Hot Tub

Is there a "proper" way to mute the strings that aren't being played? I play fretted 4 and 5-strings, and there's always just that little bit of background ringing. It's only slightly - but noticably - worse on the 5. Thanks for any advice!

Oh dear, here goes.... Male, 43, been "playing" since I was 16. Originally inspired by John McCoy who, when I was 16, I thought had the most amazing, thumping, roadworks sound. He was 20-stone of sheer entertainment! I started playing with a pick, but quickly moved to fingerstyle as I found I could play a helluva lot quicker that way. Never been able to do the slap/pop thing. Currently got a 4-string and a 5-string and love 'em both. Never gigged or even jammed. I just play along with tracks - anything from Pink Floyd, Rush, Queensryche, to AC/DC, Deep Purple, Bryan Adams, blues, and loads in between. Used to just play along with vinyl records with the bass on the stereo turned down. Now I use Adobe Audition to filter out the bass part leaving everything else mostly untouched. I plop the modified tracks into a cheapo MP3 player and that goes through a little mixing desk with my bass so I can play along. I try to improvise a bit too (in the case of Rush I improvise quite a lot - usually improvising root notes!). Currently teaching myself to read notation; it's a slow painful process, but I'm getting there!

Many thanks for good advice, muchly appreciated! Cheers folks!

OK, I understand Ohm's Law from a mathematical perspective. What I don't know is what it means from the "viewpoint" of the output stage of a power amp. Here's the problem. I have a 100w amp which is designed to "talk" to a 4ohm load, and the 115 cab I'm using is 4ohms. Perfect. But I have the chance of getting a 410 cab on the cheap, and it's 8ohms. If I connect them in series, I'll get 12ohms which (I think) will be pretty quiet, but if I put them in parallel I'll have 2.7ohms. What damage - if any - will this do to my amp?

Keep it as it is, at least for a while. The original tone and feel of an instrument is something that can never be recovered once it's gone. Play it as is, get used to it as is, and give it some long hard thought before you do anything to it, because it'll never be the same again.

Thanks folks! I'll take this on board!

Having always played 4 string, I recently got my first 5 string, and absolutely love it. Everything about it - the sound, the "feel" - is what I've been looking for. But there's a problem. I thought going from 4 to 5 strings would be easy, but I'm having a real hard time. I know that it's practise-practise-practise, and that's what I'm doing. But does anyone out there have any tips/tricks which perhaps made your own transition a bit easier?

What a difference! I bought a Laney ProLinebacker 100w combo from that auction site, and got it for a song. It was a bit tatty, with knobs missing, but everything worked. So, I stripped it all down, cleaned it, repainted the grille, got new knobs and slider tops, and put it all back together with bright zinc plated screws & washers. It looks the mutts nuts. But there's been an annoying buzzing ever since, especially at low E and C at the 3rd fret on the A string. Something wasn't right. But now it is!!! After much faffing about I discovered that the grille wasn't sitting quite right and was "buzzing" on the bottom of the amp front panel. The reason was that I'd put the grille on with the thing lying flat. All I did to fix it was keep the combo in the upright position and loosen off all the grille screws, allowing the grille to "settle" into it's proper position. Tightened everything up and.... glorious, clear, buzz free sound! I'm a seriously happy bunny. And just wanted to share this with... erm... everyone... Sorry.

'Tis true - that lil V940 sounds damn fine!

1. Vintage V940B and Cort Artisan B5 [attachment=6030:babies.JPG] 2. Why the neighbours don't like me [attachment=6031:music_room.JPG]

Hi, just found this place and it looks fairly friendly - I hope! I've been playing bass on and off for about 25yrs, but I'm still not very good (can't read music!). I'm mainly using a Vintage V940B, but I also have an absolutely mint Aria ProII FB Series. The V940 goes into a Behringer BDI21 Amp Emulator/DI box, and from there into a Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer. The mixer also talks to a Casio CTK-631 which I use for a bit of percussion to play along with as it's slightly less boring than a metronome, and that lot feeds a Laney ProLinebacker PL100. So, that's why my neighbours don't talk to me. Looking forward to learning from lots of people who know far more about this stuff than I do, and sharing some of my tales of truly outstanding stupidity! Cheers! A.