mcnach

This. All of it. I use mostly active basses but not exclusively. I haven't found any active-specific issues. I have a bunch of overdrives, they all sound different with each bass, so I adjust to taste but I never found one that just would not work with active basses. If you're boosting the crap out of the onboard EQ I would not be surprised that the results might not be amazing... :shrug: Other than that, no idea.

I'm not so sure about the 'cut straight before bending' technique for this purpose. The kind of 'dead' you might get is not a good kind of 'dead', based on what I've heard (admittedly on Youtube). The other reason is... it's not a guarantee. I used to cut those strings straight before putting a kink on them for a few years before I found out I was risking failure. Never once they failed on me... so it definitely can happen, but it's not a guaranteed thing. Although you can probably 'encourage' it to happen, I don't know.

I like DR Fat Beams... but you need to play them a while before they lose the very bright zing and settle into the mellower thumpier sound I prefer. I never love them to start with, and they get progressively better over the next few weeks. Then I'm good for 2-3 years. They have a good low mid response that I really like.

Enjoying this little NUx Amp Plug thing. The extension cable is unnecessary but I prefer it that way than sticking out the bass. I can put it in my pocket or leave it lying next to me. I should have really got a right-angle jack 'though. Visiting my parents in Spain, took some homework (got a bunch of songs to learn for a band I'll dep in next month) with me. My brother has one of my basses and he brought it over for me. Sounds great. edit: I was really using the mobile for streaming the music but that's what I used to take the pic

I've had quite a few bass wah pedals. My favourite by far is the G-Labs Wo-wee-wah. It's large and heavy, but very adjustable and touch-activated with no noticeable delay, unlike others I had (The Ibanez Weeping Demon was not bad in that respect and the delay was adjustable, good sounding too). I haven't seen these much around (had mine for about 10 years) so I'm not sure how easy to find they are. I use mine alone and also together with overdrive/fuzz and/or octave, sometimes phaser too. That gets pretty synth-like and can be a lot of fun. Here is MarloweDK doing a nice demo. For guitar I've recently been using a Hotone Soul Press II which I really like. It's a dual wah/volume pedal that can also be used as an expression pedal and it's small, but not too small (some of the small ones, like the AMT ones I find a little too small even for my size 8 shoes). Really good sounding and reasonably adjustable. I have never tried mine with bass but I've read about others liking it.

That's almost like a bass store version of Fawlty Towers

This is probably my favourite album of theirs, not a single filler in my opinion. Schenker's tone is delicious.

The Digitech Synth Wah, both guitar or bass versions, will get a very acceptable approximation. However I'd echo what others already said: get the guitarist to do that. It seems a bit silly that he won't. If the bass ends up doing that you need a way to blend a clean bass too so that you don't lose that pumping bass line. I like the idea of using the C4 with an expression pedal blend the talkbox effect in/out. But really... why is the guitarist not doing it? It'd be the best and cheapest solution.

I tried 2. Not perfect balance but good enough, a LOT better than Thunderbirds. The neck still feels long due to the absence of a 'horn' to attch the strap button to. They were very nice, but I chose a VM4 instead. Not nearly as cool, but I found the ergonomics much more to my taste.

Finally got some proper time to check out the app in depth, change effects etc. It's not going to substitute anybody's Helix anytime soon, but it's pretty damn good. It's very easy to get nice guitar sounds, it responds well to turning down the volume on the guitar, cleaning up the sound like you would on a real amp. And for bass... well, you need to build up a preset from scratch as the existing ones are mostly guitar oriented, but it's as easy as picking up the bass amp, tweak to taste, no effects and away you go. When playing along to tracks I actually prefer it without a cab simulation, but maybe I need to explore the IRs a bit more. Anyway, the real reason I wrote this post was to confirm that an inline volume control for the headphones comes in very very handy. I am using this one, it wasn't £3, but £7... or £8 if you buy 2. It makes working with the MP-2 much easier. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T1YW1JK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Nux Mighty Amp Plug, without question. The MP-2 version is around £60. There's a new 'PRO' version that uses USB-C rather than micro-USB, and it has a volume control on the unit itself, among other things, if that matters enough to you. I've only had mine for less than a week but I'm really happy with it. The only possible drawback is that the only way to get an additional source (backing tracks whatever) is via bluetooth, no AUX socket. Not a problem in most situations but it's important to know.

I got a little inline passive volume control thingy. It cost £3 or so and it's about 20cm long, so not much to add to your cable. I haven't tried it yet but it should do the trick... I hope!

