BigRedX

If you haven't already done so you may want to add the words "post-punk" to your goth band ad. As someone who plays in two "goth influenced" bands has discovered, a lot of musicians while playing music that most definitely falls into the goth genre don't much care for the label.

Well done @molan. However I suggest you read the EULA for WhatsApp very carefully, as their conditions for privacy and data use preclude it from being used as a business communications method in many European countries.

TBH as soon as you fit the heavier gauge LaBella or Newtone strings the vibrato mechanism on both the Squier and Burns does essentially nothing.

If you are intending to carry this case for any distance on your back make sure you try it first with the bass and anything else you indent to put in it. IME some of the cases mentioned are not very comfortable to wear for more than a couple of minutes walking. Also the person who suggested a Hiscox case was being more serious than you might think. A lot of the semi-rigid cases are about the same size and weight as a Hiscox, and if you don't need to carry it on your back it may actually be a better option.

I believe the seller is the person who does the Fly Guitars Gibson and Epiphone bass resource pages. IIRC he's also a Basschat member

I don't really know what you would need to "try" on a headless.

Black Velvet is definitely synth. Very well programmed for both the sound and the "performance" but if you know what to listen for it is very obviously synth. Don't Stop Believing might have some real bass guitar in there but if there is it's as a backing for the piano and synth sounds that are at the forefront of the bass line.

I found one of the bands I currently play with through a JMB ad (I advertised they got in touch). I found the other through Facebook. The last band I joined before that, was done from answering an ad pinned to the wall of my local record shop (that was just over 10 years ago though).

While you don't NEED a practice amp for recording, When you are not recording, the ability to simply fir up your amp and play is a lot more immediate than having the start up the computer load the DAW pick a plug-in and accepted routing before you can hear anything. Sometime you need that immediacy to keep the creativity flowing.

There's a lot more to UK made basses than just Burns.

@PaulFenderJazz I wasn't previously aware of the Harley Benton Bass VI, but having had a look at it on the Thomann web site, it does look interesting. It's pity that only appears to be available in Sunburst which IMO is a pretty boring colour. However other people find it attractive, so what do I know? A couple of things to be aware of. The 42mm nut width sounds better than the Squier, but from the photos it does look as though the high and low E strings are set in quite a distance from the fingerboard edges, so it may not be as generous as it sounds. No string spacing figure is given for the bridge. This coupled with the presence of a ToM style bridge leads me to believe that it could be quite tight in comparison with the Squier. However I'm prepared to be pleasantly surprised. The price does look very attractive - or at least it will be when Thomann actually have some in stock - so IMO definitely worth a punt. If you do decide to give it a go, could you please let me know what the actual string spacing at the nut (E string to E string) as well as the spacing from E to E at the bridge. It may help me to decide whether I should get one of these in preference to my Squier as a spare bass for gigs.

The Newtones suit my playing style better, normal bass guitar thickness on the E and A string and a bit more lighter and flexible on as you go higher which suits the guitar-style lines played on the higher strings better. Plus they are cheaper than LaBellas.

You're welcome. I prefer the Newtones. And contributing to this thread has just reminded me to order some spares!

The stock strings for all budget Bass VIs IME are based on the typical fender Bass VI string gauges - 84 - 24. Most people seem to be much better off with the heavier gauge strings from LaBella which are 95 - 26. Personally I like the Newtone Axion Bass VI strings (only round wound) which are lighter at the top and heavier at the bottom - 100 - 24.

If I could find a Bass VI with a neck as wide as that of a typical Classical Guitar, I'd be a happy chap. The Squier Bass VI is definitely in narrow 70s Strat neck territory. Also be aware many of the Bass Vis available for some reason have the outer strings positioned quite far in from the neck edges compared with most guitars and basses, so the nut widths given can make the string spacing at the neck seem more generous than it really is.

I'm using a Bass VI exclusively for one of the bands I play with. I have a Squier Bass VI and a Burns Barracuda. TBH I don't like the Squier very much as I find the string spacing on the neck far too narrow. Whoever thought it was good a idea to take a neck that is already narrow by electric guitar standards and fit even chunkier string to it was obviously not thinking straight - even my 6 string electric guitars have a wider neck than the Squier Bass VI. I started a whole thread about my quest for a more suitable Bass VI for my needs here where most of the alternatives have been discussed. And having said that the Squier's string spacing at the nut is too narrow, the Burns has better neck string spacing, but is less good at the bridge (compared with the Squier). IMO the problem with most of the these instruments is that they are essentially guitars with long necks shoe-horned on to give a 30" scale length. Out of all the Bass VIs I've tried the Burns Barracuda is the one that places the least number of restrictions upon my playing style, but everyone is different so you really need to try each bass and make up your own mind. Personally having played both, I'd pick the Revelation over the Squier, they are fairly similar, but the Relation has more usable tonal variations and slightly more space between the strings which makes it (for me) a bit easier to play. All of these budget Bass VIs come with strings that are really too light for the average bass player. It is less noticeable on the Burns because it has a different style bridge, but all will benefit from changing the strings to either LaBellas (flat or round wound), or Newtone Axion Bass VI Round wound stings ( my personal choice).

