Mornats

Ooh, quick update then. I've got my PC running nicely now. I went for the i7 4790k overclocked to 4.6ghz, an Asus ROG Maximus Ranger VII and 16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM. I also went for a Fractal Design Define R4 case which is very nice, has acoustic dampening built in and loads of fans/fan slots and a fan controller too. It's rather nice and silent other than some humming that I think is a hard drive not quite screwed into the rubber thingys properly. I was hoping the much vaunted on-board sound on the motherboard (SupremeFX or something) would be fairly decent as my old Soundblaster X-fi was PCI and the motherboard only has PCI-E slots. However it's piece of cack. Sounds dreadful and has no ASIO drivers. So I bought an Asus Xonar Essence STX which sounds great. I'm very happy with it (for hi-fi use, I still use my Forte). The performance difference is staggering. I had a song in Reaper with 15-20 tracks all stuffed full of virtual instruments and effects. I couldn't play it in realtime on my old system as the CPU use would go over 110% and it would stutter and slow down. Same song on my new system gets the CPU to around 10-12% usage and that's with World of Warcraft running in the background too...

An onboard soundcard will be designed to offer a hi-fi sound with typically heavier bass and more sparkle in the highs. Your audio interface is aiming for a true reflection of the sound. I use an Asus Xonar Essence STX as my "onboard" sound which is a very nice and highly regarded £150 soundcard and a Focusrite Forte as my interface and I get the same difference that you're describing.

Classic, you're all legends. Keep it up!

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1416411903' post='2609943'] 250 or 500k pot? [/quote] I filled it with a 250 pot.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1416408874' post='2609901'] Is that a real fender ? Font looks wrong to me [/quote] Yep. The font is the same as the one on my acoustic guitar. Plus it needed a good setup when I bought it so yeah, it's a Fender

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1416405579' post='2609840'] Do they do these left-handed? [/quote] Of course: [attachment=176730:fender2.jpg]

Badum tish. [attachment=176717:fender.jpg]

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1416335865' post='2609183'] Although to be fair Chinese iphones are not built to last forever. Just imagine how much an iphone would cost if the Germans built it! [/quote] As are all smartphones but my point was that they build cheaply and charge a premium. It's like Fender shipping its Custom Shop to China for huge cost savings and charging you £1600 for a Deluxe Jazz still.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1416292473' post='2608678'] I doubt you'll find an off-the-shelf Status with a bad setup. Whereas you'll be lucky to find an off-the-shelf Fender with *any* sort of setup. This doesn't help their reputation one jot. [/quote] I never get this. Pretty much every Ibanez I've played has been set up brilliantly in the shop (or before it got to the shop) and they're consistently very good. But it's completely hit or miss with Fenders/Squiers. Incidentally, my dad used to be the guy who set up every Ibanez guitar and bass that landed in the North East back in the 70s/80s (can't remember which decade he said).

Also, Native Instruments have some free players with some nice sounds/instruments/effects available in them: http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/free/ Plus, if you subscribe to Computer Music mag (even the 30 day trial over on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/newsstand/details/Computer_Music?id=CAow4b-IAg) then you get access to their suite of free plugins, some of which are very nice.

Did they sound better than they did in the PRS clips? It's always hard to tell whether it's a bad recording, a bad demo or a crap-sounding guitar sometimes.

Oh lol, that'll be spell checker! I'll see if I can correct it! And yeah, I upgraded the pups on mine and love them so far.

Yeah I thought that too about the neck. It's my favourite neck of any bass I've played. I know it's a Squire Never mistook it for anything different lol. I'm almost tempted to pop into PMT and see if they'll let me A/B test it against a USA Fender for sound.

I'm the same. I can barely sing along to most choruses as I don't pay attention to the words. I don't really get what most songs are about as a result but I do know how the riffs and the beats and the sound and feel of it affect me and how it makes me feel. I listen to most of my music sat at my PC through Spotify. It all goes through a good sound card, into my Rotel amp then into my Tannoy E11 speakers so I get a really nice sound out of it. I pay a lot more attention to the tone of the bass than I used too though. Bass geeks for life eh?

