Baloney Balderdash

Except with a wider nut width and 2 frets less.

Newest shot of my 28.6" scale 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass, but with the outstanding neck from the battered GSRM20 model pictured in my OP, to a Weathered Black finish GSRM20B Mikro body, that I had laying around unused, since that neck unlike the other had horrible fretwork from stock, which was only made much worse by my haphazard attempt at a first timer fret leveling procedure. This new body, like the old, is supposed to be Mahogany, but where the old GSRM20 body was unusual heavy, even for a piece of Mahogany the size, the new is unusual light for a piece of Mahogany that size. The neck pocket of the new GSRM20B body also fit dead tight and snugly around the neck pocket of the old GSRM20 neck, which wasn't the case with the neck pocket of the old GSRM20 body, which I think, together with the new body's lack of an insane thick poly finish, contribute to the slightly improved resonance and sustain after the neck transplant. Currently strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound steel core strings, and tuned to G standard tuning, as in 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning. Gives a clearer and more vibrant tone that is better suited for chords and melodic work and prevents the thuddy, staccato, dead note effect that short scale basses, and especially the Mikro with it's even shorter scale length, seems to suffer when the low thick gauge E string is fretted approaching the upper end of the fretboard, typically above 12th fret or so, but while still being substantial and deep enough to fill out the sonic space of a bass instrument. Used for the musical project that has my main attention currently, a sort of progressive stoner/doom rock bass and drums duo, where I also run the signal of my bass through an always on 1 octave up effect, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string bass (with pairs of respective bass and octave strings), with the riffs and playing in this project utilizing more of a bass/baritone/ guitar crossover style.

And another track from Emma Ruth Rundle's new album "Engine of Hell" :

The new album is amazing! Love it! And the above video is just absolute sublime, also the visual side.

Care to share the effect model(s) used and the settings for it? By the way out of the two different settings I posted for my Zoom wah pedal patch I ended up using the latter more prominent one, which produces a very pronounced strong kind of "wOÚh" sound, rather than the traditional/typical "wAh" wah pedal sort of sound.

I personally ended up using these latter settings.

I still use my Zoom G1Xon in my bass setup, which though I have used a hack program to install several other effect models on from the same generation Zoom units (G1(X)on / B1(X)on / MS-50G / MS-60B / MS-70CDR). I normally exclusively use it for different reverb patches, among that my always on subtle plate reverb, and a really prominent thick and lush reverb pad patch, that I use with the build in expression pedal, set to control the input volume, for reverb pad swells. However today I decided to experiment with getting a great wah pedal sound out of this old Zoom unit. I ended up with using the "M-Filter" model (which is to be found from stock on both the G1Xon and B1Xon), which emulates a MOOG MF-101 LPF pedal, with the expression pedal set to control the "Freq" parameter, and I actually think that I managed to create a really awesome sounding wah pedal patch. Here are the settings : M-Filter : Freq = 85 ; Sense = 0 ; Reso = 7 Type = LPF ; Chara = 4Pole ; VLCTY = Slow Bal = 90 ; Level = 80 Patch Settings : : LVL : Level = 80 : Pedal : DST : M-Filter Parameter = Freq ; Pedal Min. = 70 ; Pedal Max. = 100 (Eventual other effects, like for instance distortion, fuzz or reverb, can of course be added as one see fit) Edit!!!: For an even more pronounced strong "wOÚh" sound try these setting instead : M-Filter : Freq = 70 ; Sense = 0 ; Reso = 7 Type = LPF ; Chara = 4Pole ; VLCTY = Slow Bal = 90 ; Level = 80 Patch Settings : : LVL : Level = 80 : Pedal : DST : M-Filter Parameter = Freq ; Pedal Min. = 65 ; Pedal Max. = 100 I personally ended up using these latter settings.

