Wil

I've got a sunburt Norman B18 acoustic with a nitro finish, and as the years tick by it's picking up more and more little marks and dings. I love it, it's part of the instrument's character to me. Big marks caused by dropping or careless use are a turn off, though.

Good advice. I've certainly played around with compression a lot on recordings, but it's definately been uneducated fumbling at the best of times

Cool, thanks! Despite reading your very informative posts on compressors before, they do still baffle me a bit. I probably just need to get a decent one and play with it to better understand the controls.

Looks sweet. I could probably use a decent compressor. Wonder how "squishy" it sounds.

To be brutally honest, it doesn't sound like the bass is really the problem here. Can you not re-write the parts so you can play them in standard 5 string tuning? That'd be what I'd do at least, I hate playing out of standard tuning, screws the tension up too much for my liking. The only other solution I can think of would be getting a lower tension B string, Hi Beams are quite floppy feeling, to offset the tension difference caused by tuning the B up to C.

If you already have a five string, why do you need to detune? Surely you've already got all the low notes covered?

Just goes to show, you can spend thousands on a bass but it'll still be a lump of wood with some strings attached. You can't put a price on tone.

To my ears, the differences are so slight that either could probably be made to sound like the other with some EQ tweaking, I reckon. As such, not sure which I preferred... In fact, I might be going deaf but they sound pretty much identical to me!

Thank you! That means a lot coming from a drum and bass aficionado such as yourself

Sat down this evening to write some music around a drum and bass beat I made last week. Quite pleased with the results. I used my new Sterling with bit of bass boost on the bass preamp, and some compression/slight smiley EQ in Amplitube's bass amp sim. The free NLog iPhone synth came in handy for the bleepy bloopy bits. [url="http://wilmiles.bandcamp.com/track/volta"]http://wilmiles.bandcamp.com/track/volta[/url]

I used to get cab GAS, until I got my Schroeder. All I wanted was something that could compete with the obscenely loud drummers I play with and hold the low end without breaking up. None of the cabs I've owned previously were up to the task, but this one is, so it's a keeper.

Nickel sets my hands off something awful. I used Elixers for a long time but they are nickel plated steel under the coating, and it did occasionally irritate my hands when the coating wore away. Stainless strings that I know don't cause me problems are DR Highbeams, D'Addario Pro Steels, Dean Markley Blue Steels, Elites Stadiums and Rotosound Swing 66s.

I'm a fan of softer picks, .88 generally. Much stiffer than that and I find my wrists aching, but my band do play fairly fast.

Scratchplates are for holding your plectrums, arent they?

I got an SB14 the other day. Havent used it through the big rig yet. It's great to play and looks the part, and through my practice setup it certainly sounds like an EBMM. Fit and finish doesnt seem to be quite up there with the US basses from my limited experience with the real thing, I'd say. Little niggles like a few spots in the finish around the headstock, and the bridge not being lined up quite right. For a third of the price of a real one, I still think it's a lot of bass for the money, but on the other hand if you looked at a similarly priced Ibanez I doubt you'd find any flaws of this nature so it's certainly not ideal.

Ah, cool, I'll give that a download later. This is a bit like a musical Airfix kit

I would but I don't have a digital copy of Oliver's Army, to my eternal shame

Nice tone, warm but with a nice clear midrange. Hard to say what the playing is like without hearing it in the context of the song, though...

[quote name='LethalLion' post='1166257' date='Mar 17 2011, 09:03 PM']In terms of slap, I think Marcus Miller's tone on his Higher Ground cover is incredible: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCv03LRS-Hg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCv03LRS-Hg[/url] This guy's punchy tone is pretty nice for Rock: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm-68FebQTs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm-68FebQTs[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9GTct-oQTI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9GTct-oQTI[/url] I'm playing through an Ashdown EB 15-180, with a Squier VM Jazz.[/quote] For both those tones, I'd advise fitting a new set of strings. To my ears the Marcus Miller tone seems to have boosted lows/low mids, cut high mids, and boosted highs. The rock clips sound to me as if the low and high mids have been boosted a little.

[quote name='BassBunny' post='1166378' date='Mar 17 2011, 10:22 PM']It is in the fingers. Mate of mine was round last week. Used My Bass(es), My Amp, My Settings and got the tone I have been after for years. His Bass, His Amp, same sound. I mean when Victor Wooten moved to Hartke, did his sound change? No[/quote] I know your playing style plays a big role, but to get in the general ballpark of where you want to be having appropriate gear helps. If you want a modern, hi fi slap tone you're never really going to get it with a passive P bass, for instance, no matter how good your playing is. I'd imagine Victor was still playing a high end, active bass and he'd EQ'd the Hartke to get a sound he liked.