BigRedX

From the front it would just like a standard Jazz with a rosewood board, blocks and binding and a matching headstock. However it would have a neck-through construction with the neck painted to mach the rest of the bass, angled headstock, Lightwave pickups under the bridge ashtray and the lower cutaway enlarged to allow as much access to the upper frets as possible without obviously changing the body shape.

Can you post the second like again please? AFAICS the 5-string Artcore Bass is short scale. I's want to try one before I actually bought it but have never actually seen one except on the Ibanez site.

The big problem with Thunderbird shaped basses is that they are all very different and often have little in common as regards sounds, playability and construction. Which one is the right one for you will depend what you want from the bass. Also there are very few 5-string models available. There was a Gibson version (in the 90s?) with a set rather than through neck construction but that was discontinued ages ago. The Epiphone 5-string version has pretty much nothing in common with the original Thunderbird other than a similar body shape. In terms of getting the sound of the original Gibson Thunderbirds, the Mike Lull T-Bass is supposed to be the most accurate, but it's not cheap. Cataldo Basses will make you a 5-string Fenderbird with Thunderbucker pickups...

You appear to have posted the same link twice. Do you know if either company are planning on making a 5-string version?

[quote name='James Nada' timestamp='1427016491' post='2724617'] I read the 'Why I soldy Ric' at around lunchtime yesterday - it was at 3 pages I think. To save me about 14 minutes in reading the rest, could someone please summarise the thread here? [/quote] Essentially it's the same story as always. Bassist buys a Rickenbacker. Discovers that it doesn't sound or play like a Fender P or J (which IMO is the whole point of basses that aren't Fender P or J or copies thereof). Gets rid of it a then feels the need to tell us all on an internet forum.

Internet forums change and evolve. It is in their nature. Anyone who expects otherwise is foolish and naive. Also I haven't noticed any increase anger in the posts. Maybe it's limited to threads that I don't look at because the title is of no interest to me? Maybe it's all in Off-Topic where I rarely venture and even more rarely post. TBH I don't really see any of the criticisms mention earlier in this thread... I think in some ways it's in a lot of people's nature to want things to stay the same for ever. That's really not a good thing. And especially so on an internet forum where people rarely actually meet in real life. A long time ago I use to be an active member on the forum run by a magazine devoted to the Apple Macintosh Computer. It was a thriving on-line community which contained an active group of graphics professionals (among others) and a useful source of advice and information for people like me working in graphic design for print. When the magazine decided to close the forums, a group of the regulars decided to start up their own forum to continue on the community. Unfortunately this was hidden away behind an anonymous name and URL, and has attracted hardly any new members since it started about 10 years ago, and now has a fraction of the daily post count it used to have. Most of the people I used to regularly exchange views and information with have stopped posting and there is little of value for me there anymore. Without new blood that's what Basschat could easily become.

We try and have at least one rehearsal a month using all our own gear and set up as we would for a gig.

String tension does not change when you string through the body as opposed to through the bridge. What changes is compliance. Read about the difference between the two [url=http://liutaiomottola.com/myth/perception.htm]here[/url].

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1426862893' post='2722878'] we wrote a song about the standard of PA's in rehearsal rooms. It was called "Betamax PA" [/quote] So pretty good then?

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426848451' post='2722591'] I think, at the end of the day, no matter how exhaustive and objective tests like this are, there will always be some bass players who say "never mind the science, I know what my ears tell me". So I don't think there will ever be any final answers to this question. [/quote] But surely what your ears tell you is the only important thing? It doesn't matter what size the drivers are so long as you like the sound and it's loud enough for your needs.

A previous band I was in used to rehearse at Magnet in Nottingham. Normally it was a great place with decent gear, although we only ever used the PA in the room and brought all our own drums and backline. However one day we had reasonably well known local band Six By Seven in the room next to ours. They were so loud that we could hear them over the top of all but the most raucous parts of our songs. In the end we gave up and went home as we simply couldn't hear what we were doing well enough for the rehearsal to be of any use.

I find the term "weekend warrior" rather interesting since when I started gigging in the early 80s there were absolutely no weekend gigs available at all for local bands. The best you could hope for was a Friday night support slot with an avant-garde jazz band who had a residency, but otherwise gigs were strictly Monday to Thursdays as the pubs didn't need any incentive to get people in at the weekends.

