neepheid

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336729276' post='1650005'] >But what if it makes it more useful? Back in the day (here we go again) people used to saw the bottom off Hammonds and put them on stands with the pedals etc remote. This meant it could be lifted into a van with the other stuff and not require one to itself. Can you imagine that happening now? [/quote] Given that when it comes down to it, electric basses are all the same (in the sense that you wear them on a strap and the neck is some flavour of horizontal when you play (in other words, not vertical)) and there is so much variety out there (again, this was not always the case) that if you need to mod a bass in an irreversible way then it's more likely now that you have the wrong bass and there is probably one more suited to your needs without attacking the one you have with a spokeshave or a drill. The Hammond example is compelling, but with the plethora of good quality, highly portable synths out there there's really no need for this practice any more. Our organ grinder has a Hammond at home but at gigs he uses a [url="http://www.nordkeyboards.com/main.asp?tm=Products&clpm=Nord_Electro_2&clnem=Information"]Nord Electro 2[/url]. Why knacker yourself if you're not Keith Emerson with a squad of roadies and an artic lorry all to yourself?

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1336729365' post='1650009'] I have the Hercules ones that do the grabby thing and they've worked fine with all my basses, I have 35" scale Lakland at the mo and the stand-neck extends far enough for my bass to be comfortably off the floor... [/quote] Scale length isn't the problem though - there isn't a lot of extraneous bodywork below the bridge of those Laklands. And that's where the problem lies. My RD Artist won't fit very well in the Hercules stand for that reason. The Hercules grabs at the nut, then you have 34.5" and THEN you have another 3-4" of body after that where the switches are.

I have one of the neck grab Hercules stands - I could extend it fully and measure from the top of the neck grab to the floor if you like? My RD Artist, while not as pointy as an Explorer is still a pretty unwieldy beast barely fits in it, but sits fine in a sideways rack.

The other important difference between the SM58 and the Beta 58A is the polar pattern. The SM58 is cardioid and the Beta 58A is supercardioid. The Beta 58A has superior side rejection at the cost of some pickup directly behind it. To quote Wikipedia's page about the Beta 58A - "As with any supercardioid pattern microphone, stage monitors should be placed between 30 and 60 degrees to one side of the microphone rather than directly on axis to its rear." It is also apparently less sensitive to proximity effect (the increase in low frequency response when sound source is close to the microphone) because frequencies below 500Hz are attenuated in some way.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336721395' post='1649866'] This type of thing "I had a wonderful jazz last year- a real joy of an instrument but it had been kept so well I was slightly scared to play it- i just had got it and it wasn't 'my bass' yet that I wouldn't have minded damage. Ultimately I moved it on." We all look after our gear, that's fair enough, no-one is suggesting its ok to abuse it. But, I get the feeling that we've gone overboard on it, there's me with my sticker and door jambs being less critical if damaged than a cab, friends with expensive (but not unique) basses which don't come out the wardrobe, let alone house and a general feeling that changing one screw is somehow sacrilege and even enjoying these restrictions due to additional perceived value. This seems to make the gear rather less useful and I recalled a time when this didn't seem to be the case, yet the gear was relatively more expensive then. Are we more precious about it now than we used to be? [/quote] Right, I get where you're coming from. From my point of view I don't think I'm precious about it. All my basses get played on rotation because I love playing all of them. What's the point in having them if you don't play them? I am not scared to take a Guild B402-A (one of only 335 ever made) to a marquee gig at floor level. I'm happy to play a Gibson RD Artist down the pub. But I'm not going to take my lovingly restored Victory Artist or my IV with me to Belladrum festival. I'll be taking something which is 1) inexpensive and 2) in current production so easily replaceable. Which means either the Yamaha BB614 or the G&L Tribute L-2000. That's just being sensible, not precious. In my house if an instrument is not being played then it is sold. I have sold my first bass, and recently my first Gibson bass - the G-3 set me off on a noble path but it just wasn't getting played like it used to. There's no room for sentimentality, it's expensive. Same goes for my wife - she recently sold her saxophone because she wasn't playing it. Instruments are to be played - my wife's only rule regarding my hobby. That and threatening to divorce me if I bring a pointy bass home I do think that irreversible modifications on basses above a certain price threshold is folly. I guess I do have one eye on the future and values etc. in that regard. If I want to muck about, I'll do it on something current and something cheap. I think we learn from our predecessors' mistakes. When I see RD Artists with their Moog boards removed it makes me cringe. It's what made it an RD Artist, you muppet! It's not as if they didn't provide a passive model (the RD Standard), you could/should have used one of those. RD Castrato anyone? I think that it's relevant that solid bodied electric basses and guitars as we know them have only been around in a meaningful, accessible and plentiful form for just over 60 years. That's only one lifetime. They're still very young in the grand scheme of things and we've only had a grandparent's and a parent's triumphs and mistakes to learn from so far. That's not a deep well of experience to draw from.

