 or 36" now I would be in the situation, in the short term at least, where I couldn't play stuff that I am currently playing out with the band. At least you seem to accept that a smaller hand (whether mine qualifies as one of these or not) can limit/influence one's choice of scale, which not every one does. Alex - a very informative post, thanks. I'll try your fingering for that pattern and see how I get on with it. However with my current method I might just be able to do it on a 34", but can't see how I'd manage on a 36" (i've never tried cos I don't know anyone with a 36"). I play with the end pad of my thumb pretty well in the middle of the neck. Is this what you also do Alex. certainly I've never played with the thumb wrapped round the neck as some people do. Has anyone here actually played a short/medium scale 5 stringer, such as the birdsong or Landing that I mentioned earlier, - If so I'd be interested in some feedback on them, although to be honest my standard of playing would in no way justify that sort of expenditure. And finally.... I just want to make it clear that I have absolulety no problem with any scale neck, or indeed number of strings, that anyone wants to play! 'Vive la difference' Clive

[quote name='mcgraham' post='174198' date='Apr 10 2008, 10:34 PM']Actually it'd only be two and a bit. I thought it'd be a lot more too! Point taken though, it isn't a definite rule that 'everyone' can get used to a longer scale. Mark[/quote] Yes you're right of course - my mistake. I measured it on my bass and got 2 and a bit, but by the time I'd walked to the PC it had magically transformed to 3 and a bit! Thanks for noticing and pointing it out! Clive

Several people here have said that you simply get used to a longer scale. I play a 32", and can fairly comfortably play the classic 12 bar blues thing starting at the seventh fret (its a stretch, but doesn't actually hurt) i.e. first finger at the 7th fret on the A string third finger at the 9th fret on the D string and little finger reaching to the 11th fret on the D string as required. (Think "Bang a gong", steamroller etc). I can also do this at the based at the fifth fret, but it really is a stretch and starts to get painful. Below the fifth fret I really am struggling to do it at all. My point is that if I went to a 36" scale (effectively adding three and a bit frets on the end ** EDITED: Actually its only 2 and a bit as has been pointed out below - please adjust examples below as accordingly **) then to play it rooted at the seventh fret would be similar to playing it at the 4th fret on the 32" scale, which from above you will see that I would find very difficult. I can see that if what you're playing allows your left hand to move about then, yes, you can just move it a bit further, and you'd probably get used to it, I've played 34" scales in this way with no real problem. If one of your fingers has to be anchored at a particular place, as in my example, then "getting used to it" is not so simple. (assuming that your fingers must remain attached to the end of your hand during the performance). I only play a four string so I can't comment on the tone a B string at different scale lengths, but the general consensus seems to be that the longer the better. If this is the case then why aren't we all playing 40" or 42" scales, cos wouldn't that sound better again? Surely it can't be a problem of reach because according to most people thats something you soon get used to. Sadly it is true that the choice of 32" scale strings is limited, I've always stuck to four strings and off the shelf options, but if I were to go to 5 strings and stay with a 32" scale, then, thankfully, there are pretty reasonable custom strings available (eg Newtone). As it happens my favourite bass of the moment (a USA Fender urge Mk1) is string through the body and consquently will take most standard length strings anyway. Clive.