Mornats

Haha awesome! I saw these guys perform live in Preston back in the mid 90s.

Put me down as tentative.

iReal Pro (as mentioned briefly above) is a great app that lets you install jazz standards onto it. It acts like an app version of the Real Book but also benefits from the ability to let you play along by piping the tune to a backing track. It lets you change the volume of several instruments so you can mute the bass in the backing track for example and play along. http://irealpro.com/ - really worth the dosh in my opinion. In fact I've heard musicians say it's worth buying an iPad and the app just to get the functionality of the app. However it's (to crudely describe it) essentially a bunch of chords charts with backing tunes. I don't think you get the notation for the actual lines played.

I'd be a tad nervous about doing the neck forcing thing Gary but I'm liking the idea of changing the saddles. Is the idea to push the entire neck down towards the bottom of the bass or to get it to rotate in its socket a touch so the angle is adjusted? Nice jazz Sykilz. As a (former?) jazz bass man that all white one would have been top of my list - it's a stunner.

It's got a separate maple fingerboard. Most of the join is almost invisible and you can only see it where the wood grain differs or there's a small colouring from a knot in the wood on one part. A new bridge would help the string alignment for sure. If I move the strings to one side with my fingers they will all line up correctly. At the moment it's not causing a problem other than an aesthetic one so I am quite tempted to leave it. Grooved saddles would be an answer though and probably not as big a change as swapping the bridge out completely. Edit: These would do the job: http://www.allparts.uk.com/collections/bridge-parts/products/bass-bridge-barrels-vintage-style-4 - £15 too.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1443198026' post='2873082'] The other thing I've just done is upgrade from EZDrummer to EZDrummer 2 - a massive leap! I've only scratched the surface but I love the way that once you find a pattern you like it can recommend other compatible patterns and fills. [/quote] It was a great upgrade. I like how you can select any of the drums used in a midi beat and turn up or down the amount of hits to customise the beat to your liking.

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1443104395' post='2872250'] If they came with jazz size necks as standard (i mean all, know a few do) id have a lot more basses than i need. [/quote] I'm a big fan of slim jazz bass necks and this one didn't feel like the old P bass baseball bat neck that I've experienced on older basses. It's a 2015 P bass and I believe it's part of the 2012 onwards range. It's chunkier than a jazz but I only noticed the extra size when I compared it to my jazz. I really like it, it feels substantial but not large. [quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1443104782' post='2872257'] Nice bass! Welcome to P-land! I couldn't quite understand what you meant here. Do you mean that the Squier CV P pickups are placed differently or have a different profile so can't rest your thumb on them, whereas the fender pickups are different shape or position somehow which means you can do it? [/quote] It's a different shape (as dave_bass mentioned). Check out the photo here: http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-p-bass-50s-bass-guitar-white-blonde.html my thumb rested just under the E string so I couldn't rest my thumb on the pickup which is a habit (a bad habit?) that I've gotten into. I love the simplicity of the controls too. I found that despite the number of knobs on the bass, I'd always set the tone controls flat and the pickup pan dead in the middle. At the moment I'm really liking the tone when it's rolled off from full a bit, all the way down to halfway off. That's a nice sound in that range. I've still yet to play it live but hope to take it out over the next few weeks to see how it sounds against a semi-acoustic guitar and vocals. I suspect it'll shine nicely. A couple of minor gripes now that I've had it a week. On the pic below you'll notice that the strings don't pass directly over all of the pole pieces. If you check out the E and G strings and note how far they are from the sides of the neck you'll see they're not quite centre either. It doesn't affect the playability or the sound or the volume of each individual string so it's only my OCD it bugs. I don't think I should be bothered by it really. Secondly, the jack socket crackles a bit if I move the jack lead so I'm gonna see if PMT can take a look at it. I wouldn't really judge this model negatively because of that though as these things can happen. It probably just loosened up a little when I removed the plastic covering from the pickguard and can be fixed easily. Overall though, I'm glad I've joined the P club

One thing I've found is that closer you get to the truss rod being "right" the smaller the turns you need to make. A tiny tweak tends to make quite a difference once you're close to the sweet spot.

Congrats on the new bass. I have one of these in red and they're amazing especially given the cost.

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1442684311' post='2868783'] Congrats on the Precision, the post 2012 MIMs are great basses... [/quote] Yeah, I was well impressed with this one. Before picking this one up I'd never played a MIM that I rated as being a good bass but a lot of people have said the post-2012 ones are better and they most definitely are. I'd have guessed it was a USA P bass if I'd played it blind. [quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1442685839' post='2868793'] Fantastic bass! Loving the grain in the maple neck too. [/quote] That was part of the appeal. They've put some lovely wood on these fretboards. My Squier VM jazz has a nice birdseye maple board which looks lovely so they're putting in some nice details these days. [quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1442760520' post='2869262'] I have the exact same one and it's easily the best P I own, I also have a USA model too but I keep picking this one up to gig with. Dunno about yours but the pickup in mine is superb with a high output, much better than any I've owned, it's immense! Just a bit heavy for my back but, well err...... took me ages to find this one but boy it's worth it. [/quote] Tricky to compare for me as my other main bass has Entwistle JBXN pickups in it and has the power of an active bass despite being passive. Although I've just this minute done an A/B test and I can say that the P bass isn't far behind the neodymium pickups in terms of power output. I'd love to hear what mine would sound like with a KiOgon wiring harness and Entwistle pickups (as they sound superb in my jazz) but I don't want to lose the classic P sound so will leave it be for now.

