NickA

Hmm plywood. Good for rock n roll, less so for Jazz .. not good for classical beyond grade 5. Whatever floats yr boat. Essential to try (as many basses as possible) before buying tho. If it were me I'd go for something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zeller-Solid-Wood-3-4-Double-Bass/172865629446?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D46150%26meid%3D41388e888de84aac8caf554d1bc00772%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D162668616952&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1 and forgo the 5th string.

Main thing is ... it just won't sound very good. You could adjust to the scale length so long as you don't get suckered into using four finger technique on a 1/2 size, then move to a 3/4 and find it's impossible and have to learn a whole new technique. .. that said, I use four finger on electric (34" scale) and three finger on my 4/4 double bass (46" scale); but it feels like playing related but quite different instruments.

Guitars stolen from a neighbour in Derby on Friday 15th Sept. Keep your eyes peeled: 1984 Carvin DC 150 (White), 1993 Carvin DC 200 (Natural) and a 50th anniversary US Strat (sunburst, cream scratch plate, maple finger board) they took his bike and his car too .. but its the guitars that matter!

I've only once seen a 5-string actually performed upon; a lady from Lancaster turned up to sub in my local orchestra with a conversion in which a fifth string had been put down the middle of the finger board, re-spacing the strings, refiling the bridge and fitting a new nut. Sounded OK. 5-strings were getting popular in the 1990s, there were several East European ones (Stentor etc) in Footes back then; I considered commissioning one from a couple of builders who were not at all fazed by the idea, but presumed that for Jazz I'd want a high C rather than a low B - the low B just doesn't pluck well and when it does, the audience can't hear it! I played a few in shops and had to concur that the low B was OK for bowing but didn't work well for Pizz (though presumably if you got heavy enough gauge strings it might). Meanwhile a lot of people have those extensions (which come in different kinds) and most of us just tune down as required (Low D for Peter Maxwell Davies Orkney Wedding, low C for Elgar's sea pictures and anything written for Violone). Most Jazz and Rock doesn't go below E (to suit guitarists) or F (to suit sax players) .. so mostly it's OK. A bottom Bflat might be nice!

I have an experimental J-bass that I keep meddling with. It recently acquired a series parallel switch; with the two pickups in series it does sound quite precision-ish. Sort of solid and thumpy. The pickups are no longer loading each-other so you get a "sum of" pickups instead of a kind of "average of" that a standard J-bass has which changes the frequency spread. Takes a bit of a re-wire - but interesting results. It will never be exact because the P's pickup is in a place that the J doesn't have one (see below, which also shows why a PJ doesn't sound like a J either).

This (or similar) has been up before - think we all decided it was a far east made Fakera. Passive for one thing and has the wrong pickups (should be EMG). The knobs are wrong and not quite in the right place either. A real one would say Fodera on the bridge. Here's the real one: http://www.fodera.com/yin-yang-standard/ Not a bad visual copy.

If you want more roll off, just put a bigger value Capacitor in ... or another one in parallel. Each time you double the capacitor value you will halve the roll off frequency (ie bring it down an octave). Better still ... go active and put a double or more pole filter in ;¬)

Well over priced. You can get a nice shiny wood one for that much (and less). Bit of a mystique about these "original"/ "JG" models as there aren't many (in fact this is odd as it's got a JG number but is a pro2e - so a very early pro2 .. but the neck looks more recent. Anyways I'd rather have a "custom" (aka Mk1) with the final version of the electronics and the mahogany body.

you could make one out of a bit of stainless steel maybe? Or keep all the pots but only connect up the ones you want. (I have a home build that started very active and is currently passive - the blend knob is there but does nothing)

I would sell my soul to the Devil to be able to play like Tom Barney in that clip. Understated, perfectly matched to the music, spot on timing and not a note out of place. No fair.

I've had an OC-2 for many years (now missing one knob, but otherwise as new) and always thought it a bit crap ... doesn't track low notes very well (goes all wobbly) and sounds muddy with any notes lower than an open G. Oct-2 pretty much useless unless I'm so far up the fretboard, my fingers won't fit between the frets. I had a poke about inside it once and found that basically it's just making a square wave by dividing down a squared off version of whatever signal comes into it - so if the sound you are playing has lots of harmonics (multiple zero crossings) it may settle on one of them instead of the fundamental. There is then a bit of filtering that rounds off the square wave depending on how much high frequency stuff is in the original signal. I guess it needs to be driven by a signal that has been filtered down to the fundamental (once suggested to Trace that they put a Low Pass on the send return loop of the GP12SMX as well as the high pass - specifically for driving octave dividers - but they didn't ;-) ). I had assumed that a modern digital thing would sound much better (guitar FX box 3 on my laptop does a better job of simply playing a lower note). So what IS the secret with these things - how DO you track to a low F#??

What's the small TC electronics stuff like, sound quality wise? The TonePrint function looks like a lot of fun .. but they're surprisingly cheap for a compact class D, even without with that extra functionality. I'm guessing there is a drawback somewhere - or are they just great value?

.... still learning. It's only been 20 years mind. This: 1. Chord tones 2. Scale tones 3. Passing tones works OK but can sound a bit bland and "really good" walking bass-liners don't seem to do it. I asked the tutor at my regular jazz workshop if I should be concentrating on getting a root note into each bar (especially at the start, to help the horns along ... ahem) or trying to work in the tones that "define" each chord (ie the 6th's 7th's flattened thirds ... or whatever). He said, what I was playing (as above) sounded OK .. but the bass player in his band hardly ever plays roots, thirds of fifths! Working at creating tension through substitutions and release through return to the dominant or some-such. Hey Ho. Currently playing along to iReal Pro (android app) and supposed to be looking into the Jamie Abersoch books / recordings (which have the bass on one channel only, so you can blend it out and play your own lines). These are not specifically bass oriented mind, but are something to play along and practice with. Welcome suggestions above. Thanks folks.

(was) not my kind of music at all ... but it's just SO damned well made. Masterpiece. Kamakiriad is also quite good, but sadly not in the same league. Quite like (early) Steely Dan too these days - bought "can't buy a thrill" and thought I'd picked up a "best of" album - as I just somehow knew every song on it.

Best thing that could happen to the Assembly Rooms!! Shame they won't build something nice instead .. but this IS Derby: home of the Intu Centre, Cockpit Carpark and Riverlights; brought to you by the same town planners that built Bold Lane car park on a public garden, and demolished Darwin's house and St Alkmunds Church to build an inner ring road. ... off topic. Rant over :¬) He could still do the Guildhall or the Derby Arena tho.

PJB big head? Fits in your pocket. Has an aux input and a bass input with aux and bass volume controls plus a bit of EQ and a headphone (or line) output. You can use it as a PC sound card (Analogue to USB going inwards and USB to sound coming out) and even as the pre-amp into a powered speaker (or the HiFi). It's a swiss army knife of (quiet) bass playing. But lacks an actual speaker itself ... and some might find the sound a bit "polite". Use mine late at night and in hotels for playing along to iReal Pro - admittedly it will never replace the joy of a good loud TWANG through a proper amplifier.