4 Strings

I get the comments about the LH500, I noticed that at the Victor Wooten thing in Romford. A good direction for new amps, me thought. Also I get the comments about 'what's flat' as bass amps, in general, have a scoopy sort of sound when the controls are flat. (Try putting a recorded track through and you'll hear). I accept my Hartke amp gives me a scoopy sound. If we assume manufacturers get their amps tried out by bass players before launching into production does this mean that we (in general) like a rather scoopy sound to add a bot of life? Would we be dissatisfied with a REALLY flat sound, like by plugging straight into a PA type power amp?

I know its horses for courses etc but I have still yet to play anywhere (from pubs to church halls to festivals to indoor parties) that's required me to use anything other than flat on the amp. I have been known to tweak the 'low pass' up a bit at home when at low volumes but that's about it. There's graphic equalisers and all sorts of other knobs and sliders on amps but I always look for the bypass switch. Am I a purest or something or do people generally not use tone controls on amps? If so, maybe they could be made more simply and the money spent on tone control diverted to better capacitors or something.

As at the extreme, I use a little 2.5XL (2x10 with a little 5" tweeter) all the time, loads of bass and sparkle too, extraordinary amount of both actually,I roll treble and bass off the guitar (Stingray - amp always flat). Gig on Sunday a bass playing mate described the sound as 'monster'. Add the 115XL and it can really rumble. I regularly use an old 1x15 Trace combo at church (which is great) and I have to wind treble and bass up full for that. Seems like it was his personal choice sound (or his guitar had twangy, new strings or toppy pickups) ps The old 1518 Trace cab I used to have, until it was pinched, was below sub. Lovely!

[quote name='discreet' post='861692' date='Jun 9 2010, 12:18 AM']Pics?[/quote] No pic, no butt. I'm in the 'pink is good, gold bits are bad' camp. Err, not camp, um, brigade. They are much more girlie. I would expect that bass to be packed away into a giant, black Range-Rover with low profile tyres and spinners. Just pink would arrive in a Corvette Stingray.

+1 on all this. For me though, totally personal, I just don't get the fake worn out look and would buy the other on that basis. However, I was one of the privileged few at the VW Hartke thing and afterwards Digital Village opened an Aladdin's cave of gear. Dozens of basses, Musicman, Fender US, Mex, Ibanez plus all sorts of others. For me, not necessarily a Fender fan, the stars of the show were a US sunburst Jazz (just played so beautifully and sounded so cool) and a Mex sunburst Precision which sounded fab. Having moved to try the Musicman basses first and only picked up others because they were there, these two stood out (though what a sound you could get from the Bongo HH!) even if they looked nondescript. I wonder how many other people went to a shop to buy a certain bass but, having tried a few more out, came out with something different, even totally different. There can't be many greater pleasures than trying out basses knowing you're actually going to buy one! (ps the other oddball star was a fretless Tanglewood Canyon, three other people made special comment of that one)

Is this where we can say thanks to you for this event? Like, I'm sure, every single person at the event I was very impressed by Victor's playing, communication skills, musicianship, attitude, humility, time and patience. He was still friends with us after 3+ hours of being on show, signing and having photos etc and being one of the last to leave. I was expecting an hour of him explaining the latest Hartke features and quoting model numbers. Actually, I believe he mentioned Hartke once and almost in passing. So, my thanks to you is for letting Victor free to play, chat, teach and impress us all about Victor in creating a relaxed, bass players heaven for an evening. Please be assured that despite the focus on Victor, the fact he happily uses Hartke at his level and that Hartke are prepared to invest at our level was lost on no-one. Thanks again for a great evening. Greg

[quote name='chris_b' post='848328' date='May 26 2010, 11:14 AM']Many thanks to DV and Hartke for putting on the evening with Victor Wooten, I enjoyed it immensely. He's not my style at all and I only bought the ticket on a whim but I was surprised at how much I was drawn in to VW's playing in the live environment. He's a very good communicator and a direct and likeable guy and I felt that he got his advice on playing, practice, music and life etc over very well. “No one ever got a gig on the back of the “twiddley” stuff. You get gigs on the back of your groove.” That's how I've justified my style for years!! So much of what he said resonated with me. Now I’ve just got to try and get some of those licks sorted! The only down side for me was the gear. Sorry, but I just don't like the sound of Hartke![/quote] Just tuppence here, the gear was DI'd and much of what you heard seemed to come from the PA. If so, not sure why he didn't have it louder from his cabs. Of course everyone has their opinions, which is why the world is so great, but I thought he sounded great.