I've just done the opposite. I thought all Fender's were just plain old basses so I've gone round the houses playing and buying all sorts of different style basses including some Fender clones. Then today I went out and bought a fantastic Mexican Fender Standard Precision and I'm wondering why I didn't just start with this one in the first place.

I have to add that the setup on this bass is absolutely spot-on. The bass guy in PMT Bristol insists on checking over every bass and setting them up if they need it. It certainly helped with my buying decision. I also checked the frets with my fret level tester ruler thing that I got from Crimson Guitars and every fret is spot-on level. The action is just perfect too. Pickups look a little crooked but the sound is even across all strings (I see this on most P basses actually).

I know, what took me so long?! Thought you'd approve of the colour too. It looks stunning in the flesh. Easily the best colour in the MIM standard range I reckon. The pickguard is described as "parchment" in colour but I can see the mint tones in the pics and on the bass itself. It's lovely regardless.

I'm really chuffed with this bass and quite surprised myself by with this purchase. I've always thought that Fender precisions were the most boring bass you could get. This comes from years of seeing every cheap rubbish copy looking like a P bass. I'm thinking Argos and the old Kay's catalogue here. So I've always associated them with the bog-standard bass and have always lusted after something different, something that stands out a bit more. So after years of going round the houses, trying out every bass I could and buying various ones (several Bass Collections, a Yamaha TRBX, a couple of the Tanglewood-made Overwaters, a Dean) I found myself playing a Mexican Fender purely by accident. Now, I've picked up loads of MIM Fenders in shops and they've never lasted more than 10 seconds in my hands. I hated them. Never rated them. Never played a good one. Until now! I was in my local PMT in Bristol. Great shop, great guys and great service. I saw a Squire Classic Vibe 50's P bass and loved the look of it. So I tried it. Really nice bass, nice sound but I couldn't get away with the pickup shape as I couldn't rest my thumb on it and I'm just too used to that. But the sound kinda rang with me so I picked up the nearest P bass and tried it. It was brilliant. Sounded just as a P should and played so well that I sat there for a while having a go. I couldn't find a thing wrong with it. So I popped in today and picked it up after trading in my Overwater/Tanglewood Classic Jazz. So here it is. It's a Mexican standard precision and has the alder body in arctic white with white pickguard and maple fretboard. It just totally works as a bass and sounds great. So now I totally see the appeal of a standard P. This will compliment my Squier VM Jazz nicely and I'll be selling my other basses and will just settle for these two. (For now anyway, I'm still a basschatter ) Just had a play and took some pics so behold the beauty of my new P bass! Check out that nice grain on the fretboard too!

You've heard the KiOgon wiring loom in my Squier jazz and I can recommend them. Solderless too so no faffing around burning your bass to the ground [quote name='King Tut' timestamp='1442263899' post='2865669'] Not sure what my model is offhand, but it's a pretty top end model with zebrano top. [/quote] Oooh pic please!!! I recall seeing one ages ago and they look lovely.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1441396510' post='2858680'] And a bass clef is easier (cheaper) than a treble. [/quote] "I'll do a bass clef for £4 but that's as low as I'll go". With apologies to dustandbarley for not contributing anything helpful whatsoever. A very cool idea for a tattoo though.Would be great to see pics once your friend has had it done - if they're willing to share them of course.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441292954' post='2857667'] Yup, they are particularly useful for newbs. You get stage time in a relatively friendly atmosphere, you get to play with a variety of different musicians, you get exposed to a much wider range of music than perhaps you expect. Above all, you learn to pay attention to what other musicians are doing and playing so that you don't get left behind by an unexpected change or repeat, so that you can spot when the guitarist has decided to take a second solo, etc. And you learn to wing it, to busk a tune you've never played before, to vamp on a chord while the singer tries to remember the next verse, to recover from mistakes (yours, and those of others). I've never once regretted learning these things. Yes, you can make useful connections too. Not always, but sometimes. My main band (Junkyard Dogs) still has as its core me plus two guys who met at a regular jam session, while another band (Sapphire Grooves) has as its core me plus two other guys who met at a regular jam session. [/quote] This, I started out performing at open mics and all of this rings true.

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1440614415' post='2852466'] Anyone on Sonar X2 tried W10 yet? Also got myriad VSTs which I need to know will work: ReFx Nexus ReFx vanguard Kontakt4 Superior Drummer 2 Melodyne Editor Battery3 Ampeg Svx Guitar Rig4 etc etc [/quote] I'll try and get in a proper session where I can test all of my VSTs. Out of your list I have Ampeg SVX, Guitar Rig (although mine's 5 Pro), Kontakt (the free player not the full one though) and I have EZDrummer 2 which I already know works so I'd hope that Superior does too.

I'll always hold the door open for bands coming in or out with gear. Gotta help your fellow musos.

I've only watched the first one but I'm finding it very useful to help create bass lines already. I'm going to have a play around with what I've learnt in lesson one then spend more time on the others.

Max speeds around here are 152MB!

If Amazon is the seller they should be fine but watch out for marketplace sellers as they could be anyone.

I had it pre-downloaded but I'm also on a 60MB fibre optic connection which helps.

I made the switch to Windows 10 last night. It only took 25 mins to upgrade - I was quite impressed. So far so good though. Reaper works (v5 which has just been released), as do my VSTs. I updated the driver on my Focusrite Forte to the one recommended for Windows 10 and it wouldn't play any sound. I went back to the previous version and it worked. I should be doing some music stuff this weekend so will report back on the long-session reliability. I don't like the white title bars on all of the windows though. I liked the aero look much better. Can't get that Cortana thing to work either.