thodrik

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1347028413' post='1796209'] Really? They've had at least £5000 out of me over the years and they've been ace every time [/quote] I've never had a problem either. Everybody has horror stories these days, the key point is the how frequently the horror stories actually occur. Given the OP's previous luck with a previous Musicman order though, I would guess that whatever bass he ends up ordering, irrespective of the dealer he orders it through, could have any of the following issues: [list=1] [*]dodgy truss rod [*]substandard neck pocket with massive gap [*]Substandard finish or cracks, chips and dings on the finish [*]Completely different finish from the one ordered [*]Completely different model of bass from the one ordered [*]Substandard fretwork [*]Pick ups are totally misaligned [*]The EU disbands leading to massive tariffs for all cross border transactions, making the bass a lot more expensive. [*]Instrument is lost during the delivery process [*]Sandberg goes bankrupt as a consequence of point 8, so the bass is never actually made. [/list]

Good basses. When I was buying my Jazz bass I very nearly bought one of the 'hardcore aged' TM models. It really felt like a 'worn in' instrument and sounded great. I very nearly bought it but I ended up going with a Sadowsky Metro, which in the last 3 years has become a worn in instrument in its own right. Sandbergs I have tried a generally really solid instruments and if I was looking for an active Jazz or active P bass I would maybe favour it over the Fender equivalent, as I have never been that impressed by the own brand Fender active eq systems and the Sandberg eq system is very flexible and user friendly. The build quality is generally up there with a top line Musicman or Sadowsky Metro, though I have played a couple that had sharp fret edges or a bit of a gap between where the fret should come into contact with the neck. I doubt this is a common problem though as with most things I would try before I buy. If I was looking for a basic Precision bass though I would probably still stick with a Fender. When it comes to Precisions I really don't get tempted by active eq or additional pick up options. Its the simplicity of the design that I like.

[quote name='Wolverinebass' timestamp='1345889750' post='1782759'] I doubt very much if Chancellor would sound exactly the same playing a Precision through his rig. He'd still sound like himself, but just not exactly so in terms of sound. [/quote] Pretty much, it would sound different, but it would still work.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1345838474' post='1782364'] i beg to differ.... this thread about a natural growl from a stock instrument.... i doubt you could get a proper growl from a P bass with any natural eq setting... through effects yes... [/quote] What is a 'natural eq setting'? Even the most basic of bass, middle and treble should be enough to get in the general ballpark of the type of sound you are going for? In the context of a thread discussing 'how does the bassist in Tool get his sound and how important is the Wal bass in achieving that sound?', I don't think that the natural non-Eq'd sound of the Wal is of fundamental importance. Essentially, I think Justin Chancellor would still sound like Justin Chancellor if he was using a Musicman, Spector, Sadowsky, Warwick, Fender Precision or any other four string bass tuned D A D G played through his set up.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1345836225' post='1782338'] i didnt know you could bet a growl from a Wal..? the last one i played had a dull thump... [/quote] You can get pretty much any instrument to 'growl' with the right eq settings, although a Gibson EB3 on the 'extra mud' pickup selection is a bit of challenge.

Apparently Mr Chancellor's tone is so cloaked in different effects, eq and clean/dirty blends that it isn't really a natural example of the Wal bass sound. The tone is amixture of the bass, the player and the general recording and production process, which in Tool's case is pretty extensive. Any kind of dual humbucker or high output pickup bass could get you in the general ballpark. If you look at the basses used by Tool's contemporaries/soundalikes like Isis, Karnivool etc, you'll realise that Wal basses are not the only basses capable of such a sound. You could probably just use a passive Fender and stick it though a Sansamp and still achieve the desired sound.

I'm home up north for a while so I may be able to get a picture or two of my Excess, complete with accrued wear and tear over the last eight years.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' timestamp='1345716890' post='1780766'] I quite like it, but the clear scratchplate would have to go. [/quote] Same here, also the absence of any other options is a bit strange.

I can't really improve on what has been said. If you save and get one, Arpege, Passion or even the Excess, you will not regret it. iGuitar have a review of the two newer models. http://licklibrary.ceros.com/iguitarmag/slash-iguitar-slash-magazine-slash-2012-issue-1/issue11/page/1 It seems that the new Passions have a bass, middle treble while the Arpege's have bass, middle and treble for each pickup. I managed to get my Arpege series IV on here for a great price, so you can find them, just not as readily as Fenders.

I have the Aguilar. Its pretty good. It tracks down to B fairly comfortably but I have found it gets spotty around A. Aguilar pedals are poorly designed as the high edges make it difficult to use them with angled jack sockets. Still it is a good pedal otherwise.

Just keep playing bass. After you have mastered the basic technique, just jam around, mixing up your slap bass with regular fingerstyle. I found it easier to come up with with slap ideas once I stopped thinking about slap in isolation from everything else, but rather as an additional tool that I could use when writing basslines or improvising in general.

From side by side I have always been able to get a 'vintage' sound out of my Fafner mkI with a 1978/9 Precision. The Fafner II looks a bit daunting to use, but with the EQ shaping possibilities a 'vintage growl' should be eminently possible. Just turn the EQ filters off, that removes quite a lot of the 'modern' sound to the head, set the eq yourself and set the drive so that all of the signal is going through the drive valve, rather than just everything above 600Hz or so. In my opinion some amps sound great run 'flat' but the Fafner models are not these models, unless you have a very powerful onboard eq. In a side by side comparison I preferred both the Aguilar 751 and the EBS Fafner I to the Ampeg SVT Classic. The 751 v Fafner I was essentially a tie and neither really sounded much more 'vintage' than the other. I wouldn't really want to take a financial hit of getting rid of one to get the other. If 'looking vintage' was really important though, I would maybe take the Aquilar, the Fafner II has a bit of a space-ship look to it.

