SumOne

I'm a bit late on this news - sadly, Chris Meredith died about a month ago. He had worked a lot of big names, including: Yellowman, Burning Spear, Ziggy and Stephen Marley, Dennis Brown, Israel Vibration, Gregory Isaacs. https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/guitarist-chris-meredith-is-dead/ I just learned from this interview that he played the Bass for one of my favorite tunes:

One of the best things with the Helix Stomp is when it gets sold and there's a pot of £ to re-buy individual pedals that were sold to get it!

Nice video. It has helped with my P Bass GAS! I'm mostly into Reggae and Funk and occasional low-tuned Doom/Stoner stuff so always go for 5 string J (type) Basses but I've felt for some time that I should own a P Bass at some point to see if the hype is deserved (I've tried them in shops and been un-impressed, perhaps I need longer with them though). So many people say the P has an intangable quality of being an inspiring, fun to play, go-to bass that makes you play in a certain laid back way that I'm going to have to find out for myself.........I expect going from a 5 string multiscale headless active Ibanez to a P Bass is going to be a pretty big jump!

I've usually had good experiences online and in-shop other than once when I'd made a long journey to try a specific Bass that I then found to be making odd electrical noises, I said perhaps it has a low battery, "yeah, could be" was the answer as they walked off and never tried to solve it or follow-up, so that lost them a potential sale as I talked myself out of bothering to solve it or spend £ there on alternatives that day. On the plus side, they have a good amount of Basses and let you get on trying them hassle free, and they have given me much better part-exchange rates than anywhere else a couple of times so I will be going back again.

I prefer wider spacing (19mm) on a 5 string as it gives a bit more space for slapping n popping.

I agree. Remembering/working out that things like 6x # = F# and then needing to remember each of those notes is a # is my biggest hurdle.

I can work it out, mostly due to childhood piano lessons. Not fast enough to play along to though. I can read Tabs faster, they work okay other than when you want to play in different positions and the fact they don't show length of notes/timing and rests, and they don't encourage you to actually know if the note is an A or C or whatever so I don't think they are a particularaly good way of reading in the long-term. Learning basslines from ear and memorising them is good (especially as it isn't the done thing for most bands to play from sheet music) but is a bit like learning singing songs by ear and memorising them without reading/writing words - it is possible but being able to read/write to then memorise makes things easier. I'd recommend learning the basics as it isn't as complicated as it initially looks. Just learning these two charts is enough to be able to do the basics: .....spend a few minutes to apply that to this and play it: And you can say you can read music! Admittedly at the most basic level and there is more to it for complex music, and sight reading is a whole other level. But even at this level compared to Tabs it gives more useful information and lets you play the notes where you want (open strings etc) rather than sticking to the prescribed Tab fret. Also, a good thing I've been taught is to sing out loud the notes as you read and play them 'D D A A B B A' etc. as it is a good way to train your pitch/ear/hand/eye coordination.

My Ibanez EHB 1005 MS:

I'm a fan bands having a dancer as band member: Hawkwind with Stacia, Happy Mondays with Bez, The Prodigy with Keith & Leeroy (in the early days). Or failing that, a lead singer that mostly just sings and dances, like Mick Jagger or James Brown. They can be the focus of attention, then Bass players can get go about their Bass playing in peace. Or Electronic music bands know a thing or two about getting crowds dancing and you don't see Orbital, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk etc. doing much dancing themselves so I don't think it is essential to have dancing Bass players, just as long as the crowds get some sort of visual performance from singers, dancers, lights/screens or whatever else.........then again, this is all a bit different to a pub covers band!

Nice! That's a good idea, unfortunately I got rid of my tape recorder a long time ago. Recorders like yours and reel to reel seem relatively cheap at the moment, I've got a feeling as they get more rare their prices will go up as there's unlikely to be enough demand for companies to start making them again but there will always be some demand for things like you are doing. What mic would you recommend for melodica and percussion? I'm doing home recording of Dub/Reggae with some drums (mostly just Kicks and snares) being samples from vinyl then recorded/sequenced on an MPC One, and the Bass is recorded from my Bass Guitar>Pedalboard>MPC One, and have amassed quite a few small instruments (Bongo, Conga, Steel Tongue, Kalimba, Shakers, Guiro, Harmonica, Melodica etc.) that I've been recording to the MPC via a vocal mic. It's starting to sound sort of how I want - getting away from a 'Clean and exact' purely DAW produced sound with imperfections in the playing/timing and recording actually helping to make it sound more like what I want (70's grimey dub rather than 2020's 'clean' steppers stuff that seems to dominate nowadays).

