Jolltax

Hi Debagio, I am also a baggio Lots of people on here started as mature students myself included, interested to see what your choice of first bass is, mine was Sire M2 which was / is still fantastic to play (I modded it a bit though after a year or two) Welcome

Great video, thanks for posting, its put me right off, lol .... Its awesome in a weird way, but I think I am looking for something a bit less adventurous, hehe

Sorry to resurrect this thread, did you get one? I am also interested and would love to know how you are finding it.

Welcome, I have the 5 string version of the same bass, awesome. No way I could manage 6 strings! J

Very cool, love the sparkle, very disco (in a good way!)

If you already got a sensible bass then I would go crazy, scratch that itch . I got my crazy, its this one - 5 string, fan fret, headless active, no regrets! Its probably not a bad idea if you live near a major city then go to guitarguitar or whatever and try everything, you might click with something unexpected To my ears a lot of stuff can do a pretty good stingray impression, depending on your budget. I am still getting used to it but am probably about to switch to playing my 5 string in the band, it gives you more options playing things de-tuned, so if you don't have one it might be handy

Welcome, ATK - isn't that the one with the great big bridge / pickup thing, I read they are are growly like stingrays but aren't they discontinued? Make sure you add a sound sample to the NBD post when you find one!

Hi!

Agree its not pretty, I would say the same about my other conventional wall hangars as well, really nasty looking I retrospect I think I am guilty of not thinking too much about the aesthetics, particularly when not in use, a mistake.- next time I redecorate I think I will go for something a bit simpler / classier, maybe like these guys https://gatorco.com/shop-by-category/guitar/wall-hangers/ J

Since getting my Ibanez headless bass I have keeping it in a floor stand - this created constant anxiety due to me being the owner of a couple of excitable dogs, so I decided to try a wall mount, bought one of these : https://www.dangleberrymusic.co.uk/products/nordell-horizontal-guitar-wall-hanger I actually got mine from their Amazon store at £23 ish but note they are actually cheaper elsewhere - delivery was very prompt. It is designed in the UK, but of course manufactured in PRC, I would actually describe it as 'okay', reasonably sturdy, fairly simple to install, averagely made - it didn't come with a wall fixing kit i.e. rawl plugs / screws - you will need to buy those and be prepared to drill and screw it to your wall. It doesn't fit a bass particularly well but does work, even the small brackets are a little too wide for an electric bass. My guess is that they have tried to make it fit everything, including acoustics, which had compromised it a bit. It also remains to be seen whether the allen key bolts which hold it in position will hold firm with time. I thought people might be interested to see pictures and I am also curious about any better alternatives - any suggestions? J

Hi NB, plenty of mid (or end of) life crisis peeps here, I am one too!

Great choice of first bass and cab - I have never had a Squire P Bass but I do have a Fender Rumble 100 and it is excellent. I use the Rumble for band rehearsals and also around the house for practice, sounds great and really light (v. important when you are old-ish). I can carry my Rumble 100, my bass in a case and bag full of bits and pieces to a location / venue without giving myself a hernia

Hi Simon, I started during lockdown and in my 50's - welcome!

For reference, I also have Lekato WS-50 and it works with all my basses, they are all active - an Ibanez, a Musicman and a Sire. They also worked fine with passive basses I owned previously. I haven't yet had any issue at all with connections or interference. I like the price, size and simplicity - playing without a cable is so much nicer, would have liked a longer battery life but it hasn't actually caused me any issues because so far I have always remembered to charge them between sessions!

Thanks that's very useful, It sounds like you are mainly using the H4 as a stereo microphone and mixing separately - having had a good play with mine I think I would like to try the same approach - I am finding the mixing software on the H4 fiddly and don't imagine wanting to mess with H4 levels and setup in a rehearsal / gig situation, it also seem quite battery hungry and is a bit bulky. I also find that the stereo mikes seems to distort quite a lot with music at even modest volumes and will need the gain adjusting / turning down a lot What kind of mixer would you recommend? I might get one and try - I keep looking at the zoom Livetrak L-8 as it is quite small, has lots of inputs and headphone / other outputs, USB powered and can record .... expensive though, lol

Could any users of the Zoom H4 give a few hints on how they have theirs set up, the instructions aren't the best. I'm trying to to get stereo from the built in mikes and mix it with a mono input from my bass. So far I have only managed to get stereo mikes with bass in one ear, so need to switch the bass input to mono is my guess ... I'm sure I'll get there in the end anyway but any hints appreciated! J

I just placed an order for an H4n pro it sounds like a lot of you are using them for this and its given me the confidence to hit the button, thank you! I'll let you know how I get on, we rehearsing this week and I'll give it a try J

I think stereo ambient would be better as it sounds more natural, my bass I would mix in mono i.e. in both ears the same The behringer IEM amp works well but I'm not sure how well the ambient sound will come through the IEM's and I obviously cant boost it in any way, i'll have a look at the H4 essential - i guess a mixer with mike would be cheaper?

The IEM thread is a bit overwhelming, lol, I decided not to add this to it - but I have read the first section and was hoping for some advice, I have been playing 4 years (but 58 yo), and just started rehearsing with a local band which is amazing / brilliant fun. They rehearse in a small room and play very loudly (to me), at times I can't hear what I am playing and I quite worried about hearing damage. I have bought some Fender Musician Series Ear Plugs for our next session. The band mostly play through their own speakers / cabs and I am standing right next to mine which makes it even more difficult to hear. Is there a standalone / self contained solution whereby I can have my bass, some ambient sound so I can hear what the band are playing into IEM's which allow me to control the volume and what I am hearing but still hear my bass in the mix. I read the 'bible' at the beginning here and see that potentially the Zoom H6 or similar might be the ticket with built in mikes - is that right? Can it be combined with wired or wireless IEM's - could anyone suggest something suitable? I don't mind spending some money but it looks like it will cost enough to not want to make a wrong purchase! I would be very grateful for some advice on what will work well. EDIT : The more I read about wireless IEM's the more scary (and expensive) it gets. I'm going to buy some wired IEM's and a Behringer P2 just to see if I can get used to it first, maybe I'll be able to hear enough noise through the IEM's to avoid the need for additional mikes and mixing etc etc Thank you J

From an engineering point of view - I think multiscale headless basses make sense to me as a way of optimising string length and balance and I wanted to try a 5 string - that pretty much narrows it down to the Ibanez EHB series! My research suggested the Nordstrand pickups were the way to go hence the 1505 series. I was lucky enough to be able to try an EHB 1005 at the Guitar show in Solihull and this really gave me the confidence to place an order. After a few days of messing about with it, here are my impressions and initial thoughts : It's very comfortable, superlight and the headless system means it is very well balanced As some others have said - the way the back is profiled means that the bass naturally sits on the strap slanted slightly upwards (towards the ceiling). Its not a huge deal, but I think I would have preferred it to sit parallel to my body. I'm still getting used to the multiscale fretboard but its not as dramatic a change as I thought it would be. Scan set the bass up for me and it has very nice low action, just like the one at the Guitar show, maybe they are all like that! Loads of output and many different sounds from the pickups and pre-amp, also sounds great in passive mode, B string seems quite well defined to my ears. The bass is silent, seems to have almost no noise, nice. I find tuning on the headless bridge to actually be easier and more accurate, the knurled knobs make fine adjustment easy I think the build quality is OK, but could be better. In the pictures if you zoom in you can see the finish has a lot of wood imperfections / unfilled grain holes on the body and the neck - I am not experienced enough to know whether this was done intentionally but it is not an aesthetic I enjoy, to my eye it looks sloppy and indicates a lack of attention to detail The neck is very nice, I have very little experience on 5 strings but it seems surprisingly thin and I like the fact that there is still reasonable string spacing. I think I would have preferred Dunlop straplocks but the Shaller ones are OK if a bit fiddly After one sitting I performed the mod on the locking jack, removing the spring, suggested by @fretmeister and others on here, the jack release was way to difficult to operate without removing the bass and messing about, hated it The neck dots, as many others have mentioned are pathetic and hardly visible under subdued lighting after a few minutes So far so good, not withstanding my niggles I am still very happy with the bass, especially the weight, balance and ergonomics making it so comfortable to hold and play ..... J

I've also been under weather since the show with a sore throat and generally feeling crap, haven't turned the corner yet either, grrr people and their diseases

I had a great time there today, it was mostly guitars but there was certainly enough bass stuff, as a newb I got a chance to try a lot of stuff I have never seen before, here are some of my impressions : The Ibanez EHB basses at Scan were an absolute a bargain, apparently they were B stock but were selling £200 below retail and as far I could see were new i.e. I think they might have been demonstrators. Unfortunately fortunately they didn't have an EHB1505MS PLF which the one I have my eye on. I got a chance to have a play though and it has really sold me on getting one, loved headless / multi-scale concept @Manton Customs there with his beautiful creations I liked the ACGuitars basses also, some beautiful finishes https://acguitars.co.uk/ Picked up another Pinegrove strap at a show discount, they are great My first ever time playing Yamaha basses, the BB they had was lovely, had such a nice tone and felt great in the hand, lovely neck - online and in photos I never liked the looks but in reality they were really nice, added to bucket list Had a really cool chat with the luthier who makes these https://www.fidelity-guitars.co.uk/ - his whole aesthetic concept of re-imagining catalogue guitars / basses from the 60's but making them with high quality materials is awesome, all the components are custom he has his own bridges made by CnC - really cool, was such an interesting guy I saw (but did not bother) Cici (from Cici bass YT channel and Andertons videos) and also the dude from Crimson guitars (is it Ben?) Was excited about seeing Sandberg basses, but couldn't find them sadly One further slightly more depressing point, standing in the queue and looking around the venue the attendees were overwhelmingly middle aged (and that's being generous), sign of the times I suppose. @Richard R I think its fair to say there were certainly a lot of metally looking people and things there Will be back next year, was great fun