I'm playing at [url="http://www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk/"]Belladrum[/url] this year, so I'll definitely be attending that one

Video from most recent gig: [media]http://youtu.be/pDnRbeU0GxA[/media] Not a classic gig, but the warm up sounded pretty good considering we were literally trying to warm up - it was 11pm in a 3 walled marquee and it was bloody cold! There were people there, honestly - about 2 songs in they, surprise surprise stand in front of the camera and later on, surprise surprise, someone dunts the tripod and cuts off Kenny, the trombone player for about half the gig

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1336650432' post='1648867'] You are going straight to heaven buddy and when you get there Leo himself will present you with a guitar whittled from Jacos heavenly sh1t and strung from Phil lynotts Afro, but until that day you're just some dude I disagree with who owns a fender. Wow. [/quote] I don't own a Fender. If you don't count Squiers as Fenders (as people who choose to disguise them obviously don't) then I have never owned a Fender. So get off your high horse and stop being a dick.

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1336647531' post='1648808'] (If a glass gets knocked on a cab you'll need a j-cloth, not the end of the world.) [/quote] Pfft, melodrama. No-one is saying it's the end of the world - it's not the end of the world if one of my basses gets smashed to smithereens. It's not the end of the world if I die - doesn't mean I'll be happy about it, and if it's caused by stupidity, negligence or carelessness then it's utterly inexcusable in my book. Regarding the gig you mention - if only life was as perfect as that. You don't have to look far on here to find stories of complete lack of respect for gear that has been shared "for the good of the gig" (which could be interpreted as making up for people's shortcomings - you can imagine that I would view with some suspicion a tradesman who came to do a job for me asking to borrow some of the fundamental tools for the job because he didn't have them with him). But gear sharing is another "hot tattie" topic altogether.

It's a shame he doesn't do a 5 bass one, I'd have that. I suppose the only Gibson with a ghost of a chance of being included is the EB-3 though, bleh.

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1336579095' post='1647868'] I would be very surprised if a single contributor to this sight hasnt at some stage owned a decal job squier. It's widely accepted as the norm. It clearly says squier in the title I really don't see what's the problem is. He is selling a squier guitar and he says it's a squier. What more can he do. [/quote] Picking up on the implication that we're somehow all at it (the accepted norm?) - I have only ever applied logos to two basses. One was a Hagstrom that I was restoring - it was a genuine Hagstrom and so I put a Hagstrom logo on it. The other was a Squier Precision. I modded it up and I wanted to have a laugh so I had a Fecker Imprecision Bass logo made in the late 70s style and applied that. I interpret the phrase "decal job squier" to mean one with a Fender logo applied to it and therefore I reject your hypothesis. I have never misrepresented the origins of a bass into something that could be used fraudulently at a later stage and I never will. I fundamentally disagree with the practice. If you want a Fender, if you need to have that "prestige", then buy a bloody Fender. If you can't afford a Fender, then save up your pennies. But passing off a Squier (or whatever) as a Fender (which is what you're doing, regardless of whether or not you're upfront about it) isn't the way forward. In my humble opinion, of course. Seems to be mostly a Fender problem. Should have used MOP inlays in black headstocks

PERSONAL OPINION ALERT - THIS IS NOT AN ATTACK ON THE OP (OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER) I don't abuse my tools, I don't abuse my car, I don't abuse my house, am I being too precious? Sure wear and tear through use is normal, accidents will happen, but an amp is not a table to put beers on, never has been - it's just stupidity or reckless bravado and asking for trouble. Cigarette burns on the headstock? Absolutely ridiculous behaviour. What's precious about being careful? Am I precious for using a stand to put my bass on during the gig? Am I precious for wiping the rusty WD40 off a spanner after I remove a seized nut? I remember on an old game of Snakes and Ladders when I was a kid - at the top of the biggest snake was a kid laying into a toy car with a hammer and at the bottom of the snake was the kid crying cos his toy car was wrecked. The lesson is there, and has been since way before I was born. Look after your stuff, because you should be bloody grateful that you have it at all. EDIT: Just googled the board and I got my stories mixed up - the boy laying into the toy car is the first snake you encounter and he's just looking kinda gormless afterwards. There's a snake with a girl shaking her doll and her crying at the bottom because the doll's in bits. Got my heavy handed morality kids board game elements confused but the lesson is the same

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1299675479' post='1155218'] I had this discussion with Rich ^^^ in a slightly different guise of "if you could only keep one bass, which would it be?" and for all my love of weirdy Gibson basses, I'd have to say that my G&L Tribute L-2000 would be the last one to go. [/quote] Well, I'm going to have to change my stance here. My wife bought me my RD Artist, so it really has to stay above all others now. The fact that it's a brilliant bass helps

