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I will. But it's really less combative than it might seem. The necessity for using compression is borne out of the laws of physics and well-recognised good practice in sound engineering. It's not something subjective, like whether a new set of strings makes your tone sound 'better'. It's proven by the measurable behaviour of sound traveling through air. All quite dull and predictable, really. The short story is that every bass player should use a compressor. Because the bass guitar is an instrument capable of producing extremes of both low and high frequency energy, and there's not a cat-in-hell's chance that anyone can compensate for that by 'good technique' alone, least of all during a live performance. This is why 100% of sound engineers apply compressors to bass, to compensate for the 50% of bass players who apparently don't. Ultimately it's not essential. Just like changing your strings regularly isn't essential. But the question as to whether it's beneficial has been answered long ago, which is why I find threads like this a little tedious (no offence). Compression is complex and very different to the majority of other FX we apply to our instruments, where we plug something in and turn a dial until we hear a noticeable difference. And I think that is partly why it confuses some people and leads others to believe that it's a case of the Emperor's New Clothes. What I find odd is how this confusion seems most prevalent amongst bass players - the very people who stand to benefit most from compression. You just don't get threads like this appearing on sound engineering forums. Instead, you just get endless debate about 'which compressor is best for bass'... and that's just as tedious! Anyway. Next time I record some bass I'll post some clips of the dry signal and the same signal (at the same volume) run through a compressor - and also both again in the context of a mix with other instruments - so you can hear the difference. Until then, my advice would be to cease tilting at windmills

Did Anyone Notice or Comment When You Switched Your Compressor Off? The proper question would be, "Did Anyone Notice or Comment When You Switched Your Bass Off?" Blue

Should we not do the same for:- If you played a wrong note Got the timing wrong Used flanger instead of chorus Kicked some form of distortion/overdrive/fuzz on in a song you wouldn’t normally do it I take it if only 1 person notices that’s enough, or does there have to be more than that...... I have to say IMHO this survey misses the point of how you use compression and so won’t really prove anything either way

Pleasantly I had an opposite experience last night - I've been getting increasingly fed up with the others in the band having lower standards and saying we'd "nailed" a song as soon as we could mostly play the right notes at the right times, always at the same pace and volume, and because there was no communication - none of us were even looking at each other while we were playing. I thought we sounded clumsy and boring, but the others seemed to think it was good enough. I've had words about it, gently, a few times to no effect, and last night I was ready to say if they didn't raise their game I'd be off out of it. What I actually did was to pick one song that was crying for a dramatic change in dynamics in the middle, and asked them to give me a short bass solo at that point - just the main riff played twice high and staccato, and then twice low and slower with sustain. Nothing fancy - but because it was my solo, the others didn't have to worry about making the change with me, they just had to pick up the slower beat when they came back in after it. And they had to watch me so I could cue them. As soon as we tried it, they got the point, and we ended the night with everyone happily agreeing that we'd taken a step up and would continue that way. Very glad I didn't throw my toys out of the pram. And credit to the others for understanding and agreeing quickly and positively.

I’ve gone stereo bass!

Genzler magellan sounds like a starting point?

A Viking chicken of war

Not really interesting. Just evidence that we bass players are perhaps deserving of being viewed as the ‘slow learners club’ amongst musicians. PS: when I can be arsed, I’m going to post a thread explaining the necessity of compression with some audio clips to help illustrate; just so this topic can finally be taken out back, shot in the head and buried for all time. Until then, as you were.

If it's anything like the V3 500 (350W without an extension cab) it'll be bum-hurtingly loud and won't need an extension. Unless you're playing very big rooms, of course. In any case, you'd think Fender would have matching extensions in the pipeline?

Those are uglier than Fenders. Which is not something I say very often.

I left a band once after a blazing row at the rehearsal rooms in the coffee machine area, stormed off back into the room, packed my kit...and then had to go back and ask for a hand getting my Ampeg 810 up the stairs and into my car. This is why lightweight cabs are the way forward...Flouncing Ability is an often-overlooked plus point...

Thank you indeed, I really do appreciate your words greatly! Can I quote you for my ‘testimonials’ on my FB Page? You’ve hit the nail on the head. I love doing these reviews and I feel lucky I suppose that I’m allowed to say it ‘how it is’. This one for example I chose to do a technical review because so many others had focussed on the simple stuff online. As it happens this and the HyperGravity Mini are two of my favourite compressors. My Nova Dynamics being the third! Cheers, Dan

this, sounds easy, but try it, RIP Eddy.

You know when someone bakes you a birthday guitar cake and that person hasn't got a clue what the difference between a Les Paul and Double bass is, this bass looks like that cake.

Or will again probably by the sound of it.

I used to have one of the Aspirations - great bass for the money - very versatile. I still have my Jazz Custom - anytime I have any questions I'll fire a question off to Chris or Laurence (have both their email addresses) and wait for their response - normally within 24 hours. Great customer service.

