peted

Hi BassChat, Although I've done my own setups the last few times, I'm seriously considering getting a professional in. The closest person to me as I'm in Chelmsford seems to be Mike of Zoot Bass fame. My guitarist uses him for his setups and thinks he's the nuts, but I would like to know if anyone here has any experience of his services from a bass perspective. Would you recommend, or avoid? Please don't make this too personal, just a quick +1 or -1 will help me make my decision. Thanks in advance.

I've just used this site: [url="http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/2d/nonparallel.php"]http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/2d/nonparallel.php[/url] To plug in a few values to get a rough idea what the fanning will look like. Looks nice and subtle. Still super excited [attachment=24179:fretboard.PNG]

[quote name='neepheid' post='467741' date='Apr 20 2009, 06:54 PM']Not quite £100, but I picked up a half functional Hartke 3500 head for 140 notes. Once I got the valve preamp working (burned out resistor in the power rectification stage for the valve) I've been delighted with it. It does happen.[/quote] +1 I bought my Hartke 3500 about 5 years ago second hand (paid FAR too much for it as it was from Cash Converters and I hadn't done my homework - my own fault). Punches well above its price bracket and should be snapped up if you're after an amp on a budget. It has quite a good modular 'upgrade' path too, as you can replace the pre-amp valve for a Groove Tubes Mullard for about £20. I've also put an Aphex Bass Xciter before the input and it makes the sound huge (about £80). You'll then be left with an amp which really doesn't deserve to sound as good as it does. The amp is really best suited for live use and cuts through the band with minimum of effort (I have the master volume at around 2 or 3 out of 10). I wouldn't use it for practice at home as mine has quite a lot of fan noise and it just doesn't do quiet very well

Being a Warwick owner I am obliged to regularly wax my instrument to keep the wood in top condition (it's a natural oil finish). It's actually quite a thereputic act and keeps it looking better than the day I bought it as the wood gets a little darker after the first 6 months of waxing. Every 6-12 months I apply a little lem-oil to the fretboard as a cleaner and conditioner. I recently opened up my Hartke head after about 5 years of ownership and gave it a slight hoovering to remove dust and squirted all the pots with some switch cleaner. The switch cleaner cured all the crackles in the dials and I feel better after removing most of the dust. Can't say it's had any positive or negative on the sound coming out of it though.

Crikey, congratulations on the purchase! I'm sure you've made 99.9% of bassists very jealous I'm sure that's on most peoples "When I've paid off the mortgage/won the lottery I'm going to buy..." lists.

I've used ER20s for a few years now and I love them [b]because[/b] they make my bass stand out in the onstage mix. Don't be afraid to turn your amp down if you feel you need to, the sound engineer certainly won't mind! It does take my bands a while to adapt to having a bassist who doesn't play on 10 all the time though

+1 for Musofinder.co.uk I've joined two bands from being contacted on that site, and also done a few more audtions for bands I either didn't get into or didn't like on the day.

[quote name='barneyg42' post='462630' date='Apr 15 2009, 12:59 AM']Well I have to backtrack on this, we put a couple of songs in our set to try tonight at rehearsal that really needed me to use a pick and I found that by putting just a gnats on the compressor it really smoothed it out nicely without losing any bite and tone. I then left it in with my finger playing too and it wasn't half bad. When I tried it out at Dr Funks place when I bought it we turned it up and it really sucked the sound away but at gig/rehearsal volume it's a lot more subtle as long as it's not boosted too much. It really was just switched on and no more. It has to be said that this head with my Status S1 5string is the best sound I've had for ages. The valve side of the pre-amp warms it up nicely but it still retains the punch and clarity of the Status.[/quote] Hmmm... I must admit that when I first tried out the compressor I did have it on 4-5/10, so maybe I was using too much? I've got a full band practice in a couple of weeks so I'll try just clicking it on at about 1-2/10 and report back if I've found new love for it.

My gear has always been leagues ahead of my ability to play. This place hasn't helped matters!

