Munurmunuh

Best euphemism for having the painters in, ever 👌

Would the useful word here be "polarisation"? I found watching a demo of the Big Al a bit like watching one of the L-2000: almost uncountable options, and only actually interested in a couple of the sounds. I'm very impressed by / envious of people who have instruments as versatile as this and then enjoy the full breadth of that versatility.

Shaking my head at this argument. The one of you who is really wrong, either stop now, or take a photo of the whole bass, draw a vertical line across the strings, and calculate the proportions of the lengths either side of that point for each string. And then have a good think about making assertions about your assumptions.

Wonder if this will be the moment that David Ellefson finds he needs to join basschat?

For the unaware, the first 40 seconds of this

Anything but natural

Every time I hear the bridge pickup on the MC900, I'm like a rabbit stuck in headlights, what a noise.

Those 45-105 pure nickels will definitely feel firm enough at D standard ..... what you'll think of the sound of them on a Kiloton – and it's a combination my ears are failing to imagine – is another matter..... 😬 Perhaps an MFD humbucker in the Stingray spot is exactly what is needed to rouse them.... or perhaps I'll get a stern PM saying, "Did I ask to have the balls cut off my Kiloton? NO." 😅

"Gibson Explorer-style body with Fender Precision Bass maple necks and machine heads; gold-plated hardware, two volume controls/one tone control. Approximately six in total custom-made by luthier Peter Cook, in white (later given to Pete) and orange/red. Used in studio only, 1975 and 1978. As seen in the Who Are You segment of The Kids Are Alright film, 1978."

Searching youtube for clips of SPB-1 with Chromes found me this lovely little demo

I play with a very light touch and find the opposite: strings that are heavy enough to be quite stiff scarcely need to be struck to produce a rich resonant sound. If I try lighter strings, I find I have to go into them harder to find some character.

I've just done this: it still feels good. Of the four strings, the E is much the least tense, but even that wasn't feeling floppy. With the P pickup soloed, the sound is bit funny, but on PJ and J it still sounds great – it was easy to imagine the them being a success on a Kiloton 👍

And tomorrow I'll try detuning my set of Roto Bass 45-105 to D Standard and report back on how they sound

The decade that produced The Electro Hippies, Les Calamités and The Circle Jerks, and you bother to mention RHCP? Oh deary me 😜 Anyway this game is fun

Published figures for 34" scale length, 0.085" strings tuned to A: Daddario Pro Steel – 44.17 lbs GHS Contact Core Super Steel – 44.4 lbs Daddario NYXL – 44.58 Daddario XL Nickel – 45.34 lbs Rotosound Swing Bass – 46.80 lbs GHS Progressives – 49.1 lbs GHS Roundcore Boomers – 49.3 lbs GHS Hexcore Boomers – 49.4 lbs GHS Precision Flats – 51.2 lbs Daddario XL Chrome – 51.67 lbs

I've no idea about the past, but now the Fender 45-105 have a more relaxed feel than the Daddario 45-105, despite putting the same load on the neck. Its been all but confirmed that atm Daddario make them for Fender, to Fenders specs (a guy who was at Fender when the strings were being developed is on TB) To me, it seemed that Fenders were better at flattering my Precision, bringing out the growl etc.

I think G&L use EXL170 across the board, that is to say 45-65-80-100. Given how my set sounded in D Standard, I would easily believe that the 45-65-85-105 EXL165 would be good. (The Roto Bass 45-105 or 50-100 might be worth thinking about? I've the RB45 on my BB atm, and love the really strong E string, and the mids-heavy sound. The downside is that the top sounds a bit inhibited when soloing the neck.) Do you think the Kiloton's pickup position nicely balances out the detuning, adding back the bite? I'd be interested to know which setting worked best: series / parallel / single? (Now I'm very curious to search out a clip of Kiloton+Roto Bass) I'm so unimpressed by the 110 I'm half tempted to conclude I got a dud one - it has a completely different sound, no matter what pitch I tuned it to: D, Eb, E, F, all missing the gleam of the 85. Perhaps it's just too thick for have that ringing quality? I dunno. At any rate, I'm afraid someone keen to try the XL Nickels for free has already nipped in and asked for my set. I've told him where he can find a 45 and 105 if he likes the 65 and 85 enough to make the most of them

Yeah they're very stiff but we agreed the sound is absolutely not what you're after, there's no bite to it at all, it's very mellow vintage thing. As for the RB50, I've only ever found one youtube clip of them.....and I thought they sounded fantastic.

Who knows? But these two prices have been steady for a while. GHS Bass Boomers 45-105 Strings Direct £40 Bass Direct £22 I shop with both of them (and, on foot, Banks, gear4music and the new place over the river)

Sometimes Strings Direct are the cheapest, sometimes definitely not. Bass Direct have a 4 string set of Dunlop flats for £50

I like this BS-free description for one of their cheap basses: Fully functional Professionally setup Service carried out to controls and socket Shows some signs of cosmetic wear Some dings and scratching Nice quality woods and has a nice weight to the bass No indication to where the bass is made but I believe it’s Korean

Should have added, that Chromes set really is close to balanced tension, all four strings within 43‐48 lbs. The other two sets aren't, the range is twice as wide with them.

When I bought a set of Chromes in a successful attempt to locate my TRBX's cojones, it was pointed out to me that a string dealer in the US was putting together a custom balanced tension set, 45–60–80–105, and that people liked it. So I tried it out, and agreed that it felt good. It truly had a balanced feel and sound. When I next want some flats, I'll be returning to this. ✔✔✔ Most of the time since then I've played standard 45-105 sets. When getting some Daddario Pro Steels, I thought I could take advantage of their reputation for being a bit more flexible than Rotosounds etc and try a 50–65–85–110 set. This has been a been success. All four strings sound really strong and vibrant. The 110 E rings out gloriously and the 50 G is properly stern. It does feel a bit relentless, but for this bass and what I play on it, that's good. ✔✔ Since this has gone so well, I thought to try the 50–65–85–110 gauges on Daddario XL Nickels. This was a waste of time. The 65 and 85 feel and sound great, but the 110 is too fat for its own good, and the 50 is over the line into another realm of stiffity stiff. When I downtuned the 50 and 110 by a semitone, the set simply felt better. So no reason to choose this over the usual EXL165 45-105 set. I took them off within a day. ✔ and that's being generous (When I was messing around with the tunings, I did notice that the 65 and 85 were still sounding good in Eb Standard and D Standard, and that the 110 still sounded meh)