bigjohn

[quote name='cheddatom' post='735167' date='Feb 4 2010, 03:53 PM']OK, not entirely seperate. Slapping, picking, long nails or short, hard or soft attack, finger position. All these things will affect tone, but to a subtle degree, which is why I say if ALL of your tone is in your fingers, you must have a boring tone! That's just my opinion because I prefer a sound that stands out. If you take the band Tool, I bloody love the bass sound on 10,000 days. I think if you got Flea set up with the same sound, made him use a pick and learn the song, it'd sound almost identical. The timing would be a bit different, but the tone would be 99% the same.[/quote] But surely it's all about subtle degrees... lot's of em! If you've got such a heavily effected signal that you could get two entirely different players to sound "the same" without asking them to vary their normal technique, then that's not exactly "tone" is it? What you're doing there is effecting the signal so heavily as to make the subtleties that would normally end up making the two players sound completely different (their "tone") so minuscule in comparison that they need not exist. That's stripping tone (or at least it's audibility) not adding to it.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='735143' date='Feb 4 2010, 03:34 PM']It seems you're contradicting yourself a little? You spent ages finding the right gear, but you can get your sound with any old gear! Playing is distinctive, the style of a player, the way they play. [b]Tone is a seperate thing[/b]. So, while I might be able to tell that it's you playing through my 10 distortion pedals and bi-amp rig, it'll still sound like my tone.[/quote] It's not entirely though is it. Tone is also generated by playing style. Give Flea James Jameson's bass and rig, and ask him to play Higher Ground. It wouldn't sound like Jameson's tone. And I spent ages getting the right gear so I find it easy to sound like I want to. The other way round is sounding vaguely like I want to sound anyway because of my playing style despite the gear. Not contradictory at all

[quote name='silddx' post='735129' date='Feb 4 2010, 03:20 PM']Not many basses have a "crap" tone though do they? Unless you use a Satellite or something, the bass tone is going to be usable.[/quote] A Pixie Lott CD is "usable" through a hi-fi though.

[quote name='Sibob' post='735109' date='Feb 4 2010, 03:03 PM']Obviously you have to cater for the musical situation that you're in at any given time. But lets face it, there isn't a great deal of deviation usually, a tweat of EQ here, some subtle chorus there. I have a basic, 'core tone' that I'm very happy with and I can build and embellish on that if necessary. If you have a bass that, at it's most unaffected, sounds completely different to what you hear in your head, you're just adding sounds on top of bad sounds...polishing a turd if you like. Then a pedal dies mid-gig and you're back to horrible tone.[/quote] Bang on for me too. I like my EQ relatively flat. I can then EQ to whatever room I'm in. I've spent ages getting together gear that to my ears, sounds like I want it to without having to EQ it. I don't want an amp "that sounds great if you boost this or that"... I want it to sound great flat. I want a bass that sounds good when it's not even plugged in and I want pickups that help me transfer that tone into my amp. And I wouldn't say my tone is "boring" I agree with what Mythste said earlier though... I seem to be able (or that I am only able) to make most gear sound like I'm playing it.

[quote name='silddx' post='735099' date='Feb 4 2010, 02:50 PM']But if they are reproducing a Pixie Lott CD and the associated appalling mastering, or Vapour Trails by RUSH for that matter, I'm going to be really pissed off I spent £4,375 for my HiFi.[/quote] £4,375 is a bit cheapskate Having a bass with a crap tone at one end of your chain is the same thing as Pixie Lott innit? Or are you saying that whatever tone you have in the first place is lost as you effect it... so what's the point of it in the first place?

Take a look at high end hi-fi. Digital nor transistors have yet not caught up with wires, magnets and valves at sounding good. Yes, lighter, yes, more convenient... sound as good? no. That's just the way it is. So why wouldn't you want to put the best sounding bass into the best sounding rig? Where does digital come into it?

Precisions and jazzes usually have the same size neck pockets / heels and screw positions. So you can change em... You won't do any harm trying. Take the screws out - loosen each of them, don't just take them completely out one at a time. See if the neck will fit the pocket. If so (it should) put the screws back in so they poke out of the pocket a touch and see if they line up with the screw holes in the heel (if they don't the neck now won't fit!) When tightening the screws, put them in, leaving each one loose, and tighten up the two nearest the bridge first.

How to play something... (feel, groove etc) Fine. What to play... not fine. There's a good reason why basses are bigger than guitars.

[quote name='merello' post='733398' date='Feb 2 2010, 08:06 PM']They claim it is good with a guitar too?[/quote] If you want a bass combo that's good with guitar, look no further than my B3158. Josh Homme uses one. Despite that, it's still an excellent guitar amp - but it's a bass amp...

I'm intrigued by playlicks. Do they sell them in Boots?

