fretmeister

I've had older ones and loved them. I also had a Streamline, but the neck profile was different and had pretty square shoulders on it. That wasn't for me. I wish they'd do the 1990s neck profile again. And for that matter, do a narrower neck on a 5 string. 48.2mm is far too big for me. 45 is my max.

I like that colour more actually. Lovely lovely lovely!

I love the colour! Not enough sparkly basses in the world.

13lb is mental. I'm shuddering at the very thought! I won't have any bass that weighs over 9lb no matter how good it sounds. Even my much modified Ray 5 is only 8.5 lb

NAMM Not. Available. Maybe. May.

I like that a lot!

Interesting indeed. I had thought about them before but they are a lot of cash compared to many FRFR options. I like my Yamaha DXR10 but the fan noise does my nut in for low volume practice. I had thought about sticking with a power amp and bass cabs for bass use and getting the highly regarded Red Sound FRFR powered cab (no fan!) for guitar use. But really I want a "1 rig does both instruments" approach if I can. I'd have to save some pennies and sell the Yamaha first though!

This interests me greatly. are the BFs fan cooled or passive? have you tried them with regular guitar?

No tapewounds for Nard.

It's getting as bad as hifi audiotards. If the difference doesn't show up on a 'scope then your ears can't hear it. And even if the 'scope shows a difference most of the time it is outside of the range of the Mark 1 Human Ear. Let alone the over 35 year old human ear that already has massively reduced performance compared to that of a child's ear. The very best a passive cable can do is let the signal through with the minimum of degradation. It cannot improve the signal. I buy my cables on construction strength so they last. Beyond that it's mostly bollocks.

I have now played this bass a huge amount. I love it. I'm now giving serious thought to finding a another lightweight Ray 5 and turning it into a Jazz.

As amusing as that would be, the ensemble is mostly kids. And the show is in December. Ahem.

They are already dreading it. I've found a used packet of UV reactive strings, now I need to pick the clothes....

[quote name='BigAlonBass' timestamp='1509872862' post='3402159'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"The bloke who went on the sick took all his scores with him....."[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Find out his address, knock on his door, sorted! [/font][/color] [/quote] Someone is trying that. They won’t tell me the address as he’s staff and I’m not.

I play and volunteer at a local educational trust music group. It meets on a Saturday morning and kids who have lessons in the county attend to play in a variety of ensembles. Usually I play in the “grown up band” and the ukulele orchestra and then wherever anyone needs me. That took a bit of a surprisingl turn today. The leading ensemble there is the big band / jazz ensemble. One of the teachers plays bass in it. He is now off sick until after Xmas. I’ve been promoted / press ganged and now I’ve got 5 weeks to learn the set for the Xmas show on top of my usual stuff. NONE of it is in the original keys. The bloke who went on the sick took all his scores with him and as he arranged all the parts I have no idea what he played. With piano, tuba, trombone etc the bass guitar parts were apparently written around the others. So far I’ve got Uptown funk Ghostbusters All I want for Christmas is you Hawaii five-o Superstition Fairytale of New York I get the next batch next week. Still, the best bit is that both my kids play in that ensemble too. I have the chance to massively embarrass them...

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509703598' post='3400952'] Thanks. Unfortunately real life intervened yesterday and I didn't even get a chance to switch it on. Firmware 2.21 is what I downloaded from the Line 6 site. Can I apply that to whatever previous version is on the Helix (assuming that it's not already on 2.21), or are there certain upgrade steps I need to take first. The instructions on the downloads page of the Line 6 site are confusing and full of dire warnings in red. I don't want to mess anything up. All my basses have a fairly high output so thanks for the Input Pad advice. [/quote] The screen will show the current version at the bottom during the start up process. As the last update was in April I'd be surprised if your unit wasn't up to date. When you downloaded the update I presume you got the UPDATER and the EDITOR at the same time. If that is the case then you plug it in and follow the on screen instructions and let it do the work. It's only at the reboot time you have to be careful IF that particular update needs the patches to be rebuilt. Then you have to hold a few of the buttons down while you turn it off and on again. If it is of any comfort - Eric Klein (head Helix man at L6) tells me that it's really only his fellow Americans who can't follow the instructions, and that he's not really had any complaints from UK! That being said they are looking to streamline the process to reduce the number of button presses. That will come in a future firmware update. If it needs an update do it before you start making your own patches. That will make sure you haven't got to back them up.

