Ziphoblat

I tend to look bored as hell on stage. I'm never really one for clowning about. Although that usually gets interpreted as stoned as hell, probably because I sometimes have red patches around my eyes from eczema (which I hardly get anywhere else on my body other than around my eyes). My guitarist does enough weekend-rockstar-showboating to cover the whole band anyway, so it's all good.

Hi all, I'm looking for somewhere to take a bass for a set-up and to have a nut re-attached (still in one piece, just came unstuck). I'm in Leeds but could travel a bit. Never needed to get an instrument maintained before. Does anyone have any experiences with a good luthier/tech that I could take the bass to for the work I mentioned doing that isn't too far from me? Would rather not risk it with somebody from a google search. Cheers.

Sticking speakers behind the band sounds like a recipe for disaster, and sound coming out of them is headed straight back into the microphones that it came from. I've done plenty of gigs without monitors, but never needed to put the speakers behind the band.

[quote name='Jack Cahalane' timestamp='1367268379' post='2063568'] Ah, I see he has one of those "electric amps." They can get quite noisy compared to a steam powered one. [/quote]

That's fair enough if you're not able to check for faults, but we're well aware that none of our gear is faulty and it gets checked regularly for things like frayed cables.

Been told several times we needed them, we got some stickers from a friend (electrician) and just whacked them on all our gear. Nobody has ever actually followed up and checked anyway, so it was a bit of a waste of time really.

I [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1367170134' post='2062090'] Im always torn on this, on one hand the dep is getting them out of a whole and if the dep is good and the band still sound the same then part of me says the dep should get an equal split for being able to fill the slot, on the other hand the dep does not pay for their share of expensive items such as the PA and lighting rigs etc so maybe a small cut should be taken back for that? [/quote] On the other hand the dep has spent time learning material, some of which he'll potentially never play again in his entire life.

Difficult to choose. I've had terrible experiences with a few. Always cringe when I see those nasty Ashdown MAG combos. I suppose they're alright if you despise having any definition to your sound, but if woolly messes aren't for you then they're a waste of time. A rehearsal studio we used to go to had a Carlsbro Beasty 1x15 combo that was terrible. The sound out of it was passable (but a bit polite) although it broke down on my on at least three occasions. The final straw was when I got a rather nasty shock from the front panel on it. Tried a Marshall MB head and cab at PMT once that was gross. Loads of hissing and noise flaw and the tone was brittle and unusable. Probably the worst amp I've ever experienced was a Peavey TNT combo I had to use at a rehearsal studio one time. Horrid sound. It couldn't handle top and bottom at the same time, you were limited to a horrible farting sound or a brittle thin glassy sound. Distorted on anything in the lower octave too. Didn't go very loud either. Absolutely not up to the job, wouldn't even use it for bedroom practice, let alone with a band. Had enough bad experiences that these days I always just bring my own gear wherever I'm going/

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1367013364' post='2060389'] If you are using a jazz. Give more balance towards one pickup(experiment to see what sound you prefer) [/quote] Personally always found that both pickups equally works best on a jazz bass with the slight mid-scoop that it creates. String gauge is another good point, I found that 40-60-80-100 is the perfect for me, just slightly lighter than standard but makes the difference.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1366977357' post='2059726'] Well, doesn't everyone know that a P is best for clanky tones ? [/quote] Pfft. Jazz is where it's at.

Going to go against the trend and say that I prefer a jazz for clanky tones. Had a Stingray for a while, couldn't get on with it. As for Flea, don't think he's ever played Status, but he did have a Modulus signature for a while, which was graphite as far as I know. Not an integral part of the sound, though.

The effects loop is after the pre-amp on every amp I've ever encountered. I'd imagine replacing the pre-amp valves is the first port of call. I had a problem with my Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 hissing a lot (along with a master volume that didn't do anything) which ended up being a loose jumper cable. You could reduce how noticeable the noise is and make it less irritating by gating it out, but it's still going to reappear each time you hit a note, you'll get a much purer signal by eliminating it at the source.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1366923332' post='2059185'] If we're talking about the same "clank", the action and your right hand technique are a big part of it, but a big EQ boost around 2KHz really brings it out too. The classic (Fender, Alembic et.al) mid-scoop EQ has the scoop centred about 500Hz, so if used judiciously, it can indeed help you to hear the upper mid clanky region more clearly. [/quote] Definitely agreed with this. 2k is a great frequency for the clanky tone. You don't want a full blown mid scoop, more of a low/mid mid scoop, but those high mids are quite an important part. I always boost around about 2k on my Ashdown Hyperdrive when going for this sort of tone (which is quite often). Although ultimately, if the clank isn't there to begin within, you aren't going to make it magically appear with correct EQ, this is simply an EQ that will complement the sound coming out of your bass. No amount of digging in and hitting the strings in the correct way can [i]really [/i]get a bass clanking if you can drive a bus under the strings though. I'd make sure that the sound is there when you're playing the bass unplugged before you mess with anything else, the rest is the icing on the cake.

I don't mean to be a brand-snob, but I found the Line 6 in the background sort of completed the picture.

Can't quite put my finger on it but there's something a bit gross about that.

Definitely all look like the 60's pickup spacing to me.

The Gibson G3 I used to own. It didn't even look particularly cool, just had a sort of mojo about. Played a dog and the tone was hard to work with though.

Yes, in my experience low action is a big part of that tone. Low action, the correct technique, fresh roundwound strings, and a maple (or lacquered) fretboard helps too.

Lost a foot off my Compact, my S12 is still all in one piece though.

Nothing wrong with recording to just drums, provided there's a metronome too. Certainly nothing unorthodox about it. It's usually the way I record.

[quote name='spacey' timestamp='1366825186' post='2057785'] You can not play anything on the basses at PMT Leeds as they are not set up, people do visit to limbo under the strings [/quote] I remember playing a second-hand Musicman Stingray there that had ancient strings on, a dead battery, and was set up so that you could drive a bus under the strings. It was also priced higher than a new one anywhere else (but still cheaper than a new one in PMT!)

Yikes. She's lucky that facial hernias aren't a thing.

Hysteria played badly with no distortion etc gets my vote.

Personally I've gone off of amps altogether when I'm not playing music with other people. For home purposes I just plug into my Focusrite interface, shove some headphones on, and load up Amplitube. Can get pretty much any sort of tone you'd like, takes up less space, sounds better/clearer (in my experience) and doesn't annoy the neighbors.