Dood

47 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

I think this is the way to go - you can massively compress and then blend back in the uncompressed signal - gives you liveliness *and* punch. Some compressors have a blend knob. Blend - also good with overdrive!

Yes! Exactly! - I tend not to limit my bass signal at this point in my signal chain, so the clean blend allows the transients to come through, but rather I use my compression to lift the quieter content (from a multi-band point of view) up in level. It really does work well with overdrive too! I've always been a fan of riding that edge of drive to make an instrument sound a bit more gritty without going in to full distortion. Parallel compression helps me to do that, but I can still make it bite if I dig in.

My other favourite setting is a band-pass style distortion which I would describe as a more "bow on double bass strings" type sound, a very smooth distortion that is also possible using really high compression settings but blending that direct signal in to both the compression and the drive. In this case, I may turn the treble down on the clean signal too, because some settings tend to sound like two separate instruments rather than one cohesive sound. Then there's the option of some cheeky bus compression at the end of the chain set to "glue" mode ha ha! 

Here's a magazine column about ramps:

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/04/03/bass-ramps-the-how-and-why/

Which I reference simply because they included a picture of my Shuker bass at the top

https://producelikeapro.com

https://www.youtube.com/c/Producelikeapro

I'm a multi-band (Parallel) compressor kinda guy. I like to hear a bit of compression as an effect, but maintain the fullness and clarity of my original bass signal. 

On 27/03/2022 at 09:11, Paul S said:

Our very own @Dood did a rather splendid and comprehensive review of this. 

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing my review! Even now, I still think the Spectracomp is great. There's no other triple band compressor I can think of on the market this small,  that is this simple and easy to use, yet so complex if one wants. 

1 hour ago, gjones said:

Yes, I bought a Fender MIM 70s reissue because it looked so purty.

 

I never play it, I just look at it.

 

One of my students has one of these, I love the sound of it. Wouldn't mind one myself!

Yes. 

It is also slightly obsessional. I like to have two basses, workhorses, that I can switch between without having any worries about tonal or set up differences.  A "back up" instrument, if you will.

For different types of gigs, I have different basses  , but it's usually the same instrument if I can get away with it. It's #2 will hopefully be replaced in the near future with a matching custom build. Just got to sell a kidney first!

Dood

6 hours ago, Dood said:

 

All of my reviews go through each pickup and a variety of tone control options as standard, so, yes, definitely making sure the basses get heard properly! 👍

45 minutes ago, Machines said:

 

Personally, i watch your reviews with both the sound, and my pants, off.

My work here is done!

* I was going to embed an gif, but I seem to have failed miserably!

18 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Not overly so, just actually play it would be excellent 😅

All of my reviews go through each pickup and a variety of tone control options as standard, so, yes, definitely making sure the basses get heard properly! 👍

I guess I better review the new Cort basses in detail, right?

The Stingray should get an honorary mention to make up the "big three", even if it was '76. 

Put a set of Gotoh Resolite GB640 tuning keys on any bass and I would be very surprised if you couldn't notice a difference. They are the most accurate, silky smooth tuning keys I've ever had the pleasure of using. The GB350's are ace as well. Rock solid and highly recommended.

3 minutes ago, 40hz said:

Agreed, I definitely think 'tone' is impacted a lot by the speaker cab, but there are some heads that can really add the secret sauce. Most of my modern class D heads I've had, have sounded very similar, the change in tone was bought about by changing cabs On the flip side, when I bought my Mesa Boogie M-Pulse 600 and plugged it in. It was a whole different ball game and drastically changed my sound.

 

So, yes and a little bit no! 😂

I agree that when the choice of components in a system compliment each other, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. Some combinations just sound great, but still, some speakers just deserve going in the bin ha ha!

2 hours ago, three said:

Quite an interesting, sometimes fractious thread here - more about amplification than strings but some informative contributions:

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/whats-the-secret-to-have-a-decent-sound-of-a-low-f-string.1156517/?amp=1433525564

I read the first couple of pages and gave up. Even on a standard tuned four string bass, we're still not hearing the fundamental frequency with any sort of energy. It's interesting that most of the comments have seemingly not recognised that a note produced by a bass guitar isn't just one centre  frequency alone. The rich harmonics, over tones produced by the vibrating string and electronics is a full range signal easily reaching up in to the treble ranges of our hearing. Even with a 24dB/Oct HPF at 200hz, you can still absolutely discern the sound of a bass guitar  

6 hours ago, stewblack said:

After playing a thunderous set last night, through a Behringer amp cost me less than 100 quid, and having created a righteous racket in the past with amps badged from Bugera to Trace Elliot, Ashdown to Ampeg and Markbass, Orange, Eden et al, I think I've realised something rather splendid.

Regardless of the head I choose, as long as I sit it on top of my Barefaced cabs it sounds massive, articulate and wonderful. 

I even rehearsed with a full band, using nothing more than a 50 watt Joyo head the size and weight of a small box of chocolates. Through a Barefaced cab. Guess what? Sounded awesome.

It's so liberating to know that I can buy any bass head I like and it will sound not just good, but great. 

I'm sure there are other cabs out there, and that you have your own reasons to love them, but for me,when poverty comes, after everything else has been sold, I'll still have my three Barefaced cabs.

