Baloney Balderdash

A new 1st take, but less improvised, improved and more compact version of a little hard rock boogie I made up, for a demonstration of how the 1 octave down of the Boss XS-1 Poly Shifter sounds blended with dry signal. Utilizing my 28.6" scale 5 string Ibanez GSRM25 Mikro Bass tenor bass, tuned to E standard tuning, using a pick. Also starring is the EHX English Muff'n (Marshall based genuine tube overdrive). (track illustration by me as well)

Joyo Orange Juice, if you are after a grindy type of overdrive. EHX ENglish Muff'n, for a fat genuine tube overdrive (which despite it's name is actually a Marshall based genuine tube overdrive, discontinued though, but a pretty common find on the used market, and for quite reasonable prices too). I just happened to have just recorded this little hard rock boogie, utilizing the latter:

And a more recent better shot (excuse my old crappy digital camera): Also it has now been strung with 1 Elixir Nanoweb Staninless Steel bass string of the gauge .085, and 4 Elixir Nanoweb nickel-plated guitar strings of the gauges .068 - .052 - .038 - .028, and tuned to E standard tuning, that is E to C. The low tension and gauge prevents the fretted notes from getting thuddy, even far up on the fretboard towards the bridge (this is a known issue, or feature, depending who you ask, of short scale basses, the fact that relative to gauge the stiffness of the strings increase exponentially the shorter the scale length, preventing the strings from vibrating properly), and I've adjusted my fretting and plucking technique accordingly. The reason why I use Elixir guitar strings for the upper 4 strings, beside obviously Elixir bass strings not being available in those gauges, and fitting perfectly in length to the 28.6" scale, is that the guitar strings are constructed differently than the nickel-plated bass strings, and. relative to gauge, got a much brighter tone in comparison relative, that is except for the stainless steel Elixir bass strings which is a much brighter sounding alternative for bass, hence why I use this for the low E (Elixir guitar strings only being available at max gauge .080). And actually this results in a very lively and snappy low E string, despite the short scale length, and balance perfectly tone, tension wise with the upper 4 guitar strings, and the very close to perfectly balanced tension between string gives a very consistent balance feel wise between strings as well. Oh, and as a bonus the coated Nanoweb Elixir strings last almost forever. I still like to change strings approximately every 3 month or so, but honestly the strings haven't really degraded tone or feel wise in any way by then, and I am confident that I could even go 6 months with the same set of strings without issues, and that is with an average playtime of 1 to 2 hours a day. You don't get that initial week of bright metallic sounding fresh roundwounds with Elixir Nanoweb strings, which I admittedly do love, on the other hand the Elixirs easily sound exactly as lively and fresh as when you put them on for months in and out, pretty closely resembling how regular uncoated roundwound D'Addario XLs will sound after they have been broken in for a week or so. Here's a sample of that: Oh, and by the way, now and then, I always run it through an always on 1 octave up effect, now handled by the magnificent Boss XS-1, to emulate an effect somewhat similar to that of an octave course 8 string bass.

I admit when I saw the thread tittle my brain automatically filled in the blanks:

A dress is the way to go! Female bass players are the new swag, or whatever the young folks call that nowadays. But don't wear a skirt, people might get offended on behalf of Scottish people. Especially if you wear make up.

I just made up and recoded this little hard rock boogie for another demonstration of how the 1 octave down sounds blended with dry signal, this time using a pick: The way the octave down sounds blended with dry signal is starting to grow on me, and I think it sounds particularly great using a pick, and even the low A string (not demonstrated above) on my tenor bass (that would be the same A as the low A string on a 4 string bass in regular E standard tuning), that would be A0 (a full whole step below the low B string on a 5 or 6 string bass) when taken an octave down sounds pretty damn tight (though admittedly I do have a HPF engaged, so that might account for some of that credit). Utilizing my 28.5" scale LTD B4JR tenor bass, equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, and tuned to A standard tuning.

They ought to make a deluxe version of the Mikro Bass. I would buy it instantly.

