SumOne

Well, some original music is clearly more original than others....but even that is usually heavily 'influenced', particularly in bands with bass players.

The more I've learned about music the more apparent it's become that most originals are basically cover versions with a few parts altered/songs mixed together.

I've got a more mundane reason for liking passive - they generally have a front mounted jack and active are usually side mounted. I prefer the front mounted with a 90 degree jack as it seems less likely to get accidentally pulled out while also being easier to put in/out deliberately. Also when playing sitting down it doesn't poke into the chair.

Worth a try! I guess the flaw in buying your own things from ebay or Reverb to inflate the prices is that you'd need to pay seller fees.

Or the Damien Hurst school of economics - buy your own stuff for inflated prices to set a benchmark inflated value.

A new one from Busy Signal 'Unite'

Change in plan, I'm going to go for the Markbass Compressor that's for sale on here.

No phase switch on the switchblade pro but it can run the 2x loops in series and reverse the order of the two loops via footswitch control, individually control volume for each loop while also controlling the volume of the clean signal, and can run the signals in parallel.....I think that's quite a lot more than the LS2.

Has anyone here tried both the Empress and the Cali 76? I'm after something for Reggae/Dub - to even out the volume and tone between strings, making the D and G strings sound more bass heavy where they can seem a bit weak right now compared to playing the same notes on lower strings, and making the B less boomy. They are similar price and features and both get excellent reviews. From what I understand the Empress is slightly more transparent sounding and has better metering and a few more controls, Cali is a bit better if you want a bit of tone enhancing. Neither seem to appear very often second hand (and when they do they're not much cheaper than new) so I'm tempted on payday to get both new and return one.

My journey down the pedal rabbit hole started with the more extreme/obvious effects like fuzz, envelope filters, synth, modulation. It took me a while to really 'get' the more subtle things like preamps/EQ and compressors, I think I needed to use them in a band situation to fully realise the value they bring but now I have seen the light they are what I nerd out on and other pedals hardley get a look in. I'm currently usign the Fishman Platinum Pro's single dial compressor which generally does well (and it's nice to simplify things/reduce the risk for things accidentally being set in the wrong place/extra cables and noise etc) but I did notice that playing at volume through a 212 cab my D and G strings were sounding a bit weak, they don't sound weak at lower volumes/home practice though....I'm not sure if that's down to technique, compression, preamp/EQ, Cab, or something else (anyone with any ideas?) but I've got a feeling a more tweakable compressor might be the answer. I had a FEA Opti-FET which was great and perhaps I should have kept it, it's good to play the compressor field a bit though!......So long story short, I think a Cali 76 is right at the top of my shopping list, along with Diamond Comp Jr, Empress, and it sounds like I should consider the BC-1X too.

I think I'll swop from Spotify to Tidal too. One thing that was putting me off was lazyness in needing to re-make all my playlist but apparently that can be done automatically.

Capleton 'You will make it'

Barrington Levy 'Better Than Gold'

And get a tube radio and you're covered for the nuclear EMP https://www.quora.com/Tube-electronics-will-probably-survive-an-EMP-attack-but-are-there-enough-tube-radios-in-use

I haven't owned an LS2 but had the Switchblade Pro Deluxe and can't really fault it other than perhaps it's a bit confusing - you can easily have parallel/series switched without noticing it, or not remember what sequence order is if you've switched to reverse. Other than that I couldn't see any reason to get the LS2 instead, the switchblade pro deluxe has the same things plus additional features for about the same price.

Yeah, I agree. Comedy songs (as in lyrics telling a a joke story) are different to songs that contain humour, and I prefer the latter.

Congo Natty (Rebel MC) played that into this at carnival one particularly hot year, it was lively!

Boss tuner app is good. Or if I have to then 'another one bites the dust' goes to the open E.

You'd have to be going some to break a Bass neck but I've seen a few Basses with a crack in the headstock running from the tuner (perhaps having been dropped on it), and a few with pretty deep gouges in the neck, and some people decide to do things like put a thinner neck on or swop for a fretless neck. None of that would factor much as reasons for me not getting neck-through but they do seem to be potential disadvantages.

I assume the main disadvantage of neck-through is the cost, vs benefit, given that the benefits are marginal and costs tend to be a fair bit higher. The main benefit seems to be improved access to those top frets. I very rarely venture past the 15th fret though so that's not an issue for me. Another benefit is they look good. Tone differences, I don't know. Isn't a potential disadvantage of neck-through that you are using the same wood for the neck and a big part of the body - at the risk of going into tonewood discussions, some people think certain woods are better suited for the neck while others are better suited for the body. Another possible disadvantage is if you damage one part like the headstock - it must be pretty tricky to replace on a neck-through, rather than just getting new neck/headstock.

^^^ It's taken me about 3 months with my latest Bass but I've also found that fine-tuning the B string intonation has really helped, and very small adjustments to the B string height and height of pickups, and more of a 'rolling' sort of way of plucking it, that and a bit of subtle drive and compression it doesn't sound out of place from the other strings now. I think spending a few months with the Bass to fine-tune my playing style to suit it was perhaps the biggest factor.

Most perple must agree with you as most popular music has lyrics... But, to counter that, most tribal music is rhythm - which entertained humans for 1000s of years, and then classical, jazz, brass bands, dub, most electronic music, etc. I look at it as the equivalent of paintings that looks like what they are ( or sometimes slightly abstract, if lyrics are more poetic) vs instrumental being an abstract painting - conveying a mood rather than a specific story. So I don't think music without good lyrics is meaningless, usually it seems more meaningful to me.

I usually ignore lyrics, am more into rhythm (hence playing Bass and being into Dub). When I actually pay attention to lyrics I find they are usually fairly inane - just a tool to put melody into words that rhyme rather than some sort of import artistic expression that a lot of singers will have people believe.

George Harrison was founder/producer of Handmade Films who made lots of good stuff: Life of Brian, Time Bandits, Withnail and I.

Lorna Bennett - Breakfast in Bed.