geoham

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1401717687' post='2466099'] Ibanez SR305. Has a surprisingly good low B for the price and at £299 new, you should be able to pick one up second hand at a decent price. Close string spacing though, so watch out for that if you're not a fan! [/quote] I picked up an SR405 for a third of that! Bargain of the year for me!

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1401709511' post='2465992'] How the hell can it be even remotely fair and just for someone to move into a house/flat near a long established music venue, [i]knowing full well that the venue is there[/i], and then complain about the venue being there? Especially if the venue has been there longer than the houses/flats? [/quote] I played in a venue suffering a similar problem a few weeks back. A long established function room / social club, playing a gig arranged by staff at a local call centre raising funds for a charity walk some of them were doing. We found out 20 mins before show time that there was a sound limiter, due to complaints from residents of recently built flats. The venue is on a busy road, and is close to the local secondary school, shops etc. The person who arranged the night went a bit crazy, demanding they switched it off. Apparently, they had a previous night there with a DJ, whose equipment got damaged when the limiter cut the power. It was agreed when booking the venue that it would be disabled, but the venue denied it - though did eventually agree - as long as our sound engineer agreed to keep the volume under control. At least have a dozen times during a 2 hour set, the old bloke from the venue was over moaning at the sound engineer. At end up, I could easily hear people on the dance-floor talking, and a couple of drunken bams (or chavs as you call them down south.....) loudly whistling over any songs they recognised. Turns out, the drum mics ended up switched off entirely, and everything else was only up loud enough to be heard over the drums. The drummer sings too, so usually doesn't play too hard! The result is that we certainly won't play the venue again, neither will the company who booked it - and they generally put on a couple of nights in there each year. Surely anyone buying a flat that overlooks a social club must have some expectation of noise?

So, Toneriders now fitted. Rather happy with them. Gone is the harsh top end, and overall the tone is just warmer than the stock Fender pickups. I also notice a significant difference in how the tone control behaves - It's now actually useful! Also, the output is lower - which in this case is a good thing. Previously my P was significantly louder than both my Jazz and active Ibanez.

I finally settled on the Tonerider and ordered it today. Once I've got it fitted, I'll do a before and after recording and let you all hear it!

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1401017370' post='2459104'] http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2c7753065f [/quote] Easy peasy then. Do the Wilkinson ones come out the casing easily enough? I'll try to locate some sound clips or reviews of both.

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1401004089' post='2458892'] Don't forget the Wilkinson Alnico P pickup, which at about £30 posted is right up there in quality and tone too ! [/quote] This is going to sound really petty - but I really don't like how the Wilkinson pickups have their name on them. If I could get a plain cover, I'd be happy to try them.

A good enough endorsement for me! Worth a punt at £35 I reckon! Will report back......

May just be how they sound if you're sure all wiring is correct. You can wire a pickup directly to the jack socket to eliminate all other wiring issues if you are in doubt - just as a test. If they sound the same, then that's their tone! Perhaps post a sound clip here? My own experience - I have Fender Custom Shop 60's pickups in my Jazz. They are supposed to be overwound and high output, but compared to the stock pickups on my MIM Precision, they are pretty quiet. My active Ibanez is probably somewhere in the middle.

Is there anything connected to the middle lug of the neck volume pot? Doesn't look like it, but might just be the camera angle. How it should be.... Check this is how it is! Each pickup should have two wires, typically black and white. The whites go to the middle lug of each volume control. The blacks go to any earth point - typically the casing of the volume control. There is also a black wire that runs from the underside of your bridge to earth. Again, doesn't really matter where.

Do both pickups sound rubbish on their own? How about when they are both on together? If you have a multimeter, try measuring the DC resistance - to make sure it's close to the specified value. This is much more applicable if only one sounds duff! Also - could you share a picture of all three pots?