Sounds like a good plan

I got one of these yesterday, the MP-2 as on the OP, not the newer 'PRO' version. I'm going to dep for a Bruce Springsteen tribute band in a few weeks and got 25 songs to learn, and I'm going to be away for some of this period so I figured one of these units would be quite handy to practice while on the move. I only had about 30min play with it last night, but so far I'm pretty impressed. It sounds ok, much better than I expected, to be honest. I haven't even checked the app yet, one of the presets did a more than passable job (even if it had to much reverb for my liking) with my Ray35. For my purposes, I'd be ok if I couldn't tweak it further... but it turns I can, so it looks good. Just ordered a little extension cable as I don't like it sticking out of my bass that way and I'll just have it in my pocket I think. Oh, and a little inline volume thingy since I was at it and they're cheap, just in case. It really should have a volume control on the unit itself. I think the new version has that (plus USB-C rather than micro) but at £55-60, the MP-2 looks just, well, mighty.

Binkies

It must have been! Sound guy was a bit overwhelmed but he managed ok although he took a very long time setting up, he wasn't expecting a 7 piece band with horns and multiple vocals. Stressful night for him! But there was no heated discussion that I could see. They were 5, we are 7, but when I arrived (9.15) it was just them and 3 of us and a lot of equipment, and it was all pretty friendly: it was all out of our hands and we let the venue take care of it. Did it look ugly before I arrived? There was no sign of bad feelings when I arrived.

Not the best, but not the worst. Local gig. We arrive to find there's two bands assigned to the same slot of 2x 45' sets. It's a music venue in town where the kit and backline are provided, so it's easy to set up. Manager says how about we play one set each, full pay. Ok, we went first, soon after 10pm. I was home at 11.30. Not what I had in mind but no complaints.

I didn't see you mention this BEFORE they were announced

It takes practice to get used to muting an additional string, that's all. It is frustrating because it feels like a step back, but you'll soon figure it out. I don't know how long it took me to be 'ok', but it was not as long as I feared. At the same time I'm not as good as I'd like, but part of the reason is these days I barely slap. However, what I noticed since I started playing primarily 5 strings: While slapping, my right hand moves a lot less. When I first started slapping I'd swing my forearm wildly. As I got better, the movements become more economical. With the 5 string I tend to mute the B string a bit with my palm, and in that position there is not a lot of movement, just the wrist. The other thing is that if I'm hitting the E string, I've started to wrap my left thumb over the edge of the fingerboard, and gently touching the B string, muting it. That way if I touch the B string while hitting the E, I still just get the E string ringing. These things just sort of... happened. Just like I never really set out with a plan to mute unused stings on a 4-string bass... I just played the thing and subconsciously found ways to play more cleanly. This is the same. It doesn't take very long! Just stick with it. In my case, after having owned 5-string basses on and off but never bonding with any, last year I found one that felt right. It sounded good, felt good... and I started using it regularly. Then I decided to use the 5-string exclusively at home. When practicing songs that we play live and live I still used a 4-string, I'd play them as if the B didn't exist. Eventually, after not that long, it all started to feel comfortable, and now I prefer 5 strings, but I swap around and I play 4/5 string basses with equal comfort. I think I just had to push myself a bit at first, but once you reach a certain level of confidence you're well on your way and number of strings is not an issue (well, until I try a 6er )

They seem to come and go. They'll probably appear again soon. There was this other one on ebay that I bookmarked. Twice the price 'though. Out of stock too, but I was watching this one atthe time and again it'd come back frequently. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141332233688?var=440457232180

I was strictly a bedroom guitarist back then so I had no issues. Great guitar and surprisingly light for a Les Paul. Wish I had it now but it fell during "hard times mk 1" and only kept a Stratocaster from those days.

A while back I wanted a white Stingray pickup cover and could not find one anywhere. I ended up finding a full pickup with white cover for around £10 on Aliexpress. I just took the cover from it. Just an idea.

I bought from them a few times in the 90s, before I moved to Scotland. They were always great. I once went there with the intention of trying an Epiphone Les Paul. They had just released a green one I really liked, so I called first to see if they had some. They had two. When I arrived they ushered me upstairs where I was left to do my thing with a couple of guitars and a very tasty Fender DeVille amplifier... It never mattered if you wanted something cheap or expensive. Glad to hear they're still good.

First I'd check whether I need to tune down too. Sometimes you do but other times you don't. Last night I was playing a 4-string for a couple of songs that I originally wrote on a 5-string and did use a few lower notes... I just played those bits differently on the 4-string and still sounded good.