linear

I have both a first gen 2i2 and a cheap Samson active DI box, so I did a little comparison. It never occurred to me that my DI box would make a significant difference to the sound, as it has no speaker sim or anything like that. Well, it turns out it does make a difference. I'm no expert, but I could definitely hear it, and I think I preferred the DI box version for most, although not all, pickup combinations and playing styles. Both still sounded very much like a direct recorded guitar though, and I think I could eq one to sound pretty much like the other in the DAW. Also, I'd have to test each of them running an amp sim before I declared one to be preferable to the other. I suspect I might hear similar differences if I compared direct into the interface with having a clean boost pedal or buffer in the chain, but I didn't test that.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1495005919' post='3300287'] Turn your knobs all the way anti-clockwise when you turn off your amp/bass. The scratches are often from where the contact sits on the track leaving dirt and starting corrosion. [/quote] Thanks. I shall try that.

Is there anything that lasts longer than Servisol? I find it works great, but after about 6 months the pot is back to how it was. (I know I should replace it, it's on the todo list, and has been for years now)

On a pedal like this I definitely prefer the separate clean and fuzz volume knobs to a blend plus output level like you see on some others. This one still sounds like an obviously blended signal with the clean up high, but most blended fuzz are like that, I think? Price is certainly good.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1494936152' post='3299707'] I'll try placing it after my tuner. Blue [/quote] For the little that it's worth, I would put it after the tuner too, given the chain you posted above. If I'm using an 'always on' compressor pedal for tonal and/or envelope shaping that I set and then forget about, I'd want it before a distortion that gets toggled on and off. I'd double check that the compression doesn't have any detrimental effect on the tracking of your octaver (assuming it's analogue,) not that I imagine it will.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1494930097' post='3299608'] Confusing, the EBS Multi-Comp is a nice pedal. Seems like there's no easy simple answer. Seems like single coil PUs hit the pedals differently than humbuckers. Then there's the active pre-amp in my my G&L ASAT, also an issue with pedals. Maybe I should leave my board alone. Blue [/quote] What order do you have them in at the moment?

[quote name='Rothko' timestamp='1492534481' post='3281036'] Yes, I've got Loxx strap locks on my basses. Very happy, no problems so far, but haven't directly compared them to Dunlops. [/quote] Thanks I use Schallers and they are fine, but I liked the slightly less obtrusive look of the Loxx ones - I'll probably give them a try at some point.

Out of interest, has anyone tried the Loxx brand of straplocks?

I think the string overlap in picture 4 is intended to show the single locking overlap that must take place if you go back through the centre as shown in step 3. They've drawn it incorrectly though. I suppose if a string somehow ended up short enough that you could only get one wrap around a post then this method might get you by.

That grey 700 series is my favourite by far. I note the 700s seem to have a black stain on the neck and headstock, which looks much better to me than the painted ones, especially on that grey model. I'm generally a fan of a painted headstock, but I don't like the way they went for gloss black across the board instead of choosing a complimentary finish for each body colour and fingerboard material.

Ennio Morricone's theme from The Thing.

Thanks for all the advice, I took it back and traded up to a Kala fretless. I had a good play with it in the shop and am much happier, although my wallet somewhat less so I guess

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1489518381' post='3257634'] Have you looked inside the soundhole for the truss-rod adjustment? My HB 's was located in there and I sorted the buzzes via that route. [/quote] I've had a look, but all I can see is a piece of top bracing that abuts the heel of the neck. Had a feel behind/under that with my fingers, but I can't find anything. I reckon a little more relief on the neck could do wonders for it, as there's next to none at the moment. I think I shall have to concede defeat and return it. It's a shame as it intonates pretty well, even at the higher frets, and it looks really pretty too.

I picked up a new Countryman U-Bass at the weekend with the idea of taking it along to open-mic nights to accompany a banjo playing friend. However, I'm having a few issues with it. The A string buzzes against the board when played at the low frets no matter how gently I play. I made sure I was fretting well behind the fret as some suggest, but as it is it's unusable, I think. Putting a paper shim under the string at the bridge end does help, so I guess a wedge shaped wooden shim under the piezo bridge would be one way to fix it? I don't know if that's a good idea though, or if it's even possible. (no truss rod on these that I can see) The other, lesser, issue is that the E and A strings seem to lack punch compared to the higher tension D and G which sound lovely. Nothing I did on the preamp eq or at the amp end seemed to help with this. Maybe through a PA it wouldn't be an issue though, I don't know. So, I'm kind of in two minds as to whether to keep it or take it back. Am I expecting too much from such a budget instrument? I'm sure with a bit of fettling and eq it could be okay, but I keep thinking it would be better to take it back and keep looking until I find one that I'm happier with. Thoughts?

