visog

Just to be controversial.... I don't think you need many tonal variations.... just a few good options: a pick-up selector, and a 2-band probably does it.... (I've a mid-range too that I rarely use.) A 2-band gives you a good finger-style tone (bridge + bass boost) and a good treble sound (both pick-ups + treble boost) for a slap/pick-style rock tone). As an example, check out this Enfield Bass demonstration: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcWbVd36Y0I"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcWbVd36Y0I[/url] It looks and sounds like a gorgeous bass but here's the thing: I would settle on any one of those slap options... I simply don't need that many choices? I'm talking myself into a Fender Jazz aren't I? Wide tonal variations are achievable but simply not usable - discuss.... visog

Wow! Great looking bass but we can't really hear what it sounds like from the vid with all the background noise. Having seen MG with Gary Husband's band and heard his (previous) Fodera live I can say that it sounds wonderful but then you've got to factor into it his amazing technique. The price is an issue though... It is ridiculous: for a third of this price, you could have a UK custom-made uber-bass to your own specs including the string spacing, mid-scale, ramp and high-C stringing!

Just in case you've not seen, Ed Friedland's review: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e1xXQUOIig"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e1xXQUOIig[/url] Looks like a nice bass if the features and narrow spacing work for you. And you get over the £5.5k (which seems a very long way from my £135 Ibanez Blazer)

He's pretty intense! Check this out... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2XnB5G6oSc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2XnB5G6oSc[/url]

Looks like a major project... Is it for advanced players or is applicable to mere mortals? I've done scales to death but phrasing is a bit of a black-art. (Realised how far I had to go when I heard Nigel Price [guitar - sorry] just setting up to support Stanley & Hiromi at Ronnie Scotts. Every line swung so well.) Be interested to hear how you're getting on with the book?

Don't want to hijack Tankdave's thread here but can I extend it by asking about slapping on a 5. Specifically Mark King style with a lot of left hand slaps... How do you damp the 'B' when you're slapping the 'E' with a lot of left hand slaps? Any suggestions? (as I find the left hand slaps set the 'B' ringing..)

[i]The spec says it's a 35" scale which should add tension? Perhaps it's been strung with a very light gauge strings? (String tension is a bit of a black art and part of the feel of any instrument. I've played some Fenders (34") scale with strings so taught I could barely fret them.) As the 675 is clearly not a traditional bass and aimed at a boutique bass jazz/funk/progressive audience, it probably does have light strings as standard.[/i] [i]P.S. lowest tension ever in my experience was an Alembic Stanley (short scale) with light strings in the Bass Gallery 18 months or so ago! [/i]

Not the elbow but I had a painful fretting pinky for some time. Still get twinges but as an earlier poster said, good posture and technique help a lot. I'd also add warming up slowly, keeping hydrated and perhaps some stretching if your muscles feel tight. This whole area is so difficult to identify. I saw two or three medical professionals who gave differing diagnoses. (Also when it's your pinky, the tend not to be very interested as it's hardly life threatening.)

Whilst I'm on, if you're into your prog, whilst not strictly a bass book, Bill Bruford's autobiography is very good even if he does vilify Chris Squire at every opportunity and laud Mr Chorus.. Jeff Berlin.

Well it’s controversial (mis-quotes and inaccuracies apparently) but ‘Jaco’ by Bill Milkowski is a good read. Exciting on his rise but very sad on his decline.

It's got a horn and two 10's. The cross-over is internal and [u]not [/u]user selectable is my understanding. So it may not fit the bill for you unless you can bi-amp.

Just a thought... someone who did the whole micro-intonation bit well and managed to get in the top-20 with it was Mick Karn on his fretless. Japan had some killer bass lines, usually fretless double-tracked with some cool 'out' harmonies applied as ornamentation.

Well to your point about precision... we're getting all hung up about quarter tones on this thread and tuning and what not, but you have Hendrix playing up a storm with his guitar barely in tune.... in fact he's tuning it mid-song in several videos of him playing; And of course, if you want infinite possibilities you just go ahead and get a fretless. I guess the challenge in the end is the same: to make good music - to which I'm still struggling with A=440, even temperament, frets as Leo Fender intended, etc.... (but Handsford's Warwick does look kind of cool!)

What hasn't been mentioned in this thread is that changing temperament is a challenge to the listener as well as the player (on a fretted instrument). Many keyboards have settings to do this at the touch of a button and simply put, it sounds 'out'. Psychology experiments in this area suggest listeners can and do make the transition between what sounds normal but it's not instantaneous. A less radical version of this approach to accurate tuning and temperament on a fretted instrument is of course Buzzy Feiten's system which I think is standard on MTDs and some other brands. Similar principles but applied to overcoming the problems of fretted instruments. Then you've got Frank Gambale's bent 1st fret guitars of a few years ago...

