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Got this delivered today. Its a Euro 5LX with EMG BQC pre-amp and soapbar EMG 40J (bridge) and 40P (neck) pickups. Holy crap this thing is great. Lighter than my other Euro 5LX and much more tonal variation than the Tone Pump. Got a gig on Sunday so will be giving it a blast through the Ampeg

Before starting with the heel fettle, I made a start with the top binding. It will have an inner feature line of black/white/black purfling and then some Rocklite ebanol outer binding. I have to say, I HATE routing for binding. With a spheroidal top, it's really tricky - especially as you are working with 0.25mm tolerances. I use a Stewmac Dremel attachment, but I wouldn't recommend it - there are just too many times where tiny adjustments in angle or tilt of the Dremel (difficult to avoid with it being top-heavy) you can gouge up to mm too deep! But, so far, I haven't found anything affordable as an alternative Anyway - after HUGE amounts of care and re-runs and tidying up with a very sharp chisel, it is as good as it's going to get. And some of it is OK - The next bit - gluing the purfling and binding - I also used to hate. I tried all the traditional methods, from fibreglass reinforced tape to bicycle inner tubes, to ripped sheets and tourniquets. And - with everything now completely hidden, you could never see how well it was positioned and clamped. I never took all that stuff off the next day to find a tight-fitting, in-place binding... So I had a brain wave - and, honestly folks, I think I'm the only person in the world who does it this way - why not IRON it on like I iron on veneer????? And that's what I've done the last two builds and I can't see any reason not to do this for all of my future builds. For those who haven't seen my veneering threads, basically I use decent quality PVA wood glue, paint both surfaces with it, let it dry and then iron it on. The heat of the iron melts the PVA between the two parts, the two parts float a touch so can be positioned precisely, you hold it there10 seconds or so for the glue to re-solidify and that's it! You get instant confirmation that the joint is good or not and - if it isn't, it is fully repeatable...you just heat it up again and it re-floats, you re-position it and let it cool and it's fixed. This is my kit. You can just a well use a household iron...I just use the smaller one for ease of use: You can see at the bottom of the photo the length of purfling with the PVA drying (takes about 15 minutes). I've already painted the slot with the same glue. Then I just iron it on: I do about an inch at a time, hold it in place for 10 secs and then move on to the next inch. To do the full top, using two purfling strips, took about 20 minutes. Bit of sanding showed me this: And even now - if I saw a gap I didn't notice (there wasn't one), I could have just repeated the iron at that point and fixed it. The outer binding will need pre-bending - but I will be ironing that on too: I'm sure there are lots of reasons why this is a really bum method - but it certainly works for me...

I am so disappointed in the way this site has gone downhill regards fret access.... 21? …. 24? I remember when all everyone talked about were the first 5 frets, with ocaisional mention of the 7th.... proper bass playing. Now even aging "rock stars" who quite obviously dye their hair too, now want to move bridges , and extend necks even further to the left, trying to get in on this "cool" new "upper access" stuff.... .. I'm off to design my own signature bass which will be mostly body with a 5 fret neck. 😒

It's OK, you didn't miss much, just some diagrams of the inner ear and some 'before and after' shots of an ear drum after a Motorhead gig. As a result a couple of people got triggered by the eardrum pix and went to the BC Safe Room and couldn't get in because @ped had the key and he was off down at Greggs getting a steak bake and all hell broke loose, these two crying and weeping anyway luckily @Richtipped up and he's got the knack for opening the door without a key and he opened the safe room door and there was no space to get in because someone had put the old photocopier in there. So basically the usual thing happened and some posts got removed.

Finally I finished the bass:

Just a quick mock-up it’s still missing the J pup but you get the idea...........😀

The situation with TV is exactly the same as with music. Yes, there is good stuff out there if you go looking for it. But if you turn on the television at a random time and flick through all the available channels, 90% of it is awful. S.P.

Is music getting worse? From what point are you starting this decline? A couple of years ago I had to learn a set of "modern" songs for a wedding. It included 90% of stuff I'd never heard, like Jesse J and Taio Cruz. There were some great songs on the list. They were well written, well recorded, satisfying to play and they went down well with the guests. I still don't listen to that stuff but I now appreciate, even more, there are gems in all forms of music. These threads generate lists of stuff people don't like, but that isn't a list of bad music, just a list of preferences. I think great music is still being made these days. Keb Mo, Delbert McClinton are still active, and Vulfpeck and Vintage Trouble are sounding as good as ever. And that's just some of the stuff I like. I expect after everyone has added their favourites to the list, we'll have covered most recorded music. No, music was never bad and hasn't got worse. It's as good and varied as it ever was.