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1336565855' post='1647545'] I don't disagree with your dilema and the fact you are taking it seriously. But, personally, I wouldn't put aside my dreams and ambitions in the hope/expectation that a pension scheme will pay up sometime in the future. [/quote] At the risk of invoking the wrath of private sector workers who think I've got it made and don't deserve it, it's a quasi-public sector superannuation scheme (I work in a University) which had bleedin' well better pay up.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1336563334' post='1647476'] A decent post, thanks for clearing things up, I apologise for my comments, can we all be big bassy friends again? But on a serious note, I appreciate my original post was lacking, and next time I'll make sure to be clearer on why I'm posting Jack [/quote] No worries man, when you boil it down it's all about the bass

My wife is very supportive of my musical exploits, likes our band and says it can go as far as we want it to. But the thought of what that might mean, and compromising a pretty secure job and a generous pension scares the bejesus out of me.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1336504452' post='1646630'] Lol valid point, Im sorry for anyone I offended or upset in my thread, I'm bored of the select few basschat armchair warriors so I'm out [/quote] RE: armchair warrior comment - my approach was harsh and I'm sorry that I put your nose out of joint. If I may opine - the whole "fine, I won't bother then" attitude is typical of the thin skinned, slopey shouldered, bendy backboned thing going on these days as soon as anyone is presented with some opposition, and it annoyed me. In the face of a challenge do you flee or do you stand your ground and explain your position? If you don't provide any info then you open yourself up to question and speculation. Ignore it or address it, but don't give us the diva treatment. I feel like I'm repeating myself here. I do hope that you don't take the hump and continue to contribute to the forum because that's just what the forum needs, contribution not conflict.

Beaten to it: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/175202-fender-pawn-shop-basses-finally/

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1336408454' post='1645188'] Apologies if it's buried in the thread somewhere, but does anyone have an accurate weight for the HB/Redsub combos? I'm not sure if Thomann are quoting the boxed up shipping weight. [/quote] Bathroom scales so not the most accurate but the combo is approx 14kg (30.9lb) of which the head takes up 3kg (6.6lb).

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1336496313' post='1646466'] Any chance that after a fully honest discussion that things could change for the better? [/quote] I hope so, because everything else is great.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1336486584' post='1646274'] My point in the OP exactly, thank you very much, [b]however I won't bother next time![/b] [/quote] Oh, grow up. Are you honestly telling me that you're going to pick up your ball and leave the park because someone said something to you that you disagree with? That's pathetic. No-one would ride bikes if everyone gave up after they fell. You posted up a link with no explanation as to what made it noteworthy, the content was nothing unusual or of particular special interest (no slur intended, Squier fans - they're everywhere and not exactly difficult to come by) so people are bound to speculate as to what the story is. I only saw this once the auction ended, and what looks like a legitimate Squier VM Jazz going for £190 isn't particularly noteworthy or exciting. Perhaps when you posted it it was still at 99p or something. That's interesting. In any case, if you're coming back for another game then I'm looking forward to your next contribution. Hint: to avoid unpleasant speculation, include some backstory next time.

Switches all the way. I hate blend pots - I use 'em like switches anyway (full on in one direction or the other). Same goes for VVT - one volume up, one off and vice versa. I either want a neck pickup or a bridge pickup, and usually a neck one. To my ears anything in between makes a barely perceptible change when listening to the bass on its own never mind in a band context. Furthermore in my experience two pickups together equally is the tamest sounding setting on any 2 pickup bass I've played, the two don't complement each other, they fight and you get this middle ground which contains neither of the qualities of either pickup, just a homogenised flat sound. This is just my opinion, if you love blend and that 20/80 blend of bridge and neck makes a difference to you then fill your boots. But I say bleh to blend! Oh you asked which basses are which. Gibson Victory Artist - selector switch with master volume Gibson RD Artist - selector switch with separate volumes (very important if you use the compression - got to back off that neck pickup or your soundman will get a surprise! - and yes, there are numbers on the knobs so you can be pretty accurate about it) Gibson IV - VVT Guild B402-A - selector switch with separate volumes G&L Tribute L-2000 - selector switch with master volume and the odd one out Yamaha BB614 - blend with master volume - and I'm considering changing it for a switch.

As a professional IT guy, it would be easy for me to feel all superior when people come to me for help/assistance, but in all my professional career I've been at pains to make people feel at ease and not stupid (even when they open with "You probably think I'm being stupid but..."). I don't even smirk when I do one of those annoying IT guy one button press fixes ("You mean this button here?). No-one likes a dick. Even less, a dick that you're forced through circumstance to have to deal with. My predecessor at my current employer was anecdotally a bit of a dick. That made me look even better. Seven years on people still comment on how approachable I am compared to him There's really no need to be a dick, I don't get the "if you deal with idiots long enough you'll resent them" angle. I worked in bars until I got fed up with drunken idiots and their highly amusing (to them) antics. So I quit working in bars. If you can't do customer service correctly then you're in the wrong job.