BigRedX

I'd look for a second hand MiK Starbass. I used to have the 5-string version and IMO it was vastly superior to all the MiG versions that I had tried in both looks and playability.

At this point the most useful thing you can do is not to get bogged down with specific plug-ins. In fact as a starting point stick with the plug-ins that came free with your DAW and get to know how they work and what they do to sound of the track inside out. It might also be worth getting one of your songs professionally mastered to a standard you like, and then try and replicate that sound yourself. While you are unlikely to be able to copy and paste settings from one song to another with no further tweaking necessary, it should get you much closer to th required end result. The other thing you need to do is to know the sound of your monitoring system and listening environment inside out. Most people recording at home, will either be sharing the space with other living requirements, or if they do have a dedicated space for it, it will be too much small compared with a professional facility, and the overall sound will be compromised as a result. That's why it is important that you know how your space sounds. Spend time playing other people's music through your system so you are completely familiar with it's strengths and weaknesses. In the days when I was still recording at home, I discovered that my monitoring system had a peak at the frequencies that enhanced the sound of our vocalists voice, and therefore what sounded right on my system would result in the vocals sounding too quiet or indistinct on almost anything else. Therefore I had to learn to over-emphasise the vocals when mixing/mastering in order to get the right sound and balance. That's something you will only discover when you are completely familiar with how your speakers/room sound.

Any song that has a similar overall sound that you are aiming for with your compositions (and that you think is well produced/mixed/mastered. Also as Dad said it's not a constant A/B between the reference track and yours. The way I would work is to listen to your reference track a couple of times and then start working on yours. When you think your are getting close to your final version, have another listen to your reference track, so you can hear what more you need to do.

The reference track is a song or songs you listen to in their original form so you can compare your mix/master to. Normally you'd just run it from the source CD player or record deck through the same amp and speakers as you are listening to your mix on and then switch between the two different sources. That way you can hear how the song you like the sound of sounds through your system in your listening environment and compare and contrast your mix/master. If there isn't an easy way to hook up an external CD or record player then you could import the song(s) off CD and drop it into a spare track in Reaper, but import as a WAV/AIFF and NOT MP3 because you need to compare like for like. Also make sure that this reference track is not being processed in any way in Reaper, so that means you won't be able to use plug-ins on the main stereo bus. This is generally why it is better to play the reference from an external source, so there is no chance that it is being affected by anything other than the amp, speakers and room.

If you'd wired it up wrong, you'd get a very thin sound as the speakers would be out of phase and attempting to cancel each other out.

Surely the exchange rate is calculated by HMRC at the time of import? How would they know when the item was actually paid for? Current waiting time between ordering and receiving your item is over half a year...

Probably. The Gus guitars and basses are a 2mm carbon fibre skin over cedar. The only time I have had to adjust the truss rod on any of my Gus instruments was when I swapped the extremely high tension flat-wound strings that came with the 4-string fretless I used to own for some more sensible Pedulla nickel round-wounds

The second jack socket is for a second cab. The two speakers in the combo should be wired together do give an impedance of 8Ω and attached to a single socket on the amp. The when you plug in a second 8Ω cab you get the full output (although with a valve amp for guitar that shouldn't be necessary as it will be plenty loud enough without). I suspect that only one speaker is currently wired up because they were originally in series and the one that is now unused has failed. Are there any impedance makings on the speakers? That would give an indication of how they were originally connected (4Ω in series, 16Ω in parallel).

They may well have been made for him by Simon at Gus. He was responsible for the graphite necks on the Enfield basses.

The other thing to remember is that back in 70s there wasn't anything like the choice we now have regarding bass guitars. If you couldn't buy what you wanted then would have to modify whatever you already had. On top of this there were very few people who would undertake this kind of work at prices affordable to normal musicians - most custom work was priced strictly for rock stars, so if you wanted something done the only way would be to do it yourself with whatever tools and skills you possessed.

