JapanAxe

It might be good - but not £529 of good!

I was in a dance band that had about 350 songs to draw from, but they were arrangements in a 'pad'. At any given gig there was a core that would almost invariably get played. The rest would be drawn from the pad to suit the particular function or requests for dances, so I would be sight-reading a piece without any idea of how it should sound. I probably know at least 200 songs that I could play all the way through on bass, but it has taken me 13 years of bass playing to get that far. They won't be the same 200 that you know. If you are going to learn 200 songs before gigging, you will never gig! Any chance you could put up the list as it stands at the moment? It would be interesting to see what this chap considers to be the top 200 cover songs! And if 'Sex On Fire' isn't in there you can leave this would-be band, safe in the knowledge that the band leader has no grip on reality!

Matchless Lightning 15 Reverb 1x12. The loudest and loveliest 15W combo on the planet. Not a bass amp mind!

Jimi often did play bass in the studio, and is on some recorded tracks, including 'House Burning Down'.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1382793567' post='2256631'] We all know, it's always best to try before you buy. Otherwise take these demos (regardless of what's being played, or how ) with a sack of salt. [/quote] Check out the demo vids from Pro Guitar Shop - they make [i]everything[/i] sound good, without exception!

Yep. Every time I go through the YouTube vids in the early stages of GAS, it's 'slap... slap... v. bad slap... w**ky slap... aha! someone playing properly - on no, they've started slapping'. Slapping tells me [i]nothing[/i] about the kit being demoed, it just tells me the person likes to show off. If they play finger-style over a range of tones, from bright to dubby, and add a bit of dirt at some point, now [i]that's[/i] useful.

Nobody went for my Phrygian cadence thread hijack then. [i]Meh[/i], I say, and [i]meh[/i] again.

[quote name='madshadows' timestamp='1382775666' post='2256392'] Love it, buy it before PRINCE does [/quote]

Just fitted new JJ valves in the Streamliner and happy with the result. The Sylvanias have gone into the front end of my guitar amp. Win all round!

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1382728997' post='2256115'] Maybe you call talk to the cool folk at status? They may even send you another. [/quote] Hadn't thought of that - worth a try!

[quote name='Karnage' timestamp='1382726371' post='2256059'] The change in gauge isn't major, but any reason you changed from 130 to 125? The change would mean that the neck etc would usually need adjusting unless like Rotosound strings the Status strings are high tension for their gauge in comparison to the EBs. You might have a freak string or something, although these things are rare. Might be you need to go to what you know works in the end. [/quote] [quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1382726752' post='2256066'] Could you have a dodgy new string? its more common than people think. [/quote] I just found the 130 B to be a bit monstrous, this being my first 5-er. String tension feels about the same and I didn't detect any need to adjust anything other than the intonation. Could well be a duff string. Might try some Picato flats soon - still experimenting.

Neither the old Ernie Ball B nor a D'Addario half-round have this problem, and I do damp the other strings.

Replaced the ancient Ernie Ball 45-130 flats on my 5-er with Status 40-125 flats and got horrible wolf-notes on the B.

[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1382692483' post='2255414'] I'm going to start simple, then add some bells & whistles My plan is to start with a simple Fender-style preamp, two 12ax7's probably, gain stage, passive tone stack, gain recovery, cathode follower driver stage -> power amp I generally play with a bit of compression, so when I've got the basic sounds dialled in, I'd like to add a tube compressor, and a tube driven transformer-coupled DI out. Initially I was planning to model it all in gEDA, but I started and it's just too time-consuming. So instead I'll do what I've done on all my previous amp builds, cobble it together by nicking bits of existing amp designs, then tweaking until it sounds good [/quote] Sounds like a plan!

No but I'm always on the listen-out for a Phrygian cadence. Example: Smoke on the Water, Ab to Gm.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1382644495' post='2255048']Anyone want to buy some rubbish old Japanese basses? [/quote] Try us! For £20 you can advertise them all in the Basschat Marketplace.

The idea of a custom P is quite tempting, but as others have said, we need to know more! Like can I have a big fat humbucker by the neck? *wipes drool from iPad*

Also afaik there are very few valve factories in the world so unless you commission one to build to your specs (rather than just badging them for you) surely you are left with grading what they send you.