SimonK

As with many things in life if you have a conceptual overview of what you are trying to do things work a bit better - no point buying a hammer thinking it is a screwdriver, or buying a collection of screwdrivers thinking they are an entire toolbox... With home recording there are quite a few different components, and you need to understand what does what before you can get anything done. Thus said the amount of different devices you can get is vast, and there is a massive difference between recording some basic tracks in Garageband (which is my recommendation for a beginner) as opposed to my friend's studio - he re-mortgaged to afford it and even rebuilt part of his house, which is one step beyond even most of us on this forum! As such I too have given up on home recording as I can't afford either the money or time to do a good enough job of it (and I have said buddy with a studio should I need it). Thus said I do like jamming along to my own creations at home, and have got surprisingly far using a digitech trio+ pedal. I am, however, gassing for a "Groovebox" next which is not quite home recording, but going in that direction with more complex backing tracks than the trio+ can manage.

So this is what I've been experimenting with this afternoon. I've put the Octave and the envelope filter first in the chain as they were both struggling to track after the compressor, then fuzz, then chorus is last in the chain (but before the EQ & preamp). I'm not totally convinced I have found a sweet spot RE setting so if anyone has experience in these things and fancies a comment. The decay setting on the filter seems to make a massive difference to the sound albeit loses some of the low end and hence the EQ setting.

I was inspired by 16:15 from the following, especially as I have exactly the same octave and chorus pedals, but annoyingly the camera glare makes it really hard to see the setings!

...although currently my aspiration is only for a gear "dry" January as I may not make it much longer than that! RE synth bass sounds - to avoid a thread highjack I've created a new one:

Hi all, Been experimenting with synth bass sounds, but the aim is to use my current pedals rather than buy a specific synth pedal (thank the 2025 gear abstinence thread for that!). So far I have: Octave -> Chorus/Flanger/Filter -> Fuzz My thinking is that the Octave needs the cleanest signal to track properly, and the fuzz goes last as it, well, fuzzes everything, meaning the modulation pedals work best in the middle?

Well that was close - very nearly ordered a bass synth pedal but then realised I could get a pretty good synth sound by combining my current fuzz, octave & chorus pedals. Just spent the last couple hours upsetting my family with synthy space sounds - awesome to discover that stuff I already have can be used in a different way and I don't need to buy something new!

Unlined for me although I do keep an always on tuner on the floor to glance at every now and again when I can't hear myself and need reassurance. Thus said I've never struggled too much with intonation as I generally slide into each note coz that's kind of the point of fretless mwah. At the moment I only have two basses so although the fretless is the first choice for a couple songs, I generally use it as a backup as it can do everything except slap at a pinch, so is great for a fretless option plus backup if needed.

...bl**dy wife, unbeknownst to me she told my son that we wouldn't be going on holiday this year if Daddy bought anything from Andertons today. He took the responsibility seriously and told every member of staff I spoke to that I wasn't going to be buying anything this year! So yes I got the repair booked and had a nice chat with Gavin their instore tech, but didn't get to try anything else - mind you I will need to go back up there in a few weeks, alone, when school will have started again...

Right lets test the power of this thread - I'm off to Andertons now with my son... I'm guessing buying something for the boy doesn't count 🙂 !

beautiful... the lead coiling that is 🙂... although is this the place to start the debate of coiling vs a cable drum for shielded cables?

I think I will hold myself to this being allowable if the existing nut is filed down, but not if they have to put on a new nut - I'm talking to him tomorrow. Whether strings count is an interesting one - if this was a guitar forum it makes sense that new strings don't count as you simply can't play a guitar frequently without breaking and/or changing strings, but with a bass the necessity of changing strings is less, and personally I do generally consider new bass strings a luxury... but if them the rules...

...is getting a nut re-cut by a luthier a fail along with new strings & a set-up? My reading of the rules seems to suggest this may be OK...

...need photo...

I was in a function band many years ago that lost our drummer and guitarist with lots of gigs in the book. I switched from bass to guitar, and we made a bunch of backing tracks with just drums, bass and keys. Worked fine with guitar, sax + two vocals live playing to the backing tracks albeit we only needed to do this for six or eight gigs before finding replacements. Re clearing up - instruments in cases and mics in the mic box first, and then xlr's coiled (and ideally wiped) properly has always been my main thing, again stemming from the function band where we had a lot of gigs and needed to clear up in such a way that we could set up quickly often within 24 hours. I also developed a way of taping leads down with one piece of duct tape reveresed (so sticky side out) and then a second piece over the top to avoid sticky residue on cables - something I've never been able to train others to do but it feels really simple and obvious to me!

