Gareth Hughes

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1347105630' post='1796984'] I'm not sure if it could be relevant, but there's a common-ish problem with Walkabouts which results in the signal dropping out - the FX loop jacks oxidise over. Shoving jacks in and out of the send and return a few times to clear them solves it. [/quote] +1 - I had this same problem with an Epifani head a few years ago - being that the effects loop with in series, so some sort of problem there caused the preamp signal to stop making a connection to the power amp section. A quick 'how's your father' with a jack lead into the send and return sockets did the trick.

Faith No More on 'The Real Thing' tour was my second ever gig - following closely after my first ever gig being Anthrax on the 'State Of Euphoria' tour at the tender age of twelve. When you're twelve years old and hoisted high above the mosh pit - life truly couldn't get any better. Always loved Billy's lines and that tone. What a combination of Mike Bordin on drums and Billy Gould on bass. All good.

Watch out at 2:26 - not for the faint hearted. 3:46 is when it gets really interesting I have to say - I LOVE THIS GUY!!!!!!!!!!! He's my hero. If this isn't living the dream then I don't know what is. In all seriousness - check out his Oriental Express band - some great music there, and great players.

I love my Matt Freeman Signature P-Bass - think it's a quality instrument in every regard. If you do search you'll find plenty of info - but for Squier tho, not Squire

Hey folks - Just saw this over at Gollihurmusic.com. Bob has always been a great source of information backed by a wealth of experience so get comfy and get stuck in. [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/pdfs/Make_Friends_With_Your_Amp.pdf"]http://www.gollihurm...th_Your_Amp.pdf[/url]

Check out a show by Henry Rollins on KCRW called 'Harmony In My Head'. A more eclectic bunch of music you will not find. There's an archive of all the previous shows at www.rollins-archive .com. Also has playlists for each show.

But which lead is best for metal? (In case no-one has said it)

What difference?

See, I told you there'd be some lovin coming your way. You just didn't want t believe. Nice to see you here sir. A fine addition to the fold, ladies and gentlemen.

I have an LMK head and only ever had the issue of the power amp cutting out when it either overheated in it's rack case or had dodgy power from the venue - I suspect it was the latter. Interesting thing was that the preamp and DI sections were unaffected and thankfully I was playing in a band with a decent monitor system that night.

My first car was an early 90's VW Polo, bought solely for gigging with my upright. (Easier to hustle a lift with the electric for sure). I could fit my upright, a Hartke 2x10, a flight case for my amp head and a passenger in the front seat. So yep, should be fine with your car - unless it's like a Passat where the boot doesn't open up completely.

The simple answer is: if it sounds right, it is right ( to quote Joe Meek). An active input on an amp is usually just an input with a drop in volume. So if the passive input is at 0 (neither boosting or cutting the signal coming in) then the active one would be something like -10, cutting the input signal. The long answer is that the active/passive input on your amp is all relative to the output of your bass. By that I mean - if your bass has a very high output, irregardless of it being active or passive, then it might benefit from going in the active input. Likewise, if your active bass has a lowput then plugging it into the active input will only make it even quieter. I have a passive bass that is way louder than any active bass I've ever owned. And also remember that all passive basses are not created equal. I have three jazz basses with passive pickups and none are the same volume as each other. So - to tidy up this waffle - plug your cable into the passive input first and if it sounds like it might be distorting a little then maybe your signal is too high and then you should try the active input and see if that cleans things up.

DONATE YOUR BODY TO SCIENCE, YOU FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How's that? Oh, and if Ped's been sitting on them - maybe not so valuable?

