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Just a word of caution ⚠ : Some will tell you that you need some sort of new bass: eg. 7 3/4 string with a body made from The One True Cross, a fretboard of pure Sonicperfectionwood, diamond strings with a wiring loom & pickups designed by Einstein with hardware made from metal melted down from the casing of the Manhattan Project atomic bomb. And then blessed by The Pope. You don't need any of this.

Tempting offer as always fancied an accoustic bass but for time being please donate to worthy cause. After all it's Christmas.

My one and only bass purchase of 2018 has been an Ampeg PF-50T - definitely the best and not the worst, as it has brought a smile to my face and got me to play up the dusty end a bit more. Don't worry though - I know the money is in the first 5 frets!

+1 Just go for it . I bought a Thomann 111E BR ( the cheapest of the range ) 6 years ago to learn on and it has been fine . I'm posting these pics again because last time Bilbo laughed at the price ; it cost £322 new , delivered to my door ! ( No VAT in Jersey )

EDIT 22/10/2019 As the new v3 firmware launched yesterday I will move the discussion to a new thread and lock this one as much of the information here has been superseded and/or incorporated into the new v3 manual. Thank you to everybody who contributed to discussion here as it helped get me involved in working with Panda and helped shape the manual for the new firmware. __________________________________________ Original post: At the behest of @Al Krow I’m going to start a page which should hopefully serve as a helpful resource for understanding and using the FI and for sharing patches. For the moment, I’ll include an explanation of some of the features in the editor, which I wrote as a PM to @GisserD, I’ll add to this in due course. There is a new editor due out after April so I’ll amend once I’ve had chance to familiarise myself with its enhanced features. If anyone would like me to explain a particular feature then please comment and I’ll do my best to add it below as quickly as possible. I’ll also include a link to patches I’ve created and will add to this as I create new ones. Likewise, if you have useful tips or patches to share then please do! Please give me a “like” or comment if you’ve found this useful. It’ll encourage me to do more! Thanks. __________________________________________ Editor tips: In the VCF/MODULATION section, “Freq Vintage” is the cutoff of the original Deep Impact filter (with its imperfect scaling). “Freq New” is the cutoff of the new, perfectly-scaled FI filter. You can only engage either one or the other. Switching has to be done by the Vintage one though. Set its slider to “off” and it will engage the New one; turn it up and it disables the new one. After reading the manual again, it appears that the number that “freq new” is set to corresponds to the MIDI note number of the same value. That is to say, each increase of 1 corresponds to a semitone. Note 36 (min) is C (65.4Hz), note 122 (max) is D (9397.27Hz). ”Freq 2nd” is the cutoff off a second (bandpass) filter running in parallel. Turning its slider up engages it. You can then space the two filters to create dual-peak, vocal formant- type sounds. An increment increase of 1 provides a one-semitone offset from the main filter. Oddly, this second filter still reacts to envelopes and LFO even if you turn off the main filter with the dial in the top right of the screen. This can yield some interesting results.  In the VCF/ENVELOPE section, “attack” sets how quickly the filter(s) open(s) from cutoff to maximum. “Decay” sets how quickly the filter(s) close(s) from maximum back to the cutoff point. Back to the VCF/MODULATION section, “AD” sets how much the VCF AD envelope will affect the filter cutoff - higher values will open the filter further. “Env. Follower” sets how much your plucking dynamics (bass’s volume envelope) will affect the filter cutoff - again higher values cause the filter to open further. You need to be judicious in balancing the “AD” and “Env. follower” sliders in the above section. If you want a regular, always-the-same-shape, keyboard-style envelope then only use the AD slider. Adding too much of the envelope follower can override the shape of the AD envelope you’ve chosen. A bass’s volume envelope has a reasonably quick rise to maximum and then a longish decay as the note dies out. If you’re trying to program a slow upward filter sweep on the AD, the envelope follower will swamp that. Likewise, if you’re trying to program a very snappy decay on the AD (like acid-type bass sounds), the long decay of the bass’s volume envelope will ruin that if you apply too much envelope follower. “Resonance” controls how much a portion of the signal is fed back into the filter. This boosts the frequencies around the selected cutoff point, thus creating a resonant peak. Turning the resonance to maximum on 24dB mode will cause the filter to self-oscillate, yielding a pure sine wave oscillator. When using a bass guitar, you’ll need to have “bass” turned up in the VCF INPUT section (it needs a trigger and pitch reference). It probably works better when plugging in a keyboard instead as you’ll probably be able to hear just the sine wave. It doesn’t seem to behave at all like it does on analogue synths - changing the cutoff didn’t really enable me to tune it very well. Weirdly it seems to be best in tune when the “freq. vintage” was set to 0. After