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Take the other half of the battery from the contact, and measure the current from the open contact. Should be zero.

In the article, Mr Flea says that he "showed up, rocked out, and split". I must say that sounds terribly painful, and I hope the studio staff were able to administer suitable first aid until the paramedics arrived.

I would second @neepheid in terms of Artec's 'bang for the buck'. I can't think of any Artec product I've used or fitted that hasn't hit way above its weight and I've certainly used their lipstick pickups in my own guitars in the past.

I guess there might be a very specific reason these were suggested (?), but there's plenty of other hum-cancelling J-PUPs out there that are easy to get hold of in the UK, and many/most of which people here will probably have far more experience with 👍

If you listen to Jamerson's stuff isolated, it is not always pretty. We are, by now, used to playing to the grid. I have recently put a track together using a prerecorded drum track. It is very odd. The drum track is played live and bubbles along very nicely. I played the rest of the instruments using the drum track as a guide. Soloed, the bass sounds horrific - what we "know" as timing is deeply offended by what I played. But along with the drums it is just fine and dandy.

I've always assumed it's really driven fretless, digging in that hard there'd surely be a lot more fret noise, plus the intonation sounds inconsistent for a fretted bass?

Also - there are 2 takes available. The regular release and the alternate take that has higher drive and aggression levels. Apparently from really over driving a rack compressor with anything they could throw at it. I'm fairly sure it was the same bass on both versions, just played even harder with more dirt on it.

There's a lot of online speculation about what bass he used. Some thinking Alembic, others a Stingray. A large amount think it was either a fretless jazz or a fretless Stingray - with the clank being from the strings hitting the pickup and not the non-existent frets. He does play very hard. My old band used to play it and I studied it a lot and I think it's a fretless too but I didn't have one so I played it on the Status I had a the time. The drive is very much like the input drive on an old Reel to Real recorder with loads of cut on the deep lows and highs. These days I get the tone with my JPTR Jive pedal and then EQ and it's bang on with a bass with a bridge pickup. It's a great line and it's also really annoying that AM's current bassist doesn't play Flea's line.

They’re standard rhythm reading texts and hugely valuable I found. How about you? Reading music is really two things pushed together, reading from the stave and understanding the rhythm. I find the rhythm stuff harder so I put a lot more effort on that side.

All I'd like to see is the already freely available software be compatible via the already available USB port and phone-zap technology. TC can make a TonePrint, artists can make a TonePrint, I can make a TonePrint. I can install a TC TonePrint on a pedal or the amp, I can install an artist TonePrint on a pedal or the amp, and I can install my own TonePrint on a pedal, all by the exact same method. So, as they say, WTF? 'Artist' presets, especially for a fully configurable 3-band compression algorithm, mean nothing to me. I'm not looking to buy art; I want a tool to make it. And that's what they're supposed to be selling. I'm the artist I'm interested in, TC! Why do artists who are commercial endorsees get access to the full controls of the amp, while the owner does not? It's weird, and not a little frustrating, even if it is just for a built-in comp.

Is anyone playing with DiMarzio "Relentless J" pickups? For a while I blamed my old amp that some notes seemed quiet on my jazz bass, but last time I was in the studio (she says casually, as if not a rank amateur) the engineer was grumbling that notes on the A string were lower in volume. My technician had a look and recommended changing the pickups and suggested: https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/jazz-bass-hum-canceling/relentless-j-bass-pair They're not cheap and not readily available in the UK, so I wondered if anyone else was using them before going ahead? I mostly play jazz, folk-rock and worship music.

Aaagh first world problems and that, but… had a couple of ideas and thought I’d hook up the phone to Reaper via the interface , but I’ve got a new phone so the pricey cable I bought doesn’t fit the new phone. that’s ok I’ll use the old iPad …no battery , and now I realise I’ve got no ear phones / buds for the new phone ! just when I felt a masterpiece coming on aswell 🤦‍♂️

We did not mic the drums although we did have the drum mics there. With the monitors, it was the onset of feedback. I believe, but I am happy to be corrected that the monitors were at the wrong angle. They are passive and cuboid in shape, and were on a typical bookshelf monitor so really pointing at out legs. This is where I will start next week. Either add to my collection of one 8” active speaker, or make some new monitor stands angled at around 45 degrees.

Thanks neepheid, that has been amazingly helpful.👍😍. Thinking on it I had an Artec mini humbucker in my Harley Benton RB-414 that I sold just recently and I was always impressed with the quality of that. I also take on board what you're saying about rounded ends as I'm a finger only player, but I reckon I'll take a punt on the Artec first and just cut the PG to accomodate the lipstick (probs about the centreline if the existing split of the p's) and give that a try - It'll look ugly until I get a new PG but at least it'll give me an idea of whether I can get on with the rouded edges. Failing that, then I'll go for the Armstrongs if I cant get on with the Artecs. Cheers mate, this has been really helpful. 👍

these are great basses I bought one when they first came out and gigged it a lot best jazz bass pickups I've heard

I never knew that was Flea and I've never really listened to that bass line before I played the album to death when it came out too Good isn't it

It reminds that when I started making this job many many many ... many moons ago, I was doing it in the attic at my parents house at ... whatever hour it was, so sometimes very late in the night or pretty early in the night... The following day was the day of the argument with ... guess who. 🤦🏻🤔😂

here it is, not really sharp, but I will check the jack with a DMM asap:

Back in the day my double bass teacher got me into that book along with the other one you mentioned, 'Odd Time Reading Text'. I believe they were both updated in the 80's sometime. Both are excellent and a must in my opinion. Use the rhythms and apply to any scale, mode or motif you want to work on.