Yup, every time I've had a crap sound, it has been caused by speaker cabinets, not amps. Sure, some amps sound less girthy or not as loud, but it's always the cabinet that has ended up making the bass sound incoherent, muddy or just plain horrible. *

Ok, so there was an amp or two that was pretty bad in the past. 

On 15/03/2022 at 22:00, Doctor J said:

D'Addario do a .147 string. That'll do it. Tune all the way down. Chuck that and the heaviest three strings from a heavy 4-string set onto that Precision and you'll be just fine.

 

Pedals and other electric gimmickry can find it hard to track downtuned basses accurately.

D'Addario also do a 170, which I would much prefer to drop on a 34" scale to get some tension back - or, as I had to do before anyone in the UK was making a 170, (well over ten years ago now) Newtone Strings custom made me a 145 with a custom core to get the tension up. 

On 16/03/2022 at 10:53, Rich said:

Paging the @Doodster.

On 16/03/2022 at 11:04, MacDaddy said:

 

That was my first thought! 😆

Thank you for the tags, I am not sure why I didn't get a notification. Drop tuning this low on a standard scale length on a bass that isn't really up to it, can be problematic at best and a PITA at worse. I watched one of my students do all manner of upgrades to his Ibanez bass and was still rewarded with being left wanting. My Shuker basses on the other hand help to focus on the frequencies that matter should I need to drop low. (My 7 sting is an F#'er and is currently dressed with a 190 gauge string that will give me enough to go down to E0.)

It's like having a bass with a great sounding B string. Some, no matter what you try, just won't "do" a good B. I have a £200 5 string here that has a wicked sounding B string! 

The statement "why would you do this, you can't hear it" I feel is based around experiences failing to get the tuning to work or a misunderstanding of how it works in reality. Yes, everyone chimes in and says that the fundamental frequency of that F# is 23.12hz - and 90% of bass speaker cabinets on the market cant deal with that fundamental and plenty of amplifiers are HPF'd long before this anyway. BUT!!! - It isn't the fundamental you're needing to focus your attention on, it's the harmonics of the note, 46hz, 92hz, 184hz etc. 

Anyone who has heard isolated (mixed) stems on a recording will know that generally speaking, the lows that deep have been carved away anyway. It still sounds deep and brutal though. Your ear fills in the rest. ...and you definitely don't wanna be driving those kinda frequencies hard on stage with your own personal sub either. FOH engineers will not love you!

Julian Krause is a superb resource for interface reviews including Motu.

6 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

The drop in value of kit that I like doesn't bother me.

If I've kept something for years then chances are I really enjoyed using it. The drop in value is just the cost of that enjoyment.

 

And even when it drops or a new thing comes out - the item sounds the same today as it did before.

 

I'd really like the try the QC - but I'm waiting until they do the firmware upgrade that will allow the Neural plugins to be run on it. Then I'll decide whether to spend the money.. which TBH is likely to clash with my kids being at university so I might not have any money anyway!

I've been trying to get the QC to sound like a chain I created in the Cory Wong plug in last night, so I would love to see the individual "plug-in unique" effects dropped in to QC too.

18 minutes ago, Owen said:

<sigh>

 

I kind of run scared from this stuff because a friend traded a nice black Gibson 335 many years ago for whatever the latest rack mount Digitech (IIRC) thing was. Of course the Digitech was worth next to nothing 4 years later. I know that the technology is not the same. I know that the business model is built on developing and tweaking. So given the kit I can shift I can afford one. And yet, I am nervous.

 

<sigh>

 

Gregor has not helped.

 

Due to lockdown and covid and all the other nonsense that the last few years have brought me, my journey with QC has been a slow burner. It's not getting out to nearly as many gigs as I'd hoped. However, we've bonded and I'm really enjoying the unit. For the most part I have it on a cool laptop /iPad stand and it makes for a brilliant desktop processor. The form factor works for me given the touch screen and rotary foot switches. I know that I can put it straight down on the floor again and away I go. 

I am still a massive Helix fan and all of the units available are superb. The LT was my "best fit" at the time and it did many gigs with me. QC, for my needs, physically is a better match for me, though I do miss some of the effects, amp sims and functionality of LT. Sometimes I'm a bit frustrated that QC doesn't do something I have become accustomed to. But then QC can do a whole bunch of stuff that Helix couldn't too, so, its about finding what is your best fit - much like players choosing the DAW they like best, or strings, or IEMs!

Now, since Gregor is holding an Attitude bass in the thumbnail, I'm off to go listen to that

12 minutes ago, Rich said:

Baby-cuz.

DooDoo Da Doo Doo Doo

7 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

So Babicz isn't babic-zee? 🤦

Babicks 

12 hours ago, Rich said:

Is that because their surname is spelled EEbanyeth..?

It's pronounced:

1 hour ago, Rich said:

 

 

I've seen people arguing that it's 'EE-ban-yeth' too. God only knows. It'd be nice to know how the company say it!

I've Spanish family and they pronounce their surname EE-ban-yeth, but I can't stop calling the brand eye-ban-ez!

Da-Dairy-Oh

Heart-Key not Harkur