reading the manual it looks like the new filter will behave correctly (see above under explanation of “freq new”). I’ll have another go and update this page accordingly. The “Slope” knob switches between a 2-pole (12dB per octave) slope and 4-pole (24dB per octave) slope. The latter cuts off the higher frequencies above the cutoff point more rapidly than the former. LFO can be used to control the filter, either on its own or in conjunction with the envelope(s). (LFO can also be used to modulate the oscillators’ pitch.) I like that it has a delay slider too so that the LFO fades in over time. I’ve used that on one of the patches I shared. The LFO can be controlled by MIDI CC #1 and so a foot pedal can be used to bring modulation in and out as desired. What is really cool is that the noise has its own AD envelope (next to the VCF AD envelope sliders). This means you can program a short burst of noise to create a percussive attack even when you’ve programmed a long decaying filter sweep. (Normally noise just goes through the same filter as the other sources so that if you program a long decaying filter sweep, you can hear the noise all the way through. On the FI, you can get the noise to just be present right at the moment of attack and quickly disappear, or conversely, have it silent at the start and then slowly fade in.) I’ve finally figured out how the harmoniser section works! It’s part of the distortion circuit. You need to turn up the “distortion” slider in the INPUT section and (at least one of) the voices in the MIXER section (next to HARMONIZER) in order to hear it. One oddity I’ve found with the FI is as follows: if you’ve edited and saved any of your patch parameters on the actual pedal and you subsequently load new patches into those slots, then the new patches will take on those tweaked values. If that’s not clear what I mean: on the pedal a parameter setting of 5 is the default, i.e. if all parameters are set to 5, the patch will sound exactly like it did when you created it in the editor. Say you make an edit to a patch on the pedal and set its resonance to 9 and save the change by clicking the edit knob; when you load a new patch into that slot, its resonance will be set to 9 also. I realised this quirk when my first patch sounded nothing like it should have sounded. Luckily, setting each parameter back to 5 sorts it out. You can do this for all patches at once from one of the power-on menu settings. EDIT - this was a bug and has been addressed. __________________________________________ Patch transferring Here’s a little pointer that is an answer to a query about how to actually load patches on to the pedal. I know a few people have struggled with this. This is a cut and paste of a reply I wrote on TB: You need to find out which patches you want to load onto the pedal and which slot number in the pedal you want to have it. If you just want to replace one individual patch with another then first find a patch on the pedal that you want to overwrite. Then find the file on your PC of the patch you wish to write to the pedal. Rename this file so that it starts with the two-digit prefix of the slot into which you wish to load it. Open the renamed file again via the editor then click “write single file to pedal” and it will get loaded into that slot. If you want to load multiple files at once onto the pedal then it’s best to create a folder, copy in the PC files you want to load onto the pedal. Then rename each file with the slot numbers you want them to go, choose that folder via the editor then click “write all”. Any blanks will be skipped over and left untouched in the pedal. I’ve gone a step further and have all patches I like in one folder (unnumbered). I then have a different folder into which I placed the 99 patches I want on my pedal at any given time and I number these with the two-digit prefix and write these all at once. If ever I swap any out, I delete the old file from this folder, add the new file and number it and then write all again. Or you could simply have one big folder with all patches you like and then just number the 99 that you want and click write all. Any unnumbered patches will be ignored in the write process. ______________________________________ Patch sharing: (I’ll see if I can create a shared drive like the one on Talkbass) My patches: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1C7ZYqsyXkyNuasuuwLrQlICboSsGfXMp TB shared patches (including mine): https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zto20lpne0dnent/AAC6W_8BHeYLrBTjkcoJBzCza?dl=0 __________________________________________ Latest firmware: http://pandamidi.com/support __________________________________________ My v3 sound clips: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1u2-dJaWdaAbPDnDdWkipu-P7IH_GHLQ2

“Here’s to the quirky...here’s to the innovators...here’s to the British twist on tradition that drives the nation’s quintessential creativity...like a blast of [...] Britishness as you sail back into Dover Harbour, White Cliffs glistening in the sun” The first person to tell me what this crock of marketing excrement is describing wins a Gear4Music Acoustic Bass. It cost £89 a few years back and has been gathering dust (with the occasional wipe over) for most of them. Failing that free to a home (good or bad). (Mods - feel free to move to the appropriate forum if necessary)

Thomann or Gedo basses will get you going. Agonising over the minutea will get you nowhere. Go for it.