Those two clips are the mad notes! Thanks for sharing.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='459526' date='Apr 10 2009, 06:56 PM']I'd skip the Zoom H4 and get the Zoom H2 instead. Cheaper, simpler, smaller, lighter. Also far more intuitive than either of the units you've mentioned.[/quote] +1 if you're just going to use it as a live recording device. I've got an H4 and I probably only use about 10% of it's features. It is nice to have those features there should I eventually need them though

Any chance of a YouTube vid of you playing the new bass? Similar to your Doodle clip.

I sold my SR900 last year for £300 (http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=11355&hl=) At the time they were still in production and the SRP was £649 according to Ibanez. I bought it a few years previous new, in person, from a High Street music store for £560~ without too much haggling as it was still an awesome bass for the money. Didn't come with a hardcase and neither did I sell it on with one (but did include a strap and Grolsch strap locks!).

I've been able to A/B compare the ABM and Klystron heads in a music shop (obviously at low volumes) through a Classic 8x10 cab. The Klystron I believe is supposed to have a redesigned power amp to increase 'transient attack'. There was definitely more top end when the amps were run flat, and the bottom end sounded slightly extended and response was tighter. I think you can get a much more 'modern' sound out of the Klystron heads, the ABM covers the 'vintage' sound more naturally. I think you can dial in a pretty good ABM sound using the Klystron, but you won't be able to do it the other way around. Personnaly the Klystron amp was the first Ashdown head that I have liked the sound of, shame I still don't get on with the looks Whether this difference in sound is in any way discernable when playing live in a band context and therefore making it worth the difference in price is not something I can comment on.

If you only need to record one instrument at a time, then the Zoom H4 is a very versatile piece of kit. You can plug it into your PC and turn it into an external soundcard. If you don't mind recording at a slightly lesser quality (44.1KHz) then it also allows you to add effects and amp models when recording. Comes bundled with a copy of Cubase LE. It is also a standalone 4 track recorder in it's own right, so you don't necessarily need a computer to do multi-track recording with it.

Nope. I've got a family and 2 mortgages to keep, so I need that stability of a regular income. Can't be flitting off with music tours as I'd lose my day job.

I'm a 4 string player. Had a 5 for a couple of months years ago, but didn't get on with the string spacing. String spacing doesn't seem to be an issue for me any more. I'm getting a custom 6 this year though

Another +1 for the Zoom H4. I use it as a scratch pad for recording rehearsals and it's great. Would replace it straight away if I needed to.

I'm getting a Shuker built at the moment. That makes my answer biased

Maybe it was just my hearing, or I've got a duff compression circuit in mine. I did used to run my HA3500 in a rack with a Samson rack compressor which I much preferred to the built-in (downsized from a 6U rack to 2U for my back's sake).

In my last covers band the lead singer/guitarist seemed to develop quite a few issues and we must have split and reformed in the space of 6 hours on at least a few occasions throughout a year. Had fun with my tribute band last week. We haven't even started gigging yet as we're getting the set together. We decided that we need to diversify a little to get some initial gigs going. The guitarist, who got the band together in the first place, is quite dissmissive of music he doesn't like and when our backing singer suggested some songs she would like us to consider playing he suddenly went overboard with the criticism and hurt her feelings. Luckily that all got patched up over a few emails and phone calls. I tend to stay out of these rucks where I can and just concentrate on learning the basslines and turning up on time

I use the metronome in my Tascam Bass Trainer (BT1). It's pretty simple, but you can choose to accent the first beat, the number of beats in a bar, and the tempo.

I assume that this lovely weather we're having in Essex stretches as far as Norfolk? Where are the final pics ready to transfer this thread from the 'Build' to 'p0rn' forum? Dan, I hear from my buddies back in Norwich that you're playing in a covers band again. Have you got a link to your gig list? I will try to pop back up one weekend if you're playing The Brickies or somewhere similar.

That's lovely that is. Nicely done (again) Dood!

Yeah, from the photos it doesn't have any strings. Rubbish.