I forgot RULE NO 1 If you are using the internal cabs or third party IRs they will ALL need high and low cuts. When the cab / IR block is highlighted the high and low cuts will be shown at the bottom of the screen. Cut the highs down to about 6-7Khz and the lows to about 75hz. That will remove any top end fizz and any boom. The most annoying thing about the presets is when you are testing them with a proper amp rather than FRFR or headphones.Some of the presents use All In One amp and cab blocks (uses less power than separates) so they sound crap into real life speakers. Need to edit to remove the All-in-one amp and cab and swap it for just the Amp and not have a cab block.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1509633557' post='3400479'] OK, the manual was on the USB stick. What do people who don't have access to a device that can read a USB stick do? Also according to the manual "USB flash drive containing the Helix Owner's Manual you’re reading right now and more" - what more? All I can see is the manual in 6 different languages. It also explains what the allen key is for, but not what the rubbery nodule does. Is it supposed to cover the bolt for adjusting the pedal stiffness? At this point I have discovered that someone (probably an ex-Terrortone guitarist) has "borrowed" my spare long jack-to-jack lead, so it will be some time while I hunt for another one before I can actually fire the thing up and get some sounds out of it. I believe that there are software and firmware updates for the Helix. Does Helix V2.21 contain everything I need or are there other things I need to download first? [/quote] 1: You won't need the manual unless you are deep diving into MIDI. Some have moaned about not having a paper one, but the L6 guys said that printing it out in about 30 languages costs a fortune and there's just no need to kill that many trees anymore. The manual is also on the website so you can print bits of it if you want to read in the bath 2: Dunno what the rubber thing is for - I've got the rack version 3: Allen key is for the expression pedal. 4: Firmware 2.21 is the up to date one. So no need to update that at all. But you might as well download the editor on your PC / Mac. The editor only works when the Helix is plugged into it but some people prefer to edit like that rather than on the unit. I don't - I do everything on the unit and only use the editor when I'm backing things up. You will need to use the editor if you decide to disappear down the rabbit hole of third party IRs 5: Get plugged in and use some headphones while you are waiting to get your cable from that scummy guitarist! 6: I don't know what pickups you have in your basses. If they are hot you might want to use the INPUT PAD. Some think the whole unit sounds better with the Pad on anyway. Highlight the INPUT BLOCK on the screen and it will show at the bottom. 7: Ask me anything you like!

He's moved over to the Line 6 Helix now. The Hartke's are just used as Power amps these days. The Helix does all the sound processing.

I still reckon the best cheap compressor out there is the Marshall ED1. I've had or still have Darkglass / Empress / Origin etc etc and I still won't ever sell the ED1. It can be a bit noisy at high compression settings, but if you are just using it to tame the filter then you won't be using it that way.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1509104696' post='3396649'] I wouldn't join a band with this attitude unless it was a professional band with a set format, a tribute or theatre gig for example, ok I wouldn't join the band even if I passed the audition if I didn't like any of the songs but I'd want to have a vote for or against new material and possibly at least be able to have my opinion listened to on existing stuff regarding a regular wedding, pub, function band. I also wouldn't hire a player of any instrument to be in a band full time that I didn't want to hear suggestions from, I think it's called give and take? [/quote] Making suggestions is not the same as changing the entire musical direction of the band.

Anyone got one yet?

New boy joins an existing outfit = he has to learn the rules. It's not his band. Sounds like he needs a bit of re-education in general.

The string movement over the middle is far greater than over the bridge. That's why the bridge pickup is often a higher output to try and compensate. But it can't completely compensate simply because of the physics of the moving string. So you have to adjust it the old fashioned way... Lower the front pickup by a mil or 2. That will do it.