Lfalex v1.1

No P-nut in my house, I'm afraid. I understand not wanting to buy one without playing it first, too....

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1338660530' post='1677801'] That's just leprosy. It'll wear off... [/quote] [i]Fall/drop[/i] off, surely!

[quote name='Shockwave' timestamp='1338643911' post='1677553'] I would also like to know if there has ever been a jazz bass with a P neck stock? [/quote] Almost. Mark Hoppus sig. Jazz Body, Precision Pick-ups, P neck. Close, but no cigar!

My house, The Bass Gallery, Various PMTs, Bass Direct, Bass Merchant, The GAK shoppe in Brighton.. Depends how many/which you are considering... And where's local to you.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1338373406' post='1673372'] Do you want a good bass or a bass that people will think is cool..? [/quote] Are the two necessarily mutually exclusive? Back O/T, Errr Fender Jazz? I have "superior" basses, but the Jazz just feels (better than) "right" to me. I guess the ergonomics suit me well as everything is in exactly the correct place. That ought to make me a prime candidate for a "Super-Jazz" (Sei, Sadowsky etc.etc) but somehow they're just not the same.

Try a (coil-tapped) JJ like the Fender "Big Block"? - A bit like the old Precision Deluxe used to have.

[quote name='far0n' timestamp='1338490297' post='1675406'] Right, I've done as you've suggested and there is a good 1-2mm relief in the neck. If I lower the strings further then there's a region around the 10th - 12th fret where they start being choked with fret buzz. All other notes both higher and lower seem fine. A plane and refret would be a nice option to have done I must admit. Wouldn't the neck straighten to a certain degree once the strings are removed or is the neck ultra stable in that respect ? [/quote] As far as I'm aware, they are ultra-stable. That's certainly been my experience! Didn't Roger Glover lay a Vigier neck across two cabs and stand on the unsupported bit? To no adverse effect, allegedly.

I own a '96 s3 passion V. Ped's got it right, assuming you want to go super-low. Definitely mail Patrice, he's very helpful. Re; Zero frets/Nuts. The Z fret should sit fractionally higher than the others. They're also often hardened, so will be tougher to file down (if it comes to that) The Z fret defines the scale length, not the nut, so removing the Z fret altogether isn't an option. Changing/altering the nut will only alter the break angle down to the tuners, not the action, as the Z fret defines the string height at the headstock end of the neck. I'd only get this end of things looked at if you're getting fret buzz from the frets [i]behind[/i] the one you're fretting. I had the action on my Passion down to what I'd consider to be very low. Whilst I wasn't getting any nasty buzzes or choking, I did feel that it wasn't "singing" like it did before I'd adjusted it, so I put it back up again.. Seems I can go [i]too[/i] low. Your mileage obviously varies

Kewl!

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1338312917' post='1672609'] Got an SVP preamp for that :-) [/quote] This. And if you want pedals, Taurus is the way to go

Does the wenge body make it quite heavy? My Warwick Infinity is Zebrano, and weighs a ton, in spite of being chambered (and quite small-bodied)

With actives, I usually aim for a sort of sweet-spot, a bit like you'd get from fiddling with the volumes on a Jazz bass. I set everything flat, get the pick up pan where it sounds best, then adjust the Eq. I invariably end up running a little boost to compensate for the fact that I tend to favour the bridge pick up a little (assuming there is one!)

Why do I get the sinking feeling that this/these are going to be brutally expensive?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1338228567' post='1671211'] The only possible answer is "it depends". Why are you starting a band? Are you a bunch of middle-aged accountants looking for a hobby, or a bunch of students wanting to be the next U2? Do you need the money? Do you have commitments outside music, like young children and mortgages? IMHO, what I/you/anyone looks for in a band is driven by the answers to those questions, not "[i]Do you like System Of A Down[/i]?". [/quote] I'm middle-aged, penniless, and my children like system of a down. Can I join?

Jeez.. That'll be a LOT of tab, for 13-odd minutes of song! Alas, I don't use tab (nor do I read)

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1338149242' post='1670162'] My cat's name is Mittens. [/quote] Weird! So is mine. He is black and has 4 white paws....

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1338145643' post='1670102'] How silly of us to be whimsical humans and think of impractical things like aesthetics. We stand corrected and will only discuss the factors you approve of in future. It's bound to be much more fun that way. And we can be sure not to play anything other than Kraftwerk. PS: The thread seems to have been relevant enough that the subject line piqued your interest enough to click it though? CB [/quote] Easy, Tiger! It was just another opinion in the mix! [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1338146502' post='1670116'] I'd say those are all fairly unimportant too - it's only the choice of notes and their placement in relation to the beat that really really matters. [/quote] And whilst I'd agree entirely if the subject were "bass instruments in music", I feel compelled to point out that I did qualify in my post that the comments were directed towards important factors in a bass guitar....

Y'know what? It's actually [i]so[/i] far down the list of important factors in a bass guitar as to be irrelevant. What's above it? Wellllll...... Ergonomics/design, Quality of construction, electronics, pick-ups, string choice, materials selection, hardware, fretwork, adjustability, stability, playability, "tone" (whatever that is!), reliability, durability... ... and so on ad infinitum (well, nearly) until the last three; Body colour Fretboard markers The name on the headstock (or wherever else it may be!)

