geilerbass

Never really been into the naming thing. They generally get referred to as The Warwick, The Fretless, The 6-String and The New One. Purely functional.

The Padauk/Mahogany sandwich is definitely nicer - basically the same as the SR1305, which Fieldy used to endorse before getting his signature model. I remember trying the older K5 shortly after it came out and being totaly blown away. The all-mahogany is still a great bass, but not quite there.

Apparently Fieldy was a fan of the vari-mid because he could totally remove the mid range frequencies from his sound - anyone who's paid attention to Korn's bass sound would have noticed that it is quite 'distinctive'.

[quote name='barry44' post='259932' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:26 PM']thanks guys for all your posts.

i have got it sounding sweet in the house via a small practise amp.

i haven't been using my sansamp recently in the studio as they have bought in some nice ampeg heads and cabs.

however one room is smaller and therefore has a smaller head and cab, this is the room where i lose the bass.

i think by bringing this back into use may give me the sound i am looking for with the rest of the band, i hope.....

i hope that this does work as i am really enjoying playing this bass, i find the neck plays like a dream, giving that it is unfinished. it is so good, i am considering sanding down my other necks to the wood.[/quote]

Glad to hear you're getting some success - it's really a trial and error thing and different situations will often require different settings, dependant on the acoustics and set-up of the situation.

I'm a huge fan of Ibanez necks - the K5 does play amazingly, nearly as nicely as my SR20th . Seriously, the K5 is an awesome bass for the money. Do you have one of the older ones with the Padauk/Mahogany body or the newer one, with just Mahogany in the body?

[quote name='simondee' post='259847' date='Aug 11 2008, 12:07 PM']spend it in the gallery if you do mate. none of the denmark street shops deserve your cash [/quote]

+1000000

If there's any way you can avoid spending your cash in Denmark Street, do. I would have thought that once you've been to the Gallery, you'll want to spend your money there anyway.

Welcome aboard sir!

Great choice of forum name by the way...

Positioning your thumb on the back of the neck is considered the 'standard' technique, but that's not to say it's correct. The most important thing is that you're comfortable, your playing is not restricted and that your wrists are not too bent. Positioning your hand so that your wrist is flexed to far in either direction can lead to tendinitis or worse, carpal tunnel syndrome. If your current positioning is causing your wrist to bend too much, I would suggest trying to get used to a position where your wrist is kept straighter.

Sounds like a test of mental and physical endurance. Good luck with it!

I'm listening to the new Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier Podcast, otherwise known as SModcast. Not music but very entertaining - I usually have to stiffle my chuckles when I'm listening to it at work.

I try and take a backup if I can. Sometimes things outside my control can occur and I'd rather have that option if I can. People have mentioned strings breaking, but, unlikely as it may be, things can go wrong with electronics. I'd rather just swap over and not waste anybody's time rather than frantically trying to sort out a problem that arises.

I don't have a spare amp and it would usually be impractical to take one, though I do have a Sansamp, which would get used anyway, in addition to my amp. My guitarist also has a Little Mark II, which he sometimes brings along as a back up.

I've used them before - they're fairly standard, nothing special. I'd recommend trying La Bella flatwounds. They're around the same price and feel a lot nicer.

[quote name='valentine' post='241170' date='Jul 16 2008, 07:15 PM']lol

i just want to become a really good bassist regardless ,im not into jazz or funk really but it would be really cool to be able to do that stuff my self and im always watching videos of people popping and slapping bass on youtube and really want to be able to do it one day,my tutors showed me a few bits and bobs but we ent done much work on it ,maybe he doesnt think im ready for it yet i dont know


i'll get there,its only been 3 and a half months,probs takes years to become good on this instrument but i'll get there one day for sure =)[/quote]

If your objective is to become the best all round bassist that you can, then I agree with the general consensus here - try and get your fundamentals nailed down. Slapping will be easier if you've already learned good coordination, groove and timing and you'll probably find it less frustrating to start making slap sound good. There are few things that sound worse than sloppily played slap bass.

However, if you love the sound of slap, then you should try and learn it. I don't agree with this idea of not learning it because it's not useful in most situations. The latter is true, but shouldn't playing bass be about having fun? Do you have to do everything because it'll further your bass playing career? If you enjoy slapping (as I do) then do it. That's not to say I do it all the time - I rarely, if at all, use it in the bands that I play in. But that's not to say I don't find it incredibly rewarding slapping at home.

Take it slow, focus on the fundamentals, but by all means give slapping a try if that's what you want to do. It won't make you a 'better' or more employable bass player, but you'll probably have a lot of fun doing it.

Just thought I'd pimp out my band's gig this coming Thursday. We're playing at the Camden Underworld, with support from Tesseract and Anchorhead. There should be something for everyone... ...if you like progressive metal.

You can check out the various band's myspace pages here: -

[url="http://www.myspace.com/tomeraband"]To-Mera[/url]
[url="http://www.myspace.com/tesseract"]Tesseract[/url]
[url="http://www.myspace.com/anchorheaddarthmetal"]Anchorhead[/url]

You can get tickets from the following places, though they will no doubt be available on the door...

