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Baloney Balderdash

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Everything posted by Baloney Balderdash

  1. Baloney Balderdash
    Most recent incarnation of my "amp-less" pedal setup (If I recall right the main difference from last I posted my pedal setup is that I swapped the TC Electronic Shaker vibrato, which I used as a chorus, with a custom Toneprint, utilizing a triangle wave vibrato blended with parallel clean signal to obtain a lush chorus effect, for a Valeton Aquaflow Vintage Chorus, which is an all analog take on the legendary Boss CE-1 circuit) : For full signal chain description see my forum profile: https://www.basschat.co.uk/profile/50585-baloney-balderdash/?tab=field_core_pfield_1
  2. Baloney Balderdash
  3. Baloney Balderdash
    Individual mono rail bridge pieces would allow for any string spacing your could wish for, only limited by the width of the pieces. It might be necessary to use guitar mono rail bridge pieces for the tight string spacing, which would limit you selection of strings to custom made ones, I can warmly recommend Newtone for this, or strings made specifically for Bass VI type instruments, as the strings would need to have guitar sized ball ends, also depending on how thick gauge you go for for the lowest string and of course the specific mono rail bridge pieces you chose to use for this it might be necessary to drill the insert hole of the bridge piece for the lowest thickest string ever so slightly larger (I did this on a 28 5/8" scale 4 string bass I had build for me out of Warmoth baritone parts, and it worked perfectly well, without any issues whatsoever. Just be mindful when drilling and chose an appropriate drill piece specifically made for drilling in metal and of the right size, you would only want to drill the hole ever so slightly larger in order to not affect the stability of the bridge piece negatively).
  4. Baloney Balderdash
    Do you often find yourself getting hold on the wrong end of the stick?
  5. Baloney Balderdash
  6. Baloney Balderdash
    I am not interested in a .100 string, a gauge .095 low E string is what I normally use both on regular 34" scale basses, and for short 30" scale basses like this, and actually a thinner gauge string will give you a richer harmonic content and will sound more piano like than a thicker gauge string, thicker strings are stiffer, and especially so with the shorter vibrating length of a short scale bass, which prohibit the strings ability to vibrate freely, which again kills both harmonic content and sustain, so thicker gauge is the completely wrong direction to go if piano like tones is what you are after, thicker strings are for thumpy and thuddy tones. In any case I am not interested in tuning my Harley Benton GuitarBass in E standard tuning either, the F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above, it is in now fits perfectly for my specific application. And actually if I were to tuner it in E standard tuning I would personally even use a just gauge .090 string for the low E. The relatively lower string tension is only an issue if you apply too much force when picking and uses too thick picks, you shouldn't expect to play a different instrument, a short 30" scale bass in this case, exactly the same way, as you would a regular 34" scale bass in this case, without adjusting to the realities of that instrument, the shorter scale and lower string tension is really no issue at all, and has never been a real issue, the real issue is people's unwillingness to adjust their technique accordingly to the actual instrument they play. Also I do use a pick, and it is not the string spacing towards the bridge and the right picking hand that is a problem, it is fretting the strings with the left hand near if you don't want to mute the strings above or bellow the fretted note that is an issue, and trust me, a gauge .100 string would be an issue with the tight string spacing near the nut. I am actually perfectly fine with the string spacing for my picking hand, and really the tight string spacing as far as goes for fretting only causes issues close to the nut where the neck width is narrowest and therefor the string spacing tighter (and not really an issue for me personally after I have gotten used to it and with the just gauge .080 string I use for the low F#). Further more I think it is kind of missing the point with this kind of instrument to try to make it sound exactly like a regular bass, if you want a regular bass then get one instead of a Bass VI type instrument. Also the Harley Benton GuitarBass got a fixed TOM style bridge, not a tremolo system bridge like the Squier or Fender Bass VI, in fact really being closer to being a clone of the Shecter Hellcat than the Bass VI.
