Baloney Balderdash

Well, making an untreated Maple fretboard approximately the same color as Rosewood should be relatively simple and cheap, getting it to look like actual Rosewood would be a very costy and complicated affair that likely still would only last for a limited amount of time.

I am not much of a compression guy either, outside of post production mixing and mastering that is of course. I do tend to use some very subtle compression, but an untrained ear probably couldn't tell the difference, more so of a feel/tone thing than it is a way to control my dynamics, I very much prefer the latter intact. But since drive technically does compress the signal slightly, technically you would use subtle compression as well.

So I am in the process of totally rearranging my pedal board and I am in the need of a high gain distortion pedal. My Boss MT-2 Metal Zone stacked into a Joyo Orange Juice (set to a low gain overdrive), really tightens up the Metal Zone, and mixed with parallel dry signal, via a Boss LS-2, at an about 35% dry signal/65% distorted signal ratio, gets me really close to the kind of high gain distortion sound I want. However, judging from various demos and sound clips, it seems like either the EHX Nano Metal Muff or Ibanez Super Metal Mini could get me even closer, and without the need for the Joyo Orange Juice, since they are already much tighter sounding than the Metal Zone. The EHX Nano Metal Muff or Ibanez Super Metal Mini seems quite close in terms of character, but I am having a hard time judging which would likely give me the best result, so can someone who has first hand experience with either or both please guide me? I like to point out I am definitely not looking for the popular Darkglass fizzy distortion top end on top of clean bass sound, and I am actually satisfied with whatever low end the high gain distortion naturally cuts mixed with the full frequency dry signal and don't mind loosing a bit of low end when using my high gain distortion.

Love that band photo!

Worth to consider here is that the Tech 21 VTDI does feature a simple but all analog cab simulation, the Laney Digibeth, as far as I know, doesn't, so if you pick that one and need cab simulation (because most basses sounds best when a fair deal of the higher frequency spectrum has been cut) you would need an extra external IR loader pedal or similar for that.

This! Start with knowing what you want, then do research and adjust your desires accordingly to what you find/learn from that research, everything else is a certain recipe to later regrets! No one else but you is going to know what fits your physics, playing style, taste and personal preferences best! What is the absolute ultimate best bass for me is almost certainly not the ultimate best bass for you (this is especially true here as i got some rather unusual preferences). There is a reason why they don't just offer 1 single model with 1 single determined set of specs.

I am pretty sure OP's pickups are stacked coils (on top of each other), not split coil (side by side), ("faux singlecoil") humbuckers.

Damn, that sucks... I've managed to rip out the bridge ground wire of one of my basses once too. Not when installing the Geezer P though. Thing is that the only thing that holds the bridge ground wire in place is the downward pressure from the bridge against the wood of the bass's body, so while it definitely will never rip loose by it self it doesn't take a lot of pulling strength to do so. Guess you will have to remove and then reinstall the strings and bridge again after threading a new ground wire. Edit!!!: You did mean the bridge wire came loose, right? Or did you mean fell out of the ground cap included in the set to splice the bass bridge ground with the EMG ground wire? If the latter it isn't exactly a huge issue, just remove a bit more insulation from the EMG ground wire and splice them, you don't even need to solder them, just give them a thorough series of wiggles/twists to attach them to each other properly and apply a some electrical tape to the joint (nothing is going to rip them apart as long as they are sheltered in the control cavity, and the connection should be plenty firm for proper conduction), or you could also just solder the the original bridge ground wire from the bass directly to the jack socket sleeve connection, or really any spot that got ground connection.

Not to be pedantic but it's due to the extra resistance and not impedance, making less high frequency content bleed to the ground (unless I have misunderstood something, might have something to do with raising the frequency of the pickup's resonant peak as well). I prefer my P pickups wired directly to the output jack socket, which I've found makes them sound much more open and clear, though that of course is at the expense of any onboard control of Volume and Tone.

Ballsy move...

My best bet is a 5 string J pickup. And possibly a stacked coil design too.

I composed (programed, played, sung, mixed) this with relatively little technical understanding of music theory, but of course a lot intuitive understanding of the mechanics of music, with all that implies, simply from years of playing and composing music, and very little theoretical knowledge about how to record and mix properly too for that matter, making all this predominantly based on experience and intuition alone :

You would want a pair of decent studio grade (which basically just means FRFR, full range flat frequency response) headphones for that, as you would want an as authentic and neutral representation of your recordings when mixing as possible, and also wouldn't want bloated bass frequencies (which is often the case with regular cheap, and sometimes higher end too, headphones, made with regular common use in mind) when practicing bass, I assume already using some sort of bass amp and cab sim. Also if you plan on recording anything with a microphone (vocals, acoustic guitar, drums/percussion e.t.c), and especially if you are using condenser michrophone(s), you would want the headphones to feature a closed-back design, to prevent, or at least minimize, the monitored played back, or click, track, to spillover/feedback into the whatever you are currently recording. I am extremely satisfied with my Sennheiser HD-380 Pro, but unfortunately that model have been discontinued and the closest current production equivalent model would be the HD-300 Pro.

