thodrik

I like the bass terror heads but I have never been impressed with the 'one speaker behind the other' Orange cab designs. It will probably do the job fine but I would be more inclined to use the head with a separate 2x10, 1x15 or 2x12. The head is so small you could probably fit it in a rucksack and just throw it the bag over your back when carrying the cab, which still makes it one trip to the car, albeit a slightly more cumbersome one!

I'd say that the Clover has enough 'Jazz' bass aesthetics to cover that territory. I went through the 'I want a Jazz' period for several years, as my Vigier Excess just wasn't 'Jazz' enough, despite being a great bass. In the end I've gone back to using my Precision, so really shouldn't have bothered buying any basses beyond the age of 14.

Musical beauty is completely subjective. So is technical skill, albeit to a lesser extent when one person's 'virtuoso' is another person's 'overrated'. There is also the potential inverted technical snobbery, whereby every bassist who doesn't play simple root notes is accused of overplaying. Still, I think that in terms musical compositions which interest me personally, technical skill on an instrument is often less important than knowing basic music theory. I am often more impressed by use of an interesting harmony or inverted chord than I am by double thumbing, slapping, tapping etc. To me though, there is a difference between 'choosing' to keep it simple and 'having' to keep it simple, which is why I still try out new ideas, even if I have no real intention of using them outside of practice. I can't say I've noticed a 'pro technical' v 'pro-muscality' divide on this forum though. I've only noticed a tendency to look down on anyone who chooses to cut mids and use a smiley face EQ!

Some of the Ashdown stuff. Orange stuff (though the 'made in UK' is very borderline). Matamp for sure. Trace Elliot is only 'designed in the UK' but is now built in the USA at the Peavey. Other than that I'm struggling a bit.

If its the same style as my SMX head, the valve doesn't really do overdrive, it just adds a bit of warmth and body to the tone. If you want anything beyond that then I would maybe suggest getting a pedal.

Since Stringbusters are pricing them at £16 quid a set, I decided to buy a couple of 120-50 sets. Its less than half price of the standard DR DDT 115-55 strings. If these strings are halfway decent then they will probably become my go-to strings for D standard/Drop C. I think for bassists who tune down, D'addario could be onto a winner here just in terms of gauge and price alone.

EBS amps generally have very good onboard compression, in my opinion better than the SMX-era dual band Trace Elliot compression which, while good, tended to suck away some of the low end. I can't speak for the TC Electronic stuff, I went for a Mesa Walkabout when going 'lightweight'.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363711451' post='2016385'] I always remember an interview with Jon Anderson of Yes done at the time of the release of his first solo album. Because he'd composed all the music himself but had no conventional musical training (or at least compared with his bandmates in Yes), he said that every note had to be individually considered from all the ones available. I was an impressionable teenager at the time I read this, so I have no idea if it was true or simply bollocks made up to give the album extra publicity. However I do think that his basic idea was sound. Whenever I find myself slipping into comfortable patterns or chord sequences, I'll start deliberately throwing in notes or chords that would normally be considered to be wrong. Of course most of the time the result isn't very musically pleasing, but it also throws up plenty of new ideas worth pursuing. [/quote] Interesting idea that. You should try twelve-tone serialism stuff. Devoid of patterns and often devoid of much melody, but really interesting all the same.

This debate has been done before. Connections and appearance can be everything in the music industry, or any industry, irrespective of whether you are male of female. She is a very good player and doesn't deserve some of the flak she gets. However I don't think she deserves the over-the-top extra praise she seems to get on the basis of her being an attractive female. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Personally I find her playing to be a too 'middle of the road' to warrant my attention, but that places her alongside many other very good players that do not interest me in the slightest.

I am generally aware of the notes, keys and intervals I'm playing. Since I did a fair bit of music theory when I was younger though, I would be pretty worried if I wasn't! However, if I'm playing in a tuning that is below E standard (say C/C sharp) I might say 'play an open A' to the guitarist, as if I say 'play an open F sharp' it generally confuses them. Sometimes though I prefer the 'grip it and rip it' approach than thinking carefully about every note I'm going to play in a given song. However even then its not as if I'm not generally aware of what I'm doing. I don't think that patterns are necessarily a bad thing either. They appear in all forms of music Being aware of lots of different chord or fingering patterns is a good thing and can help provide a skeletal framework that can be adapted when composing music or even improvising. I would say that being a slave to the same three fingering patterns, chord structures and time signatures is a sign of laziness, but to some people it equates to a 'signature sound'. That is why I generally don't think about it too much and just play bass.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1363614896' post='2014744'] I find D'Addario tend to be a bit silly. A regular gauge set (45-105/107) they will call regular light, and long scale for 32" scale basses. they call 30" scale short scale. In the world of guitar, a set of 9's are called super light gauge, but where do you go from there? You can get 8's, so are they called super super light gauge? Fantastic strings, but their naming of sets based on the scale and gauge is mad i find. [/quote] Yes and then the 120-50 set is apparently a 'medium' but there isn't a heavy equivalent. I find the 'light/super light/medium' descriptions of strings to be essentially useless. Just tell me the gauge and let me decide on whether its light etc.

