Baloney Balderdash

I didn't read the whole thread, but one obvious advantage of this Boss unit over the Line 6 Helix Stomp is that the Boss GT-1000 Core can handle up to 3 parallel signal paths simultaneously, versus the Helix's only 2.

I know what you mean, but then on the other hand it's equally impossible with your fingers to recreate that specific unique aggressive snappy emphasis on the attack that you can only get from using a pick. Which conclusively actually makes it entirely up to personal preferences, application and context, which technique to use. Also there is more than just one finger style method, there's the traditional classic 2 or 3 finger plucking technique, but there is also the acoustic classical guitar finger picking style technique, or flamenco style index and/or middle finger flicking, double thumbing, thumb + index finger edge of finger/nail faux pick technique, and then of course slapping as well. All with their own unique tone and useability, advantages and disadvantages. Ideally you would want to learn how to do them all, including using a pick.

I kind of like it. Mind I don't exactly love it or would ever buy one, but I don't think it is ugly, and I condone Fender daring to actually try something different. The headstock is kind of not all that pretty though, but then again not really any worse than their Tele headstock.

Not an 80's bass but a current production ESP, I love the design of this bass: And this ESP bass is pretty cool as well:

I am with the crowd who prefer the white one with mint pickguard and dual J pickup at the bridge. How is that dual J wired by the way, parallel or series?

Anyone else who tune one or more of their bass up, that is higher than E standard tuning (or B standard tuning, if 5 or 6 string bass), perhaps even mainly playing with such tuning? That be whether it is piccolo bass tuning, one octave above, A standard, tenor bass (I know this sounds like an oxymoron, but it the actual technical term for a bass tuned this way. I assume named with the instrument tenor guitar, which is a 4 string higher tuned guitar, since a 4 string electrical bass would resemble this, in mind, rather than the actual tuning of it), tuning, one fourth above, F#, traditional classical upright bass solo tuning, two half steps above, standard tuning, G standard tuning, three half steps above, or perhaps some entirely different alternative tuning (same, as far as the intervals, goes for above B standard tuning for 5 or 6 string basses of course)? Personally I have grown quite fond of the traditional classical upright bass F# standard solo tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning. Seems to work really well for my just 28.6" scale Ibanez Mikro Bass, and in my experience F# seems to be just the turning point where it will still very much sound like a bass instrument, whereas as soon as you get to G standard tuning something happens with the character of the instrument that makes it sound more like a 4 string baritone guitar than a bass. With the higher F# tuning i can actually achieve a tone with a bit of that harmonically rich piano like quality, otherwise impossible to obtain with the kind of string gauge needed on such a short scale length for the low E string in regular E standard tuning. For this I personally use coated Elixir Nanoweb, relatively low and approximately balanced tension, guitar strings of the gauges .080 - .062 - .046 - .036 (threaded through the cut off ball ends of old bass strings, to not fall through the string mounting holes in the bridge). Though this is used for songs specifically composed with this tuning, and with playing it in a bass and drums only kind of constellation in mind, as well as for jams with just a drummer. Of professional musicians I am aware of that does this kind of thing: I know about Charlie Hunter, who developed a quite unique guitar/bass crossover playing style, where he sort of plays bass and guitar simultaneously, utilizing the 3 top strings like a bass, and the 4 bottom strings like a guitar, of his custom made fanned frets 29" to 25" scale length 7 string guitar/bass, tuned respectively G-C-F, bass side, and C-F-Bb-D on guitar side. And the bass player of Meshuggah has his 5 string bass tuned B - F# - B - E - A, utilizing the B string for hose of their songs written on 7 string guitars, for a B an octave lower than the lowest string of the guitars, but then actually, rather than tuning an octave bellow, for those of their songs written on 8 string guitar, utilizes the F# string, tuned to the same octave as the guitars. Then of course both Victor Wooten, and, to an even larger extend, especially Stanley Clarke, makes frequent use of tenor basses, that is basses in A standard tuning (a fourth above E standard tuning).

Wouh! Just discovered this absolutely hauntingly beautiful and mesmerizing song! Hilary Woods - "Kith" This upload that doesn't allow embedding sounds better though: https://youtu.be/DlgbQ-0F2oo

You won't like this suggestion, but honestly, get a good, but not necessarily expensive, 15" cab. You probably won't believe me but the The Box PA 502 works amazingly well as a bass cab and have really great low end reproduction, note though that it is FRFR and that it is rather heavy: https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_box_pa502_fullrangesystem.htm Sounds no short of amazing!

Get some lead, melt it in a cooking pot, and then pour the melted lead down in the control cavity and weight for it to set... Alternatively, if you don't want to completely ruin the bass (and the cooking pot), get a handful of lead weights, the kind used for fishing, put them in a small bag made out of fabric and secure them to a corner of the control cavity with gaffatape.

The tuner is digital, and also the drive and compression on the SpectraDrive preamp are digital too.

If I had that kind of money I wouldn't mind that Stanley Clarke Alembic.