They arrived! And they're in my bass! And I have sound samples! [url="https://soundcloud.com/mornats/pickups-comparison"]https://soundcloud.c...kups-comparison[/url] Also, I did a whole thread on all the changes I made here: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/249109-my-modified-vintage-modified-squire-jazz/"]http://basschat.co.u...ed-squire-jazz/[/url] They are indeed deeper than a standard pickup as you say TB. See pic below. The foam on top of the Entwistle (the one on the left) is from the stock pickups. Quite handy as it has springs in the middle of it. I won't reiterate what I said about the pickup sound other than they sound great. See the thread above for more on that They're beefy, so much louder than the stock ones. [attachment=176135:pickupheight.jpg]

I bought myself a nice Squier VM Jazz last month and decided to have a go at upgrading it. I liked the sound (and the playability) of it when I bought it but I wanted to play around anyway. So, when I bought it I compared it to a Fender USA standard jazz. The Fender was a bit lighter, had a nicer finish (not that the Squire was finished badly by the way) and sounded a little sweeter and more refined. So, first thing I did was to pop a new set of strings on it. I liked the sound of the Fender 7250ML strings that came with it but that nice snap they had died within a week. So I popped a set of Elixir steel strings on it. [b]Sound samples with week-old Fender 7250ML vs brand new Elixir steel coated strings:[/b] [url="https://soundcloud.com/mornats/elixir-strings-comparison"]https://soundcloud.c...ings-comparison[/url] Next up I fancied putting a pair of Entwistle JBXN pickups in it but didn't want to solder anything so I was recommended a wiring loom by our very own KiOgon and after chatting to John decided to go for the full Fender control plate with knobs on it. John said t would improve the sound so I was curious... [b]Sound samples of the stock wiring and pickups with a KiOgon wiring loom and stock pickups:[/b] [url="https://soundcloud.com/mornats/jazz-bass-electronics-comparison"]https://soundcloud.c...nics-comparison[/url] Next up, after a Post Office induced delay, my pickups arrived! Let's get straight to the beef: [b]Sound sample of the stock pickups vs. Entwistle JBXN pickups:[/b] [url="https://soundcloud.com/mornats/pickups-comparison"]https://soundcloud.c...kups-comparison[/url] All of the samples were recorded straight into a Focusrite Forte interface and have no EQ, compression or anything else on them. Input gain on the Focusrite was set to 11 for all except the Entwistle test where I had to reduce it down to 8 otherwise the higher output from the neodymium pickups would cause it to clip! [b]So, my impressions?[/b] [b]Strings:[/b] I like the Elixirs. I'm hoping they'll keep the same tone for a long time. I expected them to be a bit brighter and zingier with more snap than the dying Fenders seeing as their steel. The coating takes away some of the zing from most coated strings but I didn't expect it to dull them this much. They're much closer to the older Fender strings than the fresh Fenders. I'm glad I didn't go for the nickel Elixirs. But if they keep this tone for a long time, I'll stick with them. They feel nice too. They're a little quieter than the old strings and lose a little on the bottom end. [b]Electronics:[/b] I really like the new wiring loom. The sound is clearer and much more defined, especially in the midrange with has extra clarity and cuts through a bit more. I think it sings a bit more. I tried it through my MarkBass and it sounds sweet. In comparison, the old set of electronics sound a bit muddy and ill-defined now. [b]Pickups: [/b]These have added a nice bottom-end punch and have sweetened the sound up really nicely. I'm thinking back to that USA Fender and thinking that I have that and more now sound-wise. Through my MarkBass they sound awesome. For some reason they sound a bit duller than the old ones in the sound samples but this doesn't reflect how they sound through the amp. Actually after a further listen I can still hear the nigh end coming through. The mids seem to have shifted down the frequency range. There's a bit of commentary on my other threads that I've posted about this: New bass day: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/246113-nbd-squire-vm-jazz-content-plus-which-colour-pickguard-now-with-pics/"]http://basschat.co.u...-now-with-pics/[/url] New string day: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/247688-new-string-day-elixir-steel-coated-strings-with-sound-test-against-fender-7250ml-nickels-on-my-squire-vm-jazz/"]http://basschat.co.u...squire-vm-jazz/[/url] New electronics day: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/248196-help-a-newbie-change-pickups/"]http://basschat.co.u...change-pickups/[/url] Anyway, I'm sick of hearing that riff (great riff that it is despite my butchering of it) so over to you guys...