My main bass for the past 12 years has been a MIM Jazz. It's currently equipped with Fender CS 60's pickups and Rotosound flats. I love it, and no matter what else I try, this is what I keep going back to. I also own a MIM P that I really want to like, but I struggle to get a decent tone from it live - although I do like the feel of it. I find the tone quite harsh at the high end, and just a bit non-descript otherwise. The output is significantly louder than all my other basses, which I find strange given the DC resistance of the pickups is only about 4.7k. It's currently strung with Fender roundwounds, though I tried flats and didn't like them at all. I'm considering changing the pickups. I have a gift voucher for Amazon that would cover the cost of a set of Toneriders (£35). Has anyone tried them? A good investment, or would I be better with something mainstream like Fender vintage or Seymour Duncans? (Obviously a little more expensive!) I'm looking for a traditional, general tone, something that would work well in my covers band. Think Pino! The plan would be to use this instead of my Jazz at some gigs, or for longer sets switch between both. Opinions? George

Update time! He's going with a dual approach - bass and guitar. I went through some bass stuff with him a couple of nights ago, and my focus is on making him a better musician, and using the most important tool every musician has - ears! Went through Bad Moon Rising, and while he could play the notes well enough, it was clear he had no idea what the song was doing when playing along with it. He said he can't really hear where the chord changes are. I put on a metronome and got him playing along with that - just single root notes but getting the timing perfect. Next, he played the same simple roots in time with the music. What we achieved is that he can now hear the chord changes. His 'homework' is to simply listen to music more closely and identify the beat & chord changes.

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1400332180' post='2452994'] I have a feeling these guys have been posted here before. Just in case they haven't though... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UyEtlJfG_Q"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UyEtlJfG_Q[/url] A tad old-school with the audience banter, but they sound like they can play a bit... [/quote] Very nice!

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1400097148' post='2450802'] The output jack wiring is obviously wrong, but two 500k pots would measure 250k in a wired-up harness with no pickups attached, as they are in parallel with each other. [/quote] Doh!

I recently purchased some parts from Amazon to refurbish an old guitar for my son. One of the sellers I was purchasing from had a Jazz Bass wiring loom for £3! I've been meaning to replace my wiring for a while, so thought I'd give it a go - I'm not the neatest with a soldering iron! [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00EQ262X2/"]http://www.amazon.co...uct/B00EQ262X2/[/url] Thankfully I didn't waste my time fitting this - it would never have worked. The fools have gone and wired both the hot and earth points on the output jack to the tone pot casing! Also, their 500k volume pots are both actually 250k pots (despite being marked with B500k!) I'm torn between binning it, fixing it myself or sending it back to them. For £3 it's probably not worth the bother, but as a matter of principle I may do so! I've emailed them anyway....we'll see what they say! Moral of the story - don't be cheap!

[quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1400012386' post='2449952'] To the OP, it may bbe worth mentioning to your son the simple life lesson that anything that is WORTH doing will be difficult and he should be patient and stick with it. But if like Most young men, myself included he will pay No attention to his old man because you don't know ANYTHING! My advice would be rather than be insulted by his ignorant comment, embrace it as a chance to hang out and teach him something. There are far worse bass players to copy than cliff Williams! He isn't flashy, but he is rock solid and bang on with his timing which will teach him some valuable lessons about how a band should work. He may then decide to learn more and retract his statement about bass being easy, or he may then find with some strength and coordindatio. In his hands that he wants to try guitar again. Either way, I will be stoked if either of my two kids decide to play at some point, and if I do t approve of the type of music he is in to, I will do what all parent a do and fake enthusiasm for it, sure if you son is old enough to play, you have mastered this skill?? As to the comments about metal being rubbish... Ignorance must be bliss! [/quote] This hits the nail right on the head for me. With his guitar playing, he does struggle somewhat with timing - often pausing for a moment to get his left hand fingering just right. I'm sure it's something we all did at the start. If I can get him playing some basic on-beat root notes in time with original recordings, then this can only improve his overall musicianship - while feeling he's accomplished something and improving his confidence. Whether he ends up on bass, guitar or both - I don't mind. My issue was quitting guitar because it's difficult and going to bass because it's easy!

