BigRedX

That's your problem right there. If your bass isn't producing a decent sounding and feeling low B string it's because either the bass itself isn't well enough made, or that you aren't using the most suitable strings for getting a good low B. This is something I read over and over again on here. People go out and buy a cheap 5-string bass and are disappointed with it. IME there is a lot more to making a good 5-string than simply taking a 4-string design and slapping a wider neck on it to make room for the extra string. The neck and neck joint in particular need to be a lot better constructed than the average 4-string bass, with rules out most sub £1k basses with bolt-on necks. You also need the right strings for you bass. IME most low Bs are far too low tension compared with the rest of the set. For a standard 40-100 G-E you should be using at least 130 B and have it fitted in such a way as to minimise the compliance of the string.

From the same factory that made the Greco GOB Basses? Seems to share quite a few styling features.

I had already been playing guitar for about 7 years when I bought my first bass, so the first thing I played on it was likely to be something I wrote myself.

Just to give you an impression of what Strange Circuits are like live... Also playing will be the excellent Video Tape Machine

Very much this. IMO no modern computer connector is suitable for anything but the most sedate of sedate gigs.

I've got one of the Korean StarBasses as well and not only is it much better than the Rockbass version, but IMO it is also better than both the German StarBasses I've played.

You can always get a relic'd bass refinished so it looks good.

Just done a session for Rodney Bakerr of Strange Circuits, putting down bass parts for his forthcoming album and not a P-Bass in sight... From left to right - Burns Barracuda, Burns Sonic, Gus G3, all going through a Line6 Helix direct into the DAW. DI's on raw bass sound and the effected Helix sound, so he can pick which use to when it come to mix-down.

From what I remember from the 70s, they were better made and looked vaguely like the instruments they were supposed to be copying.

If the bass is going through the PA, depending on the point at which it is DI'd the contribution of the amp will be at best minimal and that of the cabs irrelevant.

You do know that this is Abbey Road in West Bridgford Nottingham, and not the actual Abbey Road Studios? 😉

If all you want you DI box to do is to present a balanced line signal at the appropriate level for a standard mixer XLR input, then I would go for a good quality passive DI Box every time. No need to worry about phantom power or batteries going flat. I'm using EMO DI Boxes. They single and dual DI in stand-alone boxes and 6 and 8-way rack mounted DI units. They are not the cheapest of DI Boxes, but the single and dual units are pretty much bomb-proof and and PA engineer who knows their equipment will be happy to be presented with a signal from them. I've had problems with the Behringer DI boxes with some pieces of equipment in the past so couldn't really recommend them.

While in theory that should work, I'd want to have all of the components specified at 100 Watt minimum - everything twice the output power of the amp. I's also make sure that the L-Pad is efficiently cooled either by a good heatsink or fan cooling. The Power Break gets pretty hot if It is doing a lot of attenuation over a long time. I'd also want to be 100% confident in my soldering skills. If you get anything wrong or any of the components fail you are potentially presenting your amp with either an open or short circuit, neither of which are good for the output stages of valve amps. You'll just have to try it and see. It's a combination of a matter of taste and also how the amp is designed. The other thing to remember is that speaker break-up at high volume can be a significant contribution to the guitar sound, and unfortunately the only way you can get this is by driving your speakers hard. These days I'd either go for modelling or a very low power valve amp rather than having to rely on tricks like this.

I wouldn't fancy using an Android app for doing anything musical with timing critical functions. The OS simply isn't up to the task, and definitely not if you are using it for other things at the same time. Nord Electro is the keyboard of choice for this type of musical requirement.

This.

Wat frequency are you crossing over at?

Sleepify is their best album IMO

I don't understand. It's far easier to play more than one note simultaneously on a keyboard (even with my very limited technique) then it is on the bass guitar.

But most of us can't afford to pay someone to the the programming for us, so unless you get lucky and find a pre-set that is exactly right for your needs (and lets face it nearly all of them won't be 100% perfect) you are going to have to do some programming.

That's right! How powerful is your guitar amp. I use a Marshall Power Brake with my 50W all-valve guitar amp. It is big and heavy and full of high-power resistors with massive heatsink and fan cooling for the components. The fan is only supposed to kick in when required (it's powered by the excess energy from the amp so no PSU needed) but I find more than 50% attenuation of any significantly distorted sounds will cause the fan to come on, and whole unit still gets as hot as the amp itself. Can you provide a link for the schematics of the unit you are intending to build and details of the amp you are planning to use it with?

I've never understood this. To me it's a like saying you don't like turning the knobs on your amp or bass, and just use them how they came when you bought them.

So you might as well leave out the playing with putting your bass through pedals and being disappointed and go straight for a keyboard synth. If you can use a computer keyboard or a phone with a touch screen you already have all the rudiments for playing a keyboard synth. I've got close to zero keyboard technique, and need to use both hands to play lots of thing that any competent keys player could do with a single hand, put the end result is still vastly superior compared with trying to do the same thing with a bass and pedals.

An attenuator is essentially a volume control for your speakers. They work fine on guitar rigs where you are unlikely to find amps rated over 100W and pushing the output valves hard is part of the guitar sound. However all the ones I have seen are rated for use with amps of 100W or less and use 1/4" jack connections which rules them out for use with most serious bass rigs. On top of that the good ones are big and heavy as they are full of high-powered resistors, with heat sinks and fans to cool said resistors. As other have said a device with a volume control in the effects loop (provided that it comes after the pre-amp valves) should be a more suitable solution.

While this will work perfectly well it relies on the fact that you have special custom cables, and therefore you are going to need extra spares just in case one or both of them go wrong. Using something like the ART DTI box allows you to use standard XLR or 1/4" Jack leads which any band running its own PA system will have plenty of already. Mount the DTI box in the rack along with XR18 so that it can't get mislaid, and since its a few sockets and two audio transformers there's nothing in it to go wrong. By far the safest option IMO.

IMO there is little point in active basses unless the electronics do something that can't already be done by the tone controls on your amp or they allow individual tonal adjustments for each pickup. If that was my bass I'd take out all the electronics and replace them with a simple passive volume and tone control for each pickup.