* My main, predominantly experimental and dark, drone/ambient solo project "Fjernsind" The name "Fjernsind" is a word play on the Danish word for "Tele-vision", "Fjern-syn", that directly translated means "Distant-vision" or "Remote-vision", but instead of "syn" ["vision"] as the last syllable, the Danish word for "mind", namely "sind", has been used. * My alternative folk project "...and for such a long time" From a Molière quote: "We die only once, and for such a long time". * My stoner/doom rock project "all I nil", that has bass and drums as primary instruments. * My, predominantly experimental, electronic music with free, primarily bass, improvisations project "Itu [ɛt ˈtuː]" "Itu" meaning "out of order"/"broken" in Danish. * And yes, very pleased.

Yes, the Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder should have been named Mid Scooper instead, which invites to an inarticulate mud fest. I love the EMG Geezer Butler P pickup that is currently installed in my main bass, vintage voiced, but exceptionally well defined and articulate, very clear, dynamic and well balanced, tone, though with a slight emphasis on the upper mids, which gives it a nice amount of snap and bite, as well as it got a slightly higher output than your average vintage voiced P pickup. And then it is almost dead silent, even installed in a bass that otherwise has not been properly shielded, as this pickup is shielded internally and got shielded wires as well, that is the ground of the pickup wire running as a braided shield all along the insulated hot wire (same with other connection wires). Also the solderless system makes it so easy to install, but without compromising on the sturdiness of the connections. Of course a matter of personal taste and preferences, but to my ears the Seymour Duncan SPB-4 Steve Harris P sounds a bit dull, almost somewhat muffled, compared to the EMG Geezer Butler P :

Love how the 3rd plate looks isolated, but for this bass in specific the 1st and 4th looks just absolutely perfect.

Dunlop USA Nylon .73mm, yes! Still my favorite pick.

Finally arrived after being on the way forever. What a complete waste of money! All the disadvantages of finger style playing, but non of the advantages, and non of the advantages normally associated with using a pick, but all the disadvantages. Other than sounding like crap, really dull sounding compared to both pick and finger plucking, the rubber tend to get stuck on the strings when strumming, making you stumble over whichever strum patterns you are doing, and preventing you from playing fast successive notes, which is otherwise one of the advantages of pick playing, in fact you can even play faster just using traditional two finger style plucking technique than these picks allows for. What a load of pure crap. *sigh* On different note I have begun to really love playing bass using my fingers. Such a nice "in touch" and in control feeling, with tons of expression possibilities in between James Jamerson 1 finger plucking style, traditional 2 finger plucking, classical acoustic guitar, thumb+index+middle, finger style picking, flamenco guitar style, index and/or middle, finger flicking technique, and double thumbing, which I am starting to get really good at seamlessly altering between. Floating thumb technique is what came naturally to me right from I first started learning 2 finger style plucking technique, but starting to really getting a hang of muting the strings above the one I am currently playing with my thumb as well, instinctively, without really having to think about it, and just at the right time too when playing a riff that requires repeatably crossing/altering between strings.

Given how recently these basses were introduced and how popular they seem to already be and the really positive reception they have had in general it would be extremely strange and I'd say highly unlikely if they were already discontinued. My guess is, that is if there is actually something to this, it likely would be to reintroduce them slightly reworked, addressing the fact that there is no pickup blend control or switch, by adding one of those solutions to the new reworked edition. However they are still both on Thomann's and Harley Benton's own homepage when I just checked now: https://harleybenton.com/product/mv-4msb-gotoh-bk/ Under "Basses", "Deluxe Series", in the menu on Harley Benton's homepage.

Well, I believe Les Claypool only utilizes a single P pickup. Then again that didn't stop them from releasing a P/J Geezer Butler signature set.

Yeah, really hard to know, you would want to play something completely different depending of if it's a slow droning kind of atmospheric ethereal song or an upbeat peppy tune, having parts that encompass both, something in between, or something entirely different, add to that not least also depending on what the guitar and other instruments are playing and how they do it as well as the vocal melody and style, all in all making is totally impossible to come with any general guidelines that would make any kind of sense. Depending the right thing could be just droning on an open E all way through, chord arpeggios following the chord changes, a melodic bass line that ties it all together, or some kind of mixture of all that. The only general guideline I could possibly give you that actually makes sense without me actually knowing/hearing the song would be play whatever serves the song best, and if you need to experiment your way to that (which as far as i am concerned is the only real way to really learn and get better at this kind of thing, if you don't already know how to), then that's what you would need to do, I am sure you'll recognize and know when you get there. It takes much much more than a list of chords to make a song.

