Dood

I really appreciate that @RichT! Thank you so much! -The Vox Starstream active model was just brilliant! I recall it sounding thunderous in the studio in drop tuning, even now!

Bit late to the party but, the EMG X series offer all of the benefits of any EMG active, but offer the "less hifi"you request vs the non-X series. That said, just using the passive tone control on a set of EMG non-X actives can do the same. Though the X seires do 'feel' a little different due to their additional headroom.

Awww! Yes! I remember my Powersoft! What an absolutely beast of an amplifer! Highly recommended - though, they do require a deep rack case rather than the shallow versions. I think mine was about 1K a side, which is just bonkers. but fun.

Ahh! That's because the price of the screws back in 2016 were £4, but the Upcharge for Purchasing Secondhand many years later, or "UPS" as we like to call it means that the item is now £52. UPS is often seen in marketplaces such as facebook, a tax on tatt and over inflated perception of demand.

£26 instead of £99 - https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instruments/1560-Xpand-2

I've also fallen down a bit of a Jean-Michel Jarre rabbit hole again - My dad loved JMJ - so I've been grabbing lots of CMI Fairlight samples and all sorts. Whilst on my journeys, I found Arturia's Lab Play virtual instrument - which is free and sounds really good. There's a JMJ pack for it for anyone who wants to re-live some Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields vibes too. https://www.arturia.com/products/software-instruments/analoglab/free For awesome synth sounds, keep an eye on Plugin Boutique for when the do a deal on Xpand2! which could be my favourite multi-voice VSTi.

Woodstock Audio are giving away a Compressor plugin that offers visual feedback of what it is doing to your signal. A useful way to learn about compression as well as having a graphical representation over and above a set of level indications. No account or serial needed. https://woodstockaudio.com/products/waveform-compressor

It reminds me of when I had been a Hartke artist for about 15 odd years and all of a sudden Sheehan, Wootton, Bello and a whole host of other top players joined the roster too. 😁 I liked to think I have inspired someone, somewhere on the planet.. Your bass looks absolutely fantastic! I too have a MIJ precision that will get the treatment and, although I adore candy apple red, even the candy cola red, I have a slight obsession with chameleon flip paint and have a very special red in mind! Thank you for posting, definitely solidified my plan!

I really like his red one. Which has given me a great idea for my next 'tribute' build...

Yes, hence why I concluded, “So, given the learning curve, if you can get Logic and intend to pursue music production, go straight for it. ” and made no mention of having to buy 3rd plugins, just the side effect caused by the sorts of GAS we end up suffering from. From a career point of view, if the OP goes to specifically study a course or work in a studio where DAWs are used, then they are more likely to use a full-fat system from the get-go. So sure, by all means start on GarageBand, its actually a good app, but, like me with video production, I saw no point faffing around with iMovie, rather saving the time and energy in learning an industry standard application instead, because it was part of my career path. Horses for course, sure - I’m just focussing on what the OP was actually asking for: “I want to pursue music production as a career and make sure that in future the DAW should have all the features that a music producer need.” However, in the defence of third party plugins whilst I am here - they aren’t all about ‘presets for stupid people’, there’s some insanely good virtual instruments, workflow utilities and as I’d mentioned, plugins that help users learn too. Not to mention the piles of free offerings that Logic does not include natively such as Neural Amp Modeller and SSL 360’s controller software. Of course, as you’d mentioned your Simmonds add-ons, plenty of brands offer proprietary software versions of their hardware also not available in Logic natively - none of which are designed to primarily dumb down the creative process, but to aid it. Still, each to thier own.

Thank you so much! I wrote the Nathan East inspired track to go with my demo video and, it seemed fitting to use a 6 string headless as Nathan has one too. Love that bass!

Gotta love a Gus! I have a possible answer for the pits and pocks in that finish. Today's flip-paints are much better than they were. The original chameleon shifts were suitable for car bodies where we tended to see them used first: Hard, metal surfaces, but, due to the way that those pigments 'crystalise' in the same direction in order to make the flip work, it ended up being a really brittle finish. This is further compounded by luthiers wanting to keep finishes thin to hang on to those 'tonewood' properties. My 7 string has an early flip paint on it that isn't dissimilar to the one pictured and it has succumbed to the same. Its not that the bass ever got bashed hard, it's just that the finish wasn't up to the job. My 6 string has had its flip refinished, arguably done twice as many gigs and received a good few bashes on the way, shows not even a scratch.

Thank you for taking my response with the humour intended and for your thoughtful reply. Yeah, its a pain when upgrading systems. My current machine can no longer accept OS updates and therefore no updates to Logic. When I do finally upgrade, although my existing Logic install will work for now, it is recommended to buy the latest version to make use of all the newer functions in the curent version of Logic (and the new ones in the Creator suite announced t'other day). So, even Logic will want me to move with the times and enjoy its in-built tech in exchange for the mighty dollar. Totally up to the individual and, one thing that occured to me whilst reading your reply, is that we're both offering a route to cost effectivity. You on one hand have responded to the OP in getting the best use out of Logic's own plugins first thus saving money. As the OP had suggested they wanted to get directly in to music, I'd suggested getting to grips with Logic straight away rather than learning Garageband first. So, saving the cost of time. - and then not wasting hours doom scrolling the sites I mentioned when tech-fomo kicks in!

Apologies for not having been clearer, neither instrument has a flip finish currently. Totally agree, you are quite correct regarding the finishes and, the reason why I'd asked for a specialist is because I've spoken to one or two spray shops who don't know how flip paints work. It is indeed a one pass after the body has been prepared (for all the reasons you mention and more), then lacquered over the top of the flip. Interestingly, as a side note, you can spray over an existing flip finish with a caveat: If it is a new finish rather than "adding an effect" to the first, flip paints work best with a base coat - otherwise they are just affected by the existing finish. I'm going for maximum flip from the paint I have in mind and therefore a black base coat is necessary. I think with any refinish I'd be inclided to strip back the original anyway, but that requires extra effort and £££. Cheers.

Its a tough one with equalisers versus notch filters as the latter tends to have a very narrow filter. A standard EQ can sometimes carve away too many adjacent frequencies when endeavouring to create the same amount of attenuation that a notch filter typically does to surgically deal with troublesome frequencies. The EBS' Stanley Clark and MB preamps do have a notch filter, the Bergantino Super Pre uses 'anti-feedback' processing which is useful for acoustic instrumnets struggling with howling and feedback. Another notch filter of sorts, but of the dynamic EQ variety.