geilerbass

Nice one! I think Wooten is a must - I saw him with Bela Fleck last year and he was awesome. Would be great to see the guy with his own band.

[quote name='E_MaN' post='202966' date='May 20 2008, 04:12 PM']whats the point? seriously, do you really NEED to change from fretted from fretless mid song?[/quote]


There are a couple of songs I play with one of my bands in which I could do with jumping between fretted and fretless - the sections just work better on one or the other.

That said, I can't really see the point of having two necks of seven strings. I would have said that you had every eventuality covered in one bass, but this guy appears to have a million Conklins!!?

Either way, it looks absurdly great. More silly basses please!

I think it's a common problem with Soundgears - even the top end ones. As I said, I think they're designed to be played at a more horizontal angle. Which is odd since their biggest advocate, Fiedly of Korn, pretty much plays his K5 in a vertical position.

Some quite novel suggestions there! 3) and 4) look definitely worth trying out, despite the fact that I'm going to look pretty silly with a bag of washers hanging from my bass

I really don't want to sell the bass, since it's perfect in every respect apart from this one.

Thanks!

That seems really obvious, but I never thought of it

Thanks!

I find the most comfortable way to play is to have the neck of my bass angled quite steeply (at least 45 degrees to horizontal). However, my current bass (an Ibanez) has a bit of neck dive - I think it's designed to be played at a more horizontal angle, which means I have to hold the neck up a bit with my left hand. I don't find this to be good technique, so I'm looking for a way to get my bass to sit at a more comfortable angle for me. If you check my profile [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=2450"]picture[/url], you can see the kind of angle I like to play at.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Is this a fundamental problem of the way the bass is balanced? Would moving the strap post on the bridge side of the body further up towards the top of the body help it hang at a better angle?

I also have a Warwick Streamer, which has the strap lock socket further round the body, and sits at a perfect angle, so I wonder if repositioning the strap post is the way to go, though I'm reluctant to start drilling into the side of my beloved Ibanez.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

I'm sure I remember reading on talkbass about removing screws. I think you should be able to use something like [url="http://www.google.co.uk/products?hl=en&q=screw+extractor&cr=countryUK%7CcountryGB&um=1&ie=UTF-8"]this[/url], though will probably need a very small drill bit to get in there in the first place.

Broken screw heads have to be amongst the most infuriating problems ever to be encountered...

I never had a problem with the neck profile. My first bass was a Bass Collection, which have very slim necks and I went straight to a '97 Streamer LX and didn't notice any problem with the neck profile. In fact it felt more comfortable and was easier to play than my old BC.

I keep reading things about people not getting on with Warwick necks - either they feel too long or the profile is odd - but I never experienced this at all.

If loosening the truss rod doesn't work, it might need a fret-stoning - particularly if you're only getting buzz on one note on one string.

Hopefully you don't have a warped neck - though I'm sure you'd be getting more buzzing if this was the case.

I'm sure it won't be a problem - though it's amazing how different flats can feel to rounds. If you've been rehearsing with them for a while and been getting on with them fine, it shouldn't make too much of a difference live.

Enjoy the slick, slippery fun of playing flatwounds live!

[quote name='dood' post='201833' date='May 18 2008, 11:18 PM']The BBC ran a few nights of documentaries, including this Arena episode, a US documentary called 'The Decline Of Western Civilisation, Part 2' directed by Penelope Spheeris (not entirely sure what Part 1 was!! lol) and, Guns n' Roses - Live at the Ritz.. one of their best performances.. when they were young and still 'hungry for success'!! - I seem to recall there was an Ozzy Ozbourne concert and something to do with Maiden as well.[/quote]

Part 1 was called the Punk Years and dealt with the US punk scene (bands such as the Ramones). I haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be pretty decent. Part 2 is considerably more well known and a classic, must-see documentary. If only for the sight of WASP's Chris Holmes pouring vodka on himself, while floating around on a air-bed in his mum's swimming pool.

I've never found the sweat to make things more difficult, though I've only played live with flats a few times. I guess if you sweat a lot, it could be a problem, though I would have thought it would be the same with roundwounds.

Are you playing fretless? If so that could be more of an issue, since you have to be precise with your intonation, though on a fretted instrument, I can't think it'll be too much of a problem.

I tried a Corvette out. It was a typically quality Warwick instrument - felt very solid to play and had a potent sound - though didn't really blow me away. I think it was going for about £800ish, which is pretty good value for the calibre of the bass.

On a very pedantic note, it really didn't stand up to the older Warwicks of that price range - someone else mentioned it lacking the 'growl' which I kind of agree with.

Thanks for all the advice!

Again, I know people find this subject a real bore - I've read through numerous threads about ohmage and power, both here and on talkbass, but I've not really been able to get my head around it.

It seems the general advice is: don't push your amp too far and listen out for distortion.

I'm pretty sure I've run my rig with both gain and volume on about half and had plenty of volume with no distortion. I don't really have room for another cab at home, so I think I'll stick with this set up until I notice that it becomes a problem. Then you might be seeing an Eden D210T appearing in the classifieds here...

