Jean-Luc Pickguard

I have the stentor 1950 - solid top ply back & sides. A set of thomastik spirocore improved it a lot. It came with the strings set a bit high and I haven't bothered to adjust the bridge. It sounds good with a K&B Big Twin pickup, but I don't use it live as it can't cut through the band as well as my NS eub and feeds back like a bastard when amplified loud. Normans had the best price when I got mine - its currently £463.45 there: [url="http://www.normans.co.uk/Items/Item.aspx?SKU=1950/c&caSKU=1950/c&caTitle=Stentor%20Student%201950/C%20Double%20Bass%20Outfit%20(3/4%20Size)"]Stentor 1950 at Normans.co.uk[/url] I particularly like the sloping shoulders on the Stentor (sorry the pic's a bit big)

600W RMS I wonder how "loud" it goes with an LMII.

Write the keys next to the song names on everyone's copy of the set list.

I've always been a bit disappointed with the autowahs I've tried previously. The wah in my boss gt6b is OK, but nothing special and they synth sounds are good, but I've not been able to get it to track well. I recently bought a Yamaha Magicstomp and the wah in that is very funky and usable - it doesn't do synth sounds though.

I still have one, I think its back in my loft now after I found it a while ago - I think it cost about £50 late 80s/early 90s. It used to live in my 19" midi synth/fx/mixer rack to add punch/eq to synth bass sounds. After I got bored with machine music & got back into playing bass it was very useful for headphone practice it has a stereo line-in for Walkman etc that can be mixed in with the bass. This would be more useful if it could be powered from rechargeable batteries rather than a psu though. The compressor & limiter are on preset on/off buttons, so aren't very flexible, but it was a pretty good piece of kit for its time.

The green limiter/enhancer pedal gets my vote for transparancy, but it doesn't do squishy.

Looks like theres a vista driver for the magicstomp that should work => [url="http://www.global.yamaha.com/download/usb_midi/"]here[/url] <= I'm not going to bother trying to put it on my big vista laptop though as I have grown to hate vista with a passion and my lovely new Advent 4211 (rebadged MSI Wind) Netbook came with XP. It works great on that. If only there was an Ubuntu driver & editing app as I have it dual booting and only use XP for a select few jobs. It would also be nice if it could be used as a sound interface for the PC over usb, but its basically a midi interface acting as a transport for sending the patch data. Regarding the pedal itself, the build quality seems to be good & sturdy, the case is plastic, but it seems to be very chunky and the sockets appear to be much more heavy duty than most other pedals I've used. I'll probably baby it & keep it in the original box, or make a case for it.

When I was in Brum at the weekend I checked out a few music shops including Fair Deal. In the window they had a slightly dusty and unloved looking Magicstomp bass pedal. I tried it, liked it & adopted it for £69.99. I only ever use a bit of compression/limiting & slight distortion, which this seems to do very well, but the other fx are pretty good as well in particular the autowah seems to be a bit better than the few stand-alone pedals I've tried and the feedback busting facility could be useful with double bass. The software to edit patches on a laptop via usb is a good idea. Also the fact that you have access to all the guitar and acoustic patches in the one pedal and some serious reverbs is a bonus. I like the idea of just using this single pedal for gigs rather than separates or my big boss GT6B. Anyone have any experience of the magicstomp? Any tips?

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='244361' date='Jul 21 2008, 12:14 PM']I change my pants every day and my strings probably every 2 months thats almost 15% if my calculations are right. I am also planning on changing my Gas provider (real Gas) that should get it down to a modest 12.5% if interest rates hold again next month.[/quote] You can usually get another day out of your pants if you turn them inside. ...I'm not sure if this also works for steinberger double-ball strings though

If it just needs new strings & the standard neck, bridge & pickup adjustments you could do the setup yourself and spend the money on beer. There's loads of easy to follow guides around. eg: [url="http://www.fender.com/support/basses.php"]http://www.fender.com/support/basses.php[/url] [url="http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassmanual/setupmanual.html"]http://www.garywillis.com/pages/bass/bassm...etupmanual.html[/url] I owned my USA Precision for 20 years before I had enough courage to turn the truss rod, but I find it usually needs a few tweaks every year when the seasons change. My jazz often needs a bit of a tweak right before a gig to keep playing consistently.

