paul h

Retrovibe Aero2. Barefaced Compact. Harley Benton Ba500h.

Forgot to report on Saturday's gig. We played The Gate in Brickett Wood. Tiny pub but nice enough. Our keyboard player couldn't make it which turned out to be rather lucky because he wouldn't have fit! To save space we put the gtr combo on top of my Compact. Worked really nicely and actually gave a nice focused sound. Punters enjoyed it. I had a few beers. Got paid. Full of win.

I returned two HD400s for appalling build quality/lack of quality control. They both leaked some kind of white, possibly thermal, paste through the rear vents. The second one, although delivered in a sealed, totally undamaged box was totally bent out of shape in a manner that looked like it left the factory that way. It had no obvious marks of an impact but the chassis was severely twisted in one corner. I didn't have a cab at the time so couldn't really test then out but the features did seem pretty cool. I am normally all for buying off t'web but these definitely fall into the try/closely inspect before you buy category.

Still basking in the glory that was tonight's gig, on a boat, on the Thames, opposite the London Eye, for Nokia. Great gig, had fun, free beer and food and got paid well. The only downside was loading the gear at the end of the night. The boarding ramp was steep enough on the way in but low tide meant carrying the gear up a 45 degree slope to get out!

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='1297420' date='Jul 8 2011, 04:57 PM']When you press a string on to the first fret you are not only fretting it, but are also bending it by an amount, so with a conventional nut the first few frets always come out a bit sharp, irrespective of how well you set the intonation at the 12th fret. By effectively moving the nut forward in a compensated nut you are shortening the distance to the first nut so that it nominally plays flat. If you get it right this flattening and the sharpening from pressing the string down cancel out, so the first few frets are better in tune. Obviously this applies to all frets but the affect reduces as you move away from the nut. I played around with one a few years ago (actually with a bit of wire acting as a zero fret). And the affect was really quite good in terms of tuning accuracy. Some day all basses will be built this way.[/quote] This. ^ I am currently rocking a zero fret conversion for that reason, amongst others.

[quote name='funkgod' post='1297219' date='Jul 8 2011, 02:02 PM']Anybody got an idea why the new stingray nut is like it is ??? i have just ordered a new neck from MM and it came with this on it makes it almost impossable to replace with a nice brass one or the intonation will be out. ahhhh its all so apparent now !!!£££!!! i cant see any reason why the change was made, other than you will now have to order a new one through MM, i hate it. i can see they are now stepped but there is nothing you would not get on the saddles. [attachment=84240:IMG_2492.jpg] i wish they would use the old warwick thumb bass "just a nut 1" that was a perfect design with the strings going over the screw heads set in the brass nut.[/quote] This photo confuses me greatly. Surely conventional wisdom says that the nut should be closer to the bridge to improve intonation? [url="http://www.buzzfeiten.com/howitworks/howitworks.htm"]http://www.buzzfeiten.com/howitworks/howitworks.htm[/url]

If only it was a J nut width.

Another Billie Jean here. Learnt after a quick listen at last nights rehearsals. Prior to that, Build me up Buttercup and Blame it on the Boogie.

Aww, thanks. Glad to have you back by the way. I really missed you.

I can't be bothered to read this thread but I'm going to comment anyway Last night our singer told me that the bass player in his old band wasn't a patch on me. He said he was good but couldn't do that "slap thing". I only do it on Car Wash and maybe the odd bit thrown in here and there. So no mention of my trying to capture the feel of Bob Babbit on Signed, Sealed, Delivered or the fact that I play I Can't Help Myself with one finger in a desperate but totally unsuccessful attempt to sound a bit like JJ. Or that on the last chorus of Rolling in the Deep I play a really nice high harmony part with the vocals. Or even that during the middle eight to Forget You everybody else takes a back seat and I carry the whole band through it. None of that even registers. But he notices the slap. Make of that what you will but as far as I can see slap is a totally valid technique, no different to pick or fingers and it's also one that non-bass players, or "norms" tend to enjoy. The no-slap argument to me, is as pointless as the no pick argument.

Ooh nice. A P with a J neck, no idea why more manufacturers don't offer that as standard. Very cool bass. Looking forward to a review.

