Baloney Balderdash

Pondering on whether I should apply a Jack Skllington skull sticker on the body over the bridge, like on my old Mikro Bass, or not: What do people say, should I or not? I kind of like how the new Mikro looks now, but I also really like that sticker, and actually think it does add something nice.

As promised here's a picture of my new 4 string Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass, "Dud Bottomfeeder II": EMG Geezer Butler P/J pickup set installed, wired directly to each their own front mounted jack output socket, and respectively red and black electrical tape applied on to them. One of the stock pots and knob left, though with no functionality but cosmetically. Stock side mounted barrel type jack socket removed. Black electrical tape applied over logos on head stock. Strung with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges: .068 - .052 - .038 - .038, picked for almost perfectly balanced tension, tuned to tenor bass tuning, A# standard tuning, as in a ½ step above the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, threaded through the cut off ball ends of the crappy stock bass strings, to not fall through the bridge string mounting holes. Copper shielding tape applied in the nut slots to fill some of the space from the slots being cut for a gauge .105 - .045 bass string set. Simple basic cheap capo applied over strings on the head, behind the nut, to make the strings sit better in nut slots, to secure proper break angle, and to mute eventual sympathetic vibrations from strings between nut and tuners.

So I had a play on it plugged in, with no additional adjustments done, than the one mentioned above (that is string action). Well, it is noisy when not touching any of the metal parts, as one would suspect from an instrument at this price, even the P pickup is noisy. Also the P pickup soloed sounds like shit, I remember it as decent from my old 4 string Mikro, but apparently I must remember wrongly, it is muffled and dead sounding, with really poor definition and articulation, just utterly awful. The 2 pickups blended in at any rate sounds pretty shitty too. The bridge J pickup soloed however sounds very surprisingly pretty amazing, even with the not too great stock strings still on it, and with this soloed I can hear that this is a great sounding bass. Definitely better sounding than my old 4 string Mikro, and with much better sustain too, just as I hoped for. It is however heavier, but my old 4 string Mikro is unusually light, so not exactly a surprise, not really surprising either it is lighter than my 5 string Mikro, and honestly weight is not really something I am concerned about, so it's all fine. This is a keeper and will definitely become my new main, once I've installed the EMG Geezer Butler P/J set in it and put some new strings on it. As promised I will post a picture of it, but right now, without any visual mods done to it, there is really not much to see, looks pretty spot on the stock picture from Ibanez's homepage that I posted in the OP, maybe though with a just slightly darker fretboard.

Got it! I will post a picture later, once I got it all set up and ready to go. From stock though, with stock strings, just having adjusted the string action, which was way too high, neck relief was perfect, with minimal, almost straight neck, relief, just as I like it. The nut slot for the low E string is too high, but aside from that it sound and plays perfectly acoustically, and I have been able to lower the string action to just bellow 2mm, low E string side, at last fret, as I prefer it, without any fret buzz whatsoever. I haven't plugged it in yet, but aside from the mentioned not deep enough cut low E string nut slot, it seems pretty much spot on perfect.

I wish I could afford having a tremolo fitted on my bass. Or well, I suppose it would be a question of priority, but just so much other musical equipment that is higher on my wish list/more important to me. But really cool. And I've always wanted a bass with a tremolo system. Especially useful as how I mainly play my bass, that is tuned to tenor bass tuning (A1 standard tuning, or thereabout), and played accordingly.

The Stainless Steel Elixir Nanoweb bass strings actually got quite a fair amount of zing (and lasting a very long time). But more akin to fresh regular uncoated nickle-plated steel strings, than regular uncoated stainless steel strings. Not anything like the Nickle-Plated Steel Elixir Nanoweb bass strings, which does have a very rounded, some would claim dull, sound. But no, won't sound like roundwound stainless steel Rotosound strings, at least not as they do for the first week or so.

Nobody cares, and we are all going to die anyway! Why even bother playing? Quit while you got that choice, and use your time on something useful instead, like contemplating on who is going to pay for your funeral! You don't honestly want your tombstone, if you even get one, to say: "He played bass...", do you?

