ThomBassmonkey

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1324954' date='Aug 2 2011, 10:06 PM']It seems that the regular posters keep the forum alive.[/quote] That's kinda stating the obvious. It would be better if everyone got involved everywhere but it won't happen. You'd need rules which would put people off joining the forum and the very people who are turning away because of daft rules might be the next person to become a regular poster. And it is annoying when you ask someone to leave you feedback then they disappear. It's happened a few times to me.

I agree with what the others have said. If you're fit enough to have a heavy cab there's loads of bargains out there. Trace Elliots and Hartke would be my first choices, Peavy do some good stuff too. No competition for me, a stack is always a better option than a combo so many more options,easier to upgrade, option of taking just the head to gigs and sharing a cab.

I can get 2 GK 410s, a 4u rack case, 2 basses, a passenger and a few other bits (keyboard, stand, genal leads bag etc) in my fiesta with room to spare and nothing on anyone's lap and leg room for the passenger. Put down the back seats and it's amazing how much you can fit in small cars.

Did you pay the first guy to fix the hum or did you hear that shielding fixes hum and pay him to shield the cavities? Bg difference as if he was paid to fix the problem, he didn't do and shouldn't charge you. If you told him to shield the cavities and he did, then he did what was asked. It's quite possible (I dot know him) that Ray might have been very busy and not had time to look at it. Better do that than mess you around,

[quote name='Soliloquy' post='1322275' date='Jul 31 2011, 05:02 PM']A Polytune for intonation ? I wouldn't have thought it was accurate enough, just my thoughts, ignore me if I'm wrong.[/quote] I think it would be. It's accurate to 0.5 cents, that's pretty accurate, there's not many others out there with that kind of accuracy at all, nothing that I've seen without spending double (turbo tuner and strobostomp are both more accurate). I've done set ups with all kinds of tuners (including cheap clip ones and korg hand helds) and I've never had any complaints, a lot of people use Boss TU2s which are only accurate to 3 cents. Obviously using a turbo tuner or stroborack would be perfect but they're significantly more expensive and the polytune mode would be handy I imagine for quick tuning on stage. I've never felt my Korg DTR-1000 suffered for accuracy either and that's only half as accurate as the polytune. Sorry for the long post, I'm trying to convince myself I don't NEED to spend £129 on the turbo tuner.

I have to admit, there was one occasion whe I turned up after agreeing a price then asked if he'd knock a bit off (I always ask unless it says firm price and I'd genuinely forgotten to before showing up) he said no and I handed over the agreed amount happily and he's made me an offer on something else I've been selling so it obviously didn't put him off. I've said before that I don't understand the logic that a bass is only worth what someone is willing to pay. The value of a bass is just before the highest price someone would rather take the bass than the money, it doesn't matter if it's the buyer or seller. Life (including on this forum) has taught me that it'a not worth extended haggling, if someone makes me an offer I'll say yes or no. If it's really close to the cut off point I have in my head, I might say but the offer will be take it or leave it. Trades are more complicated than straight cash offers, but I still rarely haggle. People have said they don't understand why it can be taken offensively if someone puts in a low ball offer, my take on it is that if it's a stupidly low offer then people are trying to take advantage of me and assuming I'm a mug, which I don't appreciate.

Playing music is a passion for me, I rarely go to gigs I'm not playing and when I do I wish that I am playing them. My band does 2-3 gigs most weeks and I'm never happier than when I'm even on stage, even if it's a "bad gig".

[quote name='lanark' post='1322552' date='Jul 31 2011, 10:05 PM']Okay I'm going to bite (and feel stupid). What dreadful thing would I do to my combo if I pull the lead out without turning the volume down?[/quote] If you pull your lead out at your combo, it'll probably do nothing. If you pull the lead out of your bass it'll make a loud pop and can potentially cause damage if the volume's cranked up iirc.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='1322422' date='Jul 31 2011, 07:55 PM']The high end gear makes little difference to the band sound for an average gig. Also a lot of it doesn't sound much better than my budget gear (in a band context) - in my humble opinion of course. Why risk getting a 3K bass dinged in a rowdy pub gig?[/quote] I find the difference between a cheap and expensive amp is a big one. Basses not so much, which is why I find it surprising when I see people using expensive basses through Ashdown MAG combos and the like. I take an expensive amount of gear to gigs but it makes a difference that I can hear, as much as I enjoy playing for other people, ultimately I play for myself and it's what I think of my sound that's important. Using a Stingray through a Gallien stack beats the pants off a cheap bass through a cheap amp for me.

I have comments on my Sandberg when it comes out from time to time, that's probably to do with the fancy top mostly. Plenty of good comments on my amps too, loads of people have said they sounded the best they ever sounded when they used them. It's not proper boutique gear, but it's not the standard Fender/Ashdown/TE gear either.

