Baloney Balderdash

Most strings will have a similar difference in tension when tuned down a similar amount. Take my advice : The String Tension Pro online app from D'Addario that I linked to in the first reply in this thread really ought to be able to answer your questions.

Some updates has happened since last I posted my pedal effects setup, though this time it seems pretty final for the musical bass project that currently got my main focus, but I will wait with posting it here until I, about time, eventually have bought a proper board to mount the pedals on, that up till now just have been single pedals linked together with patch cables on the floor. If all go as planed this should happen within a month from now. Especially needed now as my bass/drums/vocals solo project has involved into a bass/vocals and drums duo. So at our first rehearsal this coming Tuesday I will have to carry my pedals piled more or less randomly in a bag and patiently assemble my entire pedal effects chain, pedal by pedal, patch cable by patch cable, before we can start playing, and then disassemble and pack down the whole thing again afterwards. In the meantime there are pictures up and a full signal path go through on my forum profile: https://www.basschat.co.uk/profile/50585-baloney-balderdash/?tab=field_core_pfield_1

Use this: http://web.daddario.com/StringTensionPro/Search Dial in the scale length of your bass, your current tuning and the current gauge of your strings, and note the tension displayed in the calculator, then plot in your new tuning and experiment with plotting in different gauges till you hit approximately the same tension in the calculator as the first result. This calculator is tuned for D'Addario strings in specific, but will approximately work for most strings of the same type you chose to plot in (nickle roundwound/stainless steel/flats e.t.c).

Well, that was the basic essence of what I actually wrote about the NYXL strings in my OP, with all context cut away, if you want it even shorter, to the point of pointlessness, here you go: They are great! I like them a lot. Satisfied? Now tell me why you play bass and your favorite strings in 3 words.

"....so I decided giving the D'Addario NYXL nickle roundwounds a try, which got a new high carbon steel alloy core, and with the nickle wound wrapped tighter together, as well as they have slightly lower tension than similar gauged XL nickle wound strings, making then more flexible and the tighter nickle wounds making them feel a bit smoother...." "....But the best thing is the considerably improvement of the tone these strings are responsible for! Beside the D'Addario NYXL having slightly higher output than regular D'Addario XL Nickle strings, and feeling a bit smoother and really nice on the fingers, they have this really snappy edge and punch, though without being too brittle or harsh, but rather having an exquisite clarity, as well as what sounds like a distinct upper mids boost, which I absolutely love. They actually got a bit of that stainless steel strings flavor, but without the fret eating part or the coarse feeling of playing on something reminiscent of a metal file. Time will tell how I like them when they are a bit more broken in and lost that spanking new strings metallic zing, but I can tell already now that even without that fresh string zing I will like the basic tone they deliver a lot more than regular XL strings, and the set of single strings I use is only about 40% more expensive than the XL set I used before, and as the consensus of people who use these strings seems to be that they typically will last up to 3 times longer than regular XL Nickle roundwound strings before they go dull, I'd say it is money well spend." There you go! That'll be 5 quid! Just use Mobile Pay.

