Twincam

[quote name='lawetlatla' timestamp='1418768402' post='2633259'] I have played on both, but not at the same time, so I don't think I can compare them very well, only know that they were both great to play. What's the difference between active & passive? [/quote] Well with an active circuit you can boost or cut certain frequencies you could say you will have greater control over your sound. 2eq treble and bass or with a 3eq treble, mid and bass. Also with an active bass you get less hum in general. Remember to carry a spare battery at all times too with an active bass. I would love a Stingray i think they look and sound awesome. But im not keen on the neck or the pick up position if you anchor your thumb on the pickup like me your going to be closer to the bridge and this will give a different sound. This is not an issue if you like that sound or float your hand. The jazz bass of course has a thinner and in my view a nicer neck. The two pickups give a good variety of sound. If you have played both and you both think they sound great then go for which one that is probably more comfortable to play for longer periods of time of both are good then as said before go for which one looks the best to you. But do remember the neck widths and different pickup aspects. As said if i had larger hands and better technique i would love a stingray. But for comfort of playing to me a jazz bass is much better. As for knocking your bass around both are well proven instruments.

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1418725750' post='2632635'] I must admit I find a couple of things odd with conversations like this; firstly I don't really understand the obsession with low action, but I guess that's just personal preference for feel & tone. But really; how do people think lowering the action makes their technique better? In my mind if anything it'll make it worse as you're stroking the strings rather than plucking them & your fretting hand can be less accurate because there's less side movement before the string touches the board. Once a string has been fretted cleanly what difference does it make if you press a little harder (in my mind once it's fretted it's fretted)? Not having a go, just curious as it seems like my understanding of how it works is different to others.... [/quote] Ok right this thread has slightly went off topic of why i posted it. See my questions in the original post. And we have got into a discussion on action height. Which oddly enough now has more posts in than my actual thread on action height that i had not long back lol. Ok i feel a lower action will improve my cack handed and heavy handed approach which is actually much better these days but still needs work. As i can if i wanted make 5mm action buzz im pretty heavy handed. And my fretting hand smashes down on the frets you can hear my fretting through the amp. And over odd overtones. Over the last year and few months especially i have slowly honed my technique. I can control fretbuzz and clank. But my fretting hand (my left hand) is seriously lagging behind. So this is my attempt mainly for my fretting hand to soften its approach. As my action height has got lower and lower ive learnt that you still can pluck the strings with a fair amount of force but its in a more controlled manner. Its just a shame my left hand is still poor. I can't play gentle with high action something just makes me want to play full on, also the higher the action the slower my fretting becomes. But anyone wondering the bass setup is, height of string at 1st fret when depressed at 3rd 0.003 Neck relief measured at the 8th fret when first and last fret depressed .006". Height measured at 17th is 1.5mm for the E, 1mm G. Its sad i know this. Some people go lower don't know how they can play lower but they do.

The particular bass in question is just a old squier p bass. Mind you i have leveled the frets myself, replaced and cut the nut. and it is very well set up by yours truly. Zero fret buzz and i mean that just a little gentle rattle but its helped by the high tension and worn in flatwounds. it does take a lot of mental effort to play well ive found. I do normally play with a higher action than this. But i don't think i sound good with the higher action, im louder and maybe have better overall tone, but what happens is when i pluck hard then my fretting hand will fret down hard in sympathy with my right hand, and this combo gives off all sorts of overtones. Also i failed to mention im not fully recovered from tendinitis i developed in my fretting hand months back, so im hoping it will help with that too.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1418688903' post='2632455'] 1.5mm is very low if that's for the E string at the 17th (that's under 4/64") so it's no wonder you're getting a lot of fret noise. 2.5mm is about 6/64" which is what I go for on the E and 2mm or 5/64" for the G at the 17th. I'm really not sure what the big deal is about getting the action as low as possible; if you have normal strength in your fretting hand and the strings aren't really high tension then you should be fine without having to set the action really low. [/quote] Just to clear this up. I get fretting noise from my fretting hand mainly as i seem to really come down on the string. This is no matter what action height unless it is really high. So im playing lower to try and force train my hands to be gentle. When playing gentle im not getting as much noise but im finding gentle playing hard going. [quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1418689401' post='2632461'] I'm not saying anyone's wrong for it but I don't understand this attention to detail with regard to action and to a lesser extent, relief. When I set up my bass I wind the saddles down until I start to get rattle/fret buzz when I pluck how I do, then I raise them until that goes away. I don't know if I have high action or low action, I've got the action which is appropriate for how I play bass. Regarding relief, bass strings need some room to oscillate. So I give 'em some. The neck isn't flat, and it isn't a banana either. If I had to guess it was about a mm, maybe slightly over. [/quote] 1 mm relief is alot of relief!. often 0.5mm relief is a bit too much. I have been anal about setting the bass up, its set up really nicely no buzzing etc, you just have to be more gentle with it. Which im hoping will refine my technique. At the moment i hate the way i play, to much effort wasted.