Double bass goes in corner. Basses are usually placed in on a stand, but sometimes left on the sofa or bed if I know I am just going to come back and play it as soon as I come back from work/shops etc. If I have gigs and/or rehearsals within a short space of time, the bass I am using stays in its gig bag, somewhere near the door. The hard cases are kept in a cupboard as I only use them when I am travelling longer distances. They take up too much space in the flat and are too heavy to carry to rehearsal if I walking to practice, which usually takes 45 minutes.

[quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1344705540' post='1768217'] Have you tried emailing Mesa? They might advise what commercially available drivers are similar. Let them know that the current ones aren't the stock drivers. [/quote] I'm pretty sure that Mesa will advise that the best speakers would be the own-brand Mesa speakers. Best bet might be to try the talkbass forum, as there are a lot more Mesa fans and players than here. Just do a very thorough search before starting a thread.

I have had a Pod for years and although I really appreciate the flexibility, it has never made it to a gigging rig over a ten year period. Even for the 'straight to PA' gigs I have just decided to either use a Sansamp. Even though I know how to use the Pod, I just find the Sansamp experience a lot quicker with the same general result (a bass guitar sound) than the Pod. Generally I just use individual effects, I have a bunch of different overdrives, preamps, chorus, noisegates, tuners and delays and mix and match depending on my project/mood/how much I can be bothered to carry. Its pretty agricultural but I like it that way. I would maybe get a multi-effects box as a rack unit, but its not really high on my agenda and frankly I'd be more likely to buy a single rack unit preamp like a Trace V-type or Sansamp RBI

I'm pretty sure that the Mesa Powerhouse speakers are a 'special' Eminence design to their specs, based on the Deltalite II but not identical (but maybe almost identicial). Similar to how Trace Elliot use 'special' Celestion speakers. I may be entirely wrong but that is what I have been led to believe over the years. I can't say I've notice anything wrong whatsoever with the Mesa stock speakers have tried, apart from the price of the cabinets in general.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2wlku4r1iA[/media] This is old but still funny, to me anyway.

There are some interesting bits to St Anger, but I can't take it as any kind of masterpiece for the following reasons. 1. The drums 2. Overly compressed and layered guitars which go against the ' raw' sound they tried to capture with the drums 3. Singing that is at times woefully out of key 'Ooooooohhhh what a good boy you are'. Well, 'its a raw production' you think, but then... 4. Multi-layered tracks of vocals, harmonising with out of tune singing! 5. Awful, cringe-inducing lyrics 'Frantic, tic tic, tic, tic, tic tock' 6. Tracks that are generally slabs of riff sections sandwiched together with no melodic development whatsoever. 7. The drums With all that said, it is probably the Metallica album I have listened to the most, just to see if I was missing something. After 9 years, I am quite convinced that it is still not very good. The first two minutes of Some Kind of Monster are great and that is about it.

Park by Marshall 25 (maybe 35 I can't remember) 1x something combo since I was 11.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1344513265' post='1765665'] I liked Death Magnetic! I do have issues with the mix though - the bass is far too low and the whole thing is comically mastered. But we all know that already. I just picked up a recent EP of tracks that didn't make the album, apparently it's quite good. Only $2 too. Can you elaborate on why it's known as the Muff album? I have my theories... [/quote] I liked the songs on Death Magnetic as well. Just awful production work though. The constant snare clipping makes listening on headphones an almost impossible task.

If I was guessing I would say that it would been around the Loud, Reload era, when they generally got a bit more experimental and turned the bass up in the mix a bit.

I've had a Walkabout for about 4 years. No issues as of yet. I have never struggled for headroom running through the Scout 15 and I would guess it would be similar story if I was using the Barefaced Compact. One of the parts of the amp I like the most is that the 'all knobs set to 12 o'clock' delivers such a good tone that I generally don't use the EQ much. The only quirks/issues I can identify: The post everything DI and the way the DI level is altered by any changes in the master volume. It could probably do with a mute/standby switch No speakon outputs The fan is generally loud, but its not really a bedroom level amp anyway.

Nice finish.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1343085435' post='1745188'] Thing is, maybe you could quote Bauhaus aesthetics (the designer part of me would ask which bit of bauhaus but never mind that ) but to me it looks like a curvy update of the steinberger, which is great- but hardly fashionable. The basslab stuff however does look good. two thoughts.... 1) they have a green furry trace at church which time to time I stick the warwick through. Now the warwick is wonderful but, esp with the active pickups, it is such an 80's sound. in my head not pretty damn great! 2) I saw this wee band once with a modulus, red hot chill something or the other. Fella from muse also been playing status apparently [/quote] When I saw the Chillis Flea was on his Jazz bass kick. I also know the Muse Status connection. Generally I was meaning the bands beyond the absolutely massive million selling acts. Once you are at the Muse/RHCP level any number of basses are used.

[quote name='Warwick_Official' timestamp='1343089383' post='1745213'] Our new website should be launched soon! We've been putting a lot of work into it, to make sure its done right. Thanks for your patience and support! Please let me know if I can assist in any way! [/quote] That is great news. I have found the current one frustrating to navigate. Thank you.