JayPH

Hi Guys

Just took delivery of my very first home recording rig.

Big job of rearranging my room and installing all the hardware and software.

I was researching this for 4 months. trying to get it all in for under a grand. My aim was the best quality components but also future proofing. i wanted to get a rig that I will be mainly use to record a track at a time but could be used to record a full drum kit and be able to add stuff on if need be to record full bands.

Here's what I got for £975

2 x Yamaha HS 80M Monitors
1 x Presonus FireStudio Project Audio Interface
1 x Rode NT 1A Mic Vocal Pack
1 x M-Audio Oxygen 49 Midi Controller
2 x MoPads
2 x XLR Leads

Will be using Reaper as the DAW

Got a good deal by contacting Dolphin direct and asking them for a quote.

Please don't start telling me my Audio Interface is a dog or my Monitors are sh*te because it's too late.

I haven't got a fecking clue how any of this sh*t works but I'm going to have fun finding out. Hopefully I'll have somthing to post soon.

Any Pre-Setup Tips would be most welcome.

PS - DIY Bass Traps are next

Brilliant.

Got to admire his pitch

Bass is all sorted lads.

I've had the bass looked at and things are pretty much as they should be now. Some slight buzz on some of the Frets on the D string but only when I really pluck the string hard. Can't notice it in normal play so it's happy days really.

Thanks for all your help lads. I've learnt a bit more about setting the bass up and enjoyed talking to you all.

Big thanks to Andy and Stephen too for offering to look at the bass for me.

All the best

John

[quote name='Rayman' post='1203899' date='Apr 18 2011, 06:17 PM']Don't worry, it sounds to me like it's just a setup issue, I'm yet to buy a bass that didn't need my own setup doing on it first, with one exception actually, my Fleabass was perfect straight out of the box, not bad for a 300 quid beater.

If you're not happy doing a setup yourself, I'd leave it alone until a pro can look at it, you could make it worse if you don't know what you're doing. It's a quality bass, I really wouldn't worry at all, but I know it's frustrating. Deep breath, it'll be fine.[/quote]

Cheers Rayman.

I'm sure you're right mate. It's already sounding much better. Probably just needs a tweak. It sounded bloody awful on Saturday. I was in a right old panic then. I've chilled a bit now after talking to the lads.

[quote name='MythSte' post='1203528' date='Apr 18 2011, 12:59 PM']Chris May (of overwater) describes it perfectly, a bass neck is not straight, but should be "ski" shaped. That is to say that around the 7th fret it starts ever so slightly bending inwards, towards the strings. A good way of measuring this bend is to hold down the string at the first and last fret and then seeing how big a gap there is under the string at the 12th fret. Ideally it should be around a mm (ish!).

How far away the strings are from the neck normally is totally down to personal preference, and is subject to change when you tweak the neck, so experiment with the bridge saddles and see what is comfortable. You can't really do any damage here but do watch your intonation - If you want an explaination of what that is then just ask![/quote]
Nice one Stephen

I'll try and heighten the sadle of that string even more and see if I can eradicate the buzz. I raised it a bit more before, it's not as high as I first thought. I think it could take a bit more height on.

Another thing I'm noticing is that when I play softer the strings dont buzz. I've never played a good Fender bass before and my style is a bit slappy. I'm trying to pluck the strings more than slapping my finger down on the strings so much.

I don't think it's completely about my playing style but I don't think it's helping with the current setup.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1202980' date='Apr 17 2011, 09:30 PM']In a way you are learning more by understanding how it all works in the real world. Ok so it's a bit of an unfortunate situation with your new bass but if you feel you can sort it with our help then in the future you will be tweaking and adjusting all your basses to your own taste rather than just to fix more obviously bad setups like the one your dealing with now. My Ray5 has a very slightly high 6th fret and rattles/buzzes quite a bit but once it's in the band mix it's no problem at all. A solo player or someone that likes a mega low action would need to have the frets dressed but most others would want it raising anyway and the problems would become even less of an issue.