Playing with low action is like making love to a beautiful women. Something i know nothing about! haha. In an effort to refine my playing further, i found that 2 of the problems i have is i still pluck to hard and i fret way to hard and get a lot of fretting noise. So i have lowered my action a fair bit from the fairly standard 2.4mm at the 17th fret to 1.5mm which is the lowest i have played but i know some play lower still. In affect im forcing myself to be gentle and not get carried away. My Questions are. Have you always played with low action and it just came naturally or did you have to work at it?. If you had to work at it, in general how long would you say it taken you to become accustomed to the lower action. I have only spent a few hours at it but i feel drained from the concentration required. I know about turning up the amp, and trying to relax while playing. But is there more i can be doing other than practice?. Oh and to add i also raised my pickups so they act a little bit like ramps.

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1418667058' post='2632151'] Planet Earth Just cant seem to play it all the way through without losing the feel at some point, its bloody annoying, as everything else I do suggests this should not be a problem. [/quote] Duran Duran planet earth?. If so i have major problems with that one. Tends to fatigue me quickly both physically and mentally and if i lose the rhythm well it all goes to pot. I think the fatigue thing comes from playing it on very high tension flats. I am hoping when i switch back to rounds or tapewounds my strength and stamina will of improved.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1418596571' post='2631642'] Stab his speaker cones with a screwdriver, he'll have a nice distorted sound at lower volume levels :-) [/quote] Haha I like it. Well the guy in the Kinks did that to his vox ac30. Not quite for the same reason. But it would work.

Also look at Mark King he can't even play bass normally!

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1418495435' post='2630724'] Jazz Piano [/quote] Think your forgetting Jazz flute too lol

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1418493883' post='2630694'] First you need to identify what it is that you're having the problem with. That may sound daft, but usually once you do that, then you can correct it. If it's rhythmic then it's sometimes best to break things down into individual beats, and work on each little bit. [/quote] I want go into detail as i could write a essay. But its mainly motown, blues and reggae. Blues and reggae i can get just takes me longer to dial in but some motown things i just can't nail. There are other genres to but alot of the time its really simple things im maybe not thinking hard enough about them were difficult bass lines i will put more effort into and practice. Ah hold on think i just found the problem not practicing the simpler stuff and thinking i should just be able to do this. Ah well problem solved. Interested to hear if anyone has any easy track they struggle with that they should on paper so to say be able to nail.

There is a few technically or should i say physically easy tunes that i should be able to play but for some reason can't quiet get to sound right or just can't get my head around for ages then it will click. It's annoying me. And making me think maybe my timing or something is bad. Or is it a case of some types of rhythm suit different people. A lack of general experience maybe?. It is very frustrating when i can play something that on paper is a lot more difficult then something relatively simple comes along and it stumps me. Especially as ive been making some progress of late. I would be interested to know if any of you, get this.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1418323226' post='2629211'] IMO those are not really lessons.... but demonstrations. No doubt it is good to develop your ear by playing along to songs. It is also a good idea when trying to play along, to try to figure things out for yourself. It all depends on what the OP wants from, and how far he wants to take his bass playing. [/quote] Well someone shows you how to play something by telling you what notes to play then on the bottom one the same song is jammed with tabs. So the first is indeed a lesson, and the second will help you develop this by jamming to the actually track. I would say these to a pretty good representation of a lesson. The op said he has trouble in all sorts of areas one of which is remembering notes so i used this as a starting point to get him going for a beginner anymore is confusing. Being still a relative newbie its fresh to me how it feels to first pick up the bass.

That 30w laney from cash generator is probably your best bet its 30w and has a 10 inch speaker. So it should be a bit better than the others. It also has a speaker out so if you find that the bass is lacking you could attach another separate bass cab for more low end. [quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1418310843' post='2629042'] The issue isn't with the model of practice amp your looking at, I would imagine that all the models you've put links up for are of a similar quality. The issue is that practice amps are on the whole pretty rubbish. They will have no low end whatsoever and are therefore rather pointless as a means of amplicifation... They will of course enable you to hear yourself playing though and if that is your sole aim just get the cheapest one you've found [/quote] I slightly disagree here because many practice amps do have decent bottom end and tone (maybe not so much at his price point but), and yeah its not going to be mind blowing loud and it wont rival bigger cabs and amp heads for sound quality, there practice amps and on the whole are not rubbish and a 25w amp is perfectly serviceable for bed room practice or a jam session with people who have similar low powered amps. There are many high end companies that make small practice amps if they were that rubbish they would not bother. And people would have huge cabs in there bedrooms for practice.