So I have been using a set of D'Addario XL Nickle roundwound strings on my main Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, that I upgraded with a DiMarzio Model P pickup wired directly to the output jack socket, with the J pickup lowered considerably and disconnected, using gauge .095 - .075 - .055 - .040 strings, and tuned in F# standard, 2 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning, since I figured out that was best suited for the musical project that has my main focus at the moment, a bass/vocals - drums sort of progressive psychedelic stoner rock duo, where I also run the bass signal through an always on 1 octave up effect, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings (thanks to the editable EQ settings for the signal feed to the octave engine as well as the octave output signal of my TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini, and it's as good as flawless polyphonic tracking and exceptional low latency, it actually sound pretty close to natural in the mix, and without any traces of odd digital artifacts). However I recently found out that the bass riffs for the songs I have been working on for this project sounded even better with the bass tuned an additional half step up, to G strandard tuning, as in 2 half steps bellow A standard baritone tuning, and for that the string gauges I used had just a bit too much tension, being way too inflexible. So I decided giving the D'Addario NYXL nickle roundwounds a try, which got a new high carbon steel alloy core, and with the nickle wound wrapped tighter together, as well as they have slightly lower tension than similar gauged XL nickle wound strings, making then more flexible and the tighter nickle wounds making them feel a bit smoother. To get the desired tension I had to use guitar strings for the 3 upper strings though, which has slightly higher tension than the NYXL strings for bass at similar gauge, which I assume means a bit thicker core. Anyway, so I ended up with a gauge .095 NYXL bass string, and gauge .070 - .053 - .038 NYXL guitar strings, the length of the guitar strings actually fitting perfectly to my Mikro Bass's just 28,6" scale length, threading the guitar string through the cut off ball ends of bass strings, for them to not fall through the bridge string holes. That combination giving me almost perfectly balanced tension across all 4 strings, which is just about 30 lbs pr string when tuned to G standard (which is 1 to 2 lbs lower than the tension of the A and G string on a regular short scale 30" 4 string bass equipped with a gauge .100 to .045 D'Addario XL Nickle roundwound string set and tuned in regular E standard tuning), pretty much the same as the gauge .095 - .075 - .055 - .040 set tuned in F# standard, only the tension being even more equally balanced, including the .095 string, which otherwise had been about 2 lbs bellow the average tension of the other strings. And as it turned out they also happens to be really balanced output and tone wise. But the best thing is the considerably improvement of the tone these strings are responsible for! Beside the D'Addario NYXL having slightly higher output than regular D'Addario XL Nickle strings, and feeling a bit smoother and really nice on the fingers, they have this really snappy edge and punch, though without being too brittle or harsh, but rather having an exquisite clarity, as well as what sounds like a distinct upper mids boost, which I absolutely love. They actually got a bit of that stainless steel strings flavor, but without the fret eating part or the coarse feeling of playing on something reminiscent of a metal file. Time will tell how I like them when they are a bit more broken in and lost that spanking new strings metallic zing, but I can tell already now that even without that fresh string zing I will like the basic tone they deliver a lot more than regular XL strings, and the set of single strings I use is only about 40% more expensive than the XL set I used before, and as the consensus of people who use these strings seems to be that they typically will last up to 3 times longer than regular XL Nickle roundwound strings before they go dull, I'd say it is money well spend. The D'Addario NYXL nickle roundwound strings with a high carbon steel alloy core is no doubt by far my new favorite strings for bass. Just "Wauh!", simply amazing strings! Without question what I am going to use in the future for all my basses, and might even try them out for my electric guitar as well, even if I am actually really satisfied with the Elixir Nanoweb strings that is on my guitar currently (their bass strings not exactly my cup of tea though).

A Jerry Jones Longhorn (a now discontinued, sort of high quality, high end, version of the Danelectro one, from a now retired luthier/company), just with a solid body mahogany body (the Longhorn is semi hollow), a Musicman pickup (the Nordstrand Big Blademan) in the P pickup position, an ebony fretboard, and a 28,6" scale length, I would pretty much have my dream bass. Here's how the regular real Jerry Jones Longhorn, that I once owened, but was stupid enough to part with looked, 24 frets, 16,6mm string spacing, 14,5" fretboard radius (not my bass on the picture though, just a random google one): Here are the specs: http://www.jerryjonesguitars.com/longhorn-bass4.html Though I love this body shape as well: And the B.C Rich headstock shape:

Fodera did nothing wrong! That there is a very special custom set for experiemntal musicians doing prepared bass stuff. They call it the "Ab/D - F [major] ck U p" set. All they did wrong was packaging it as an "Anthony Jackson Signature Strings" set, but I am sure he wouldn't mind.

