Boodang

Quick note on tilt eq's; the Aguilar octamizer uses one and it has more or less become my main means of controlling my overall tone. When I kick in my compressor it can be a bit too forceful in the bass frequencies for some situations but I like the overall tone, so the tilt just redresses the balance nicely. Conversely when I kick in my phaser it can get a bit treble heavy but with a little bit of tilt it's sorted. Simple but effective.

Apparently the compressor is based on the Diamond pedal, so if it sounds as good as that you're on to a winner. On the Diamond comp, the EQ knob controls a tilt eq (they don't specify the tilt frequency point), so you tilt the overall tonal balance more to the bass frequencies or more to the treble side, 12 o'clock being neutral. The compressor you have is the same as their 'pressure tank' pedal and they describe the eq knob on that as a tone control. From what you're describing it does sound like it's acting as a tilt eq.

Oh, and if you're fed up with your speakers and want an excuse to replace them, get this, plug it in and blow them up! Seriously good pedal though.

Both awesome and both now permanently on my pedalboard.

The head agrees with you but unfortunately the heart... that's going 'look at the roasted, bound neck, the pearloid scratch and the gold vintage finish blah blah blah buy buy buy!'.

Standard price starts at £1800, which is not silly money but.... starts is the appropriate word though and this is far from standard!

I think I've found my new GaS! Heat treated roasted maple bound neck, vintage finish and great sound. Now, where's that piggy bank.

A slight digression but an interesting anecdote; in an interview with Svensson, he mentions a moment when EST were playing a gig and at the a venue nearby, James Last was playing. JL turned up with umpteen lorries worth of gear and sold out for weeks, they turned up in a transit van hoping to half fill a venue. He thought EST was worthy of umpteen lorries and being sold out and vowed to make them more popular as a result. Tuesday Wonderland was the start of that venture.

EST... what an amazing trio. Such a shame Svensson died when he did (always a shame when someone dies at such an early age). Tuesday Wonderland is a must listen album.

... were you on incubation duty?!

At the risk of breaching copyright (if Chicago press are reading I promise not to post any more pages) and as a taster, this is chapter 1, page 1. There's 215 more pages of exercises.

Glad you found it interesting. It was something I came across by accident but as I like the Gogo Penguin's it sort of became an obsession of sorts. By the sound of the lineup in your group the concept could be right up their street! The book is interesting and you get straight into composing exercises... it's a bit of a commitment though, and I've not finished it all yet as I reckon for the novice aspiring composer there's a few years worth of work, but it is rewarding.

In fairness I don't think Russo ever used the term 'micro-composition' it's just something that's been coined to encompass the notion of small 'cells' in compositions. It was just his approach to teaching the subject. I'm probably more guilty of using the phrase than most!

You're not wrong! But as it says on the book cover, the philosophy behind this approach is for musicians with no formal training but who want to aspire to composing. As Russo was the director of the contemporary American music program at Columbia College, Chicago he knew something about the subject!

Yep, more or less (to both pattern and the 'arbitrary' comments). In the book there's a lot of rules and challenges to focus on certain areas of composition but once outside the exercises it can easily end up as pattern based compositions. As I said in an earlier post the idea is to achieve rhythmic balance and melodic momentum and develop compositional skills by stripping it down to some basic rules. It's not designed to a straight jacket more just a way of focusing the mind. Without wishing to blow Gogo Penguin's trumpet for them, they are a good example of how this ends up.

Yeah that is a shame. I found your original review, 10mm would make all the difference because other than that it looks good value for money.

For those interested and fancying a new year challenge.

I guess in this instance, as I'm the one who used phrase rather than the op, I'm being rather lazy and combining micro-compositions and the playing of them into one phrase for the sake of convenience.

Also, this is a fair question as mostly we don't use this approach when writing popular music and is something more associated with classical. Having said that, it's another way of thinking about music and I've found it quite valuable when approaching a song that requires me to write a bass line.

Some of the rules Russo gives for micro 'cell' composition; Melodies with no harmony or accompaniment should start and end on the first tone of the scale and in the same octave. Use 2nds and 3rds freely, take care with augs and dims (use as an expression of the human voice), & do not exceed the total range of a major 10th. Don't alter tempo with ritardandos, accelerandos or fermatas as they get in the way of clear rhythmic motion. The idea behind these restrictions is apparently to give focus and clarity to achieve rhythmic balance and melody that maintains momentum.

By comparison with Gogo Penguin music we're talking about a micro-compositional approach rather that a micro-tonal. The pianist and bassist are not breaking out of western scale tones.

So, in an interview with Gogo Penguin's they stated that William Russo's book 'composing music; a new approach' was a big influence on them. The new approach is about composing in small 'cells' with limited scope ie. micro-compositions. It's an interesting approach that makes you think hard about melody, harmony and rhythm. Gogo Penguin have taken this approach where they repeatedly play a cell then over the course of the song subtly change it to produce nuances on a theme.

Just reread the ad for this bass... according to the post this prototype was designed to compete with the Peavey basses of the day hence the prefix PF stood for Peavey f**ker! Don't know if there's any basis in truth but still amusing.

Unfortunately by having the bolted neck plate you end up with a bulky joint rather than the sculpted joint of the set only neck. That's why I'm particularly taken by the prototype.