The Jamaicans:

I was a teenager in the 90's and have mostly followed the Jungle > DnB > Dubstep > Dub & Reggae sort of musical journey (tempo slowing down with age!) so a whole genre of Doom/Stoner metal completely passed me by on a sort of parallel timeline until I saw Orange Goblin play at a festival a few years ago and that also got got me into Kyuss, Sleep, Bongripper, Electric Wizard, Lowrider etc.

Sumac Dub - Le Jardin de Lucy Its a good album for 'clean' sounding dub (I usually prefer stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a shed!).

A bit obscure for anyone not into the genre, but before he got big I had some online chat with dubstep producer Zomby who sold a cracked copy of Reason to me - or at least he took the money but never posted it to me. After a lot of hassling he offered to send me some p0rn to 'chill me out' (which he didn't!) eventually he gave me a full refund so I don't have any complaints other than the hassle caused. Shortly after, he got quite famous and there was controversy that he copied someone's tune (also made on Reason) and released it as his own, and quite a few more stories of obnoxious online behaviour....to the point that I wouldn't be suprised if he googled himself to find this thread and registered on Basschat just to send me threatening messages!

Eek!

The trouble I've found with that (and with any bass with adjustable bridge) is that there's still similar space available between all strings combined as can only add a little bit overall by moving both the B and G or the strings start slipping off the end of the frets as the nut/fingerboard/frets/pickups are basically designed around 18mm spacing. So you can do like you have done (and I've done the same) and have some strings more than 18mm apart but it means others need to be squeezed closer. I am a fan of the Ibanez mono rail bridge though, I prefer having some string spacing adjustability than none but think it's ideal for people that want tighter spacing as there is a limit to making all strings much further apart.

I was after the same (5 string, light, 18-19mm spacing, £800) and also narrowed it down to the KZ5 and EHB15005. I tried an MTD in a shop and there were some issues with it picking up or making high pitched electrical interferance sqeeky noises - perhaps that was a one off or there was something else wrong in the setup but it put me off getting that particular one, it seemed a fine bass but I wasn't amazed enought to try and figure out the issue. I got a EHB 15005 MS new and there were no quality control issues, I have been quite amazed by the weight, size, and variety of tones. I guess it comes down to the sound (they seemed similar), headless vs normal, (and normal scale vs multiscale in the case of the one I got), the looks, erganomics, Ibanez has sweepable mids which I like so it wins a point there but I think I preferred the feel of playing the MTD with its asymetrical neck and I think the MTD string spacing is slightly wider (19mm vs 18mm) which I'd prefer. I'd need to try both side by side in a few situations (e.g. a few hours practice sitting down at home, playing loud with a band through an amp/cab) to really know how they are different in tone and playability and erganomics, both seemed pretty similar from what I remember....I might buy a second hand MTD to really test them against each other over a few weeks and then sell one of them - I expect it'd be quite a difficult choice though.

That into this: And then perhaps some:

Jungle basically became DNB. Jungle is typically the 'Amen' drum break (or similar) cut up and looped at about 170BPM with Reggae/Dancehall vocals and samples and basslines. It became DNB as it got more 'techy', not built around samples and Reggae vocals so much, more of a focus just on the drums, bass, synths. Take some pills, go to a loud dark club and get on the dancefloor at 2am is about the only way I'd say it's fully undertstood. There is 'daytime radio' type DNB but that's not the good stuff in my book and not where DNB originated or where it's soul is. This tune for example - nothing flashy, but if you know the feeling then you love DNB. It's not for everyone though I guess. It's the same sort of ethos as Dub or Techno or minimal funk, or tribal drumming, there's not really anything to 'get' other than how the groove of it makes you want to listen to it loud and dance.

DBX made an MC6 which is apparently similar to the 160A but in a smaller size. I found the M87 to be a bit characterless and took the life out of low notes (needs a clean blend or hpf sidechain). That's me playing dub and reggae with a 5 string though. Empress, Cali 76, Opti-FET, Markbass are all great. I haven't used the new Source Audio Atlas but I expect it can do a 160A emulation.

If you turn this up and don't feel happy then I guess you're quite a different person to me! ....reminds me of times I can't remember too well!

Ah yes you're right - it's the MXR Bass Distortion that's the Fuzzrocious collaboration.

Nice. Apparently the Bass Fuzz Deluxe is designed in collaboration with Fuzzrocious, and they know how to make a good fuzz. Edit: Correction - it's the MXR Bass Distortion that's the collab.