BigRedX

Out of Interest what makes this "Hardcore" as opposed to one of the many sub-genres of metal?

Even if you take your rig in and get the engineer to mic one or more of the speakers up, they'll also take a DI from the head and another direct from the bass. When it comes to getting the bass sound, a good engineer will use what they could hear in the live room as a reference; but you have no way of knowing how the final bass sound in the mix was created and could just as easily be the direct DI from the bass with plug-ins on it.

Unfortunately IMO that clip very much re-enforces my point about SAHB being less good without Alex Harvey.

Surely if the shop is a proper DHL drop-off and collection point they should be accepting every parcel? And if they can't do that that they should be replaced with one that will. I had a similar situation a few years back with UPS. I had a delivery from them that I wasn't aware of, and because of this, I happened to be out when the delivery was attempted. My parcel was taken to the local drop-off shop and a card put through the door stating as much. On going to collect the parcel this drop-off shop turned out to be a good 15 minute walk from my address. When I arrived I was told I couldn't have it because there was no-one there who knew how to work the system. I could see behind the counter a vast number of parcels and packages strewn all over the floor. On my return home I was straight on the phone to UPS customer services telling them in polite but very forceful terms exactly what I thought of their "service". I got a very apologetic lady who said that she would look into the problem and call me back. That was the last I expected to hear from them. So I was pleasantly surprised that about 30 minutes later I did in fact get a call from UPS where they were even more apologetic and said that I would be able to collect my parcel in 2 hours time when the owner of the shop and apparently the only person capable of working the parcel delivery and collection system would be back. UPS stressed that this was very much against their policy which stated that the service should be available at all times during shop opening hours, and that they would be taking action. I was even more pleasantly surprised to discover next time I went past the shop that they were no longer UPS agents. So if the delivery is messed up again tomorrow kick up a fuss the DHL.

Incidentally GHS do an even heavier set of Bass VI strings (than the Newtones) designed to go on the Eastwood Hooky bass. I have to say that they suit this bass very well and I will be ordering a set as a failsafe just in case when I restring with Newtones I don't like it as much. Every Bass VI style instrument I have tried (apart form the Eastwood Hooky) comes with very similar gauge strings to those fitted to the Squier. I have no idea why since most users find the E and A far to floppy in feel and sound.

I've no specific recommendations for headphones, but you really need to steer clear from Bluetooth as the latency is far too great for real-time audio streaming.

It's only a problem if you fit heavier gauge round wound strings. With flats, or the lighter strings that the Fender and Squier models come fitted with the E and A strings intonate properly without modifying the bridge.

Excellent! Although it looks as though the intonation string might still be touching the A string. Chords? I haven't been able to get any decent clarity for chords of more than two notes out of any of my Bass VIs unless I'm very much in the upper register.

IME lighter gauge string require less rearward travel to get the correct intonation.

If you can get the saddles far enough back by removing the springs, I'd probably go for the shortening the screws as it would be the simplest mod to reverse if it doesn't work. However I'd also still look first at raising the overall height of the bridge and then lowering each individual saddle so that the intonation screws aren't at such an extreme angle, which will hopefully stop them from interfering with the strings.

I've just had a look at my Squier Bass VI (must get around to selling it because it's not been used at all since I got the Eastwood), and IIRC the fix only involved reversing the E and A saddles which means drilling new holes for them on the opposite side of the bridge. Will the other method work for you? I have a feeling the HB version of this bridge was slightly different.

But if your going to be honest with yourself both bands without their front person where pretty awful from a musical PoV.

Some people have been able the sort out the intention problems by reversing the whole saddle/screw/spring assembly. That way when the saddle is back far enough for the intonation to be right it's at the end of the screw and therefore it's not a problem. You can also try playing about with relative string heights using the main bridge height screws as well as individual saddle height screws. I had a similar problem on an HB baritone guitar and was able to find a compromise that worked by adjusting these until the intonation screw was no longer a problem. IIRC you wind the saddle height screws right down and set the main action using the bridge supports, only using the saddle height screws to match the radius of the fingerboard.

Shim the neck to increase the break angle over the bridge and fit a set of Newtone Axion Custom Works Fender VI stings which are about a third the cost of the LaBellas and IMO the superior round wound strings for Bass VIs. I'm assuming you want round wounds. If not your options a bit more limited, and expensive; but IIRC Picato do a set of Bass VI flats. After that it will be down to personal preference and how much money you want to spend. The next thing you'll probably want is something to stop the bridge wobbling about on it's supports. Increasing the break angle of the stings goes a long way to help but its not a perfect solution. If you've got some DYI skills and the right tools you may find one of the home-brew solutions using metal tubing will work, but otherwise you are looking at a Staytrem bridge. The problem with the bridge and vibrato mechanism is two-fold. With the light gauge strings supplied the vibrato can be quite effective, but unfortunately to get decent bass sounds out of the lower stings, and once you fit either LaBellas or Newtones the increased tension of the strings will make the vibrato mechanism almost impossible to operate. Also IMO the wobbly bridge has no place on a bass guitar. It's fine if you want to do MBV impersonations on a guitar but on the Bass VI it's just an inconvenience. Personally I found the biggest problem with the Squier Bass VI was the narrow neck, which I found unfeasibly narrow even by guitar standards and more so fitted with bass strings. My ultimate solution was to replace the Bass VI with an Eastwood Hooky Bass 6 Pro which is an exact copy of his Shergold Marathon Six String Bass.