Or if you are a tone purist:

I wouldn't exactly call the Spectracomp simple. Quite on the contrary, using the Toneprint editor, which is the whole point with this pedal, it got to be one of, if not the most, advanced pedal based compressor on the market. You basically get a full set of compression parameters (and by full I mean basically every single possible parameter associated with compression, including knee degree) for each of the 3 bands, which crossover points can also be set, including a clean blend for each of those 3 bands respectively. But yes, due to it's single physical knob (which though can be assigned to any paremeter, up to 3 at the same time, however, in whatever range and direction, you want) it would definitely be a set and forget type of pedal, more so than the HyperGravity (basically the exact same guts and algorithms, just with additional physical controls).

My 4 string Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass, that I named "Dud Bottomfeeder" (note though that right pot knob now is red): Maple neck/Rosewood fretboard China December 2010 produced GSRM20 Mikro Bass, coupled with a Mahogany (due to it's unusually light weight, but really looking a lot like Mahogany, I suspect it really is Okoume) Indonesia 2017 produced GSRM20B Mikro Bass body. The stock pickups replaced for respectively a piece of folded black cardboard as far as goes the J pickup, and an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, which has been moved to the front, replacing the barrel type stock jack socket with a proper quality regular one, using one of the redundant pot holes for this. Other than that the two remaining pot knobs has been replaced for 2 transparent/black PRS Lampshade knobs, with respectively green and red electrical tape (also known as insulating tape) cut to size applied on the the top. Same red electrical tape has been applied to the top of the P pickup, and a Jack Skellington (character in Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" animated puppet movie) skull has been applied on the body, over the bridge. Small "The Scream" like stickers that was included with a Sherman Filterbank 2 synth (which I since unfortunately has been stupid enough to sell again at some point) has been applied to the headstock. Currently strung with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges: .068 - .052 - .038 - .028, chosen for almost perfectly balanced tension, and tuned to tenor bass tuning, A# standard tuning, as in a ½ step above the 4 upper strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, threaded through the cut off ball ends of old bass strings, to not fall through the bridge mounting holes. I am considering replacing the bridge for black ABM mono rail bridge pieces, milled from solid brass, and possibly in the same instance reducing the bridge string spacing 1 or 2 mm for the current standard 19mm.

I got the basic Mosky Black Rat, and I love it! Both the Vintage, classic RAT, and the Turbo RAT mode that this pedal features sounds amazing, and In Turbo mode it retains low end really well, and for some reason it also blends really well with parallel clean signal, via my Boss LS-2, without it ending up sounding like there is a clean signal sitting on top of the distorted one. Also just bought this used, practically unused, but at almost half price (I don't have a picture of my specific unit, but here's a random Google photo if it): And then I've ordered this for CTL input to gain two extra (function programable via the Boss) foot switches, which I should have by Wednesday (Edit!: Just realized now that these are momentary foot switches, which might expose an issue, depending on what I assign them to) : Haven't actually tried it yet, but looking forward to start experiment with looping, for the first time for me.

The Murder Mystery - The Velvet Underground

Arooj Aftab - "Na Gul" :

EHX Black Finger, the big tube version, is an amazing tube driven optical compressor, that can get quite dirty, not least because you can actually overdrive the input tube by turning up the input gain, everything from clean, to mild saturation, to on the verge of breakup, to full blown low gain tube overdrive (I actually use it with quite minimal compression dialed in, it basically never kicks in, practically as a tube preamp stage). And its 2 preamp tubes runs at proper high 300V plate voltage. Even if I, as said, really use it more so as a tube preamp stage than an actual compressor, it adds a lovely subtle color of tube warmth and harmonic richness to my tone. And even if, the way I have it set, that the optical compression circuit never actually really kicks in, it still does add a subtle natural tube compression, sort of rounding off the tone of the attack ever so slightly, but without actually making the attack any less prominent, or any less punchy or snappy, sounding like it is just sort of rounding off, rather than cutting off, the outmost very tip of the highest frequency content of the spikes, in a very dynamic and musical way (I realize this technically speaking is probably nonsense, but that is what it sounds like to me). My "magic tone sauce" pedal #1. However it has been discontinued for a while, but is not too uncommon to find used at reasonable prices.

