Ghost_Bass

I, too, have tried lots of different makes and finaly found my prefered set of strings. I allways loves D'Addario and due to the very compreensive offer they have, it was easy to get a set for my 35" TRB, i was using the EXL170-5SL (super long scale). But they were still lacking some zing, i was replacing sets in two month periods or less to have the tone i wanted. Then they came out with the Prosteels and i found what was missing in my tone, i now use the EPS170-5SL on my bass (.045/.065/.080/.100/.135 .130) the best tone/feel/tension i can have for that particular bass but at a cost (31€/set) I have more basses and found that some will not sound as sweet with the very bright Prosteels and will sound better with the nickelwoud EXL's so i do believe that some strings complement some basses better than others. Only constant in all my basses is the gauge of the sets, i almost never touch the truss-rods after the first all round setup to each new bass. EDIT: correct string gauge added

I dind't like gold hardware a few good years back, i bought a bass (at a very good price) back then that was red and had gold hardware. I had the body painted metalic grey and stripped the hardware and painted it black. Since that i bought my TRB and grown fond to the gold hardware in wood faced basses. I'm now looking to refinish that old bass stripping it back to wood and am sorry i stripped the hardware now. I think gold lends itself well to wood or white basses. Black hardware in some basses and chrome is just a basic staple for any kind of colour. Any one of them can look very cheap or very posh depending on the bass and colour scheme in question.

Artec are cheap preamps but with some quality. If you want the price low they're your best bet. Keep an eye on the sales thread for a better preamp, used.

He was there but it took me too long to take the picture... he will be missed...

Only the dust caps got a bit pushed in but a vaccum cleaner popped them right out.

My cab doubles up as a bed for my cats:

I had one close to perfection. A MIM Classic 50's P to wich i added a Deluxe humbucker and wired it with independent, stacked Vol/tone with the resistors to prevent cross-talk. was light, pretty (tobacco burst, maple fretboard with gold scratchplate), sounded awesome but it was only a 4-string so still not perfect.

I bring my own bass guitar. Don't think the gig would go too well without it...

Forgot to take the measurement, i'll see if i can remember today as i'll be in my studio for a while with a new addicion to the MIJ collection.

Just completed a deal with Mark and bought a lovely Ibanez Roadstar II bass. In record time (literaly in the space of not much than one hour) we chatted about the deal, reached agreement, sent payment, he arranged for courrier pickup and started packing the bass. Was that fast and easy! Bass arived today inside a bomb-proof packaging that i'll bet not even parcelforce could break! Bass is excelent, exactly as described, no issues or noises. A very happy BC'er here! Thanks Mark!

I can check the measurements for my own '85 Yammy BB1000s regarding nut size, it's neckthrough, MIJ, PJ (in fact reverse-P), no scratchplate but i'm afraid the headstock isn't matching. Best P or J i've heard Not for sale though stock internet pic:

When i have a new song to learn i sit in front of my computer, plug the bass to my mini USB Behringer mixer and open youtube with the song and a tab (usually allways bigbasstabs, they seem to be the most accurate). I use the TAB as a ballpark guide to get me on track in some very fast or hard to hear parts in the song. I play with the original runnig on youtube and try my best to correct all the wrong notes by ear. I think most TAB on the net are wrong because the ones that can learn a song fast and easy just hearing them don't need to use TABs. IMO the main makers of TAB are those who strugle to learn a song (newbies) so they write it the best they can hear it, often worng, but it's usefull to have it anyway. As most youngs are more active in the internet their TABs end up there wilst the old folks don't bother getting them from the paper to the PC.

Why a monitor? if it's just the bass that's needed for the drummer you could get a cheap used bass combo (behringer ultrabass with the kick-back recess for example) for not a lot of money and get the send of your main rig in to the return of the combo.

13/15, had a lucky guess on the DB player but completely missed the Tina Weymouth (don't know her, never heard her name before). I got myself second guessing the Jack Bruce (it was my first reply) and in the last second changed wrongly for JPJ, don't know why...

I've been having the same issue but i can't find a replacement for my TRB5PII that sounds half as good so i'm sticking with it. From time to time i give myself a rest and put new strings on the lighter TRB5P and gig with it for a while before going back to the one that has my tone out of the box. From every bass i tried the one that came closest to the tone in my head with the minimum weight possible was a Jerzy Drozd but it was too much money for a backup bass...

My pedal chain for my ultimate Funk Tones is: Tuner (korg Pitchblack) > MXR BOD > B3K > 3Leaf GR (original) > EBS Mcomp The "funk" is in the middle, any combination of sounds with each pedal soloed, each pair or all three together (with down swipe on the wha) give me every tone i could possible need withou having to change pedal settings (only the envelope sweep direction).

you can isolate the tone cut just to one single pickup. You need to add two resistors in there to prevent crosstalk between the capacitors. This is usually found in the old Jazzes wit 2 stacked V/T pots. I've done it on a PJ i modded a few years ago in wich i wanted independent volume and tone for each pickup, worked a treat. I don't have any schematics at hand but try googling for this type of independent tone wirings. EDIT: found a pic for helping you with your seach:

Most modern amps already have isolated DI's to cope with someone turning on the Phantom Power on the bass channel and will deal with it without blowing up. I allways tell teh song guy about my good quality amp DI wich has mic/line , pre/post and lift/ground switches as well as it's isolated from 48v power and offer to use theirs if they prefer, no one has turned mine down yet. The trick is to give them the choice, make them choose between a very good amp DI and the cheap BSS AR133 in their hands I allways go post DI without their knowlege as even though i set my EQ flat everywere my amp has an internal HPF that clears all the muddy low end out and gives more definition to my notes.

