thisnameistaken

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1409599876' post='2541417']
[i]Useful? [/i]There are many choice adjectives which could be used to describe this pedal, but I'm not sure that's the first one which would have occurred to me! [/quote]

Depends on the gig.

I like portability but I'm guessing these won't keep up with a drumset? I'm using my Schroeder 1212L on the upright at the moment and happy enough with it, but smaller is always better.

This could be a really useful bit of kit for me. Thanks for the heads up.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1409511613' post='2540375']
When I play a P it always sounds too thin, my favourite sound when everyone else uses them which I know is the reverse of many people with an MM, I like a J but I find them a bit dull sounding really, big smooth bass sound but boring and ive tried all sorts inc Sadawsky and Alleva versions always just a bit meh.
[/quote]

Try taking a normal, passive J and wiring the pickup in series. Big, round fingerstyle sound.

In one of my bands the guitarist is also a bass player, he's played bass for years but his approach is very different to mine. It's quite hard for me to implement his ideas, and I'm going to have to start ignoring him I think.

So yeah.

I currently have an expression pedal off the board for the Xerograph. The board is a PT-1 so I think I might have to bump up to a PT-2 or 3 to fit that on.

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1409342348' post='2538926']
And what the heck is a "shoegaze band?"
[/quote]

That label came long after the scene was gone, I think it was applied by American listeners.

It was bands who were signed to the Creation label in the early '90s. Ride, Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver, etc.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1409340372' post='2538887']I can't help thinking that for the playing style you need to adopt with a bass triggering a synth (simple, clean notes) and the possible problems with tracking and latency that it'd be simpler learning how to play some simple lines on a small synth (which is the direction I took when I was more active musically).[/quote]

I know what you mean but the kit is pretty good these days. If you happen upon someone with a MIDI bass setup, give it a go, you'll be surprised. Once the pickup is mounted right, the bass set up properly and the whole thing paired properly with the synth 'brain' tracking is really solid, the only issue really is latency down low and that seems to be an unsolvable problem.

I can only remember one time when I felt a bit lost on the neck due to a dark stage. I was playing a fretless that I'd de-fretted myself and I was the first guy in on the intro. It wasn't so much that I couldn't see the dots, I sort-of could, but they were in the wrong place anyway. It would've been handy to have been able to see the fret lines but I used rosewood veneers on a rosewood board and they were nearly invisible in daylight.

But yeah, that one gig in 1995 aside, I can't remember another time I would've benefitted from LED markers. And even then if the dots were in the right places I would've been confident.

Anything that mentions playing weddings, corporate events or Butlins.

[quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1409308275' post='2538496']
Latency and tracking isn't an issue with a GK-3B by the way: there's no buffering involved.
[/quote]

Latency isn't an issue with the VB99 but it is with the GR models. There's just no way around it, the bottom octave (particularly bottom 4th) of a bass guitar the waveform is so long it takes a little while to figure out what the pitch is, even with the best current software and the cleanest signal possible.

For the record I don't really use a fuzz any more. I do have the Brown Dog circuit in my Octavius Squeezer which I use in one band that I do, but I use it more for Bootsy-ish funk sounds than anything else. I have a synth-modded OC-2 that I much prefer to feed into a filter for dirty electro sounds, and also an IE Frantabit which I'd originally bought hoping it would replace my sample rate reducer. It wasn't good enough to do that but the bitcrusher side of it makes a great broken-digital-sounding fuzz effect.

Regarding string gauges, 105-45 is considered 'medium', but most players go with 100-40 or thereabouts for roundwounds (although flats are usually preferred heavier). Any lighter and you start to get a lot of rattle noise, it's only really players who are into the old '80s slap sound that use very light strings.

Ah, MTV unplugged, where none of the basses were ever unplugged. The only act I ever saw do it properly was Bjork. If you didn't see her unplugged set go look it up, it's bound to be on Youtube.

I didn't, and I would guess not, no. There's six signals coming from the pickup, and as far as I know wireless systems will only carry one.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1409138281' post='2536649']
99.9% of the audience will not be able to tell the difference between a Stagg and a 'real' DB,
[/quote]

99.9% of BC readers would disagree with you.

I love the Brown Dog. It's clearly intended to be used with a low-pass filter because it doesn't even have a tone control on it.

Try flats with some foam under the strings to give it that old soul thump, and channel Bob Babbitt as much as you can.

That said, double bass is so much fun and so different to playing bass guitar, if you have even the slightest urge to try it I recommend you do.

So sorry to hear about your tinnitus. I've got wrist tendon problems that mean I have to carefully manage what I do with my hands these days but I'm hoping I won't have to give up doing bands.

I guess when you say you aren't really into acoustic stuff I get what you mean, but maybe you'll change your mind about that. Hopefully there's still some form of live music in your future.

I stopped playing from about 1999 to 2005, and within a year of picking it up again I was a better player than I was before. I definitely play less notes now and they are better-chosen notes because I have a better understanding of music, and I modulate them for interest in appropriate places, rather than playing too many notes all the time as if music was an athletic event, which is what I did when I was younger.

[quote name='fezzza' timestamp='1409002805' post='2535496']
First post in a while but i've been stagnating a bit in finding new music, new bands and most importantly new bass players to take influence from. My tastes change fairly regularly but over the last couple of months i've been unable to find anything that particularly blew me away. Old favourites of mine include Rush, Extreme, Alter Bridge, anything Billy Sheehan has ever done and anything Riffy/Proggy really... If anyone can suggest any lesser known bands or bass players that match this kinda description ( Or anything else you think a Bass player would profit from ) I'd be most appreciative![/quote]

Not wanting to state the obvious, but your title declares that you're stuck in a listening rut, and you ask for suggestions of bands that sound like rock bands from the '70s and '80s.

Not sure that's going to help?

Kids today eh. And you can't give them a slap any more, that's the trouble. Hanging's too good for them, etc.

The Boss CEB-3 is a very useful bass chorus and they go pretty cheap used, 50 quid tops. The Boss OC-2 is the best octave pedal ever made, again available used for about 60-70 quid.

Do you really need a delay? I always think on bass you need tap tempo, so it's not so easy to find something cheap.

Being a bass player in a band is - in most scenarios - the least stressful job. So if you're avoiding it because you think it's beyond your abilities, I really wouldn't worry about it.

As for doing it 'for fun', apart from a few years in my early 20s where I made a living from playing bass, I've spent the majority of my bass-playing life making no money from it, and that cash-deficit period has been by far the most enjoyable. I now endeavour to make no money from playing bass, and indeed expect to lose money. And I've never been happier with the music I'm playing.

I went to Reading a couple of times when I was younger. I live near Leeds. I recently had to go to Actual Reading for a conference with work and found it to be an equally awful experience as going to Leeds.

You'd think they would pick prettier towns to make these festivals appear more palatable.