Kiwi

Andrew Mckinney is a member of Basschat and in JTQ's band. If you need any tips on playing the lines, I'm sure he'd be very approachable.

It was sort of like Fourplay minus 1. They're deliberately reaching out to a large international audience (read: being commercial) like Fourplay so the music is unlikely to be demanding to listen to. Have to agree on Simon Philips overplaying though. He should know better.

800 quid for a bass doesn't get you beyond the threshold for mass produced instruments to be honest. And I've seen worse issues on far more expensive hand made AND mass produced instruments but I wouldn't say you were being picky. If manufacturers claim their instruments are better than the rest then it's not unreasonable for you to expect that and hold them to account it it proves otherwise. I would be thinking to myself about whether the faults are likely to affect the resale value of the instrument or not and then taking a view about whether I could live with them.

[url="http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/parts___hardware.switch_tips___trem_arm_tips/"]http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/..._trem_arm_tips/[/url] Any help?

Reducing the volume of the onstage mix can sometimes work wonders. I was in a band with a very very loud drummer once, completely inappropriate for the style of music we were playing. When we managed to get him to play more softly the whole band tightened up because we could all hear each other so much better. But it was futile trying to get him to play like that for more than a song in the end so I left the band. Having said that, in my last band we sometimes played very very reflective venues and turned down to almost bedroom levels of volume with the result that the mix may have been reverbing less but fell apart completely because there wasn't enough volume for some instruments to project across the stage. Our onstage volume was normally dictated by the drums and the vocals coming out of the wedges (which usually I and the guitarist got full in the face because the stages were too small for the singers to hear on-axis). So...dunno really. I guess it depends on the venue. Usually I'd do the same as Rayman and see where it left things. Having sweepable mids helps though, eh?

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='609581' date='Sep 26 2009, 08:41 PM'][quote name='Crazykiwi' post='609567' date='Sep 26 2009, 08:28 PM']Did Andy make you a set of GEM's, Al?[/quote] He did Steve - nice pups, I'm very pleased [/quote] Awesome. Did he wind them for extra bass like mine? I'm seriously contemplating getting them put in my Shuker 6 and they'll definitely go in the other Spector NS5CR which is heading my way.

Did Andy make you a set of GEM's, Al?

like this?

After market custom body perhaps in the style of an Aerodyne? I don't know that Fender would waste a whole chunk of claro walnut or whatever that is on a single instrument body. There's also too much non-Fender kit on it, like the pups and the neck plate looks tiny on the heel.

Update: drilled the hole for the earthing wire today and you guys were right, it was pretty easy to do. So now I've heat shrinked all the connections, earthed the instrument and its shielded, there's much less buzz although the treble still puts out a lot when maxed (but I don't think I'm going to need a lot of treble given its an all maple instrument.) Nevertheless, its as close as I've come to the sounding like a velvet brick. Great job! It's my favourite sounding bass.

Sunburst Band Girls Aloud backing band

Hadrien is a member of this forum I believe and, by all accounts from those I know who have actually met him in real life, a very nice chap. I don't understand what he's done to deserve a slagging off.

I'd like to see anyone else persuade Ken Smith his basses needed a ramp.

Chris used to run a successful bass shop in Copenhagen before he started building basses so I'm not so sure his business skills are up for question. I do know the problems Chris has been facing but out of respect to his privacy I'm not at liberty to divulge them publically. He also shut down the original workshop because the previous landlord raised the rents by a significant amount. Then he moved to the location I visited which was closer to the airport anyway. Are you suggesting this location has shut down also?

I had a look at getting one a while back but it doesn't have an effects loop.

I've played a maple faced MK Sig in the past and it was a great bass, very growly. If anyone was interested in an Alembic for live situations, this one would be a winner. £4k is a bit steep but Alembic don't price them to appeal to the mass market.

I haven't noticed any grittiness with other pickups. I have a set of SD passive soapbars as well which were nice but not as warm. Are you going to drill a hole in your instrument for the earthing wire?

Pete, I just found the attack on the EMG's to be a bit gritty and although the bass sounds fantastically growly, I was deliberately hunting for more solidity in the low end. Andy at Wizard delivered on every count plus I got coil taps thrown in for single coil/series/parallel modes as well when I solder up and fit the mini toggle switches. The attack is a bit more natural sounding and the u-retro bass and mid controls are much more effective. So now I have a warm, growly and sweet sounding bass with enhanced versatility. I have plans to upgrade the U-retro to a 3 band parametric eq at some point in the future for even more versatility. Just waiting for the supplier to get back to me.

Definitely not run of the mill! Despite all the zany ideas it still hangs together as a nicely designed instrument.

Hi there, I've just installed a custom set of Wizard GEM's and a U-retro in my Spector NS5 and taken out the EMG DC40's. However I'm left with a bit of a problem over the earthing. Normally a bass equipped with passive pickups will come with a bridge earthing wire so that the strings are earthed. EMG's don't need a bridge earth so any bass that comes with them factory installed doesn't normally have a hole drilled from the bridge to the control cavity. Now before I go to the trouble of getting one done, does anyone know if there's a clever alternative to deal with the earthing which avoids having to drill the bass? Seems there isn't but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Yeah, he put it on his FB profile on Saturday. Bit of a change from his previous gigs but lets hope she shares the spotlight.

For a while I kept forgetting that the second and third verses weren't separated by a chorus in 'Valerie'. The embarrassment was enough motivation to get it sorted though.

[quote name='elros' post='582424' date='Aug 27 2009, 12:38 PM']For bass lines though I'd suggest transposing down an octave or two and playing in the upper register - the tracking is more accurate (timing-wise) there.[/quote] +1 Lag is likely to be the biggest issue you'll face when recording using a pitch to MIDI interface. It will make getting notes spot on very tricky without using a quantise function and even then you'll lose feel. Alternatively you can teach yourself to compensate for the MIDI lag but it takes practice and even then might not deliver the exact timing you need for recording. If you're lucky enough to have a bass with the Steve Chick MB4 system installed such as the Wal, Maton or Peavey variants you'll find the tracking and lag is much better but you won't be able to do string bends. EDIT: I have the Axon AX100 pitch to MIDI and Graphtec GHOST preamp system which, when I have the right strings installed and the sensitivity set up, works really well. Lag is less of an issue because the AX100 has learned to convert the pitch by sensing only half the waveform, unlike other units on the market. However there is still a little lag, enough to make recording a little tricky.

Did it with a guitar once that was decent but wouldn't sell. Its still being used by my band.