bassist_lewis

Another vote for Barefaced. Its worth contacting them to discuss their cabs to see if they'll do what you need, but if you order one you get a month trial where you can return it with a full refund. I've used a Super Compact for about 4 years doing weddings so lots of different venues with lots of different bands and it's always been loud enough.

This thread has been a bit quiet but as a Callowhill MPB owner (#0189) I can confirm that the B string is a beast. A drummer commented the other week about how strong it sounded compared to other basses, I'm not sure he even knew at that point it was a short scale. Someone mentioned difficulty finding short scale B strings, I am yet to find any, but I expect as short scale 5s are becoming more popular (Jake Serek of Serek basses also builds them) manufacturers will catch on and start producing them. What I've done, and what Tim suggested, was to get a regular scale B string and just cut it down (I use a D'Addario Nickel .130). Cutting them down to an appropriate length for winding and not unravelling the whole string is a bit of a skill and I've butchered a few in the process but the results are good.

If you have money to burn I've heard great things about the Noble Amplifier tube preamp/DI. Unfortunately I've never tried one 😭 but players like Sean Hurley and Tim Lefebvre swear by them, and they both use passive Ps a lot of the time. I think there's a couple of people on here that have them https://nobleamps.com/preamps/.

Hey there Bass nerds. On the rare occasion when plug into my amp at home, I've noticed a rustling sound going along with what I play, so not a ground loop, just a kind of white noise that sits under/behind my playing. I went through my gear - swapped basses, pedals etc - and isolated one of my cables. Now, it was a reasonably priced cable so I'm surprised that it was that one and not the cheap braided Fender one I got 5 years ago. Even the skinny one I found free in a guitar box was fine! Does anyone have an insight as to what exactly causes a cable to add noise to your signal? thanks L

I bought one about a year ago, its a great bass and I love it! Its got a really nice vintage sound, the strings are flat wound but not too dead sounding and the neck is chunky but very playable. Its a bass for playing funk and soul grooves, not for blistering solos. Highly recommended!

I forgot how much love this album! and you're right, from the first track it makes so much more sense!

I bought mine from Strings Direct. I looked into their refund policy but because my bass is short scale I had unwound the E to make it fit, which invalidates any right to return I had. I have subsequently put the old strings back on (i'm in the middle of a run of shows for the Fringe so not a good time to be without my bass!) and discovered that D'Addario do short scale sets in the gauge I like made from both steel and nickel!

Just got a new set of DR Lo-Riders and the E string has no brightness and has a strange white noise rattle whenever/wherever I play it, not the kind of rattle from low action/high fret. Is it possible to get a dead string fresh out the pack?

Interesting that everyone is coming at it from a very practical "in case something goes wrong" perspective. I can't say I've ever experienced an amp dying onstage and requiring a DI as back up. I have done a few gigs going straight into the desk and it would've been good in that situation to have something like a Tonehammer and a Basswitch. The friend mentioned in the OP prefers an external DI for sonic reasons, he says they just sound better than the built-in ones.

I had this conversation a few months back at an Edinburgh Bass hang. A friend (a member here) who plays big gigs in Europe was describing his preference for using an external DI box rather than the one built-in to the amp. Its not something I've ever thought about while playing to 100-200 people at wedding venues but I've seen guys like Tim Lefebvre using a Nobleamps DI live instead of the DI on the amp (as far as I can tell), and it made me wonder what other people's thoughts were.

All Mono cases are solid and provide great protection. However, the velcro on the cable tie/strap thing wore out in the first year. Currently I use the Sleeve, which is slimmer than the M80 but it still gives great protection. The pocket isn't as big but I manage to get two cables, a fold up stand, earplugs, clip-on tuner and an ipad in it.

I love this technique, especially if you've got the right amount of top-end, just enough to get the attack. It can be very subtle (ie. the John Mayer video) but you can get super funky with it especially when combined with your 1sy and 2nd fingers, and there's tons (tonnes?) of dynamic range to play with: you can morph to full on Victor Wooten style thumb-as-a-pick type playing. Damian Erskine also uses this technique a lot and has taken it further than most (from what I've seen). He uses a lot of banjo techniques apparently.

Music is a BIG topic! Referring to the OP, you say you've been putting in hours for 3-4 months, which is exactly what you should be doing and much respect for putting in the time. But I'll put it like this: you've ONLY been putting in a few hours a day for 3-4 months! To learn a complex skill like playing a piece of wood with strings on it takes years of repetition, focus and reflection. You say you're struggling to 'understand' the information, I think you are understanding it just fine. As you say, you understand how chords and scales are built. The problem occurs when you play with other people. This is the difference between being able to understand a complex word/phrase and using that phrase/word in a conversation. You have not integrated what you are learning into your 'vocabulary' as it were. To make the theory stuff really useful you have to get it into your subconscious, so you're not thinking about notes and intervals or even licks, you're thinking sound. This takes YEARS of dedicated, conscious practice. Another thing I picked up on was your comparing yourself to others. This is a guaranteed technique to make you feel s**t and demotivate yourself. Separate the person from the behaviour: the guitarists who play so well and know their fretboard inside out without knowing a drop of theory (I know guys like this also) is not a better person than you, he's just focused on things that you haven't for longer. And remember this: you're playing with these guys!!! If they thought you were crap they wouldn't play with you! Being the worst player in the band is the best place to be because you get to learn the most. Being the best player is boring and frustrating (I teach kids, I know this to be true!). Stick with what you're doing, vary how you practice, break it down into smaller chunks, reflect on the result (without judgement) and most importantly, stick with it. Good books on learning and music: The Music Lesson (Victor Wooten); Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (Geoff Colvin); Make it Stick (Peter C. Brown);The War of Art (Steven Pressfield); Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Musician With (Kenny Werner); Drive:The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Daniel H. Pink); The Talent Code: Greatness isn't Born. It's Grown (Daniel Coyle); Inner Game of Music (don't know but it's out there somewhere). Good luck!