Are you happy that the relief in the neck is ok now? Can you raise the D string saddle a little bit and still keep the strings following the freeboard curve?[/quote]

Thanks Pete.

The saddle for that string is quite high now and I'm concerned it's applying too much pressure in that area. Could be prone to snap. Mind you, I don't know how high is too high. I don't know what the fretboard curve is?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1202831' date='Apr 17 2011, 06:45 PM']Slightly OT sorry but in the same way Im a sparky that also dabbles with classic cars, I rewired an old MG but there are 2 Browns at the fuse box end which totally messed it all up so I had to redo everything by the diagram and figure it out, By the time it was done I had learn so much I was really pleased about it! I could now grasp the way car fuses appeared to have multiple wires to both ends of the fuses at the fuse box for example as in a domestic house its nothing like that.[/quote]

2 browns? WTF?

That must have done your head in mate

That's the thing though isn't it. You rolled the old sleeves up and learnt shed loads of stuff you can only learn the hard way.

Anyway, You're not going to believe this lads. You know I tweaked the truss bar last night? I've just had a play of the bass and it is playing a LOT better today.

It is only buzzing now on the d string on the 4th to 6th frets. There is also a bit of a loud tap on the D string. When I'm tuning it I hold down the 5th fret of the D string and pluck both the D and G string to tune it in. There is a loud tap from the D string. You probably have to be here to understand that load of old tosh

So it is better but I'll still pick your brains next week Andy to see if we can't get rid of that buzz all together. Cheers Mate.

Thanks all again. This has to be the friendliest forum on the Web

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='1202704' date='Apr 17 2011, 04:16 PM']Jay, can you get to the Manchester shop?[/quote]

Hi Andy

Yeah mate thanks very much. Will get in touch next week

John

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1202584' date='Apr 17 2011, 01:34 PM']It should be fine then mate and yes it did send him crazy! He swapped the whole neck in the end and it turned out a great guitar plus he had learnt alot about guitars from trying to solve an unsolvable issue every cloud and all that.[/quote]

That's the best way to learn. You don't learn anything when everything just works.

I might ask the guys in the shop to give me a few tips

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1202552' date='Apr 17 2011, 12:41 PM']At the end of the day the truss rod is an adjustable part of the instrument that doubles up for its general function on keeping the neck the same shape for as long as possible and for setting the action/releif for individual tastes. As long as you only do small adjustments at a time messing with it should be an issue the problems start when someone tries to turn it 3 full rotations! If you dont know what your doing its best left alone but once you have been shown in person how to do general adjustments to the bridge/truss and intonation then everyone should be able to do it after that IMO. Getting a bass to play alright should be easy for most getting it to that perfect place takes someone with more skill and a bass that has some form of fault will have a novice in a right old mess! My mate had a warmouth neck that had the 14th fret space wider than the 13th! Even Jon Shuker would have a job getting that to sound good, My mate spent about a month messing with home made compensated nuts and all sorts of stuff before he even thought to measure it but why would you? [/quote]

Cheers Pete. Yes I only turned it a couple of quarter turns and then left it alone.

I've never had to set a bass up before but it's probably because I always bought second hand basses that were already set up nice.

I hope there isn't a fault with it. I wouldn't think of measuring the frets in a million years. that must have driven your mate crazy

[quote name='MythSte' post='1202519' date='Apr 17 2011, 12:08 PM']Did you buy it from Dawsons? I Think I might have played that one a few times and it seemed really nice. If they can't do anything about it drop me a PM, Im a few minutes walk from Liverpool center and although im no expert I might be able to do something.

Good luck![/quote]
Nice one mate that's really kind of you. yes it was Dawsons but they got this one sent down from Manchester. it's a Sunburst finish. They have a Red one in the store and that's the one I played and it was really nice.

@JTUK Cheers mate. I don't really want to mention the truss rod Theyll probably ask me if I touched it though. "What's a truss rod"?

