Lfalex v1.1

I'm not familliar with MG's work or his tone, but if it's fluency you're after, then a low action is definitely beneficial. To stop buzzing with a "borderline" action, it is necessary to revisit your plucking hand technique (in terms of delicacy). If you start "digging in", which I reckon most of us start to when under presure or playing live, then you're probably striking the strings too hard for a bass with such a low action to escape buzzing / clanging. Ramps definitely help (or having a pick-up in the right place!) Another helpful step is to turn up your pre-amp gain to a point that renders your non-delicate style too loud or distorted, and adjust the amp's output volume to suit the situation. In this way, you'll start edging into overdrive if you're hitting the strings hard enough to get buzz. I've found that it "warns" me that I'm playing too hard and I ease off accordingly... plus it improves the signal/noise ratio of your bass... The above assumes that other aspects of your chosen instrument are as close to perfection as can be achieved; Fret wear / Relative "Levelness" of frets. Neck relief. Neck Stability. Tinkering with your pickup height/ tilt may help even out any tonal / volume loss from playing with a lighter touch. Bear in mind that string gauge choice makes a difference, too. Lighter strings are more responsive, but run lower tensions, and so have a larger vibration loop. Maikng them more likely to hit the frets as they oscillate. Heavier strings are less responsive, but deepen tone and have a smaller oscillation loop due to higher tension and may allow a lower action because of this. If MG is Tuned CGDAE, it might explain his choice of a "Medium" 0.100 gauge "E" string. I'd ASSUME his set runs something like; .025, .045, .065, .080, .100 Give or take 0.005 here or there!!

+1 to Ped's Kahler 2400 nomination, but for a different reason! I don't have an issue with the relative lack of height adjustment given by the bridge barrels, but the intonation grub screw is a real pain to get to, and it's tiny (2.5mm allen). Okay, set it and forget it, but it's difficult to do. A fact that is somewhat at odds with the design allowing you to change the action without tools, switch strings without having to thread them through anything, and the fact that it copes with the string angles converging towards the nut so well. I may get a local engineering firm to knock me up some new barrels in a different material. The current ones are hollow steel, but I'm tempted to try aluminium, titanium, brass etc. Another recommendation for this design; If you sweat as much as I can do, remove the barrels and apply some Vaseline to the threads. It stops the steel barrels seizing in the Aluminium alloy body...

[quote name='Muppet' post='223446' date='Jun 21 2008, 10:01 AM']I use a piece of fine wet and dry paper. A great tip for preventing this happening again is to dab the pole pieces with a drop of clear nail varnish. It has no detrimental effect on the pickups and stops them rusting[/quote] +1 for clear nail varnish. Or Black for that [i]Stealth[/i] look! I used Brasso on a cotton bud. It's quite precise and forgiving on plastic...

Sorry, my bad. Not thinking again!

The main issue with putting pick-ups up by the neck is polepiece/string alignment. The DM Model one was replaced by the DM Willpower in the Yamaha Attitudes. It has broader polepiece spacing to overcome the "Fender" spacing problem , and is differently wound to sound "fatter" (like it needed to!) Of course, you can get around this by using a pick-up with blades for polepieces. I think the Bartolini MM Humbuckers are like this beneath the covers. Alternatively, the MEC "TwinJazz" used in the Warwick Dolphin, Infinity, Vampyre (etc.) is so constructed. Eitther of these can be tapped or switched for series/parallel, which the Model 1 can't.

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' post='216585' date='Jun 11 2008, 08:25 AM']I am not sure that I agree with everything you have said here. The down side of using headphones can be that the equipment you connect them to may have been designed to maximise battery life, and not to maximise the ability to drive good headphones. For example, I can hear a difference in the quality of bass between my personal CD player, and the same unit connected via a headphone amplifier. However, if you are using a mains powered mixer to feed the headphones, this may not apply.[/quote] That's quite true, and I [i]do[/i] use a mains-powered mixer!!

Sounds like Elites Stadiums (stainless) to me... Readily obtainable, relatively cheap, and quite well liked. A reasonable middle-of-the-road string to most peoples way of thinking.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='215457' date='Jun 9 2008, 02:22 PM']So what is it about this ray in partic. that makes you like it as opposed to the others you didn't?[/quote] Good question! I've never found them to be that variable... Although I'm willing to concede that I have a preference for 2-Band EQ models with Maple fretboards!!

In the words of Mr. Punch; "[i]That's the way to do it[/i]" They're both lovely. Especially the P, but I'm all Jazzed up, so I'm biased!