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1426754815' post='2721491'] But if you are creating 'original' work, especially at the top level of the industry, how do you remember stuff if you can't write it down. I would imagine that for example 'Pino' creates a huge number of [i]original[/i] bass lines every year for various artists in various styles. Not forgetting how these things 'develop' over time and being called back in to further work on projects. Pino must have an outstanding memory because I will probably forget this conversation in 2hrs time [/quote] I think if you write the music or instrumental part that you play it is very much easier to remember it. There are songs that I wrote back in the 70s and early 80s that I even though I haven't played them in the last 30 years I could probably play right now and get mostly right. A quick listen to the recording a couple of times would get me the rest of the way there. Conversely when I played in a covers band there were songs that if I didn't play every week either at a gig or rehearsal I would completely forget in no time.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426690759' post='2720850'] So surely putting different speakers into the same box negates that? [/quote] Depends what else is inside the box other than the speaker. OTOH altering the inside of the cab to suit the speaker would tend to defeat the object of the test which is to see if there is a noticeable (and predictable) difference between speaker cone sizes. Out of interest was the cab used specifically designed for one of the speaker configurations used? If so which one?

For me technical ability is a means to an end and the the end itself. I would classify myself as a composer/songwriter first and foremost, producer/arranger second, band member third, and lastly a musician. For me the final product be it a recording or live performance is more interesting than the technical ability of the people performing it.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1426687041' post='2720777'] Ah, come on! What are you afraid of? [/quote] Nothing. As I said I don't think speaker size is relevant. I thought of the three clips cab B sounded the best and to me that's all that matters.

I haven't voted as I don't think speaker size is a relevant concern when choosing a cab. I just listen to how the cab sounds and whether or not it suits the rest of my signal chain and playing style. Of the three clips I preferred B as it sounded the most "full range" to me and therefore would give the most scope when EQ'ing to get the bass into it's proper place in the mix. However all that really says is that if I was a producer and your bassist turned up at my studio with the bass, amp and speakers from this demo I'd get him to record with cab B as it is the most versatile for mixing the bass sound.

Regarding the top horn strap button. I own 2 short scale basses and neither of them have the strap button anywhere near the 12th fret, yet both balance perfectly. You need to look at the overall design rather than concentrate on any one particular feature in isolation.

I can imagine at least three different scenarios that a session player might encounter in a professional capacity. 1. The part is written out as notation to be played as scored. 2. The part exists only as a recording whether it is a synth part on a demo that's going to be replaced with "real" bass or someone else's bass part on a recording that is going to be performed live. 3. No part exists (except maybe in the mind of the songwriter) and you will be expected to come up with something appropriate for the piece. There might be a simple chord chart or might be a case of listening to what is already there and writing something to fit. Each situation requires a different skill set. A truly versatile musician will be able to do all three, but it's up to the person arranging the session to pick players with the appropriate skills. Just as a musician who can't read is no good for a session where the part has been written out as notation, someone who can't quickly come up with a new baseline or improvise to a basic idea is useless if they are expected to be part of the writing process.

Solid bass guitar. Loud enough to be able to use it for songwriting on my own and be able to hear all the notes.

[quote name='Grassie' timestamp='1426581119' post='2719415'] I would rather have more in-depth interviews with players and not these pathetic copy and paste, expanded "bassically speaking" pieces currently being passed off as interviews. It's like the players in question are given a questionnaire to fill in. Rubbish. [/quote] Having been the subject of "Bassically Speaking" several years ago I can confirm that it is done with a standard questionnaire. Back when I did mine the section was only a page or two with about 3 musicians per page, and if you were already aware of the format it was possible to answer it in such a way that you didn't fall int the same old clichés and therefore have something interesting about yourself, your music and the band(s) you played in reproduced in a proper print magazine. Three years ago, when I was asked to be in it, it was a no-brainer. If I was being approached now I would have to think very carefully before agreeing. It has become IMO a cheap to produce space filler in the magazine, and one that I generally gloss over. Also there are some musicians featured in this section who are important and popular enough to be featured in a proper interview and not tucked away in this ghetto. AFAICS unless you ramble on at length or are completely illiterate, your "interview" is reproduced almost verbatim. If that section takes more than 30 minutes per page to produce from receiving completed Word documents and JPEG images to having a print-ready PDF, then BGMs production staff are incompetent.

My favourite is still the Nord Lead. The Mk1 version is plenty versatile enough and goes very cheaply.

Having skimmed through the manual, I think it's definitely a synth you need to try before you buy it. But then again I can hardly talk. I spent £600 on a 1st generation Tenori-On on the basis of a 5 minute demo at a music show!

So how close will the production model be to the "prototype"? I like the fact that it's not really like any of the traditional bass models. I would't be particularly bothered about the fancy top woods, but would definitely be interested in a model with the vibrato!

[quote name='Thump' timestamp='1426528149' post='2718935'] Very cool! I especially like the shape of it , kinda reminds me of a reverse Jazz body I noticed the font of "Venture" on the headstock and its the same as the Adult Swim cartoon "Venture brothers" . I wonder if the two are connected? Perhaps the creator has love of these as well. [/quote] The Ventures: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bKG0p6Tv9Q&spfreload=10[/media] And some very nifty bass playing from Nokie Edwards.