BigRedX

We did this just over a year ago. My answer hasn't changed since then.

But the tree basses you cite are massively different in overall construction, pickups, their placement and general hardware. How do you know it's the neck joint that makes the difference in sound?

I've never seen a guitar or bass with a neck so badly damaged that a simple (and probably invisible) repair wouldn't have sufficed that didn't also have a badly damaged body in need of replacement as well. Replacement of a damaged neck on a vintage Fender (and remember that now includes everything up to 1980 and will probably include instruments made in the 80s as well very soon) will hurt it's resale value just as much as a repair if not more.

Bolt-on necks are great for mass-produced basses, as they allow any neck from the production line to be attached to any body. There is supposed to be a tonal difference. There is a sound clip somewhere on line of three very similar Fodera Basses made with bolt-on, set and through necks which is about as close to a proper scientific comparison as you are going to get (there are massive design and construction philosophies between most bolt-on, set and through neck instruments that make comparisons based on the neck joint alone meaningless) and it does reveal some differences in the sound between the three construction types but nothing you would notice in a band mix.

Works for those particular strings on that particular bass, according to your tastes. That is all.

If you don't understand then those bases over £2k are not for you.

If changing the order of your pedals changes the tone too much (and it well might depending on how much drive the Sansamp is producing) just put a standard DI box after them, such as the Behringer DI100 Ultra-DI Box and use that to connect to the PA.

If you are running the chorus and phaser after the DI, how do the audience hear it?

Are you sure that the higher parts are actually supposed to be that high? Bass guitar is a transposing instrument and the parts for it should be written out an octave higher than the notes you actually play.

If it was as easy as you suggest pretty much everyone would be doing it.

It's probably not as far off the mark as a lot of us on here would like to think.

TBH if you need this explaining you really shouldn't be messing with circuits of any description, but here goes... Your switches will be DPDT (double pole, double throw) and should have the six contacts arranged in two rows of three in line with the direction of the switch movement. The centre two contacts are the ones always attached to the switching mechanism for each "throw" the outer contacts in each set of three are the switched contacts. Put your multimeter in audible continuity mode (for most beginners this is the most common setting you'll be using and if your multimeter doesn't have it you should get a different one), touching the two probes together will produce and audible tone. Touch one probe to the centre contact in one of the rows of three and the other to either of the outer contacts in the same row. If you still get the audible tone with the switch in the centre position then your switch is On, On, On. If you don't get a tone then your switch is On, Off, On. You could have figured this out for your self simply by trial and error with your multimeter.

Or burn it to keep warm.

And I forgot to include I Am X from my original post.

The Jackets are great. The Terrortones were supposed to support them a few years back but their drummer got turned back at immigration because he didn't have a working visa for the gig.

If you look at the tension charts for those companies that actually supply this information, you'll find that the D string has the highest tension, and the tension of each string gets less as you go higher or lower from the D, with the lower tuned strings going down in tension more quickly than the higher tuned ones. For a standard 4-string bass the order of string tension from highest to lowest is D, G, A, E As for the original question I always tune highest to lowest. Twice.

Does it count as a keytar if it's mounted on a stand?

Grimes appear to have none something interesting with their YouTube URL, as the track I wanted to link was Kill V Main, but a different track "Genesis" actually came up when I posted my reply, and since then it's changed again. They are all good though...

A lot of "classic" albums from the 60s and 70s are one or two great songs (which were invariably released as singles) and a lot of self-indulgent blues-based drivel. And a lot of it IMO hasn't aged very well. By all means acknowledge the individual classic songs, but don't label an album as "classic" when at least half of it is filler.

IMO the main problem with how most keytars look is their size. They are either massive unwieldy things like the Roland one above or they are tiny toy-like devices. Plus you should never ever play the keys of a keytar with both hands. One hand on the keys and the other on the modulation controls at all times.

I don't think I've missed many either. I've been lucky enough to have musically inclined friends with wide-ranging tastes, so even if something isn't to my liking I'll have heard it. I had a look at the two lists mentioned in this thread so far. Of the first I've heard at least a track or two off all the albums and actually own 6 of them, although only one (Ziggy Stardust - the first LP I ever bought) because I really like the music, the others I own because either I needed to learn songs from them in my covers band days, or because they were a couple of quid in Fopp and looked worth a punt (on the whole they weren't). I was surprised to find that I own nearly 150 from the 1001 albums list, although not one of my top 5 all-time albums were on it.

But nowhere near as uncool as that grimy half-beard he's "sporting"

Exactly!

OK here's Owen from The Birthday Massacre. This is only a couple of years ago:

Well it looks as though I am the only person here with actual experience of owning a keytar. That's me in 1985 in my synth-rock band (like a synth-pop band but all the lead instruments went through distortion pedals). I'm playing a Yamaha KX5 which was the first affordable MIDI keytar costing about £350 IIRC. It didn't make any sounds of it's own being simply a MIDI controller keyboard. Mine was attached to a Casio CZ5000 keyboard. The first batch of MIDI key tars in the 80s weren't really ready for serious live use. My band had to quite a few modifications to ours in order for them to be reliable enough to gig, most notably replacing the MIDI DIN connection with a locking XLR and finding something more durable for the ribbon controller covering. Of course while we had them apart for these modifications we also took advantage of the fact to paint them some more interesting colours. Mine ended up gold, and my band mate's red and black tiger stripes. I think that photo is from the first gig we did using the KX5 so I'm still concentrating on playing it rather than throwing too many rock n roll shapes. Also being the support band at that gig I seem to remember there being limited stage space. On a well-designed keytar the performance controls will add a lot more expressiveness to the sounds - IMO the ribbon controller was far more useful than a pitch wheel in that it let me do "hammer-ons" as well as conventional pitch bending. The KX5 got sold a couple of years ago after sitting 25 years unused in its flight case. If I was going to get another one, I'd be looking at Alesis Vortex Wireless. I wouldn't consider getting one with built-in sounds as they are too limiting. Using a controller keyboard means you can choose the sound module you like rather than what is built into the keytar. Owen from The Birthday Massacre uses a keytar to great effect live and it fits in perfectly with the band's dynamic stage performance.