Good to see that Rock Band has spawned a real musician! Nice one! John

[quote name='51m0n' post='732855' date='Feb 2 2010, 01:06 PM']I had the oppurtunity to compare the old markbass 450 amp (not an sa450 the one before) that had a Fet power amp section against am LMII, and the Fet maybe had it by a whisker, however the sa450 that I have weighs nothing and sounds amazing....[/quote] I reckon there's something to be said for a pre-amp and class D in one head. I think then the power amp could be programmed / voiced for the pre and you could overcome some of the inherent problems that are apparent with standalone class D power amps - ie they don't like it up em

[quote name='MythSte' post='732844' date='Feb 2 2010, 12:57 PM']I'm certainly beginning to wonder if there is much tone difference between Class D and normal Fet powered amps. At first i thought there was nothing in it. However im constantly being convinced otherwise. I'd like to try a high quility Class D, say 500 watt amp against the Fet equivalent and see what differences are thats for sure.[/quote] I've got a BK MXF1200d, which is supposed to have the same power. 600W per channel. I don't use it. It doesn't sound anywhere near as good. And has broken down once on stage and once at rehearsal through overheating (Although it was powering 2 Acme Low B2s - which it hated - it did one channel ok - but broke twice when powering 2. I had to rewire the Acmes to be 16Ohm to stop it). It's also not got the same power across different frequencies (esp lows) that this C-Audio has. Just doesn't seem to have the same depth. That said. The C-Audio is a very, very good amp. UK built (not UK assembled) with good design and good parts. I've heard good things about the Powersoft amps though I've not heard one. I'd like to try. Maybe they'd do it for me, but they're way too expensive really... even used.

[quote name='MythSte' post='732820' date='Feb 2 2010, 12:36 PM']ah! Well, sounds like a good excuse to buy a tiny class D poweramp to me [/quote] Been there and done that ... They're ok. But they don't sound as good as this... and they break... On stage... This power amp is built like a tank and does 1200W bridged. And it's only 17kg - which isn't that heavy. And it sounds superb.

[quote name='MythSte' post='732804' date='Feb 2 2010, 12:24 PM']Any reason you dont just put both of them in the larger rack case?[/quote] aye, well two things. The 3U is a shallow case, and the 2U is full width and "just" takes the power amp. Which is heavy enough @ 17kg (21kg with the rack) to warrant me putting the pre in it's own rack. I've got to be able to get it in and out of the back seat of a VW Polo. Which is tough when you're 6'5" It's deffo against 'elf and safety as it is! That and I'm thinking about getting a Sansamp at some stage in there too. I might just bugger it all off and get a 4U at somepoint, but I'll have to wait and see if we change car - see if I can get the speaker and the rack in the boot. A 4U would be fine then. This shows the depths... The floor under the table isn't that dirty BTW, it's a lighting / camera / tile texture / feline problem!

Sounds a lot bigger than it looks! It's an SVT-IIP > into a 600W /channel C-Audio ST600 > Schroeder 1212L Headroom galore! PS I've got a new rack case (the one with the great big 'ole in) ... Anyone got any bright ideas how best to secure it on top of the other one? The bottom one's a Boschma, the top ones an SKB. They don't seem to get on at all.

I've played a couple of places (pubs) with a b100R reasonably comfortably. No PA support required. A lot of gain and a lot of mid. For a good nick US made one, £350 is a steal. My B3158 certainly requires no PA support. The only time I've found it underpowered is in a small rehearsal rooms with stupidly loud drummers with heavy cymbals. 100W into a 15" tuned cab (which is what a b100r is) is more than fine for playing pub gigs. They're not quite as loud as some of the 300W or so combos that are out there, but they sound brilliant and are loud enough.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='732265' date='Feb 1 2010, 09:36 PM']FTW. [/quote] Class.

[quote name='Dandelion' post='732253' date='Feb 1 2010, 09:25 PM']So it could be classed as a" Honk?"[/quote] Ah yes, I do like a bit of honk. But I also like a bit of growl. To be honest, I think Jazz's are quite growly unplugged if you pluck em hard enough and fret them right. I think the growl is in the fingers. They're much more naturally aggressive like that (if you play them like that) than Ps are. I have to amplify Ps to get them all snarly.

Let's get this straight. Nasal "burp" a la Jaco is not [i]growl[/i]. Growl is gutteral, or at least tracheal. Not nasal. Growling is never done though your nose.

[quote name='RhysP' post='732072' date='Feb 1 2010, 07:07 PM']I use a 25 ft long, 6 inch wide flight case so I can store my leads uncoiled.[/quote] I did have one of them but I ended up losing it after not tying a good enough knot in the end of the whirlwind that was dragging it down the motorway.

I go through phases. I'm deffo loving my jazz at the moment. I do love a nice P though And I'm starting to talk myself around into getting another one this year. Sometimes Jazz necks feel to thin, sometimes P necks feel too wide and thin front to back. Sometimes I miss the thump of a P. Sometimes I miss the growl of a Jazz. I've got a nice P/J, but it doesn't quite do the P thing as well as my last P did. And it doesn't touch the Jazz (Although it's a better P sound than my Jazz, it's got a Jazz neck). I might have the pickups rewound to see if I can get it to do better what I want...