[quote name='ped' post='215142' date='Jun 8 2008, 10:30 PM']I pretty much always play tuned flat, I like the more pliable tension and hey, it is a bit deeper... I also use a capo like you were thinking Paul, you can get bass specific ones but the normal Jim Dunlop one fits my bass very snugly. ped[/quote] Ah! So [i]that's[/i] why your S2 felt so "supple" at the bash! I'd attributed it to the lighter gauge strings and graphite neck! It strikes me that Warwicks, love them or hate them, feel "softer" for a given gauge than most basses. I reckon that's down to the extremely shallow break angle at both ends. The said angle is primarily achieved from the use of the 2 piece bridge, which extends the ball-end to saddle distance (compared to a 1-piece bridge) and the slanted headstock. Isn't 13 degrees the magic number? Just about holds the strings in the nut slots/saddles, but keeps the tension down... Assuming that you find relatively low tension a desirable trait!

Vigier are French. For the UK, add in; Sei Shuker Iceni / Zoot RIM Overwater GB (although they're all a bit more custon oreinted!)

Good Thread! [thinks]...[/thinks] I'd agree that tuners are tuners as long as they hold the string at the desired pitch without slipping. The only other attribute one might wish for is light weight to counteract neck dive. Wiring (internal) seems much of a muchness. There's not that much of it that it would make much difference anyway. Important bits; [b]Strings!!![/b] These are the bits with which we interact most. Consider the way in which string gauge and type influences tone, and that confirms why they're on this list... [b]Pick-ups[/b] Generate the (small) signals the amp gets to make louder versions of. Their type, construction and positioning all contribute to the instrument's sound. [b]EQ/Electrics (as applicable)[/b] Rubbish Electrics will sound dull and possibly be noise-prone. Poor EQs will sound lifeless and boost/cut the wrong frequencies. They should be emphasizing the positive aspects of the bass, not trying to create what isn't there. [b]Bridge[/b] Naff bridge, poor sustain, poor stability of tuning and potentially causing intonation issues. Its mass and how well it's coupled to the bass affect the way the strings and body interact. [b]Nut[/b] Certainly affects the sound of open strings if nothing else. Brass, Tusq, Bone, Nylon or Graphlon are common choices. [b]Neck/Fretboard[/b] The rigidity of neck and fretboard will help to shape the sound of the bass, and this is, in part governed by the choice of materials used- hence all those Graphite necks available for Precisions, Jazzes and 'Rays to name but a few. I suppose a good rule of thumb is this; [i]If someone makes an item as a retro fit add-on or upgrade to a bass, it probably makes some sort of difference to the tone[/i]

That, sir, is lush! Looks like the offspring of my two!

[quote name='bnt' post='215622' date='Jun 9 2008, 06:52 PM']I'm currently looking for some Nikki Sixx / BC Rich stories... there must be a few? [/quote] The only one I know of regarding Nikki Sixx was one involving a fight between him and a brick wall. No, really! He was away with the faeries (again) and punched a wall, presumably with his right hand. Had loads of steel pins put in it to hold the mess together. No more fingerstyle for you, Nikki! That's not quite the kind of [i]gear abuse [/i]we were looking for, though, is it?

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='215571' date='Jun 9 2008, 05:49 PM']Levin?[/quote] Yeah. The custom 3-string bit kind of gives it away. I wish I could find the photo of him standing next to the burnt-out carcasses of his Trace SMX head, 1153 and 2103 Cabinets. Only an endorsee could look so relaxed about such carnage! That said, he does genuinely regret the loss of a lot of special gear in the fire. And he didn't start it himself, so it's not like he set out to wreck it all.

My set-up runs thus; Pre-amps >>> 8 track mixer >>> Sennheiser HD215. The HD215s are a pair of mid-priced, closed-back, circumaural headphones. They are DJ-oriented , and keep a lot of the noise in and out (if that makes sense!) Bass (the frequency range - not the instrument!) is not difficult to reproduce in headphones, it just lacks the physical effect that we're all used to experiencing from loudspeakers; There's no Floor shaking or booming room. As a result, it's often perceived that the system lacks bass. When one listens beyond these traits we usually associate with "good" low frequency reproduction, it is found that headphones (especially the better ones) are refreshingly free of many of the problems that no loudspeaker system can escape in terms of; Time smear, frequency response, bandwidth, room interaction and sensitivity, to name but a few. Plus, you can get up and play at 3am and not upset anyone! On the downside, they can be SO revealing, they'll betray all your bad playing habits and any weaknesses elsewhere in the set-up! Also, if you use headphones for a long time, it can be disconcerting when you switch back to cabinets! Finally, watch the volume! Headphone volumes have a tendency to creep up as you practice, so you have to make a concious effort to keep the levels down!!