Bought this used about a month ago, for what equals about 30$. An ESP/LTD B4JR : It's not in production anymore, and a pretty rare find on the used market, though it is a cheap budget bass, still it usually goes for over 3 times what I paid for this one used. It's a just 28.5" scale length short scale bass, with a Basswood body, and a Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard. And after a thorough setup, and having the stock pickups, which honestly sounded decent enough, replaced for an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, it sounds non less than amazing. Really nice tone, both finger plucked, but especially using a pick. Really punchy and snappy, very focused, tone, and the sustain is pretty substantial too. Even the low E sounds great, despite the short scale length. Though I have now strung it with coated Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges .068 - .052 - .038 - .028, tuned to tenor bass, A standard, tuning. It's also very light, the body being made of Basswood, which does make it prone to neck dive, but nothing a wide grippy strap can't solve (which the strap in the picture has been replaced with). Now the bad things, when I got it it had one of the most horrible setups I ever saw, and with loose input jack socket, that was easily fixed though, however the nut slots are cut way too high, and it got some pretty sharp fret ends, that you can literally cut your hand on if you are not careful, and will probably have a proper luthier fix that too at some point. The thin U shaped neck also took a bit getting used to, it is not exactly beefy, but it kind of felt that way at first, because of the neck profile being so round. The fretboard is pretty flat though, with a radius of 400mm (~16"), which I fortunately does happen to prefer. The frets are not perfectly leveled, but still well enough that I can get it to my preferred string action (about 2mm (~5/64") low E string at 12th fret) without any issues or string buzz whatsoever. Truss rod works as it is supposed to, and neck seems stable. Tuners are not the best, but they work just fine. All in all a lot of bass for merely 400 Danish Kroner (~30£), definitely satisfied with my buy. I named it "Dud Bottomfeeder Jr.". Love this little fella'.

Yamaha needs to get into the short scale game again.

I love how they look, and if I had that kind of money to spend I would be very tempted to buy one. However I also fell for the temptation to buy a vintage 70's Rickenbacker once, when I had that kind of money to spend at my disposal, and it turned out the most expensive piece of absolute crap I ever bought. Hated how it felt in my hands, and I wasn't particularly impressed by the tone either.

I utilize an "amp-less" setup, that took years, a lot of thought and experimentation, to perfect, which purpose is to emulate having an amp and a cab. And my primary reason for this is that I get a very consistent tone whether I practice at home with a pair of decent approximately FRFR studio grade headphones, jam at band rehearsal space through a PA or FRFR cab, play live at a venue through their PA system, or record. And as a welcome bonus it frees me for having to drag around with amps and cabs. It's all on my pedalboard.

A couple of demos of the Boss XS-1, dialed in to seek to emulate an effect somewhat similar to an 8 string octave course bass -esque effect: I feel the 1 octave up effect works best for this, since the dry signal will be dominating, as the bass strings would on a real 8 strings bass, compared to the octave strings, and so the fake octave can kind of hide behind the real bass signal. In any case, a huge improvement over the TC Elextronic Sub'N'Up I used previously, even with a custom made Toneprint, with pre and post octave engine EQ filters to improve tracking, minimize digital artifacts and make the 1 octave up effect sound more natural. Here we go: Sound test of the new Boss XS-1 pitchshifter, testing octave down and octave up respectively blended with dry signal, on my 28.5" scale tenor bass (reverse orientation middle/bridge P pickup), tuned in A standard tuning, seeking to emulate a somewhat 8 string octave course bass -esque effect. Octave Down: 0:00 - 2:30 Octave Up: 2:30 - 4:21 Sound test of the new Boss XS-1 pitchshifter, testing octave down and octave up respectively blended with dry signal, on my 5 string 28.6" scale tenor bass (bridge J pickup), tuned in E standard tuning, seeking to emulate a somewhat 8 string octave course bass -esque effect. Though I avoided playing the low E too much, as it is already pretty floppy sounding on the short scale as is, and E0 is insane, however I did hit it a few times, just for the sake of the demo. Octave Down: 0:00 - 6:10 Octave Up: 6:10 - 9:44

Absolutely, huge improvement, much clearer and natural sounding 1 octave up effect (the 1 octave down for that sake too, which for me is straight out unusable on the Sub'N'Up), and without any kind of glitches or odd digital artifacts. Also try listening to the other test I just added to my previous post. I focused on the 1 octave down in the above demos for the sake of comparison, but what I predominantly actually use myself is the 1 octave up effect, which I think, blended in with dry signal, and the dry signal being dominant, pretty much sounds perfectly natural.

You can judge for yourself here: Sound test of the new Boss XS-1 pitchshifter, testing octave down and octave up respectively blended with dry signal, on my 28.5" scale tenor bass (reverse orientation middle/bridge P pickup), tuned in A standard tuning, seeking to emulate a somewhat 8 string octave course bass -esque effect. Octave Down: 0:00 - 2:30 Octave Up: 2:30 - 4:21 And for comparison, here played on my 5 string 28.6" tenor bass (bridge J pickup), tuned in E standard tuning, though I avoided playing the low E too much, as it is already pretty floppy sounding on the short scale as is, and E0 is insane, however I did hit it a few times, just for the sake of the demo: Octave Down: 0:00 - 6:10 Octave Up: 6:10 - 9:44

Yes, admittedly it is quite Danny Elfman inspired.