jamesf

I'd personally love a singlecut design, but would worry about the weight of it - anyone know if this is an issue? I think some people have just got it right when it comes to singlecut designs (Sei and Shuker spring to mind), and the shape of the flow of the solid upper 'horn?' into the neck really sets them apart from the stunted-looking ones. I mainly want one because of the neck stability and sustain, but they are unjustifiably expensive compared to many other excellent basses. I love the shape of my Bass Collection at the moment - any high end clones knocking around?

Hi guys, I've sold a couple of things recently, so let me (and others) know how efficient (or otherwise!) I am. James.

It also depends on what kind of sound you're after - for a brighter tone you need to change them more often because they dull over time, but for a duller tone worn strings are fantastic and may fit some styles better. My Hohner B2A Pro has had the same strings on since 1992! (i've been meaning to change them for the past five years but keep putting off buying new strings for a bass I hardly play!) My Squier J|P has had the same strings since 1999 but they sound thunderous and barky in the lows so I've just kept going with them. OTOH, I change strings on my stingray whenever I can afford to because I love the zinginess on it, which gives contrast to my other basses. For playing metal, a zingy trebly sound can be amazing, but it's an expensive sound to maintain. Instead of just boiling strings, I put them in a pan of boiling water, and add a couple of tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda, it works a treat and they come up nice. edit: I should really type faster!

Having read this thread and had a good, rational look at the status of my musical menagerie, I have come to the conclusion that I have a ridiculous amount of gear just sitting there, looking pretty, but realistically it's never going to get used. I use stingray -> phil jones (a bass buddy, not phil himself!) -> power amp -> BFM omni 10.5 70% of the time, and a Squier P-Special un-amped 30% of the time because it doesn't have a case and handily lies around all over the place so I can pick it up and play anytime without getting stuff out of cases etc. The gear which is superflous (and I've actually sold a few others recently) includes: Hohner B2A Pro, in red, in a leather gig bag I made for it SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB300, a proper one, in matt purple (never seen another in the same colour), in mint condition Hohner RP200 Pro les paul copy guitar, in orange/red sunburst Fender Stratocaster, matt purple, maple fretboard, black pickguard Cheapo Chinese acoustic guitar no.2 (no.1 sold last week), in black/blue burst BFM Omni 10 - loaded with Eminence deltalite II 2510 drivers and 4 piezo array (just the little cab is more than enough for me! Kustom (from argos!) 40watt guitar amp Rode fishpole boom and now, sadly, 2 x Rode NT2000 It's occurred to me that if I got rid of some of this, not only would I have a huge amount of space in my house, but I could actually afford a really nice 5-string like I've promising myself for ages, and a sub to go with the omni 10.5 so I can have a bi-amped rig using the spare half of the power amp. That'd leave me with a stingray and 5er -> phil jones -> 2 way active crossover -> amp -> BFM omni 10.5 -> Some kind of horn sub, probably a BFM That setup would make me very happy, so why am I clinging on to a load of gear that never gets used (some of them haven't seen the light of day for 5 years!) Upon looking at it, this might turn into a feeler later on tonight... give a bass/cab/accessory a good home anybody? J (now the musical equivalent of a bag-lady)

Van Halen - Best of Both Worlds Just driven from Blackpool to Brighton and back in two days, my radio packed up and the only tape (yes I know) in my car was Aerosmith - Big Ones - What a great collection of songs; kept me rockin' for 600 miles anyway! J