  7. Baloney Balderdash
    In my signature My SoundCloud profile is where most of my musical output get uploaded to, including both serious compositions for my musical project, just for the fun of it recordings and experiments, as well as various sound tests, my YouTube channel is more exclusively dedicated to more serious recordings, though also working as a cross project channel like my SoundCloud profile. Here are a couple of samples:
  8. Baloney Balderdash
    Forgot if I replied to this topic, but here we go: My #1 is my Harley Benton GuitarBass, which is a take on the Fender Bass VI concept. That is a 30" short scale 6 string bass, but usually tuned exactly like a guitar, just an octave lower (that is E1, like a 4 string bass, rather than E2, standard tuning), and with narrow guitar like string spacing as well. I got mine tuned to F#1 standard tuning though, that is 10 half steps bellow regular guitar E2 standard tuning, or 2 half steps above regular bass E1 standard tuning. Strung with a Newtone custom made set of roundwound nickle plate hex steel core guitar string gauge: .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .027 - .020. And I run it through an always on TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini as well, for blending in a polyphonic 1 octave up effect with the clean dry signal, using a custom Toneprint I made myself specifically for this purpose, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of a 12 string guitar/8 string bass, though I have the 1 octave up effect dialed in less obvious than it usually would on such a guitar/bass, blending in almost seamlessly with the dry bass signal, sort of most of all enrichening the harmonic content of the signal, filling out more sonic space, rather than sounding like an extra separate faux guitar or anything like that. Here it is, my beloved Harley Benton GuitarBass :
  9. Baloney Balderdash
    Lower output pickups, in particular single coils, will be more sensitive and react more naturally and directly to picking dynamics. Like being less compressed and having a wider dynamical range. And it is actually not just a matter of the output getting quieter when you apply less force and higher as you apply more force, beside the fact that lower output single coil pickups will react more sort of linearly this way, that is a more direct relationship between picking dynamics and the volume that is put out, additionally a tone change according to your picking dynamics is happening as well, so that gradually softer picking will also actually result in a gradually softer tone, and gradually harder picking will result in a gradually more aggressive tone, caused by the fact that more high end frequency content gradually is being picked up by the pickups the harder you pick, which doesn't happen to quite the same extend with higher output humbuckers, and finally single coil pickups will actually also react slightly faster to your picking as well, which adds further to the sense of a direct immediate relationship between your playing and the signal that is put out. I don't know if you could call that more musical, but definitely lower output single coil pickups will be more dynamic and expressive, having a more direct relationship, that feels more immediate and natural, between how you play and the tone the pickups reproduce, in comparison to higher output humbucker pickups. To me this feels more alive to play, but it does also kind of require of you to have a greater degree of control of picking dynamics for it to really be an advantage, otherwise it might even become a disadvantage, resulting in an inconsistent tone, rather than an expressive one. And if you happen to like a consistently big fat compressed tone all this won't matter much anyway, since in that case you would definitely be much better off with high output humbucker pickups.
  10. Baloney Balderdash
    Looks great, especially great for that finish in particular, not tacky at all!
  11. Baloney Balderdash
    "Sleeping Inside" from the album "Transmission of All the Goodbyes" by Lilium
  12. Baloney Balderdash
    Tortoise! This is one of my favorite YouTube concert videos: This one too, with Bela Fleck & the Flecktones :
  13. Baloney Balderdash
    Yes, these pickups were original made by a guy named Bumbledork, however he died in bar brawl fighting an evil evil man named Waldomard, that started because Waldomard tried to kill Bumbledork's apprentice Perry Nutter, after having spiked his drink with LSD, who now makes the pickups.
  14. Baloney Balderdash
    A Perfect Circle - "The Nurse Who Loved Me" (Failure cover) from "Thirteenth Step"
  15. Baloney Balderdash
    I wouldn't go thicker than gauge .095 for the low E on a Bass VI giving the tight string spacing, since it is going to effectively get tighter the thicker strings you use, then again I do prefer a gauge .095 low E string set of strings on regular 4 string short scale basses as well anyway, which the Bass VI happens to be, just with 2 more strings and much tighter string spacing. The Bass VI will sound like a regular short scale bass with single coil pickups, as that is what it is, the stock low E string is useless though, no idea what they were thinking when they thought up a gauge .084 string would be enough for a low E on a 30" scale instrument, but then again you should expect to change swap the strings on a new instrument as the first thing anyway.
