Mornats

I've got a 5 string 35" scale Bass Collection SB315 that needs new strings. This is the first time I've restrung it since buying it 2nd hand a few months ago. I've got the bass currently set up with a high C string rather than a low B so I'm looking for a set of 35" 30 - 100 ish gauge roundwound strings. The biggest question is whether a 35" scale bass will take long strings or extra long. I'm hoping that long strings will fit as this gives me more options. GHS Bass Boomers (30, 45, 65, 80, 100) seem ideal but I can only find them in long scale. (I've posted this in the strings sticky too but I think it's easy to miss that thread. I'll make sure I update my post with any juicy info supplied in this one.)

I thought I'd ask this here to add to the knowledge building up in this thread. I've got a 5 string 35" scale Bass Collection SB315 that needs new strings. This is the first time I've restrung it since buying it 2nd hand a few months ago. I've got the bass currently set up with a high C string rather than a low B so I'm looking for a set of 35" 30 - 100 ish gauge roundwound strings. The biggest question is whether a 35" scale bass will take long strings or extra long. I'm hoping that long strings will fit as this gives me more options. GHS Bass Boomers (30, 45, 65, 80, 100) seem ideal but I can only find them in long scale. Thanks

Not as nice as that stunning Sei but here's my 1988 SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB320 fretless with upgraded Bartolini pickups (not upgraded by me) and some shiny new gold and abalone knobs. [attachment=80845:320_fretless.jpg]

Yep, I think the guitars have improved a bit but still aren't punching through enough. I'll have a play with the panning (I think one of the guitar tracks is quieter than the other) and the mids. I've had quite a few listens to the new version now and I might take out some of the dialogue as some of it gets a bit repetitive. Also, the scream near the end just isn't working for me so will have to come out. I'm going to play with the composition of the second half of the track, perhaps remove a section to make it less like the first half. I just copied the first half and repeated it in full before putting the dialogue onto it and it drags a bit halfway through the second part. I have to say that it's been very enlightening putting this track together and reading all of your feedback. Jumping in and having a go is definitely the right way to learn.

Yes, they were better, a much nicer handling of the bass frequencies but I still found that they distorted at the low end when put through a 30 watt Laney RB2 (the amp they had in the shop). My sennheiser gaming headset seems to cope with my 15 watt Laney RB1 so I decided to hold off. I think perhaps that it's asking a bit much to get them to handle bass straight from an amp. I'm falling back on using my Tannoy E11 speakers that I've had for around 20 years as monitors (put through a Rotel RA-930AX amp via my PC).

You've also inspired me to use movie dialogue clips on one of my tracks. Check out the 2nd MP3 (Base 12 on Mars) in my thread [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=134193"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=134193[/url] to see the result. Video coming at some distant point in the future I hope. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration!

I've taken a lot of your advice on board and have a remix that I'm much happier with - thanks guys, you rock. I may still record the guitars and play two tracks as suggested. It may turn out to be a horrible mess but I can only try. I need to look into humanising drums a lot more so I'm going to leave that for now. It'll be something nice to play with when the muse is off down the pub being elusive. I have to give a big thanks to markesmith for the inspiration behind putting movie dialogue clips into a track. I watched his wonderful video ([url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=133415"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=133415[/url] and loved it. So I went and bought a pack of movie clips from Big Fish Media and added them in. I think the track was really yearning for a vocal element to fill an empty void. So, here's the remix (with a new name based on the movie clips). [attachment=79332:Base_12_on_Mars.mp3]

Thanks for your feedback, some great advice in there! I definitely think the guitar needs re-recorded. It wasn't a great sound and I've done what I could to help it but if you can't polish a turd as they say... I did actually try some panning by duplicating the guitar track and panning one of them 100% to the left and the other 100% to the right and I applied reverb and chorus to one of them. Will doing it this way (panning one track left and the other right) essentially put the guitar track back in the middle? The drums were done using EZDrummer with the humanisation box ticked but I've tweaked the sound a bit so I'll go back and try and make them sound more like they belong in the mix. The humanisation in EZDrummer doesn't seem to do a great deal so I'll do a bit of googling on how to help this. Sounds like I've got a few things to play with this weekend... I'll post the new mix once I'm happy with it. Thanks again! Paul

That's a great tune and video. The song reminds me a bit of Mr Bungle from their Disco Volante album (the organ sound mostly). You'e inspired me to put a video together with one of my tracks (or a new track).