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1399933409' post='2449219'] What's the point of having children unless you don't get to rant about how much tougher ( but better) life was when you were young? It's mandatory. [/quote] True though! I remember wanting to play guitar as a kid and making do with my old man's beat up Eros acoustic. I didn't have my own bass until I was 16! Having to practice bass lines on that acoustic's fat strings or use one at school! My own story.... I originally wanted to play guitar, but the school guitar teacher was full, but the bass teacher had a space. Taught myself guitar, and did the lessons with my jazz loving bass teacher. (Wonder if he's on here?) At the age of about 18, I decided to play bass in my new originals band - simply because I played bass better than any bass players we tried out. At 6 foot tall and about the same wide, a bass definitely looks better on me too!

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1399921102' post='2449018'] Get him a clip round the bleedin' ear more like! Kids nowadays want everything right now or they think that life has been just too cruel to them and they give up trying . Then they expect the school to provide counselling and an week long adventure holiday to improve their confidence and self esteem. Back when I started playing the was no You Tube or internet to help you, and if you were rubbish ( I was) then everybody would tell you so and you just had to get on with it as best you could. If were in the same position as the O.P I would try and explain to my son that, unless you are gifted, it takes years and years to learn any instrument properly, and in reality bass isn't any easier than guitar. I would tell him that you need physical strength , stamina, and above all , a massive wedding package to be a convincing bass player, and the fact that you are whining about how hard it is to play guitar means you probably won't be up to the job. Tell him if he wants instant results then buy a scratchcard, because playing the guitar or anything else is a long-term project. [/quote] Sounds like one of my rants to him!

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1399885417' post='2448513'] Oh I forgot, it's a dad thing. Metal is terrible;) What bands are emo? I'm out of touch myself . [/quote] One that springs to mind is Black Veil Brides. I may be a mile off with genres....

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1399843237' post='2448327'] Metal is not rubbish. Not everyone's cup of tea, but no need to generalise;) .H ow long has he being seeing the teacher .? Is it a paid teacher, or school teacher? What he could do, is ask teacher to learn him one song that he likes. He should incorporate that with his ordinary lesson.imho. What does he sound like, when you hear him? Could he do with an effects unit for motivation? He could learn bass also. Why not ? [/quote] Of course his music is rubbish! He wouldn't enjoy it if I approved of it! He'd end up listening to some real rubbish! (We do have ACDC in common....) He gets a 30 minute private lesson at school once a week. He often 'forgets' to go though. He does however practice every night - his own choice. He sounds quite precise, but very rigid with stutters to get fingering just right. He'll loosen up with time, sure we were all like that. He keeps at it though! He has a couple of distortion boxes, and is currently saving for a Blackstar tube modelling amp. Maybe a Zoom G3 would be a good investment. Cheap as chips, loads of weird noises, but decent piece of kit for when he joins band or whatever. i'm going to to teach him some bass. Just want to get the 'easy' attitude out of him!

Excuse the minor rant..... My twelve year old kid has been learning guitar. He's doing okay, but he's getting frustrated with himself because he can't play like Angus Young after nine months. Keeps finding tabs & YouTube tutorials for songs he'd like to play, but simply doesn't have the skills yet. He then keeps practising this stuff, and not bothering with the stuff he should be doing - that is, the pieces his teacher has asked him to practice! (Which are in fairness not very rock, but I can see what it's teaching him) Tonight, he hits out with the infamous line - 'I'm thinking about moving to bass, because it's much easier'. When I challenged him on it, he retracted it a little, saying he meant it's easier to get started on. When I asked him to explain - apparently you just need to play with one finger (not complex chords!), don't need to change that note to often and need to play much slower. With a lot of the rubbish he listens to (metal & emo!), I suppose there is a grain of truth there - he could potentially feel like he's playing the stuff he likes a bit quicker. Now, I can play both guitar and bass, but I've been hesitant to play the teacher role - since he has one of those for guitar. I'd gladly show him some bass basics, but not just because he thinks it's 'easy'. And I definitely don't want him abandoning the guitar! Thoughts?