Not really necessary IMHO - certainly, 5mm for the back of the pickups is plenty. It's also quite rare for the back to hit anything that would be capable of doing that kind of damage. No, the care taken was more to make use I didn't inadvertently break through with the router or drill - which with my measuring skills is a much higher risk! With the control chamber, there is a theoretical risk - and you do see from time to time guitars and basses that have fallen on their fronts and the knobs have punched a hole through into the control chamber. But again, by and large, it's a fairly low risk. When you think about it, acoustic guitars have a side and back thickness of around 1.7mm and tops typically at 2.5 - 2.9mm and, certainly in my young days in the pubs of Wolverhampton, they used to survive being used as clubs to fight off angry skinheads fairly well. Used to play havoc with the tuning, mind....

It's partly done with with steel wool, ran out of time and can'gt get back to it until next week. Going to take it back a little further to a complete matt finish I think. Plenty of laquer for protection. Se what it's like then Andy

Good luck with that

I haven't had a chance to play the 2x HD112 stack but the 112/210 combo will definitely sound very different. I like to combine 12" with 10" speakers, I have the impression the frequency spectrum gets some kind of "wider" and the mids get stronger. I like to play a stack of a HD112 and a Epifani 110 too.

The pickup chambers need some care. There will be less than 5mm thickness under the chamber so precise measurement and cutting is essential. Many of you know that I hate routers and I hate using routers. But for a flat-bottomed deep chamber, it's almost unavoidable. So personally, I use the router for the least number of operations. I start with defining the depth and corners with a drill: Then make a relatively shallow hog-out with a forstner bit: I then straighten the cuts around the outline with a sharp chisel down to the depth of the amboyna top. And only then do I use a bearing router. I use a very short one so I can safely tidy the sides of the existing shallow chamber before I start cutting the chamber bottom. So again, I basically use the top as my template - I know that is not the usual way but all I can say is that it works for me and I've massively reduced pickup routing c**k ups since I started doing it like this Then, using the bearing trimmer against the tidied up chamber sides, I just deepen a couple of mm a time to the required depth. And here we have the chambers with the sub-5mm thick bottoms: And the inevitable mock-up. I may well use black pickup rings on the finished article - but I happened to have these gold ones in the spares box so they will have to do for the mock up: As always, folks, thanks for looking and for the ever encouraging feedback.

Another option is to get a Revolut card. Me & the Mrs got Revolut for going on holiday, as it's an app & card that works just like a cash card, but there's no fees for exchange from £ to $ (or any currency). You can transfer money to people by just using the app.

My dad worked for Mike Oldfield when I was young, I've played on his kettle drums!

SSD dives and a lot of RAM - at least 8GB

I heard Nate Watts endorse Hartke by saying that their amps don't fade under pressure. I've never played loud enough or in hot enough conditions to make any amp fade, you understand, so I just take it on faith from one of my bass heroes. Rickies seem suited to bi-amping. I read time and time again about the pups being significantly out of balance on some models. I suppose this is the best reason to separate the signals and process them independently. Secretly, I dream of building a Bootsy inspired five with independent outputs for each string AND each pick-up. I might limit myself to two pick-ups at first though. Just 'till I get used to tiptoeing through the vipers' nest of cable that I'll need.

I am learning Elvis Costello Pump It Up for rehearsal later, resorted to downloading the dots, every verse and every chorus are slightly different each time both in note choice and quantity of bars! I will simplify it a bit for the real world I think.

@NancyJohnson philistine

I have a board of pedals and send that straight to PA without using any kind of proper digital modeller if that's what you're after? IME many preamp pedals (Ive had or have the M80, Sansamp, BDI21, and a few more) don't have the output to run an FRFR cab directly. This kind of makes sens as they're designed to go pre>mixer>powered cab and if you miss the mixer out they can be too quiet. Many cabs have switchable input sensitivity, which can negate this. I worked around by using a Behringer MIC100 (although similar units are available in every prive range) to make sure that I had LOADS of gain on tap to run any frfr cab. In short, if you had a 'normal' board with whatever pedals on it that you wanted such as the comp and SVT-type thing that you're talking about and then stuck a 'proper' microphone preamp on the end rather than an amp you'd be golden.

It'll be fine. If I can do it I'm sure you can.

......aaaaaaaaaaaand all those basslines were compressed. I would say your band is tight and sounds great together because you have used compression wisely as well as playing really well together as a unit

On the slippery slope now - this is what I fell in to: http://

I’ve politely declined the one gig they wanted me on and they’ve agreed it makes no sense for me to do it. No sour grapes from me, just move on and be polite, professional and maybe they’ll call me if they need me in the future

Exactly. If Fender had released the P-bass with that Tensor shape at the time, then Tensor now released the P-bass shape, I'm pretty certain the comments would be the same: 'It's fugly', just because it's not the familiar shape.

The Fender P shape only looks right because you've had years to get used to it.

Blimey you lot! You never see these in the for sale section, which obviously means they are brilliant, beautiful & owners would never sell......😉

mesmerising what a voice Smokey !

Well I took a chance and bought it!!,£400 picking it up tonight,hopefully it’s not too bad,

Best bass for a flounce-smash? Probably a standard-scale hollowbody with no centre block. In advance, fill it with confetti for that extra touch of class.

Horses for courses