Your basses are fine. I would upgrade your amp, as a 100 watt amp does not have enough power to compete with a loud drummer. Something like a Fender Rumble 500 would be perfect. It's light, loud and costs under £500 new.

Think this is the sign that the hiatus is on a hiatus... first (dep) gig is a week tomorrow. 2nd rehearsal with new band is on Wednesday. new amp arrived on Friday. looks like I’m back in the seat.

What I need to take me to the Next Level is not more gear but more practice.

DON'T!!! JUST DON'T!!! DO NOT EXPLAIN THE JOKE!!! 😂

Best purchase was recently on here, 2013 Musicman Sabre Classic. Always wanted a bit more versatility than the Stingray and this has it in bucket load and it is totally sexy too....love it! Worst purchase, box of plectrums....I’ve tried & tried but I just can’t get on with a pick for sh*t...25 years of fingers is too established.

Squier Bronco, cheap as chips second hand, really easy to play.

Ibanez Talman. Great instrument and a steal for the money. Get one.

I have only just started with the bass and already I am feeling it a lot more than I have any other instrument. I have just got a Squier Affinity P Bass starter pack from GAK for a price that was too good to refuse (£199). It is a 2018 bass in 3 colour burst and I just love playing it. I am currently trying to get some good right hand technique by learning White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. The triplet in the intro is causing me a bit of grief! I am into garage/psychedelic/classic/glam rock and my first musical hero was (and still is) Steve Priest from Sweet, but I have quite a few others (JJ Burnell, Sammi Yaffa, John Paul Jones, Jack Casady, Stu Cook to name a few). I would love t get a band together and get gigging but one step at a time. I've got to learn to play first. Luckily in Exeter I have the bonus of Having Manson's Guitars, and although their bass section isn't the biggest (whose is?) I had the pleasure of talking to one of their bass guys yesterday, who just happened to be John Paul Jones' guitar tech! The very man who built the JPJ signature bass. Anyway, I know forum rules dictate that unless there's a photo, it didn't happen, so here's my new baby:

You're not far from me Dave. I'm sure we can arrange to meet up sometime.

Best bit of gear is easily the Vigier Passion I bought in Feb. Worst bit of gear. Nothing springs to mind 🙂

Given the ease with which parts can be recorded remotely with todays modern technology, and that this is a forum populated by bass players, would it be worth considering asking if anyone would be interested in collaborating with you?

Hello, everyone - New member here, just heard about basschat today. I've been playing bass since I was 14, and I'm 66, so here goes...Played for a living from 1974 to 1985, all kinds of music, studied upright bass at Ball State University. Mostly play in church these days, but do the occasional fair/festival gig. I think I'll cruise around the site and see what's happening.

No idea ( I even Googled it which made me none the wiser). Can I suggest you donate to the raffle of the nearest Bass Bash to you??

And the sellers name is ....... scotdexte Methinks the cheeky chappie is having a laugh.

Depends how much you shuffle about when you're playing, really.

MissEducation. Our female lead singer is (was) a teacher so it works on that level, and it's also a nod to the fake news, false information, flat earth era we live in.

My bass related purchases haven't been many this year, but I've been happy with them all. First my old double bass pickup broke, and I replaced it with a KNA DB-1, which has got to be one of the better bridge piezos I've heard. I changed over to TI Jazz Flatwounds on my electric bass, and those are still doing it for me. They have the mid-forward character I used to like about Sadowsky Black Label flats but a nice slinky, supple feel like a light set of rounds, and a clear sounding low B. I picked up a Schalltechnik HPF/LPF pedal in kit form that hasn't had a whole lot of use yet, but it's neat, quiet and does what it's meant to. But I'd say the most fun thing was my Ampeg pf-50t, on the special deal from Kenny's. I had some teething troubles with the valves, but it's a good sounding amp and not too much bother to move around. I've had a few different vintage valve amps from 40 to 100 watts, but the flexible EQ and DI outputs make this a fair bit more useful for me.

