ped

Hi Wayne Looks good - nice idea. The main thing I find that really improves a pic is the area around the subject. A simple floor is fine but it doesn't help 'pop' the instrument. Think about shadows, depth of field (the distance in focus behind and in front of the subject) and the composition. Also attention to detail (removing random items in the frame, straightening things up) make the pic much neater to look at. Try that pic again from directly above and see if you can clear a bigger space of floor so nothing else is in the frame. A nice wooden floor might look nicer too perhaps. Cheers ped P.s I don't now what I think gives me the right to give advice!

I have a Warwick one for sale, collection only from Oxford - give me a shot if interested. ped

Spot on.

[quote name='Sibob' post='736982' date='Feb 6 2010, 10:30 AM']Nice one Ped! I look forward to you using your lens on my lil collection soon! Si[/quote] Me too Si, should be fun. I'm moving very soon so will be in touch for a 'photoshoot'!!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='736884' date='Feb 6 2010, 01:06 AM']Ooh they're nice pic. Hey Ped I just looked at my Thumb on the way into the room and actually the shape's not that much different to your Vigier, pickup positions aren't that different either, maybe I ought to like them more.[/quote] Yes you should young man!

Hi dudes Thanks for all the nice comments. It was indeed ISO 800 (this camera seems to have a 'sweetspot' at 800) and shutter at 1/25 and the aperture is 2.0. The lens is an old Pentax Asahi fixed 55mm f2. Only cost me about £50 and it's a really great lens, and has to be used in manual mode which is forcing me to learn what works fast. It also helps me with the 1950s film 35mm camera my grandfather gave me which again is all manual. My camera isn't anything special, a Samsung GX1L DSLR. One day I'll upgrade to the GX20. The 'kit' lenses are great too, an 18-55 and a 50-200. The samsung cameras are basically slightly modified versions of the Pentax models. I like 'em and it's a bit different from the Canon/Nikon club! ped

[quote name='bubinga5' post='736801' date='Feb 5 2010, 11:38 PM']Ped i often want to do this as..like you i have nothing better to do..he he..lovely Vigier...i often have wondered waht these sound like??[/quote] Wonder no more, here are a couple of clips! I have posted these before so sorry for posting again, I'll have some more crap tunes soon as I'm in the studio next week. [url="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/USB%203/Canti%27s%20Wrap.mp3"]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/USB%203/Canti%27s%20Wrap.mp3[/url] [url="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/USB%203/Sticky%20Situation.mp3"]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/85432/USB%203/Stic...20Situation.mp3[/url]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='736820' date='Feb 5 2010, 11:55 PM']It's a nice pic, don't go all OCD over it. I don't usually like Vigiers but that particular one is really nice. Maybe it's because you take so many nice photographs of it - maybe in the flesh I would be all "Eww!" [/quote] It's French so Brits are predisposed to hate it automatically! If you heard me play it you would probably be bed ridden for days, in a bad way.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='736809' date='Feb 5 2010, 11:43 PM']FWD to my psychiatrist, he'll be in touch. [/quote] I seriously have nothing better to do. How sad is that. I even sat on the flor for this pic like some bored bedroom paparazzi idiot

[quote name='bubinga5' post='736801' date='Feb 5 2010, 11:38 PM']Ped i often want to do this as..like you i have nothing better to do..he he..lovely Vigier...i often have wondered waht these sound like?? here's my Sei for a change..with 3 more..my old Fender, Yamaha, shouldnt have let these basses go...and the love of my life cat..[/quote] Lovely Sei - it's hard to find a good background for a bass pic.. I have an idea I'll try this weekend, but there's nothing wrong with a classic 'bass on the bed' shot :0p ped

Thanks - I might do another tomorrow without the shadows of the chair leg and wall if I can! Oh I always have a ratio of about 1 'good' pic for every 10 taken!! The bass has been modded a fair bit to be honest, it has a Marleaux preamp and Basstec pickups (these were installed as the bass was basically an empty shell originally) and I recently added the Roland GK pickup and output on the side of the bass which you can sort of make out. She's a mongrel alright! ped

I have recently got hold of a really nice lens for low light photography, so I thought what better way to try it than on some bass in a chair pics? Here is one I just snapped... the lens is manual focus so it took a few tries to get it right because despite my magnifying eyepiece it is harder to focus in low light! ped Shame the bass isn't straight in the chair, the legs of the chair aren't rotated to be square with the wall and the skirting board isn't straight along the bottom of the pic... and the bass shadows could be removed too. I'll get there one day..

