The Badderer

dare i mention it, I did see a 2nd hand rick in mint condition for $1650 (about £1000) and a New Matt Freeman Squire for $380 (i'm guessing +10% tax) so about £265

BLOODY GAS!!!! Not 1 hour after this I found myself on Talkbass classifieds eyeing up basses..... some aren't much different in price to here.... some (especially Fenders and Laklands) are a fair whack cheaper, and some are a decent price new from online shops like Sweetwater etc.

Cheers Si. I had a pretty decent response from the one shop that seemed like it had a decent supply. They currently have 4 P-Bass some Schecter and Yamaha basses plus others in stock, and they have more stock at a 2nd store not far away that they can bring over to the store local to me to try. Pretty happy with that as a prompt response, so option 5 is starting look like a much more likely solution now. The risk of me being stranded without anything to play seems less likely now, so if all goes well I think after all that Option 5 may be the winner..... plus I get to buy a new bass..... i've gone for months with no GAS... cheers guys!!

thanks for the tip about the silica gel. one of the reasons for considering the ACG is that it's a single cut so the join of the body and neck is much more solid and stable. I've got a decent hard case to transport it in. It will depend a lot on what the cost of the supplement is if anything. If i'm spending over £100 I may as well just buy a Fender or Lakland out there and then bring it back or ship it back. I'll ask Alan to see if he has any tips for transporting on long haul flights as he may have some good insight.

well i think i'd need to call the airline i'm looking at as the fees are so complicated. I may be able to check it in for free. I may have to pay £32..... TBC....

out of interest as I haven't got round to asking airlines yet, but does this mean that I can't have it stored in the hold? Do i have to purchase a ticket or can I ask for a luggages allowance? My assumption had been that I might have to pay a small supplement, but if I have to buy a whole ticket then I could probably buy a USA fender over there for the same money as an airline ticket, so job done!

I sent a couple of emails last night so I'll see what I get back. I've asked to see if they can order in a bass that I specify and then I pay when I get there if I like it. Also asked about what they currently have in stock. I don't want to be lumbered with a bass I don't get on with that I've ordered from distance. If I can order something with a specific neck size etc. then at least I've got a decent chance of getting on with it. The issue from doing some research last night is there are only 3 music stores. One is quite obviously not a bass/guitar supplier. Just has very basic starter basses. The other one doesn't seem to have a great range. The 3rd one seems to stock from quite a few decent names, but has a really rubbish website, so I've emailed them. I've also messaged my place of study to see if they have any recommendations for music stores / instrument suppliers and who to steer clear of. I want to see if this is a solid option or not so it makes my choices clearer.

that option is starting to appeal more. I'm considering sending an email to the music stores where i'm headed to see what they have in stock and if they could order me something in for when I get there. It's the worry for me of getting there, needing to practice and get used to the instrument right before an audition and not being able to find a decent bass in town that is worrying me.

Yeah I have one, but I'm not taking a £1300-1500 (market depending) bass across to america. If I need a 5 string I'll get one over there, but most of their bass players are using 4 strings so I don't think playing a 4 string is an issue. I'd rather be on a bass I'm more comfortable transposing on the fly. I'm not so comfortable on a 5 string as I haven't had so much of a chance to use it live and do transposition with it. I'd run the risk of getting lost.

i think it's getting to the point of obsession when you are backing up basses that you know you can't really use live because they're too heavy. IMO it's definitely worth having a 2nd or 3rd bass so you can take 2 to a gig in case you have a failure. It's also worth having some sensible spares etc. because it's horrible if you're playing a gig and something goes and you're out of the game. But backing up back up basses that you can't even use live is a step too far because if you're not using them live, why do you need a back up?

B3K also!

HA! cheers guys. I'm more comfortable on 4 strings as there is a lot of transposition on the fly. I see most of their bass players using 4 strings, but if i need a 5 string i would buy one while I was out there. I'm leaving my 5 string at home, it's my most expensive bass as it's a US Spector.

Cheers man. I'll post up some pics of the basses too when I get them all together. I have some long overdue pics to post!

