Twincam

The Ibanez looking at all the specs and pu config should be the more versatile bass. The Fender and Epiphone while nice and i would love either one are somewhat limited designs. For me the ibanez will have the better neck too. So if it were me and i had the money i would have the sr750. All are lovely looking guitars.

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1427908375' post='2735785'] I've been playing a few years, Twincam. Maybe longer than you have if you're a 'relative novice'! Never enough practice in that time though, obviously. [/quote] I have been playing for two years give or take a week or so, and pretty much practice everyday but still consider myself a relative novice as still have a lot to learn.

Great review and lovely bass, the only thing that would stop me getting one is the height of the knobs.

Raise the pickups on the treble side as mentioned. The pickups are bartolinis so they are decent. Different strings would no doubt help but it certainly sounds like just a case of pickup adjustment, which is a simple case of turning the screw near the G string on both pickups, leave the one near the E string alone if it sounds ok.. Tightening the screw will lower it, loosening it will raise it and hopefully cure the weak sounding treble side. Experiment till you get a balanced sound you like, there is no right or wrong but after adjustment fret at the last fret and make sure the string wont hit the pickup etc.

I looked up the song and the tabs and gave it a quick bash. Didn't find it too bad "not easy" but i could learn it and im a relative novice still. I think i would need a good few weeks practice on it though, mainly as its fast paced How long have you been playing?.

[quote name='donslow' timestamp='1427760421' post='2734050'] Thank you for the replies gentlemen, really appreciated I had seen those kits and was wondering whether it was worth pulling the plug in them I've since been trying to find used affordable hollow body basses "off the shelf" that would be good for modding if need be, Long story short, I've decided I really want a Hollowbody bass but trying to find a cheap one is no easy task but looking about, if I can show a little restraint/patience I might get lucky eventually Really liking the look/sound of Eastwood classic 4 at the minute Change of subject really but would you guys have any recommendations or ideas of something worth looking at if you have been searching yourselves?! [/quote] here is a cheap hollow body http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hb_60_vw.htm

Fantastic documentary.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1427541579' post='2731541'] Are you using "technique" as a warm up ? After the warm up I described earlier, I pick up the bass and do some slow chromatic scales above the fifth fret. Even after the stretching routine, it is prudent not to dive headlong into fast complex playing. Another two minutes or so, of slow scales, arps etc is a good idea, before finally settling into "regular" practice. [/quote] I play a few scales and then a few fast paced things normally parts of something ive been learning and are a challenge. Which maybe accounts for why my hand can really hurt, my fretting hand that is. My right hand needs no warm up. Sometimes i will switch from my bass to my girlfriends bass to wake my brain up faster. I think maybe a slower more sensible stretch and warm up would help with the initial hand pain and fatigue instead of me rushing it when cold.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1427538704' post='2731507'] Mine is quite a monastic hard core ritual to warming up. It takes years of practice, dedication, meditation and application. Basically it involves two Jack Daniels and Cokes and an Embassy Number 1. Then I'm ready to go! [/quote] I had to re read that twice as i genuinely missed the S off cokes. [quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1427536868' post='2731485'] While your body in general may be warmed up from certain activities, the parts that take a front line in playing the bass, i.e. the tendons that move the fingers.. may not. People often refer to "strength" being required in the fingers in order to play well. All healthy people have the minimal strength required to fret a note. What is required is to warm up the tendons that facilitate the [u]opening[/u] of the hand. Very few daily activities can do this. This is why, IMO it is well worth taking the time to warm up (and down...afterwards) with gentle stretches. There are lots of clips on You Tube. OP, if you know in advance that you are going to be trying out a bass, you could try a Carol Kaye warm up tip. Hold the arm straight. Gently press the thumb against the index finger. Hold for seven seconds. Release. Repeat with each individual finger. Now, gently fan out the hand and fingers for five seconds. Release for five seconds. Clench the fist (dont force anything), with the thumb on the outside for five seconds. Release for five seconds. The whole routine takes less than three minutes. Time well spent IMO. [/quote] I do have a warm up routine but it takes at least 20 mins to feel right. I switched fretting hand techniques not so long back to a more standard style and im still not 100% with it, although already an improvement on my horrible previous technique. If im not warmed up feeling my hand tends to fatigue and hurt very quickly. I will give the Carol Kaye warm up technique a go.