Heard a great one from Duke Special the other day: 'I am extra, I am director I am silence, I am Phil Spector'

Apologies. Harmonics (to me) are the audible equivalent of the many pixels on a TV screen that your brain sees as one image. Waffle aside - if your string is 42 inches long (for the sake of argument) then the first harmonic is right in the middle (21 inches along). To play a harmonic you don't press the string hard so that it touches the fingerboard, you just lightly touch and pluck. You should hear the same note as your open string, only an octave higher. If you split that 21 inches in half you'll get a second harmonic, an octave higher than the first harmonic. If you do this on an E string, both the harmonics will be an E. There are also other harmonics on each string (back to the pixels idea). The next one to go for is a fifth above the open string so if your open string is E then the fifth is B ( [b]E[/b] F G A [b]B[/b]). This harmonic is located rather handily directly above where you play the B note on the E string. Try doing this first on the D string. The E string can be a bit too heavy to get a harmonic going if you're not sure what's going on. Once you're up and groovin you can use harmonic's in very handy ways - such as this: take the G string, the fifth of that is D (again, located directly above the D note on the G string). That D harmonic on the G string is the same as the second octave D harmonic on the D string (the one at roughly 10.5 inches from the first harmonic at 21 inches). So you can tune the D string to the G string by using harmonics, and because the harmonics are higher and clearer to hear than the lower fundamental, it's a lot easier to hear when the two string are perfectly in tune. Repeat the process and you can tune the other two strings easily. The D string gives you the A harmonic ([b]D[/b] E F G[b] A[/b]) and the A string gives you the E harmonic ([b]A [/b]B C D [b]E[/b]) Hope that hasn't made things more confusing.

Could be that your tuner isn't reading the low open string of a bass so well. I've found that to be the case with some tuners, especially the little clip on ones. Try tuning using the 1st harmonic octave, or even the B octave on the E string. Another method I've had success with, as even my trusted Boss TU-2 decides to give up sometimes) is use your fingernail and pluck the string close to the nut, removing the low fundamental note in the process - gives the tuner something easier to work with.

Fair play. I'd have probably lost a few fingers before I got this far, so I'm well impressed with this. Very cool indeed.

Diggin it already!!

I'm proud to be a geek. The geek shall inherit the earth.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1343684213' post='1753775'] Thanks Gareth for your comments. You are always a fantastic source of info [/quote] Is that a polite way of saying I'm a geek?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1343670037' post='1753465'] Has anyone ever used the headphone out on their amp to provide some in-ear monitoring? [/quote] You could do that if you're not hooking a cab up to the amp. My Genz Benz Streamliner master volume controls the headphone output and the speaker output so I'd deafen myself if I used headphones alongside a speaker live.

I play a little and I surprised myself at how not confusing playing in fifths is. Actually find it easier to read cello than than to just noodle about - I'm not that comfortable with fifths yet.

Never mind the first position. Find the octave E on the A string and the higher octave E on the G string. Figure out where those E's are in relation to the crook of the neck and where the fingerboard meets the neck joint. With your first finger on the E you've got these following notes available: E string: B, C, C# A string: E, F, F# D string: A, Bb, B G string: D, D#, E Plenty to get you going there. And while you're there, find the E major and B major scales. Another thing to do is to thin outside the box with relation to where you start notes for a scale/arpeggio/pattern. For instance - with the A major scale, keep your hand in this E on the A string position. Play the open A string to start with. Then play the B and C# on the E string. Next, either stretch/shift a little to play the D beside the C# on the E string, or play the D on the open D string. Then play the E and F# on the E string. Then stretch/shift back a little to play the G# on the D string. Then return the original position and you've got the octave A. Repeat that process and you've got the B on the D string, and the C#, D and E on the G string. So in that one position, and with using open strings and a minimum of shifting, you've got an A major scale + a fifth. With the same process you've also got the D Major scale up to the 9th and down to the 6th - the B on the E string. Another thing to help you get up to this position confidently is to play your F major scale in half position so you can solidify the sound of it in your head. Then, play it this way - F and G on the E string, then A, Bb and C on the A string, then open D string and shift up to this new position to play the E and F on the A string with your first and second fingers. When that begins to get solid, try shifting on the open A string so you've got F and G on the E string, open A string, then Bb and C on the E string (the Bb requires stretching back a little) and then the open D string, and the E and F on the A string. I wish I'd been told this years ago. Instead, I got Simandl and slowly crept my way up the neck, all the while nurturing the FEAR OF THE DUSTY END!!!! It needn't be like that - just find those octave E's and get your disco freak on!!!!!!!