thodrik

I did, right after I committed to buying a 6x10 cabinet on the Basschat marketplace and started to wonder how I would transport it from Blackpool to the Orkney Islands.

I have a couple of Mesa cabs, a 1x15 Scout and a 6x10 Powerhouse. Nobody needs a 6x10. It is just silly, unnecessary and impractical for gigging (too heavy and too loud). I bought it as a bargain 'bucket list' purchase for my garage studio. the 1x15 Walkabout Scout combo has done about 60% of my gigs since 2009. Great workhorse cab, though the design is a bit cumbersome and dated now (a modern 1x12 will go louder and lower and be much lighter). I used to have multiple Trace Elliot cabs, I had a Peavey era 2x10 and 1x15 to use as my 'big amp' set up. Good but not great cabs, I sold the 2x10 and still use the 1x15 occasionally. To be fair the 1x15 is still in perfect working order despite being on tour multiple times so I must admit the build quality is really good if nothing else. I really don't change set ups much. I have bought one cabinet since 2009 and it was the 6x10.

This. Or failing that, something dating from 1980-2000 with a 'Wal' logo on it.

This is the kind of riff where it is much easier to just play along to the track and work out the general 'feel' rather than trying to work out the part in isolation with notation. The actual track has quite a lot of 'swing' that isn't apparent from the transcription. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure that transcription itself is entirely accurate. Just thinking, it might be easier/more fluid to play the part entirely on the low C and just playing the upper parts on the tenth and twelfth fret rather than crossing strings. Being entirely honest, you could probably just hammer away on the low C and you will generally be fine.

Good prices, decent instruments, however far too many signature models and very much a 'metal' (but not my kind of metal) vibe. I really do like the P-bass inspired models.

With longstanding members with decent feedback, I have done it a few times without problem. Had it gone wrong though I wouldn't have had much recourse. Paypal is preferred but never through the 'friends and family' option

I made those comments in January 2020, just before COVID hit, so I will just blame COVID for delaying technological innovation. Do Ashdown still even make the Ant?

Brilliant musicians, generally considered 'good guys' of the industry, really appreciate some of the humour and their longevity and continued cultural relevance over a long career has to be respected. I even bought Geddy Lee's book which is great. I just don't really enjoy the music. I completely understand why people like it, but it isn't for me personally, even though I love lots of bands who are influenced by Rush.

Universal Audio are offering a 'free' 1176 plugin. I mean, there are so many damn 1176 plugins but the UAD ones are generally as good as anything.

For C Standard tuning (and a bit lower) I use 12-62 on a Les Paul. On a Fender style I would probably use an 11-56 or so owing to the extra tension from having a longer scale length. I think bands like Sonic Youth tuned to drop A (standard tuning but with the E string tuned all the way down to A). Many a metal band has tuned a Fender scale guitar down to B standard and lower, it is mostly down to a decent set up.

It is great that it is the 'proper' Sabbath line up of the four original members. It is also cool that it seems to be a celebration of the heavier end of popular music being used for charitable causes. My main takeaway is curious wonder/bewilderment of what a band featuring Billy Corgan, Slash, Fred Durst, Wolfgang Van Halen and Tom Morello is going to sound like. Are they going to have 4 guitarists, no drummer and Fred Durst or is Slash going to play drums? All in all a perfect way for the band to say goodbye in their own hometown.

I use a set of D'addario 120-50 balanced tension strings for D standard/drop C on a P bass and they work fine. They also work great for C sharp standard. The 120 however does get floppy if start tuning to drop B. For C sharp and drop B I generally up the low string to a tapered 130. Some of the classic low tune stoner metal bass tones have however been obtained with comparatively light tuned strings. The loose tension plays a part in the tone, so if you want to nail the 'vibe' of those early recordings a P Bass with slightly looser strings might be better than a multi-scale bass with really heavy high tension strings. It does come down to personal taste though and I like heavier tension strings (I use 12-62 strings on a guitar for lower tuning stuff on a Les Paul) For a Precision type bass especially, this is a very good idea.

