icastle

Never seen one but my understanding is that Vester made a number of copies of well known basses (and not just the usual PB & JB copies either!) in it's Korean factory back in the early 90's. It is rumoured that Fender threatened legal action and the factory/company was sold off soon afterwards. Chances are that the factory are still producing basses, but the Vester name has gone.

How about a length of windscreen washer pipe gaffa taped to the end of the vacuum cleaner hose to make a 'seal' (keep the vacuum cleaner speed down as low as you can get it though!)... You can pick the pipe up from Halfords for a couple of quid.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1178712' date='Mar 27 2011, 08:38 PM']I thought it was a Pokemon card![/quote] Pokey what?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1178327' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:47 PM']Which is more important? Actually don't answer that [/quote]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1178302' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:17 PM']I avoid open strings like the plague.[/quote] Noe't wrong with a nice dose of plague from time to time, keeps ya regular...

[quote name='hellothere' post='1178285' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:05 PM']I picked up a bass from around an hour and a half from where I lived and after arriving back home with it I realised there was a buzz on the 12th fret and only on that fret, each day the buzz has got less and less so far. Is this from a change in climate and humidity? And is there a chance it will go away completely without me having to fiddle with it?[/quote] How long have you had it?

[quote name='Beedster' post='1178207' date='Mar 27 2011, 11:59 AM']IME a very low action and TI Jazz flats are not the best combination on a fretless mate[/quote] Not sure about the TI flats but the action does generally need to be higher on a fretless. Just looked at mine and I've allowed about a 3 credit card gap and it plays just fine...

I'd guess that the biggest problem that some people have is trying to get control back over a string vibrating over the entire length of the neck. Some things work with open strings, some things not so well. I just play whatever's the nearest provided it will work tonally. It's a judgment call based on planning ahead.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1177938' date='Mar 27 2011, 08:03 AM']It's a long story Ian but basically it was a bunch of guys who all lived near each other and I had to travel 45 mins each way to the practice place. I was meant to be just filling in for the bass player as he was ill but once he thankfully got better they wanted me to stay anyway, most of the gigs were charity ones too once we re arranged the band (few member changes) and I agreed to join obviously I paid my share and took my share as required [/quote] I temporarily replaced the female bass player in my covers band while she 'sorted her life out'. Five years later and I'm still here. They reckon I'm a far better musician but my arse doesn't look as good...

[quote name='skej21' post='1178062' date='Mar 27 2011, 10:12 AM']I once read something about Pino Palladino's session rates and he did something similar to this but tailored it to the job, which I have also taken on (at certain jobs) as it makes sense for both parties.[/quote] Yep, it wasn't Pino Palladino who gave me the idea, it was Paul Young's keyboard player who told me about it way back in the 80's when I was first starting to take music seriously. The advent of MP3's and intense use of internet has made it pretty easy to deliver the goods in a reasonable number of takes. I usually get a rough recording of the material to listen to before I need to go anywhere near the studio so I can work out a few ideas beforehand or learn the original bass lines if that's all that's needed.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1178142' date='Mar 27 2011, 11:12 AM']Like this? Or this? [/quote] There's a couple of 8x18's worth there...

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1177835' date='Mar 27 2011, 01:28 AM']I have played in bands where I haven't even contributed to rehearsal room costs as they had begged me to play with them[/quote]

[quote name='MythSte' post='1177348' date='Mar 26 2011, 03:48 PM']It looks like someone broke a Ritter and glued all the salvageable parts onto a cheap Yamaha...[/quote] ...and stuck it to a leather sofa whilst doing so...

[quote name='mcnach' post='1177335' date='Mar 26 2011, 03:35 PM']If I ever open a store, I think I will use the Bass Centre as an example of how NOT to do things [/quote] I remember seeing John Cleese in some sales training films many years ago showing how not to sell. BC weren't quite to the same standard, but they came pretty damn close...

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1177317' date='Mar 26 2011, 03:13 PM']So, iCastle, are SM57's good for miking cabs?[/quote] There are probably posher ones that give slightly better results but you start paying some very serious £'s as soon as you start wandering down that avenue. The SM57's have a relatively tight polar response (i.e. the are more sensitive head on and quite insensitive from the sides) so that makes them pretty good for miking up cabs in our experience. Alongside the more normal boom mic stands we have a couple of stands that have a cast iron circular base with a gooseneck that are pretty useful for cabs.

[quote name='mcnach' post='1177291' date='Mar 26 2011, 02:43 PM']heh, another BassCentre customer lost... Yes, using a credit card is very useful... but I tend to try to sort things out with the store first. If they agree and promise to process the refund, I say ok. And wait. Then call again if nothing happens. Skilled liars like Bass centre can manage to do that a few times before it dawns on you that you're being taken for a ride, and then you can go to the credt card.[/quote] I had to email them three times to get any response from them whatsoever, they kept me hanging around for months for the item ordered and I even went back to the UK importer who confirmed that there were no stock issues at their end. When I told the arrogant little so and so at BC that the items were available from the UK importer, he had the cheek to tell me that 1) I had no idea who the UK importer was and 2) I had no right to go 'behind their backs' to their supplier to check on stock status. I suppose the one positive point is that it illustrates exactly how NOT to treat customers.