Crikey! Is it that time of year again already? Dear OP: Short answer: No. Long answer: No. You're getting old. Even longer answer: No. You're getting old, and you're asking the wrong question.

I know we don’t like all soundmen, but even that’s a bit harsh.....

Its like the Special Brew of pasties. 👍

I'd like to say that now - right now - is a golden age of music with an unceasing flow of new stuff that will please the ear. But that would be a lie. Commercially produced music (and I include popular classical music) is currently in a trough so deep you'd need a bathyscaphe to explore it. Let's try, anyway. Pop music is basically split three ways between (i) Large-bottomed ladies shrieking 'I'll suck you better than your girlfriend does' (ii) pallid, wistful, acoustic guitar-toting young men consumed by unrequited love (iii) stuff that's even worse, e.g., reunited Boy Bands on Zimmer frames. Or Christine and the Queens. Rock music is either re-packaged compilation albums or un-listenable tripe performed by old men or un-listenable tripe (in a different way) performed by young men. Heritage acts dominate the touring circuit; Metallica and the Foo Fighters are applying for their bus passes. Young rock acts perform in toilet venues to two barmen and a dog but it serves them f*cking right because they're either copies of bands from the 1970's or their material is un-listenable tripe. Minority genres like folk and jazz survive in their little bubbles of devoted acclamation. No one else gives a sh*t. Contemporary popular classical music is best exemplified by Mr Ludovico Einaudi, a baldy man who plays repeated minimalistic arpeggios on a piano while someone else sketches out a rudimentary violin part, all of it shoved through a cavernous reverb. Classic FM won't stop playing Einaudi or his similarly gormless cohort Mr Karl Jenkins. There are probably some areas of musical endeavour I've forgotten but who cares? Certainly not me and my cold, black heart. It's all sh*t. Stupid music for stupid people who like music for people who don't really like music. Now go away.

You're an idiot. Nobody has ever taken that title from me since 1976! What, they've not even challenged me. Hasty edit: You're NOT an idiot! 😮

It's nowhere near as good as it was in my day ....

I suspect the real problem is that we're getting older.

Moving Pictures. /thread

We did a Sunday afternoon Biker Bar gig, 3:00-7:00. Because of our festival and fair bookings all summer, this was our first 4 hour gig in 4 months. Playing 4 hours was a challenge for me, especially in a historic landmark building with no air conditioning. However, we drew a good Sunday afternoon crowd with lots of familiar faces. And this place is way out in the sticks. Tbe band sounded good . 1. Play a good show 2. Get the money 3. Get home safely Blue

If you're playing rock or metal you're probably totally set, but when I had my 5LX I turned the trim pot in the control cavity down to about 50% which sweetened the tone up massively. These things ship from the factory with the preamp gain set to the maximum and it was clipping the input on my amp heavily unless I dialled the input gain right down, even then it was very grindy. I like a middy growl tone and the extreme grind wasn't working for me. Also as you may already be aware, the Tonepump preamp is often incorrectly referred to as a "cut-only" preamp, even in Spector's old official marketing materials, probably as a result of a mid-communication with the guy who designed the Tonepump, who was a Czech if I remember correctly. I'm sure I recall a Spector employee acknowledging the error on Talkbass however the website still referred to the Tonepump as being "cut only" while this was happening. Iirc, the designer posted the wiring diagram and demonstrated that it's cut / boost, with the flat 0db level for each knob being in the middle of the knobs rotation, albeit there is no centre detente to help you find that position. The fact so many people run it with both knobs maxed in the belief it is "cut only" is probably part of the reason a lot of people get such scooped, grindy tones from these.

Very cool. There is no such thing as a bad Spector!

Assume you asked this because your amp is 4-ohm minimum. The thing about a 12ohm Two10 and an 8ohm One10 is that the Two10 will get 40% of the power (split between its two speakers, so 20% each) and the One10 will get 60%. So the One10 will be getting to its limit while the Two10 is just ticking over. I wonder if that rig will really be much louder than the Two10 on its own in 4-ohm mode. The reason the 4-ohm Two10 and the 8-ohm One10 works well (if the amp can handle it) is that the power is split equally, so all three speakers receive the same amount.