In terms of bass amps which go utterly filthy in terms on board dirt, The Mesa Big Block 750 is probably the dirtiest amp I have ever tried. I wanted one for a decade before I finally got one and it is definitely a 'never sell' item. Ampeg SVTs are great for overdrive too. My nephew as an SVT 3 Pro and you can actually drive it to pretty good overdrive at useable volume levels, which isn't so much the case with the Big Block.

Agreed. If you watch any demo video he does about the Attitude basses or the EBS pedals, you really get the impression that he was heavily involved in the development process and he isn't just sticking his name on something for the sake of it.

Billy Sheehan comes to mind. Basses, preamps, pedals, strings. The guy likes to put his name on stuff that he believes in.

The new V2 Bass DI has a dedicated mids knob with switchable frequencies and the bass control can be switched from 40Hz to 80Hz. I had the V1 Bass DI for years, but I think that the V2 is a significant improvement in terms of tone shaping. The programmable has no mids control, but the programmable channels means you can easily switch from clean, light overdrive, heavy overdrive or different settings for different basses in a set. You really can't go too far wrong. If you just want an 'Ampeg in a box' then the VT Bass DI is worth considering too.

Stunning bass that. A custom Warwick is on my wish-list, love the red finish.

I bought a whole bunch of XLR cables for a recording project back in May. It took about a week and a half which I thought was reasonable. Customs checks took an age but that isn't Thomann's problem. If I need something really quickly, I go for a UK supplier. I generally go for Thomann for buying their in-house cables/accessories which I think are really good value for money.

I own an Arpege and actually really recommend the Vigier Excess model as well which I also own. Roger Glover from Deep Purple switched to them and he was a previous Rick user. All the Vigier instruments are a fairly comfortable weight. Neck profile on the Excess is a bit more substantial than an Arpege, with a 42mm nut, but the neck is very comfortable.

This is great news for me. Now when I really want to get a custom Spector or Warwick I can justify the price on the basis that it will be about 1/4 the price of an Alembic.

Softube are doing a sale of their Eden WT 800 plugin. 39 euros so about 33 quid or so. The sale runs through the weekend. It is a very good plugin. Not worth the normal 100 euro price but worth the sale price in my opinion.

I thought that the American Elite models were really excellent basses. Had they been out in 2009 I would probably have got one of them rather than a Sadowsky Metro. Not tried the Ultra ones, but frankly I prefer the design and look of the prior Elite models, though I haven't tried one myself. I always wanted to try the Victor Bailey model though. It just always looked really cool. The Japanese Marcus Miller models were about as good as any active Jazz Fender produced in my opinion.

Thanks, I will check that out. I have the Softube bass amp sim and I just use the Ampeg sim on that. I prefer it to ones I have tried on AmpliTube, Brainworx or Bias FX. I am a sucker for new and cheap plugins though. Honestly most bass amp sims to me involve faffing around with numerous settings and half the time I feel I would get better options by plugging into a Sanamp and running a Di straight into the interface. I used to have a Bass Pod and ditched it for a Sansamp for that reason.

I love EBS and Mesa amps (I have a Fafner, Walkabout and Big Block 750). You can't really go wrong with either brand. I did have an M6 Carbine for a while, which was a much more 'modern, clean, aggressive' tone which I understand is not a million miles away from the sounds that can be had with the Subway channel on the TT800. I did end up selling the Carbine because it was actually 'too clean' for me and I needed to sell the M6 to get the Big Block, which had been my dream amp for about a decade. The two channel flexibility of the TT800 would be deciding point for me, though I would probably be on the Boogie channel 90% of the time. If going the Mesa route I would certainly consider the WD800 as well.

I am intrigued by the 'Bassment' plugin. Not sure I need it, given that my general set up involves plugging a P-bass into a Softube SVT amp sim and then running it through a Neve EQ and compressor. Essentially my tonal goals are for everything is for it to sound like it was recorded in a very expensive studio by a very incompetent engineer (me). Also heard good things about the FrontDAW. Might have to try that.