Personally I would never plug a USB drive from an unknown source into my computer, and after watching MR Robot I would now think twice about any CDR 😉 Given that my experience with CD production brokers is that they only do the most cursory of checks regarding the copyright of the music on the CDs they are producing, it would be fairly simple for a malicious band to stick some serious malware into their CDs if they wanted. Maybe something that silently streams the band's back catalogue in the background all the time the computer is on. That's a whole new can of worms...

And finally... Whilst I think that for a physical release, as a tactile artefact, an album pressed on 12" vinyl in a nicely produced sleeve is a very lovely thing of wonder, you also have to consider the practicalities of where and how your are going to sell them. 12" albums are fine if you are headlining/playing last or someone will be on hand to man the merch stand until the end of the night, but it is my experience that CDs are more practical for putting into a coat pocket or bag if you've sold them mid-way through the evening, and remember that your main selling times will be immediately after your band has played and just before everyone gets kicked out of the venue at the end of the night. Also remember that if you intend to also sell physical product on line (through bandcamp or similar) a CD fits into a D1 size Jiffy Bag which are cheap to buy and go in the post as "large letter". 12" vinyl will require more expensive packaging (12" record mailers and you WILL require stiffeners as well to protect them in the post) plus the postage is significantly more.

IME (well at least for me) you need a heavier low-B than you would normally think would be required, mostly because it is so low tension compared with the other strings. In my case for a 100-40 (E-G) set I go fo a 130 B string. In your case start by trying a 120 with the 95-55 set and see how you get on with that. Also depending on the bass and bridge construction you might want to consider a taper-wound B string.

What gauges are your E, A and D strings going to be?

The Terrortones 3rd release was on cassette and download only. Despite the fact that the download version was initially free and the fact that I doubt many of our fans actually had cassette players we still sold a significant number of cassettes. Enough to cover the cost of getting them produced in the first place. Make what you will of that!

No you'll need to use the 200 you got when you first set up the Bandcamp account (unless you've already used them in which case you'll probably have to buy some more).

The best way to get download codes is by doing a Bandcamp release. You get 200 codes free with your Bandcamp account, and you can either buy more or you'll get another 1000 for every $500 of Bandcamp sales.

It's a tricky one and most probably depends on the genre of the band. For your's I would have thought that CDs were still perfectly acceptable. It was certainly my experience when The Terrortones played "punk" gigs that our CDs were the most popular format. In the case of one of my current bands - Hurtsfall - what we have discovered works best is to release each song separately as a single for streaming and download only. The way each song gets the attention we think they deserve, unlike an album or EP where normally only one track will get any publicity (usually the first one). At some point we'll probably collect all the songs together for a physical release on vinyl which will be sold along with a download code.

Those of you that have been on Basschat a while will know that I used to play in a band called "Dïck Venom & The Terrortones" which like Happy Jack's band was perfectly appropriately named for the music we were playing - a garage rock/psychobilly hybrid. Myself and the rest of the band were under no illusions that on stage Mr Venom was THE TALENT and our job on stage was to provide the tightest of tight musical backdrops for his over the top performance (both visually and lyrically). The band was entirely Mr Venom's concept and he was the driving force that allowed us to go from nothing but an idea to complete band with a musical and visual concept performing our first half-hour set of songs we'd written ourselves in just 8 weeks. He also did the majority of work behind the scenes - getting gigs and interacting with our fans on social media and all that non-musical stuff that can be very off-putting and tedious for the average musician. The only downside to having a band named after the singer is the is absolutely no future for it once the singer decides that they have had enough, as we discovered when after 6 years Mr Venom became too unwell to be able to consistently deliver the level of live entertainment that our audience had come to expect, that was the end of the band as he was the only member that wasn't ultimately replaceable.

Play more. It doesn't have to "practice" as such. Just pick up your bass and play.

It is my experience that Amazon and most of the "budget" delivery services employ drivers who haven't yet figured out how conventional UK house numbering works. Add to that the pressure to get an unfeasible number of parcels delivered every day, it's not surprising that many drivers can't be bothered/simply don't have the time to locate any property that isn't immediately obvious. I've also had one parcel "delivered" to an address with the same Street name and number but with an entirely different post code and therefore in a totally different part of Nottingham. It would also suspect that unless the item has a retail price of over £10, it won;'t be cost effective for Amazon for you to return it.