ThomBassmonkey

[quote name='barteroo2002' post='1290658' date='Jul 3 2011, 12:25 AM']Hybrid!? Honestly... This is just an exercise really. I just thought it'd be interesting to actually try to compile a proper list of Valve Bass Amps. I think this has proved fairly successful. Hybrid amps are great - but they are their own thing. Solid state works fine and can give you loads of power - they too are their own thing. I started off a few days ago with basically only knowing of 4 or 5, but being certain that there was more to find out about...[/quote] Well hybrid amps are technically valve amps. They're closer to all valve than all SS IMO so I thought it was worth asking. Sorry for any offense caused.

Are you open to hybrid amps or just all valve? Hybrid opens up your options much more.

B stock to me means aesthetic wear (unless otherwise specifically mentioned). As Stevie said, that sounds like a fault to me.

I own loads from teaching guitar at a music shop and pocketing them without thinking (same as you do with lighters if you smoke and borrow one). I think the most I've ever spent is 65p. Never use them for bass though. The shop I worked at had a few Zemaitis picks given to us by someone that owned one of his guitars, I bet they're worth a fair bit. We never put them up for sale though.

If only it were true bypass. They're good pedals though, the guitarist in my old band used one.

If sitting on your own writing doesn't inspire you, how about trying to hook up with a couple of other people and writing together? If you have the means to do it on a computer you can email the parts around and work together, you don't even have to be in the same country.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1287450' date='Jun 30 2011, 11:08 AM']Problem is that several of the songs are just plain unknown to me; [snip] Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young[/quote] How can you not know Cinnamon Girl? I'm sure you'd recognise it if you heard it! Most covers it's possible to learn the chord charts then do bits of improv, most cover band songs don't rely on the bass riff. Put in the time and it shouldn't be too hard. I've learned entire sets of originals for bands I've never even heard of before in 2-3 days (3 times in fact), just practice like mad.

I could imagine when it's like 30 years old if it's still in pristine condition, the sticker might make a difference. But if you're planning on playing it, it's going to look used anyway so there's really no point worrying about the sticker. Mind you, who knows if collectors will be interested in '11 basses in a few decades, they'll probably still be going after early ones if they're serious enough to care about a sticker.

They'd still work, they'd look very odd though as once the poles are in place the machine heads would be the wrong side. If you look at this image, one side would be the machine heads you'd need for a right hander, one side for the left handed ones (imagining they were all in a row of course, on a 2/2 headstock it doesn't matter).

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1286934' date='Jun 29 2011, 08:43 PM']I do understand those who want a 19mm, but I think personally I could adapt to anything.[/quote] I have huge thumbs, if I wanted to double thumb, there's no way I could do it on my Ray5. I do love the slap sound of it (it actually made me grin like a cheshire cat when I slapped on my first gig with it). I don't double thumb, hence not having interest in it personally. If I did though, the 19mm spacing would be great as physically to double thumb, my thumb is touching the string I'm hitting and the one next to it (even if I do it to test without moving), which makes it impossible as I can't get a defined string hit without muting the other.

IMO more options is always better. There comes a point where it's confusing if every little detail is hand picked by the end user. I don't think string spacing is that big a deal though, a company like EBMM that makes such unique instruments (let's face it, as a quick search on here will tell you, nothing sounds like a ray apart from a ray) would definitately benefit from the wider string spacing option in the long run. Rays are like Warwicks in that they're great (unique) slap instruments but that are still well known brands used for all kinds of styles. Warwick makes the broadneck variants and while not as popular, they still sell, I'm sure rays with 19mm spacing would too given the time. If SB did the same deal but made it 6 months instead of 2 weeks, I doubt he'd struggle to get the 125 sales. Ultimately of course he's given it a (slim) chance, maybe if there's enough interest he'll do the humble thing, admit his mistake and give it a better chance (if he doesn't get the 125 orders of course). Even though I'm not personally interested, I do think it'd be a shame if the amount of slappers that do and will want something like this get a chance at something to get one.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1286420' date='Jun 29 2011, 01:56 PM']$2000 for a custom spaced Ray 5 is cheap compared to a Metro Sadowsky![/quote] I think that's kinda the point, they won't do these as custom orders so they need enough of an order to justify making a production run. I suspect most of the dislike of them from a lot of places is to do with how agressive they are as a company, I understand that they're protecting their interests but there's certainly some very unsporting stuff they seem to have done if the rumours are true (like the headstock copyrighting). I've recently got a ray 5 and I love it, if I wanted a wide string spacing one and had the money, I'd be jumping at this offer. Sadly I think the amount of people that have $2000 laying around to spend on something like this with 2 weeks notice isn't going to be many. It's a shame because with Rays being such a distinctive bass for slap, it'd be great to have a version with a wider string spacing available. I really think that if Sterling looked at the bigger picture, he'd see there's plenty of money to be made from doing this in the long term. Even if only 50 are ordered, 50 orders for something that was previously unavailable in 2 weeks with very little notice is good going and surely a sign of how popular they could become.

