BigRedX

Distance selling regs allow you to return it for a refund within 28 days of purchase. Besides you'll get a much better idea of whether it's going to suit you then 30 minutes playing in a music shop will.

"Is there any such thing as music that doesn't date?" No. To believe otherwise is delusional. Everything about a piece of music will date it from the chord sequences to the song structure, the lyrical (if there are any) subject matter, the arrangement and instrumentation. And that's before you consider the recording and production.

The 5-string version of it is extremely rare (only 50 were made) and extremely big and heavy. It does look cool though...

It's either fake, or he's signed a really crap deal that means some other organisation (probably his record label or publisher) is taking most of his Spotify royalties, in which case he's got no-one but himself (and his legal advice) to blame. I've just had a look at mine for the last 6 months and the mechanicals only work out at just over 0.4¢ per play. Therefore if I'd received 1,000,000 plays that would be over $4k. Add my share of the publishing royalties to that, and it would be more than enough to get my band into a decent studio with a good producer to record our next album.

It depends what kinds of venues you are playing. It is my experience that most pub gig and covers band musicians don't really understand how bands on the originals circuit work (if they did they might consider it a more attractive proposition). We don't need to worry about things like monitoring because that's supplied by the venue, and while there are some venues where the PA can be a bit ropy they (IME) are few and and getting fewer all the time. Certainly in the last 20 years of playing in originals bands (probably around 500 gigs) there have been only a handful where the bass guitar wasn't in the PA and the on-stage monitors were strictly vocals only. They all tend to be tiny venues where the FRFR was more than capable of being my "back line" and providing a audible bass for both the rest of the band and the FoH sound. For most gigs I tend to treat my FRFR as a cross between backline and flexible monitoring. It's size and shape means that it can be placed in places where a conventional bass rig wouldn't fit. A lot of the time it goes under the stand which holds the computer for the band's backing tracks, and quite often it will be directed across the stage so that it's impact on the FoH sound is minimal, but still providing adequate stage coverage for the rest of the band to hear me. I don't see the FRFR and IME issues as being in any way related. If the band was to go for IEMs we'd ditch all the backline including my FRFR, The only reason for me to go for IEMs and keep the FRFR would be so I could also get the click on some songs where the drum patterns can be a little off-putting with regards to what I am playing. TL:DR 1. For small gigs with vocal only PAs the FRFR is more than capable of acting as my backline for band and audience to hear me. 2. For medium gigs (most of the ones I play ATM and where the bass is in the PA for FoH) the FRFR acts in exactly the same way as a conventional bass rig, but with more versatile on-stage placement options. 3. For big gigs, I don't bother with the FRFR, as the venue's monitoring system is more than adequate for me and the rest of the band to hear the bass.

Most humbuckers only use a single magnet orientated so that the pole-pieces for one coil are N and for the others are S. Therefore if you want to physically separate the the two halves of the humbucker you may well need to buy a second magnet of equal type and strength for one of the coils.

Streaming pays perfectly well so long as you haven't signed a contract which assigns the majority of that income to your record company and/or publisher.

Nice bass 😉

Does it specifically have to be pointy? Or will just unusual do? If so: Gus G3-5

The patches on my Helix are carefully crafted so that when the guitars or synths change in either of my bands the bass changes with it to still sit properly in the mix. It takes a fair bit of time and several rehearsals to work all the nuances out. I look at in in the same way as that old cliché that no no-one notices the bass until it isn't there. Unless my sound has been specifically picked to stand out in the mix (there are a few songs where this is needed) the patch changes are there to keep the overall instrumental balance right. Most of the time the average audience member won't notice that anything has changed. However if I didn't have different patches for each song (or section of the song) they probably would notice that the bass is suddenly too loud/quiet/bright/muddy.

What I enjoy playing and what I enjoy listening to don't have to be the same. Certainly for my brief(ish) stint in a covers band there were some songs that I wouldn't normally give the time of day to from a listening PoV that I really enjoyed playing. Unfortunately there are several songs that I used to like, but can now no longer stand listening to, as a result of having to over-analyse them in order to learn how to play them.

Just remember that the Smooth Hound is relatively high latency compared with similar devices. If you also have digital effects on the your pedal board, it may become noticeable especially if you use IEM.

That's poor design. I still have a Puma 300 and IMO it's not that flat/transparent.

I have a patch on my Helix with just an amp and speaker sim on it (the EBS one IIRC), with the tone controls for the amp up on the display so that they can be altered if required. Anyone who wants to use my (currently) unconventional rig simply plugs their bass or pedal board into the main Helix input and uses this. Since it's not a patch I use myself, it really doesn't matter how much they fiddle about with the controls. The only thing I tell them is to make a note of the settings after soundchecking if more than one band is going to using this rig. TBH I feel far more comfortable about other bassists using this then I did when I had a conventional bass rig. I also had one bassist who used my rig who didn't bother with this default patch but simply asked to use the one I had soundchecked with for my band as it sounded so good.

RCF 745 FRFR. That's what I use. No conventional bass amp and cab is remotely flat despite what the marketing department might want you to believe. That all have their own unique baked-in sound. That's why you choose one brand over another - it's has a baked-in sound that you find pleasing.

I think you'll find plenty of people who'll recommend @Andyjr1515 Have at look at his work in the build diaries.

If you still want the overall scale length to be 35" you'll need to make some measurements and do some maths to get it right. Remember that 35" is the total length from the nut to the bridge and the neck (depending on how many frets it is) is slightly less than 3/4 of that. If you want to add a spacer in the neck pocket simply measure the difference between to original neck and the replacement one and that will tell you how long the spacer needs to be. Remember though that off-setting the neck by that amount (it's going to be approximately 18mm if both necks have the same number of "frets") may mean that not all of the neck screws will be attached to the new neck. Also it's worth considering that there is no guarantee that the Lull has a standard Fender-sized neck pocket that will fit the typical off-the-shelf replacement neck. And all the "fret" position markers will be out including the 12th and you'll have to cover them over and work out where the correct ones should be. If you're not bothered about preserving the 35" scale then provided the neck pocket is suitable for the replacement neck you could simply bolt it on. IME a good 5-string is not about the scale length but the neck construction and neck joint. Again you will have to re-calculate the position markers. HTH.

"What should I look for?" A roadie to help you carry it.

Remember that every new Taylor purchase supports Scientology...

The pickups on the eBay one have 6 "pole pieces" so are probably not the originals.

If the device is still working without the LEDs lighting up then it's most likely the PSU that has failed. Check the headphone output. If that's not working it's definitely the PSU. If it is working then something has failed in the LED circuits.

It's been on a couple of times before.

Same body shape and a lot of similar features to this Orfeus bass made in Bulgaria.

Played the Leeds Goth City festival on Saturday with both In Isolation and Hurtsfall. It was Hurtsfall's first gig for almost 2 years and also the first since we parted ways with our drummer and decided to go for programmed drums instead. Two manic rehearsals the week before the gig (our first since March last year) mostly for get a feel for how the songs were sounding without an actual drummer. A couple of iffy moments during the set but I don't think anyone in the audience noticed. First outing as well for the Eastwood Hooky Bass which is big improvement over the Bass VIs (Squier and Burns Barracuda) I've been using before After that I felt much more relaxed for In Isolation's set. Plenty of people dancing and as far as well could tell not too many left to go and see Auger who were playing at the same time at another venue as part of the Goth City festival.

I don't know. The band formed in the early 70s, and they used to do a cover of The Seeds' "No Escape" in a very similar style until they started playing "Nag, Nag, Nag" at gigs