Mornats

The PMT videos are back up on their YouTube channel. I've enjoyed them over the years so glad they're back. I don't think it means anything other than someone didn't want to lose the content so put them back up.

This is sad news. I live in Bristol but I'm from Northumberland so I've frequented the Bristol and Newcastle stores a fair bit and I've spent thousands in both. Jack from Bristol and Gareth from Newcastle both recognised me and made me feel right at home and were helpful but let me get on with trying stuff without hassle. I'd favour buying from PMT over ordering online and the guys always gave me a good deal. Popping in to have a look and a chat (and hopefully buy something if finances allowed) was a proper nice treat for me and will be sorely missed. Newcastle also lost the iconic J. G. Windows store which was a shame as it's been there for many, many years. My very first bass was bought there 34 years ago (Aria Pro II ZZB Deluxe, used one for my 16th birthday). I'm heading back to Newcastle for a few days next after not being up there for a year or so and a trip to Windows and PMT were going to be a highlight so that sucks that both have gone.

I contacted Laney about some noise in my Digbeth (turned out to be electrical hum from the wiring in the house - solved it by moving house lol) and they were very responsive and helpful. I think they take pride in their products.

That sir, is a very fair point.

I manage orchestral music using a variety of sample libraries which requires a fair amount of midi manipulation in Reaper and it's just fine. The likes of Cubase and Logic, by all accounts, do it better (and have handy things such as articulation mapping etc.) but it's entirely possible to do, and without any tweaking or add-ons. Personally I have 3rd party plugins for EQ, compression, reverb etc. anyway, and a many people say Reaper's stock plugins are good (I'm not convinced myself) but yes, you may wish to buy some 3rd party plugins or grab some of the good free ones about. Melda have some good free ones if I recall correctly?

Jeez I know how a compressor works, no need for the patronising tone.

I'm also talking about the attack knob. To the left is a fast attack and to the right is a slow attack so it's not obvious what "max" is in this case.

It's a CS400 which emulates the CS-3 (controls are level, tone, attack, sustain). When you say attack on max, is that turned all the way left or right? I can never work that out!

I have the Behringer copy of this that I got mainly for guitar. What settings work well for you on bass? I've not really set it up for bass yet.

Good tip, thanks! And yes, I got it wrong about it being a Player. It's definitely a Standard. And despite this issue, it's still a cracking bass. I never intended to buy a P bass, I just grabbed this one to compare it against a Squier I was trying out. 45 mins later and my mate says I think you like that bass, you've played it for 45 mins. Haven't bought a new bass since I got this one.

Ah of course, nice I'll try that thanks! You just saved me considering a complete upgrade of my pickups. I was only looking for covers but you know how it always ends

Update on this. My mum and dad were visiting (I live at the opposite end of the country to them) and as my dad was a guitar tech in the 60s he took a look at the bass. I grabbed a soldering iron and multimeter kit off Amazon and he tested it. Turns out some of the solders on the pickups had dry connections. He wasn't particularly impressed by the soldering! So he's fixed that and I have output once more! Another problem has crept in though. When I play I have my thumb resting on the pickup. I've noticed when I play the A, D or G string my thumb brushes against the pickup poles and makes an electrical static type noise. A bit of googling suggests a grounding issue. Strange that I hadn't experienced it before. Perhaps my pickups were lower? I can't remember to be honest. Worth noting I use Elixirs so they're coated strings which is possibly a contributor to the issue. Would grabbing a set of closed pickup covers be a solution here? I could do some basic soldering if needed and if I had good instructions to follow but fitting new covers seems very easy in comparison.

Closer to a plug-in version of the hardware. It's similar to other amp sims (Amplitube, Guitar Rig etc) but rather than simulate the entire amp it has snapshots of amp settings. When someone models their amp they effectively record the settings they have and you can play through it and have it sound the same. You have very limited control over tweaking the sound but the payoff is that the snapshot is very similar sounding to the amp it was modelled off.

