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And that is fine, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Personally I don't like showboating when it is terrible, indulgent drivel (like many bass solos I've seen live over the past 40 years!), but when it is musical, when it has groove etc, yes, I really like that sort of thing. A bass player that I really enjoy is Charles Berthoud, he plays solo stuff on Youtube etc, and he has a mindblowing level of technique, but he keeps musicality at the centre, and gets a great groove going. To that end I really enjoyed this cover of Uptown funk. If you don't want his preamble, playing starts at 40 seconds.

So, new bass day for me, a Fender Precision in black/black/maple. So what’s new I hear you say? Well it’s a five-string Precision, that’s what’s new. I’d seen this on here for a while and although never had a fiver before it’s my preferred brand/model/colour scheme, and as I’m not in a gigging band at present should I join one and then need a fiver it made sense to be prepared. Plus it would have really irritated me if that happened and I’d passed on this one and had to get a fiver that didn’t match the rest of my basses (CDO is a terrible thing, I even have to arrange the letters properly/alphabetically). Here it is, currently strung with flats and they just really work, more than likely I’ll keep them.

PSA - due to an admin error, subscriptions to this thread got deleted. If you want to follow the thread, please re-subscribe by clicking “follow”. @SICbass, @CameronJ, @HazBeen, @Dood, @mxm, @bartelby, @Richard R, @MacDaddy, @GisserD, @Al Krow, @Leonard Smalls, @andybassdoyle, @MrTea, @lee650, @Bass-Face, @Andras Szalay, @AxelF, @reesource, @Dubs, @krispn, @toneknob, @owen, @cosmicevan, @Higgie, @AinsleyWalker, @Kiwi, @prowla, @burno70, @Illinformed, @itu, @dodge_bass, @hiram.k.hackenbacker, @stewblack, @Ruck, @ped, @Gradenko, @Rustybass Belgium, @Cuzzie, @Barsky, @Paul Sale, @PurpleBert, @gorandelac, @knicknack, @MOXYBASS

Bought new from Bass Direct, it arrived this evening. I did not expect it to be so good - I don't why I thought that - but it is really an incredible bass for the money: £1300. I swapped the steel strings for La Bella Deep Talking black nylon tapes, and they fit perfectly. Everything about this bass reeks of quality. The hardware is all very good, and the setup could not be bettered. Superb fingerboard, best I've had on a fretless. I did wonder if a 30" string length would provide a good fretless sound, but it most certainly does. One dislike: described as "faded red", but turns out be more pink-red. I might consider changing that, though it's a big hassle to do so. But I'll definitely be keeping it. Full name: Sandberg California II V84 Lionel Candy Apple Red "Soft Core Aged" - quite a mouthful. Pictured next to my theorbo...😎

So boards changed again,as I've got rid of a few pedals, to buy another bass (as you do) had a change around of some and have a slightly different layout. EBS Microbass 2 - this is the third one of these I've had, and I'd forgotten how brilliant they are. Works as an A/B box for 2 basses, or two channels for one, and an OD, DI, headphone amp it also has a loop with a control for parallel to series operation. I've put all my effects into the loop, so I can use them with the headphone amp and set the dial to 100% effect as I don't need any clean blended in. first in the loop Cali76 CB - I've tried most of them and love this for versatility while still being intuitive to use. It has fantastic natural tone,which just makes you sound better. (Although I've seriously got my eye on an FEA optifet 🤣) This then goes into the main input of a Boss LS2,so all channels are massaged by the Cali76. This then goes back to the EBS, this is my main clean sound, I can switch effects in/out using the Ls2 Ls2 Loop A - Analog Channel Cog T70 triple Octave - 3 channel octaves with its own loop. Two separated T65 octaves which ive set 1 for a clean smooth octave and another for a synthy octave up sound, utilising the filters. It has a third "sub" channel which has no clean just octave. The filters can get this fairly close to the OC2 sound. The loop on this enables "parallel" octave so any effects used have the octave clean underneath, in this loop I have Zvex Mastatron fuzz- gated spitty funky fuzz! An absolute fuzzy classic and is must on any board. It adds to the synthy channel on the T70 to create an massive fuzzed octave. In series to The T70 MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe - fantastic warm chorus/Flanger. I have it set to affect only the high end,so subtle but a lovely sound. I particularly love the Flanger setting. EBS Dphaser - fabulously funky multi stage phaser, with lots of control and sounds very deep and cool Ls2 Loop B - digital Synth Channel Source Audio C4 synth- this has so many sounds and I'm finding it's able to replace more and more of my board. Loads of octaves/filters/phasers/bit crushers/fuzzes and synths. I have the Disaster Area Micro DMC so I can access 128 sounds from the C4. So versatile. These to channels can be mixed via the LS2 (the most useful pedal in existance)

You are of course entitled to your opinion, and your feelings are valid. For me, I don't really believe Elton John thinks it's alright to fight on a Saturday night, or that The Proclaimers really would walk 1,000 miles, or that Sting really thought every little thing she did was magic. I think it's possible for a lyricist/author/screenwriter to write a story about characters, without necessarily sharing the opinions of those characters. I don't think it's necessary to agree with the sentiment of a song to perform it. Musical theatre is on my side here 🙂

Pearl Blue Sterling which I picked up today. Been ten years since I last had one but enjoying the neck on this which was what I always liked so much about these basses.