So if all goes well, I may be going to America for 8 months to study Christian stuff (avoiding use of jargon), and a large part of that study will be music based. They have multiple worship bands that I can audition for and I'm good enough to definitely get into one (cue Egg on face humiliation moment). The issue is I can't 100% decide which bass to take because they all have pros and cons (1st world problems!). [u][b]Candidate 1. ACG. [/b][/u] Pros: Makes an amazing sound. I'm really comfortable using the filter preamp and it's really versatile. Got a great neck and it's a really stable bass, doesn't require any effort for it to maintain its set up. Also it looks amazing and may turn a few heads at auditions as I doubt they'd have ever seen one before. Cons: It's the most expensive bass I'd be taking and even though there may be secure lock up facilities, it doesn't guarantee anything. It also holds massive sentimental value as I bought it in memory of my Gran who died last year. But then it would also be nice to take this bass on this journey for that reason too. If it wasn't for this factor I would definitely take it. Only other con is it's Active only, but takes 2x9V batteries that last for ages and I'm sensible enough to have 2 spare. It also has a dying battery warning light (currently been on for about 6 hours of play time), so I really shouldn't have it go on me on stage. [u][b]Candidate 2. Fender Jazz.[/b][/u] Pros: Makes a standard predictable Fender Jazz sound but nicer because it has Wizard Pups in it. Looks nice. Hassle free as totally passive. No batteries to go dead. It's a Fender Jazz so if it got stolen it's not like I can't find another pretty close that will do the same job. No sentimental value. Cons: Of all of my basses it's the one that has to have the most amount of attention paid to how it is set up. Temp differences etc. mean I do have to make sure it's adjusted to have the right action. I wouldn't want to have to play in a morning session only to find it's been a cold snap and my bass is choking the strings if I play at the 12th fret. [b][u]Candidate 3. Warwick Corvette $$.[/u][/b] Pros: Really solid construction. Great sound. Variety of sound as got multiple EQ and pup combinations. Active/Passive. If battery fails I can just pull out volume knob and play passive. Really great quality. In current market value this is my cheapest bass because us crazy Brits for some reason don't want to spend a lot of money on these, so it would be the least troubling to lose. Cons: Of all of my basses this has the fattest neck front to back, and I prefer slimmer necks. I am currently practicing exclusively with this bass to work on stretching my fingers because of its neck. I can manage fine on it but it's not my favourite bass to play. [b][u]Candidate 4. Lakland Skyline.[/u][/b] Pros: Amazing Neck. Also Active/Passive. has a J/MM pickup configuration so decent variety of sounds. Can get a really mellow warm sound live out of it but also dial in cutting biting through the mix sound. Cons: If doing recording the Bartolini pups / Preamp combination at certain times can give a bit of strange sound. It would be the bass I'd least like to record with if I got the opportunity to record, but it gives an amazing tone live. I maybe need to have a play with my recording gear and see if I should do something differently, but I get a great recorded tone out of all my other basses. [u][b]Option 5[/b][/u] Leave all the basses behind and go to a local music store when I get out there and pick up a Fender P / Lakland Bob Glaub P (currently missing from my set up). However, the auditions are fairly soon after arrival and if I get out there without a bass I may have nothing to practice on, they may not have any decent basses in stock and I may have a fairly long trip to find the nearest music store with decent basses. I think the next nearest town if there isn't a decent bass in my town would be about a 2-3 hour drive away. So feel free to leave opinions etc. I may not take all opinions into account and may make a totally irrational decision. I just thought I'd turn to the BC collective brain. Thanks in advance, and keep it civil

Looks great!! Always been curious to try one of these. Hope it's as you dreamed it would be!

yeah! if that sounds good it's definitely worth it! got good specs

no idea, but there are some Youtube clips of it. If you are happy to go slightly bigger and more expensive the Source Audio Orbital Modulator is great on bass.

[quote] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]So, with no monitors how would you suggest they should have setup the PA so as to hear themselves & not get feedback? Just curious as to me it sounds like they were making the most of a bad situation. I'm by no means a sound engineer so would actually be curious to know. Thanks.[/font][/color] [/quote] As someone who's just finished a music production course, I'd be advising them to buy some cheap 2nd hand powered monitors for all of £100-200 so that they could hear themselves (doesn't have to be great quality as it's only for tuning and hearing each other), and then point their PA speakers into the room correctly rather than pointing them at the wall. For the sake of £100-£200 it would improve sound quality massively. You can experiment with this with your home stereo system by pointing it into the wall and listening to the bounced sound in comparison to the sound you get directly from your speakers.

