BigRedX

Play it for 20 years?

Another vote for Hiscox here.

Jazz basses show as "available" and "on request" on the main deko page but "sold out" when you actually click on them...

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1439313451' post='2841837'] I'm quite picky with my octavers and even on my beloved Zoom B3 I find the octaver not great! So it's quite a clincher. I may have to pick one up 2nd hand and give it a go though! [/quote] Most of the better multi-effects have a loop to allow the connection of other units in the optimum position in the chain, so you could use your favourite pedal octaver with one. It wouldn't be programmable, although with the right multi-effects unit you would be able to program whether or not it was in the signal path.

[quote name='Stefanogregori' timestamp='1439289301' post='2841516'] I imagine that looks quite good though? I like natural wear like that. Do you have any pics? [/quote] Here you go! [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/DSC01114.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/DSC01116.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n249/BigRedX/DSC01120.jpg[/IMG] It's getting a bit too shiny for my tastes on the back of the neck and where my forearm rubs against the body. At some point it will be "re-matted"!

Thanks to everyone who has offered advice. I'm pretty close to deciding what I'm going to do. There seems to be a lot of TecAmp Puma users here but is anyone using the Demeter Minnie?

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1439304148' post='2841702'] There has always been an argument against 'manufactured' music, music that is put together artificially in a studio setting of some sort and then released as the work of a composer and/or performer. The argument has always revolved around the question 'can they do it live'? As I recall, Rush always worked with the philosophy that they needed to be able to reproduce whatever they recorded in a live setting. They did, however, indulge themselves with the occasional 'studio only' thing (I think 'Losing It' was one of these). I know Queen have struggled over the years to deliver a convincing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' live due to the layered nature of the recording. Rush and Queen would never just turn up at a gig and play the record to the waiting throng!! Miming/playing to bakcing tapes live has historically been sneered at as a 'sell out' and 'fake'. The DJs that have been described here seem to be allowed (?) to 'create' something virtually in their studio space and then just turn up at the gig and press 'play'. I get that there is some sort of layering going on etc and some sort of real time process but that all sounds a bit like a justification to me. Producers, composers and engineers are highly skilled people, in spite of their reputation as just control freaks etc but making a live performance out of producing and engineering seems a bit odd to me. The audience for this stuff clearly doesn't share these values. Why should they? [/quote] But what is a live performance? A lot of the time the musicians are simply regurgitating their parts, whether it is from a score or tunes that they have learnt by rote. It's monkey see, monkey do. If they deviate from them it because they have made a mistake, not something that should be celebrated. Even when sections are supposedly improvised like guitar solos they tend to be less interesting musically. How is this any different from music built up from preset sections and loops? Bilbo, I know that you tend to be involved in more improvisational music than most on here, but how "live" is it really? From what I see and read most of the time you are constrained within the boundaries of the chord chart. When it does come to the solo is every individual note spontaneously plucked from the ether as it is required? Or do the musicians rely on tried and trust patterns/riffs/phrases that they assemble in slightly different orders each time?

[quote name='lefrash' timestamp='1439304901' post='2841712'] What are the octave and fuzz like on these things? Rack and floorboard isn't a thong I've done before buy I'm tempted! [/quote] I can't say that I've ever found any octaver that tracked my playing style accurately enough to consider using. For fuzz there are 7 different fuzz/distortion/drive effects on the 2 XT as well as a drive parameter in the amp models which has a slightly different effect on each model setting. For live use one of those will be fine in the context of the overall band sound. The big advantage is that it will be exactly the same every time I use that particular program. And if I need a different fuzz sound for a different song I can program it so it's there at the touch of a button instead of having to scrabble about on the floor changing pedal settings. If I was looking at octave/fuzz for synth type sounds then I'd use a synth. Far easier than trying to make the bass do something it can't do a fractional as well as a keyboard.

Music that you like is a beautiful thing. I still don't see what makes it being played live any more special.

I've been using multii-effects since I got my first unit (a Roland GP8) in 1990. Simply the convenience of programmability is enough for me to never even begin to consider going back to individual units unless I had unlimited finances to buy everything I wanted and a road crew to lift my massive racks full of pedals and MIDI switching gear into place on stage. For the bass, I'm currently using a Bass Pod 2 XT Pro. It's as important a part of my sound as me and my bass. Plug my bass into the input and the output into an amp, select my default preset and there is my bass sound all ready. No further messing required. Foot control is provided by the Line 6 FBV - cost about £35 on eBay, so no problem if it gets a pint poured into it at a gig.

I Have a matt black bass. Fingerprints aren't a problem. However after 10+ years the matt finish has evolved into a satin in various places where it is being polished by my playing.

What is so special about live music?