On a more serious note, or well, I guess, in reality just to fulfill my urge to display my personal opinion on this matter as well, mostly because I am bored right now, and don't seem to care about doing anything that might have been more constructive, useful and needed : I get what you are saying OP, believe me, I too like my clean basic tone to sound great as well (even if we might not be of the exact same conception of what that is), and I guess there are really some bass players hiding their lack of skills behind using fancy, or less fancy, but rather perhaps more like flashy, in a tacky, questionable taste, kind of way, effects, often with little thought going into actually making them sound great or even just at least somewhat fit the context. And I guess such people would likely be a lot more common than those who play their effects artfully as instruments in their own right, or even than people who at least just put some amount of thought into making their effects sound great and actually having them add something to the context that a regular clean basic bass signal couldn't quite do with the same effect (no pun intended). I for one like to think I am one of those people who, at least post production when sitting quietly and working my magic in a DAW with VST effects, falls into the second category, when the music calls for it that is, live is another considerably more clumsy and crude affair for me though, even if I still like to think I here at least still manage to fall into the third category. Point being, as said I like my clean basic tone to sound great, but I also like the stuff that effects allows you to do that a clean basic tone wouldn't, not mindlessly used to add unnecessary tacky flash, necessary tacky flash when called for though, but mostly just what is needed to get the job done properly and make it sound just right, and fact is that far from all music is best off with no effects on the bass at all, perhaps most of the most common forms of classic traditional rock and pop is most of the time, but being traditional and common is not exactly the same as embracing all the lush diversity that music as a craft, art and advanced form of communication actually got to offer, in fact most often the exact opposite.

I took the risk and actually bought one of these PA speakers, the passive version though, but the exact same speaker, just without a build in poweramp, and I can actually confirm that it has excellent low frequency reproduction, more balanced between high and low frequency representation though than my SWR Triad I bass cab, the SWR being an early attempt of a full range bass cabinet, equipped with a 15" speaker unit receiving the full frequency range of the signal, a 10" speaker that via the build in crossover filter only receives the part of the signal that lies between 100Hz and 5kHz, and a high frequency tweeter horn that only receives everything from the signal that lies above 5kHz, being able to control how much of that part of the signal it receives via a build in attenuator. To be perfectly honest I did end up preferring the tone of my SWR Triad I, but actually not in particular just because of it tone wise balancing slightly more towards the low end, really more so simply because the, no doubt higher quality, speaker units of the SWR cab, compared to the units used in the cheap The Box PA speaker, simply sounded better to my ears. However I would still claim that The Box PA 502 full range PA speaker would be perfectly passable for use with bass, as it doesn't actually seems to struggle with reproducing the low frequencies of a bass signal whatsoever (at least down to and including the low E of a regular 4 string bass tuning), and I am quite sure using just right cab IR and EQ'ed just right you could get quite decent results from it, despite the obvious relatively cheap speaker units it is equipped with. In my opinion what likely eventual would disqualify this particular PA speaker as a proper candidate for a full range speaker to use with amp and cab IR sims for bass, would really rather be more of a case of the sub and tweeter units it is equipped with not exactly being of top notch quality, not exactly sounding great, though absolutely not exactly bad either, than because of any inability to reproduce the low frequency content coming from of a bass properly, since I don't think that would actually be true. So I guess the conclusion, as far as I am concerned, would be that nothing inherently about full range PA speakers seems to prevent them from being a great option for full range speakers used with amp and cab IR sims for bass in mind, as long as you are just willing to spend the money required to get one equipped with proper quality speaker units that match your tonal ambitions.

Always loved the look of a the Peavey T-40.

Absolutely nothing, but a set of new strings that accommodate the lighter tuning, except possibly a truss rod adjustment if the overall string tension happens to change, and the usual string change setup, setting intonation e.t.c. There's a slim chance that you might need a new nut too though, with nut slots that fit the thinner gauge of strings, but only a slim chance, I fitted a string set with a .100 gauge E string on my 5 string to tune it E to C and it fit just fine into the nut slot originally intended for a .125 string, as did the other strings of the set.