I have a suggestion that you look up simple bass lessons on you tube. Things like, Walking on the moon by the Police, and other easy to follow lessons. This will help you build your memory up. Then go from there. I memorized 50 fairly easy songs before i moved onto trying to remember more complicated songs. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqFWDMPjKJU[/media] And the same song but with tabs you can jam along to. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_28XIVn7Zw[/media]

[quote name='the boy' timestamp='1418258149' post='2628634'] That ould chestnut. I hope you told him where to go. [/quote] Hahahahahaha!

Oh forgot to mention look at cash generator online ive bought basses and recently an amp from there they all came next day too and the postage tends to be really cheap, ive seen some ok little practice amps on there. Also cash converters online never used them as they seem expensive but worth a look.

To be honest ive just read a fair bit of bull from others about practice amps there. There are lots of practice amps that sound perfectly fine and give great low end. Even mark bass do a mini mark and it has plenty of bottom end. And many other companies use small speakers that give decent bottom end too. And ive jammed with a 25 watt hartke practice amp with an 8 inch speaker and we where fairly loud granted my mates were using amps of similar or lower tubes watts. And we were using a double garage. But you would be surprised how loud a 25w practice amp will go, you will have no headroom meaning the volume will be at pretty much max setting but you can certainly jam using a practice amp. Infact that amp is still at my friends and i still occasionally use it to jam with him. It will not struggle over a guitar or even two or a drummer who can keep it reasonable. People manage to busk ok with a 5w roland cube!. i would go with the peavey or laney there likely to be better designed. So the peavey 158. If you live in County durham you could of had for free my old Carlsbro 90bg combo which would see you through practice and jam sessions. Its also done small gigs apprently!.

Go but don't take your bass, go watch a few performances first. Then you will know what exactly is the crack. And then if you decide to do something the next time then practice something before hand with the other guy. You will be more confident. That said this is exactly what me and my mate planned a year ago, and we still are practicing so maybe you should just dive right in.

Ive always appreciated the talent of the player over bass model, so i don't get why people do get worked up. However that said the pickup position of any single pickup MM bass is in the totally wrong position for me to play comfortably or else i would love one.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1418212896' post='2627971'] In the print industry the apprentices were sent for a "jar of half-tone dots" Not really the same but similar, at school the French teacher picked out a lad to go to the shop with a pound to get him a new red pen - and he could keep the change for going. The lad came back with a bag of cream cakes, "where's my pen?" said the teacher, "oh they had no red ones" he said back. Simon Martin - legend! [/quote] Oh I worked in a large printers i was 16 and so green. I got sent looking for a wire mesh oil can!, lol. In my mind this was a normal oil can with some sort of filter system. So in my mind this thing was real. Went round the whole factory and eventually then sent to the actual bosses office. He was not amused at all. And when i went in shame back to the floor there was at least 50 people laughing at me. Funny thing was i excepted it for what it was laughed myself and it was never mentioned again. Inside i still cringe at that one! The next week another new lad was also sent to the bosses office where we told him the boss was called Mr Hucknall. He wasn't but he looked just like Mick Hucknall and he hated being told that. So this young lad goes in and actually calls him Mr Hucknall. I was just happy that i wasn't the only fool in there.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1418178006' post='2627752'] i just love this. the drumming is so cool. [/quote] One of my fav Primus tunes. And ive always liked the blonde bird in the vid too lol.

Lol some good suggestions. I think some stranglers would work Peaches and Golden Brown. And its not as if you have to sing but Golden brown i think would work really well.

Well i want a recount! this is total rubbish and favoritism!. And im pretty sure there has been some dodgy dealing going on in the back ground. lol. Well done to Oopsdabassist very nice design. And yes do post a pic of the real thing.

Ok ive not been playing that long coming up 2 years. I was looking back at some early recordings i did and never really got any opinions on them as was embarrassed at the time. Anyhow these are original things by me any plagiarism totally unintended. Would love to know what people think as ive always thought they were a bit rubbish to be honest. Total amateur recording process too. Mustang bass into a zoom b2, into a carslbro combo, then recorded via an iphone 5s sat on a pillow infront of the speaker. This i remember working a lot better than i thought. [media]http://youtu.be/g2raZnfz6p4[/media] [media]http://youtu.be/rnVWkJGDXnc[/media] [media]http://youtu.be/nGDC1JiLltA[/media]

I'm liking the replies. I guess i will not worry so much about it. Haha i was doing a little funk line i thought that sounds good, then i though oh i know that, not again. Turned out it was something i already come up with. Oh here is an example i find a bit too close. This is Adam ants Vanity notice there is a significant feeling there might be a certain portion of a famous Queen bass line in there. [media]http://youtu.be/6cgthYXtiVU[/media]