Beautiful sound! And that groove did some nice things that I wasn't expecting so was very refreshing to hear.

Hi folks, this is my first real recording attempt that I'm using to learn how to mix properly. I'm a bassist not a guitarist so the guitar bits are fairly basic. There's something not quite right about the mix in my opinion, I think it lacks some weight (if that makes sense?). Any and all advice and comments will be taken on board. [attachment=78843:FunkinghellRemix.mp3] Some details of how it was recorded if anyone is interested: [b]Hardware:[/b] Bass Collection SB315 5 string bass Ibanez GRX70 guitar Guitar Rig Studio interface M-Audio Keyrig 49 midi keyboard [b]Software:[/b] GarageBand Guitar Rig (custom settings to get close to an Ampeg SVX sound) EZDrummer with GrooveMonkee midi tracks and Funkmasters addon Kore Player

I've got Rotosound 88 nylon strings on my fretless (sound samples here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277[/url] and you can compare them to the metal roundwounds on my other two basses). They're not a direct replacement for metal roundwounds at all soundwise but if the sound is right for you then they'll certainly solve your allergy problem.

That site did raise a smile Another site you could try is: [url="http://www.axesrus.com/"]http://www.axesrus.com/[/url]. They have more standard knobs than the sterling silver ones from endlessknobbing. Ebay usually have a selection listed from various sellers too.

I know that these won't be the strings you're looking for but I've got a sound sample of my fretless Bass Collection with Rotosound 88 black nylon strings (third sound sample here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277[/url]. I thought it might be interesting to hear them if you're ever curious

As promised, some pics of my 3 beauties. The white one is a brand new Dean Hillsboro Single (costs around £300 new). Quite a decent bass for the price, nice sound, more suited to rock/metal but also gives a nice slap/pop sound if you're funky like that. It's got a jazz style neck which makes it very easy to play. Some of the workmanship and finishing isn't first class but it's sound and solid. The black one is a 1991 SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB315 5 string. 2 jazz pickups. I had a custom brass nut made for it as it's strung with a high C (this is how it came when I bought it off Ebay and I quite liked it but the nut was worn down and was causing buzzing so had to be replaced). Very very nice jazz sound as you'd expect and great for soloing. And of course Bass Collections (the original ones at least) are immensely playable and are very lightweight. This I believe has an alder body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The red one is my most recent GAS related incident. It's a 1988 SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB320 fretless that I believe has had the pickups and electronics upgraded on it. No info yet as to what they are but I'm trying to find out. It's strung with Rotosound 88 black nylon strings (I had to get rid of the roundwounds that it came with - poor fretboard had taken a bit of a scratching). It sounds amazing. It's got a J/P pickup configuration and can go from a nice double-bass sound up to the bottom end of a jazz sound (if that makes sense... basically you can hear the sound of the metal strings under the nylon start to come through). Japanese Sen body from what I can tell, maple neck and ebony fretboard. The pics are not-so-great iphone pics but I can post better ones... just need to get my decent camera out! I've posted some sound samples in another thread: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277[/url] and will add more when I get the chance. [attachment=75224:315andDean.jpg] [attachment=75225:fretless1.jpg] [attachment=75226:fretless2.jpg]

I popped into Digital Village in Bristol yesterday and had a go of the AKG 271 Mk II, Sennheiser 280 and another one whose name I can't remember. I had them plugged into a Laney RB2 30watt bass amp and all of them failed to cope with the bass at decent volume levels (I didn't have them excessively loud, I was aiming for punchy-loud). None of them performed better than my current Sennheiser gaming headset. Anything played on the D and G strings sounded great but A and especially the E strings distorted badly. After a chat with the guys in the shop about it we figured that the frequency response of the headphones possibly wasn't good enough so they've ordered in a pair of Beyerdynamics DT150s as they quote a frequency response from 5 hz. Hopefully they'll be better...

You're absolutely right in clarifying that. I'm after headphones that will give me a flat EQ (apologies for skipping that in my original post) and can handle a bass guitar being pumped into them directly from a bass amp and a Guitar Rig Studio audio interface. My current headphones are actually a gaming headset (albeit superb quality ones) but are not designed as monitor headphones and the bass sound is cracking up in them. At the moment I'm assuming that headphones classed as studio monitoring headphones will be able to handle a bass guitar going through them but it's an assumption... I'll take all your good suggestions and will see if I can try them all out in the shop with a bass guitar going into them via an amp.

