Lfalex v1.1

Yup. Overwound (perhaps) or at least able to be set relatively high close to the strings) compared to the very neck pickup. Personally, from my experience, I'd favour "A". Does distance from the bridge affect pole-piece alignment on this bass? If so, bladed pole-pieces are your friend. Again, another preference of mine (in two Warwicks and an Ibanez) YMMV

I think it was mentioned the he favours American Punk, not Thrash...

Definitely, that and the way in which they interact with the listening environment (usually a room for domestic hifi. Bass amps get used all over the place)

Urgh! These things are as bad as basses! The Roland is like a gateway drug; "I wish I could control the envelope of the sounds more (at all!)" Enter: Synth Gas. Candidates: Novation Bass Station 2, Arturia MiniFreak, and my current fave; The ASM Hydrasynth Explorer...

Whilst I voted 34", which many of my basses are, in point of fact, it doesn't really bother me that much. Don't think I'd care to drop much below 32", though. What does disappoint me a little is that multi-scale basses seldom seem to go for a "best of both worlds"; 32-35" on a fiver, tuned GDAEB. Modern bottom, old school top. I think there's a lone Ibanez that fills that niche. Most everything else seems aimed at the 34-37" Djent metallers

@asingardenof probably has it right. It's to cover vendors and merchants in the US shipping from Anchorage to Miami or other extremes of climate (especially humidity)

What if your equipment gets cold in transit to a gig? You can't not open the case when you need the instrument? Unless you have a spare...

I'd probably tune to C standard on a 4; C,F,A#,D# The five I'd leave in Standard B,E,A,D,G Primarily because I like to keep my fingerings patterns consistent.

The drummer in the band I left now has a gong. There's a few things I cannot tolerate in a band; Gongs Wind Chimes Band members wearing their own merchandise. (I'll barely wear anything with conspicuous branding) Looks like my exit was well-timed.

I really wouldn't sell ALL your gear. Keep your favourite bass or two and favourite effects (or a multi) If you haven't room for an amp, a small headphone one will do for when the itch returns and needs scratching.

But please bear in mind that they're not mutually exclusive!!

The last thing I jammed did NOT end well. It's week 2 in a new band (I've since left) Both the guitarist and drummer are, on the face of it, more accomplished than I. We've gone through all the material, and have some time left. Drummer; "Wanna Jam something?" Me; "Sure, what've you got? Guitarist? Both; "Nothing" Me; "OK. Well I have this..." Plays riff in 6/8, in a Blues scale with an extra sharpened 7th. (Almost sounds like "Paranoid" collided with "Communication Breakdown") Drummer; "Woaaah. That's not in 4/4!" Guitarist; "What's that progression?" It All falls down. We never jammed again.

Yep. That's the one. As for peak thrash, I see your early Anthrax in a good venue and raise you; Clash of the Titans (1990) It wasn't the big 4. More like 2 of 4 with excellent support. All fielding their classic line-ups. Slayer- Araya, King, Hanneman, Lombardo Megadeth- Mustaine, Friedman, Menza, Ellerton Testament- Billy, Peterstone, Skolnick, Christian, Clemente Suicidal Tendencies- Muir, Trujillo, George, Clark, Herrera. Best of the night? Controversially, Testament. But no-one sucked. Particularly Slayer. They were superb.

Anthrax were better than Iron Maiden when I saw them play together. That said, Maiden had just lost Adrian and replaced him with Janick. They were touring "No Prayer for the Dying". Hardly their strongest album. Anthrax were mostly covering "Persistence of Time" with bits of "Among the Living" and "Euphoria" thrown in. Line up? Belladonna, Benante, Bello, Ian and Spitz. That's as good as it gets. • When I saw Metallica in '89, they had no real competition from their support. Metallica were "good", but there wasn't much of a yardstick.

I've had it said about my choice of amplification and cabinet at auditions. More than once. "Looks old. Will it be ok/enough?" I don't bother to rise to it. They may not be the Emperor's new lightweight compact clothes, but Messrs Ampeg, Markbass and Schroeder put everyone right back in their places.

[Don't throw rocks at me for this] Coming from DB to BG ought to be a doddle, even allowing for the relative unfamiliarity of the dimensions. BG is a whole lot easier to play in general. You could get a custom made neck (and bass) made to your specs, and a good bit of strap adjustment might well pull the neck upwards. But not as much, I suspect, as you're looking for. Back in the day, both Ampeg and (iirc) Gibson did endpins for their BGs. Have you tried a BG and did you really not get on with it? If not, can you give us any insight as to why?

Meh! Editor reposted an old post. But while I'm here... Taking their time with the custom thing. Fairly sure there's plenty of customers (particularly in the U.S.) Who'd pay top dollar for a really nice [Insert EBMM bass of choice] with a few personal touches in terms of finish, neck finish, neck material, magnet material (Alnico/Ceramic/Neo), EQ, Hardware...

Quite outside of the band, the thing that struck me about the audition footage was how under-rehearsed some of the bassists seemed. Trujillo being the notable exception. I believe that I read that Newsted learned the entire back-catalogue before he applied. Best bassist for Metallica? Cliff. For no reason other than that he had the respect of the rest of the band, and could rein in James and Lars when necessary.

I've no experience of the Stingray version of events, though I DO own 2 basses with piezo bridges. I was concerned that the SR might not be a full-range piezo (such that it covers only the higher frequencies), but according to TB, it is full-range. I've found full-range piezo pickups to be a useful addition. Not entirely necessary, but nice to have. Some designs are built around them; •Many EUBs and Acoustic basses. •The Ibanez Affirma and EDA series, which mix magnetic and piezo. They certainly work. My NS5 CR EUB has the potential to sound massive if required, yet humble if not. The Ibanez EDA is intriguing because of its adjustability. There's an ability to adjust the piezo bass and treble independently of magnetic EQ. The controls of the Stingray (vol,pan, B,M,T) suggest this isn't the case. Furthermore, the 'Ray has a strong sonic identity. Does it need a piezo? The piezo component has the potential to sound more airy and "acoustic-like" Is that what you need from the bass?

As requested! ZoomB3 doing Tremelo, Chorus and Reverb duties to good effect.

Yamaha SBV. Because.... well, why not?

After some further messing around, I've found that sacrificing "stereo" for mono and using a valve preamp pedal for just the slightest bit of drive really helps some of the duller patches come to life. I've also pressed my Zoom B3 back into action for Reverb, Delay and modulation fx duties. That's proven to be similarly interesting, but it'd be great to have a user-definable stereo "fx loop" to which a given sound could be assigned, subjected to various FX, then blended back into the overall mix. I guess you just buy a more expensive keyboard with onboard fx. Or a second keyboard.... GAS. Is it like this for all instruments?

Dart 3? If it's like Tony Levin's 3 string Ray, count me in! If not, then Meh! 🙃 Ooh...Can I have the (non-existent) 3 string Ray in Kiwi w/ black hardware..

I'll have a Bongo 4HH in Kiwi Green, please. Black Hardware, of course.