Apart form a couple of years when I was using a MiK Warwick StarBass and the Burns Barracuda I currently use with one of my bands, my main basses have all been made in the UK: Burns, Overwater, Gus, Sei. Same with my guitars, Home-made, Fretking, Gus. And when there are so many quality parts made all over the world, it seems pointless to "re-invent the wheel" just so that you can say everything on a bass was made in the same country. And where do you stop? Do you insist that all the raw materials used to make those parts come from the UK too?

The only way you can find out if the arrangement of tuners is functional is to actually try them both sitting down and with the bass on a variety of different length straps. While having the tuners pointing towards the body of the bass might look more practical and ergonomic, IME it doesn't actually make any difference from a functional PoV. As a designer I think the problem stems from the fact that the current design has the post for the D-string tuner too close to the end of the headstock, and with the tuners on straight, the tuner key sticks out beyond the end of the headstock on that side which doesn't look right. When you were designing the headstock shape did you visualise it with the tuners in place? If you are going to use this headstock shape on future designs I would either make the offset less extreme or move the D-string tuner slightly closer to the nut.

Just re-enforces my belief that personal computer grade connectors have no place on stage at a gig.

As overs have said just because a unit is old doesn't affect its functionality. The software for the Helix range is being continually updated for free, so my recommendation would be for whatever out of the range best suits your needs. And to underline the point about old not necessarily meaning out of date even in the fast moving world of high-tech musical equipment, until I got the Helix, the main component of my guitar rig was a Roland GP8, one of the very first multi-effects units available, dating from the mid-80s, and still going strong. The only one of my previous effect units I've kept is a Linn Adrenalinn Mk1 which itself is almost 20 years old.

Exactly. There will be vinyl pressings of anything that actually got released out there somewhere and a good restoration engineer can work wonders with those.

But MP3 and DAB are no longer serious delivery systems, now that the bandwidth is available for uncompressed 16bit 44.1KhZ audio. They are the dictaphone tape of digital world.

Analogue tape recording is always best viewed through the rose-tinted glasses of those who have never spent much time using it (or who only used it in top flight studio where there were always good engineers to shield them from the complexities). Straight off even a standard CD quality (16 bit, 44.1kHz) digital recording will have a larger dynamic range and better frequency response than the vast majority of analogue recordings. How good your recording on analogue tape is, will be down to many factors but tape width and speed are two of the most important ones. But every improvement you make also has a trade off. Increasing the tape width per track increases the signal and noise ratio and the dynamic range available, but at the same time you also need to increase the tape speed to compensate for high frequency loss due to azimuth wander as the tape passes over the playback head. So you would think that all you need to do is to have tape with wide tracks running at high speed. Unfortunately as you increase the tape speed, while high frequency response increases, low frequency response will decrease. Everything is a compromise, and while you should get better results on a stereo master running at 15ips by going from 1/4" tape (with a 1/8" track width) to 1/2" tape (with a 1/4" track width), you have to remember that your audio is coming from a 24 track 2" tape where the track width is only 1/12", so the audio quality has been compromised before it ever reaches the tape for the final mix. And all of these systems are outperformed by the humble CD.

No, Bu if you are a 4-piece band playing sub three minute pop punk songs, then you should be able to take most songs from the initial idea to something that is close to being ready to gig within the space of an average three hour rehearsal. The trick is to come prepared. I have a load of musical ideas that are always ready to be the starting point for a new song or used in conjunction with someone else's idea to turn a simple riff or tune into a close to finished piece of music. If the rest of your band is like this writing and arranging new material should be quick and easy.

IIRC you are using a load of digital stuff as part of your signal chain which already adds a degree of latency to the signal, and the wireless is just adding enough extra for the cumulative effect to be noticeable. Unfortunately sone of the more popular digital wireless units while perfectly capable on their own are already very close to the acceptable latency figures and couple these with any other digital effect you will be into noticeable latency. Also as EBS-freak has pointed out if you are monitoring in software rather than hardware when recording again the cumulative effect might be just pushing the latency over the edge. What wireless units have you been using and what is you studio signal path?