velvetkevorkian

[quote name='merello' post='715064' date='Jan 16 2010, 06:14 PM']Comments?[/quote] Definitely in the "shockingly expensive" camp as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe it would be better to have one "master thread" which can be pinned, which would contain links to all the others?

Chuck them in the deep fat fryer? Only play with dirty hands?

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='714807' date='Jan 16 2010, 01:30 PM']The Thumb SC has to be one of the ugliest basses I've seen in a while. P[/quote] I like it more than I like the normal Thumb...

[url="http://www.warwickbass.com/modules/produkte/product_list.php?rndtop&list=17056&katID=17057&cl=EN"]Hit me![/url]

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='713785' date='Jan 15 2010, 02:20 PM']Certainly no groove, also no melody, barely discernable harmonic movement, and it's hard to tell where the 'one' is at times. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Andy[/quote] Whereas I didn't get that at all- I thought it was bloody brilliant. That kinda summarised what I like about jazz. Ain't music great?

I have to say, Warwick have really raised their game IMO, especially the improvement on the RockBass line- previously I wouldn't have touched any of the Warwick line for being way too expensive or too cheap (nothing against cheap basses, but I have enough of them!)- but when the 2010 Rockbasses start appearing in the classifieds, I might have to think again...

For those of a thriftier bent, there's also [url="http://www.bluenoise.no/mydrumset.html"]My Drumset[/url] which is free and pretty good. Have to program the beats yourself though.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='711820' date='Jan 13 2010, 07:41 PM']well the pickups are passive, there is no preamp, so the biggest factor is the wood?...[b]a good passive pickup should only amplify the sound of what the bass is made of...[/b]so the process is different to an active setup[/quote] But they don't, do they? Even top end uber-jazzes (and you of all people should know!) still sound essentially like a Jazz bass, and that really isn't that natural a sound at all, especially with both pickups on. Likewise, a Precision with a "good passive pickup" still sounds like a Precision because of the electronics- there's not much different in their construction otherwise. Maybe its different when you get to more exotic breeds like QTuners, piezos etc but to be prefectly honest, I doubt it. Look at how much grief DB players go through trying to find a pickup that's "their bass, only louder"- it just doesn't happen. IMO, YMMV etc of course

[quote name='bubinga5' post='711763' date='Jan 13 2010, 07:07 PM']QUOTE>>>You can of course engineer out some inconsistancies with using very good hardware and electronics, but to say that the signal chain doesn't make as much difference as the wood or vice versa, is I'm afraid frought with self conflict. What about say, a passive Jazz?[/quote] What about it? Overall, the same process of sound processing is going on, surely?

[quote name='bubinga5' post='711716' date='Jan 13 2010, 06:39 PM']Somebody mentioned Wal...What was there slogan? "The Sound of Wood"..., im not sure how much there electronics color the sound...i hate the thought of getting your bass sound just from the electronics....Bass sounds are suppose to be an organic thing...[/quote] "The sound of electric wood" if I'm not mistaken. Which seems to suggest something slightly different, to me at least.

It seems to vary with manufacturer- there was an amp (either Euphonic Audio or Acoustic Image I think) which had the same output at 4 and 8 ohms, so its certainly not as simple as it sometimes seems.

Surely if you get the tone you want, it doesn't really matter how you get it? For example, when I play my 7 I tend to roll the treble right off, because I like how it sounds- if I relied on the woods completely it would be far to trebly for my taste! For a long time I subscribed to the "amp set flat automatically = good" idea (an extension of the same principle) and kept my preamp/tone controls flat, but lately I've come around to the position that whatever works is cool. As others have said, its the sum of the parts that make the noise.

What issues do you encounter using the Pod Pro? I would have thought it should be fine in a loop.

If it's a separate pot, it looks like it will need an extra hole- based on [url="http://www.sadowsky.com/stock/misc_media/controls/bass_pre_vtc.pdf"]this (PDF)[/url], they use a stacked pot for the treble/bass and have the VTC on its own. Hope that helps.

Sounds like they forgot to tune up before starting- and usually I like stuff that's a bit off the wall.

Very cool- I really like how easily you switch from fingerstyle to strumming to slap. Good stuff!

I have a week of the Mikado with a local Gilbert and Sullivan society and... er... that's it so far. Should really get off my bum and do something about that.

Could you not just leave it locked at both ends and unhook the trem springs inside the cavity- if its anything like the licensed Floyd Rose I have the whole bridge assembly can come straight out (strings still attached) and be set aside while you do the last few frets.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='705366' date='Jan 8 2010, 12:15 PM']Interesting! IMHO you would do very well to make guitar sound (really) good through bass cabs alone.[/quote] If you're using amp and cab modelling on the Pod then it shouldn't be a problem, I would have thought. However, why do you want a stereo rig? If its just for onstage monitoring surely you're not going to get the benefit of any stereo imaging that's going on, so a single cab would be better, would it not? edit- you should be fine to run the Pod straight into a power amp or active speaker. As long as the levels are matched correctly I don't think it should give you any problems.

The way I did it was... 1) Take strings off bass. Mask it to f***. Mark the top of each fret with black pen. 2) Use the file on each fret until all the black ink is gone and the fret is level. 3) Put strings back on, and test every fret on every string. File down a little more as required; I did bits of frets on certain strings where extra wear was causing rattles. 4) Strings back off, polish with steel wool. 5) Strings back on 6) ??? 7) Profit Couple of disclaimers- this is a very unscientific way to do it. You do need to know how to set up the bass reasonably well, so you can judge where rattles are caused by high frets and where its a truss rod tweak or a bridge adjustment needed. I did it on my cheap basses first, before my nicer ones (although I got the best result on my 7 string Conklin, in terms of the difference to playability it made). Also, it may not work as well if there's a lot of fret wear. There were visible markings on my basses' frets before I did them, but a bass with serious wear may not be an ideal candidate for this. Terms and conditions may apply. etc. The way I looked at it was that the worst result would mean a professional fret dress or refret would be required, which would be needed anyway; so I didn't have a lot to lose by trying That was a bit longer than I intended Hope it helps. Cheers

Nope. That said, not many of my musical idols have died, but I don't get attached to them like a lot of people seem to.

I don't think it can be beat for the price (~£100), its fantastic value for all the effects you get. I know other people haven't been too happy with the Vf-1's distortion but it does what I need it to do

[quote name='dood' post='705295' date='Jan 8 2010, 11:14 AM']Hey matey! Does the VF-1 do distortion and drive presets then?[/quote] Hi Dood, It certainly does. There are preset algorithms for both guitar and bass, with different options for each. The guitar ones have a variety of pretty common amp models/distortion preamps, while the bass one has "Ampeg" and "Vox" (I think) amp models, as well as a bunch of distortion box models. They work for me, although I use it mainly for home practice through my hi-fi and a bit of recording- not used them live yet. Maybe one of these days...

[quote name='bassjamm' post='704704' date='Jan 7 2010, 08:19 PM']That's great help thank you I've ordered some files off the internet, so that'll get me on my way I think. What grade steel wool did you use to polish them then? Thanks Jamie[/quote] It's marked "extra fine 0000-000". That's about as fine as steel wool gets as far as I know... Oh, one other thing- as well as masking the board and any bits of the body that might get hit, make sure you cover the pickups with something- I just used more masking tape. If you don't do this all the steel filings will congregate on the pickups and be a total PITA.