Noticed it can sometimes take me a long time to fully warm up and play as well as i can. Curious to know how long it takes others to warm up. And any tips for warming up faster would be cool. If im honest it sometimes stops me from trying basses out in a shop, sometimes it really does take my fingers a while to do what i want them too. I can play simpler things fairly easy with no warm up, but i feel when playing simple things you don't get to really see what a new bass can do. And i don't fancy embarrassing myself in a shop i do enough of that already haha.

Lovely. On another note how are those etb92m tapewounds? whats the tension like as they are a fairly normal gauge.

Why make the body so big?.It looks like you could slim the body to an average width, controls would have to be laid out different, but it would look nicer and be lighter.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1427307536' post='2728693'] Every single multi-track recording made will have had processing applied to to the tracks somewhere between the microphone and the final mixed product. It makes no difference whether the processing happens in the digital or analogue domain, whether it's been meticulously assembled from multiple takes in a DAW or live mix of several tracks on the mixing desk. It is still processing. If you want your recordings to be "pure" you need to be looking at all acoustic performances captured direct with a single stereo pair of microphones where everything is down to the placement of the instruments and the microphones within the recording location. [/quote] Yes indeed. That's all fine to a point, what im referring to is the people who will say take there bass track not only eq it but look at it in minute detail and then further process it in till it sounds like nothing they were playing but there still trying to make it sound like it, if that makes sense. Experimentation new sounds and styles are great and i admire the work that goes on in a studio. Some great music comes from this. I'm not suggesting going back to just acoustic, or even that all you need is a p bass, flat wounds and an ampeg b15 etc etc. Good playing sound/tone, good recording practices, sensible engineering, common sense should be used. The is a sensible ratio of instrument and players talent, to after processing. [quote name='phil.c60' timestamp='1427310328' post='2728766'] And, for me, why a drummer is better (yes, I know, I said it) than a programmed drum machine which always sounds a bit soulless to me, it seems to lack "feel" somehow (now I've probably started something) as do overly processed auto-tuned vocals. [/quote] Agreed. I don't think humans at least at this stage are built to like perfection in everything. Also a machine can not replicate passion and playing nuisances. Not to mention that perfection actually sounds bland and dull.

Depends what strings but within a month, when i first started playing i literally bleed on strings. High tension flatwounds still hurt not the skin but internally to the bone.

This can probably apply to a lot of music not just Bass. In my quest to find out more about recording and music making i have both been fascinated and dismayed by the amount of processing people will do. There is a guy on youtube a great bass player anyhow but he will take a small amount of time to record his bass parts normally half a day, then spends 5-6 days using software etc to get his sound. That doesn't seem right to me. Surely then why not just play a synth or make music totally by software. People's comments on older isolated bass tracks on youtube are ridiculous, Just because there not perfect or processed to hell, they have fret and string noise in them, passion and dynamics. To each there own and all that, things also move on in the world and good engineering can enhance music. So im not against things at all. I just don't like this over reliance to sound good. Or that some think music has to be perfect.

I had one for a little while to see if I liked a shorter scale. Was a surprisingly useable bass. Seen a heavily upgraded one on eBay that looked canny too.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1427030469' post='2724827'] Yeah sure, I can send you a set of 4 machine heads if you'd prefer? Call it a fiver posted? They'll be off a 270 which is the same as the 170 except for the addition of a bridge pickup. PM me to let me know your address. Cheers Alex [/quote] Actually the rbx170 also has a bridge pickup. And i think the 170 has the cheaper tuners with 4 screws in the back cover almost retro, while the rbx 270 has the 1 screw modern style. But they will work but you may or may not have have to drill a hole. I know this as i had a rbx 170 and changed the tuners to some better ones.

