The Badderer

My personal favourites

http://www.studentbeans.com/mag/en/campus/18-hilarious-places-to-pass-out-drunk

[quote] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Brilliant post [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color] [/quote]

from the limited reading of the "Compression" threads and a couple of comments about other pro's, i think it's probably important to consider that there is a fairly big culture clash between, knowledgeable top of their game professionals from the USA (i am 100% NOT being racist!!) and the way they will be used to be treated in their natural environment, and what the majority of Basschatters are used to expressing on here. We Basschatters are used to debating and discussing, saying the wrong thing and backtracking in a polite way, or providing evidence to justify our view. These guys are highly knowledgeable professionals who are probably sat at the other end of the conversation wondering whether they should give an hour of their time to explain why their POV is right (even though most of us lack the knowledge to understand what they are saying in the case of Bill Fitzmaurice). We should take our time to investigate what they are saying rather than arguing with them. Taking the Vail Johnson situation as an example, we might see his language used as arrogant, but from his culture as a high end pro with a few decades of experience in the US music business, if he states something as fact, to him it is fact. Why should he listen to people who, whilst incredibly knowledgeable, haven't been there and done it (i am aware I am making a MASSIVE GENERALISATION so please if you have been there and done it I apologise for offending you!). Sure he maybe didn't take into account what it's like to be playing a 50-200 person gig at your local venue, but he was obviously just trying to make a point about people incorrectly using a compressor to cover up dodgy playing and if you want to "make it" then get your playing to the level that you don't have to rely on a compressor (because at some point a studio will ask you not to use a compressor and they'll find out you can't play without one). His comment was brashly stated (this is part of that culture clash, try to put yourself in the shoes of a professional recording player in Nashville), but the response seemed to assume he was saying that if you are using a compressor you can't play properly and reacted in an OTT defensive way (again MASSIVE GENERALISATION and i apologise if this offends you). I for one would prefer to hear the POV of a high end professional and spend my time researching why and how they do it that way. Obviously there are infinite ways of doing things and you have to be flexible (if you had the same set up at the Dog and Duck, and 2,000 seat arena, you'd want to have a good think about what you're doing...). I'm sure i'll have said something that annoys someone, but I only mean for this to be an encouragement to consider what it must be like for a decent pro to come and give advice and then have it questioned. They shouldn't be treated as a demi-god, but we should take the time to consider why they have said it and research why we disagree. Maybe even try out their suggestion for a few weeks and see what happens. Hope i've said this right......

[quote] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Not unless you want to inflate your partner [/font][/color] [/quote] Properly LOL'd!!

[quote] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I wonder what its handles are like? [/font][/color] [/quote] .... also, are you allowed to use a music stand while you're plugged in to it??

If it's their input on gear that people are interested in, surely it's the bass techs that you'd have just as much interest in as the pro players.

not shallow, you've just seen the situation honestly for what it is and done the right thing. it was never going to end will with people behaving like that. been there, seen it. you've saved yourself a load of time and hassle

Best thread I've read all week!!

TBH he was just pre-emptively low-balling you as you were in the market for selling, so picking up on any weakness in your bass to justify his low price. Put a bongo up for sale on here for for £600-£800 and if it's in good condition it will be gone quickly.

some really great pointers there, cheers guys. i'm just about to have quite a lot spare time, so gonna have plenty of time to learn, where as up until now i've had no spare time to spend on anything, so i've not bothered starting any projects etc. as they'd just end up discarded with no time to finish them off.

you'll find you if just play the root note rather than getting a bit adventurous they'll probably comment favourably on that too

YES SIR!!!

the thing that gave me the confidence to try to fix them was doing a session on setting up my bass with my teacher. he charged me way less than it would have cost to have 1 of my basses set up, and i know how to adjust my truss rods and the relief i'm looking for, adjusting the pick up heights, the action and intonation (i could do that already but good to have his input). I know i could have found all the info on Youtube, but nothing like someone showing you how to give you confidence. I been doing a couple of truss rods today, some pick up height. next i might be doing intonation! feeling much more comfortable with basses and getting a decent toolkit together. in a few months i might see if there's a basic electronics course that i can do as i fancy upgrading the pickups in my 2 beginner basses to see what that'll do, but really need to know how to understand circuit diagrams etc and how to properly solder before i take that on!

I've never had the time / energy / brain power / motivation, to have a look at a couple of little niggles on a couple of the basses I own. Today i had a day off with nothing i needed to do.... and i thought TODAY IS THE DAY!!!! Turns out my fear / laziness was completely misplaced. My assumption with the two basses was that I was going to need to replace / resolder the output jacks and had assumed i lacked the skill to do it. But..... On my very 1st bass that i had been lending out to kids at the youth music project I help with, the Jack had worked loose internally and so was hanging out the bottom of the bass. I fixed it back in place and made sure it was rotated round the right way.... low and behold it was still working fine. On my joint favourite playing bass (Lakland Skyline, AMAZING NECK), again the jack had been giving me issues as when i played, it would just slightly crackle. Again i found when i looked inside that all the electrics were in great condition, there was just one black wire that connects onto the Output Jack, that had just a bit too much spare so when i moved the bass the wire moved into contact to the Jack. All i'm going to need to do is get some decent tape and just tidy up the spare cable. It got me thinking, how many electronically unskilled bass owners there are out there terrified of touching the delicate innards of their bass? I had let myself think that i couldn't fix my Lakland and not touched it for about a year aside from to play without plugging in. I have other basses so just never bothered to give it 10-15 mins of my time and am now kicking myself! If you have basses with niggles i just wanted to encourage you to give it a go (and obviously ask for help and don't just dismantle your bass if you have no idea what you're doing). I was worried about the amount of p*ss taking that is now about to occur, but thought i'd just be brave and post it anyway.

so far i haven't been let down by maplin so will prob head back there. decent prices and everything seems a decent build quality.

HA!!! to be fair this will probably be the more cost effective option!! I'm contemplating what will happen if i take more than 2 basses into somewhere like Maplin and sit in the corner trying different tools before i buy them.... BTW anyone have any recommendation for tools makers to use / avoid like the plague?

Cool. great tip. i'm prob gonna get a few different sets as i have US, German, UK and Korean made US designed basses, so prob need to get imperial and metric. also need to get slimline spanner set.