Ok, here goes my 2p. I've been recording for a few years now, and have gone through more gear than I care to think about in my home 'studio'. I'd concur with a lot of the advice already given, that you really do get what you pay for when it comes to audio gear. However, don't let that put you off in the slightest, because there are high-quality bargains out there! Firstly, it's great that you have Cubase and are learning how to use it at college - It's becoming an ever-increasingly viable and cheap alternative to ProTools, and using Cubase means that, without the added expense of a Mac, you have a lot more of your studio budget to buy high quality gear! I've spent a long time (and I mean I'm now visibly older as a result!) searching for a low-cost, high quality audio interface without any extraneous features, that will do a solid job, and will have a place in my rig long after I've bought more expensive gear; and I think I've found it. If you only need two channels in and out, (are you seriously going to record more than two channels on a regular basis?), I highly recommend the interface I have been using for the past seven months, the Mackie Onyx Satellite. They have come down from £500 to about £120 new, and they can be had for around £60 on ebay. Consider that they have the same AKM converters as the DIGI192i/o (£2800 for 8 channels), and two Onyx preamps, which are much sweeter and cleaner sounding than the focusrite equivalents, plus a plethora or routing options, full talkback facilities, surround monitoring twin independently controlled headphone outs, and you've got one hell of an interface for a mere £60. It sounds great, both in terms of AD/DA, and in terms of Preamps - and I've worked with some seriously expensive gear! Long after I've bought multichannel high-quality AD, this will be used as my main DA stage and monitor controller. Next, you want some monitors; these are where most of your budget should be going, as they will make the biggest difference to your setup if you haven't owned any before. I've conducted lots of blind testings of monitors and HIFI speakers (contrary to popular belief, monitors should be representative AND flat otherwise your mixes won't translate too well to domestic systems, and some high end HIFI speakers such as B&W Nautilus have proven to work better in the studio than some high-end monitors!), having done a BA(Hons) in Music Technology, with a specialism in acoustic design, and some of the best speakers in every test have been the humble JBL Control 1 - passive speakers which cost about £80 a pair used - they're my main monitors, combined with a Samson Servo 260, and do a fine job. Again, they'll be in my studio long after I have Genelec or ATC monitoring installed! Unless you have a LOT of money to spend, I wouldn't get a mixing desk unless you feel some medical need to own one to feel like a 'proper' home studio - cheap ones are cheap for a reason; I went through 7 cheap mixers in 6 months once, no joke, and after that decided that it wasn't worth the hassle, they sounded much worse than just mixing in the box, and cost a lot of money and stress that I just don't need! You'll also have to have enough channels of AD/DA to be able to justify it as well, otherwise the spare channels will just be gathering dust. It's up to you though, mixers can look totally awesome, even though they can sound like @rse! The Mackie Satellite will perform all the functions, and many more, that you will get with a cheap mixer, and it'll do a damn better job of it too. Microphones are a different kettle of fish altogether. The subjectivity of microphone/instrument pairing is to recording nerds like me, like a quest to find the perfect bass to bass nerds, again, like me Your best bet is to decide which instruments you're going to be recording, and what mics generally suit which applications, and which come in on budget! When you're starting out, you can't go wrong with an SM57 - I wouldn't go with the cheaper option because you'll need to upgrade to something better in the future, and an SM57 will have a place in your studio even when it's a million pound room! It's an industry standard for a reason, and sounds great on male metal vocals, and of course as a top mic on snare, on guitar cabs, toms, and even kick drum in a emergency. You may want to get a pair of small diaphragm condensers to play with stereo recording, and a full drum kit can be recorded with exceptional results using only a pair of overheads, carefully selected and positioned. The kick, snare, tom and room mics are generally only there to add weight to the overhead sound, which constitutes most of the drum mix you hear on a finished record. I'd recommend a Rode NT5 matched pair, they're good enough to learn with, but don't pay retail price for them. A good pair can be had for about £175. A large diaphragm multi-pattern condenser could be added to your mic locker after a while, but don't go for any bargain-basement 'bay specials as you'll never get rid of them once it comes time to upgrade. Buy used, buy good quality all the way. Don't forget to budget for cables and stands, either. Buying good cables at the start will save you a lot of money in the long run. Buy Van Damme/Neutrik cables and they'll last you a lifetime - but again, don't pay ridiculous dealer prices, there are some great people on the 'bay that'll make them up any length you want for very little money. Ok, just realised I've written quite a lot so I'll shut up now. If you can't tell already, I can spout on about this stuff for days on end, but just wanted to give some honest advice from my experience. I teach on the Music Technology A Level, and honestly don't get official time to talk about the fun bits of music tech, but I try to impart some practical wisdom from time to time! If you want to talk recording and studio gear, PM me anytime. J PS. The M-Audio PCI soundcards are great quality, really cheap, and you can use ProTools M-Powered with them if you don't want to go the firewire route. You'll need some pre's though, damn, here I go again...

I played an Epiphone a couple weeks ago, to be honest I wasn't really taking notes as I was blown away by the novelty of the whole experience, but it did have a bit of roll like the Tbird, but no noticeable neck dive - in fact the one I played was quite well balanced, and very light weight. I liked the feel of it, but trying to play it sitting down is a big no, as you'd expect - the rubber grippy strip thing does absolutely nothing and is a token gesture. Due to it having two humbuckers, it's a quite meaty, classic passive sound which would sound great for old-school rock, but quite lost for anything modern unless you've got some serious preamplification. I'd say buy one, they look amazing, feel great, but the hard cases are absolutely HUGE! If not for anything else, just buy it for the novelty - after playing one with a natural finish and black pickguard, I had to try really hard not to part with cash, as I now believe my life isn't quite as complete as I had previously believed... go try one now!!