shizznit

The Überhorn is my fav model. Such a sexy looking instrument! I have specs to discuss with Jon when I pick up the bass for a 5 string thru-neck single cut order which will eventually replace my Lakland for studio work. I was going to order a J bass with Jon, but I bought a superb hot rodded Fender USA Deluxe last year which is great fun to play.

Jon told me that it just needs to be put together now...hardware and electronics. I can't go to the workshop to collect it until the end of the month, so when I give him the heads up he will spend an afternoon wrapping it up for me. The photos he said he was going to send me never showed up, but I'm not bothered about that. I want it to be a little bit of a surprise when I pick it up. Really looking forward to it!

Don't take the time for the completion of my bass for granted. The bass would have been ready back in Jan/Feb, but Jon picked up an injury to his hand which set him back a bit and I have been out of the country for a few months. I am in no dire need for it as I have other basses I can use in the meantime. Jon would usually turn around an order within 12 months or sooner depending on how complicated the build is.

I was into them. I loved the guitar sound most of all. I always thought they were a little out of place in the Indie scene back then.

Excellent job! That's a seriously pretty looking bass. How does it perform?

George's passing has been the main topic of conversation between my friends today. Such was the influence of the man. Very sad day for music today. RIP.

Well, I have just got back home, quickly hooked up my bass, recorded a track and everything sounds okay in the playback at my end. Both basses sound clean as a whistle. I am going to put it down to the A/D convertor at that studio. I have to go back later on this evening to record some percussion, but I don't have enough time to record my bass. I will have to finish that at home in my own time. I'm going to take my AudioFire AD convertor when I am working on the next project and hopefully the guy that runs the studio won't mind me using it. Better to stick to what I know works in this case. [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1375460053' post='2161784'] Gainstaging on the preamps was not set up right would be my guess... [/quote] That's the first thing I looked at. Even at low levels the bass sounded dampened. Just doesn't have the attack I want or use to hearing. I can't blame the Mackie desk or pre-amps because I bypassed them completely and went straight into the front end. The guide drums were recorded with an ambient mic, so I can't tell if the kick drum or the low tuned racks are going to suffer. We are recording the drums tomorrow (I know...I know...beyond my control) so I will see if we get the same problem there. I might be missing a trick with that Focusrite...I dunno...after a few google searches I haven't found much help. If my AudioFire nails it at that studio in a few weeks time then I am definitely going to give that Focusrite a wide berth in the future.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1375444346' post='2161430'] Hey Tom! [/quote] That photo is kinda like a before and after if Dood shaved his head!

I'm producing an EP for a friend today and I have a weird problem with the bass. My signal sounds heavily compressed and fluffy sounding. I thought it was the desk or maybe my amp, but I tried going direct into the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 and the same thing happens. I have tweaked the gain settings and sample rates on the A/D convertor software and even started from scratch on Logic and it always sounds the same. I thought it could have been the bass (Lakland 55-02) but after wasting almost two hours to drive back home to fetch my Fender J there is still no joy. Maybe the monitors? Nope...sounds the same through the cans. We laid down the guide tracks yesterday and we all played together live, so I didn't pick it up. You can hear the same problem on the guides too, so it's not something that has just manifested today. All the other instruments sound fine. I am not familiar with this studio and I'm going to skip it for now and record the bass tracks at home later (because I know it works there). I can't get hold of the guy that owns the studio for advice. The thing is I am coming back here in a few weeks time to do another project and I might not the luxury of recording my bass tracks at home, so I might have to tackle this problem again. Any ideas as to what is happening?

Wow! Thanks for the info Tom! Not sure if you we're intending to fish for respect or simply wanting to set the record straight, but from one working pro to another, you need a website! Nice to meet you Tom

I'm working with a guitar player that has a Kemper rig and it blows me away. I own a Fender Deluxe 60 and the profile he has on the Kemper is spot on...even the spring reverb is exactly the same. We cloned a very expensive and rare 40w Black Cat combo that a mutual friend kindly let us use for a couple of days and we nailed that amp too. The technology in the Kemper is astonishing. He wants to make a clone of my EBS TD650 amp and Proline 410 cab so that I can just come over with a bass to his studio and not bring an amp, but we haven't got around to it yet. I'm really interested to see how that will turn out when we get the time to do it.

The important thing is to set yourself an affordable budget and stick to it in the early stages of setting up for home recording. Studio equipment is an abyss for your finances and its easy to get carried away. Start with basic set up so that you can learn the how to use the software and learn how to record your instruments. It takes just as long to be proficient as a producer/engineer as it does to be a good musician and songwriter.

That is going to be one very elegant looking instrument when it is finished. Bet you are really excited Rich!

Swamp Ash is my favourite tone wood. My old MTD 535 was swamp ash and the Shuker that is currently being built for me is also swamp ash. I prefer it over normal ash as it can be lighter in weight and in some cases a bit more brighter in tone. Alder gets you that classic all round Fender tone. There are subtle differences between all three woods, but as soon as you apply layers of paint and lacquer to the instrument it chokes some of the natural tonal voice of the wood. As most stock Fender basses fall into this category you won't hear much difference between the wood species. I judge all Fenders by their build quality, hardware and electronics package. That's what usually makes the distinction IMO.

I haven't had a look at it yet, but I have read some great reviews. I'll be replacing my iMac soon, so I might consider upgrading to Pro X when that happens.

