Mornats

Have a "I'd-have-your-hand-off-for-this-if-I-hadn't-just-bought-an-Overwater-Contemporary-J" bump.

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1317063133' post='1386283']
I'll knock something up and post it on Soundcloud. No doubt I'll have some "real" tracks featuring the Overwater on there soon
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Speaking of which, here's one I did earlier.... [url="http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club"]http://soundcloud.com/mornats/in-a-small-and-smokey-club[/url]

If I remember the settings correctly I think I had the pup balance panned ever so slightly towards the bridge and added a slight touch to the bass pot. I'm chuffed to bits with the sound from this and I haven't tried perfecting the EQ post-recording yet for this bass. The astute amongst you will notice that I twang 2 notes by accident in one of the bass line sections - this was 100% me being clumsy and wasn't anything to do with the bass. It's on my list of things to re-record...

Absolute Guitars is just down the road from me too. Got some nice Spectors in there and the owner let me go in and plug pretty much anything into any amp to try them all out. He was really accommodating. It's just a shame they're not open weekends anymore as I'd be down there more often. I think most of his business comes through online now so the shop's maybe more of a storage place for him now.

They've mentioned that it's a bug that needs fixing. The detailed view of your stats doesn't update with the real number of listens apparently. I'm also not sure whether it counts me as a listen when I'm logged in and listening to my own stuff.

And +1 for this being a sticky

[quote name='MuckedUpFunkies' timestamp='1318371012' post='1401412']
Personally I gave up on this approach and made them all my self. I some times literally play over loops for hours. My advice: Youtube drum grooves and go to town =)

Dan
[/quote]

+1 for this. No, +10 for this.

When I got back into playing bass in Jan this year after a 15 year break I started by playing along to songs. I got tired of this pretty soon as once I'd finished a song it was a case of well, what now, I nailed that one but no one heard it. A bit of a hollow victory really. So a guy at work mentioned GarageBand and I started popping drum tracks onto there (I use EZDrummer and have thousands of midi drum loops at hand). I've started dabbling with other, mainly virtual, instruments too.

What had stopped me from writing stuff before is that I didn't know any music theory (yeah, don't start on me...) and I thought there was some magical innate talent that people tapped into to write songs. Anyway, a bit of music theory later and it all makes sense. The lightbulb moment for me was finding out that if you select a scale and key to play in, you can pretty much play any note in that scale in any order and it will sound alright. Or that how it seems to me and it seems to work! Anyway I digress but the main point is that messing about with my own stuff has had a few really great benefits. One is that now I know some music theory, another is that I'm learning about writing songs and song structure and I also get to hear the fruits of my labour. Finally, I can listen back to my stuff and really analyse it and improve my playing.

So, whilst not the answer you're specifically looking for, MuckedUpFunkies' suggestion has a tonne or merit to it. Give it a go! As my mate said to me, if it all goes horribly wrong, only YOU have to listen to your stuff. Have fun!

I think you mean "Suck My Kiss" by RHCP?

Yep, been there, done that. Worst thing about it is that it takes ages for the correct bit to sound right again.

Wow, that's brilliant. All credit to Tanglewood here. Good work chaps!

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1317733427' post='1393816']
also the account of a [url="http://www.soundcloud.com/jessicalaurensmith"]very good friend[/url] of mine, who needs sharing as she's too talented for me to not post it here.
[/quote]

Hell yeah, she's talented, what a lovely voice! I've got Taylor Swift in my head when I hear her sing. Anyhoo, your link was broken but I found her page at [url="http://soundcloud.com/jessicalaurensm"]http://soundcloud.com/jessicalaurensm[/url] (too good for people to not find her page).

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1317818650' post='1394896']
Peeps,

The SoundCloud website appears to be down at the moment. Perhaps it's buckled under the weight of our new Basschat group??

I'm sure it'll be up and running again soon... I'll keep an eye on it.
[/quote]

Heh, I was thinking the same thing today

[quote name='Noah Deere' timestamp='1317837668' post='1395259']

And it's back in the room

On another note has anyone used Soundcloud to record, or is everyone uploading tracks they have recorded on software or at a studio?
[/quote]

I've never even considered it to be honest but I use EZdrummer and a host of virtual instruments on my tracks (except the bass of course which is real...). The record function does seem to be in your face but I always consider soundcloud to me a showcase thing rather than a production thing. I guess you could use it to record your band live in which case I can see the use of that (i.e. fans go home, log into soundcloud and listen to the gig they've just been too - THAT would be awesome).

I played an Aspiration Elite when I got my contemporary J and the E string was fairly flabby so I asked for a tuner and tuned it up, thinking it had been detuned too much (it was out of tune too). I think I got it to a C before realising I was going an octave too high so I tuned it back down to E and it was really flabby and awful to play. Then I picked up the J and everything was perfect on it. I did prefer the look of the Elites so it's a shame I got a duff one. But as Machines said, this may not be the fault of Overwater/Tanglewood, it could have been badly set up once the store got it or someone could have messed it up whilst having a play.

Adjusting the trim pots in the electronics canopy may help (unless I've misunderstood their function). I've played around with them but the difference is subtle, or I'm listening out for the wrong thing.