I can't really sing, I've done bits and with practice can play and sing at the same time including some quite complex stuff (I've done two hand tapping whilst singing a different melody and rhythm at the same time). I think it just takes practice, there was an interview with Les Claypool and he freely admits that he practices the hell out of new stuff to be able to do it.

For anyone interested: [url="http://store.music-man.com/products/productdetail/part_number=150-01-99-01/574.3.1.1.16083.63361.0.0.0?pp=20"]http://store.music-man.com/products/produc...361.0.0.0?pp=20[/url]

Why would you keep it on? It's like the fashion to keep stickers and labels on hats, I just don't get it. They're there so that it can be easily identified when it's on a rack with other similar stuff. Once it's out the shop, it's job's done.

[quote name='killswitch2011' post='1283366' date='Jun 26 2011, 09:10 PM']After doing a wider search online, I came across the Washburn XB-100: To me, this was as close to perfection as I was likely to find in my (low-budget) price range. Retails at around £210 new, but I got mine second-hand, in near-mint condition, for £80. I play it at least an hour a day, and I absolutely love it. Not as easy to find as the basses mentioned above, but well worth a try.[/quote] My first bass was an XB100, cost me about £150 10 years or so ago. It's not worked in a while though sadly, I need to get it up and running again really! Cool bass though.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1283152' date='Jun 26 2011, 05:38 PM']For set ups (especially if you're doing other people's instruments and charging for it) there's no substitute IMO for the Perterson.[/quote] I've been looking closely at this, the thing that puts me off is that I don't charge for setups any more (if I did, I could justify it without a doubt). I do my own setups though and occasionally for band mates so it's still important though. I just don't know if it's £100 important (price difference between the Peterson and others like the Polytune etc). What's the DI on it like? What are the sweetener banks? How reliable and sturdy is it? Anyone have any first hand reviews?

Well if people agree that they sound the same now as they did back then, then the only answer is that basses are made to sound worse now and that simply doens't make sense. We haven't forgotten any techniques in bass building, we've certainly learned new ones. If basses genuinely were better made back then (and there's enough people that believe that for it to have been properly checked out) then they'd still be made the same way.

Gallien Krueger, Markbass, Genz Benz to name a few. I can only really make suggestions re the GK, but I use a MB Fusion and two NEO212s in my lightweight rig and never struggle with a loud rock band.

I have the Gallien MB Fusion (valve pre micro amp) and it's awesome. I was only in Bristol with it last week too. I fit the head, 2 kettle leads, 2 speakons, 2 jack-jacks, my wireless system (including power lead and two patch leads) and the footswitch for the amp into a laptop case and I have the big front pocket spare. It sounds great IMO, does everything from beefy fatness through to full on gritty distortion through to clear and spanky, all without losing the definition. It's one of those amps IMO that you can't get a bad tone out of, it certainly does some that won't be suited to every kind of music, but I've never had a tone out of it that I've thought "that sounds bad". If you're ever up this way, feel free to come give it a blast. It's a shame you didn't put this up a couple of weeks ago or you could've had a play when I was in the area.

I'm considering investing in a new tuner, currently I have a Korg DTR1000 which is great, but since I'm not taking my rack to gigs any more, it's not with me most of the time and I'm relying on the guitarist's tuner pre-gig and staying in tune for the whole set (which hasn't been an issue yet, there's been one or two times I'd like to double check my tuning though that I've not been able to). I also do set ups and having to move around my rack (complete with GK 2001RB head) and plug in is a pain when I think about the days I used a small tuner. With those in mind, I'm looking for a floor tuner I can use live and easily move around during setups. I don't often use FX so I'd like a true bypass one so there's nothing happening to my signal (and it will be in my signal chain for muting purposes) and I'd also want it to be as accurate as possible for setups (though I've always managed fine without tuners being uber accurate). I dunno what my budget would be yet, as cheap as possible but I won't skimp out on paying up if I feel the extra money is worth paying. Some that have popped up are: Boss TU2, though I think it's not true bypass. Peterson Strobostomp 2, brilliant tuner, built in DI and incredibly expensive. TC Electronics Polytune, seems like a good contender. Any others that I should be thinking about or recommendations for the above? Thanks

The single's been out a bit, but for various reasons the video's taken a while longer, so here it is! It's a live performance video with a bit of tongue in cheek in places. You can download it in a smaller file size for phones and the like from our website [url="http://www.james-warner.com"]http://www.james-warner.com[/url] from the video page under media. Got lots of stuff going on, don't forget to check out the thread I put up about the Talking Heads charity work we're doing [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142027"]here[/url] We have a (charity) gig on the 9th July at The Old Bell in Derby which is usually a good night for us and free as well as loads of other stuff coming up (again, check out our website under the tour page) and various other bits and bobs in the pipeline.