Kiwi

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='18020' date='Jun 15 2007, 09:17 AM']i've got... ...a leathercraft one[/quote] I've got 5 of the huge 4" wide padded leather/suede ones from Sound Control and they're the only strap I will use now. Super comfortable and non slip.

People usually go for a starter bass between £300-450. You could probably net yourself a secondhand MM Stingray or new Japanese Fender for your budget - hell you could even make Bassjamm an offer on his [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1044"]Smith BSR5J [/url]in the Basschat classifieds!

What kind of bass do you want? Musicman, Warwick, Ibanex, Yamaha, Spector, amongst others all fall within that price range for new basses. You could go second hand and get much better value for money but you'd have to take responsibility for checking the bass over more carefully before you buy it

If you look at Elixir's website there's a load of guff about how stuff gets in between the windings to deaden the sound. There may be something to this but I don't know. However I think its also worth noting the properties of metal are that its good under expansion, but it can stretch. Part of the legend behind cryogenically frozen strings (like Dean Markley Blue Steels) was that the freezing process aligned the molecules better (tempering process) and made the strings less susceptible to stretching and therefore they lasted longer. I mean, its all a lot of medicine show at the end of the day. You can potentially still end up with a duff set of strings regardless of how good the manufacturer claims they are. I'd prefer to minimise my risk and buy cheap every time. I tend to use D'Addario Stainless Steel and boil them so long as flat spots haven't been worn in. I've had duff sets from status, rotosound and elite. I use Warwick red label sometimes as well if I want softer sounding strings - the Daddarios are very aggressive so good for the Smiths.

I've heard the same, but it doesn't it potentially mean you can pump into them double their power rating? Best to talk to Acme direct on that.

Find a friendly auto paint shop. If you get the final sanding done and grain filling (if needed), they can paint it for cheap as chips and cut back the finish to a nice gloss.

The only problem with hifi speakers is that they may not be shielded. I've also used a pair of Alesis M1 Active Mk2's and they've been very good if a little on the large side. I have a pair of Yamaha HS50's which have proven to be a total revelation - I can hear details that I've not been able to pick up even on my mp3 player.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='17160' date='Jun 13 2007, 07:57 PM']Why did Polymers never really take off? Apart from limited success with Status and Uncle Ned himself, there has been hardly any takers in this department..... I find it odd! They (now) have incredible stabilty and memory they are not affected by temp and humidity like wood.... They can be considerably more dense that some woods so better for tonal qualities, the newest ones are even CNC able (anyone that has fired a Glock will know about that) ..... but they still remain an "out there' material...... Somone enlighten me.........[/quote] Do you mean graphite composite necks? There's Modulus, Rainsong and Vigier too. Technically graphite composite is a very demanding material to design with. Its not like you can check its weight and moisture content then lob a lunk of it in a CNC mill for shaping. There's a skill in getting the layers aligned so that they're structurally efficient, then you have to understand how to mate the fingerboard to the neck, and the fingerboard has to be really stiff too. PLus, its expensive to make the molds because you need high standards of finish to let the poly finish look smooth and glossy. Moses have necks that I suspect are more resin than graphite weave because if you keep one in a cold room you'll notice the neck is very stiff and suffering from backbow. Plus they sound a bit gutless in my experience. An all resin neck probably wouldn't be stiff enough. I love graphite as a material, but I don't think many manufacturers have tried to tame the sound of graphite much. Its great as a structural element but really needs some dampening to sound its best. Graphite necked basses really sound best when mated to a heavy, soft body. Whether thats soft, heavy ash or whatever isn't so important - the graphite necked basses I've liked least have ALL had light bodies. I'd love to hear what a graphite necked bass with a bubinga body would sound like - I suspect it would sound very meaty and the bubinga might tame the highs a little. I tend to see graphite being used with the same wood combinations as maple though - alder/ash etc. but unless the body woods are particularly soft, it can make the bass sound too brittle. I also think most phenolic fingerboards sound too brittle, and if the recipe for the phenolic resin mix isn't stiff enough then the neck can warp - which is what happened with my Modulus fretless and 1st Cutlass. I reckon Vigier have got the mix right - a firm graphite 'skeleton' softened and fattened tonally with wood selected for its tonal dampening.

Good good, keep them coming.

Interesting thread Alex - any plans to go down the pro tools route eventually?

This is (at last) a healthy discussion as far as I'm concerned. I've removed some words from the filter that can otherwise be used in every day language in a non offensive manner.

[quote name='BOD2' post='16817' date='Jun 13 2007, 12:44 PM']I don't know that it's "too good" - after all, oak often ends up in flooring and even palettes. You're probably right about it being difficult to work with, though. (i.e. hard on tools and more difficult to sand etc.). Having said that, guitar makers often use ebony for fingerboards and that's like iron ![/quote] ebony sounds good too.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='16746' date='Jun 13 2007, 11:13 AM']Never seen a Neck in Hickory or with Hickory laminates.[/quote] I know that hickory is very difficult to work by hand. I wonder about its tonal characteristics too.

As a bit of useless trivia: Will Lee played sessions in the 90's for something like triple or quadruple scale. In Bass Player, he said he bumped up his rate as a way of weeding out the crappier work but it only ended up increasing demand instead!

[quote name='DHA' post='16267' date='Jun 12 2007, 02:50 PM']A 3 or 4 way input switch is much simpler and hence much cheaper.[/quote] Now that would be a good idea if the gain levels remained consistent when you swapped basses and didn't need separate settings to suit each bass.

Dood should inspire you. He inspires me, but I'm still crap on my 6 string.

