BigRedX

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506530007' post='3379396'] Is anyone here in a band in which responsibility for getting gigs and making sure everyone knows about them is not the bass player's job? Are there similar threads to this on guitar chat, drum chat, sing chat and keys chat? I often get the feeling that being organised always needs a bass player! My band has played 140 gigs over the last 4 years. Left to their own devices, I doubt that they'd have managed to get 14! [/quote] Me. After having spent most of my musical life being the person who sorted everything out in bands both musically and organisationally from my very first band in the mid 70s right up to 15 years ago, I decided that it was too much work on top of doing all the song writing and synth and sequencer programming and therefore I wasn't going to do it anymore. I stopped organising rehearsals and when it took 8 weeks before any of the other band members got in touch to ask when we were going to be getting together again, I realised that it was time to end the band. Since then I've been happy to take a back seat from an organisational PoV. In The Terrortones I was more involved than just writing the music, but it turned out that my skills set and Mr Venom's complimented each others' very nicely and it was Mr Venom who did most of the getting gigs and sorting out rehearsing. Both the bands I am playing with currently are well established and have other band members that already deal very competently with the non-musical aspects of running a band, and for now I am happy just to turn up and contribute the bass parts to the wonderful songs they have written.

I've got the Marshall Power Brake which I use with my guitar amp. It is big (twice the size of your average class D mini amp), heavy (almost 5kg) and has a rather noisy fan that kicks in when you stick anything extreme through it. Also it's only rated for 150W maximum. It does it's intended job (allowing you to run guitar power amp valves flat out without having to endure ear-bleeding sound levels) brilliantly. As an impedance matching solution for a modern bass amp it's completely pointless.

Zoom aren't particularly coy about what their various amps and effects in the B3 are modelled on so if the Monosyth doesn't say, then I doubt that it is based on anything specific. Besides with only waveform, filter envelope decay and resonance available to adjust, any synth or pedal with these parameters should do a close enough job.

There is no right answer. You have to pick a system which everyone in the band likes and go with that, and be prepared to change if the band members change. Everyone is different as to what they like to use. It's no good using a Facebook system (either messenger or a private page) if not all of the band are on Facebook and IMO it is unreasonable to expect them to join Facebook just for them to be able to take part in band conversations. If Facebook really is the only choice then a member who doesn't want to be on it is probably the wrong person for your band. IME all the serious stuff is done face-to-face in the 15 minutes at the beginning and end of rehearsals while we are setting up or breaking down the gear and everything else can be done by email and or phone calls depending on how time-sensitive it is.

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' timestamp='1506508196' post='3379189'] The only problem is if your band contains a mix of some people who want to do it full time, and some people who want it to be priority #3 in their life, below work and family. That's one situation that isn't going to end happily. [/quote] I don't think that's the problem (unless your band is wanting to be out gigging or rehearsing almost every night of the week). It's the people for whom the band is priority #5 or #6 somewhere after going to watch the football each weekend and a busy social calendar. Those are the ones who like the idea of being in a band but really haven't got the time or inclination to commit to any but the most relaxed of combos.

Technical ability in both myself and my fellow band members is irrelevant so long as it does not get in the way of being able to play the songs we have written.

[quote name='tom1946' timestamp='1506502807' post='3379135'] Good idea, how do I do that? [/quote] Click on the "Report" link at the bottom of the post in question. IME problem posts unless they are in a popular thread require a report in order for Moderator action to be taken.

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1506433728' post='3378689'] Pricey and figured as much cheers though. [/quote] If it's as good as they claim, then it's pretty good value for money IMO. You'll pay almost twice as much for a Line6 Helix, although you'll need to factor in the cost of a decent MIDI foot controller as well to get the best out of it. I do notice that they are coy about latency for switching between patches on the web site though...

[quote name='T-Bay' timestamp='1506368462' post='3378311'] Shame a shame the wood is gorgeous. A case of what could have been....... [/quote] Really? IMO the shape is interesting although not really to my taste. The wood however is some of the most boring and nondescript I have seen in a while. It would look much better painted black. And that fake through neck stripy look is horrible.