Although I have a fraction of the gear that some people here seem to, I know I'm bloody lucky to be able to buy pretty much whatever I want, when I want it. Thus said I do feel guilty when things go unplayed or unused. I think, however, I should make the year without any bass purchases as I have a level of redundancy in my current collection - two basses, two heads, two compressors & multiple cabs, so don't think I "need" anything this coming year.... but a birth year bass and a five string would be nice...

A bit late to this thread, but it just so happens I was rooting around behind my rack this week and discovered a sub out on the back of the excellent (and cheap) Behringer FBQ1502 graphic equaliser - might be the simplest way to get a sub mix without wasting an aux channel:

It's been at least a page or two since I posted my favourite children - here they were getting ready for a pe-christmas outing!

Dammit... this one is pretty close to me but do I really need to take my collection to eight TE cabs?? https://www.facebook.com/share/151BPrcrkS/

This may not last long but I'm in... can I just check that this is bass gear abstinence so guitar/drums/studio kit doesn't count?

I remember teenage arguments about what band or song was or wasn't whatever type of music. It's just using words to describe sounds so as to connect bands/songs with a similar vibe. Spotify playlist does this far more effectively than worrying what genre something is, albeit the topic is a guaranteed conversation starter - sort of a social function rather than intellectual one! RE youtube, the content creators are slaves to the algorythm in a similar way as those of us who are employees are to our bosses/annual reviews etc. You got to do what your employer tells you if you want to get money at the end of the month! Combine the two and being contentious about a musical genre ticks youtube editorial boxes. The sad thing is it takes away from the credibility and often interest of the youtuber. Years back I really enjoyed Rob Chapman videos as at least for the first few years he just came across as genuine and funny. But last five or six years I can't cope with watching anything he produces as the youtube algorythm has acted essentially like an editor and taken him down a path that destroyed what he was originally good at - he's now just patronising.

For many years I could only afford a single amp/cab and as a consequence was always lugging it around so weight mattered. But the recent proliferation of cabs that are cheap because they are so heavy has meant that for less money than a single Barefaced cab I have got six (yes six!) TE cabs that I simply leave in places where I play - so as of this week the 4x10 in the picture above will now live permanently at home next to the piano, I have another 4x10 (TE GP7 combo in my thumbnail) that lives next to the drums at church that I share with the other bass players (and indoctrinate the teenagers on the merits of 80/90s gear), then a totally impractical 2x10 and 1x10/1x18 stack loaned to a friend with a big house in the country where we can practice (he also makes amps so we use it to test his latest creations), and then a second 2x10 & 1x15 stack that is currently under a stairwell at church but is the most "portable". I'm not sure if mine is a unique approach, but I get a distinct level of satisfaction scattering heavy TE cabs around the neighbourhood. My only fear is if people ask me to move them.

Second hand TE kit is so cheap at the moment now is a good time before it gets a lot older and crankier. I've been posting bargain finds on:

....2 year later.... mind you who doesn't like a compressor discussion on a Sunday morning over coffee! My first ever pedal about 30 years ago was the Boss CS-3 that I still have, although currently it is on my acoustic guitar board. In retrospect it was not an ideal one to start with as the controls are not the "normal" compressor controls, and labelled weirdly which caused me all sorts of confusions as I learned to work a compressor. After that I went for a rack compressor and did some recording, which was helpful learning about threshold, ratio, attack, release & output gain, hard/soft knee etc. so then when I wanted an upgrade for my bass pedalboard I went for a Keeley compressor pro as I thought I wanted to control all these. Five or so years of having it on my pedalboard and I've found little use for the ability to tweak settings, so keep it on "auto" (no need to adjust attack/release), soft-knee, ratio about 1:4, and then set the threshold so that I see some compression particularly when I play hard. Looking at the Keeley "bassist" mentioned by the OP I think in retrospect that would have been the better option for my bass pedal board and cost half the price! The upshot is that, certainly for bass, I use a compressor to level out the signal and also provide a bit of punch, and for that nothing too complicated (or expensive) is needed. There seem to be plenty of "one knob" options out there that I imagine work perfectly well for this sort of thing.

Happy afternoon re-wiring and adding in my Christmas present. Yes its probably over the top but hey, it didn't actually cost that much as almost all was second hand and it's a lot of the stuff I dreamed of when I was a kid! Only bit of manual re-wiring is choosing between the trace, ashdown or Genz-Benz bass preamps (which route through to the Trace cab).

Been meaning to get this all year to replace a little euro-rack mixer - the pedal allows three separate loops (and critically has a phase switch), which means in the rack I can have guitar preamps on #1 & #2 and a bass preamp on #3. Spent a happy afternoon behind the rack wiring it all up.