lowlandtrees

Solid Air John Martyn..........not to forget Danny T's wonderful bassing

I use the Helicon Voice works for my vocals and recently for my tenor sax. never used it for bass. You have to be really careful....you can get a very 'wet' sound. It is very fiddly to set up but I like it a lot especially used sparingly for vocals. You can get it to play a chord off of one note but it can be a very digital sound. The newer versions ....you probably know...channel your voice through the guitar and the harmonies follow the guitar chords. Our singer has a tc electronics version......I am not too impressed yet but he does not know how to set it up and there are cables everywhere. I would say that if you are the type of person who likes to fiddle with settings then you will get it to work for you. Best to record and play it back before going live with it.

Black Ice

I got a Kania small bodied DB to learn on a year and a half ago. The reason was lack of space and convenience. It is a very nice instrument but looking back I would do it different. I would get a 3/4 to learn and if I started gigging then the small bodied might be useful for transporting ( I imagine this may change when I get the 'one). You certainly don t get that full sound and the solid feel of the real thing. I still like he Kania a lot though

I have always used cheap mic stands. Bad idea I know but not sure which one to get. The cheap ones are ok for light dynamic mics but as soon as you put a condenser mic and a pop thingy on them they tip over. I need one that has a really heavy base for these. I mainly use them for recording. Do any of the above mics have a particularly heavy base that would be stable with a heavier mic?

Need a couple of high quality TRS 1/4 inch jack cables. I think that there is a couple of BC ers do them. What is a quality make of cable?

I don t think the rest of the band could tell the difference to be honest and it wasn t discerning audience (should have done the slosh and a bit more line dancing stuff). One of my recording mates is constantly hammering that EQ should be mainly used to cut frequencies. Not sure how applicable that is to bass. Many bass players dislike the clicky thing but to my ears the click is lost in the percussion of the rest of the band but you certainly seem to a certain dynamic in the tone compared to fingers .........but I am a bit deaf from years of amps, earphones and chainsaws. On th other hand the pick adds to the percussion to an extent...especially when (like me) you can t slap. I do prefer the sound of the pick further up the neck but for faster toons like to hug the bridge too. I changed to flats a while back as they seemed to suit the set up of the bass and nicer to play but to be honest the round wounds I had sounded much phatter and will go back on and get set up when it is time to change. I must have spent more on sussing out strings than on the bass itself. Interesting comments on the MM being a scooped sound. It does need some mid boost to cut.

Thanks. Will give this a go tonight. Monday practice night!

Forgot to say that I use an MM SUB through a Euphonic Audio doubler, a Fishman Pro pre amp into a Mesa Boogie Walkabout cab. Looking for a P bass soon.

I am the dep bass in this wee band (normally play sax) and played my first ever bass gig on Saturday. I actually love playing bass but don t have time to practice finger work and damaged my second finger working toward this gig. I therefore played mostly pleck bass. The first set I EQ ed out the mids and accentuated the bottom and top a little and I liked it but found that I was not cutting through so in the second set brought the mids back it but although it cut through I thought it sounded a little to aggressive. I think that it sounded s--t. I know that EQ will vary from room to room (it was a low ceiling) but was wondering if there are any other pleckers here and what they do. Do you EQ out the picky sound or do you like it? We do a fast Chuck Berry number that I double pick. Don t think I could ever finger pick this one so fast. Incidently...I love the sound that Rev and Makers bass player gets(forget his name). Went to see him and he was to my surprise plecking a Precision. Maybe he has practiced too much fr that gig....still sounded great.

Brilliant vid...thousand thanks......very useful.....gotta get my strings slackened off...like now

My EUB bridge looks a bit precarious. Was wondering if it needs set up or whether I can just loosen the strings and straighten. Would it just get pulled over with the string tension? I don t think that it has great contact with the top. I am reluctant to touch the thing in case the pole comes loose. I use a Bass Master piezo pup lodge into the bridge.

Why did I not look here...............yes this helps, thanks. Seems quite complex to set up

I have just pur-chased the above from Thomann. Been trying to email K&K but address not working. When I plug into[b] IN[/b] and out of[b] MAIN/MIX[/b] there is no prob. When I plug into [b]IN[/b] and out of [b]FB OUT[/b] then there is no signal. Is this just the way it is wired so that it can be used with a Bass Master only or should[b] FB OUT[/b] also produce a signal?

I have a Doubler through a Mesa walkabout cab. Although it sounds good with the ebass I am disappointed with the DB sound. I am only dep bassing at moment....the bassist in the band has a Peavey 1x15 combo and I just like 15 inch speakers. I am not a Peavey fan but are there any 1x15 cabs that anyone would recommend that would suit both ebass and DB. I don t think EA do a 15 do they?

I always record bass directly into the Focusrite work station. The pre amps on the Focusrite are very good and the software takes care of the rest. You also by- pass the enemy of recording......your room sound....you also avoid experimenting with mic placement and of course avoid the cost a good mic.

I was really after a cab that would suit the ebass and DB. originally after the EA wizzy m line to pair with my EA doubler but nothing turned up so ended up with a Mesa Walkabout cab. The Walkabout sounds great with the ebass but disappointed at the DB sound. Looking for another pup...a K&K (damned expensive).....as the Realist that I am using is too dark and just sounds muddy on the small bodied EUB. I have tried messing with the EQ of course...turned the mids way down etc. Maybe it is too much to ask a cab to do everything? Don t really want to own 2 cabs. Just having a rant BTW.

Although Yamaha are probably the most consistent in quality I would suggest that you play several different guitars of the same model that you choose. Wood quality and build can vary between instruments. New strings and good acoustic rooms in music shops can often disguise the actual sound of the guitar that you get home. I am not a fan of Fender acoustics but maybe they have changed recently. The other thing to remember is that the older a guitar gets and the more it is played, the better sounding it can become. I like older Takemine acoustics myself and you can pick them up cheap. There are literally hundreds of good guitars floating about in the second hand market from people who have bought without realising the practise needed to become proficient. I did a basic acoustic guitar building course and it really opened my eyes to how to recognise a good guitar (I built a nice mandolin but the guitar was a heap of junk). What it did make me realise was how cheap guitars are relative to the work put into building them.

Excuse my amazing ignorance but what is the difference between long and short scale in terms of sound and notes...I take it that short scale basses have a low E? Is there quality short scale basses out there ?

Thanks. One thing that I find diff with barre is that both notes tend to ring out at the same time and if your not practising it...it hurts. Using the second finger feels very awkward at the moment....thanx for the advice.

Thanks. K&K looks interesting but expensive...I have a brand new unused Realist that I can swap or punt. Would be interested if anyone on the forum has tried this with a small bodied DB

Been playing one and a half years now. Can't find a teacher locally so going the Youtube route. One small thing that I can't source help for is moving down from a root to a fifth (eg Bb on the G string to F on the D string) when your using the fore finger. Would you normally flatten the finger and 'barre' or lift the finger completely off the string? (I noticed Danny last night on telly switching fingers for this shift)....someone will probably say ...all of the above.. or depends... but for the sake of my practice routine what would be the best first step?