We have a little bit of Motown creeping into the set so I'm getting my Jim Deacon P gig ready! Heavy strings and a bridge cover packed with foam! Can't wait!

I saw them open for someone at the Birmingham Odeon in about 85/86. Either Saxon or Gary Moore, my memory fails me. Bought the album after seeing them and as far as I can remember it had some good stuff on there. Sorry for the non-help.

Lovely stuff. I have yet to find [i]that[/i] P bass yet but I am trying. Of course I'm doing it by trying force my £110 Jim Deacon to submit to my will.

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1281021' date='Jun 24 2011, 02:20 PM']Back to the OP - Its the strings! These have the largest effect on the sound and he has very old flats. If there's a blind test with three similar basses then he has to use the same strings. Its absolutely impossible to tell the difference between such subtleties as tone woods on an electric bass with such steamroller sonic effects from different strings. [b]All new basses will sound more brittle/brassy/thin (enter adjective here) than an old war horse as they'll have new strings.[/b] [b]Also I would willingly tell Marcus Miller he's wrong about maple fingerboards sounding brighter. They look it, definitely, but its impossible for them to sound brighter as the wood is softer and less dense than rosewood. Similarly ebony, being darker is supposed to be warmer but its properties are harder and more dense and so will sound brighter (remember those aluminium necked travesties in the 80s?)[/b] Perception is everything. As someone else posted, an old guitar is going to sound great as soon as its known to be old. I don't get the soaked in vibrations thing either, certainly not for mass produced lumps of wood an inch thick.[/quote] First of all every new bass I have ever played has had crap strings on it. Also the idea that new basses all have new strings on them and old basses all have old strings on them is , actually I don't what it is. 100% wrong? And I am not sure why your opinion is more valid than MM's. Mmm. Who to believe, random internet stranger, or top class professional bass player? Tough call.

Seriously though folks, this raises some serious issues that need to be seriously addressed. Seriously. I think we should all club together and get the problem sorted. I'm serious. Vibrating G String, you take musicians. Ou7shined you take custom luthiers. I will take the large guitar manufacturers. Can someone else take please pickup manufacturers? Right, if we start emailing everyone now we should be able to tell everyone they are wrong within a year or so. I suggest the subject line "You are 100% WRONG". That should grab their attention. VGS: I suggest starting with Marcus Miller. I once saw an interview with him where he claimed he preferred maple fingerboards because they were brighter. What an IDIOT! MILLER! You are 100% WRONG! O7: Luthiers. Take your pick. They all seem to have opinions about wood. They are all WRONG! Maybe send them some links to plywood suppliers to help them out? That would be cool. Whoever takes pickup manufacturers...GOOD LUCK is all I can say. Those bastards are always going on about how ceramic and alnico magnets sound different. It makes me sick. GO GO GO! We've only got 24 hours to save the etc. etc.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1280777' date='Jun 24 2011, 11:48 AM']If you mean often right, yes I just heard something I like that loosely paraphrased was, cynical is a name for those with insight that is not shared by those using the term.[/quote] Hahaha! Love it. I'm going to make up my own definitions for words to make me sound better too. Fat is a name for well endowed men with super powers. I'm so awesome.

[quote name='BottomE' post='1276946' date='Jun 21 2011, 12:34 PM']+1 inexcusable. Tune your own bass and KNOW that you are in tune. At this level unforgivable.[/quote] How many people at this level tune their own basses? Surely they would have techs?

[quote name='4StringFortress' post='1276855' date='Jun 21 2011, 11:40 AM']Do you have a website for them? I cant seem to find any pick ups by them.[/quote] Normally some on ebay but not currently apparently. Axes r Us do them. [url="http://www.axesrus.com/AxeBassPup.html"]http://www.axesrus.com/AxeBassPup.html[/url]

DAMN YOU INTERNET! Happened to us all but not necessarily at a festival and subsequently the interweb!

Artec.

I haven't fallen off stage but I did jump off once only to find it was too high for me to climb back on. Had to sheepishly finish the song in the crowd until a bandmate could help me back up.