you're just being very responsible and preparing yourself for when you start gigging again. whoever you gig with in the future will be really pleased you've bought a bigger, better, shinier amp. they'd also probably really appreciate it if you got a couple of new basses as well, one for a different sound, another one as back up. you may also need some shiny pedals for that sound you hear in your head but can't quite get, but remember you will need to buy and sell at least 10 pedals to find the right one so you might as well get started now. remember to get a tuner pedal that goes without saying obviously. oh and then you'll need a little pedal board to put them on. Also you might need a new gig bag to transport your new basses in to, and possibly a rack system for your new amp, i mean it would be foolish to spend that money on a new amp and not protect it. also you'll need a new strap and strap locks to secure your new basses, you wouldn't want to drop those. maybe you should get some new strings while you're at it. it would be silly having back up basses but no spare strings. plus a few tools to help to repair your basses and change strings and set the bass up properly. you need to get a decent stand to hold your 3 basses so they're accessible on stage. you're probably gonna need a new car to transport all this lot in too so i'd start having a look on auto trader.... or maybe a customised van with your own inbuilt sound system so your band can rock out at the next festival you go to. you're gonna need to sort out a room at home too so you'd better combine the kitchen and lounge together and you can take over the lounge and turn it into a music / studio room. and you're going to need somewhere to safely store your new customised van so you need to start building a garage or a secure car port at the back of your house..... remember it's not GAS, you're just being prepared and thoughtful and you DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!!!!

sweet!!

it's all good! like AGENTE says, an EQ pedal is always useful and can help with your sound in any setup so it isn't wasted money. Enjoy it

Been running a HA5500 for a few years now and it's got a great sound. Powerful and solid, 10 band graphic eq works well. It's heavy, but it is really solid!

My personal thoughts would be, if it's only a small practice amp and it's struggling to produce certain sound frequencies etc., I would put my money into saving towards something bigger with better quality sound production, than putting £20-100 into an EQ to try to fix a problem with something that will struggle to keep up in anything other than a small gig situation. If you're only using the amp for practice then I'd just accept that it's what the amp sounds like and it has certain deficiencies, but you're only using it for practice so that's cool. Like i say, it's just how I would deal with the situation and I don't mean to insult your gear or come across in a harsh way. I just feel your money would be better put into upgrading to a slightly better quality set up that could handle making the rights sounds in most situations.

It depends on the strength of the signal coming from the bass. If it's your back up solution you may want to actually check out what level of sound your PA is capable of producing next time it's up and running. If the active DI box doesn't actually amplify the sound up to line level then unless your signal is strong enough it will probably need to go into a channel with a preamp in it. Unless you're standing close to the desk, say within 2-3 meters, you will still want to use your DI box to get your signal into the desk, because you don't want to be running a 5-10M jack cable if you can avoid it. Run a shorter 1-3M jack cable into your DI box and then use a XLR cable to get the signal to the desk. This avoids picking up too much noise because the XLR is a balanced cable and a normal instrument jack is an unbalanced cable. Without experimenting with the desk you will never know if you'll need to run into the channel with the preamp or not. If you're after a solid back up solution, a simple bass preamp pedal that you could then run into a line in will offer you a back up solution plus gives you a pedal to have fun playing with your sound.

What ever cable gets the audio signal into the system doesn't matter. Line level refers to the strength of the signal. You tend to only get a signal up to line level strength after it has passed through a gain stage e.g. preamp / mic preamp (like you get in a mixing desk). The preamps raise Mic/Instrument signals up to a stronger signal, which is called line level. Once you have got the audio signals to a strong enough level they can then be mixed by the desk. In the OP situation, if he just ran a cable from his bass straight into a Line In on the desk, and that channel doesn't have it's own preamp to boost the signal, then the signal from the bass is going to be about 5 times weaker than the other signals that have been boosted to line level. The faders on a mixing board don't allow you to boost a signal this significantly. This is why the signal has to come from a preamp (in this case if he runs DI from a Bass Amp, the signal has been boosted to line level through the bass amp's Preamp), because the signal is then on the same level of strength as the other signals and can then just run into the mixing board using a simple 1/4" Jack cable. Then you can mix properly using the faders on the mixing desk.