[quote name='gsgbass' post='1202475' date='Apr 17 2011, 11:15 AM']I was trying out a Fender Am. Spl. Jazz at a local store. The bass was cutting out in three different amps. I've been hearing some negatives about the Am. Spl. Series. I think if I were to go for another Fender Jazz, I'd get the Highway One series Jazz. It has the same Greasebucket electronics, and a lot better bridge on it for a lower price tag. Sorry to hear about your bass messing up man.[/quote]
Dang. I don't like the sound of that.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1202482' date='Apr 17 2011, 11:26 AM']PMT Birmingham adjusted my Ray5 and gave it the once over before we left, When I got it home it was awful! Truss wheel had no tension on it at all, Action was way too high and I didnt even bother checking the intonation as it was because we had to alter everything else anyway first. I could of done a better job of setting it up with a hammer in the car park! All sorted now though but one thing to remember is that the neck may be settling to its new environment? After we set my Ray up on the saturday by the middle of the following week I had to loosen the truss rod back a bit as the action had now become too low after being out on a stand near the radiator. Modern undried fully woods are not the best hence the cost of custom basses using proper old stuff are the introduction of things like the EBMM roasted neck. I wouldnt be surprised if it doesnt take a few weeks to settle down so it can be set up how you like it. [/quote]

I'll take it in tomorrow and ask them to set it up again. The thing is, I'm not confident enough to mess with the truss rod again. I have grown up with the mantra "Never touch the truss Rod" It's a place people have told me never to venture I mean how much of it is true and how much of it is scare stories?

I just dont fancy going backwards and forwards into Livrpool City Centre all the time.

I had an Ibanez SR500 and it played like a dream. none of this shenanigans. No fret Buzz what so ever. Trouble is the finish was woeful and much to easy to damage so I swapped it for this Fender at a cost of around £330 more. The lads in the store have been great except for when i picked it up on Friday

I asked this other lad I hadn't spoke to before about the after sales service and he was a real dick about it. I said to him Yunno when i've bought guitars in the past they have always said when it settles into the environment the neck might change so to bring it in for a free setup.

He looked at me like I was demented and mumbled that they might be able to do somthing if it was just in a couple of weeks.

Anyway. Andys advice is good. I'll give them a chance to put things right before I start smashing the place up

Cheers Andy. Thanks for the reply. I hope you're right mate. I was ready to go in all guns blazing but after reading your post I'll chilll out a bit and give them the benefit of the doubt

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='1202300' date='Apr 17 2011, 01:08 AM']I doubt it's anything major mate, It's just a mad panic because it's new and it's not perfect...

Keep calm, and let one of them adjust it, i'm sure you'll be happy pretty quick, dont let it ruin the bass for you.

Andy[/quote]

Hi Guys

Am Well gutted.

Bought a American Fender Jazz Special Bass yesterday. Got it home and boy, it was fooking awsome. Anyway, after a couple of hours playing, the G string just stopped working. No note playing at all. Just total fret buzz.

I adjusted the saddle and stopped it buzzing bad, but I was still getting nasty fret buzz.

Anyway, I watched some good videos here and decided the truss rod needed loostening because holding the string down on first and 12th fret showed that it was touching the frets. I only moved it anti clockwise a tiny bit

It's made it worse. I'm now getting fret buzz on the G String and A string.

Thing is guys I only just bought the bass and they told me their tech guy had set it up to play really nice.

I'm taking the bass back to them on Monday but what do I do if I'm still getting Fret Buzz? Let's say I give them the bass Monday and it all goes to sh*t agian on Wednesday, Can I demand a refund or what?

I paid over £800 for this bass and I've had Squire basses that worked better.

[quote name='Sawtooth' post='1193908' date='Apr 9 2011, 05:07 PM']Glad to be of some help.

Good decision to pick this one over the Mexican Jazz, superior parts, pickups, woods and quality.

American Jazz bass in sunburst - classic choice!