Highway Ones are US made. Not bad either though I never really liked the 'Greasebucket tone circuit'.

[quote name='steve-soar' timestamp='1363046026' post='2007674'] This is a heavy riff. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=limc_mfDZJU[/media] [/quote] That has actually put me on a Carlin binge over the last day or so.

[attachment=129712:amp.jpg] New purchase courtesy of Bloc Riff Nut. Not found out how loud it is but for a 400 watt valve amp made by Trace Elliot its lighter than expected.

[quote name='umph' timestamp='1363039261' post='2007549'] mars the bringer of war by holst is real heavy and riffy [/quote] Yepp. I find lots of romantic and neo-classical stuff to be pretty heavy since around that time the range of notes available on a piano, the use of sustain and use of brass instruments were being developed more. Mozart though for me is not heavy at all. From playing double bass in orchestras I found a lot of his stuff to be pretty light and fluffy in comparison to Beethoven, Stravinsky and more later composers. Mozart to me is like the Beatles. I'm sure it is musical genius but it doesn't really do much for me personally. Love me some Mahler too. The heavy stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URKGIa0b_jI

Going on 'bass forum' reviews the following gear I own could be considered rubbish 'its too heavy damn it': Trace Elliot gear 'boring and generic looking and sounding ' Fender Precision 'Expensive Fender clone' Sadowsky Metro 'Poor design, no truss rod': Vigier bass 'There is no mid knob, thus it automatically sucks': Sansamp Bass DI

[quote name='mbellishment' timestamp='1362961445' post='2006886'] Don't get me wrong, I love Sabbath... I was brought up as a young kid in a house listening to Deep Purple, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Bowie, Sabbath etc... but HEAVIEST RIFF EVER??? Ok... 'most iconic metal riff ever' or 'most influential metal riff ever'... but folk saying things like Zeppelin and Sabbath have recorded 'the [b]heaviest [/b]riff ever'... reeks of arrogance and ignorance to me I'm afraid. It's a predictable answer and before I even looked at the thread I guessed some folk would say these things! The only surprise to me is that someone hasn't named a Beatles song as 'Heaviest Riff EVER' yet, which I was honestly expecting. [/quote] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHYOXyy1ToI Peter Hook wins 2nd place to Yob. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eNztVgCc9k

Just received a Trace Elliot V6 from Phil. As said earlier, straight up, honest and good communications. No problems whatsoever. Buy with confidence.

I'm not sure if its the heaviest thing ever, but despite repeated listenings I still don't know what the bassist is doing in this song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2qLY4KHCYE But if its Deftones heavy I can never go beyond 'You've Seen the Butcher'.

One of the reasons I love my Metro Jazz is the fact that the neck is a bit wider and thicker than the Fenders I've tried. Coming from a Precision background this helps a lot. If I had the money I'd buy a NYC in a second.

Go into a bass shop and buy the one you like the most.

[quote name='quimbymeat' timestamp='1361816034' post='1991373'] I have the new gt200 in Glasgow, if you drive you can try it out at a practice space. it's the best amp ever. [/quote] Trying/buying a Matamp is defintely on my 'to-do' list in life I saw you were selling one in the last month. I was sorely tempted though to end up I've actually decided to buy a Trace Elliot V6. Next up is getting a new car so I can both transport my stuff more easily!

I love the concept. I am totally going to get one at some point.

[quote name='Ben Jamin' timestamp='1361749938' post='1990430'] That'd be me They put a basic one together but there were some issues to sort out and due to the queue/getting parts/figuring it all out etc it was going to take longer (waited several months, would've had to wait several more) than I could afford to wait as I had to get gigging with something. What an amazing company though, they understood and didn't charge me anything. Even pointed me in the direction of some suitable off-the-shelf amps from other companies. Can't get better service than that. Anywhere. [/quote] Cool, glad I wasn't imagining it. I was (and still am) pretty pretty interested in the concept of the amp. For me though, I would probably end up going for the all valve option, complete with added weight!

It looks like a half-eaten slice of pizza. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.