  16. Baloney Balderdash
    As I explained a few posts up I recently chose to tune it down from the G standard tuning I previously had it tuned it in one more half step down to F# standard tuning. Also since I posted the OP I had a custom set of string wound from Newtone, being roundwaound nickle plated hex steel core guitar stings of the gauges .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .027 - .020, which I still use for the F# standard tuning (that si 10 steps bellow regular guitar E2 standard tuning, or 2 half steps above regular bass E1 standard tuning). No issues with the lower tension caused by this, in fact I like it even better, and I am pretty certain I will keep this instrument in F#1 standard tuning. Since I also replaced the original stock wires on the middle pickup for a shielded wire, while cutting the connection to the other pickups, and pulled out the stock pots as well, replaced for an EMG solderless system and pots, though only connecting the Volume pot, it's 250kOhm, matching up to the original stock 500kOhm Volume + 500kOhm Tone pot, as I didn't use the other pickups or the tone control anyway, using a pair of transparent and black lampshade knobs for the two pots. As well as I applied a Jack Skellington (character from Tim Burton's animated puppet movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas") skull sticker, as well as I applied a cut to shape piece of respectively red and green electrical tape (also known as insulating tape) on top of the two new pot knobs. Here is a picture I shot, reflecting all those changes (including more artistic PhotoShop shenanigans in the background):
  17. Baloney Balderdash
    Awesome! Congratulations. Wish i could afford one. I am though actually very happy with my Harley Benton GuitarBass, just wish it would have had a few mm wider nut (it's just exactly manageable, at least with the gauge .080 F#1 as the lowest thickest string, if one is mindful when fretting at the first few frets, but I think if I were to tune it to regular E1 standard tuning, needing a gauge .090 string for that to keep the same tension, it would start to get very problematic, luckily though for my specific application F# is better suited). Now by the way tuned from G standard tuning down to, as mentioned in above paragraph, F# standard tuning, and I think it'll stay there.
  18. Baloney Balderdash
    Natalie Prass - "Christy"
  19. Baloney Balderdash
    Yeah, that one is the Goth Moth! This is the Metal Moth!
  20. Baloney Balderdash
    Cheap budget basses have indeed in general come a huge long way, which I think predominantly is thanks to the fact that the exact same computer controlled machines being responsible for the largest part of the manufacturing process of just about all mass produced instruments, and some budget instruments will even be made on the same factory and by the exact same people as some higher end basses. So that is bound to have closed the gab considerably when it comes to production quality between cheap budget and higher end basses. What's left really is the quality of the materials used and then the consistency/extend of the quality control, the latter really effectively meaning consistency of production, or how high the risk is of getting a dud no good unit (which isn't really a real issue if you have the opportunity of trying before buying, or ordering from a web shop with a proper return policy, at most really just being an inconvenience), the former usually really mostly affecting hardware and electronics, which are both for most parts relatively cheap and relatively easy to perform updates, and if the given budget brand chose wisely of which cheap budget electronics and hardware they use for their instruments, not even that necessarily being a major issue. For example, while I personally found that the pickups on budget instrument in general exposing the biggest issue in terms of preventing a budget instrument from sounding great, most of the pickups Harley Benton uses, even on their cheapest models, seems to actually sound genuinely great, some even amazing. Though the rest of the hardware and electronics is generally still not exactly being the highest quality on the cheapest models, and usually there will also be a higher risk of the pickups not functioning quite as they are otherwise supposed to, referring to the part in the above paragraph about lacking quality control of cheap budget products. And I do think Harley Benton in particularly is unbelievably high quality for the money, also in comparison to most other budget brands, and likewise on the other side of the spectrum there are still some budget brands which are best avoided.
  21. Baloney Balderdash
    That bass looks awesome, I love the color in particular! Can't help you with your volume pot issue though, sorry.
  22. Baloney Balderdash
    Coil - "Who by Fire" (Leonard Cohen cover), from their second studio album "Horse Rotorvator" from 1986 :
  23. Baloney Balderdash
    I would have though that as good as impossible, what I would think possible though was the wax potting of the pickups potentially partially melting causing microphonic pickups. In either case it is probably a good precaution not to leave your instruments in direct sunlight, where the temperatures can get pretty crazy, and I'd say especially for the sake of the wood rather than the electronics.
  24. Baloney Balderdash
    To be honest I was stupid enough to sell probably the best bass I ever owned too, a Jerry Jones Longhorn Bass, which is kind of a high end boutique clone of the Danelectro Longhorn Bass, though the guy who owned that company since retired and closed down production, and they are kind of both really rare to find and really expensive used now. Played amazing, and I loved how the 2 lipsticktube pickups sounded when connected in series with each other, which was one of the stock modes on the 4 way rotary switch pickup selector. Astonishing tone, especially though my Ampeg B-15S, 60W tube amp from 1968, which I by the way also was stupid enough to sell at some point.
  25. Baloney Balderdash
    “The Dreamer is Still Asleep” from the album “Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 1” by Coil
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