[/quote]

Wow Thanks man. Aint she a Honey

I knew I did the right thing

Went and played a few basses and really liked the Candy Apple Red Fender Jazz Special but couldn't stomache the colour. Don't get me wrong it was very very nice but as an Evertonian I just wouldn't live it down with my mates so i've ordered the Sunburst:

[url="http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/fender-american-special-jazz-bass-3-tone-sunburst-rosewood-neck.html"]http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/fender-a...ewood-neck.html[/url]

Should have it next Tuesday or Friday.

The neck was super slim and the tone was sublime. So much so, that a guy who was shopping for a P-Bass ended up getting an American Deluxe Jazz Bass because the Jazz offered so much more options in tonality.

They also had a very very nice Mexican Classic Jazz bass but the Jazz Special just edged it in terms of quality.

Thanks all for your input, especially to you SawTooth. If I hadn't have gone and had a coffee and a think over I would have bought the Red Bass

Cheers fellas

John

[quote name='Sawtooth' post='1193340' date='Apr 8 2011, 09:45 PM']My apologies Sir.

My Top tips are:
-go early (it's Saturday)
-try as much as poss within budget
-don't have any brand preconceptions, -you never know till you try
-take a pen and pad and make notes about prices, thoughts etc. and take some pics
-leave the shop for a cup of tea and a long, hard think!

Enjoy! [/quote]

Quality tips my friend.
Yep. Early start for me tomorrow. I think you're right about taking a break too.

Is it a good idea to ask the guys in the shop for recommendations or will they just try to seel you the Monkeys balls/paw of a Bass that they have been trying to shift since the shop opened


[quote name='TRBboy' post='1193347' date='Apr 8 2011, 10:00 PM']I have to admit, although I'm not really much of a P-bass guy, I played one of the '50s Precisions last year and thought it was by far the nicest Fender I had played for years. If my memory serves me correctly, the neck felt pretty slim for a P.

I agree that you still seem to get a bit of variation with Fenders, so it's best to find one you like and buy it.[/quote]

Cheers mate. It might have been one of the P-Bass specials with the Jazz neck.

I've only just got back into playing bass after a 15 year break and I'm not sure I would know if I was playing a duff

When I got the Ibanez I compared it to the standard P bass and standard Jazz Bass and it came out well on top in terms of ease of playing and tone.

Hopefully if I play a few tomorrow one will just feel and sound right right.

Son of Frog. Yeah I like the look of the aerodyne too. I will defo give the Roger Waters a blast

Lozz, You are a man after my own heart mate Love Reggae and SKa.

@Sawtooth Yes mate. You can check the stock and I think my local has some of the American Specials in. DIdn't really want to go that high in price but it should last a lifetime as long as it doesn't get nicked or somthing.

@thodrik I absolutely hate playing basses in shops but I'm going to play as many as I can before they get very annoyed

Thanks for all the input fellas. I really really like that Candy Apple Red Jazz Special. It's a bit too flash for the likes of me and I'm an Evertonian too but it's fookin Gawjuss

[quote name='son of frog' post='1193240' date='Apr 8 2011, 08:05 PM']If thats where you absolutely have to shop,
I would suggest emailing them asking if they can order you in one specially, Most stores will,

Or if its your local store go in and personally ask them, they usually require around a 10% deposit, But as with any bass youre probably better off going and trying one somewhere first or you might not like it in the end,
As decent as the quality is of these "classic series" Fenders is.[/quote]

Yeah Stuck to Dawsons mate via a Crdit Note. Long story

Waddya reckon to the Fender American Special Jazz Bass? Would it be a similar beast? They have a few of them in

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I loved the Ibanez but the finish was very fragile.

I googled Fender Jazz Bass Classic and I really liked the look of them. Especially the 60's Jazz Bass. but they don't seem to have any in Dawsons. That's where I have to shop.

Could you have a squint here and tell me if I'm dong it wrong:

[url="http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/Fender_Bass_Guitars.html"]http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/Fender_Bass_Guitars.html[/url]

Lozz196 What is it you like more about the P-Bass? What style of music do you play mainly?