Not really thought of trans orange before this thread but now I'm getting hooked. Say, Iconic, have you bought one yet? Surely you don't need any more recommendations? Funnily enough, in a little Google on it I can find lots of trans orange Sterlings, fretless and 5s but not a 4 string Stingray. If you order one, make it an HH. Oh, and without the matching head. <climbs out of dream to get back on with work>

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='846410' date='May 24 2010, 12:09 PM']Our trumpet player is always pushing to get me to take a solo. I keep telling her bass players don't solo because nobody enjoys it when they do, but she still brings it up every rehearsal.[/quote] Sounds like she has a soft spot ...

Yep, done it after some 15 years, was childless at the previous gig and turned up with my two teenage lads as personal roadies while the singer/guitarist had bred four in the meantime! Just reminded myself of (most of) the tracks from cassette tapes - took a while to find a player! - the night before, turned up and away we went! Only a three piece but the guitarist and myself still had the same guitars - even the PA was the same! Great fun, another 3 years have passed.

I have a personal 'No 5s rule'!

If you pull the neck off you can see what it's made from. Unfortunately, not a fan, here, can't see the attraction, although seeing Andy Fraser with something similar (ok, solid SG shaped body rather than violin) on the box the other day reminded me that they can sound great. Much as I admire Sir Jack, and I really do, I could never understand his choice of guitar nor liked his sound. However, I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately to the role of flats and my first bass was an EB0 copy and it was absolutely dreadful in all respects, so I am, perhaps, a little biased.

Done both, been in original material bands from their inception, MY bass lines were the right ones. Also done covers where Jamerson,or whoever's bass lines are the right ones. I am in a band now, exactly as yours, 10 songs already, songwriter gives almost perfect demos with drums, bass etc all done. The rest of us become instrument operators. The choices are about whether you like the material, happy to play someone else's bass lines etc all effect whether you bother. But the OP's question was 'how do you cope?' For me, once I'd decided to go with it, I play exactly what's required and then offer my suggestions. Some are welcomed, others are not, but normally the reason explained, which actually is very helpful. The issue for me is that I like lines, not roots. I get given mainly roots and that's what's wanted. It is frustrating, but I have fingers in other pies elsewhere which give, even encourage, more creativity, this one gives me more discipline.

The main reason why its not a great idea is that the output of your bass is very peaky compared with the compressed output from a cd or other recording. One of the reasons live music is so much better! Bass guitar amps and speakers are made to take those peaks, reproduce them well in fact, whereas you could easily overheat the amp and blow the speaker in an enthusiastic moment. Its not so much how low the frequencies but how large the peak. As others have said, watch the volume and have fun!

Music Man Stingray (HH if you can!)

Might have been the same time I saw him live last too. George was there too. They both came off the stage and soloing amongst us plebs, SC shaking hands with all and sundry. Haven't washed my right hand since!

[quote name='obbm' post='844034' date='May 21 2010, 12:36 PM']Looks to me as if the pick-up is too far back. Please can you take off the scratch plate and take a photo of the bare body from the neck to the bridge.[/quote] Position looks fine to me. The bridge you've got looks fine to, quite nice in fact. I wonder if its worth replacing or just getting on with. Not original, of course, but looks nicely made.

[quote name='daz' post='843778' date='May 21 2010, 05:29 AM']That looks like a single length strap that cant be adjusted for size. Does he not do the other trype with the buckle and strap device? Do you need to specify this when ordering? Also you say you got it for £21, but on ebay the guy sells them for £25 + £3 postage?[/quote] He gave me the price of £21 as it was a simple strap there was no adjustment built in. His idea to reduce the price, not mine!

