attackbass

Just updated it, took a little while. Looking forward to trying the new blends with the guitar overdrives. I wonder how these will work the captures and also phasing issues. I have the Cory Wong, parralax and darkglass plugins, so hopefully they will end up being compatible with the QC. The Darkglass plugin sound to my ears much better than any of the captures or the modelled versions.. the VMT and B3K have horrible tails to the drive sound that I've never known to happen with the plugin or with the real life analog devices.

Just got back from playing for the second year in a row. Its bloody knackering but a lot of fun. Did two shows this year, one at midnight on Friday night and the other at 12:30pm the following day, with two hours of poor sleep between. For me it's a weird one as I never had the desire to go or play but it is a lot of fun and a lot or cool stuff happening every day. I could not do it as a punter though, I like the comforts of being an artist there 😂 As last year, I saw hardly any bands again. This year I watched almost the entire D:ream set of all things (mainly because I was having a lay down at the Glade) and The Breeders, which was a bit more my thing despite only knowing two songs I thought they were great and gave a very honest performance. I did spend twenty minutes watching a crowd of people dancing around a metal bug on a tank with Happy Hardcore DJs, feeling quite perplexed that of all the things they could do there, they choose that. Each to their own I guess!

Think I'm going to borrow a md421 and capture it next week. Got a free day before heading off to play Glastonbury so would be nice to have it going to FOH and the rest of the band in the monitors, so its a consistent sound theyre used to hearing.. Using your own gear is pretty tricky there due to the size of the site and transport is restricted to people carriers, so will probably end up with an Ampeg of some sort.

Haha not sure either!! 😅

Ha. Each to their own, I love the gear.

Yeah, I have tried the celestion in the past and they do sound good! I just find I don't need them as well as the sansamp emulation.. Being able to change mics and the position us bloody great on the Quad! Wish they would make some more cabs for it, preferable a Hartke HD410 or HL410 as I love those cabs!

I love my Quad Cortex, the ease of use is what really sells it to me. I do wish some of the effects like the octave and bass wah were better but I feel this will come in time and I'm looking forward to some of the new features that will be coming. I feel guilty about not using it to it's full potential, especially when I see some people's presets and I've only ever done one capture.... I'm actually running my sansamp "English Muffy" preamp in the effects loop as my main preamp now, no speaker sim from the Quad either, although they sound amazing and much better than anything Darkglass put out, just wish there were more cabs! I think for preamps for live use anyway I prefer to have hands on control for tweaking rather than using captures. I tend to use captures of things like the noble or similar devices that just add a certain colour or boost. It's great for doing signal path stuff which was once only confined to studio situations or very elaborate set ups!

Haha yeah! I guess it's curiosity as the Haz is said to be such a part of the sound! I find the Darkglass pre very aggressive though, don't use much of it but it does give me what I like!

Would you consider changing the darkglass pre to the clone Haz if you were happy with the Darkglass? I'm not into that super super grindy 80s spector sound but I do absolute love the tone of my LT5

Just to confuse you more. I just came back from a rehearsal and I think my Euro LT 5 is the best sounding bass I've ever had and the most fun to play!

I had a stingray body made by them. It's a good quality, light alder body. I sent them the status neck to make sure it was a perfect fit. I would use them again. I think the woodworking aspect and wood quality is great.

Thought I would update as currently using the Hartke gear for its first tour! Firstly, I'm not sure if this a first for me but I have voluntarily turned the amp down on stage, I think I'm running it at just below three on the dial. Huge amounts of volume and only using a single 4x10 HL cab. Playing from Concert Halls to club shows. Running with the tweeter off, bass at 3 , mid at 5 and treble at about 2 is giving me a very full,warm tone that really bites and gets aggressive when I dig in which is perfect as the set is pretty dynamic. Really love the high end the speakers deliver, it really just helps you sit in the mix and still hear the definition of your playing on stage. I'm running my Spector in the passive input with a very slight boost of treble and bass on the onboard preamp, just sounds like that little bit extra push really gets the amp working.

Just restrung my LT5 with Rotosounds and intonated and set up the bass and I love the bridge on these basses! Firstly no screws for adjusting the intonation! Instead I can use an Allan key, the saddles actually move when you adjust the intonation and it's the quickest and possibly first time ever I've managed to intonate a low B in tune! Then there's the sound of the bass with the Swing Bass Strings. Really brings the bass to life and it really sings! Also ended up getting a Hiscox case for it and it's pretty much a perfect fit for it, if anyone else is wondering about cases!

Can't be 100 percent but the bigger hartke logo makes me think its mid to late 90s but could be wrong!

I love the amps and cabs. Somehow wrangled an artist deal with them after being blown away by a Hartke rig at a festival. It has the sound that I love!

If you want to save your back the HL Cabs are amazing! Not the same tone or heavy 90s nostalgia as the XL series though!!

Awesome. If you ever want to sell the amp let me know haha. Be nice to add to my hartke collection!

I definitely get withdrawal if I don't play it for a day or two because I always want to play it. For me it's also a job but I also absolutely love playing it and apart from a few years where I fell out of love with it in my twenties (I got fed up with being a touring band musician and lost sigjg of why I loved the bass) I've been playing it since I was ten so it's been like a best friend and I find practicing like a sort of release in the same way people like going for a run or a walk!

After some advice regarding a hardcase for my Spector LT5. I need something that will survive being thrown into vans and going on planes and through airports. The obvious option would be the fitted Spector hardcase which I can get on an artist deal but I'm also considering a Hiscox hard case too. My main concern is the headstock really. In my fender C&G (?) Hardcase the neck doesn't lie flat in the groove and the angled headstock is taking all the weight of the bass which I fear is a bad thing! So wondering if anyone had experience of the Spector cases and that they are fitted so that the headstock isn't taking the weight and just general longevity of the cases? Same goes for the Hiscox. Obviously they don't fit the exact shape of the Spector but you can put inserts in? Any others I should consider?

Guitar and bass build will probably make them. They made me a stibgray body for a status neck a year or two ago!

Lighter fluid apparently. Not a joke. Haven't tried it myself but if yoi research enough you'll find people talking about it, I think they call it something else in the States... Naphtha? I've restored a good few Warwicks. Lots of careful sanding and wire wool and you can get them looking like new.

There was a whole thread about this on the Ernie ball forums. I did mine avfew years ago now, fingerboard and neck. Can't remember what I did to be honest but sugar soap was involved and I resealed the neck with a clear furniture wax and the bass has never been better.