Thanks

J

Hi Guys

I'm in a strange position of having to exchange an Ibanez SR 500 bass because the finish was very flimsy and damaging far too easily for my playing style.

Anyway, I'm thinking of getting a Fender Jazz Bass and was wondering if anyone had any advice to give me before I embark tomorrow.

I loved the Ibanez neck it was really easy to play so I'm guessing the Jazz Bass will be similar with it's narrower neck.

In saying that, I know the shop has the Roger Waters P-Bass and I'm a sucker for old Roger so I'm not ruling anything out.

My absolutely maximum budget would be £800

Thanks Guys

John

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1186052' date='Apr 2 2011, 06:49 PM']A more expensive cable is no guarantee for a fix, and it might not even be an instrument cable problem anyway. For the problem in hand a 'good' cable will be one with a well-soldered connections and a good shield. At this stage, I was suggesting changing the cable only to try to isolate the problem.

Again, those ferrite filters are no guarantee for a fix. They'll certainly significantly reduce RF interference in the cable - but that might not actually be the problem. Or it might only be a part of the problem.

If you eventually isolate the problem to the wireless mouse then the simplest fix might just be to use a wired one, or move the PC away from the amp.

Sorry to be vague but interference problems can be a b*gger to find and fix. There's rarely a simple, universal solution. The basic approach is to first change things (e.g. remove cables, swap cables, switch things off, move amp to another room, shorten cables where possible, etc) to try to isolate the cause and then to try some targeted fixes.[/quote]

Cheers flyfisher

It turns out it's the PC itself so I'm gonna be doing some feng shui haha

Thanks for all the pointers man and sorry for the slack reply

JOhn

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1185819' date='Apr 2 2011, 02:20 PM']Sounds like it's picking up the wireless signals from nearby. Is it a wireless mouse?

You could try shielding your amp with tin foil - don't do anything dodgy that might give you an electric shock ie stay away from the mains lead. You don't need to be too finicky with it to start with just cover the outside... but don't let the men in white coats see you doing it though. [/quote]

Cheers Ou7shined
Yes it is a wireless mouse I'll try anything if it will stop the interference. i don't care how much of a nutter I look like haha.


[quote name='flyfisher' post='1185833' date='Apr 2 2011, 02:31 PM']Does the problem occur when there's no intrument connected to the amp? Check the earth wiring to the amp.

If the interference only occurs when an instrument is connected, check the instrument cable (swap with another) and the instrument earthing/shielding.

Interference could be radiated (via the air) or conducted (via cables).

Shielding might help with radiated interference, filters might help with conducted. Clip-on ferrite cable filters can sometimes help - Maplin sell them.[/quote]
I haven't tried without the instrument in flyfisher so i'll try that as soon as I can go missing for a few minutes The wifes Birthday today so my bass is out of bounds for today haha

The cable is brand new but it only cost 8 quid so I'll try it with a different one next time I'm at my mates. Do you think I should invest in a more expensive cable anyway?

There's a maplin not too far away from me so i will check those filters out. I'll let you know if I get rid of the nloise

Thanks for all your help fellas. I'd have waited until next Pancake Tuesday for a response on GearSLuts

Thanks for the reply fella.

No it's an LCD panel mate. I'll be switching my phone off from now on though to see if that other modem type noise stops.

Cheers

Hi Guys

I have a small 30w Marshall bass amp and sometimes I get a lot of interference from it. The strange thing is when I scroll down web pages with my mouse wheel, the interference on the amp changes pitch like the mouse/computer is interfering with it.

Sometimes I get this weird bing bing noise that sounds like an old computer modem. I get that in a plugin doorbell plug in another room too. Someone said it's mobile phone interference?

What do you guys think is going on and how can I stop it.

Would somthing like this help:

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Mains-Conditioner-Power-Strip/dp/B00289GSC0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301739896&sr=8-2"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Mains-Condit...9896&sr=8-2[/url]


I'm speccing out a home recording studio rig so I really need to figure this out.

Thanks in advance

John