Good afternoon, Ed ... Beware of what you wish for..? I listened to the tracks linked, and you've asked for feedback, so... Shades of Lou Reed, early (and late...) Bowie, a couple of French blokes you probably haven't heard of... Take that as compliments; one could have far worse 'bed-fellows'. I'll start with the 'liked less' stuff (don't fret; it'll be brief...)... I wasn't keen on the composition format, with a few bars intro before the first verse. It works, of course, sometimes, but it breaks things up a bit to have the lyrics bang in right from the start. No big deal, but a minor irritation that's easily remedied. I'm a drummer, so maybe am more susceptible to the drum sound; I wasn't in love with these drums. The playing is apt enough, and fits in (mostly...), but the recorded sound was disappointing, and, for several tracks, seemed 'apart' from the rest. I realise that singing is a special skill (I wish I had it at all...), and one has to go with whatever one has been given, but maybe some vocal training could enable a little bit more vocal range..? I haven't checked, but most of the vocals seem to be in the same key, or at least the same spectrum. Again, a minor niggle that could be worked on..? That'll do for the harsh, neon-light 'criticism; time for a bit of positive enthusiasm, perhaps. Given the subject matter of many of these pieces, that doesn't come spontaneously from the lyrics, which are often darkly introspective, but there are points to be earned from that. I could find many echoes in many of the sentiments expressed (sometimes troublingly so...), so thanks for that. There are very touching, moving emotions performed with delicacy, all the more so in such a direct, seemingly simplistic manner. There is, throughout, a lack of 'polish' and 'production' which is, in this case, rather more of an advantage, as the 'raw' capture hits home harder than might a Hollywoodien super-production. There are a few 'blips' here and there (nothing major...) that serve to accentuate this 'basic' atmosphere, and that's to the good, to my ears. As for the guitar and bass work: entirely in harmony with the overall concept, well executed with no pretension nor pomposity. It all fits together very well indeed. Special mention for the discreet backing voices, and the trumpet (or cornet..?), very much in the style of 'Love', back in the late '60s. I'm not a digital person (I'm old, you see...); is there a hard-copy CD of this available that could be posted to France..? I'd buy it immediately, not just to support your efforts (although they deserve that...), but to be able to listen again, and think again of past moments of my own life that are captured in there. Any joy..? At any rate, here's hoping that this is what you wanted when asking for feedback. Cheers Douglas

Let it P

Best purchase of the year for me is an Ibanez GSR200B that was in the ex-demo clearance at my local. It's a very light 2.8kg, the fretwork is perfect and the board coloured up nicely with a bit of oil, the hardware that I expected to have to upgrade is all absolutely solid and the pickups and preamp that I expected to have to change sound so good I'm currently using it completely stock (with the exception of new strings) to record our next EP; my signal chain is pretty much just a Radial JDI straight into Pro Tools. Absolutely brilliant little bass for very little money! Picture: Rich Tone Music - hopefully they don't mind me using their picture since I bought the bass! Worst is probably an EBS MicroBass II that maybe I've just not learned to get the best out of, but is currently just sounding a bit underwhelming. I'm sure there must be a reason people speak so highly of them...

Great thread, enjoying the worst purchases, especially. Best: Fiesta Red Road Worn P. Astounding sound, playability and value. Worst: La Bella Low Tension Flats, sucked the life out of any bass they went on, an unbalanced E, despite La Bella replacing it. TI Flats sorted it.

Lots of sound advice given. I don't think anyone has talked about weight/size of any any new rig you might buy. You might have unlimited use of your own car or van, or maybe not. You might be happy and able to carry big heavy stuff around, or maybe not. I might be over-cautious but I think anything that can't be kept out of sight in a car boot is asking for trouble. Oooo the joys of having a wedge to spend on new gear 😄

I'd say basses are absolutely fine. If you have a decent back get a Trace Elliot combo for £200 +/- and spend a further £50 getting it serviced so all the buttons/knobs work properly. Invest the change in some good quality leads and a set of molded ear plugs. I don't believe effects will take you anywhere other than the top of a very slippery slope

It wouldn't hurt though? 😁

I’ve just started looking for Yamaha 424x’s. i need to grow up. i literally bought a bb1100s at 10pm tonight

Mate. I’m dangerous when I’ve had a few - especially near old yamahas

I do seriously believe that 95% of flat earthers are scientifically inclined, and do this just for the fun of it and as some type of experiment. The last 5% OTOH, are deeply worrying, as are the nutcases people who studied "one and a half year - - on the Internet" (literally), and conclude that Earth is at the centre of the entire Universe - - of course without being able to provide the maths that prove the notion that the Sun orbits around the Earth.