Remember also that the VAT and duty will be calculated using HMRC exchange rates which will be different to what is generally being quoted for currency exchange at the time. At the moment the value of the Pound is falling in relation to the Dollar and maybe worth even less in 36 weeks time.

When I first saw photos of the original Gus designs (which more much more radical than the ones being made now) I knew that I wanted one. The design was everything I was looking for in a guitar or bass. I'm lucky enough to own two basses and a guitar.

But most people aren't joiners, and IME can barely wield any kind of bladed tool without making a mess. At least they managed to keep everything out of sight (although it would depend on how good the cut out in the original scratch plate was). Whether or not it bothered me would depend on how good the bass was otherwise.

Gus. Although Simon seems to be snowed under with orders for purple and gold guitars. When I last enquired (pre-covid) about having another Gus made he was talking 12-18 months depending on the specification.

The only problem with this method is that there is no guarantee that either the manufacturer on filling in the customs declaration, or the HMRC, will pick the same commodity code when calculating the duty and on a pricy item like this that difference could be quite expensive.

Probably because when it was done (I suspect in the 70s) it was just another run-of-the-mill, mass produced bass with no special value, and it's owner thought it might be improved by adding a P-pickup and switch. They may well have been right. Remember also that the sort of tools that anyone even thinking about dabbling in customising their guitar or bass would take for granted nowadays were both expensive and hard to come by. When I built my guitar in the late 70s almost everything was done using hand tools and a significant amount of my time was spent sharpening chisel and plane blades rather than shaping any wood. Also it's all hidden under the scratch plate so what's the problem? And finally no-one can tell how good an instrument is going to be simply from looking at some photos. Even without the very DIY modifications it might still be a dog to play and sound rubbish.

I also get that page from time to time on Safari under Mac OS X 10.13.6. Clicking on the Basschat logo takes me to the home page and still logged in, so for me it's only a minor inconvenience.

As a rule of thumb add 25% onto the combined cost of the item and the shipping price and add an additional £15.00 to cover customs clearance fees and you won't have any unpleasant surprises.

The one I had looked more like the cheaper of the two and was the only suitable Warwick Rockbag available for the StarBass at the time that I bought it. However looking at the detail photos of both I notice that the more expensive version has the same terrible (and uncomfortable) strap fixing system as the one I had. For that reason alone I would be very wary of it.

I had a Warwick Rockbag for my MiK StarBass (similar sized hollow body to the EB2 but long-scale neck). Fell to bits after about 18 months of normal use. I certainly wouldn't want to trust it to protecting anything valuable and/or difficult to replace.

Not too bad with modern gear and they had the balcony steps open so the public used those and we loaded in through the other set. Wouldn't have fancied lugging an old-school PA system into the venue through. When I used to go and see gigs there (in 1980-81) it would be a bass bin, 2 mid-range cabs and a set of horns either side of the stage and one or two heavy racks of amps and crossovers to drive it all (plus a massive mixing desk and multicore).

Tube amps also introduce a fair amount of compression as you reach maximum power output so they tend to sound louder even the the peaks in the signal are no greater than a solid state amp the average signal level is.

These days almost all software is purchased by licence, so unless your DAW and plug-ins are all Windows only, you'll be able to download the Mac versions at no extra cost. If you are happy to buy second hand you'll get a much better deal on a used Mac, and as others have said they tend last longer and hold their value better than Windows machines. This is being typed on the Mac I use to earn my living, which is 12 years old and still going strong. I'd steer clear of ex-gamers machines, because they'll have probably been drive hard/hot by their previous owner(s) and may be on the verge of failure. Also for non-gaming use the graphics card will be over-spec'd and for your needs over-priced. All good DAWs will de-prioritise screen redraw when the system starts to run out of power, so unless you want to run multiple large monitors you'll be paying a premium for a component you don't need.

In that case, IMO anything with a reasonable amount of padding and a carry handle on the side will probably do. I'd be looking at something in the middle price bracket from any of the standard gig bag manufacturers like Ritter.