BigRedX

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1438366084' post='2834030'] I'd say you are only as good as the weakest member but the other thing you don't want is the singer or the gtr pick the drummer.....generally. [/quote] I'm totally happy for our singer to pick the drummer, as he's a rather good one himself. IME every drummer is different in their micro-timing so it always takes a while to lock in with a new one.

Just checking the final masters of the Dick Venom & The Terrortones album "SnakeOil For Snakes" before it goes off to the pressing plant.

Typically traditional design Fender and Fender copy guitars have necks that tend to be at the narrower end of the width spectrum. Almost any other guitar you chose that follows another design will have a wider neck.

Loads of options depending on your budget, what gear you already have and overall robustness of the equipment that you require. How many samples will you need for the whole set? Will you need to be able play tunes with any of them? What would be your preferred method of triggering them? How "bomb-proof" do you need your solution to be? Do you already have any of the following: Laptop that you'd be prepared to take on stage at gigs, MIDI interface, any MIDI pedal device that can be programmed to transmit MIDI note info, hardware sampler?

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1438103963' post='2831693'] Does anyone use the volume controls when gigging? And if so, why? When we're playing my volume controls are on the end of my hands. [/quote] When I am using a bass with a smoothly acting volume control I use it to fade out over-long sustained notes at the end of the song. Something you can't do with just your fingers.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1438095788' post='2831597'] The seller, Music-outlet-shop, has tons of crap like that on Ebay. I'd be surprised if they've ever sold anything. [/quote] Exactly. Please stop posting stuff and giving them unwarranted publicity.

IMO the CTS is quote is only half the story. Volume pots go between the pickup and amp. While the input impedance of the amplifier is normally so high is to be irrelevant, the impedance of different pickups varies massively and in relative terms much closer to the resistance of the volume control, yet two values of volume pots (250k and 500k) are supposed to cover all situations. It is hardly surprising that most of the time the change in volume is not smooth across the whole travel of the potentiometer. In an ideal world the volume pot (and the tone pot) would be matched to the impedance of the pick ups(s) they are controlling. In practice manufacturers just stick whichever of the two common values is the least worst and leave it at that. Sometime just by chance the controls happen to be matched to the pickups and the volume change is smooth and consistent across the whole range. On my black Gus bass this happens - but only when both pickups are selected and in humbucking mode. All the other combinations are less good as regard volume smoothness. Active basses don't suffer as badly because everything is buffered and volume control should be affecting the gain of the circuit rather than having the signal passed directly though it.

Side dots can be a problem on cheaper fretless basses as they are often positioned in the same place as they would be on a fretted bass - in-between the "frets" and therefore aren't where you would expect them to be. The easiest way to check the positing of the dots is to measure from the nut to where the "12th fret" dot is. If the dot is on the "fret line" it will be 17". If the dot is between the "frets" it will be 16.5" Of course the dots and lines are just a guide and you should always pitch your notes by ear. I never bother to set up my intonation as accurately on my fretless basses as I would on my fretted ones. So long as I'm within 10 cents when my finger is fretting just behind the harmonic point at the octave it's good enough for me.

IME there is zero point to having your songs published unless the publishing company is going to be proactively promoting them to get them used on films TV etc. If they haven't given you a massive advance for the publishing rights then they are unlikely to be doing this. All that will happen is that the publishing company will take a chunk of your royalties (between one third and a half) and your songs will sit in a catalogue somewhere hoping that someone will stumble over them.

At home I usually practice unplugged. For me home practice is about getting the right notes in the right order and I don't need an amp for that.

I don't see what the problem is. If you like the sound with the knobs in their centre position leave them there. Your amp should be doing all the tonal heavy lifting anyway.

Must watch Subway again… and Diva...

Normally this is due to a duff string, but if you have tried several all with the same result here are some things to consider: 1. Have you ever been able to intonate the E string correctly? 2. What bass is it and what bridge is fitted - some bridges simply don't have enough travel on the saddles. 3. Were at least 2 of the E strings you tried new? As old strings get worn they become less easy to intonate. 4. How high is your action? The main purpose of moving the saddles is to compensate for the stretching of the string when it is fretted. Very high action requires the saddles to be moved further back. High action and a bridge with limited travel for the saddles do not go together.

[quote name='Old Man Riva' timestamp='1436906886' post='2822008'] Ace. Was it Kevin Armstrong? He was the go-to guitarist for that type of act around that time - he played with Bowie at Live Aid and Iggy Pop around the time of Blah Blah Blah.[/quote] Probably - he's the guitarist named on Wikipedia for what it's worth. Whoever it was image-wise they were totally inappropriate for the band. [quote name='Old Man Riva' timestamp='1436906886' post='2822008'] If you're looking for duff gigs of that era then I'll see your Propaganda and raise you Furniture (of Brilliant Mind 'fame')... "We're Furniture, what's your excuse?" was the singer's opening line to the crowd at Leicester Poly. Delivered with the appropriate level of contempt towards the audience, obviously. They absolutely bombed.. [/quote] Strangely enough I caught Furniture at the end of the 80s when they were promoting their second album "Food Sex & Paranoia". They were on in the SU bar at Trent Poly and were totally fantastic. The Wrong People is still one of my favourite albums. For a terrible live band from the 80s. IMO you would have to try very hard beat the awfulness of A Flock Of Seagulls. Lumpen, pedestrian, turgid synth pop churned out by people who didn't really understand musically, or image-wise, what it was all about; but were transparently desperate to be successful. Someone at their record company must have had a lot of faith in them (and a massive promotional budget), because it seemed that they would turn up as second support for every other really good band that I went see. I must have had the misfortune to catch their live act on at least 6 separate occasions, most of the time without realising that they were on the bill until I turned up at the gig.