In my (very) humble opinion, the gear that you mention is all decent quality. It depends on what sort of gigs you want to be playing. From my point of view, the basses sound fine - providing that you're comfortable with them. I would look at your amplification - possibly something in the 250/300 watts area, posdibly something like this: https://www.tcelectronic.com/Categories/Tcelectronic/Bass/Combo-Amplifiers/BG250-115/p/P0BRL#googtrans(en|en) or something of similar power. Another route could be an amplifier head & separate cabs, again of similar wattage. I have mainly used an Ashdown MAG250 or Eden WT264 head with an Ashdown ABM-115 mini, and if I needed more, an added Trace Elliott 2103h cab. If you like your basses, keep them. I'm sure other more experienced Basschatistas (?) will be along shortly with their views.

The Flat Earth Society claims to have 20,000 members globally.

My lovely 2014 Fiesta Red RW, the best P I’ve ever played, and I’ve played 2, maybe 3.

Actually, maybe the scale wouldn’t be as much of a problem as string spacing for you?

This is quite an interesting article on flatwounds strings. At the bottom there is also a link to a review of the Ernie Ball Cobalt flats. https://www.bassplayer.com/gear/flat-world-a-roundup-of-flatwound-strings I'm running flats on both my PJ basses, Ernie Ball Cobalts on the Sandberg and La Bella 760FLs on the fender. The La Bella's give that old school sound, it's pretty cool. I love the EB Cobalt Flats though, feel great under the fingers, almost round like sounding in their brightness and 0 fret noise. I did have some EB Cobalt flats on my 5 string Jabba but had some problems with them. Think it was a bad set but will try some Chromes I think. I am a flat string convert for sure, don't think I will go back to roundwound anytime soon. Don't think you'll have any problems with your genre. Steve Harris uses flats with Maiden and Ben Kenney with Incubus also primarily uses them. You can most definitely rock with flats.

Reading the articale it would be easy to come to the conclusion that the guy is some sort of genius, in the way he has manipulated everything in order to get publicity (and presumably he’s now made a pretty penny from YouTube). However, just remember that the musicians he hired for this have come out of it with nothing, and are probably considerably out of pocket. Personally I feel the idiot has had plenty of time now to weave a story that makes him look less like an loser, and more like some evil genius. I think his brother probably calls it right- trust nothing he says. Robbie

Made from Norwegian wood? Expect more bad puns..

This has to be the smallest and lightest rig i've ever owned

As said above, your gear has very little to do with it. What's important is how good a player you are - and equally importantly, how good your bandmates are at what they do. Having the best gear in the world means nothing if you and your band aren't at an acceptable level of competence. Having said that, if you're looking for a new band, try to find people who are better than you - that is the quickest way to improve your own playing as you will tend to play up to their level.

Shouldn't that be discally?

If Rush can do it, and they used to, I see no issue with the triggering of parts from sequencer and click or organically from a drum pad or pedal, if you’ve built parts into a song you can’t physically play, and by that I mean extra guitar parts, loops or synth parts in bands with no keys player or BV’s sung by tracking up a single voice, then it makes sense to include that as part of your live show. If you’re lip syncing you have no business asking people to pay to see you. I’m going to except Kiss at this point, cos they’re old dinosaurs who’re retiring shortly, I’m going to see them for the chuckle and the kitch, don’t care if Stanley’s voice has gone, it’s a miracle his face still works with the amount of work that’s been done on it....

Just got to pay for it now Russ 😬. Sorry to hear about your ULx d , hope it’s a quick cheap fix Russ . In ears is a revelation when you get it right , just need to get the stereo side of it working ! Mono isn’t quiet the same . Work in progress Russ . Have a great crimbo , sure I’ll be picking your brain in 2019 Russ . 🍺🍺Andy .

You could consider an eden metro combo. Theres a was one on here for not much money, and one on Ebay> To my ears its pretty much the same sound wise. Heavy little so and so with two cast frame eden 10s in it. You could either use the combo as is or make a plywood sleeve and take the amp out of the combo