And neck done. While @Matt P 's final whisper coats of Tru-oil were drying I go back to this. The brass nut needed slimming down and thinning down: Then the fret recrowning and polishing: And finally a last tidy up of the rosewood: So all ready to return to @AndyTravis

A couple of incidental shots from Alan's workshop blog, control and battery cavities being routed.

What have I always said about preamps? Stay at least a field away from them! Good luck Jack and well done Gary!

If you've never heard the song before, it's a bit much to suggest the OP is overthinking it. It's a classic bassline and if I was learning how to play it I'd want to get it right for me, not for anyone else. Listen to the song.

I am definitely the least talented member in my band, the other members have been playing since they were kids totalling around 150 years between them, they are all very good musicians with plenty of experience, and when they talk in musical terms, I struggle to know what they are on about sometimes because I am self-taught and only starting playing about ten years ago, but when it comes to rehearsals, they turn to me to lead them through any new songs because I know the arrangements and structures because I put the work in, whereas, they don't. Yes, they are much better musicians than me, but I think that I am probably a better team player, and it sounds like you are too!

My goodness.. if that's how you feel, don't ever join a folk band. The lyrics to half of those tunes will give you nightmares.

.......just when I thought that I could put this behind me and get back to repairing well behaved basses and guitars. Ok. After Jack left it with me, I cleared my bench and set about having a look at the electronics. It looked like someone who shouldn't be left alone with tools had been at it. I tried to test it out with a multi meter and make sense of what should have gone where but it soon became obvious that it was too far gone to be able to save. As Jack mentioned, the bridge was a horrid thing, like something you would find on Fred Flintstone's bass, if he had one. So a more standard Fender style replacement was found and installed in the correct position. I then ordered a set of graph tech saddles with the built in pickups, a graph tech preamp and battery box etc. The saddles arrived within a couple of days, the preamp didn't. It was coming from Canada and eventually turned up about twelve weeks later. I set about installing it and although a fiddly job, it went smoothly enough. I restrung the bass, made all the necessary adjustments and plugged it in to my little combo. It sounded lovely, for all of five minutes and then the sound just fizzled out and died.😕 After checking and rechecking all the connections, it still wasn't working. At this point I contacted, via email, Graph Tech's technical department in Canada. A very helpful chap then started offering advice and attempting a diagnosis. This was a painfully slow process, due to the different time zones. We went back and forth over a couple of weeks, until he could not come up with anything else for me to try. At this point he offered to send out a complete replacement FOC. The replacement turned up very much more quickly than the previous one and I set about installing it. I was almost dreading plugging in, as this bass had now been through four preamps. Anyway, I nervously plugged in a cable, turned up the volume and it worked, just as importantly it stayed working and I was finally able to phone Jack with some good news. I had spent a ridiculous amount of time on this job and had actually given up on keeping track of the hours spent. I was just happy that Jack would finally have the bass in his possession and be able to play and hear it. I'm now enjoying a very similar experience with the preamp in a Sire bass.....happy days.

I've transcribe which is pretty decent as well

Onboard FX are a bit silly. Have to stop playing to make a change. That's what my feet are for!

A lot of those 70s Kiss basslines are really good. I know it's Paul Stanley / Ace Frehley on a couple but Gene generally was really on it back when he was still interested.

Play it at half speed. Repeat until it's perfect. Then increase a little, rinse and repeat. Soon you'll be playing it at slightly faster than the original; you can then play it perfectly at the normal speed. It can't fail.

Season 1 review: short on character expansion, predictable set up for season 2. If this gets cancelled i’m shutting my Disney+ account!

I only use flats, but have done this on rounds also - before fitting new strings soak a cotton wool pad in IPA or Surgical Spirit or Methylated spirit and scrub the new strings down until clean. It's amazing how much black shyte comes off them - machining oil mostly. I would never use steel wool of any grade, especially not while on a bass, imagine bits of steel wool all over your pick-up magnets 😃

I'd be feeling frustrated for about 10 mins, then go and look for the receipt so I can do a chargeback via my credit card (Credit card section 75 protection I think its called. But there might be a time limit on the claim).

