WinterMute

Been waiting a year for this, there's a build diary some of you have been kind enough to comment on. Awesome build quality, the pictures don't really do the complexity of the grain justice. Plays like butter, Alan commented that it was "very fretless" and he's bang on, tons of mwaaaa all day long. Absolutely love it.

Has arrived, is awesome. What a finish, I'm used to bubinga having a grain to it and I think I imagined the feel of the bass to be more textured, but it's absolutely flawlessly smooth. Gong to take some time to get used to it and the filter based pre, which seems to be capable of some very wide-ranging settings. I'll out a few more pics in an NBD post in Guitars.

Exactly, and provided you've a drummer able to set and keep the tempo correctly, this is a much better option for keeping DAW's and synths in sync, extract the timing template from the drummers performance and use that to drive the DAW timeline. The preservation of feel and the ability to lock MIDI and loop parts to it is essential.

I've never had fun with waves, I've ditched the bundle I used and I have literally 2 plug-ins now, the Abbey Road Plates and an analog EQ model thats very funky, I bought perpetual licenses for both so I don't have to deal with the subscription service... If they're hooky, you're going to have even more problems, I've had to strip whole systems down to get rid of pirated Waves plug-ins. There are better sounding plug-ins by the bucketload, Sound Toys, UAD2, Sonnox etc.

Used them live and in the studio, pretty much always to sync the drummer into pre-recorded tracks or MIDI arrangements. I've found that some drummer will prefer to work with a percussion loop rather than a cowbell or woodblock banging away in their headphones, and I've often programmed dynamic clicks that are extracted from the drummers natural performances using Beat Detective or the like, these work really well for studio recordings as the retain the natural pushing and pulling that a drummer will impart to a performance, but keep the synths in time. The main advantage in the studio is locking the drums to the audio timeline for editing later, if the timeline moves with the performance, all the better. You can do it the other way round and extract the timeline sync from a performance, which works just as well. It takes practice and determination for a drummer to work well with a click I think, it's not a instant thing for most players.

I've long maintained that Leonard was a p*ss-t*k*ng m*th*rf*ck*r who laughed heartily at the human condition and benefitted greatly from it. Sadly missed.

Those resin filled bodies are the very funky.

It’s shipping next week, needs final checks and a set up, can’t wait.

Latest from Alan, final checks and set-up shipping next week...!!

I'm not a big fan of either headless basses or single cut designs, but that Salace E makes perfect sense of both, what a cracking looking bass that is.

Electrets generally run on batteries as the voltages are so low, stuffing 48v up them can have hilarious consequences.

As a younger, angrier man, I detested Steely Dan, but I've mellowed somewhat and come to really appreciate their talent and songwriting, some monster playing throughout their career. Very cool to hear the variations on well know tunes.

I used to be able to get an 8x10, a 4x10, an amp and 2 basses in a Renault 19... Had to watch the chassis on speed bumps. I've also had a couple of Renault Megane Estates, dubbed "bass buses" brilliant little load luggers, the new one is good, but the version before that is cavernous with the back seats down. The obvious band car is a volvo estate of some description, but I find them a bit bland. I now have a Jag XF Sportbrake, which is very roomy, but about the same length as an InterCity 125.

Character, charisma, any discernible talent, stamina, dress sense.... I'm not a fan.

Old tapes shed oxide like a b*st*rd, some are better than others, the "metal" formulation being the best, you'd be advised to get a pack of cotton buds and a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol, then clean the heads very regularly, check for deposits on the heads and guide posts after each playback, I've had tapes dump oxide all over the shop. Don't apply isopropyl to the rubber parts, which are the capstan roller or rollers, depending on the mechanism.

Great result, congrats

Grab a second hand Line 6 Bass Pod XT, if you can find one, I've used mine in reserve for donkeys, it works brilliantly for emergencies.

Yep, instant investments, never be played in anger, what a shame.

Chorus on the main part, and distorted flange on the section you reference, it sounds like the flanger is feeding the distortion, not the the other way round, as flanged distortion sounds different.

Sorry, but if your bass sound is interfering with the mix so much that it need turning down one of two things is happening... 1. It's too loud, well done for spotting that. 2. You've not got your sound dialled in for the overall sonic footprint of the band/venue. 1. is a player issue, 2. is a mixing issue. There is absolutely no reason why a bass sound can't be present and aggressive and still play nicely with everything else, similarly there's no reason a good bass sound can't cut in a mix whilst being quiet and supportive. These are mix issues. Employ a HPF to remove anything under 25Hz (maybe as high as 40Hz) in the PA, watch your amplification of the 1-3Khz band, which is where a lot of clarity and articulation happen in vocals, don't boost HF with a shelf EQ, use a bell shape or a LPF to remove HF above 10-12k. You can employ similar approaches to guitars and keys, especially heavily distorted guitars that have a ton of LF in them, try HPF set to 75-150hz to let the bass sit underneath the guitars. HPF on keys is really useful, allowing space for all instruments to work in their natural ranges means you don't have to try so hard to get stuff to "cut".

The Coles are great, nit just for double bass, I use them as ambient room pics for kits and guitars too, lovely units. The Rupert Neve SE Electronic ribbons are good too, but the standout for me is the Sontronics Sigma 2, which is excellent, but not what you'd call cheap. Some ribbons are picky about their pre-amp pairings, certainly the Coles come alive with a variable impedance pre like the Neve 1073.

Rule of thumb is that your OS HD houses your plug-ins and DAW software etc, another HD holds libraries for synths samplers as they can get very big and a third drive is allocated as the project drive and holds all the audio/MIDI and arrangement data files. I think thats generally what you are planning to do anyway. Buss controllers become an issue, even USB 3 is a serial buss, so watch what you've got on the buss that your audio HD is on. I'd try to keep the Project HD off the common USB buss that the OS uses for keyboard and mouse etc. if you can. Try not to run external HD's off USB hubs unless they are low priority back up drives. Anti-virus software, or indeed firewall etc. can cause issues with DAWs, but you can usually resolve them.

When I was gigging, rack kit was simply more useful and easy to transport, I used the Bass Pod XT Pro for a few years, then the GED2112 Tech21 preamp with a Crown power amp and a Barefaced Big Twin, but after I stopped playing live they took up valuable space and slots in my small studio, so I swapped them out for an HX Stomp and a QSC K12.2. I think I sold the GED2112 for pretty much what I paid for it, same with the Big Twin but for a few quid, the Line 6 not so much... My Packhorse 4U rack case is now a cable and connectors box in the loft.

McCartney has to be on this list surely? Otherwise, Geddy Lee was the reason I picked up a bass, I was already singing, so learning to play whilst singing just made it natural for me, it's a skill I've neglected of late. Jack Bruce, Burke Shelley, Phil Lynott, Lemmy and Greg Lake.

If you're finding it a touch quiet, can I suggest plugging the amp in?