I would be concerned about the frequency response of those new cabs, they are rated to only go down to 60Hz, even the 15" one, their old, now out of production ones, as far as I recall it, were rated to go down to 35Hz.

I'll warmly recommend wiring the 2 single coil lipstick tube pickups in series. I once owned the Jerry Jones version of this bass (sort of a more expensive, higher quality, high end version), which I still regret being stupid enough to part with, and one of the stock options on the pickup selector switch of that bass was the 2 lipstick tube pickups wired in series. Actually it was the only pickup setting I ever used, gives it more punch and power, and in my opinion makes it better suited in a rock music context or similar than any other combination of those 2 pickups. In fact I loved how it sounded with the 2 pickups in series, and it might save you bothering about upgrading the pickups at all. You might consider upgrading the stock bridge for one with adjustable metal saddles too, I've seen a relatively cheap one on Ebay made specifically to fit these type of Danelectro basses, making it a relatively simple swap, basically a perfect drop in (be aware that a standard bridge won't fit, since the string spacing is much more narrow on these basses, though I guess you could go for monorail bridge pieces): https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Danelectro-Adjustable-Bass-Bridge-CHROME/333684117683?epid=2256127977&hash=item4db11f90b3:g:oNcAAOSww~FfNBEc As a suggestion for a visual mod, though I honestly think a black Longhorn bass looks great just as it is from stock, you could consider cutting out a photo, drawing or pattern on a piece paper or fabric and fit it under the clear pickguard.

So as the headline says, what relatively cheap but decent microphones will I need to mike up an acoustic drum set, when I only have 4 tracks at my disposal to record on, for a bass and drums duo where I play the bass? I am thinking a kick drum mic, a snare/hi-hat mic, a crash/tam mic and then an overhead/room mic, but other suggestion that will likely give better results are welcome, and I am completely at loss when it comes to choosing the actual microphones for it. I am planing to buy a Tascam DR-680 MkII for recording the drums and bass live, which can record on 8 tracks total, but only got 4 XLR inputs and 2 Jack inputs, intending to use the 4 XLR inputs for drum microphones, and then 1 of the Jack inputs for a DI recording of the bass and the other for miking up the bass cab, running it through a microphone preamp, and then transfer these 4 recorded drum tracks + 2 recorded bass tracks to my DAW later for mixing and adding vocals and eventual additional programmed and physical secondary instrumentation. I am open to the suggestion of using 5 tracks for the drums if it will give a considerably better result, and then just using a single DI'ed bass track though. The reason why I chose to use a small recorder is for ease of transportability to our rehearsal place, since I don't own a laptop or a car and I don't need the recordings to be super hi-fi.

Go USA!!! : Jefferson Airplane - "Plastic Fantastic Lover"

As I explained in my OP I am specifically speaking of how I use my bass in the musical project that has my main focus currently, a bass(or 4 string baritone)/vocals and drums sort of progressive psychedelic stoner rock duo. And as I wrote I don't play the bass particularly traditionally, but rather as you might imagine a down tuned 4 string baritone would be played, kind of a hybrid between between traditional bass playing and a more guitar like style, probably with slightly more weight on something that could be categorized closer to traditional baritone guitar playing, though stoner rock rarely tend to get all that twangy, even if I guess my clean tone might have a slightly twangy character. The instrument is however still technically a 4 string bass, even with it's short 28,6" scale length being closer to a typical baritone guitar scale length, and the G standard tuning that I use being exactly 1 half step closer to A standard baritone guitar tuning than E standard 4 string bass tuning. And technically speaking for this project it would kind of fill both the role as the bass and the guitar, as, as I said, I run the signal through an always on 1 octave up effect, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respective bass and octave strings. I think I have settled for using the term "Baritone Bass Guitar" in future credits though, , as suggested by some people in this thread, but would still be curious to how you would define/categorize it.

