discreet

[quote name='Karl Derrick' timestamp='1439139935' post='2840345'] Just finished this. My Jazz with a one piece Alder body, finished in a lovely maple syrup coloured lacquer by Dave Wilson. The neck is by Status Graphite, the pickups are SME hand wound, the pickguard is a brilliant material by Boston and was made to my template by Jack's Instrument Services. I made the copper control plate and side jack cover plate. The hardware is all Schaller vintage copper. Sounds amazing. [/quote] Wow, that's unusual. Love the hardware.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1439206893' post='2840778'] There was a £10k bass. That came about 12th if memory serves. [/quote] Ooh, I wonder what that was. Sounds lush. Or not, as it turned out.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1439201725' post='2840686'] Wonder how many others take instruments with them on holiday and grab the chance to entertain. [/quote] Sounds like you had a much better time than we did. The current mrs discreet and I went on a two-week mid-life crisis group relationship-counselling holiday in the Lake District. What a disaster! We were sent packing after I got my banjo out at the dinner table. Needless to say we won't be going back there for our holiday again next year.

Gross! It looks like a custom ukulele that's a cross between Pac-Man and a cartoon alligator.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1439206421' post='2840766'] ...its all in the ears. price tags are no assurance of preference. [/quote] True, but it's all in the fingers, too - by which I mean in this case that it's about playability and aesthetics as well as sound. And if I remember rightly (as I wasn't there), there were no high-end £5K-type basses in that test? Or were there?

Ooh, can of worms!! I'd say there are quite a few manufacturers (and independent luthiers) who have picked up the baton and run further with it than Fender and G&L (fine instruments though they be) so I'd say yes, there is a definable difference as you move towards the top end of the market. Having said that I've been playing for decades and after a few GAS attacks and dead-ends, have come to the conclusion that my Fender does everything I want it to, and what's more, does everything I'm ever [i]likely [/i]to want it to... what I'm saying is that if I bought a £5000 bass it would probably be a waste of money, because my Fender is a better bass than I'll ever be. If that makes sense. And having said [i]that[/i], I can quite understand why people would buy an expensive bass... they are worth whatever people are prepared to pay for them, whether as a work of art or an investment, in the case of vintage instruments. But as a player, I like players' basses. Edit: And having said all [i]that[/i]... if I could easily afford a £5K bass I'd probably buy a couple or three, just for the hell of it and because I could. There you go, consumer capitalism feeds itself. Stamp out bourgeois revisionism!!

Wow! Big Al in a retro space robot stylee!!

[quote name='R.I.P.' timestamp='1439127254' post='2840208'] We should start a thread, what basses are "not" a do it all bass.....that might be easier... [/quote] Rickenbacker..? *Runs away*

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1439120620' post='2840131'] I regularly record at -6 to -8db and put a gain boost on the track in my DAW. [/quote] Same here. Compression makes a difference too. Also if I'm adding bass to drums I just turn the drums down while I'm tracking the bass just so I can hear it. Then I'll put the bass on it's own channel for mixing and may add a hint of distortion just to add warmth and depending on the material I may even add a touch more compression, then EQ out anything below around 80Hz (depending on where the kick is EQ'd) and above 8kHz as it's mainly just sucking up bandwidth to no effect. I'll also merge stereo so it's bang in the middle of the stereo image along with the kick.

Discreet plugs..? Another vote for 3M Clears... I use them pretty much constantly and especially in social situations where I don't want to listen that closely to the vapid ramblings of those present. You know what people are like... these plugs are good for general use. They have short stalks too, so don't make you look like an alien. Or a twunt. Or a twunt/alien. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/3M-E-R-Clear-Earplugs/dp/B002Z89SRG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1439117667&sr=8-4&keywords=3m+clear+ears"]http://www.amazon.co...s=3m+clear+ears[/url] I have a pair in just about every coat and jacket I own, and in my wallet, too. You never know when you'll need them. Better than nothing for when I forget my purpose-bought ER-20 rehearsal/gig plugs, too.

Welcome! There are a few Frenchies on here... ...and at least two Englishmen who pretend to be Frenchies, or at least live in La Belle France.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1439073244' post='2839843'] I'm sorry if there's any confusion over this. I was simply trying to help some folks get their pics shown. I use Imgur, so I know well enough how to do that, and I'll stick to that as an example. [/quote] There's no confusion... you said that's the way you do it on Imgur, and in the Imgur diagram the BBCode is labelled '(message boards & forums)', so I'd say that's pretty unambiguous... and whether you use IMG or Direct in Photobucket it's going to work, so...

Look forward to that.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1439069217' post='2839813'] No-one mentioned any Van Der Graff Generator yet? Pawn Hearts then [/quote] Ha! Only today did I order Pawn Hearts from the Bay...

[quote name='donslow' timestamp='1439066257' post='2839788'] Really liked the "driftwood" look of this body after it had been sanded but as I say, for this particular project, much to the dismay of some of you guys (sorry) this ones gotta be black and maple. [/quote] No worries mate, it's your bass, obviously you can have it exactly how you want it! Would like to see pics of the finished item, though.

According to Photobucket, it looks like privacy isn't a problem. [url="http://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/articles/200724324-Linking-and-Embedding-Images"]http://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/articles/200724324-Linking-and-Embedding-Images[/url] Direct linking can allow your pics to be resized by the forum software... I didn't know this, but I did know that my images were being resized, as some of mine are quite big... yet they are reduced when viewed on BC. Which is a plus in my case, as I don't have to reduce them to fit.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1439062244' post='2839758'] Surely a live album and a compilation are different things? We can nominate whatever we want. [/quote] Right. If you're allowing 'prog-rock' in the first place, anything goes, surely??

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1439062293' post='2839759'] I was told that using the "direct" link stops people from being able to access the rest of you PB account if you want to keep the rest private. [/quote] Well I did not know that, thanks very much.