Sorry, but I can't make sense of that black spagheti drawing. I am pretty certain either you left out some connections or you made a mistake somewhere when drawing the connections. Particularly I can't make out how exactly that Mooer ABY pedal is supposed to be connected and what exactly it is supposed to do, and actually that whole upper right corner section of pedals in general, how exactly those are connected to each other and to the rest of your setup. Try take a look at that drawing and pretend you know nothing about your setup/signal chain and how it is actually connected, or the pedals you use for that matter and which input and outputs they got, and see if you would be able to make sense of your drawing in that situation yourself. Might help us understand it better if you meticulously write out the signal routing in details, like for example this: .... Digitech BP200 -> Boss RC20XL Loop Station -> Keely Compressor Pro -> Mooer Noisekiller -> Amp .... e.t.c., and if any splits are happening then perhaps something like this, as an example: .... ->(splits up in two signal paths: A and B)=> Path A:-> [Pedal X] -> [Pedal Y] .... e.t.c // Path B:-> [Pedal Z] -> [Pedal Q] .... e.t.c. But yes, a noise gate set right would be able to kill the in between feedback, however at that point likely together with any sustain happening, meaning your notes will likely quickly and abrupt die off, and it might affect the tone of the drive it self as well. I am pondering if perhaps the source of that feedback you are experiencing could possibly be from some sort of feedback loop that you are actually creating somewhere in that rather complex setup of yours, but I can't really tell from that drawing, as I, as said, can't really make out what is actually really happening there.

So who of you use one or more tube preamps (or pedals effective functioning primarily as tube preamps) as part of your setup, what do you use, and how do you utilize them? Personally I love my EHX Black Finger, which is a tube driven optical compressor, that features two Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH tubes (what this units came with from stock, but after trying out several other tube brands this is still my favorite, which I've put in pretty much any tube device I own utilizing 12AX7 preamp tubes), operating at proper high 300V plate voltage, that I have used as an always on part of my setup for the longest time. Currently it functions primarily as a tube preamp, with just the slightest compression dialed in from the optical compressor circuit (beside of course the subtle compression that the tubes themself provides), which is to say a fairly moderate threshold with a relatively long attack time and a very low compression ratio, the input gain dialed up to where the input tube is driven to just on the verge of breakup, adding a really beautiful harmonic depth and complexity to my signal. A fairly subtle effect, mind, that you only really notice when it is turned off, but it does really bring extra life, depth and harmonic complexity to my signal, and transform my tone from just sounding pretty great to an outright amazing sounding one. And actually, rather than having it placed towards the end of my chain, as you usually otherwise probably would with a tube preamp, I use it as pretty much the first pedal of my setup, with just a Xvive Undulator tremolo placed in front of it, the latter never actually engaged and exclusively used for it's really effective buffer, as for some reason the Black Finger was designed with a rather low input impedance, I believe something like just 150kOhm or so. I did experiment with placing the Black Finger later in my signal chain, but found placing all the way up front of it really works best for me and the rest of my setup, making it part of my base tone, fed to all following pedals in my setup, sort of effectively functioning as if it had been an onboard active preamp. Here's the specific settings on my EHX Black Finger that I currently use: Pre Gain (input gain/threshold (though as far as i understood somewhat interacting with the Compress control)) : Noon position (as said driving the input tube to just on the verge of breakup) SQSH/Norm (Squash=long attack, high compression ratio/Normal=more subtle compression) : Normal mode Lamp/LED (optical compression source, Lamp=longer attack time, more low end, fatter tone (contrary to what manual states the top end is compressed more and the low end less)/LED=shorter attack time, flatter response, more neutral tone : Lamp mode Compress (compression ratio (though as far as i understood somewhat interacting with the Pre Gain control)) : 8 o'clock position (just a smidge above minimum position, minimum position translating to practically no signal going through the optical compression circuit at all (except for what the full 500kOhm resistance of the pot allows for), which is to say that my guess is that the setting I use would translate to something like a just 1.5:1 ratio or so) Post Gain (output/make up gain/master volume) : Slightly above unity And this is how it looks (this is actually a photo of the backup EHX Black Finger I recently bough, just in case something should ever happen to my old one beyond repair, the new one (well, used new old one, as these pedals unfortunately are out of production) a lot more pristine and clean looking than my old one that I use currently): I should probably add that this is part of my main "amp-less" setup, with my basic "clean" tone, beside the Black Finger, also being composed of a subtle spring reverb, delivered by a patch on my Zoom B1Xon consisting of a really subtle plate reverb with a short pre-delay going into an emulation of a Fender type spring reverb, this being placed second to last in my signal chain, right before the NUX Melvin Lee Davis Preamp + DI that ends my signal chain (that is of course before my headphones or poweramp + FRFR PA speaker), using the Anguilar Tonehammer amp emulation that this pedal features, and an Ampeg SV212 cab IR simulation, which also comes stock with the pedal, with an added HPF set at 40Hz and a LPF set at just below 14kHz, as well as a subtle, relatively low gain, drive mixed with clean signal. Also using this with my main instrument of choice at the moment, my just 28.6" scale 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass, strung up to accommodate a G standard tuning, that is 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning.