borntohang

Really like it in white but the pale maple necks aren't doing it for me. Would be nice with a vintage tint though.

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm not sure the typical Pirate studio is big enough too feel comfortable in as a group - you need the A/c on even in winter!

I can see people 'sneaking in' groups, even if they policed by CCTV/microphones (they record your sessions) would anyone take any notice?

They don't care and nobody will check. It's just covering their back for when somebody inevitably gets ill and I doubt it will hold up five minutes past the first local health inspector looking at their procedures. 

Oh Sees have had two drummers for a while now; Melvins/Big Business, The Fall, Radiohead, White Rabbit all at various points. It's still a thing left of the dial.

I really enjoyed playing with a percussionist/drummer setup, but you have to have a canny percussionist or it has a certain "brass band falling downstairs" vibe to it. 

I can't remember the last time I went in a practice room that wasn't a hygiene hazard to tell the truth, but I remain sceptical that a small insulated room with high occupant turnover and poor airflow can be made particularly safe. Most sites don't have onsite staff to clean between bands and I can't see it being cost effective for them to do it - Pirate Studios are one of the biggest rehearsal companies in the UK and as far as I can tell the whole thing is run out of one or two central offices with somebody swinging by the units as and when any issues are reported.

13 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The 2m does apply indoors.

The place we rehearse is big enough we are well over 2m apart normally!

Hopefully we will be able to resume at some point with plenty of separation.

The 2m is for areas with good airflow (ie outdoors) for short spaces of times and when you're inside time in vicinity of an infected person becomes the main factor. If you're in there for 15 minutes you're probably okay; couple of hours and the distance won't make any difference plus you're more likely to pick up a heavier viral load.

12 hours ago, police squad said:

I had to pick up a bass and learn this, it was soooo good.

I love the way he talks about brushing his hand across the strings, that percussive thing.

I've started to try it, and it's making me play without a pick. But then I play fingers, pick and just thumb sometimes.

You should all read Guy's book. It's really interesting

Bobby Vega does that with a pick. He's got a really nice lick at the start of this where he does two triplet pull-offs then a raked muted triplet into an open hit on the bottom E (I believe a 'diddly-diddly-diddly-bom' is the technical term). I spent a bit of time getting the rake down and it's great fun to drop into a song. Of course it sounds like a bag of spanners if you don't nail it rhythmically... 

https://youtu.be/VL6v4BnitoU

5 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Why stay away from the Affinity range?

I've had a couple of Affinity basses which were excellent all round. Sounded and played as good as my MIA basses of the time. You get good ones and bad ones in any range.

The VM range are also more than decent.

You must have been snapping up the good ones.

I don't think they're irredeemable as a range at all, but even as a collector of cheap guitars I'd want to play one in person to find a good one before dropping the hammer. I think if you're wanting to put parts into them you can get a very usable bass, but unless you're getting it for very cheap then after mods you could probably pick up a Standard for the same price and not have to get rid of everything except body and neck. 

3 hours ago, shine182 said:

Hi, 

Any thoughts on older Squire Jazz basses? What are we thinking is the best era to purchase without spending Fender money? 

Thanks 

Alex 

Top tier are the Japanese models that go for above average Fender money. Then I'd go for the Korean stuff, then the Indonesian Standard Series models. Stay away from anything with 'Affinity', 'J Bass', or the little boxy guitar tuners on it.

If you don't mind including modern stuff then the Chinese Classic Vibes are also really good quality, but the price has been climbing to above 300 secondhand cause the word is out. 

On 04/03/2020 at 08:45, DaytonaRik said:

I'm pretty sure that at those levels of touring where the only thing you have to drag is your tired carcass from top hotel to top hotel, are flown to the city of the gig (yes, this happens.  I was lucky enough to meet members of AC/DC at Manchester on their Rock or Bust tour, and during the course of the conversation I found out that the band were actually staying in London and flew into Manchester in their private Airbus) then driven to the venue, where you don't even sound check, and then return journey after the show/meet and greets etc.  Surely this it's a hell of a lot easier than Joe Average's gigging experience of loading the gear into a van, driving to the venue, unpacking and setting it up, playing the gig, putting it all back into the van, driving 90 mins home then unloading it all, only to be knackered all-day Sunday before going to work on  Monday morning.

 

I was in fact on one of the tours mentioned in that article and will happily say that while a lot easier it's still draining and not as plush as you might think. A lot of late night travel involved even at the top end; I particularly remember a 2am ferry from Dublin to Holyhead where the passenger list consisted of twenty top-flight LA session musicians trying to bed down in the cafeteria, a hundred exhausted and whizzed-off road crew trying to find the bar, and ten bemused tourists wondering where the circus had come from! 

We were only on it for two months, but the core crew had been on the road for the best part of two years. In those circumstances your career lives or dies on your reputation for being low drama and reliable - you're living with the same people day in and out in a high stress environment so even comparatively small quirks wear out their welcome extremely quickly.

58 minutes ago, jacko said:

Billy Sheehan reported yesterday that the Sons of Apollo have cancelled their European tour. Wasn't going to travel to london to see them anyway but it could set the ball rolling with a lot of other US bands planning to travel east.  

There are going to be a lot of cancellations coming through, particularly for tours where the venue is 1000+. How that will affect you depends on your gigs I suppose!

43 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Makes perfect sense ... after all, there are no cases in the USA are there? Oh no ... wait ...

 

They're already in Europe, but with the margins on touring you only need a few key shows to fall through for it to not be financially viable. With the venues they would be playing I wouldn't be surprised if the public gathering bans might have affected them, but either way some promoters will be looking at the potential for low turnout and deciding it's better to postpone to a date under more auspicious circumstances.

I've only got the 8 but think they're fairly similar. What's are you struggling with? 

I played Wembley and couldn't face going back into the office on Monday. 'It' status still in the air, but I'll get back to you in ten years.

Love that top one. Wish it had a proper P headstock, but definitely interested in having a play!

2 hours ago, wateroftyne said:

How heavy is it? It looks like a boat anchor to me.

Mike has back problems so it's designed to be fairly light - low 7lbs range.

5 minutes ago, burno70 said:

I like it and would love to try one but would expect neck dive given the short upper horn.

Strap button is on the back of the neck like his old EBs so the playing position is more upright than a Fender, but the tuners are Hipshot Ultralights to keep the neck from diving anyway

.

The Indonesian made Standard Precision Specials all came with a jazz width neck. Great basses at a great price point - often hear they became the VM range but not sure how much truth is in that really. They certainly stand up on their own merits!

3 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Did you see a series/parallel switch? So I'm guessing it's in series, therefore the caps I mentioned do impact the lows and highs.

How? Unless the pot has specifically been wired in series as a bass cut (like a vintage Rickenbacker circuit) it will just be a standard Fender low-pass tone control which would not affect the lows regardless of cap value. I'm assuming OP would have mentioned an unusual circuit like that. 

2 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Looks sweet, but why did you use a guitar capacitor and not a bass one?

Guitar: 0.022 will cut lows and allow more highs.

Bass: 0.047 will allow more lows and cut some highs.

Unless you specifically wire it as a series cap for bass cut both values will allow the same lows through and just change the cutoff frequency of the low pass. 

13 hours ago, pfretrock said:

J neck is about quarter inch shorter than J bridge so would be noticed?

Possibly there is a wiring change by a previous owner?

One pup should have north poles and one south poles, so when connected out of phase in humbuck mode the string vibrations are in phase.

MIM Jazzes used identically-sized sets of pickups for a long time, but that was phased out in 2001 so shouldn't be the case here. 

That intro has vibes! Could actually pass for a Dark Side-era Floyd track if the guitar was a little more languid. 

5 hours ago, jim_bass said:

Thanks - I’ll check it out! Just curious, as we have the same setup, what cab do you use? (I’ve got a neo 1x15)

I'm a little sketchy on model numbers to tell the truth, but it's either an ABM 210 or a 410 EVO IV depending on the size of the room. 

The 410 is obviously more fun but I've not used it in a while because it seems like overkill - I'm generally on IEMs so the stage rig is just for extra oomph. 

5 hours ago, Dosi Y'Anarchy said:

Well I'm pretty sure the neck is on wonky and she's gonna be a mammoth when she's finally up and running. Look at the size of her compared to my Mustangs

 

Can't tell if the neck is wonky from that photo, but easiest way to tell is to use some string to check the outer string spacing from the edges of the neck. 

It'll definitely be a huge reach if that's a long scale neck on a Bass VI body - the Rebirth's have the bridge further back to the end strap button so as to reduce it. Hope it comes out well! 

Quick question @ash - is the neck gloss finished or matte? Hard to tell from the pics but certainly a lot more attractive than the current wan-looking maple fare! 

The Starcaster bass was only briefly in the Modern Player range IIRC, so I wouldn't expect a Squier anytime soon. Same for the Coronado. 

Don't have the exact measurements to hand, but very much doubt the Classic will fit underneath. The Metros don't have much clearance at all and there are only one or two low profile power supplies specifically designed to fit underneath - I use a Truetone CS6 which is a great little box but even though its designed for the Metro only has about 5mm of clearance. 

Great basses - I've got one in Inca Silver that I've been gigging stock. I actually bought it in the car park of a venue and walked straight onstage with it. Luckily it was a good one! 

I think changing the pots out is a good shout as the sweep on mine is fairly pathetic. I'm not entirely sold on the pickups but want to give it a few more shows to bed in before I decide whether it's crap pickups or something else in my chain not quite getting it there for me. 

Big fan of the VTDI personally - I actually use pretty much the same rig as you with a CV Jazz into an ABM500. Ashdown do a version of the ABM preamp in a board format with the valve drive and compressor built in though and I think that'd be worth a look for you.