mcnach

Sometimes people put screws on leftover holes and it can look quite alright.

Hmmm, the 5 string natural JJ looks very attractive, and it's got a nice and wide string spacing at the bridge it seems. If they weigh less than a small planet I can see one in my life in the near future.

I've had mixed results (although on the whole I'm a fan). Precision style one in stealth black... I went to replace teh strings and one of the tuners just sheared. It appears to be made of some very soft metal that reminded me of the horrible horrible pickup screws on a Maruszczyk Jake I used to have. But pretty happy with the stock electronics. MB5, again in stealth black. This one is still stock. The pickup sounds just like I hoped it would and I don't feel I need to replace anything. It's the same kind of metal as teh other one but at least this one is working ok, for now. I am still using the stock HB strings because to my surprise they feel and sound just right. I had to fiddle with the nut slots and a few sharp fret ends, which took all of just-a-few-minutes... that's all.

Unfortunately the HPF and LPF are not frequency-adjustable on the Q-strip.

Or longer cables, and keep the amplifier outside the room. It does seem like a faff, but a friend of mine did that for his recordings at home and it was quite good (the amplifier controls don't really get tweaked much during a session), and minimal £££ investment.

I wonder how many TM5s your video has sold I know that I would have gone TM rater than VM had I seen this before I got mine. Don't get me wrong, I love my VM... but I think the TM would have been more my thing (there were none to try in the shop 'though).

agh, that sucks mightily for you I'm actually a bit relieved, because I want one , but I should be sensible and keep saving for more importnt (albeit boring) needs. I have not been able to try one, even, but it sounds like something I would really like and now that I'm getting slowly but steadily into gigging again post-covid... However my D800+ keeps bringing a smile to my face everytime I use it.

I'm not convinced that anxiety is the reason. I think the main reason is boredom. The amount of time musicians have to spend hanging around just waiting is enormous. That's ok when you play weekends, and return home at night. When you're travelling around it gets tedious fast, and alcohol and other substances start to appear regularly.

I've gone off the idea, to be honest. Everybody seems to advertise something but then it isn't. I am considering an alternative evil plan, but no mudbuckers, the universe says no. :shrug:

I give up. New "Artec" pickup arrived from a different source (no Artec model labels or anything). It looks slightly different from the previous pickup, but it's still a 1.2 KOhm one. I won't try again.

They make it too easy, that's dangerous!

Thank you! Some of the sounds I heard in demos were pretty good, especially synth/pads, but some of the others were very variable. Of course I only heard a small fraction of all available, and for my intended purpose (demos of ideas for the band) they'd do. I went with the MU50 mostly because I remembered that I could get some very useable sounds out of my old soundcard's general midi if I edited some of the built-in ones, so having the ability to edit sounds seemed a very good option to have... but I also like the format of teh MidiEngine and the other units, especially the bit about powering them via USB (which my keyboard can provide), so if I don't get along with the MU50 for whatever reason I will probably try one of these.

What do you think about the sounds in it?

Good call on the battery, given its age! I'll ask the seller if they ever replaced it (they had it from new they say). I haven't found many details, but it looks like it uses a CR2450 and that indeed it is soldered but people claim it was easy to get to.

Ah, that's a great idea! Thank you! Thank you for the offer, I'm only looking for a ring or two but in black. But I can easily create a PDF of what I want and get someone like gigink to cut it for me in black acrylic or something. Why didn't I think of that before?

Not being one to dwell in indecision... I just bought the Yamaha MU50. The ability to edit sounds is too useful, after I had a thought. Thank you for all the comments, really appreciated!

Yeah, it' pretty basic, but I don't want to spend a lot right now and I just want some basic sounds to use for demos etc (our keyboard player has an extensive array of keyboards and toys that would put any of my attempts to shame ). The sounds seem fine, nothing amazing but fine. I'm also considering something like a Yamaha MU50. It's ancient, from the 90s, but the sounds seem to compare better, the display is a lot better (actual instrument names rather than numbers, for starters), and you can edit parameters. The only thing making me hesitate is that it's very very old. I found one in great condition, at £175, which is about £75 more than I wanted it to be but it may still be a much better unit... I'm hesitant. Hmm... Miditech Pianobox Pro, or Yamaha MU50?

The keyboard is powered by its own wall wart style power supply. It has a DIN midi out (there's also a USB type-B but I'm not sure what it's used for, I need to get the manual), which I suppose is what I'd connect to the external sound module (like the one I linked to), and the sound module has the audio outs I intend to use. So it looks ok to me?

It's an M-Audio Keystation 61 es: https://m-audio.com/products/view/keystation-61es

Does anyone know where one can get a pickup ring like this?

Completely new to this. I've inherited a cool keyboard which is just a midi controller. I would like to use it away from the computer. What do I need? Am I right in thinking all I need is a sound module box that I can plug the keyboard into, via midi, and then just use the audio output with headphones/external amplifier? Something like this? https://miditech.de/en/portfolio/pianobox-pro/

Yeah, I would have been very confused "but, but... it sounds just like it did before!" The pickup I returned arrived with the seller on Saturday. Today I got a notification from eBay: it looks like the seller has re-advertised it, still advertised as 30 kOhm and showing pictures with 4 conductors etc, definitely not looking like the pickup I was sent :shrug: If you want an Artec mudbucker... probably best if you don't buy from 'eastensound2018'

It definitely isn't. Now that I've seen the stock pickup in my bass I can confirm it's the same pickup that they sent me. I guess the seller just bought a few to sell on and copied the description based on what he thought he had. He didn't contest, I just printed the return label and will be posted tomorrow. Meanwhile I ordered another Artec from a different place, but it's going to take 3-4 weeks. I have to say that since I put a set of nylon tapewounds it sounds a lot better.

Not happy. My multimeter had ran out of batteries, and I only just managed to get today the MN21 type it requires. I checked the pickup and it's 1.2 KOhm, not 29-30 as advertised. To cut the story short, I received exactly the same pickup it's already on the Epiphone: - slightly narrower polepiece spacing than the Artec should be, and identical to the stock one down to the marks on the magnets. - 2 magnets rather than 4 (it may not make much difference, but it's evidence of it not being the pickup advertised - 2 wires rather than 4 (I don't really care as I will only use series, but... again it looks like the stock pickup) - no sticker with the model number, which the Artecs have It's going back.