I use Cubase Studio 4 - the cheaper version. I didn't think I'd need the extra features, but I filled some of the gaps with freeware vst plugins and there are some great ones available - the kjaerhus ones got a lot of use when I mixed the last o5b CD.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='240099' date='Jul 15 2008, 02:56 PM']Anyone know how the modern Japanese version shapes up?[/quote] Yep - i have one and it has become my favourite gigging bass. Thomastik JF324 flats fit perfectly & It practically plays itself. I originally wanted a "vintage" one & tried a few, but much preferred the neck on the the CIJ, especially as it was a fraction of the price.

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='239677' date='Jul 15 2008, 12:17 AM']Have tried a P bass with said switch - just tends to thin the sound out![/quote] the S1 was fairly pointless on the precision, but much better on the jazz though - made it a bit more chunky like a precision.

[quote name='tauzero' post='239040' date='Jul 14 2008, 11:47 AM']And Stella Artois, of course - which actually tends to cost about the same as other lagers, but is marketed as being expensive.[/quote] ..and tastes like earwax (so I'm told )

Oh dear - there I am laughing at the good the bad & the ugly (more of the latter two) and then I realise a similar ashbory to the one I'm noodling on as I read is featured.

I'd volunteer

I though the bass VI was a baritone guitar rather than a bass anyway, so they should be similar already.

[quote name='Sibob' post='235111' date='Jul 8 2008, 05:07 PM']Dunno, it was Fender UK if that makes any difference. Emailed them yesterday morning and they got back to me today! Si[/quote] My enquiry went to fender UK as well, but they didn't even mail back a "dunno" and a shrug. Oh well doesn't matter now.

[quote name='ahpook' post='236415' date='Jul 10 2008, 12:19 PM']if you do go to denmark street...deffo haggle...and go from one shop to the other playing them off...[/quote] Several of the shops are owned by music ground though, so that may not always work

I used to get problems towards the end of a gig when we'd normally do a 100mph version of get "out of denver" with very fast bass line played fingerstyle. Often my hands would start hurting and sometimes my right hand would freeze up completely so I'd have to finish the song with my hand siezed up into a claw moving the whole hand from the shoulder like a big plecky. My solution was to change my gain structrure so that the bass goes through a limiter and the amp is set much louder so that I don't have to hit the strings so hard to get the same volume out. I also built up the strength in my fingers with a red gripmaster. I can feel that my fingers are much stronger now and I don't have the problem any more.

I'd pop up to Camden & see Al at the Gallery. Give him a ring first to see what s/h amps are there, but he should have plenty of neoprene straps & gigbags.

I'd say most a lot of modern music has more in common with a lot of blues, but then there's a massive crossover with blues & jazz, both coming from similar influences. What's the point in catgories in record shops (or whatever they call them these days) Do I look for Etta James in easy listening, soul, blues, jazz or rock? - I've found her CDs in all these sections. What the f*** is urban? and why is the R&B section full of spoken word/drum machine nonsense instead of Howlin'Wolf & Muddy Waters?

If you want a laugh, You should ask this on the official Ernie Ball Musicman forum. And stand well back. Or maybe get it rewound or have a custom one made by Andy Blake at Wizard Pickups.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='235778' date='Jul 9 2008, 03:13 PM']just out of interest, would it have been worth sorting the neck out and replacing the pickups? was £50 a good price.[/quote] Nope & Nope

[quote name='Sibob' post='235035' date='Jul 8 2008, 03:45 PM']Nevermind....Fender actually got back to me Delete the thread if you want!! Si[/quote] How on earth did you get them to get back to you? I asked them just over a week ago for a quote to supply a replacement Ashbory tuner & I got no reply whatsoever. In the meantime Largesound.com sent me one from across the pond for $8 delivered.