Nice enough, but a 4.6K Euros, I'd want more than a gig bag chucked in. And "[i]Premium[/i]" fretwork? I'd expect decent fretwork on a bass that costs that much. I don't like implication that proper fretwork on a bass - any bass- is such a chore Does that mean that their "normal" fretwork is a bit duff?

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1337763243' post='1664943'] This isnt a test of hearing so much as a test of your PC audio card, and the speakers you are using..... [/quote] Precisely. And your age. The frequency response of your ears also declines with age, even if you take care of them. If you don't protect your ears/ hearing, it'll be even worse...

[quote name='Doctor J' timestamp='1337589282' post='1662236'] I enjoy playing and I enjoy bass as a design form too, you know what I mean? I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm a collector. I'm an enthusiast of the instrument as well a player of one. The first thing I do with any new instrument is strip it down, see how all the parts work together. I'm not the kind of person who'd have ten Jazz basses or ten Stingrays, multiples of the same thing, I just don't see the point, but I do see the logic in a variety of different basses which follow different design philosophies. I enjoy the differences, the nuances which make one bass different from the next. There is a lot of variety and creativity in the world of bass which I find fascinating and, as long as the bills get paid, I don't see a problem in pursuing that interest. As vices go, I think it's a pretty minor one. That being said, if a bass doesn't move me or falls too much under the shadow of another I move it on. As a result, I don't see an end to GAS, but I just don't see the harm in it either. I don't eat the same thing for dinner every day, I don't wear the same style of clothes every day, so why would I stick to just one bass for the rest of my life either? Why would you restrict yourself, for what purpose? I don't want to beat GAS, I see GAS as a sign that the world hasn't broken me down just yet, there's still a spark in me, a continuing fascination in the instrument I first loved as a fourteen year old boy. Long may it continue! [/quote] Very much like myself by the sounds of things. Everyone's got their "thing" that they like. For less money and aggro than a classic car or a flashy car (for example), I've got a nice selection of instruments to choose from. And yes, it's a mood thing. I'll play whichever I feel like playing. I've got 10 or so bass guitars, and I've sold 3 to fund other things (and I can't remember what they were!) I fancy diversifying slightly, so an EUB and perhaps an electric cello may be in the offing.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1337537595' post='1661608'] Taking this to it's logical conclusion, the ideal bass rig for purity of sound would be a single driver mounted at head height and placed on stage so that it was at least as far from the side walls as it was from the floor. [/quote] [quote name='xgsjx' timestamp='1337539233' post='1661657'] If you can find a driver that small that can handle the power & a well designed cab to allow it to produce ample bass, that would be the bizz. [/quote] Put the two together and you get a (single?) small driver at ear height with enough system efficiency to produce sufficient SPL and designed to deliver good bass response. ...Thinks... You all need In-Ear-Monitors!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1337514591' post='1661124'] [b]Yes but stacking speakers vertically you still get the "it's not round anymore" phenomenon, just in the vertical plane instead of the horizontal one.[/b] And taking that idea one stage further surely having 4 speakers arranged in a square (like a 4x10) cab will start to get the pattern back to being circular? [/quote] I'm going to [i]try[/i] and resolve this in slightly different terms. Please be patient. Your first statement (bold) is correct. But it is the alignment of this plane relative to the walls, stage ceiling in the venue/room that makes the difference, as it alters how much of the sound interacts with which boundary. The nature of the interaction remains the same, but the magnitude differs. Consider a 2x10. With it in horizontal "mode" both drivers interact equally with the floor, and any interaction between the drivers takes place in the vertical plane. When you move around the stage/room, you should be able to hear the effect as you pass through areas of constructive and destructive interference. Flip it up vertically, and the lower driver still interacts with the floor, but the upper driver is now that much further away and is freer from the interaction that dogs the lower unit (stick another 2x10 cab vertically on top and it's even better for the two drivers in that cabinet AND they're at/around ear height) The interactions between the drivers now take place in the horizontal plane. You'd now have to be moving around the room (more) vertically to hear the interference between the drivers. Most of us (unless on a pogo stick) tend to stick to vaguely horizontal motion, so the effects are less immediately obvious. The 4x10 in its 2x2 (square) arrangement is a lose-lose scenario (you get a broad spread of constructive and destructive interference in both planes), whose only advantage lies in its easy to store/move/transport form factor and the fact that it conforms to what people still expect a cab to look like. If that isn't proof enough, have a look at PA (the big arrays are a bit different) and floorstanding Hifi loudspeaker/home cinema speaker designs. They all aim for vertical line-source driver line-ups. The only notable exception to this is the "centre" channel in some 5.1 speaker designs. Those lay on their sides to deliberately align their dispersion pattern so it aligns with your TV in the vertical plane whilst restricting its horizontal dispersion to keep it from overlapping into the L and R (front) channels as much... Hope that helps a bit. I see there's been more replies since I started this. Hopefully they were more succinct than I!

Whilst the function circuit seems healthy enough, the pub/club scene is drying up fast. Venues closing and revenues/attendances falling. Costs to bands aren't exactly falling either (fuel/costs for travel, for example) Soon there'll be nothing left except large venues (ctiy halls and stadia) and open mic nights.