Chart music today is mostly lowest-common denominator, soulless manufactured pap, targeted at teenagers, often nauseating in its repetitiveness, and most of it will be forgotten within 6 months. The same is also true of chart music from any period since you were born. S.P.

You can’t single out Dog Years on an album that has Virtuality on it...

Fan of all eras of Rush, and I like at least something on every album they’ve done. But my favourite period is the 80s keyboard dominated one from Signals to Hold Your Fire. From that, Power Windows is my favourite.

Regarding re-stringing... I normally go through a setup routine to check if a change of string has affected the relief and intonation and that's even when it's the same gauge. As I said earlier, buzzing high up is usually due to too much relief. Clearly whenever you fret a string you're eliminating any problems with the nut. If you've reduced fret buzz with the old strings that you've now put on then I suspect they're of lower tension (than the original set) so the neck now has less relief.

I used to lift 100lb cabs, until my back gave out. Now this is what I do (and what I now know I should have done). If you are carrying gear then each trip should be as light as you can make it. Making 1 trip carrying everything is not a good idea if that trip kills you and 4 flights of stairs has its own challenges! IME that means a separate amp and cab. While a combo would be cheaper and only one trip it will be heavier lift, which will not be pleasant after 4 flights of stairs and after a gig. IMO 2 or 3 lighter carrys would be preferable. The best power to weight ratio would be a Barefaced Super Compact, at 21 lbs, and a separate D class amp, at about 4 lbs and accessories. With a light bass that could be 2 comfortable trips. If she wants to use a bass rig for guitar I guess the lightest option is to use some pedals to get her sound.

It’s a meat based version of the McDonalds apple pie. Cool and crumbly to the touch but with insides “hotter than the sun” giving the same effect as biting into liquid lava.

I think there's something to this. A lot of things seem more professional these days than they were. Perhaps with better technology, processes becoming more mature, etc.. Which can mean things get tied down a bit more which may leave less room for maverick creativity. You definitely have a point about the biggest rock acts being people who were around 20/30 years ago. Which is a shame. There's always been that but if you look at festivals and the like, they seem to be full of these heritage acts whereas 20/30 years ago it was mostly new bands with the odd golden oldie thrown in. Perhaps promoters are now playing more safely with acts they know will bring in the punters rather than helping bring new artists into the fold? Rock music does have a population problem. So many bands writing so many rock songs over so many decades, there's only so much room left for manoeuvrer and reinvention. There are still numerous good new rock acts, just don't expect them to be radically different from something you haven't heard before! I'm similar. I only really got into music when I was around 14 and most of the albums I go back to now are the ones I got into when I was around 17 to 22. Until then it was stuff I was passing through on the way to finding something I really enjoyed.

When I was 10-14 I used to listen to a lot of gangster rap, and religiously listen to the Radio One Rap Show every week. In my later teens I listened to Muse, Incubus and RATM, pretty much exclusively. When I went to uni I listened to The Mars Volta, Deftones and Tool. Then I went through a pretentious phase of listening to nothing but my own music. These days I listen to something new every day. I really enjoy a lot of the jazz/hip-hop fusion stuff going on at the moment, but there's loads of other good stuff around. Every so often I switch the radio in my car to Radio One to see what's "happening". Yesterday I caught the end of a terrible electronic pop tune, but then they played something brand new picked up through BBC Introducing that I quite liked. Then there was a Miley Cyrus track which was just good old "paint by numbers" pop music - not my thing, but it's basically the same sort of tune you play at weddings to get people dancing. I get young kids coming through my studio all the time, playing instruments, and writing their own songs. A lot of it's terrible, but there are some real gems Given that music is subjective, how could it possibly be getting worse?

That’s just a great set of tunes to know even if your not gigging them on a regular basis. Stone Cold Classic’s!

We played there ^ on Friday night and it was ace! Proper professional sound crew, I got to use my own drums, and Bob from Terminal Rage helped me out with my gear afterwards. Brilliant night! The drive home was a bit of a nightmare - got to bed around 3, up again at 7 as I had a rock 'n' roll band recording in my studio all weekend.