LMAO

Well, there's not THAT many... and I guess people like them as a rough guide or a starting point from which to learn a particular song...

I doubt many of us really mind what the audience think, though. We are nerds and as such like to get our sound the way we like it, regardless of how the ignorant public feel. I don't do it for anyone other than myself. It's the same with anything, really. I almost like the fact that its something only I appreciate!

I think I have a few small sized ones left but as I am in the process of moving I don't know where they are! I have a good distribution chain set up now so the next batch should be quite smooth. I also do iPod to mixer cables ;0) (not really) ped

[quote name='Linus27' post='735590' date='Feb 4 2010, 10:21 PM']Thanks, its seems like the ESP is quite liked. I should had done this as a poll to see what people liked the most [/quote] Just added a poll for you!! ped

That's right mate, works for me. You might find it easier getting a stereo 1/4" to L and R 1/4" jack cable and bunging a 1/4" to 3.5mm converter on the stereo end. ped

You'll want to split the signal into two channels matey - does the mixer in question have stereo RCA jacks at all, or just 1/4" ones? ped

lulz Long day mate...

My fave - ESP 400 Series Jazz which has Bartolini Pickups with both pickups on and tone on full. really nice sound. Would like to hear more! Perhaps give it a bit of slap and tickle? What's the recording setup? ped

Very interesting discussion chaps. It is something I have thought about a lot myself. I was lucky to find 'my' bass a while ago, one that primarily 'felt' right, the action/relief was spot on (and hasn't been touched since I got it) and of the same importance it sounds, to me, just right. From this 'comfortable' launchpad I was then able to delve into researching and trying various rigs and processors to expand my range of sounds. You must understand that 99% of the time when recording I am DI'd straight to the desk, and still am, so this experiment was from a purely recreational standpoint. I found out that weather I played through a desk, a Mesa 400+/1516BE rig, a Hartke 3500 rig, an SVT, a Trace Elliot V4 rig, a poweramp and pod rig, an in ear rig, a DI box, an SWR redhead, a Peavey Firebass, whatever it was, I sounded the same, my bass always came through with that velvety graphite clear punchy sound. The Pod was great fun and it enabled me to emulate different amplifiers, which was great fun and also produced some cool synths. However, i found no matter what I did, I simply couldn't create another bass sound convincingly, because one thing I couldn't do was alter the way the pickups interpreted the string movement. You simply can't get a jazz bass sound from a stingray. You can EQ it and mess about with it and it might sound less like a ray, but it won't sound much like a jazz (and if anyone has a clip demonstrating the contrary I would love to see it, because maybe someone can, but I couldn't!) ...Enter the Vbass (or VB99) and associated GK pickup (as mentioned earlier - the GK2B or GK3B or even, like I now FINALLY have installed, the internal system). Now I can emulate amplifier sounds, but crucially, I can 'move' the 'pickups' on the bass. Each string is processed individually and the brain knows exactly how long the strings speaking length is. I can do a Jazz bass, a musicmam, all sorts, with extreme accuracy, because I am altering the one thing that nothing else can. I'm not changing the EQ at all, I'm moving the 'pickups' and fundamentally changing the characteristics of the sound. It's a really great tool to have if you like having the ONE bass, but having access to the classics too - I never really found a P or J that I was fully happy with in terms of comfort, so now I have it all on my fave bass. I know I have said this before but I really think it is a criminally underrated piece of equipment which has opened up so many doors for me. It's a whole new way of looking at the issue of emulating other sounds. That said, you can also design your own basses by choosing where the pickups go for each string. Its amazingly complicated but the possibilities are endless, and, more importantly, sound incredible. I sold everything else I had as a result. Still, 99% of the time I'm playing with everything bypassed using my natural magnetic pickup sound into a poweramp, so I value both extremes - 100% natural and clean, and 100% digital. They both work for me and both have the potential to sound perfect. Unlike the knob holding the bass. I need a V-me. ped

[quote name='7string' post='730483' date='Jan 31 2010, 12:39 PM']Is that pic in the background Ayrton Senna driving a JPS Lotus?[/quote] Yeah at Spa going through Eau Rouge, 1986 in qualifying. 2 years before my bass was made :0) ped