I love to be dealt with songs that when i first hear them i think there's no way i could play them. It takes a lot of time and effort in the beginning, sitting down, splitting the songs in sections, writting the notes down, play it over and over with it constantly sounding sh*t until comes that CLICK! and suddently the song is nailed. A great feeling in the end. It's what makes me move forward in my playing, if i'm asked to play a simple song that i know in my head and only has a basic line i don't even practise it, just pick up the notes and play it. Playing the hard stuff is where all the fun it at. I believe the last couple of songs i've learned that gave me this feeling were Sir Duke and Master Blaster.

I'm very happy with my Contego Protect Bag, not cheap but has inner protection to prevent the bass getting damaged by something falling on top of it without the weight of a hardcase: https://www.thomann.de/gb/protec_contego_e_bass_case.htm?ref=search_prv_6 If i was looking for a cheap option i woud go for a Stagg Softcase, similar to the Sadowsky ones but obviously with lesser quality zippers and overal material: https://www.thomann.de/gb/gator_foam_case_bass.htm?ref=search_rslt_stagg+bass+case_250314_3 (this is a Gator one but Stagg has one like this but even cheaper) All cases i've refered to in my post will offer more protection than that leather W rippof and will worn out a long time after the W bag is in the can...

From my experience iPhone mics are one of the best for audio capturing when compared to other smartphones. Check and see id you're not covering any of its 3 mics with your hand / bad phone cover or if you have the mic holes filled with dust/filth (happens frequently). Of course if you're expecting something more prefessional you should consider a better tool for the job, like a proper HD camera and sound recording card or even those Zoom Q3, 4... etc. units.

I spend a lot more time than necessary if i count the singer not helping anybody, just making small talk leaning over the bar and the guitarrist only stting up his own gear and spending the rest of the time messing with knobs and pedals looking for his tone... In the worst case scenario we show up to the venue, almost allways me and drummer first, we unload the van, drummer goes on setting up his kit while i set up my bass kit in 5 minutes (bass, pedalboard, cab, amp, mic, mic stand, cables...) and then procced to to setting up the PA. After removing the drummer's stick bag, cymbals bag and seat from the way a million times so i can pass cables behind the drum kit i end up helping him hooking up his cables to the mixer and start sounchecking the drum and bass. By this time the guitarrist already has his gear setup and i have to ask him to stop making noise so i can souncheck the drum. During this the singer plugs in his mic, stand and guitar gear and finaly i can soundcheck everybody. This can take up to an hour or more if we have some technical problems to solve. After this we go to heve dinner without the singer plugging in his monitor that's still sitting inside the van... There are times when we're in a hurry and everybody chips in to help out with the setup, in those days we can take care of everything in less than half an hour. For me the main factors that delay assembly are the drummer's bags spread all over the stage (i've come to hate sticks bags so much.... argh!!!! ) that we need to be constantly moving and the rest of the band not helping, sometimes.

So, forgetting about all the extra gear you would need to add to make it sound like the classic TE tone... How does it sound on it's own? Does it have a warm, flat, scooped, mid-bumped, harsh sound? Is it more modern sounding like a Genz Benz/Darkglass amp or more vintage sounding like Mesa/Aguilar amps? Is the 3band tone control useable, more fender stack oriented or diferent? Finally, how does it cope next to a loud hitting drummer in a rock band going through a 4ohm cab, volumewise? Thanks

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1510231529' post='3404798'] I wouldn't mind making the actual enquiry if a band member gave me the details of a venue they think might give us a gig, but they just don't get round to it [/quote] Just explain to your mates that they don't hacve to close deals, just go in a local pub with live music for a pint and talk to landlord saying they're playing wit band X and they would like the have the contact so that somebodyelse can call at a certain time for a bit of a talk about prices and conditons.

There's allways one member that is more of a people person, most cases is the frontman/frontlady. In my band's case in the start i was the one doing the most contacts - calling to known venues, sending FB messages, emails, etc. You really need to send a lot of messages until someone gives you a reply. After getting the replies i passed all the phone negociation to the singer as he's better at capturing people's attention than me, he's a really good showman (think Robbie Williams meet Fredie Mercury - i'm not exagerating!). In 3 years this band has we're now one of the most well payed bands in our zone, we travel frequently (200km+) to good venues in the country capital and we got a bit of name going on, we stopped going after venues over a year ago and we have our bookings allways full. This is all to say, in the start there's allways someone that has to push the band forward, you're the one thats putting in the hard work. Start pulling others to assist your work, give the contacts to the singer for him to talk to the landlords and close the deals after you iniciated conversations. Get the rest of the band to do the same, they just need to get the contact from their local venues, somebody will take care of the rest. If you can do this when you notice it you'll see that the singer has taken a taste in closing the deals and is more proactive in seeking venues, the rest of the band will also chip in with even more contacts as they see it isn't that hard hork for them. Finnaly, the more gigs you play more bookings will be atracted as your band's name strats to spread around, eventually you you'll start recieving phone calls with work offerings. Worked for me, may not work for you but just my 2p. Good luck