SteveXFR

To be fair, as a metal bassist you have to expect to tune low and in stoner, sludge or doom it's going to be at least down to C. In black metal it'll be lower than Satan's basement.

We're making no money but it's early days. For me, it'll be fun above money with the ambition to play some good support gigs and some festivals. If I could give up the day job that'd be amazing but I'm not counting on it. I'm thinking a grand is a good budget. I'm going to see if I can try out an Ibanez EHB1005MS multiscale 5 string

I'm certainly committed to the music and band. I think there's a lot of potential to make great noises. I will be upgrading my bass, whether it's a Dingwall is another matter.

That's the badger. An early 90's 4001 head with the GP12SMX preamp built in. Shape button is definitely off.

It sounds OK I guess. I've never really liked the pickups, even when it was in relatively normal tunings. My Thunderbird and Peavey Zephyr sound much better but both kill my back so they're for home use only.

Guitarist has a LOT of kit. Loads of amps, effects, drums, studio and recording kit.

We're all in our 40's and don't exactly look metal. Image isn't an issue

I don't think the look even comes in to it to be honest

It's just an occasional bit of fuzz. Mostly just a bit of tube gain in the preamp

I was thinking a Hoffner violin bass or Danelectro longhorn

It kind of started from me saying I need to upgrade from my Ibanez and I was thinking of a Stingray 5 or Jazz 5 and then was told I'd need fan frets an multiscale and a Darkglass preamp so should get a Dingwall NG3. Maybe it was intended as friendly advice and I took it the wrong way.

Eq is almost flat. Just a slight cut I the treble. Amp is a Trace Elliot 4001 with GP12SMX preamp and TE 4x10 and 1x15 I also have a Orange Terror 500 which has the same issues but with more dirt

I don't think it was intended in quite that way.

The amp and cabs are no problem. There's a 12 band eq on the amp. My SR300 has been properly set up with 130, 105, 85, 65 string and a suitably altered nut and truss rod adjustment.

The Ibanez I have is tuned as a drop A# 4 string. Its OK but pretty weak and the tone changes so much across the range of the instrument that it sounds like two different basses. I've never tried fan frets. I'd I'm a very long way from Oldham. I'm not sure the pitch shifter would give the sense of impending doom required for our music, not sure how it would sound either fuzz either

The Ibanez I have is tuned as a drop A# 4 string. Its OK but pretty weak and the tone changes so much across the range of the instrument that it sounds like two different basses. I've never tried fan frets. I'd be curious to try it but I wouldn't buy without trying. If I did, one of those headless Ibanez's would be a more reasonable price at around a grand

I'd never really listened to Status Quo until I saw them at Glastonbury. Now I'm a big fan of old punk rock and even I thought they could have used a few more notes. I'm guessing the guitarists a bassist must have two very worn frets and the rest are like new.

I'm playing an Ibanez SR300 which I agree needs replacing, it's not up to the job I was going to go for a Fender Jazz 5 or Sterling Stingray 5 but the suggestion is I should get a Dingwall NG3. I was mistaken on the price, its only £2k.

Is it normal for other band members to tell you what bass you need to buy? How would you react to being told to buy a £2500 bass?

The great Gerry Only of the Misfits.

It's a dead boost/eq pedal (Orange Two Stroke) Maybe I could fit a 3 band parametric eq kit

Apart from throwing at the cat or using as a door stop what can I do with a dead effect pedal to make it a useful object?

I thought it was 45 days solid playing time?

All sorted now. Turned out to be a dodgy string. They were only a couple months old but new string fitted and it's spot on plus the low A# string is now much brighter

No, it's hitting a stop before the spring is compressed