[color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size=5][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Another view to sling on the pile... points about how well you play independent of bass value duly noted.[/font][/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] Written from experience of buying new and used in each price range except last. My view of playability which is correctly intonated, low action and low to medium tension. (I know strings affect this a great deal.) Excludes vagaries of fashion (Wal anyone?), unfortunate exchange rates (how much for that Ibanez!?), E-bay chancers with yet another Rick, etc.[/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] Up to £100 – Rudimentary instrument/toy/wreck (sorry ‘project’), pure luck, occasional bargain, difficult to tune, stay in tune, play in tune[/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£100 to £250 – Basic entry level instrument, things have improved in this band over the years but still highly inconsistent, perhaps one usuable tone if you’re lucky, could have decent playability but may still have serious production flaws limiting a good set-up. Should intonate up to the 12th fret at least.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£250 to £500 – Student/amateur level. Gains in playability and tone, finish and woods improving too. Can find the odd great instrument in this band. And complete dogs too.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£500 to £1,000 – Should have a good range of usable tones, good playability. Semi-professional grade. Should be highly adjustable to most playing styles. Good standard of fit and finish. consistency (still check – some Fenders in this range come with almost unusable set-ups out of the box, badly cut nut slots, etc)[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£1,000 to £2,000 – Professional. Gains in tone, range and exotic finishes/woods, etc. Playability no longer an issue for most people & situations. In tune and intonated all over the neck. Studio quality tone and signal. High standard of fit and finish.[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£2,000 - £5,000 – UK/EU custom band or top of the range US factory-mades – whatever you want to a very high standard – either yours or someone else’s name on it[/size][/size][/font][/color][color=#2A2A2A][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=3] [size="3"]£5,000 plus – US custom/hand-made band/fashion market quirks/collectables – fit, finish, tone and playability improvements purely subjective. Note some quirky designs and vintage instruments in this bracket can be back in the lower bands in terms of finish, playability and signal quality but hopefully they’ll make up for it with some sort of mojo.(Note: Opinion only – no experience of buying or playing instruments from this range!...)[/size][/size][/font][/color]

[quote name='basstech' timestamp='1321357851' post='1438111'] Hi Guys Need u're help... I've got a BH500 and 2x10 and 2x12 matched cabs....my problem is that the amp doesn't sound very loud ( I have to play on 8/10) at normal pub gigs. I use a Warwick Corvette and Sansamp programmable preamp.I'm surprised that it seems that players rate the BH500 for its volume. Any ideas/suggestions very welcome! My band doesnt play exceptionally loud so I don't see that as the problem. I'm now thinking that I may have to trade up to a 750w amp or even higher!! Is this the reason TC have bought out the Blacksmith?? cheers!! JB [/quote] I've got exactly the same configuration down to the two cabs.... And it's very loud - even with one cab so the amp isn't in higher power mode! It sounds like a fault to me. The speaker leads can be fussy and mis-connect sometimes giving a lower volume so make sure they're correctly connected and daisy-chaining off each other - see the manual for correct alignment but basically it's amp to speaker to speaker. Check your bass cable too as a poor joint can cause a loss of volume. Finally check you're not playing one of the three memories where perhaps you've dialled everything down causing a drop in output. Good luck... these things can be a bugger to identify but I think your basic set-up is fine.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1321560459' post='1440744'] Sorry, I had a Flashback (with 2-tek bridge) and though I liked the sound of it, I just couldn't get on with the aesthetics! [/quote] I played it... very heavy indeed.

CS rules.... pity no Jon Anderson.

Love Niles.... Rhythm-guitar part to Le Freak is awesome...

If we're doing individual notes in answer to this question.... here's my vote for 'E': [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUWn90y7Kgc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUWn90y7Kgc[/url]

He is good and very tasteful... liked Dog eat Dog and Wild Things Run Free. BUT if you're following Jaco you've a Herculean task ahead of you. Ask Victor B who is a great player but will always be compared with his predecessor - more so than anyone else just by proximity. Seemed to recall LK played a BC Rich at one point?...

Hmmm.... I could do that EBS_Freak but that implies taste and subtlety. Bit I'm still loving the extremes here: 'ice-pick in the forehead' vs. 'drowning in chocolate' tones. Currently messing with that air-pump 'daisy-cutter' - trouser-flapping bass noise which is used to suppress civil unrest.

I'm lucky enough to be the owner of this one! This bass is the end-result of this build thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=141577"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=141577[/url] I will post some sound samples when I get a decent recording and get my bearings around an enormous 35" 5-string fretboard. Visog P.S. Bridge P/U mid-boost Jaco tone is always fun but currently enjoying the neck P/U mid and treble boost for gritty 'Rick-o-tone'. P.P.S. Loving the consistency of tone across all 5 strings P.P.P.S. Use bass boost at your peril! Sorry Neighbs

Yes - I have got one. What's your question? (They're big but loud!)

Hi Bass Community, Want to tap your collective wisdom. My GB bass (5-string) is nearly ready (http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=141577) and I want an amp/cab or combo to reflect the high-end zing and bass burp these basses can produce. Any recommendations for sound production? I'm tempted by the TC Electronics BH500 + 210 + 212 offers out there for ~£700. What do you think or can you guys recommend something better? Constructive suggestions welcome... (but don't go insane with the budget right? I'm sure anything would sound good through a full SWR stack but I can't afford one and my wife would make me keep it the shed.) visog NP: Jamie Cullum interviewing Pat Metheny on R2