noisedude

[quote name='Machines' post='150252' date='Mar 3 2008, 12:04 PM']Physics has a lot of maths in it - so you should be familiar with the laws of probability.. .[/quote] Yes, the law of probability states that I have never won a competition in my life. Thanks for the review too, I would be interested to know/see how these compare to the others mentioned because I would like to dip my toe into the acoustic bass pond at some point.

[quote name='Machines' post='150245' date='Mar 3 2008, 11:54 AM']I hated Physics at school. Your entry has now been disqualified.[/quote] That's because you didn't have me as your teacher! The other day I watched an experienced teacher explode a conical glass beaker with 30 kids crammed round his table, none of whom were wearing goggles. You can bet they will remember that lesson for years. All of which shows why I should win the bass ........

I'm saving the future of the country's education system by becoming a physics teacher. There are only 122 of us in the country this year. Surely that deserves some sort of special treatment?

Good question. Someone asked me if I could teach them to play bass recently and it occurred to me that, unlike with guitar, piano and drums, I have no idea what I am actually doing when I'm playing bass! Am interested to see what people think.

No - don't use detergent! If it's a rosewood or ebony fingerboard, follow these simple instructions. For lacquered maple, don't. Start with Silvo or Brasso metal polish wadding (about a quid for a tin, will last for a decade). Give it a good scrubbing and see how black the wadding comes up. It's also (not surprisingly) good for polishing your frets. Then use lemon oil or almond oil (almond oil is better for feeding the wood, lemon oil is better for cleaning but sold at a ridiculous price by guitar shops, I usually use a 50/50 mix of the two, almond oil is a couple of quid for a lifetime-sized bottle from any pharmacy) to clean and feed the board. Do this with a a bit of kitchen roll folded up, with a tiny amount of oil on it - literally hold it over the top of the oil bottle, turn upside down and back and that'll probably do a third of the board easily. Rub it into the board and once you've done the whole board, rub it down in the same way with a clean piece of kitchen roll. Repeat this stage until there is no more oil coming off onto the kitchen roll. Repeat the whole process if needed, but done properly this should be once-through only, and a ten or fifteen minute job maximum in total. Hope that helps, if my explanation is imperfect, sorry, it's late at night! Nik

Sweet! I love green guitars. That said, if you need to re-home that natural one in a hurry ......... !

Can you push it back a night, I'm away then but I love the Hi-Fi and your music sounds like it'd make for a good night out!!! Pretty please?!

[quote name='Smash' post='142319' date='Feb 18 2008, 10:20 AM']Noisedude, I had that Behringer head as a back up to my Ashdown head a couple of years back, I lent it to a friend for a year who did around 80 gigs with it I also did 20 gigs with it between saving for next amp. It really was pretty good workhorse for me and good for a backup, I know there are a lot of bad comments on here about it , but maybe I was lucky, not much in the tonal area and also that damn awful boost button but I think you should be ok, but like we all say everyone is different. If you can afford it go for a Markbass Little Mark 2 Head they really are fantastic! I use an MB LMK which to me is so so good.[/quote] Believe me, I'm saving! Thing is, I have a Laney RB9 head that I don't dislike, and a Hartke 410 Transporter cab that I'm slightly less keen on. So I'm sort of looking at lightweight cabs and realising how expensive it's going to be to re-do my rig!!! I run right at my limit on the RB9 with the 4x10 cab (the limiter kicks in and I'm still begging for more volume) so I'm really not sure what needs upgrading first. Maybe I should start a thread on that!!

Others may disagree, but if it's in warranty and sounds good, you might as well keep playing it. I've seen them gigged to be honest, and though most people will upgrade after a while I'm not always sure how much you can hear the improved sound of a quality amp in a room of 5kW of PA and about a hundred people The HA3500 is a good head from what I remember of it, although avoid the underpowered HA2500, IMO.

Spoil us with a photo!

[quote name='joegarcia' post='138584' date='Feb 11 2008, 11:54 PM']Hehe, yup. Glad someone on here knows who my avatar is of. [/quote] I thought it was someone from He Man. Cool story, and you're right ... I'm no Jamiroquai fan but THAT is the bass playing that made me want to pick up a four- or five-string and get some groove running. Did he play for you at all? Would've been awesome to get a quick masterclass!!

The best advice I've heard over the years is that sounding like your heroes is much more to do with playing like them than playing the same instrument as them. I suspect Cliff Burton could play a headless Steinberger or a fretless acoustic bass and still sound more like Cliff Burton than me playing his exact rig. With that in mind, it's really important that you try some out and play what feels right to YOU. In six-string world, I have toiled with guitars for years that I have bought because I love the look and sound of, but which just don't fit under my hands like others do at all. So try some in a few shops, and then make a decision at home before hunting for the best deal on one that you really like.