There's certainly a whole bunch of vastly different genres on there, much more than I expected from basschatters. Perhaps I assumed we'd all play rock/funk/blues type of stuff. The variety is amazing though, there's some great stuff on there.

I actually struggle with labelling my stuff as a particular genre. My mate at work (who got me into recording) labels it as "spy-music" which probably isn't a bad definition!

The bridge pickup on every bass I've owned has been quieter than the neck one so I reckon it's just the nature of it.

I've only used Soundcloud for a few months now but I think it's pretty good and has ample opportunity for us to get into each other's sounds. With there being a free version too there's no excuse to share what you've been working on!

Feel free to comment on tracks too, it's always a good buzz to get some comments.

(Oh dear, I sound like a sales rep for them!)

Nice one Skol, hopefully this will be a cool way to grab some feedback and chat about how our tracks have been put together. Thanks for setting up the group!

I'm pretty sure we can already embed soundcloud tracks on here. Let's see if this works... EDIT: Hmm, no. I thought we could go into HTML editing mode and copy and paste the code that soundcloud gives you but we can't. I use IPboard on my site and I'm pretty sure there's an admin option to allow HTML code but of course there's a risk it could be abused. Up to the site admins to decide but it won't be the end of the world if we can't embed tracks.

I'm growing quite fond of Soundcloud and thought I'd get a thread going where basschatters can pop up their Soundcloud pages. If it proves popular maybe it could be put up as a sticky.

My page is at: [url="http://www.soundcloud.com/mornats"]http://www.soundcloud.com/mornats[/url]

It would be good to follow some fellow BCers and get a little Soundcloud community going!

That was spot on, loved it!

Hey basschatters,

Have any of you tried the Studio Devil Virtual Bass Amp Pro? I've had a go of the demo version and the tones from it sound lovely. I'm thinking of splashing out as Guitar Rig 4 LE (that I currently use) is rather limited in the bass department. Or are there any others you prefer over this one? I've tried Ampeg SVX which is quite good but the default presets in VBA Pro are much better in my opinion.

Cheers!

Haha, nothing seedy there. She was coming over to visit for a week so I was a true gent and gave up my room for her and slept on the couch. I didn't think it fair to let her sleep on my grubby bassplayer's sheets

Swiftly moving back on topic... if anyone wants to hear what other settings sound like then shout and I'll knock something up and post it on Soundcloud. No doubt I'll have some "real" tracks featuring the Overwater on there soon

A very quick (and quite awful in terms of timing, musical talent etc. etc.) recording of the Overwater. Slight touch of extra bass on the bass knob and ever so slightly panned towards the neck pup. Slight roll-off on the treble too and the bright boost was off.

[url="http://soundcloud.com/mornats/overwater-bass-soundcheck"]http://soundcloud.com/mornats/overwater-bass-soundcheck[/url]

Something more musical may appear soon...

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1316972407' post='1385046']
Actually, just realised this might sound like I'm doing a bit of thread-pissing, sorry - not the intention!
[/quote]

No worries, it made me go and do a quick test of mine. If I turn the amp up stupidly loud there's no hiss unless I roll the treble pot 3/4 to full (i.e. in between the centre notch and the top end). I never put this much treble on anyway hence why I never heard it before.

The mini pots boost the level of the pickups according to Chris May (at 7.45 in this video: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPlwg1MGF0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPlwg1MGF0[/url]). I was having a play with them (hence the quick cavity photo earlier) and the difference is quite subtle.

My noob mistake! But it's still noiseless so I'm happy

[quote name='Moos3h' timestamp='1316964651' post='1384910']
SNAP! Bought one of these yesterday, although a little disappointed with how noisy it was at last night's gig - opened up the control cavity today and I don't at all agree with Guitar and Bass Magazine's 'Well shielded' comment.
[/quote]

That's a shame Moos3h. I've found mine to be 100% noise free so far (and that's having sat in front of my PC with it plugged into Guitar Rig and with the light on - both of which usually produce some noise on all my other basses). Here's a shot of the inside of my control cavity. This looks well shielded to me, is yours the same as this?

[attachment=90181:controlcav.jpg]

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1316966423' post='1384940']
I wouldn`t bother with how they compare against a "real" Overwater. It`s a fantastic looking bass and you seem well happy with it, so, result!!!![/quote]

Can't fault that thinking

Yes, I did get some bed linen in the end. And whilst it's a lovely bass, it's not all that cuddly I'm afraid so we sleep apart. For now.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1316960417' post='1384827']
My old 325 definitely had a 34" scale. Is yours a Made In Japan SGC Nanyo?
[/quote]

Yep, it's a 1991 Japanese SGC Nanyo one. I think it's a 315 rather than a 325 (it's got black hardware and the 320 series has gold hardware) but I also saw an old brochure online that confirmed it had a 35" scale.

I'd love to know what a "proper" Overwater owner's opinion is of these Tanglewood made ones. Any Overwater owners had a go of them yet? (Although not that it matters much as the one I bought is 100% spot on for what I want in a bass.)