For me, I went off them when - IMO - they stopped writing tunes and started sticking riffs together in ProTools. Geddy’s vocal syncopation becomes jarring, the melodies weak and the DANGANAGANGANAGANAGA bass parts are wearing. There’s the odd gem in there, but I can’t remember the names of half the tracks. There’s no ‘wait for it...’ instrumental beaks any more, and it’s all a bit dense. I still love ‘em though, even if they did a couple of tours too many.

Went down to Warwick intending to buy a MusicMan or a Warwick, came away with this. It just caught my eye and when I played it it was one of those 'you're coming home with me' things. First impressions it's a lot superior to the Fender equivalent I had a couple of years ago, I'm guessing due to the Aguilars and the preamp, and the neck is a lot more forgiving as well. I got up early on a Saturday to play it so there must be something there. Andy

I'll have you know that the title of village idiot is keenly fought over round here!

Oh yes it is!

There isn't the same investment in bands anymore - record companies want an instant return, Cowell needs a new boat so they have to deliver immediately or they're gone. They don't get the same chance to develop their skills as songwriters and artists. I love Queen and can listen to most of what they recorded but it took 4 albums before they were ready to deliver A Day at the Races. Don't get me wrong, I love the first 4 albums, but this was to me the point where they started to deliver their best work. It's the throwaway culture that also happens to include pop music. The stuff that is in the charts now will be forgotten about in maybe 6 months. Plus, as has been mentioned before, pop music isn't aimed at us. It was when we were spotty teenagers but not now. The charts seem to be full or songs that sound like nursery rhymes with words repeated ad nausem, a bit of rap and random noises. Has anyone else noticed that there is a trend again for singers to sound like they are from Jamaica? I remember that period in the 90s where every black artist had dreads and claimed to be from Kingston Jamaica despite actually hailing from Croydon.

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Exactly this...

Just got back from an afternoon set at Down On The Farm Festival near Hereford... It was the first time out for my Markbass 4x10/2x10 stack - band were impressed with how well it cut through. Not only that but there were only a couple of minor booboos, and a bass player from another band came up afterwards and complimented my playing (doesn't happen often!), saying as well that we sounded like Rage Against The Machine blended with Jamiroquai! Eek!

As some of the regulars on here may or may not know, I now live in Bulgaria, having made the break from the UK 4 years ago (hence the forum name). I'm a newborn bass player, now I'm my mid 40's, having not really played since leaving school at 16. I've tried joining / starting many bands over the years in the UK, but due to very busy work / life commitments, nothings ever really got off the ground. So, quite randomly, I met a few other British musicians out here in my local area. Now this might not sound like a big deal, but this is central, extremely rural Bulgaria, not a holiday resort. So the chances of us meeting in the first place are extremely remote. Plus my wife is the singer, having done the club scene in the UK for many years singing and running a karaoke business. Anyhow. We decided to try and get something going a few months ago and after a bit of hard work and rehearsals, we've done several gigs in the past few weeks. We decided, as a band (especially given the local pay rates) that it was never going to be about money, so we may as well try and raise some money for a good cause. So all the gigs we do go towards raising money to support a charity helping children in care here in Bulgaria. Tonight we played a local, extremely rural bar in a small village, which was probably 80% Bulgarian, 20% British (due to our promotion) audience. It was an absolutely superb gig. Outdoors in the heat of summer (30C degrees at 11pm) and the audience, both Brits and Bulgarians were brilliant, and we managed to raise a fair few quid for the charity. (zov.org.uk if anyone's interested) So here's the icing on the cake. After the gig we were given this by the owner and staff of the bar. It's a framed, printed bit of paper which is absolutely worthless at face value, but to me it's priceless. It says. Thank you MissEducation (our band) Keep doing good things. Bulgaria is as much yours as it is ours. From Krichmata (the pub) Lesicheri (the village) Best payday I've ever had!

Here's a gratuitous shot of my cheap practice set up, a £30 amp with a £50 bass. For creative home use on a budget only.

Here's mine:

*cough* Adam Clayton *cough* (just a joke before that can of worms opens up - I rate AC) Ah. Yes. I thought Mr Sarzo had played in Whitesnake and Ozzy just of the top of my head. More than I’ve done, fair play. Also led to believe he’s a nice bloke.