My EHX Black Finger, tube driven optical compressor, that acts as much as a fairly moderate compression as a tube preamp stage, then going into a Behringer BEQ700 Bass Graphic Equalizer with the 50, 400, 500 and 800 Hz, as well as the 4,5kHz, bands boosted ever so slightly, approximate just about 1 or 2dB, then going into my NUX Solid Studio IR & Poweramp Simulator, using a 3rd party Dr. Bonkers Poly Pro 1x15" + 2x8" cab IR and the EL34 tube poweramp simulator, the NUX also functioning as a DI. Works really well for my use, really punchy, kind of slightly aggressive, tone, with a nice crisp high end presence and bite and a gutsy tight bottom end, but with a prominent hint of nice warm tube flavor and slight compression as well.

Thanks for your inputs, "Bartitone bass guitar" seems like a good way to categorize it, think I might end up using that definition for the credits.

So my main bass for quite some years has been a 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass, even if I originally started out playing on a regular 34" scale bass, more specifically a great Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic, which I by the way still own. And for a while I haven't played in a band but had my main musical focus on working on the bass parts for some songs with a work in progress solo sort of progressive psychedelic stoner rock bass project, where the idea was that the primary instrumentation was going to consist of just bass, vocals and mainly programmed drums (in the meantime I have just found a skilled drummer I have played in a band with before, who is willing to be responsible for the drum parts though, and we will have the first band rehearsal in less then 2 weeks from now), though with some additional secondary more flavor oriented instrumentation here and there. And for that I tuned my bass in standard F# tuning, as in 2 half steps above regular E standard 4 string bass tuning (F#1 - B1 - E2 - A2), and run the bass signal through an always on 1 octave up effect, placed as the very first thing in my signal chain right after the bass, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass (with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings). However now I have discovered that the bass parts for the songs I have been working on sounds better when I tune my bass an additional half step further up, as in G standard tuning, which means that my bass technically is now actually tuned just exactly one half step closer to A standard baritone guitar tuning than regular E standard 4 string bass tuning, so would that mean that I should consider my 28,6" scale bass more as a down tuned 4 string baritone guitar than really a sub-short scale up tuned bass, especially considering that my playing for this musical project is somewhat closer to how you traditionally would play a baritone guitar than really how you traditionally would play a bass (the 3 highest strings is even technically going to be guitar strings for this new tuning (as of now I have it equipped with the lightest bass string set, .095 - .040), threaded through bass string ball ends to not slip through the bridge string holes)? To sum up my question: Can a 28,6" scale 4 string bass, tuned in G standard tuning, as in 2 half steps below A standard baritone guitar tuning, and played somewhat closer to how you probably would a 4 string baritone guitar than how you traditionally would play a bass, further more with the 3 highest strings technically being guitar strings, and finally run through an always on 1 octave up effect, giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass (with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings), still be called a bass, or would it rather be a down tuned 4 string baritone guitar? I might add before anyone comment on it that it's not like the answer to this question really matters much to me, it's not like it will actually make me reconsider how I play and use my bass whatsoever or anything like that, just curious how you would categorize my instrument taking the information given above on how I play and use it into consideration, like for instance if you hypothetically should assign my role in the credits of on let's say the project's Bandcamp and Facebook profiles or a physical album release. Personally I am not even quite sure, but will properly end up going with just "Bass" or perhaps "4 string baritone guitar", for the sake of simplicity when writing credits, right now actually kind of leaning towards just "Bass".

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing" : Quote : - George Bernard Shaw -

They are truly a great band, one of my all time favorite bands in fact, a couple of members from "Goodspeed You! Black Emperor" started it, and it is somewhat similar, yet totally different. Those two songs might not be the most accessible to start out with though, but you might still like them, I'll recommend "Mountains Made of Steam" and "God Bless Our Dead Marines", from, in my opinion, their best album, "Horses in the Sky". They altered their band name several times, they started out with the name "The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band", and is currently going under the name "The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra", other names they have gone by are variations on that. Here's four of my favorite songs by them:

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - "This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Bird's Fallen" Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - "Blown-out Joy From Heaven's Mercied Hole"