Tuxedomoon cover :

How do I wire my brain to being better at multitasking, if possible? :

I wouldn't cut mids, but this is very much a matter of taste and personal preferences, it's a fact though that the mid frequency spectrum is what the human hearing/brain perceives as most defined and articulate, and cutting the mids can very easily result in muddiness and getting lost in the mix. Starting with tone all the way up on your bass and all EQ controls on amp set flat (noon position), and then take it from there, adjusting while listening and then adjusting further according to what you hear, is a sound advice though. In my experience, also with loud rock bands, 130W should be plenty, a bit depending on how hard the drummer hits and the sensitivity of the speakers you play through though, and Peavey's are known to generally being loud amps compared to their rated power (I am always puzzled when people claim not being able to hear themself through an 800W bass head, believe me I played in loud hard hitting rock bands and never needed anything above 130W and a single 1 X 15" cab, with no issues of hearing myself or being heard). Old Peavey amps are generally amazing for exactly that typical punk rock tone, which I personally love, but might not be the amp for you, still you should be able to get something acceptable that can pass for classic rock tone out of that Peavey, otherwise it might be time for you to invest in a tube head for truly classic rock tones. Eventual try cutting some higher mids (around 800Hz or so), boosting the bass slightly, and cutting the treble slightly, that ought to get you closer to a classic rock tone, but remember to listen while you adjust. That is set Freq at 800Hz, then cut Mid some, experiment with Bandwidth, if the Bandwidth numbers is listed as Q values try setting it around 2 to 3 to start with, and listen while you adjust, eventual readjust accordingly, Freq and Bandwidth relates to the Mid boost/cut control only, boost Low slightly, cut High and Presence a bit, and again all the while listening to what the adjustments you make do to your tone and readjusting accordingly (flat, that is neither boost or cut, should be with the EQ control knobs, except Bandwidth and Freq, at noon position, that is the 12 o'clock position, cut will then be bellow noon and boost will be above noon).

An old song with a psychedelic electronic project I had with a friend, where we both took turns in programming layers for the songs we composed together, predominantly utilizing Reason 5, and then me being responsible for lyrics, playing/recording vocals and physical instruments, as well as mixing using Cubase 5 and Reaper (DAW). This particular one featuring a sample from the soap tv series "Days of Our Life", from when the character Helena has been possessed by Satan and attacks the priest John (I am not kidding, that actually did happened). Also features a surprise (apo)calypso middle section with a latin inspired bass solo.

This seems like a great article for those interested in what exactly the concept of goldfoil pickups implies: https://stringjoy.com/gold-foil-pickups/ As some people already pointed out in this thread it does seem, from reading this article, that it is more about a certain style really than actual substance, as the term covers over a wide variety of different construction methods, though there does seem to be certain tone characteristics commonly associated with this type of pickup, which roughly summed up seems to be very full range, harmonically rich, and open sounding, but also having a relatively weak output, which I guess for most parts usually wouldn't exactly be considered great qualities for a bass pickups, but on the other hand definitely ought to make for an unusual and different fairly unique take on a bass sound/tone.

This looks absolutely amazing! ❤️

It's a great bass, regardless of price, and even the stock pickup, which is otherwise often cheap budget basses greatest shortcoming, sounds genuinely great. No need to be ashamed of that.

So do I (using my ears), and I actually think that was pretty clear from my reply, neither did I suggest you did (judging by looking at graphs). I don't know where you get this from. Yes, I mentioned graphs, but not in any way so that it could be intepreted that way in the actual context. Not everyone got the same preferences, taste or opinions, and that is perfectly fine. We clearly don't hear the same things either, but again that doesn't necessarily mean that there is anything wrong with neither yours or mine hearing, this could be down to personal preferences too. And just for the record I wasn't recommending the SCPB-3 either, not recommending against it either though, I will let that be up to OP to decide.

While it is true that just about any other model in the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickup series scoop mids big time it isn't true at all in this specific case, just exactly the '51 single coil P Quarter Pounder is an exception to this and is actually pretty mids heavy, not scooped in any possible way, and even actually has a more pronounced mids response than most other single coil P pickups out there. And I don't agree that different pickups can't result in a substantial improvement in tone either, though of course however we define substantial is totally objective, as far as I am concerned just about every change in this context will objectively measured be relatively minor changes when looking at plain numbers or a graph, however it is exactly those small changes that can make the whole difference between something just sounding decent and then something sounding amazing when we are talking the tone of a musical instrument.

You are not supposed to hit the pickups with the pick, that is not how playing an electrical guitar or bass works. And least of all if you are playing with a heavy gauge pick. You are only supposed to hit the strings with the very outmost tip of the pick. Not really Fender that is at fault here, as far as I am concerned. Edit!!!: That came off a little more harsh and snarky than really intended. I mean of course it sucks that your dad accidentally damaged his new guitar cosmetically. Just saying that it's not entirely fair to give Fender the full blame, and that your dad definitely is responsible for part of it himself. Which I assume he is fully aware of too, since he didn't just send the guitar back. Some equipment is just inherently more delicate than other, and it is the users responsibility to treat it accordingly.

My new favorite pick is the Dunlop Nylon Max Grip .60mm (I know, I know, this seems in sharp contrast to my last response in this thread, but please read on), which is actually a good deal stiffer for some reason than the regular USA Nylon .60mm pick, but using one of the rounded corners of the pick, which is actually a bit stiffer than the regular USA Nylon .73mm pick, and well, obviously rounded.

My beloved Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass, with a just 28.6" scale length, the stock pickups ripped out and instead having just a single EMG Geezer Butler P pickup installed, wired directly to the output jack socket, also the stock side mounted barrel type output jack socket has been removed, and instead a regular front mounted jack socket has been installed in one of the redundant pot holes, other than that various visual mods... Without further ado: ...I represent you "Dud Bottomfeeder" ! : Edit/Update!!!: One of the knobs now features red electrical tape on top of it, instead of green, so here's a bit more recent, though far from as great, shot, reflecting that change:

Damn, a shame... But thanks anyway, appreciate.