Oxblood has suggested I post my reply to him here and I have decided that it might help explain things a little better as this conversation has been repeated with a number of members of Bassworld in the past and most recently on Basschat. As far as a political principle is concerned, I share Ken's views on free speech, however the reality of running a forum is different. This is a view I have held consistently through BW. Some of you may find that politically offensive, I'm sorry about that, but we're managing with the community interests at heart, not political interests. [quote][quote][i]I am trying to help you find the right balance - it's just that our respective concepts of what constitutes balance are at variance. Mine is rooted in the basic principle that it is the forum members themselves who should decide what they want to say and in what terms it should be expressed, with the moderators intervening only if threads degenerate into personal insult, if slanderous statements are made that could get the forum itself into legal hot water, or if prompted to do so by complaints of offence from fellow members.[/i] Ken In an ideal world I would concur with your principle if everyone was capable of acting in a responsible and mature manner. However I think you're assuming that everyone shares the same ability to take responsibility for their actions where the mods and I know for a fact that this isn't the case - particularly where members post under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. In our experience of running BW, many members are simply not interested in making a fuss about language use or other incidents even though they find it offensive because they simply wish to avoid confrontation. So no reaction by other members to an outburst does not equate with approval or acceptance. On the positive side, you only have to look at the introductions forum to see people who have complimented the site on its friendliness and openness. I don't believe that allowing a policy of self moderation would [list=1] [*]be acceptable to everyone [*]create an atmosphere of friendliness or openness [*]encourage active membership growth [/list]In fact I think self moderation would discourage posting by those who are less inclined to confront unacceptable behaviour. I think its important not to transpose a set of values an individual chooses for themselves and assume they're appropriate for a community. Thats why we have a team of mods to help run the forum. It does permit a particularly vocal and confrontational minority to dominate the forums which is completely unacceptable to Ped and myself for a number of reasons, notwithstanding it makes managing a forum with any degree of perspective that much harder. That was what was starting to happen with Bassworld and I'm glad that the change in forum ownership has seen many of those problem individuals leave. Its improved the atmosphere palpably. But getting back to the topic of the filter. I would like the filter to be more subtle than it originally started out so that those members that exercise moderation anyway will not notice anything. That's an evolutionary process. I'm aware of your situation with SHG and to be honest I thought his action a little harsh so I think you will be able to use the word tosser without intervention in the future if its not used gratuitously. [i]a situation where the moderators are experimenting with blanket bowdlerization of our discourse - with inevitably farcical results. I can only repeat here what I said to him: it's a sad state of affairs indeed when Basschat forum policy is effectively being dictated by the corporate prudery of organizations with which we have no connection and to whom we owe no duty at all.[/i] There's no hidden agenda with this forum, the filter is an experiment because we want to raise the standard of conduct to create a civilised place, not cater to the lowest common denominator. Hope this clarifies things. cheers Steve[/quote] [/quote] Apart from tidying up of typos, this post has had one edit for the sake of clarity to remove a point of misunderstanding between Ken and myself.

[quote name='pete.young' post='16264' date='Jun 12 2007, 02:49 PM']No, lets have that discussion in the open where we can all see it.[/quote] No Pete, I don't want to do that. We'll deal with subjects concerning moderation offline thank you, as per the guidelines.

[quote name='guyl' post='16105' date='Jun 12 2007, 11:15 AM']Have you ever seen a decent bass head or preamp that has 3 inputs? I use 2 upright and one electric and end up using little soundcraft notepad on top of my rig. Would love to get home quicker by reducing leads etc, but can't find a simple 1U rackmounted mixer (or pre/amp), with jack inputs and basic controls all on the front.[/quote] No I haven't, I was just testing the water with Dave. Of course, the simple solution would be to buy a rackmounted mixer but like you, I've not seen one that combines: 1) Para eq 2) Less than 4 channels 3) Rackmounted 4) valve compressor with inputs mounted on the front.

Ken I'm happy to discuss this in further detail via PM.

[quote name='Oxblood' post='16026' date='Jun 12 2007, 07:54 AM']...and this morning, CK, your sloganizer signature has chosen to say "Easy Basschat". Now there's irony for you.[/quote] Its lost on me Ken. We're just trying to manage a forum here and its a tricky balance to achieve sometimes. Why not help us find the right balance, bearing in mind we have a range of experiences, backgrounds and levels of maturity?

The mods have had to intervene increasingly in the last 7 days on posts containing excessive bad language. I don't know why its suddenly increased but it has and the filter is a much easier way to manage it than manual intervention. The filter is there to catch slip ups and lapses, its not going to prevent full blooded spleen venting. So if you're really determined to swear then you will be able to find a way, but why would any decent, mature member want to do that here? There are other forums someone can do that in. As for shouting and use of exclamation marks, incorrect use of the apostrophe, use of text speak split infinitives and anything that bothers Guardian readers . No, we're not going to catching those but the mods do pick up on excessive use of caps when used by someone who appears to be less experienced in using a forum. The final thing is that the filter has been set up with a list of about 30 standard terms, but it could be reduced down to about ten or so if, as andy_$$ points out, it gets in the way of posts. The filter has only just been set up and will require some tweaking to ensure it doesn't become disruptive, unfortunately, there's no way to do it offline. So if you come up against a situation where you think that the filter has been unnecessarily disruptive to your otherwise normal use of the forum, drop me a PM and I'll have a look into it.

guys - we're just testing the language filter, its triggered by profanity and replaces it with cockney rhyming slang. The sensitivity needed a little tweaking but we couldn't do it offline unfortunately.

I tend to marinate a 15mm thick steak in teppanyaki sauce first and flash fry it for 4 mins each side. The inside has to be raw and the outside crispy

congrats! a lovely example