Kiwi

[quote name='Shaggy' post='188695' date='Apr 30 2008, 10:59 AM'](NB; Jazz + Stingray = 1 Sabre :brow: )[/quote] My cutlass 2 doesn't sound like a Jazz at all to me. It has its own sort of sound ranging from varying fat stingray sounds to flabby single coil neck pickup funk a bit like the bass riff on this ad. Is the pickup selector on yours wired so that it gets a single coil from each humbucker? FWIW I could probably make do with 5 standard basses - 5 fretted, 5 fretless, jazz, p, stingray. But I'm currently working on a little idea that may do away with the need for individual ray/p/5 strings.

[quote name='Rich' post='188600' date='Apr 30 2008, 07:18 AM'] [size=1]coat->get[/size][/quote] LOL Yeh mate, woteva

I've accrued most of my basses as I thought I needed particular sounds. They've always been tools of one sort or another. However, the graphite necked basses I have are a bit of an indulgence. The other thing is that I've grown to accept is that I can't really take loads of basses to gigs, however one bass definitely isn't enough for the range of songs we do. I played just the Smith at our most recent gig last Saturday for all our songs and our disco songs just sounded flat because we didn't have the bark of the Stingray/Cutlass cutting through. Some day, I may well sell most of them if I find a bass that can do the job of three (5 string/precision/stingray)

Heheh, this post has flushed out some of the Alembic players I see. R5R5 and Alemboid haven't contributed yet though. Alembics are idiosyncratic instruments. They were originally designed to isolate the string as much as possible from the neck and body to promote sustain etc. etc. If anyone go plays one thinking its going to be like a Stingray or Pre CBS fender then they're guaranteed to be disappointed. However, when its the #1 recording bass for sessions in Nashville, its difficult to argue with that too. The Series 1 and 2 basses are in a completely different league to the other models, although I think the MK and SC sig basses are at least comparable in terms of playability. What you can expect from Series/Sig basses: 1) Super low action and suppleness 2) Loads of sustain 3) Huge, powerful and hifi sound 4) An impressive amount of versatility 5) Superb craftsmanship 6) Reliability I can't speak for other basses apart from the Elan 6 I bought off Ped which I know he will mention The Elan was dark sounding and very heavy to me. £700 for a Spoiler in good nick is a bargain. However I wasn't that impressed with the Spoilers i played in shops either. Not enough growl for my taste.

[quote name='Russ' post='187266' date='Apr 28 2008, 02:53 PM']I loved the old model they made for Steve Swallow when I first saw it in BP years back, and was pretty gutted when it finally came to market, and looked nothing like his model.[/quote] I understood he played a prototype. There could have been all sorts of changes made between his and what ended up being produced for the mass market. I think they should produce something with dual humbuckers to warm the bass up a bit (plus with coil tap options if really needed) and a wooden fingerboard.

[quote name='Johngh' post='186876' date='Apr 27 2008, 11:22 PM']Its starting to look like a bass now CK, looks very much like mine as well. How much longer now till its finished ?[/quote] It was inspired by yours John! No idea on the completion date unfortunately. Jon's working on 32 other orders in various stages of completion as well apparently. Rob's in there giving him a hand but they don't seem to be panicking much. Its taken 6 weeks already just for the laser cutting people to come back and say they needed a .gif of the kiwi to cut the right shaped hole! Also the original kiwi that I made was too curved and thin to be sanded flush to the body. So I've left some paua shell with Jon to be water cut to the right shape. At the moment, the waiting time has been 6 months but there's a bit more to do with mine than most other basses.

[quote name='matty589' post='186918' date='Apr 28 2008, 12:17 AM']The ones I have played are awful. The body is made of about 30 laminates of what seem to be plywood, and almost every setting sounds crap. Don't sit well on a strap and sitting down the bottom horn digs right into your leg. Strange as the guitars are rather nice... apart from that top horn digging into your ribs![/quote] I found the body shape also to be very uncomfortable. The sound of the bass I played (a red 5 string at the Bass Centre) to be very brittle and glassy. It was like they'd taken the same ideals from a guitar and just decided to make a bass version without giving enough thought to what sounded good to bassists.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='186063' date='Apr 26 2008, 06:08 PM']Mark King, Level 42 Though unbelievably dextrous, in my opinion, his playing and music is souless, funkless, 80s shiny blue-eyed pop.. More a technician than musician Loads better than I could ever be, but highly overrated..[/quote] I think you have a point but to be fair he's very much a bassist of his time. I remember seeing him in Plymouth for the first time and, after countless years of learning the usual basslines, was very disappointed by the sheer brutality of his playing. Out of all the bass gods suggested so far I'd like to propose Marcus Miller. His playing is very polished for sure and I'm not knocking the guy for technique or accomplishment either but I got a DVD of his performance on the Ohne Filter TV show and couldn't sit all the way through it. I just wanted so much to see him do something other than pop away at melodies.

great playing - so musical!

We played a wedding in a country hotel near Hatfield Heath. I fell in love with the village as we drove through it, HUGE village green! The gig was great for the singers, although not so good for me. I forgot my earplugs and didn't have spares, my multi voltage adaptor stopped functioning and I had to use the 9v adaptor for the mixer then my Deep Impact pedal froze completely. I forgot my bass stands and so only used the Smith last night, and I REALLY missed not using the Cutlass II for the Chic tracks. The families were Essex based italian and a bit of hard work to begin with, noone was dancing up by the stage. It was the kids up front (and there were a LOT of kids there) and the adults were by the bar sort of bopping around. However as we went into the third set, they loosened up a bit when the bride started to really go for it on the dance floor. We vamped for about 5 mins on the verse for We Are Family which was great fun as we finally got an opportunity to jam on a song for the first time live. (Something I've wanted to do ever since seeing Prince do it live last year at the 02 Dome). This was while the guests formed a leaving arch for the bride and groom. Plus we tucked into the most amazing cold meats and antipasto buffet after the gig.