Don't be afraid to check out a Squire too if you're testing a Mexican against a USA Fender. You may be surprised. And also remember that pickups can be upgraded for less than the price difference between Mexican and USA bass.

Fantastic work Paul, this is already a great guide. Can't wait to see it evolve in the comments. I'd like to add http://therecordingrevolution.com/ to the list of music creation resources. Graham gives you some very good down-to-earth tips. I watched his videos that advised you to get the volume levels of all your tracks spot on as the first stage of mixing and then use only EQ and compression to help the mix fit together. I tried it on one of my band's old tracks and it sounds so much better now. No messing around with fancy plugins, just balancing the mix nicely.

Well, it'll have to be some time next week as they're not here yet. So that will be a week since they got the order before I get the pickups. Really quite unacceptable in this day and age! Hmpfh. The seller is only 22 mile away from where I live too.

In all seriousness, I found the Bass Guitar for Dummies book to be really good at helping with those light-bulb moments. It really set the foundation for me to start understanding chords, chord structures, the scales within those chords and how a bass fits in with all that. For example, if my guitarist was playing an E, then a D then an A chord, what bass notes can I play along with that? It helped answer that which meant that I only need to know the chord structure of song in order to write a bass line to it, or even jam to it, making up a bass line on the spot. Info on it here: http://eu.dummies.com/store/product/Bass-Guitar-For-Dummies-Book-Online-Video-Audio-Instruction-3rd-Edition.productCd-1118748808.html (of course you can buy it from whichever book shop you usually use, I just don't like promoting Amazon )

At least 3 more basses

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1415317266' post='2599267'] Out of curiosity, what was the average price paid by those who purchased? [/quote] Yeah, that was going to be my question too.

[quote name='DogHammer' timestamp='1415280835' post='2598706'] Been following the composition challenge for a while now. Just bought myself a focusrite interface. May use this a an incentive to learn ropes. So there may be an entry from me later in the month. See how I get on with it.... [/quote] Dive right in mate and give it a go, it's the best way of learning and you'll get some great feedback from these folks.

A bit late to this one but I was gonna say 1 is the Squire VM Jazz, 2 is the Coppolo and 3 is the Squire PJ. So other than getting the two Squire's mixed up I at least identified the fancy bass. It had that tighter, cleaner more focused low end that I've noticed is a difference - and one of the few differences - between the Squires and more expensive basses. I bought a Squire VM Jazz last month and compare it directly to a Fender USA standard jazz and the differences were that the US one was a bit lighter and it sounded a little sweet - again, that tighter more focused bottom end that takes any hint of muddiness away. But I don't think that was worth the £900 extra. I've fitted a KiOgon wiring loom to my jazz which has helped (check out the before and after here: https://soundcloud.com/mornats/jazz-bass-electronics-comparison) bridge that gap. I've got a set of Entwistle neodymium pickups coming this week too. So for less than £100 I reckon the sound will be just as good as, or better than the USA model. We'll see! I also gelled with the Squire better. It just felt the more comfortable bass to play for me. So I'm a big fan of the budget basses that are knocking around now. That's not to say that I don't appreciate a nice expensive bass, I just think that the Squires these days shouldn't be scoffed at for being cheap basses that are only good for beginners.

They were posted today so should be here by Friday, but maybe tomorrow so I should have something up at the weekend.