Wauh! Another incredibly touching song from Emma Ruth Rundle’s upcoming album “Engine of Hell”, out on 5th of November, with another amazing dead straight on point video :

One of my favorite songs of all times :

Low - "The Price You Pay (It Must Be Wearing Off)" :

New shot of my Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass :

Coil - "What Kind Of Animal Are You?" :

From Low's phenomenal new album of a masterpiece "HEY WHAT" :

Brand new shot of my Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass : And I plan to add this OM decal soon (PhotoShopped) :

To elaborate I don't own the NUX bass preamp myself, but I have read a lot of praise for it and I did consider using it for my "amp-less" setup. I love my NUX Tape Core Deluxe though, which is a digital emulation of the legendary Roland Space Echo tape delay, it is in my opinion much better than the Boss emulation of the same tape delay, even if much cheaper, and a testament to how great NUX's digital modeling technology is, despite the relatively cheap price of their products. In fact as far as I concern it might be the best sounding delay ever made, at least digitally based delay. I can also warmly recommend the NUX Solid Studio IR Cab and Poweramp Simulator pedal, which supports about double the resolution of the IR files than other products from competitors in a similar price class, and actually than most much higher priced pedals that supports 3rd party IR cab simulation files too. I actually owned the latter pedal at some point, but sold it, as I settled for a simple EQ based cab simulation, that I dialed in to my own preferences using the 2 band fully parametric bass equalizer of my Zoom MS-70CDR to mimic a LPF set about 3.5kHz with a downwards slop of -12dB/Oct. Cause while an IR based cab sim will be much more precise and authentic in terms of mimicking a real bass cab that also means that it will be much more intrusive on the tone of your bass, whereas a simple LPF will be more true to the actual raw tone of your bass. It's totally a matter of taste though. and with an IR based cab sim you can get your bass to sound pretty accurately like almost every possible bass cab ever produced, at least that is giving you can find an IR of it, but really there is a huge amount of options to be found on the internet, both in from of free and paid for (but usually quite reasonable priced) IRs of various cabs and microphone combinations used to capture them. I just happen to prefer a simple LPF solution that will leave the raw actual tone of my bass more intact. This is how my personal "amp-less" setup looks in written form (only including always on units) : My "amp-less" setup in written form (only including always on effects) : 4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .090 - .072 - .054 - .040 D'Addario XL nickle plated steel core roundwound strings, tuned in F# standard tuning, 2 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->> TC Electronic SpectraComp (always on 3 band parallel compression, adding extra punch, snap and bite, but without really affecting my playing dynamics) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (always on digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, really primarily used to enhance harmonic content, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Artec SE-EQ8 (always on 8 band graphic equalizer, settings as follows: [Freq=100Hz LoShlv Boost=+1dB ; Freq=170Hz Q=wide Boost=+1dB ; Freq=280Hz Q=narrow Boost=+3dB ; Freq=500Hz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=800Hz Q=narrow Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1.4kHzHz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=2.3kHz Q=wide Boost=+3dB ; Freq=5kHz HiShlv +/- 0dB]) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Always on subtle plate reverb, and additionally used for 4 other reverb patches) ->> NUX Tape Core Deluxe (Roland Space Echo tape delay emulation) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (Always on "160 Comp" (emulating a DBX 160A compressor), set to a quite subtle compression -> always on 2 x 2 band parametric EQ : [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=250Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=400Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB[/I]] -> always on faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=12kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; [I]Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], and additionally used for a lush Church reverb that can be switched on/off) ->> Joyo American Sound (always on clean preamp (gain set to ever so slightly break up when digging in the hardest), a Tech 21 Blonde clone, analog emulation of a Fender type amp, with a wide curve around the center frequency of 400Hz boosted about +3dB, and an about +3dB pre gain stage boost to a wide curve around the center frequency of 800Hz) ->> EHX Black Finger (always on tube driven optical compressor, used primarily as a tube preamp stage) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF fixed @40Hz) ->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) This gives me a very consistent tone, making sure I sound approximately the same weather I go through my powermap and full range PA speaker (the Box PA 502 that I use got got an exceptionally good low end response, better than some dedicated bass cabs, which is rare for full range PA speakers, not only in this cheap price class, but in general regardless the price, and they sound amazing and have very close to flat response, giving me a tone pretty much identical to when practicing at home though my Sennheiser HD 380 Pro studio headphones) at band rehearsals, through a PA at a venue when gigging, or I pratice at home through a mixer and then my high end studio headphones.

Danish Myrkur :