IMO Lightwave are the only company making truly Active pickups. Everything else is a passive pickup with a preamp in the same casing.

[quote name='Hey_Pauly' timestamp='1506288574' post='3377704'] Any rule of thumb for what the low, mid and high should be set to? [/quote] Depends on your bass, depends on your amp, depends on your cabs, depends on what sort of sound you want, depends on what the rest of your band are doing.

[quote name='bigsmokebass' timestamp='1506129090' post='3376675'] 35" scale, you want that B to be piano like in tone and sustain. [/quote] IME 35" is used as a cheap fix for makes that think they can get away with using the same construction on their 5-string basses as they use on their 4-string basses. It rarely works. Out of all the 5-string basses I have owned the 35" basses had by far the worst sounding and feeling low B strings. You need to go to 36" at least in order for scale length alone to be solution to getting a decent low B. Alternatively you could just buy a 34" scale string that has been properly made to cope with a good low B-string.

Most YouTube videos irrespective of the subject are far too long and too difficult to find the information you actually want in them. I've given up trying to watch any of them.

Gary Numan

IME you need to be aiming for a very trebly tone for this to be of any use. I owned one for a couple of hours in the late 80s. Took it home, plugged it in and discovered that it made absolutely zero difference to sound of my rig. Went straight back to the shop and got a refund.

Linn Adrenalinn.

The problem with most active basses is that the electronics aren't specifically designed for the bass. What you get are off-the-shelf pickups and pre-amps shoe-horned into the bass without any real consideration for how they are all going to work together. Compare than with something like Wal or the original MusicMan Stingray where the pick ups, their position and the pre-amp are all designed as a single entity.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1505818699' post='3374492'] I'm not sure that's true. The EQ on a bass amp or preamp is designed for a bass guitar whereas the desk EQ is very much general purpose. [/quote] The EQ on the desk is likely to be far more powerful and flexible than that on an amp. At best on a bass amp you can either expect a 12-band graphic or one with one or two sweepable mid controls. Any decent PA desk (especially digital ones) will have 4 band fully parametric with full-range frequency, cut/boost and Q for each band.

You will need to go and try as many 5-string basses as you can, and don't limit yourself to basses within your budget, because you will need to see if your £750 is going to be enough (IME it may not be unless you get very lucky). Too many bassists buy a cheap 5-string and quickly get disillusioned with it because it simply isn't a very good bass. Unfortunately there is a lot more to making a good 5-string bass than taking an existing 4-string design, putting a wider neck, and an extra machine head on it. To get an articulate and pleasing sounding and feeling low B string construction and neck stiffness are far more important than they are on a 4-string bass. Personally I wouldn't bother with anything with a bolt-on neck unless it has been made by either Mike Lull or Jens Ritter. Good through neck construction is the way to go. Also string type becomes a lot more critical when it comes to the low B-string. IMO the tension on the low B in a standard 5-string set is too low, so you need to experiment with different string types to find the one that best suits your bass. Good luck!

But on a two-pickup bass one pickup will always be closer to the bridge and the other closer to the neck. To me a "front" pickup would be the one closest on one of the ends of the bass - i.e. the bridge pickup.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1505624894' post='3373175'] In what context could the neck pickup be called the back pickup? Never heard it called that [/quote] Because it's no more or less meaningful to call it that than it is to call it the front pickup.

[quote name='Jecklin' timestamp='1505737537' post='3373860'] Generally i'll be through a di to the PA which I have no control over so the controls on my bass are far more important that the amp [/quote] And still there are constant posts in the amps section saying that you shouldn't give the PA engineer a post-EQ feed...

I'd have liked to say that it shows that the composer will always be more important that the musicians, but unfortunately the "performance" was so obviously fake even before the "robots" rebelled, and the music was such a conventionally mainstream slice of electronica, that I'd feel embarrassed if I did....

It is indeed a completely dumb way to describe pickup position. All the pickups are on the front of the bass. If they were on the back they wouldn't work.

For a Sei, I'd take it back to Martin at The Gallery in London. What are you intending to run off the pickup? If it's anything other than Roland's V-Bass system prepare to be disappointed.