Yes, that was the first place I looked, though there's nothing there to give me a conclusive answer. Am I right in thinking that this is not an exact science and therefore, I'm going to have to rely on luck to an extent? I really doubt that if I were to get a new cab, I'd have the opportunity to try it out with my amp.

Based on the Wiki it looks as though I would need a cab that takes 500W RMS at 4 ohms. I haven't seen any cabs at this kind of rating from any of the main manufacturers, so that's why I was enquiring as to whether I'd likely get problems with a lower or higher rated cab.

I've searched around on here and elsewhere for information regarding amp/cab power ratings, ohmage and their associated compatibility and have read a great deal on the subject, but haven't been able to figure out the answer to my specific questions.

I have a 350W RMS (700W peak) Trace Elliot AH350SMX head, with the 350W rated at 4 ohms (it's minimum impedance). Currently I run it through a David Eden D210T, which has an impedance of 4 ohms and is rated at 250W RMS. So far, I've never had to put the amp particularly loud, since I've always played small venues and the rig has almost exclusively been for on-stage sound only, so the sound has been fine.

However, it looks as though I could be playing some bigger venues in the future, with a requirement for more onstage sound and so I have three questions.

1) Am I likely to kill my Eden cab if I have to push the output up on my head, to achieve louder volumes? Obviously there will come a point where it is driving the cab with more than 250W RMS and will definitely peak higher than that.

2) If I were to get a replacement cab (say a 4x10) what is a sensible power rating to go for?

3) Most decent cabs that I see available (Mark Bass and Eden for example) seem to be rated at 800W. I've read that pushing a lower rated amp to it's limits when driving a much higher rated cab can cause damage to head and/or cab. Is this true? And if so, would this likely be a problem for me were I to keep my head and get a cab rated 800W at 4 ohms?

I know there are so many threads/queries regarding power ratings, so apologies in advance, but despite much searching I can't find any conclusive solution to my problem.

Many thanks in advance.

What's the ohmage of the 104HF?

The Gallery in London charge £70 - I got my old Bass Collection done there a couple of years ago and Martin did an amazing job (as usual).

I'm not sure how that compares to other places though.

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='197925' date='May 13 2008, 01:08 PM']Id prefer flats cause I love the feel of them, apart from Rotoflats. My Jazz initially came with some awesome flats, mint green ends with a gold ball, other side didnt have a colour. If I knew what they were id get some of those for my P.[/quote]

I found Rotosound flats to be pretty shoddy too - I may have just got a set from a bad batch, but they sounded crap and felt really horrible to play. Put me off Rotosound for life!

I'd recommend some La Bella Deep Talkin' flats, though I also found Elites flatwounds to be pretty decent.

Damn! If this was a 5 string, I'd be ready to part with the cash.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='196619' date='May 11 2008, 06:24 PM']TBH of the 'off-the-shelf' models the Dolphin and Infinity (excepting the Stryker & Buzzard which are hardly 'off the shelf' models) are the most expensive I believe. You are right though that the Thumb & Stage II follow these up.[/quote]

I think the NT Vampyre is up with the Dolphin and Infinity in terms of price - or am I getting confused here...

[quote name='Viajero' post='196209' date='May 10 2008, 08:13 PM']What sparked this off, by the way, is playing a thru-neck fretless Thumb 5 from the mid-90s. Blew me away, but I couldn't afford the price tag. I saw some prices on new gear, and wondered what I might be missing out on in the cheaper models.[/quote]

Be aware that the newer top-end Warwicks, while amazing instruments, lack the awe value that late 90's and older models had. You may try some of the new ones and think they're even better, but I know for a lot of people the newer basses don't quite match the older models and this is significant when you're spending up to and above £2k. If you try some newer ones and find a particular model that you like, but aren't quite as blown away as you were by the Thumb you tried, it would be well worth trying to track down an older model second hand, as I think you'd get better value and be more satisfied with your purchase.

My best live sound (that I've been able to hear) has been my current, and pretty much only live set-up: Trace Elliott AH350SMX into a David Eden D210T. Tight, fat and with plenty of mid and top to keep the bass audible amongst the terrible racket that the guitarists and drummer make.

Looks like we may be playing some bigger gigs in the not too distant future and I'm concerned that my poor Eden won't be able to take the pounding, so I'm thinking (regretably) about maybe trading it in for something more potent.

It sounds as though most people on here just love playing full stop - that's very encouraging.

I have to admit that I'm of the same thinking. I'm very particular when it comes to listening to music for enjoyment but I've found, rather bizarrely, that I'm happy playing pretty much anything when it comes to playing in a band. I've been in a few bands in my time, playing quite a lot of different things, much of which I have had little interest in listening to and yet have got great enjoyment out of playing.

Right now, I feel I'm in a good position in that the three bands I'm in all play music that is both amazingly satisfying to play and great to listen to. So in that respect, I have managed to retain my musical integrity. That said, if the call came to be Girls Aloud's touring bass player, I'd sell out in second...