I don't like the way it looks. The purple is 'ok' but I don't think it works against the alder and maple reverse. One or the other throughout would have looked nicer IMO.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1177199' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:40 PM']My GK has a DI, would there be an advantage in using a Sansamp DI (for example) in conjunction with the GK? Is the purpose of owning an external DI is for people that don't have a DI on their amps? I always get confused as to why people buy them! I love the sound I get from my GK and Ampeg cab, so I would like to stay as true to that as possible.[/quote] If you're happy with the sound you get from your rig then use the DI on the rig. The more stuff you add to your setup, the more chance there is of something breaking down. [quote name='Truckstop' post='1177199' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:40 PM']Is it worth turning up at gigs with my own speaker mic and boom? Reading the mic thread yesterday got me thinking about the number of times I've played at a gig and i've been DI'd and Mic'd with whatever mic they sound guy had. Would it really improve my sound if I bought a really good mic? If so, any recommendations?[/quote] The DI takes the sound of the preamp but obviously not the tone of the speaker cabs. If your sound engineer is good then he'll compensate for that (as best he can) using the desk controls. If he's really good, and has time, then he may decide it's worth micing your cab(s) as well as DI and then mix the two signals together back at the desk. We generally stick to plain old DI but we do have a handfull of SM57s that we keep for just this purpose. [quote name='Truckstop' post='1177199' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:40 PM']Cables. Is it worth spunking plenty of cash on expensive cables when I already have what I would consider mid-range cables?[/quote] I personally think that once you've gone as far as Klotz cable and Neutriks plugs then anything else is snakeoil in the big scheme of things. Carrying spares is obviously a must. [quote name='Truckstop' post='1177199' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:40 PM']I use two basses. The jazz is quieter than the Sting P. Can I get a pedal or a lead or something that I can plug both basses into and keep the levels the same? It's too risky for me to have to turn down/up the master on the amp inbetween switches.[/quote] I use an LS2 line selector pedal with a parametric eq on one path. I just setup the appropriate volume and EQ on the 'plain' path, switch over to the path with the parametric on it and do the same there. That gives me one instrument with one setting, stomping on the selector pedal turns that one off and switches the other one on. [quote name='Truckstop' post='1177199' date='Mar 26 2011, 01:40 PM']Are wireless systems worth it? I don't envisage playing large stages/venues yet. Would it beneficial for me to spend money on a wireless system? Will they reproduce my sound faithfully? Or rather, is there anything wrong with cables?[/quote] They work pretty well and the reproduction is good enough that you're not going to notice any tangible difference. I have one and it gets used twice a year or less - I prefer cables; no chance of channels clashing, no danger of batteries failing or the unit dying. Simple solutions are always the best IMHO - the more 'stuff' you add to a solution, the more chance there is that something will go wrong

Specialist niche retailers will slowly but surely get their 'comeupance' as the word spreads amongst specialist customers that their concept of customer service leaves a lot to be desired. I'm an ex customer of The Bass Centre as well and will always recommend going to absolutely anywhere other than them if someone asks me. Using a credit card provides a degree of protection as the credit card company can claw back money for cancelled/undelivered transactions over a certain £ limit.

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' post='1177119' date='Mar 26 2011, 12:23 PM'] Thats exactly why I have some ER-15s coming! So with a decent set of plugs, which brings everything down a notch, are my ears likely to pick up more of the nuances? I think my question on speakers reaching their limit and the impact on noise is still there though - although I guess based on this the answer is in general they reproduce them fine, assuming you're not playing at a level that you cant hear them...?... [/quote] Yes to both It's good to protect your ears anyway regardless. The catch is going to be that unless everyone else is wearing them as well, then, as a group, you aren't all working towards the same level of detail. It would make more sense to just turn everything down.

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1177111' date='Mar 26 2011, 12:15 PM']Try telling that to a guitarist! [/quote] It's easy I just gradually and surreptitiously turn the volume back on my bass until I'm too quiet to be heard above the din. When everything shudders to a halt because nobody has any idea where they are, I just tell them they're too loud.

For studio work I charge £xx an hour for the first four hours. Anything over four hours I class as a day rate and charge a £xxx flat rate for the entire day.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='1176922' date='Mar 26 2011, 09:06 AM']Some DI boxes can do this, others need something else in the circuit, a big resistor I think.[/quote] It's based around a little transformer.

There's a point at which the human ear cannot seperate audio nuances. Stick a band into a small enclosed space and crank everything up to a high volume and you're going to hit that point somewhere. My opinion has always been that practices should be kept as quiet as possible to allow detail and texture to be practiced\developed.

But on a 5er you can cover three octaves from C within a 5 fret span if you use all the strings or am I missing something really obvious here?