I don't have the pedal but I've just bought the SE version of the software (currently on offer at 59.99 euros. No VAT added for me in the UK I got it primarily for guitar as I don't have a guitar amp and only record some stuff into the PC. I was pleased to see someone's modelled a MarkBass CMD 121P which is super handy since my real one died on me. Once I've had a good play I'll report back on how it sounds.

My next quick test will be to compare going direct into the jfet vs going into it via the Digbeth preamp.

Thanks for the replies so far folks. It's interesting that no one really uses amp/cab Sims when recording so I did a bit of a test last night. Signal chain was: Squier VM jazz > Laney Digbeth with DI out (pre EQ) into channel 2 of my Audient ID14mkii, line out going into the jfet input of my Audient into channel 1. So same signal going into the PC in slightly different ways. First thing I noticed was the clarity and added growl from going in via the jfet line in. Not sure of this was the effect of going through the Laney's circuit or the jfet (which Theo marketing says mimics the input stage of a tube amp). So I pushed the DI signal to one side and focused on the line in. With this, I put it through various amp sims and cab sims (both with and without and amp) and concluded that the best sounding signal was the one without any further processing. In terms of software I tried Bias FX 2, Audio Assault Duality, Audio Assault IR loader thing and Nembrini Black Ice (an emulation of the Darkglass amp with the Alpha Omega in it) and the Nembrini was the better sounding of the bunch. I'll be demoing some Neural DSP stuff soon but will probably not persue amp sims for bass after hearing my initial results.

This is something I miss from my dearly departed Markbass combo. That would let you set a separate line out volume to the main volume so you could silently record your DI out.

Maybe I'm making it complicated! I should try a straight plug into the interface and compare the sound with different preamp and amp sim combinations.

I'm curious about your setup as I'm putting mine together again after some hardware failures. My Markbass CMD121P and Focusrite Forte went kaboom so now I'm working on getting the following set up as my go-to: Bass > Behringer compressor > Laney Digbeth preamp pedal > Audient ID14MKii (clean DI and tweaked EQ/drive signal separately) > Bias FX 2 software for more effects/amp sim/can (hosted in my DAW). I haven't found my favourite set up between the Digbeth and Bias FX yet and have been exploring Nembrini Black Ice as an alternative. So I'm curious about how you all have yours set up.

You know I was thinking of getting it back out to try again on the off chance it would magically work again. I'll try it and will report back.

I hope you like it. I put my jazz bass through it the other day and found lots of usable EQ options both with and without the tube grit. Don't forget to mix the FET and tube channels for more control. And remember that little tweaks are where it's at especially with the tilt.

Thanks for all the help folks. I think BassBunny is right, I'll find someone who knows what they're doing to take a look at it.

I'm in Bristol, BS9 so a teeny bit too far but thanks for the offer, much appreciated!

Thanks for the detailed reply! I've never soldered before, would this be a relatively easy/safe thing to do for a beginner? I wouldn't mind having soldering as a skill but a little worried about how much damage I could do.

Hey basschatters, My 2015 MIM Fender Player P bass has suddenly lost around 95% of its output volume. I'm playing through a Laney Digbeth into headphones and also into my PC. I initially thought maybe the Digbeth had an issue but I plugged another guitar in using the same cable and it sounded fine. So I've narrowed it down to the P bass. I've taken the pickguard off and plugged the cable in so I can see it sitting in the jack socket correctly. I can't see any loose wires on the connections to the pots or the jack or the ground. I can't see under the pickups without taking them out so I can't say for certain there isn't a problem under there. Bass was working last week and it's just sat in my room behind me doing nothing since then so I'm at a loss as to what may have caused it. Any ideas for troubleshooting? I'm on a budget of naff-all so anything I can do to fix it myself would be best although I'll take it to a guitar tech if it's beyond me. Thanks in advance!