Dood

Hey all, here's some pictures taken by LickLibrary of my interviews with Dave Ellefson and Frank Bello. The actual 'TV' interview will be online in the near future, I'll be sure to post a link when it is. You can view all of these pictures, comments and tags via the LickLibrary Facebook page: [url="http://www.facebook.com/LickLibrary"]http://www.facebook.com/LickLibrary[/url]

One of his strings is slightly out of tune or he's pulling fretted notes. That's being pedantic though - as it's usually the perils of playing outside with the problems the weather brings.

Ummm, what's up with the string alignment on the neck? The E string is really close to the edge, but the G has a good few mm to the lower edge of the board. Custom shop?? Did they put it together in a power cut? Lol.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1237349' date='May 19 2011, 08:09 PM']No. I'll be at home [b]building a shed with a drumkit instead.[/b][/quote] I've made a monster! I'm so proud of myself ;0) Yeh, I'll be at the gig!

Although I don't always practice what I preach, I believe in economy of movement and look at the most efficient way of getting from one note, position or string to the next with the least amount of waste, be in over exertion or just simply saving time between moves. I'm not going to refer directly to the piece you have posted, but to give you an idea that you can work on to explain what I am getting at: If you play a simple 4 note per string ascending chromatic exercise starting on the E string, then A, D and finish on the G starting your first note on a downstroke, when you come to move to the next string your right hand position is ready for a downstroke to meet the next string. Now try the same exercise, starting note being an upstroke. You'll see now that your hand should be ready for an upstroke when moving DOWN to the next string, which would appear counter productive. So lets start the same exercise again, but 3 notes per string instead of four. This time if you start the exercise on a downstroke, because you haven't played an even number of notes on the first string, you are now looking at an upstroke to hit the A string when yo move down across the strings, thus it might feel easier in this case to start the exercise with an upstroke. My point is this - 'plan ahead'. Take a look at how a bass line is laid out on the f/board in front of you and decide how you can attack the bassline so that the transitions between strings can be made easier. Oh - and if it's easier to move a note or pattern to a different string, then do it. I hope that makes sense! - Also check out 'economy picking' often used by guitarists for speed and take some pointers from that maybe.

Just checking in very quickly before I run out the door to my next job! It's busy right now! The interviews went really well with both Frank and Dave, what a lovely couple of guys they are! You can see pictures up on the LickLibrary Facebook page already. I haven't had time to look at the main website or Digital Villages pages yet though. it was great to meet fellow BCers last night and obviously a big congratulations to our very lucky winner! What a great prize! Ok, I'll write a proper review soon, but I gotta dash right now! Dan.

Hi Peter, I think your topic title will attract the answer "There is no 'best' out there, because it's down to personal preference" then you will be inundated with different answers for your second question too. You might find that it won't be that helpful any more than a long list of great 6 string basses. You won't know till you start playing as many as possible to find out what suits you. I could give you a long list of basses I have owned and tell you all about them, but it might be better to list all the places you can go to play some real tasty kit instead! Bass Gear, Bass Direct, Bass Merchant, The Gallery etc... But in answer to your question, Shuker every time. I've two customs built to my specifications and they are spot on the best basses I have ever played - but as I say, they are built to my requirements and thus might not be liked by others.

[quote name='bartelby' post='1273818' date='Jun 18 2011, 03:15 PM']I've always meant to try this sort of thing out. [/quote] Yes! I've seen that vid. A cool idea for effects junkies! Well iPad has arrived, it's only a matter of time before it is laden with guitar stuff!

Thank you guys, If you have any questions you'd like me to pose (given that I can squeeze them in) then please post them here and I will get the link of the interview posted when it's online.

I once built a 2watt battery amp and ran it into the speaker on my practice amp. Yes, it did work, but wasn't loud enough for what i wanted, however, it would have been loud enough to keep up with an acoustic guitar.

Yup agreed, that marker pen cover up is dire!! The amps are great, but I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole. Too risky!!!

[quote name='mart' post='1293205' date='Jul 5 2011, 11:34 AM']Sadly there isn't a switch for the tweeter. I suppose I could hunt around inside and disconnect it - that would actually suit me for when I play bass through it too (since I don't like a trebly sound). But what you and Dood say about the cab being too neutral does sound right - the distortion sound is a bit like the sound you get from running a distortion pedal straight into a recording device. I guess I had never thought a cab could be so faithful - I assumed guitar cabs sounded the way they do because they had to, not because they were designed to. Thanks for opening up my eyes![/quote] Ahhh no problem! Yes, it's funny that what was once a limitation in speaker design is one of the things that guitarists like so much! You only have to look at how many manufacturers of guitar amps use the Celestion Vintage 30 speakers for amps that distort. It's mellowed top end and physical limiting effect on the signal is what makes them so pleasing to the ear..Despite being a very old design. You'd never want to use them as a hifi speaker though.. Yet the genz would probably do a good job at reproducing full range music signals - which is what big dynamic clean bass tones are all about.. Well, if you want them to be, that is.

