SteveXFR

Well it seems Gojira may no longer have my favourite album of the year. Chelsea Wolfe's new album is a dark and twisted masterpiece. I highly recommend having a listen to this one.

This morning I'm really enjoying Bloodmoon:I by Chelsea Wolfe. This has come as quite a surprise, I'm a fan of everything Chelsea has done but this is on another level to the rest of her excellent music. Very dark and constantly moving between heavy, doomy riffs and quiet, almost beautiful verses.

Heavy amp prices depend very much on the model. Old Trace Elliot SMX heads are around £200 while the all valve TE heads are £600+. I'm looking at Orange AD200B, Matamp Green GT200 and Ampeg SVT classic all valve heads at the moment and they start at around a grand.

Yeah, I've seen 5 string US models for around £1200

I would like a US Stingray but I'm in need of an amp upgrade first.

I may be wrong but I think the Ray35/Ray34 use the same wood as the US Ray. Pickups and bridge are different though.

I recently upgraded from a £350 Sterling SUB stingray to a £1000 Sterling Ray35. The quality of finish on the expensive one is much better and the sound is quite a bit better which I think is due to the better pickup and preamp rather than wood. If I wanted the biggest improvement in tone for least cost, I'd go for new speakers in my cab. If I wanted the least improvement for maximum cost, I'd buy some super expensive gold cable. Everyone knows real tone is in the balls anyway.

Is that because he plays simple parts and nothing fancy or because he could improve the way he plays what he does play?

Not sure about a god (Leo existed for a start) but he did give up on that jazz and precision nonsense to invent the Stingray.

Unless the bassist is the egotistic singer

Southbound pacyderm - Primus

Ever noticed how few successful bassists play million notes a second slap? There are many more who have sold millions of records with nothing more than simple, solid lines with solid timing.

Sweet leaf - Sabbath

My basses have active 3 band eq's. After a bit of experimentation I've ended up setting èverything in the middle and use the eq on the amp to get the tone right and then just uses the controls on the bass to tweak if needed.

Origin Effects Cali 76 bass. I tried a few compressors and this one just blows away the others.

Slightly odd that people are telling each other that what has obviously worked for them for years is the wrong way to do it. If it works for you then who cares? If it's your routine then don't change it.

I tried a new set up today. Bass in to pedals then to two amps. The opertunity for disaster is huge but it sounded seriously good. I don't think I'd ever play without at least a compressor.

Frost hammer - High On Fire

Thanks for the tips. I'll get that done. She'll be playing some quite heavy music so sustain and a meaty tone will be good. She was playing Chelsea Wolfe's 16 psyche last night on her old squier strat, played very well but it sounded so weak. This should be much better

Mother - Danzig

That's something worth considering. Was the block in place of the springs?

Back to school - Deftones

Agreed on the trem.it wasn't in stock with the rigid bridge. I won't fit the arm to the trem, all it'll do is put it out of tune.

I finally got around to actually buying one. I went for a CST 24 in the end which is a clone of the PRS Custom 24. The reviews were all extremely positive. It turned up this morning. It looks fantastic, really nice finish. The fret board is a bit dry so I'll put on some lemon oil, other than that I can't fault it. I plugged it in to a little Orange Micro Terror and it sounds amazing. For £210 I'm really impressed, for double that I'd be happy. It'll be my daughters Christmas present so I hope she likes it. I thought the dark green would suit her current goth phase.

Please, please, please let me get what I want - The Smiths Deftones cover version was better though