[quote name='OldGit' post='185742' date='Apr 26 2008, 09:23 AM']You gig with a freeview box? Wow things are different in the Big City [/quote] Dude, last night we gigged in a country hotel near Hatfield Heath which required an early set up (done by 2:15pm). So we brought a laptop, a hard drive with movies on it, a pair of loud Labtec PC speakers and we used the projector screen in the conference room we had been assigned for our dressing room. Plus we had free soft drinks and we ordered a plate loaded with sandwiches for 10 people off room service. It really doesn't get any better.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='186360' date='Apr 27 2008, 10:58 AM']okay, but what about new members that join solely to post a link to something they are selling on ebay, which has happened a couple of times lately? and i mean in the classifieds, not in the ebay links section?[/quote] I don't see an issue with that. The sellers lack of enthusiasm is going to be quite evident, isn't it? The management team can't protect members from themselves and what they choose to spend their money on, and I'm not sure that is an appropriate role for them anyway.

Jon came back and said the tuner hadn't been forgotten but he was thinking about where to put it still.

Lovely score sir, I saw that one myself and wondered whether any one here would be interested in it. I'd love to hear some clips sometime?

The Hora Medley *shudder*

[quote name='BassManKev' post='186186' date='Apr 26 2008, 09:40 PM']i reffered to it about the mods because thats who have the power to change things [/quote] Change within certain limits. Your choice of words probably wasn't very considered however. [quote name='BassManKev' post='186234' date='Apr 27 2008, 12:14 AM']it damages the trust we have on this forum[/quote] If you're careful in your transactions like any responsible adult then you have nothing to worry about. Same as for any classifieds in the paper or wherever. It seems you're also trying to pin responsibility on the people who run this forum for vetting trustworthy members to use the classifieds. Presumably this is on the assumption that new members are the only ones who are profiteering?! If you would like the role of doing the vetting, please DO let me know. Anyways, to go back to a more general view, I don't understand why anyone who is THAT concerned can't drop the mods a PM in preference to putting an ill-judged post on another members ad thread. Seems a bit rude to me, and if someone doesn't have enough proof to make a concern stick then they shouldn't be casting dispersions on other members publically, in my view. Classifieds witchhunts happened on the Dudepit which put people right off using it. Having said that, we could always introduce a quarterly recurring subscription to use the classifieds...? I'm sure that would deter some single use members. However: 1) Would it make the classifieds less interesting? There's some pretty cool stuff that comes up and, because I can handle my transactions responsibly I personally wouldn't want to deter people from posting ads for interesting stuff. 2) Would it result in basschat being less visible to search engines? [quote name='s_u_y_*' post='185936' date='Apr 26 2008, 02:27 PM']The issue with people coming here to sell without introducing itself has come up over and over again. Though some people feel strongly about it, I myself do not mind keeping the status quo. However, I do think my idea also have the benefit of encouraging those sellers to become active members. We do get a lot of traffic from people looking to sell stuff, and I think there's nothing wrong with that. But by encouraging them to post an introduction thread when they first sign in, they may feel more welcome. This would be a win-win situation, quelling the fears of some members that some people are just here to sell, whilst helping to boost active membership. So mods... what say ye? [/quote] Aye, I completely agree. I could also suggest that if the membership would like the forum to continue attract interesting, helpful and entertaining personalities then THEY are responsible for keeping them here by the way in which they interact with them. A bit controversial maybe but a suggestion worth making, although I am concerned about the potential for encouraging mild forms of collective paranoia to develop (ie assuming all new people are a potential thread). FWIW I'm getting a bit tired of responding to these recycled issues so may end up posting cross referenced links to other threads in the future, if members are missing my responses.

That seems perfectly reasonable to me. At least they should be prepared to negotiate a discount for shop soiled goods. Assuming they're serious about wanting to sell it...

[quote name='Huge Hands' post='185677' date='Apr 26 2008, 01:00 AM']Its to do with you being grounded through your mic to the mixer, and also through the guitar, and the small potential differences in the ground paths.[/quote] I get this when I'm plugged into different bits of equipment at the same time. For example, I can plug into the bass amp and then touch the shielding of the freeview box and get a 'tingle'. Ideally all the bits of kit you're in contact with should be going through the same multiplug socket so you don't get this ground path issue. The multiplug can go into the RCD if you're using one, of course.

I had a 4 string single pickup version and installed an EMG BTC preamp in it. The instrument still lacked warmth, I only got a satisfactory sound when the bass boost was turned all the way up. Your options on such a budget conscious instrument are probably fairly limited, the best change you could make is probably to install a warm sounding preamp like the Aguilar OBP1 but you might have to drill an extra hole in the bass. You could look at replacing the pickups as well but you might end up spending close to a hundred quid easily and, if you're going to do that, you might as well get a new bass. Give Andy at Wizard Pickups and talk to him about your options. He might be able to do something on a budget and you get a very fast turn around.

sounds like a keyboard to me

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