I use heatshrink tubing for this. Cut off a 1 cm length, place on jack so it's halfway on, shrink with heat source, Couple of quid for a lifetime supply, and it comes in bright colours.

I have one. Is there anything in particular you want to know about it? I use mine for practice at home, when I'm not using headphones. It looks pretty adorable with all its piping, tolex, and chickenhead knobs, and it sits nicely out of the way on a table in the front room. It has a tone I would describe as 'pleasant'. It's not hugely bassy, but it's fine for practising and perfectly capable of disturbing the neighbours downstairs, or indeed three floors below. The speakers are perhaps the weak link, as they will start to distort very early when you turn up the volume or gain(drive), or feed it a signal with a lot of bass boost. Rolling off some bass on the eq allows a little more headroom before the point of speaker distortion. It can actually sound quite good if you set it just at the point where the speakers start to distort. Turning the Drive up never really did anything nice sounding for me. I leave it low or all the way off most of the time. It also sounds pretty good as a guitar amp, and I do sometimes wonder if a rebranded guitar amp is effectively what it is, given its open back construction. Most £50 practice amps are garbage anyway, aren't they? At least this one looks fun.

Sounds amazing. And your working mixes make my finished mixes sound like something recorded on a phone. Clearly I have much to learn. I found it very reminiscent of the late 90s rather than early 00s. That isn't a criticism, but I wonder if that was a contributing factor with your label. Britpop was over, and people had moved on to Coldplay and Travis, or the awful commercial distillation of DnB and Jungle - it was a bit of a low-point.

I can understand it. Occasionally people will ask what kind of music we play in our originals group. We never know what to say. Alternative/prog/folk/electro? It's none of those things. 'pretentious music for 30-somethings who like expensive coffee and vegetable boxes, played by people who don't practice enough' is probably most accurate, but I'm not sure that's a recognised genre yet.

I don't know how the pedal works, but the vocal synthesis software, of which Hatsune Miku is one of the voices, is sample based, I think. Sadly, the latency on the pedal version is so high it's virtually unplayable.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1458318071' post='3006613'] AFAIK if the nut slots are at the right depth/strings at the right height then there shouldn't be any problems with intonation at the frets closest the nut.[/quote] This makes a lot of sense, thanks.

I think a lot of it may be that few people see bass as an instrument of creative self-expression where the harmony between instrument and player is paramount. For the vast majority of people a bass is the thing you buy if you want to 'play bass'. Also, for an electric bass, the bass is only part of the story. The amp, cab and things like compressors have a hige effect on how the instrument responds to the player.

Are they especially rare? How much of a bargain was it? I'm unsure how upset I should be about this.

Does anybody do anything to the nut during setup to try and compensate for poor intonation at the lower frets? I found a bit about by googling, but I can't figure out if it's a common practice or a fool's errand.

On the 'no one has a bad word to say about Yamaha basses' topic, my BB414 has high frets in the 13-16 area meaning I can't get the action much below 3mm at the 12th, a distinct dead spot at the 5th fret on the g-string, I've had to replace the crappy input jack, and the tone pot needs done too. The J-pickup tone leaves a lot to be desired, and the P/J setup is such that you can either have a usable J or a usable P+J tone, but not both. I paid 250 new for it, and given the amount of praise I'd read for them on here and the other place, if anything, it was surprisingly un-good. Thankfully it does have some redeeming features, and at second-hand prices I would say they are a great buy. The most surprisingly good bass I played was the Westfield P bass I bought before. It feels a bit agricultural in the hand, but the tone is great. Worth about 50 quid tops, and realistically speaking it's more than adequate for my modest needs.

What type of strings does one use on these? Are they the same as the ones on a baritone guitar or are they a bass-specific short scale set of six?