[url="http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=detail&event=265338"]Ticketweb[/url]
[url="http://www.stargreen.com/events?id=19878"]Stargreen[/url]

If anyone does make it down, make sure you say hi!

There's basically only one appropriate time to slap and that's between scenes on Seinfeld...

[quote name='Chris2112' post='239460' date='Jul 14 2008, 07:51 PM']Is it Stuart Clayton who is playing guitar now? [/quote]



No, it was the guy at college that I used for an example of unnecessary slapping. Truegeminis was also in my class and clearly knows who I'm talking about.

I think Stuart Clayton might actually be on this forum - which should hopefully mean he hasn't turned to the darkside

[quote name='truegeminis' post='239249' date='Jul 14 2008, 03:51 PM']I met him in a bar in Kingston a few years later. He's now a guitarist!

... You're not surprised are you. [/quote]

Ha ha!!! I bump into him every now and then - last time I saw him, I think he probably said he was now a guitarist. Nope, no surprise there...

Oh you swine. I've been gassing for one of them for about 3 years. Oh, for a bottomless bank balance...

I love the sound of slap - there's something so gloriously satisfying about it... ...but only if it's done well and done appropriately. I still wince at the thought of one of the first rhythm section classes I had at college - we were doing a basic blues groove and working on getting the feel right with the drummer and guitarist. One of the other bass players got up for his try and immediately lashed into a sloppy flurry of slapped and tapped fills, none of which were in the notation. Thankfully the teacher explained to him, diplomatically, that he was completely missing the point. Sadly, he kept up his approach throughout the course - I hope he's figured out by now that more is not always more.

That said, right now I'm going through Stuart Clayton's excellent Ultimate Slap Bass book with the purpose of getting my slap chops really tight and trying to master some of the more advanced techniques. Not because I want to show off, but because it's fun and I like the way it sounds. Simple as that. Though it's highly unlikely I'll be using any of the techniques in any of my bands.

Not the best quality, but recent. From a show in Budapest in June: -

[quote name='escholl' post='238302' date='Jul 13 2008, 03:06 AM']well i have a couple theories, and i think it should be a fairly simple fix. definitely worth bringing it to a tech, any decent tech should be able to fix the problem fairly quick and simple. def not a write off, and shouldn't set you back too much, so no worries [/quote]

Cool, thanks!

[quote name='escholl' post='237977' date='Jul 12 2008, 03:02 PM']what kind of noise is it? is it like a ground/mains hum, or a crackly noise, or more of a sort of white noise? are the any clicks/pops/etc?[/quote]

It's a white noise kind of sound - not really a hum, more of a hiss. No snaps, crackles or pops either.

My Trace Elliot AH350SMX has recently started adding a lot of noise to the signal that it outputs. I definitely appears to be with the amp, since it makes a hissing sound, regardless of whether my bass is plugged in or not. I'm also sure that the problem is at the output end of the amp's circuitry, since changing the gain, shape and eq settings do not seem to affect the level of the hum. Similarly the hum increases as the output level is increased, even if the gain is completely off. Adjusting the dual-band compressor knobs just boost/cut the noise at their respective frequency ranges. I also tried turning off the tweeter on my cab, but this just made the noise sound lower in pitch, obviously as it's higher frequencies are cut out.

Apart from the noise, the sound quality is fine, but obviously this is an issue - I used it at a gig on Thursday and ended up having to use a DI box, because the sound man was getting too much noise through the balanced outputs on the back of my amp. Even with both the earth and ground lifts on.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have take this in to get looked at, but does anyone have any immediate ideas about what the cause may be? Is it a write off? I have a pretty important gig coming up in less than two weeks, so I'll need someone to get it sorted asap. I was going to try one of the guys below, but does anyone have any other recommendations for amp techs in the central/north London area (I don't have a car, so will have to taxi it to whoever's going to fix it).

John Kelly (Electronics) Ltd
Brian Bond
Ted Wood

Many thanks in advance.

[quote name='Dave Dubya' post='235655' date='Jul 9 2008, 12:44 PM']There used to be a great magazine called "Bassist" which covered any level bass player and was actually an interesting read. Then, supposedly due to lack of readership, it got merged into "Guitarist" magazine - and by merged I mean bass guitar got three pages per month...[/quote]

I miss Bassist. I have every issue. And I haven't bought another bass mag since Bassist stopped. Even though I won a free year's subscription to UK Bass Guitar Magazine at college, I didn't cash it in. I really don't think the others cut it.

I was so up for that... ...but unfortunately, Iron Maiden were playing the same night and I had to make a hard decision.

Sounds as though it was awesome. I was particularly gutted as I would loved to have seen Reggie live, but there you go.

But Iron Maiden ruled, so I guess it was a win/win situation.

I've used one a couple of times before. I'm personally not a fan of Peavey amps as I've not yet found one that is able to process the mid-range frequencies without muddying them up. They're fine with a scooped sound, but that's very limited.

They make decent cabs, but I really don't think their bass amps cut it.

These are great basses - I have a '97 model and it plays and sounds amazing.

As you're probably aware, the Warwick market is slow. From what I've seen on here, as much as they did retail for £1200+ back in the day, you'd probably be lucky to get £500 for one right now. Such a shame as they really are quality instruments and, as you say, far superior to the current LX range.