It does sound lovely although is hampered somewhat by my inexperience of a fretless at the moment!

Thanks for the recommendation. I've just been looking at the range and the DT150 has an extended bass response (and doesn't cost much more than the DT100) which I'm guessing will help a lot as I'm mainly putting basses through these.

Sorry, I'd intended to mention the pickup settings I had used. On all three basses I set the tone controls to their mid-point (right on the notch) and put the balance for the Bass Collections right in the centre to pick up both sets of pickups (the Dean has a single humbucker so has no balance control). I'm located in Bristol, UK by the way.

Hey Faiz, I recorded some sound samples (nothing fancy) of all three basses and popped them over in the bass guitar section if you're interested: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=127277[/url]

Yep it's got a P/J pickup configuration so looks like it's a 320. My mate who fixed the electronics on it said they looked very similar to the Artecsound SE3P but I still haven't figured out what the pickups are. I keep promising pics of these so will pop them in here soon. Good idea about recording the different pickup balances, I'll get onto that and will post more

Hi Basschatters! I've had someone ask what each of my three basses sound like so I've recorded a sample of each of them. It's nothing special, just a bit of a scale to try and get a range of notes. The fretless sample is not guaranteed to be in perfect tune as I'm still getting used to a fretless (and mine has not fretlines to guide me either). So, here are the three samples, all recorded in Garageband using Guitar Rig Session with the same setting on. The output levels on each of my basses are slightly different so the only differences are the volumes but they should all be roughly similar. I only used the EADG strings on the 5 string to keep the samples similar. The fretless has Rotosound 88 black nylon strings on it. The 5 string has unknown Rotosounds (I know they're Rotosounds as they have red silk wraps on them) and the Dean has whatever strings it came with from the factory (basically, I've no idea what they are). Dean Hillsboro Single sound sample: [attachment=74808:Dean_Hil...o_Single.mp3] SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB315 5 string sound sample: [attachment=74809:Bass_Col...5_string.mp3] SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB320* fretless sound sample: [attachment=74810:Bass_Col...Fretless.mp3] Hope you find these interesting. I love how they all sound quite different and distinctive. * I'm not 100% sure whether this is an SB320 or another model. It's a fretless with gold hardware but the pickups and electronics were replaced by a previous owner and the knobs are black, not gold. It was sold as an SB320 and if it's anything different then it's a model from higher up in the range.

Hi Basschatters. I'm looking to buy a set of monitor headphones so that I can plug them into my (15 Watt Laney RB1) bass combo and practice without annoying the neighbours. I also want to use them to listen to tracks I've recorded on Garageband/Cubase. I use Guitar Rig Studio so they're going to be plugged directly into that. I currently use my Sennheiser headset but it really can't cope with the bass and I'm in danger of blowing them up. So, I'm in the market for a set of monitor headphones. I'm budgeting around £100 or so but I'm willing to look outside this price if really needed (i.e. I don't want to waste money on a halfway-house solution). The set I've got in mind are the M-Audio Q40 ones ([url="http://maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/StudiophileQ40.html"]http://maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/StudiophileQ40.html[/url]). I'm open to recommendations and hearing about anyone's experience of putting a bass through these or any other monitor headphones. Cheers!

Thanks for the welcome Thumbo - I'm based in Nailsea, not quite Bristol but close enough. I've worked here for a year now (with a 70 mile commute each way) and so far, Bristol seems pretty good. Faiz - my Bass Collections. Like I said, I had a 1994 SB301 that I bought new and loved it so found these two on Ebay. I hope to get some sound clips up so people can hear them. The 5 string has two jazz pickups and it's strung with a high C (this is how it came and I liked it, great for soloing). It's got a nice range of sounds from fairly deep and mellow to very poppy but all with that jazz sound to it. Both the basses are very light, have very thin necks and are very easy to play. In fact, even with the wider neck on the 5 string I found it easy to transition from a 4 string. The fretless is a stunner in terms of sound. I've just restung it with Rotosound 88 nylon strings and it sounds so much like a double bass now but I can change the tone to be very poppy in the higher notes. I think the pickups and electronics have been changed on the fretless as the knobs are black (they should be gold) and the pickups don't look like any SGC ones I've ever seen. Both BCs are original 80s/90s SGC Nanyo makes and not any of the more recent copies or the new range that's currently available. Oh and having a 5 string and a fretless was my way of justifying buying more guitars after I'd just bought my Dean Hillsboro