Seem to be a lot of Yorkshire people joining at the moment, myself included. Live in Leeds, currently spending my weeks in Bradford doing teacher training. Nice collection of gear! If you ever need to dispose of a Warwick at a convenient location, I have a secure "drop off point" and can ensure you never need to see it again!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='137350' date='Feb 9 2008, 10:36 PM']I expect they all make bits, some necks and some bodies, and some put the neck and bodies together. At the end of the day they are lumps of wood, the ones I have make the required noises and for the most part fit together with other bits.[/quote] Totally! A friend of mine is inspired by the guitars made by Mansons for Matt Bellamy from Muse and bought a few AXL/Johnson Teles to start putting custom circuits and FX into. Now he's moving onto basses, was thinking about getting him to put a Whammy or some sort of MIDI controller into a cheap bass so I could try some awesome new sounds without trashing a more expensive instrument. Dumb thing is, lots of us have these cheap instruments that we play just as often as the things we saved up years for!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='137291' date='Feb 9 2008, 08:30 PM']I was told that by a guy who imports them to America and uses them as a basis for customs (works out cheaper than painted body blanks or something) that was the case, when he was reccomending a buy from someone other than himself.[/quote] Oh I'm not disputing that they make that claim - as a matter of fact I had contact with the factory in China and they said the same thing. What I'm saying is that I dealt with other factories in China who made exactly the same claim - and they can't all be right. Speak to a rep from Saein or Dae Won, or from Cort (who claim to 'control' 25% of the world guitar market) or U.S. Music (who claim not to use OEM factories) etc etc etc, and you'll hear a lot of the same claims over and over from different people. Yes, Sound Control's Grainger amps come off the line that make the identical Epiphone ones, but if Dae Won make Epiphone and so do Saein but neither make Legacy, who is lying? And Cort and Saein can't both be making Ibanez and Washburn, can they? As I say - just take it with a pinch of salt because brand association is worth a HUGE amount to these companies.

I played an AXL (Johnson) Tiger 5-string bass yesterday and whilst it was a good looking thing with a fairly playable neck, the 5th string was dreadfully floppy to the point of unplayability, and the action wasn't low but the saddles were lowered onto the bridge - meaning that if you wanted to go lower you'd have to shim the neck, which is not ideal really. No worse than any other budget stuff but not honestly something that punches above its weight. It was a 5-string version of this bass and in an amber finish: [url="http://www.johnsongtr.com/Bass.66.0.html"]http://www.johnsongtr.com/Bass.66.0.html[/url]

[quote name='El_JimBob' post='137167' date='Feb 9 2008, 05:15 PM']AXL/Johnson build the chinese Squiers for Fender - for what it's worth [/quote] Hmmm ........... there a are quite a few companies who claim that (not to mention four different factories who claim to make Epiphone's Les Pauls) so with the greatest of respect I would advise taking that claim with a pinch of salt.

Quick update ... the Harley Benton pedals on Thomann are the same as the GLX pedals, so make sure you compare prices on there before you buy!!!

Hello mate. I'm from Leeds, not been here long myself and also a relatively recent convert to four and sometimes five strings. Great forum, just have to discipline myself to read more than I write or I'll never learn!!

[quote name='kevbass' post='133070' date='Feb 3 2008, 03:15 PM']Well, I dont ever think you can cure yourself of gas. Say you gas for a jazz, and you get that jazz, and you think "great, now I'll get a precision I really dont need to match my jazz" and then you get that precision, and then you find yourself playing the precision more and you think "I'll sell that jazz and get something active and modern to contrast my precision" so you get that modern active bass, then you think to yourself, "I know I'll sell my precision and get something 5 string active to go with my active 4 string" and then after a while you decide your playing five strings and you sell that four string in favour for a second five string and one day whilst playing on one of your fives you say to yourself "You know I really miss the simplicity of a passive 4 string jazz bass" and thus it continues, and it gets worse when you see a bass player who really inspires you when he or she is playing something you are yet to own or play. Once you've got gas its not going anywhere, unless you manage to guilt yourself into not buying anything else, but then that only usually lasts for a short while [/quote] This is exactly my process ... except I find that I keep more guitars than I sell!

[quote name='NJW' post='132744' date='Feb 2 2008, 08:05 PM']Noisedude - I need you to do something for me. Go to your kitchen and get a knife, or find a screwdriver from your toolbox. Then turn your bass round, and give it a good stab somewhere on the back. It needs to be done.[/quote] Haha yeah I used (as I keep saying) to sell guitars and I used to tell people I advised banging the new axe on the shop door frame on the way out to get that first dent out of the way. I've even got a couple of guitars I've smashed up deliberately. This worrying protective feeling is new to me. Photos coming soon.

Brought into the country by the same importer who does Richwood guitars. Have a bunch of them. All of them are good for the money - the bass EQ is quiet enough and does the job, the bass overdrive is fine as long as you don't mix too much in, the 'soft distortion' is terrible and the 'heavy metal' HM-100 is absolutely excellent but a little too scoopy in the mids. I've not personally had any problems but I have friends who've had reliability problems so best to use a dealer you can take it back to. Only sold in the north of England, in the Yorkshire / Lincolnshire areas. No website because if Boss ever spot them they'll be stopped.