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1439240900' post='2841279'] Can't see anything on my iPad . [/quote] Because the thread is almost a year old and I guess the images have been deleted by now.

Mine goes at the the end of the amp's FX loop so that it's the very last thing before the power amp.

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1439226784' post='2841044'] TM Stevens called, he wants his bass back [/quote] That's way more tasteful than TM Stevens' bass.

How about "NO MORE STORIES ARE TOLD TODAY, I’M SORRY THEY WASHED AWAY // NO MORE STORIES, THE WORLD IS GREY, I’M TIRED, LET’S WASH AWAY" by Mew?

The gated snare drum sound has it's origins in Peter Gabriel's 3rd album from 1980.

[quote name='Stefanogregori' timestamp='1439215644' post='2840923'] Just noticed that doesn't include VAT [/quote] I doubt any of them will.

That's nothing! Back in the late 90s I used to play in a dance-rock band that used lots of synths and samplers as well as the traditional vocals, guitar, bass, drums line-up. On the smaller stages we would often have to be quite creative with how the gear was stacked in order to get everything on. It was not unknown for my bass stack (already 1 x 15 cab, 7U rack for amp and effects, 2 x 8 cab) to have another 8U rack of synth and sampler modules stacked on top. The guitarist would then have the same underneath his amp and effects rack instead of the usual tilt-back stand.

I don't think you can really single out any individual feature to be a deal breaker - you have to consider the bass as a whole. A few years ago I would have been firmly against the idea of gold hardware, but since then I've owned three basses with it. They all look great and one of them is currently my main gigging instrument. Having said that there are a couple of things that would make me think twice before parting with my money: 1. Non-angled headstocks. Back in the 40s and 50s if you were trying to save money on wood and construction they might have made sense, but now when even the crappiest of Chinese factories can make an excellent scarf joint that is stronger than the rest of the neck there is really no need to be continuing with this anachronism. I haven't owned a single guitar or bass with a non-angled headstock that didn't have tuning issues due to the amount of string length that had to be wrapped around the machine heads or retainers in the string path required to get a decent break-angle over the nut. 2. Angled pickups. When they are at extreme angles as on Mosrite guitars or the Strat bridge pickup then they are not too bad looking, but when it's just a slight angle, it looks as though the router template slipped. My OCD simply won't allow it. Also the two worst offenders, Ritter and Warwick aren't cheap so surely it wouldn't significantly add to price of the instrument to build the pickup in a slightly over-sized cover and have the angles of the coils hidden?

IME guitar cabs really do benefit from being decoupled from the floor as it diminishes the frequencies that tend to impinge on the bass guitar's sonic space. When looking at tilt-back stands make sure that they support more than on angle so you can set them depending on how close you find yourself standing to your cab.

Strange to think that house music and DJ culture is almost 30 years old, but people are still having a moan about it. Next they'll be complaining about that new-fangled "Rock n Roll" and how it isn't proper music… Not like in my day...

My main rig is built around a Tech Soundsystems Black Cat amp. 2 x 500W Valve/digital hybrid. The tone controls are subtle but the amp really lets the individual voice of the bass shine through rather than stamp its character all over the sound. Works for me. I'm currently looking at a Puma for a smaller version of the rig.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1439023364' post='2839416'] I like your EP! What are your EBS cabs and how were they miced for that? How were any tweeters set? Do you currently DI or mic for gigs (and if you mic would you rather DI if it sounded as good?)? [/quote] Thanks Alex! The cabs are EBS Proline 2x10 and 4x10. I don't know what mic was used but it looked like a large diaphragm a couple of inches away from the speaker in the 2x10 that was furthest from the bass port. The engineer spent a good 10 minutes listening to each speaker before deciding on that configuration. The tweeters are on about 1/4 of the pot travel, which is just enough to add a bit of sparkle to the top end. IMO the EBS tweeters are a bit harsh for the sounds I like. On my other cabs (Dr Bass) I have the tweeters on full to get the same sound as the EBS. For gigs I nearly always DI post EQ from the DI socket on the amp. Pretty much every PA engineer who has expressed an opinion has loved the sound and when I've had a chance to get out front during the sound check it always sounds just like my rig but louder, so I've been happy. I've had the cabs mic'd a couple of times at the bigger gigs we played, but haven't been able to tell if it has made any difference. I'm happy to DI so long as the sound coming from the PA matches what I get out of the rig. We've spent a lot of time working on the guitar and bass sounds, so that there is already plenty of separation between the two. We just want the PA to make them louder (if necessary).

I was looking at the Retro 10, but according to the Barefaced site the impedance is either 4 or 12 Ohms. Unless that's a typo, that won't be suitable for me.