Kiwi

I'm not altogether sure what you mean by 'a 4th' since you've not actually stated what chord you're hearing. But assuming we're talking about the same place, it definitely sounds to me like there's a semitone shift on the last two beats just before it goes back into the verse. On my second listen it actually sounds more like the bass shifts down from an F to an E. But you could play an Eb and it wouldn't hurt the song much. I can't hear an A at all and such a simple harmony would dull the colour in the rest of the harmonies somewhat. How he manages to write such rich harmonies and then gets lost in the groove I don't know. The guy's a incredible musician. When I played this track in my own band, I had more trouble with the passage at the end of the first verse. Neither the Musical Director nor I could pin that one down and I ended up having to wing it. (Although the girls ended up hating the song and we dropped it before performing it live). Now I've got a decent set of studio monitors to listen to the tracks through, its a lot easier to pick the changes and I know now that the bass was actually a lot simpler harmonically than the MD wanted me to play! (No wonder I kept stuffing it up eh? Bloody keyboardists. )

If you're going to shift +1 octave you'd be best off putting the shifted path through some kind of eq to take the tinniness off the sound and boost the mids a little to make it sound more natural. I've created a uni-bass patch on my MPX-G2 that I only *just* managed to get right after about 12 months of messing about with signal paths, eq settings and routing. It's a load more convincing when I eq the dry signal path to give the bass more at 2.5-3.5 Khz (depending on the bass I'm using) and 120Hz leaving the distorted, shifted signal with nothing below 250Hz and nothing above about 1Khz with a slight peak somewhere between 500 or 600Hz. It all fits together nicely in terms of the frequency spectrum and both paths can be heard clearly.

Can you describe the interference a little more? Is it hum or crackle?

you got that right! welcome back!

Hi Will Good to see my Sonic Hammer staying in the family and welcome back!

There's an Eb half tone which comes in on the lyric 'dream' and leads back into the E¦B pattern. Is that the bit you're after? Its a passing note too, so don't get too hung up on how it fits into the key.

Hi ngombe, thanks for the kind words and WELCOME!

How do you know the differences are not down to other factors such as neck tension?

'Ave it!!

[quote name='BB2000' post='10399' date='Jun 1 2007, 09:39 AM']They can leave a bad imprint on the instrument finish around the edge of the guard, which can't be removed.[/quote] A bit of a rub down with wet and dry will sort that out.

can you not take the body guard [i]off[/i]?

[quote name='bassjamm' post='10281' date='May 31 2007, 11:29 PM']A platent plug here...but i've got my Ken Smith BSRB Deluxe 5 up for grabs if you're interested?[/quote] Very, very few ever made in that charcoal finish too, according to Ken. Someone on the Smith forum has the 6 string version.

[quote name='pete.young' post='10138' date='May 31 2007, 08:09 PM']Um. My Burman guitar combo has exactly the same transformers as my Burman bass head, and they both definitly cut it when it comes to 5 string basses. Generalise at your own risk.[/quote] LOL, you beat me to it!

[url="http://www.smithbassforums.com/showthread.php?p=4567#post4567"]http://www.smithbassforums.com/showthread....p=4567#post4567[/url] I've posted something on your behalf on Ken Smiths forum.

I smell a business opportunity for someone to make a separate website...

[quote name='paul, the' post='9674' date='May 31 2007, 01:58 AM']and Bootsy Collins[/quote] Bootsy slaps I'm afraid.

Hi Chris - welcome back to the forum. Use it up and wear it out because the only way is up. *A-ha* How much of the original line up are you playing with in Odyssey?

Slaps just a technique like any other as far as I can see. If the music you play doesn't need slap then there's probably no need for you to worry about not being able to do it. (However every drummer I've played with likes the bass player to slap it up a bit during a jam.) Loads of name bassists out there who don't slap too Anthony Jackson Jeff Berlin Francis 'Rocco' Prestia James Jamerson Carole King Donald 'Duck' Dunn Bob Babbit John Entwhistle Jaco to name but a few.

I'd love to be able to play with the facility of Dood. But it must take an astounding amount of self discipline and tenaciousness to reach that level, and then the standard has to be [i]maintained[/i] at that level by frequent practice and gigging. Much like slaphappygarry and OBBM say, I see "being good enough" is about having sufficient technical and musical facility to play what the song needs. The style of music I play isn't particularly demanding in terms of speed but I have to be super accurate with my timing (because often a neo-soul bassline I play won't come exactly in on the first beat in a bar) and make sure I don't push other musicians out by overplaying. I'm developing an ever greater awareness of what makes the song strong and playing bass is getting easier and less frustrating as a result. That involves using the notes to define the feeling and shape of the spaces inbetween (if I'm not riffing in time with the guitarist).

I find the prospect of creating my own custom bass daunting, having already done it once and ended up with a bit of a lemon which I progressively modified into... ...a modified lemon. One bass would have to be all things to me and my tastes range from Jaydee to Smith to Musicman. Clearly an unreasonable request, so I haven't bothered. In terms of the sound in my head, only one bass has hit the spot (and its not a Smith) but the maker has told me he's not interested in making custom instruments unless he's commissioned on an hourly rate. I think I'd be more comfortable tweaking an existing design rather than starting from scratch.

Is it REALLY bugging you that much?

if there enough of these factory tours around, lets post them here and i'll turn this thread into a sticky

I'd say go with the Yamaha out of those you've given, if its the only bass you're going to use. Its a solid, well-built workhorse that won't let you down in a variety of gigging situations. Also consider the Status Groove 5 if you are considering a Stingray, they're outstanding value for money secondhand.

I don't think it makes much of a difference personally, but I've done it anyway

I remember posting this one on BT. Great vid, I moved it to Build Diaries BTW.