I've been recommending the 212 for a while as a lightweight giggable cab, they are great and do have a brilliant sound. I almost picked up two 112s but the move from the 410rbhs was enough to make my back happy with the 212s. I think a lot of people are put off the GK neo stuff (cabs and the MB combos) because it's so cheap compared to some other stuff out there, it's a shame, especially when people judge it without hearing.

The guitarist in my band uses one for a couple of songs, great little thing! Once you've stuck a hot rail in it and run it through a Mesa... Old vid, but you'll get the idea

Having an offer made is fine, I usually ask if someone will knock off a bit of cash when I buy, it's only natural. The example I gave before though was after over a week of the potential trader telling me he definitely wanted to do the trade but refusing to make me a solid offer, then giving a cheaper model of bass as justification why I should drop my price then when I even agreed to that expecting the value of his bass at about £100 more than they can be picked up for. Total waste of time and left me feeling cold that someone had no interest in making a deal unless they were ripping me off. I don't understand the idea of firm price though, if you have a firm price in mind, add £50 to it then stick it up on the forum and it gives you room to negotiate with people that try and get it a bit cheaper and you come across as a nice guy. You may even get lucky and someone will buy that doesn't try to negotiate or will ask you to cover postage and pay the full price so you get a bit extra. As a point about the set-ups, if a bass has recently had a pro set up, it does mean that it's unlikely to have problems with it (assuming the seller's trustworthy), not guaranteed though. It also gives you a better idea of how it plays when you try it, obviously not great when it's not set up for you. I have no problems doing stuff to my instruments when I sell them within reason anyway.

It winds me up too, I try to be fair with my prices and I'll do things like if there,s a cash adjustment my way involved in a trade, I'll work the difference out as though my bass is as cheap as the cheapest I've seen it and let them value their bass at the higher end. Some people just won't move though. There was one guy a while ago that expected me to value my Warwick thumb bo5 at £600 beause he'd seen a 4 string for that much so thought I should match it on a 5 and was expecting me to accept about £125 cash adjustment with his g&l l2500, essentially valuing that at £475. It wound me up because I was really up for that trade but there's no way that I'd give so much on the value of my instrument when someone's trying to rip me off on theirs.

You don't need a compressor live IMO. I did recording at college and learned how to properly set up compression to a studio standard so I know (or rather knew, it was a few years ago now) how to listen and set them up so they do their work without being intrusive. They CAN destroy the dynamics of your playing if used badly. Typically when used well, you can't hear that they're engaged, which makes people think they're not doing anything and turn up the ratio until they can hear it. The biggest advantage I find they give is that they focus your sound. I'd be more likely to use one to find my own space in the mix than to equalise the volume. Technique and volume controls should do that as if you're relying on compression to fix volume problems it's probably going to sound unnatural when squashing everything into place if there's a big diffence.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1320701' date='Jul 29 2011, 06:19 PM']Unless you're Japanese![/quote] sorry, should've been more specific. There's something funny about such rampant American patriotic displays advertising a Japanese instrument.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1320155' date='Jul 29 2011, 10:29 AM']P.S. I can't stop reading your name as "anal growl" [/quote] Thank god it wasn't just me, though I had the slightly more irish Anal O'Growl in mind. As strange as it might sound, I'd use a very clear sounding bass for metal rather than a grindy one. Ibanez, Warwicks (which do have a growl, but are still very clear sounding depending on model) and Mavericks (if you can find one) would all be good choices. I find clangy clean basses suit the metal style well, add some distortion as needed. A quick look at the gear lists of most metal bands will show that a lot of the tones they get aren't from particularly growly basses.

The advert made me smile, there's something mildly amusing about such rampant patriotic displays whilst trying to sell a Japanese instrument.

The scale is measured from the nut to the bridge, not from end to end so a 36” headless bass might be shorter than a 34" headed bass. With the lakland being a fairly normal shape, I'd expect a normal Fender hard case would fit fine.

I spent a long time looking for a good OD/distortion looking for bass, IMO to work well in a gigging band it has to be one of two things. Part of your amp head. I'm not sure why since they're still solid state circuits, but amp head distortions seem to work well in general, I never used to use distortion until I got my first 2 channel head, now it's an important change in dynamics for me. Blendable, I've never found a good (IMO) distortion/OD pedal that doesn't kill the bass, having some dry signal passing through sorts that right out. Both IMO though, if you found a pedal that you enjoy, nice one.

"tone wood" is a bit like saying "colour paint", all wood gives a tone, what you think of it is opinion. IME (which I think of as experience, not estimation ) and IMO different woods can sound different but I wouldn't buy a bass because it was made of a specific wood, the pup configuration, preamp and other factors would be far more meaningful. Trying out two basses that are identical apart from woods might show some difference but when I'm thinking of tone, wood is the least of my worries.