leftybassman392

Any more lifts wanted/offered?

I'm having trouble thinking of a situation in which you'd even use an F# at that frequency. The low B is at around 31 Hz, which puts the F# below it at around 23Hz. The lower limit of most people's hearing is at around 20 Hz! Not to mention the difficulty of building an instrument that can resolve it properly, or the kind of cabinet you'd need to have any useful output at that frequency. Am I missing something here?

Speaking of tunings, has anyone thought of tuning from low B in fourths right the way across (effectively giving you the same sequence as a 7-string bass..... I think....)? I've never had a 7 stringer, but did have one of my guitars setup in fourths for a while (C on 2nd, F on 1st string). Although you have to rethink all the chord shapes, the scales - and hence melodic sequences - are much more logical. In fact I think I'll give it another go. Hmmm...

What would be interesting would be to discover how many forum members are actually left-handed in their everyday life (whichever way they play their instrument). Left handed people are right-brain dominant. (Without getting really boring, each half of the brain controls the motor functions on the opposite side of the body. Most people have slight dominance in one half or the other - in simple terms, it's a bit more active on one side.) The interesting bit is that the right hemisphere is also the part where the artistic/creative functions go on. In the general population, studies have shown that about 10% are left-handed to some degree. I reckon that we'd find the figure among Basschat members is significantly higher than that. No way to test it of course as it would involve getting every BC member to respond (I'd be surprised if more than 2% of the current 13,000-odd membership post on anything like a regular basis). And yes, I do need to get out more.

Five weeks and counting guys.

I quite like it - or at least I would if they made one that I could f***ing play! But then I'm a big Tele fan generally - a seriously underrated instrument. Just 'cos it's short on bells & whistles doesn't mean it's not good at it's job. Like it or not, it's a design classic. There. I've said it.

[quote name='Phil-osopher10' timestamp='1330170331' post='1553643'] I am a big fan of a really nice and clean sound with a little touch of reverb. which I can get from a mates SS amp, however when you are trying to get a wee bit more meat in the overdrive when songs require it just doesn't have it. It's like a really nasal sounding overdrive and sounds less full to my ears. I have been playing bass for my church for 7 years or so, and they said to me about guitar as I have been noodling on them for a bit and sort of know some stuff with regards to fret positions (you'd think after all these years I would, haha) The fella says I can use his fender strat which is a nice guitar to play! But his amp, as versatile as it is just doesn't do it for me! [/quote] I've always seen the amp as an integral part of your sound - especially for a guitarist. To see it as just the bit that makes your guitar louder is IMHO missing the point of getting a nice amp. The basic sound just has to be right with minimal adjustment. If it isn't, then no amount of tweaking will really solve the problem (although with practice you'll usually get something you can work with).

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1330165208' post='1553523'] A mate of mine just bought a Cornford. Supposed to be a fantastic sounding wee amp. [/quote] I love it, the the Harlequin, at a meaty 6 watts, is just as good. Tone is a bit dark though, and the BMT controls don't actually do all that much. I've heard that the bigger amps in the range have a slightly brighter sound and a bit more 'give' in the controls. (I'm comparing it with the Mesa Boogie Mk3 that preceded it, which was insanely loud with the EV speaker in it, and which would happily slice your head off if you were a bit too ambitious with the treble! )

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1330114433' post='1553088'] Got this in my email box tonight [url="http://www.fender.com/en-GB/products/blacktop/models.php/?prodNo=0148700&EDID=D4HFTZV-PRWQ2-3O24I2-Z6XLF-RBRV-v1"]http://www.fender.co...2-Z6XLF-RBRV-v1[/url] [/quote] No lefties it seems - what a surprise!

+1 on the power thing. Like many others I went through the 'biggies for best' phase and had a succession of Marshalls and Mesas with big numbers. After a few years I noticed that I was never getting the master volume above 2 unless I used a powersoak of some sort. My current amp of choice (Cornford Hurricane) has just 20 watts, and for home use I rarely get the master above 4 (and a lot less than that when you dial overdrive in) - I've never gigged it but have enough past experience to know that lots of power onstage is a mixed blessing at best. I can't speak for all makes and models, but generally speaking valve amps sound best when you get the power valves cooking a bit, and to do that you have to crank the master volume. The problem with a lot of power available is that you're never going to be able to tap into into it because it's just far too loud - at home you'll annoy the neighbours and terrorise small pets, and onstage you'll make life difficult for everybody else in the band (most onstage problems that folk complain of revolve around somebody in the band - usually a guitarist - being too loud). This though will mean very little to a 19-year-old metal player with his Rectifier stack wanting to see his audience's ears bleed. I have a funny feeling that it's just something that many guitarists have to do (a rite of passage if you like) and hope their hearing is still intact by the time they get through it. Perhaps not quite as much as it used to be, but all the same...

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1330018045' post='1551557'] Oh I dunno, depends who's got the back pain really... [/quote] Steady....

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1329986734' post='1550718'] [b]Damage to the back is often permanent and certainly painful[/b]. If it's not comfortable, don't do if - and power to you [/quote] +1 on both counts in my case. Being a musician is supposed to be fun - where's the fun in having constant back pain?

The pub opens it's doors at 12 noon so that will most likely be the official start time (although a few of us will be there early to set the place up a bit) - basically any time after that will be fine. There are a few procedural bits & pieces going on during the afternoon, but everybody who's there before about 12:30 is unlikely to miss anything. There's no official end time but I would think most people will have seen & done most of what they came for by around 5 or 6pm. We'll play it by ear I guess. Patch & I will be finalising some stuff this weekend and will make a proper announcement after that.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' timestamp='1329950076' post='1550407'] PRS SE. That is the "budget" range, typically £3-500. [/quote] Excuse me. I stand corrected. Try 'em then.

PRS? VERY expensive! If you're in it for the long run and want a guitar to last you a lifetime as you improve then fine if you can afford it. There's plenty of really good stuff out there though that won't cost a fortune. A budget of around £400 - 500 will get you something that will last you years. There's so many good instruments around at that sort of price that it's probably better to go and try a few to see how they feel. Japanese instruments are always good value for money compared to American stuff. As a beginner you won't have much idea so probably best to just sit with a few to see how you feel at this stage. If you want somewhere to start you could do worse than check out a few models from the (vast) Ibanez stable and branch out from there. Word of caution - don't get caught out by fancy artwork - you're paying for it remember (£400 on a guitar with a paint job is actually a £300 instrument underneath). Oh, and take your time - be prepared to walk out of the shop if you don't see anything you like. Beyond that it's hard to know what to say. Good luck though. Don't forget to enjoy it.

Bearing in mind that they're definitely not metal, and that you're going to get as many opinions as there are people going to post... my personal favourite would probably be 'Absolution', which, amongst many other good things, has 'that' bass riff.

Depends on what kind of music you're planning to play. I know it sounds obvious, but that's because it is. Also I would look to get a (much) better guitar before you even think of getting a Mesa Boogie. The money you spend on the amp is likely to be totally wasted with a cheap-as-chips guitar.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1329935467' post='1550066'] An esquire or a Melody Maker. [/quote] Worth a few bob now though...

Speaking for myself I don't recall actually saying I didn't like them. Having said that, one of the great virtues of the Telecaster is it's simplicity. Whatever these things are, they're definitely not simple. Lots of tone shaping options reads impressively as a sales pitch, but how many of them would you actually use at a gig, honestly? I mean I'm sure you could build an argument for having it all at your fingertips, but most guitarists just don't do that IME - that's what your FX array is for!