Most stage monitors that I have used in recent years might have had enough juice to pump through my bass feed, but I never been 100% satisfied with the sound. Foldback monitors don't have the response that I want once all the band are coming through. Once the kick drum is fed to me it zaps all of the high mids out of my bass tone and ends up being quite muddy and compressed. I use my monitor mix to hear the rest of the band and not myself. I usually stand close to my backline anyway and I much prefer the separation and far more control of my personal monitoring. You don't know what you are going to get at each venue and each house system. With a backline you know what you are going to get every time. Unless you are fortunate to tour with your own PA and have a good understanding on how well your onstage monitoring performs and have spent time refining the sound you are receiving a backline amp will always be needed to ensure you are happy with your tone. If you sound crap and have no control over any improvement then you don't play with confidence. Digital amp modelling is improving all the time and I regularly work with a guitar player that has a Kemper system. He DI's into the PA, uses two of his own foldback monitors hooked up to a power amp and never uses a guitar amp or cab on stage. There are even foldback monitors on the market specially designed for amp modelling. It sounds great and not having a guitar player screaming away above everyone else on stage is a welcome relief. At rehearsals he just turns them 180 behind him and there is more than enough volume to hear him. A very flexible and compact setup. Also, this method also resolves a lot of stage acoustics problems. You always get a consistent sound of your instrument. The only draw back for me is if you like to wander around a big stage. As soon as you step away from your monitors you can't hear yourself. A conventional backline will still give you some reference across the stage. Bass amp modelling still has a long way to go. I have owned both Line 6 POD's and SansAmp DI drivers and they sound okay in the studio, but I have never been happy with them on stage simply because the majority of foldback monitors don't perform as well as a bass cab would. I'm sure that someone one day will design a bass system for live use that will work as well as a Fractal or Kemper system and that can be used through specially designed foldback monitors that can replicate not just the amp but the speaker too. But, bass players are simple folks. I have no interest having 100's of amp models, speaker sims and effects at my disposal. I like the sound of my bass amp and switching my tone multiple times during a performance seems pointless to me. I also think that FOH engineers would get narked if I did that because controlling low end frequencies in a venue is bloody difficult, so changing between tones would cause more harm than good. Maybe the sensible solution is a foldback amp combo much like Hartke, David Eden, GK and Laney have tinkered with in the past. Recent D class amp and lightweight speaker technology has opened up a lot of possibilities for such setups that will provide the power and performance we all crave. But, is there really a high demand for this type of bass amp/personal monitoring combination for bass players? The market for this will be aimed the medium-large venue musician whereby the whole band needs to be monitored. The musician that plays in front of one man and his dog without full PA support will always need a conventional backline setup and will be satisfied with it. I can't see many manufacturers investing much time and money into this as in ear monitors seem to be the way forward and that technology is becoming more efficient and cheaper as time goes by.

You can practice at home until the cows come home and get your parts nailed...nothing wrong with that. But, working on the band dynamic and making sure the band can perform at a good level is very important. That requires time together playing the music and gelling together. There is no substitute for that. This guy will not work out if he can't make rehearsals.

Nothing lately. But, Jon said he will get the bass completed for me by August when we last spoke a few weeks ago. Jon didn't get around to sending me the pics, but I am not bothered about that too much. I want the bass to be a bit of a surprise now. I have seen the body and neck (with paddle headstock), but I have no idea what the bass looks like now that all the carving and finishing has been completed and matched up. So, it will still be a bit of a surprise when I get it so it will be exciting and something to look forward to. I'm hoping to receive the bass within the next 4 weeks.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1373365007' post='2136636'] All my bands feature women too, I'm not sure I'd want to work with a male lead vocalist again [/quote] It has its pro's and con's! But, I admit that I prefer with female leads too.

Only got sacked once. I got booted because I thought the drummer was a dick and sooner or later I was going to swing for him. So, the guys thought it would be better if I moved on. A few months later they sacked the drummer because he was a dick.

Nation Stack is my main band. My current session acts includes Michelle Weeks, Stephanie Cooke, Justine Hattams, Andy Hartley, Antonic, Mitch Matlock, Andrea Love. Yes, I work for a lot of women!

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1372022363' post='2120821'] It was an HK Audio D.A.R.T monitor. http://hkaudio.com/products.php?id=11 [/quote] I am currently using one of these (12") in the band I am currently working with and it is incredible...probably the best foldback monitor I have ever used. When rest of the band is playing it sounds like any other foldback monitor I have used, but when we sound check and work on my sound the bass guitar representation is astonishingly good through that HK. It's also really pokey for a 12" foldback. Our engineer can really crank the drums through it without break up. Can't recommend these monitors enough.

Not fussed on the design, but quite a lot of bass for the money. Fender seem to focussing on their budget market quite a bit in recent years.

I don't own a Stingray at the moment, but I do use the MM pickup on my Lakland 55-02 most of the time and get pretty close to a Stingray tone. I tend to use the following amp settings to get that high mid burpy MM tone. [attachment=136166:IMG_0094.JPG] Adjust the bass, treble and bright to taste depending on conditions, but I always make sure the high mid frequency is up there. Everything else will work around that and always sounds right for a MM tone somehow. But, as always, this type of thing is subjective. Give these settings a try and let me know how you get on .