And then there's this.... "[i]There was a terrible fire at my barn. Everything in it was destroyed, including many basses and amps. I heard about it the same day, and drove home after that night's show. Of course I was saddened by the loss, and sifted through the remains. One charred relic of a bass caught my attention. Its blackened body was shrunk to half its size, with the pickup melted right onto the charred wood. The neck was gone - the truss rod had survived, but the heat had bent it in half. All four strings were annealed to the bridge, and stuck out at odd angles, one with a tuning peg melted onto its end. A sad sight. I took the bass to that night's show with **** ******* in New Haven - we set it up on stage next to the other basses- quite a sight. And it smelled awful. In doing that, Michele, my tech, noticed that it had no volume controls, which meant it must be the 3 string bass which Music Man had custom made for me, and which had been featured on a magazine cover only months before. They had put so much work into the bass, having to redesign the neck and pickup for only that one instrument. How could I break them the news that it was gone? I shipped them the bass, and preceded its arrival with the following fax[/i]:" Hello Sterling. I am having some trouble with the neck of my custom 3 string, and have shipped it to you to adjust. Sincerely, **** ***** [i]Days later, I received this answer:[/i] We have received your bass. Please be advised that this instrument is out of warranty. California no longer allows smoking in bars, which has substantially reduced the odor problem your bass exudes. We have otherwise checked it out and everything appears to be to factory specifications. Regards. Answers on a postcard. There's a huge clue in there, though.

I knew that was [i]his[/i]... There's a description/picture of it in "The Bass Book", which states that the horn dug in his ribs and that he'd re-shaped it!

I didn't have this made for me, but I bought it from "new". Zoot Chaser Prototype. Quilted Maple (1/2" thick) over Swamp Ash. Rosewood Fretboard. PurpleHeart Accent layer between the Maple and Ash. Maple Neck (Bolt-on) Proprietary Bridge Seymour Duncan Basslines MM HB Pickup 18v East E-Pro EQ with Bass, Treble, Bright, Full Passive Bypass, Series/Parallel switching, Passive tone control. Sounds best on lighter gauge strings. Must get some DRs or Elixirs for it at some point. I neglect it too much! Sounds? Think "[i]Stingray[/i]" and then some, but that passive tone can really smooth it out if you need it.

Audere?

That black one is superb. I like the bound ones! I have only one gripe- Why do they insist on using pick-up selector switches? I'd much prefer a pan pot or 2x Volume controls to eke some more subtle tonal variations out of it. The tones available are all good, but all very "meaty". Bet they're good "in the mix" though.

Good grief. That's rather nice! I'm a mite confused, though! The Avalon is a pre-amp, right? Is the cab "active"? There's a big heat sink and a power switch on the back... If so, is mains power delivered to it by that (Blue) Speakon-like plug instead of an IEC 1 (kettle) lead? Or is there just a BIG power amp hiding somewhere just out of shot?

[quote name='BigRedX' post='214966' date='Jun 8 2008, 04:39 PM']Hi silddx, glad you found something you liked! I'm stilling GASing for a Spalt Hybrid myself. One day...[/quote] I keep saying that about a perversely coloured BassLab L-bow... One Day!

"You have posted more images than you are allowed"! Oh well. Here's the rest; Yep. That one. [s]Captain Ribena[/s] Yamaha Attitude Billy Sheehan signature 10th Anniversary. Didn't buy it for that. Or the colour. It's a tone thing! OLP MM3. Won in the raffle at the last Northants bash. Changed the controls, but that's it. So far. [s]The Twiglet[/s] Warwick Infinity SN4 Weighs a ton, despite being chambered. Zebrano sure is weighty! Hohner B2A 5. Or is that B2A 3? Currently tuned D,A,E. Loosely inspired by Tony Levin's (now destroyed (by fire)) Stingray "3". But Cheekier. Musicman Stingray 5 Fretless (1990) Used to belong to Boz Burrell (RIP). Allegedly. Tuned C,G,D,A,E by the way. That's all, folks! Until the next GAS attack...

This is most of them. Only the Westone Raider1, Ovation Celebrity electroacoustic and Arco EUB are missing from this batch. Honourable mentions to the Colombus Series II Jazz Fretless (RIP) and The Ibanez EDB600 (KIA) Otherwise; Squire VMJ Ibanez SRX700 MIA Fender Jazz (2004) (S1) Vigier Passion Series III std 5 (1996). Differs from Luke's, Ped's (though not his Series III fretless) and the Doc's Arpege in that it has Alder wings. Warwick Streamer LX6 (1997) Iceni Zoot Custom. The prototype. No Serial number. 18v East E-pro Electrics, full passive bypass, passive tone, series/parallel switching.