Yeah, I wouldn't say being able to chose color of the finish would make something a "real" custom shop. A can of spray paint can do that.

Gimmie Indie Rock - Sebadoh

Well, been playing my 5 string Mikro as my main for a while, equipped with 2 J pickups, but while it is a growly beast, the notes very rich, and it has amazing sustain, there is just something about my 4 string Mikro with the reverse EMG Geezer Butler P pickup that I prefer. While the 4 string doesn't really growl in the same way the 5 string does it does have more punch and snap, dirtier in a way too, and somewhat dryer, with a less rich but more focused and fat tone, that I just really like, and that makes it take effects really well. And also I do prefer the narrower fretboard of the 4 string. However the last part of the fretboard has been damaged by haphazard mods, a chip has gone off at the last fret, and has been glued back on again, and I drilled through the fretboard too, when drilling guide/pilot screw holes for the neck. Now the frets has luckily not been damaged by this, it does play perfectly, and sounds great, but it also doesn't have the best sustain. So the new 4 string Mikro is for getting an undamaged fretboard, and hopefully a bass that has a bit more sustain, and perhaps a bit cleaner tone as well. The old one will then function as backup, or perhaps I'll raise the nut and convert it to a 4 string slide guitar.

The wood has been bound. I think it means it has been treated somehow. As in sealed. At least that is how I understand it.

Oh, and also NST, new strap day! Had an eye on this for a while, and finally pulled the trigger: Levys Poly Sunset Strap 2"

Or almost, that is... Just ordered a new Ibanez GSRM20B Mikro Bass in Weathered Black finish from Thomann. Should be here Wednesday or Thursday next week. Just 28.6" scale length, Maple neck, bound Purple Heart (which is almost as hard as and stiffer than Ebony) fretboard, Okoume (which is a cheap alternative to Mahogany, lighter and not as hard, but is supposed to have very similar tonewood qualities, and looks a lot like Mahogany too) body. (following image is from Ibanez's own homepage) Plan on fitting at set of P/J EMG Geezer Butler pickups in it as soon as I get it. I'll update this thread with pictures of the actual bass, when I get it.

Yes, that would be the Premium Deluxe Artifact Reliced and Anciently Aged topVenerable P Legend model, that one would be able to purchase for the ridiculously give away price of just 25000£.

Gibson do actually sell guitars with pre-broken and glued back headstocks from stock from their custom shop, as a feature.

It would have been perfect, if only they has drilled "cheese" holes into it, for the genuine "rodents at work on the attic" effect. I predict the next trend will be cutting off random parts of the headstock and body, and deep "going nuts with pointy end of the hammer" gouges. Maybe even protruding, broken off or entirely missing bridge, neck pocket, tuner and pickup screws, broken tuners, demagnetized pickups, faulty wiring, and clumsily ripped out, broken and missing frets, from stock.

Drive: Joyo Orange Juice Distortion: Mosky Black Rat (RAT clone, with Turbo RAT mode, and retains low end better than most other RATs, and also for some reason just blends really nicely with parallel clean signal, without it sounding like they are sitting on top of the distorted signal) Envelope Filter: Mooer Bass Sweeper (take on the EHX Bass Balls with more control parameters, though I would rather swap this for an extra modulation effect, in which case that would be my Monarch SFL-22 Stereo Flanger, which basically is a rebranded Arion Stereo Flanger, or perhaps a tremolo effect, which would be my HoTone Trem) Octave: TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (for 1 octave up 8 string bass emulation, using a self-made custom Toneprint) Modulation: EHX Small Stone (the original big box version) Preamp: probably Two Notes Opus or IK Multimedia Tonex One Delay/Reverb/Tuner: Zoom B1Xon (hacked with extra reverb and delay effects, this might be cheating, but I basically use this right now almost exclusively for my reverb and delay effects) Wildcard: would almost have to be an effects loop blender, in which case I would probably chose the EHX Tri Parallel Mixer, though I'd hate to be without my EHX Black Finger (tube driven optical compressor, though I use it with minimal compression dialed in, more so as a tube preamp stage)

If you are going for the pimp look, then sure: