Boodang

EMG active pickups have so few windings their output needs boosting with a built in preamp (hence the active part and the need to power them). They do this because the fewer the windings (and thus less resistance) the greater the bandwidth. An active EMG pickup will have much stronger content above 3 to 4K than a passive pickup with enough windings to have a strong enough output to not need a preamp boost. This of course is a bit of a simplification, as mentioned before, there are many other factors involved not just the amount of windings. Of course, having tons of bandwidth is not necessary a good thing, as it depends on the tone you want. I used to use EMG pickups and then use a lot of eq to get the tone I wanted... cut the treble, boost some high mids etc. Now I try to get the tone as close as I can at source, ie the pickup. Hence for my Jazz i got some custom single coil pickups made with alnico5 magnets for the neck (for more lows) and alnico2 for the bridge for more mids. For my Sei I got a Bartolini MM made. As a humbucker it has less highs but it's punchier in the lows. When I look for a pickup I'm less interested in the resistance than I am the magnet type, single coil vs humbucker, and series/parallel options.

Once. I was chatting to the person next to me on a plane about photography as it's a bit of a hobby of mine (not sure if they were interested but I was bored, so they were unlucky!). When we landed the guy seated behind me asked me if I was this famous photographer who was a hero of his. I said no and that I wish I was him as it would be a dream job. He said, no, I'm lying to get out of signing an autograph and that I was definitely him, and proceeded follow me through the airport getting more irate as we went along. He got so upset it was actually amusing rather than irritating!

The main difference I've found with a headless bass (I've got a Sei custom), and something not often talked about, is that you've now limited yourself on string choice. Not the greatest selection in double ball end, and have you tried clamping a nylon string! TE strings seem to unravel when you clamp, and thus crush, the winding. Can be hit miss as well, where one set is ok being clamped but the next set just unravels. Nightmare! And a shame, as I really love the bass but hate the string situation and apparently it can't be converted to a headed. Actually thinking of just getting another one made in headed and putting this on the wall as a piece of art.

Yep, I'm the veritable Jaco now! Comes at a price though, I'm currently homeless and living in a basket ball court.

Yes, the magic flows out of the pups. The magnetic field flows into the fingers and imbibes you with that weather report magic direct from Jaco.... it's science in action!

Yes!! Put these in my bass and all of a sudden 'Teen Town', not a problem!

Seymour Duncan weather report set for that Jaco sound, or EMG JV52; Rob Turner designed, passive, alnico 5 neck and alnico 2 bridge, hum cancelling. I had a similar set done by Creamery pickups (alnico 5 & 2 magnets), but single coil, not hum cancelling, and can thoroughly recommend.

'62 spec'ed neck, set neck rather than the clumsy bolt on, slab rosewood board, Seymour Duncan weather report custom pups, and a contoured body. Is it still a still a jazz? Well the neck and pickups say so, as does the tone, just way more refined than a Fender.

... also, making a living from playing bass and being professional not necessarily the same thing! Can you imagine if Sid had not departed this world so early.... bass player available, can't play bass but plenty of attitude, may smash you in the head with said bass if p!ssed off.

Yeah, but this guy was a giant @rsehole. Most people wouldn't even want to bump into him let alone work with him.

I would say the difference is about 8 hours a day practice!

Well, just to throw another set in the mix, my fav strings at the moment are the Galli Synthesis flats. They have a nylon core and as a consequence have a 'buttery' feel to them. I got these as my Obligato DB strings have a nylon core and wanted s similar feel on my BG, and they certainly get close. I would describe their sound as 'big', although I know that's probably not very helpful! I'm not sure if they're the only nylon core BG strings on the market but I haven't seen any others (anybody else know of any?).

As a FoH engineer, if someone presented me with a single DI for both bass guitar and synth bass (which admittedly doesn't happen that often!), it wouldn't be that much of a problem especially if the levels were balanced. However, unless there was a peculiar reason doing otherwise, a dedicated DI for each would be preferably. Certainly if I was running any compression the settings would be different for both.

Yep, I use the Radial Stage Bug SB2. I use 2 of them, one dedicated to the Phatty and another for the output from the small mackie mixer for the basses.

I often use a small mixer live with my basses (I usually have at least 3 basses at a gig), but if I have the opportunity to bring out the Moog phatty as well, I'll run a separate di for that as foh eq/comp etc will be way different.

Glow Tec Starglow fretmarkers. I've got them on a couple of my basses... they're low profile and stay in place well.

The eq on the Spectradrive is good but if you're happy with the Orange then there's no need. As for the spectracomp, I was surprised by how versatile the various toneprints are and how much they eq the tone. My fav straight toneprint is the 'Captain East' but there's plenty more which are a bit more extreme if you need. It got me looking into other compressors but I still use the spectracomp the most. As for DI, I've settled on a Radial SB2 stagebug. Passive, simple, and I think the transformer gives a nice rounded tone.

Compressor is a common route to go for enhancing your clean tone. I've got a couple of TC Spectracomps on my board with different toneprints loaded. They're great as you can go from a tri-band setup to classic comp and everything in between. Versatile and it only has one knob. Octavers are a different deal though. I use the Aguilar octamizer to thicken up the tone sometimes but even on subtle settings the tone does get a little artificial, and I think this pedal is the more organic sounding of the usual suspects. A great pedal though but not 'standard' clean tone fare (my fav setup is the octamizer through the grape phaser but now we're defo not in clean territory!). Again, chorus can get you certain tones but like the octaver, even subtle settings will be going away from that clean tone. It sounds like a good place to start might be to just try out some of the toneprints on a s/h Spectracomp.

Roc 'n Soc throne is my main seat for drums, bass practice and just generally sitting around. Not an office / gaming chair, but with a back rest the most comfortable throne I've had.

Hal Leonard books are great. YouTube is a good source of free lessons but it's also full of idiots, so start with some recommendations... Scott's Bass Lessons and Dan Hawkins are worth checking out. And remember to keep it fun, learning scales, technique etc is necessary but you're playing bass to play music so play along to and learn the songs that you love to listen to.

Pah, guitar is easy.... just learn the blues pentatonic and randomly play it throughout songs paying no attention to what anybody else is doing. Then take all the credit (not that I've got a chip on my shoulder about guitarists!).

Use a small mixing desk. The Behringer xenyx 1202 is currently £50 at Gear 4 music. Job done.

Try a Radial Stagebug SB-2. A passive di, great tone and difficult to overdrive. And not expensive.

I like to have the single coil J bass sound and the Precision tone, just not in a package that's as agricultural as a Fender. At least go G&L or something with a little more class!