Some breaks/fills from the Master ...

The problem is, they don’t and they won’t. It’s all changed. Almost every casual punter I talk to these days just does not get that that’s how it should be. They think music should be free, or as near as.

I think the means of consumption, measures of success, and routes to get there have shifted massively. In the 90s, you had BBC radio stations, and a limited number of commercial stations. You had the early days of satellite/cable with a handful of music channels. You had NME, the chart on a Sunday, Top Of The Pops. The majority of the public consumed music through a very small number of sources, and they tuned in to them regularly. When an artist broke big enough to hit these platforms, they were in front of everyone. Our eyes and ears are no longer pointed en masse at such a small number of sources. Everything is way more fragmented, the big music publications have nowhere near the power and influence they held, there are a million more distractions, and music audiences are fragmented. You can be huge within a niche genre, have a rabid fanbase, and fill large venues in a way that would have put you in all the big spots a few decades ago and pushed you to wider prominence, but doesn't register in the same way now - you can still do well, but it'll be in a bubble. There are still arena-filling, Radio 1 playlisted rock bands from the last couple of decades that have made a big impact through bold fashioned hard graft. A fair few have been mentioned already. Really though, there's not that many that have made it to that level and sustained it long term, even looking back to the days of RHCP.

Good shout on Jacques Dutronc above, too

Darkglass innit. There'll be the Ultra version in a month for an extra 20%.

Rock, and indeed Roll. Talk about heavy. Nothing since comes near for extremes of light, shade and space in a Rock song.

Ashley's Roachclip by Chuck Brown and the SoulSearchers Soul II Soul, Enigma and host of others built their career on that 10 second break

More evidence that Gene Simmons is an underrated bassist.

I'm listening to the sound of internal screaming in my head. Does that count? Never mind, only 18 more working days until I leave work ready to become a full time student and can relaaaaaax

The new Mac Minis with the Apple Silicon chips are audio monsters, quicker than my 6 core Mac Pro, they run Logic brilliantly well, so much DSP... Cheap too, for Apple. I'm a ProTools user, I have Logic for project work, but I'm not keen, Reaper is very good but doesn't offer anything more than PT other than the price. Once Universal Audio sort controller support for Luna (if they ever do), I'll probably switch to Luna. In 25 years of running computers for audio my take is that you'll spend a good 20% more time administrating Windows than on MacOS, I run a 2015 Mac Pro, never gets above 30% DSP and I record and mix some massive productions. In the 3 years its been in the studio, it's not been touched but for updates to OS, PT and plug-ins. One piece of advice, get more RAM, 32Gb is good, 64GB is better. RAM is good. I'd go with Logic on an M1 Mini were I you.

I'd be climbing the walls with frustration. I hate waiting as it is, but when it's so far out of my control I couldnt wait any longer. Just on a cautious side, regarding getting money back etc, I'd do some research first, as it sounds like a custom or customised build. So the seller can argue they cant resell, and it was made especially for you, and you could end up in a real mess.

Definitely not, you would never get rid of the tiny metal fibres , I wouldn’t put wire wool anywhere near any of my basses

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You must be joking!

Sorry to hear about your experiences - I really hope USPS find your bass safe and well. Honesty, in your shoes I'd be fuming angry about the situation built up from a culmination of frustration, disappointment and worry. It's obviously a combination of issues but ultimate responsibility is with the dealer your ordered from .. it's their responsibility to make sure it is built to your specification and delivered to you safely. Good luck, keep us updated.

I'd look towards whatever DAW you use. Mine (Cubase Elements 10) has some really well thought out comps, EQs, effects, etc, and I'm guessing pretty much any DAW has very similar stuff. You could record the raw track, take a duplicate and 'fix' it, or you could set up the sound as you want, then take a duplicate and remove the enhancements, providing both for the client so they can do as they will depending on their skill level or taste.

Oui, un énorme pantalon, mais il a oublié sa chemise!

Non English language songs that become hits in English speaking countries, maybe…

Another Gruvgear Solo Neo 4"er here, it is a monster of a strap! Although, just to confuse things I also picked up a Neotech strap last year which is nearly as good, which considering it was both cheaper and easier to find is no faint praise!

Booked myself in for my first ever bass lessons Despite having played for nearly a decade, being able to read music and stuff, I feel weak and plateau'ed - no idea what to expect from lessons but hopefully some guidance!

Of the two I actually liked the sound of the Wonderlove better. Both filters sounded pretty subtle in that demo. I wonder if the Wonderlove or the Chromatron get any wilder than that? I like my envelope filters pretty unruly 🤣.