Muzz

Went to Richer Sounds recently to look at the Sonus stuff, for the wireless/convenience angle, and was distinctly underwhelmed by the sound - very boxy, nothing special at all - the product's clearly all about the wireless networking, but the sound was so poor I couldn't live with it. Well, not for the money, anyway. Having said that, I'm only using a pair of Control 1s these days, and I'm not even sure about the bitrate of all of my mp3s, either...then there's my tinnitus to contend with...

I think the aesthetics can be hijacked by comments, and therefore ruined for ever more, for example: Bongo = bog seat, Corvette top horn = nob. It's impossible to unsee this sort of thing once it's been pointed out. Sorry. In other news, I don't like Jazzes, singlecuts or reliced anything, but then I have a Dingwall, a pointy Explorer thingy and a Thunderbird, so what do I know?

Sooo, what with the family Xmas paid for and a Stateside holiday just booked, any GAS over about fifty quid has had to be curtailed, so obviously the next best thing is to faff about with strings I've never really got on with flats, but after reading some good things about Chromes, and finding some cheap in, of all places, a local secondhand shop (the strings weren't second hand), I went for a set, and put them on my Fenderbird. Quite the revelation - plenty of sustain, enough brightness for me, I like their relatively high tension, and although their tone played at home is obviously duller than the DR nickel rounds, in a rehearsal I was very impressed by the heft and solid punch they can deliver, played pick or fingers, especially with the rockier stuff. Bear in mind I'm using a Streamliner with a 2x15, so I like valvey old-school sounds. I'm sticking with the rounds on my Dingwall, but in future I'll have a flats option available, definitely with the Chromes.

Incommensurable...fantastic.

27 years! Blimey, remember hearing the news like it was yesterday. A great loss. RIP Phillip Parris.

Was this with your Schroeder? I have the bass on 2-3 o'clock with mine!

I use mine with a Schroeder 1515L, and the Schroeder's natural low-mid bump and shyness in the lows seems to suit the Streamliner - I actually boost the lows on the head and it rounds out the cab better than most amps I've had. I sold my Mesa (and my Spyder 550) once I'd had a good play with the Streamliner, which just goes to show how individual our tonal tastes/requirements are. To the OP, I'd wait until you've heard the combination in some different rooms/positions before pronouncing on it - have you tried cab positioning/isolation in the rehearsal room? I use isolating foam more often than not these days to reduce boom at gigs - I've never seen the need for a Gramma Pad - as good as I'm sure they are - because a couple of sheets of foam do the job for me.

I have a Passat diesel estate, my rig (albeit not a very big one) and two basses fits in the boot with the cover over it, and I get 60 to the gallon out of it when commuting the 35 miles to work every day. Great transport, which is all I want from a car - they don't really interest me any more.

I used a BDI-21 as above, and also a Sansamp BDDI into my LMIII. They both sounded good and SVT-like, and so similar that if I ever went that way again I'd be tempted to save the money and just get the Behringer. Given how little they cost, it's worth trying one.

I like basses, they are my main hobby, passion, and I earn money with them. I like lots of different basses for diferrent reasons, so I have a few. Apart from the main 4 string, I have an eight and an acoustic, both of which I use live, and I play in two different bands, the vibes of which dictate the bass I use, although these days the Dingwall gets by far the most use.

The Schaller's my favourite bridge, the rollers are a great idea and the lateral movement allows you to make sure the strings are aligned properly with the pole pieces. It's also very comfortable under hand if you play with the heel of your hand on the bridge, as I do.

Weight's important to me, my Dingwall's been a 7lb 8oz eye-opener, anything much over 8lb these days has me looking askance at it, and as has been said above the weight variance in nominally identical basses can be plenty. Lots of manufacturers either give ballpark figures or sometimes no weight figures at all. Nut widths, although much more commonly stated, can also vary, it's just nice to check.

Yep, it's a personal taste thing, I hate relicing as it always looks so fake, but when I actually played a RW Precision I was very very impressed. With my eyes closed. Chas/Dave's* 40+ year old Precision has done a zillion gigs, and has some very distinctive wear (because of his/their right hand technique) but none of that belt sander hoohah EBay is full of. Was there a period in the 60s when sandpaper suits were de rigeur? * The prog showed them both using it over the years, which I thought was very cool...

Just sold an amp to Rick: ideal transaction, great comms and a seamless pickup - deal with him in confidence, he's one of the good guys! Cheers, Muzz

I counted 17 of 'em at one gig...

It's great song, but lots of production in there - there's a second bass track where he plays the melodic bits, and IIRC it's all fretless. Even the bass fill near the end is studio-produced: the second half is the recording of the first half played backwards. There's an interesting story about it online somewhere. EDIT, there you go, beaten to it... The bassist is Bakithi Kumalo, he's an extraordinary and quite unique-sounding player. Check him out on YouTube, etc. When we do it live, the keyboards do the melodic bass parts, and I play an approximation of the bass fill that sounds OK. If you've checked out live versions, you'll know there are some, erm, interesting interpretations of it out there...

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1355571121' post='1900015'] ...They basically completely ignored us! The guys were just hanging out chatting at the bar down the far end of the pub, whilst we were in effect playing to an empty room! There was no applause, no dancing, nothing. By the time we finished the first set, we were feeling pretty down, but the landlord said we were great, and the guy who booked us said we were awesome and that all the guys were really enjoying it, despite them not showing it! He said "we don't really do dancing or anything." [/quote] Had pretty much an identical (lack of) crowd reaction combined with delighted club secretary/landlord in Scunthorpe last Friday. Very odd.

Walk On By by Dionne Warwick. Class.