Can't see what the problem is. Even without the output transformer adjustment all that would happen is that the output would vary with the load. Very low impedances of 2 Ohms (usually caused by running two 4 Ohm cabs in parallel) can cause problems to some amps, yours included. 8 Ohms will be an ideal load. If its power you're worried about, you'll hear the speaker complaining before you blow it up. I regularly use a 200W cab with a 350W head, my basic set up, no problems, just don't run it flat out. Won't hurt the amp though, just avoid open circuits.

The only thing is personal preference - Maple Neck! Also you should know about Gav's site: [url="http://www.musicmanbass.org/"]http://www.musicmanbass.org/[/url] (if you didn't already) Is that orange bass LIKE the one you're after or have you found it for sale? If the latter then I'm definitely with Duarte, go for it, its wonderful! (be even better with a maple fingerboard!) Let us know how you get on.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='843085' date='May 20 2010, 01:08 PM']Just a slight correction... The guy in charge of EB is Ernie's son, Sterling Ball. He was involved in Musicman from the beginning when the prototype Stingrays were being tested, and bought out the company when it fell into hard times and went under in 1984. Ernie Ball passed away in 2004.[/quote] Apologies, you are absolutely right, of course, thanks. Typing too fast. Sterling was an employee at MM at the time.

I was going to link the neck of your bass with the body of this one [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=67787&hl=sabre"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=67787&hl=sabre[/url] to make a Sabre (and then sell on the fretless Stingray). I pontificated too long. oh well. Congrats on your Stingray, Pre-EB 'rays go for a lot more than this, yours is a bitsa, which keeps its value down but you haven't done too bad at all. think we should recognise the integrity of the previous seller in keeping to what he paid for it. I very much regret not plunging in myself. Greg

What he said, except I have found Stingray necks to be slim from front to back. A feature in fact. The 80s dodgy neck thing applies to some pre-EB basses where some political wranglings between the factories put meant some necks were put out with flat truss rods. You'd be very unlucky to get one of these, there were 1,000 necks like it, not sure how many made it to a body, many have been rectified in the meantime (EB would still do so at no cost) and I would suggest most of the rest are in the US. If it wasn't that this made them eventually unplayable I would say it added great historic interest! Pre-EB basses are expensive as Leo himself was still around for most of this period but they are massive sounding instruments. However the trans orange wasn't around then. EB has made every attempt to improve them over the years rather than dumb them down. Ernie is an enthusiast with little other interest as opposed to a corporate (such as CBS or Gibson) takeover. There are some cuts, such as plastic instead of chrome battery covers. However, some of the early 90s basses have very nice looking birdseye maple necks. Going for a trans colour means its more likely you'll get a choice bit of wood for the body. Whether this will actually sound any better is another thing! There are very few duff Music Man basses, they are one of the most reliable products you'll find. You won't go wrong. I used nothing but my Jaydee for 25 years, got myself an '80 Stingray in January and haven't picked the Jaydee up since. The 2 band eq is, apparently, set up to sound like the original basses, the 3 eq gives more versatility. One thing you might check is the relative volume of the G string, some have found this to be lacking. Mine's ok, but its as close to the G string as it can go but its not a problem.

There's no way any damage will be done to amp or guitar by connecting this lead either way round. Might be to your reputation if you insist someone is not using it correctly! I cannot explain the colours of the decorative rings, they will not match many guitars. The only 'directional lead' for guitars I've come across are those with a 'Silent' plug on one end, the guitar end, which leaves the contact open until its plugged in. This avoids the crunching noises through the amp when the guitar is being plugged in after the amp end with the volume up and reduces the humming if its left unplugged. Its still not a directional lead though, just has different plugs on each end. I once bought a very expensive hi-fi interconnect lead which was supposed to be directional. Didn't sound any different either way (and I tried to hear the difference), and it turned out the soldering was pants, which would have made a much bigger difference. If anyone tries to sell you a 'directional lead' for your guitar, just go somewhere different.