[quote name='Old Man Riva' timestamp='1436828080' post='2821293'] I remember quite enjoying it, though I'm not sure Claudia Brucken was best suited to the live arena. The mighty Derek Forbes played a Vigier, as I recall... or was it a Wal?. Was really impressed by him playing the riff to Murder of Love with his thumb.. [/quote] Only one of the two male members of the band appeared in the live line up, so the sound was heavily augmented by backing tapes. The vocals were either inaudible or shouty and tuneless. The (session) guitarist spent most of the gig gurning inappropriately. It was possibly one of the worst gigs by a major band that I have ever been to. IIRC a review of the London gig in the NME singled out the guitarist for (justifiable) ridicule due to his on-stage performance. The following week he had a letter published complaining about his review. The week after one of Propaganda wrote in supporting the NME's description of his antics...

Does the Ibanez have a vibrato unit fitted? Our guitarist had one on loan before he bought his DeArmond and with the vibrato the break angle of the strings over the bridge was very shallow which meant that they kept popping off the saddles when played with any vigour. Other than that it was a very nice guitar.

If I was in the market for a traditional style hollow body guitar then I wouldn't be parting with any money until I had tried out at least a couple of models from [url=http://www.peerlessguitars.eu/#/electric/4549480806]Peerless[/url].

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1436216833' post='2816166'] I bough this one a year ago off a BC member for £625. They are fairly rare now, I haven't seen one for sale for years. You have to hear one to believe how awesome they are. [/quote] Does yours have individual saddles for each string in the pair? I've played two. One with a badass style bridge which had a single saddle for each pair of strings and as a result was unusable above the 7th fret due to intonation problems. The other had a Schaller bridge with individually adjustable saddles for every string, that one was perfectly in tune all the way up the neck. I love the sound of 8-string basses but unless you can intonate each string in the pair separately the tuning is too off for me to use.

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1436875504' post='2821539'] I did just that (at 30), giving up life in H M Customs and Excise to be a Pretty Thing (the irony wasn't lost on me). I had a supportive family that made it possible and it was great while it lasted but it was incredibly tiring being on tour. [/quote] That's fantastic! When was that? The Pretty Things are one of my all-time favourite bands - my very first band was named after one of their songs.

IME unless you actually need to use the case to carry the bass on your back while walking to gigs/rehearsals you would be better off with a Hiscox Case. They give much better protection, are not very much heavier than the average semi-rigid case and are actually slightly smaller! Also the prices are about the same.

[quote name='randythoades' timestamp='1436868560' post='2821456'] It looks a bit to way out for what I need. The rockabilly bunch are really conservative so want to stay quite traditional, visually at least, otherwise I might have opted for Line 6 Variax. [/quote] The just buy something with a hollow body and a Gretch logo on the headstock. They'll never really be satisfied with anything else.

Protools used to be an brilliant program when it was fully integrated with its own interface and plug-in hardware. It was pretty much rock solid and because the dedicated hardware did all the "heavy lifting" all the computer was required to do was display the interface which meant that it was rarely taxing whichever OS you ran it under. ProTools USP was that it was a dedicated and specialised system for professional users (in all senses of the word). Then for some reason they decided to make cut down versions that supported inferior third party hardware and were very much an poor experience compared with the "real" thing. Maybe they thought it would ease prospective users into ProTools, although at the time the interface of the full version was so simple you'd have to be a complete moron not to be able use it. All it has done is dilute the user experience and overburden their technical support.

Just playing an instrument is cool provided that you do it tastefully and support the music you are playing. It doesn't matter what instrument it is.

If you have the funds then you could't go far wrong with a [url=https://ritter-instruments.com/princess-isabella.php]Ritter Princess Isabella[/url].

In theory the iLok is a brilliant idea. You store all your licences/authorisations for your DAW and the plugins that you use on a single dongle and then they are instantly available to you on any computer that the iLok is plugged into. In practice it turns out that using it with multiple devices in different locations is exactly where the problems arise. If you use it only on a single computer for only a few licenses and rarely add any new ones you'll probably be OK. However I've seen iLok problems first hand and the company that runs it is absolutely useless at dealing with anything and their help system despite what it says on the website is most definitely not 24/7. If you use music software to make your living the accepted wisdom is that iLok and PACE the company that run it are simply not professional enough to rely on.