I really like Basschat and it is a shame to lose old members even though ive not been here that long. I do think people need to relax if a thread etc is annoy etc ignore it. There are threads right now that i know if i started posting in i would either annoy/anger myself or annoy/anger others. So i avoid that. Also i think people are getting to offended easy, i can laugh things off or if i was insulted i would remember its only a forum. I do think there should be more effort by members to keep up the good quality of basschat. I have probably made some stupid or very amateur posts but they have been non offensive i hope and i would never make a post that i know would cause conflict. Oh i have an idea!. Maybe you could have a sub forum for paid members only???.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1427068567' post='2725520'] Have you seen that TV channel called "Yesterday"? Seems to be documentaries about the Nazis interspersed by reruns of Last of the Summer Wine. What's that all about? [/quote] PMSL! hahahahah!

Me too nearly bought one i seen in Andertons used. I resisted however. But now going over to thomann to have a rethink.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1426905818' post='2723403'] I own and gig with around 9 different bass guitars, mostly Fenders & Gibson models. The only bass I own that has a unique and inherently different sound than any other bass I own is my German crafted Hofner Club bass. You can't get that Hofner "thump" anywhere else. The Contemporary Hofner series made in Korea don't have it. Am I remotely on topic? Blue [/quote] The contempory series have a block in them, the icon, ignition series are hollow too and actually much nearer the German versions for the original Hofner thump. Anyhow on topic I think it all comes down to the player i think tone is made up of many aspects but if you take a Rik and change its strings, the person playing it and what amp etc its ran through then you will get a lot of difference, variation from the fundamental tone of the bass. So taking a bass is just the starting point of creating tone.

Never had this with rounds or flats. My tapewounds E strings on occasion give off a lot of fretting noise, string rattle on fretting or lift off, mainly when playing fast which i think is a combo of there low tension and nylon coating which is very forgiving not coming through the amp. However the actual fretboard noise is fairly loud and does bleed through a little too much when i mic the amp. Is it normal to get a lot of actual unamped noise from the bass itself bleed through?. I am getting a better mic which isn't as omnidirectional so that will help as mine does seem to pick up everything, boiling kettle downstairs etc. And if i sit further away or in another room its also fine. And di is obviously fine too.

[quote name='stoo' timestamp='1426651363' post='2720329'] [b]If you have fret buzz from 1-5 but not higher up the neck, then the conventional approach would be to raise the bridge and tighten the truss rod a little to straighten the neck to compensate for the extra string height higher up the neck[/b] [/quote] Errrm no. If your straightening the neck you risk then getting fret buzz all over the place and raising the bridge will create a low action in the lower frets and a huge action in the higher ones if you want to compensate for the straight neck. If you have fret buzz from frets 1 to 7 when fretting then you need more relief, loosen the truss rod. The actual conventional approach is. Buzz in lower 1 to 7 frets needs more relief loosen truss rod. Buzz in higher frets from 7th onwards needs bridge raised and a lower relief tighten truss rod. You need to find a balance, if you can't get a good action then you may have high frets, a wrongly cut nut, uneven fret board/warped neck. Or even just your playing too hard.

It's a shame it made you feel like you wanted to give up playing. I am teaching my girlfriend to play, really only the basics and good basic technique etc. Before i did i made a little list of things to teach her and in a manor that was neither condescending or too technical. I made sure i first understood what i was talking about and using my experience of making mistakes myself i can also tell her why it is best to do things this way etc etc. Also i remembered to have patients with her, i think me still being a relative beginner i remember still what its like to struggle to even hold a bass. So if i can do a lesson then its a shame more experienced guys can not.

Very cool!