Great work mate! It's good to hear a selection of Jon's basses together deftly demonstrated! Be sure to send the link to Jon too!

It is with great pleasure I can add that I have been asked to interview my fellow Hartke endorsers Dave and Frank prior to the clinic for LickLibrary.com. I will also be at the clinic supporting Hartke, so come down, it'd be great to put BC names to faces!

Strange, I could have sworn I typed a reply about my PJBS on a thread like this one! I have one in red (it's the 'Power' active model) and love it. Mine is well used, I bought it off eBay US years ago, but it's neck and frets are in superb nick and it plays like a dream. I'm toying with a pick up upgrade, but I actually really like the sound and worried that I'll spoil or lose that character even though I'd be gaining another.

[quote name='retrohelix' post='1292825' date='Jul 4 2011, 10:19 PM']Thanks for the reply dood. I have tried reinstalling, I even installed the Reaper 4 beta - still the same problem. Unfortunately I don't have any other machines to test it on (nor a USB key to run it off). As for device drivers, there hasn't been an update for them since I got the interface. I'm starting to think it may have something to with the ASIO driver setting (which I've updated and downgraded to see if it was the cause) or sample rate - something like that, but I've never tampered with those settings (neither on the ASIO panel or in Reaper) and don't have a clue what a lot of it means. I think it's very strange that it only occurs when I change the tempo or time sig...[/quote] Yeah, it does sound rather odd! - Reason I mention it, is because Line 6 just updated their drivers and floods of issue complaints appeared on the Line 6 forum! OUCH! - Infact it did stuff my machine for a bit too. But it is strange that it happens in the cases you mention. I can't remember - but I *think* there is a way to reset Reaper to 'default' settings that might help. [edit] oh actually - yes in my start menu: "REAPER (x64) (reset configuration to factory defaults)" - Could try opening a session with the shortcut and see if the problem reappears?

I reposted the FB message earlier today - I don't know Jay personally, but my band mates have been recording at the very studio. Real shame to hear about this. There's some ****ing pondlife out there. Hung, Drawn and Quartered on capture then his remains hung from the walls as a deterrent please!

Agree with the above. The Genz kit is designed to be 'HiFi' with clarity. - If you've ever tried to run a distortion pedal straight in to a PA with no EQ, you'll get the same fizzy effect. The 15" speaker has a great deal of those upper mid and treble frequencies rolled off that would usually make distortion sound harsh and fizzy and thus will sound more pleasing to the ear. Tweeters aren't great with distortion either unless there's a bit of filtering and EQ before the distorted sound goes to the amp and then speaker. For example, I use Hartke aluminium coned cabinets that are naturally bright. I therefore Eq a 'guitar speaker' frequency curve on to just my distortion channel so that it sounds a lot smoother when the signal gets to my bright speakers. I hope that makes sense! - in short, the Genz kit is is just doing a better job of relaying a facsimile of what is going in to it out to the speakers - the 15" is rounding off the top end to sound less harsh. Incidently, Jimi Hendrix used to use 15" speakers in his guitar rig with spades of ratty distortion!

As a brand, Hartke are very much enjoying being snapped up by pro artists at the moment - so yes, great kit. The Kickback gear retains it's value on eBay which to me suggests that it is very good. I certainly was impressed. I have to say though - if the amp looks like it should be in a Kickback combo - where is the rest of it! - Rings alarm bells if an amp has been dissected. Can you post some pictures and we will e able to give you some more details.

Hmm!! I'm afraid I am not sure. Have you installed any Reaper updates or changed and interface settings recently? I'm guessing by your post the answer may be no - but it could be 'update' related somewhere along the lines - drivers included. The great thing about Reaper is you can install multiple instances of the program -for example, I have Reaper installed on a USB key too - so, by running up the USB version instead of the PC version I can see if there's a problem with Reaper or my interface should glitches occur. I have to say, that every single time I've had a problem (and those aren't many) it wasn't Reaper at fault. It was either me, or an interface update causing the problem. Worth testing the theory. Do you have another PC / Laptop you can do a test run on? Dooooooooooooooood

Ok, I did it!! I am the happy owner of an iPad. I have to say that so far I am very impressed. It's a great business tool already, even before I start playing with music tools!