halibut

Cheers for all the help folks. For the benefit of anyone else that comes looking, I'll add one more I found if streaming / YouTube is available. It's a list of 300 drum tracks on YouTube that looks handy. http://www.smarthobbymusician.com/over-300-drum-tracks/ H.

Yeah, that's one that kept coming up when I was Googling yesterday. Looks like you can only stream without a paid for account, and I can't stream where I'm practicing. Only use an MP3 player with downloads.

I'm trying to improve my technique locking in with a drummer, and I'm looking for some really good free MP3 tracks of a real drummer to practice over. I'm really struggling to find anything online. Google searches lead to pay sites, or sites with MP3s of drum machine loops, or recordings of some manic animal-from-the-muppets type stuff. Or it's short one bar instructional stuff for a drummer that has counting-in and can't be looped. That kind of thing. What I'm looking for is a couple of dozen drum MP3s in a nice zip file that... Is a real kit (I'm trying to focus my ear on picking out specific drums to lock in with) Is straightforward on the kick drum, snare and cymbal in common times like 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8 Simple floor tom fills at the end of the bars, and marking out 12 bar changes, etc. Can be looped, or at least has a couple of minutes of play time on each track. Just drums. Nothing else. Real straightforward stuff like you'd get from a beginner drummer. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers for the feedback Grandad. Struggle in just a gig setting, or struggle as well in a rehearsal setting competing with a drummer as well? And what was it like a low volume? Could you use it for practice at home?

I've only been playing for a couple of years, and I'm looking for a better "one-size fits all" combi solution now I'm ready to start playing outside of my bedroom on an amateur basis with a band. I'm really liking the look of the Roland Bass Cubes, largely because I fancy a good modelling amp. My current Rumble 30 has been horrifically unreliable (I'm fed up fixing the poor dip solder joints on it), and has always sounded a bit meh anyway tonally. The things I'd like to be able to do with it are: Practice at home at a reasonably quiet volume so I don't miff the neighbours off (and with a good range of tones via the modelling functionality) Practice with a small band in a rehearsal space and get heard over a drummer Possibly play in smallish (eg pub) gig, possibly by using it to plug into the PA So I'm looking at either the Cube 60XL or the 120XL Pro's on the 60XL are that it's smaller and will probably perform better at low volumes for home practice, cons are that I don't know if a 60watt 10" combi will compete with a drummer in rehersal, and don't know how well the 1/4" Line Out will work with a PA (It has an XLR but according to the block diagram in the manual it is clean XLR out only, and looses all the modelling features which kind of defeats the purpose of a modelling amp) Pro's on the 120XL are that I assume 120watt / 12" will compete better with a drummer in rehearsal and has the option for the modelled signal output via XLR, but cons being it weighs a chuffing ton and may be a bit too loud in the bedroom. I'd appreciate feedback on what others think of my assumptions on my pros / cons. And if anyone actually has one of the Cubes, what they think. If I'm being honest, I'd prefer the smaller 60XL, but am I right to be concerned about it competing against a drummer and it not working well with a line out to a PA? Interference and the like? Also, can anyone recommend a better modelling combi that would be a better fit for my requirements? Ta in advance for any feedback. H.

[quote name='atsampson' timestamp='1502446250' post='3351471'] it'd be better to fix the cause of the hum rather than relying on being grounded via the strings [/quote] Thankfully I don't get any hum currently (not since getting rid of the dimmer switches in the house anyway). I'd just read a few posts complaining of hum when using wraps. [quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1502447581' post='3351488'] Your body is a great big aerial - hum attractor - so nylons could help stop you introducing hum via the strings! [/quote] Bonus! I hadn't thought of it like that.

Cheers for all the feedback folks. [quote name='atsampson' timestamp='1502359340' post='3350883'] I've found that an ETB92 set fits quite happily on my MIM Jazz and Precision with no modification needed to the nut, and I've been really happy with them, particularly for fretless. The bigger .115 E in Rotosound 88s won't fit without tweaking. [/quote] Great stuff Atsampson. Do you get much hum with them? I've heard nylon wraps can cause hums because they can't ground your fingers via the bridge ground.

Hi, How much of an increase in string gauge can you get away with before needing the nut slots opening up? I've got a Squier Classic Vibe 70s P and the factory set that came on on it is .045, 0.065, 0.080, .100 Gauges. I have a hankering to try a set of nylon tape wounds and most of them are much larger, but D'Addario do a set (ETB92) at .050, .065, .085,.105 Is .005 thicker on three of the strings something that typically won't cause much of an issue at the nut? Or any permanent opening up of the slots? Obviously it might need a few setup tweaks, but it's the nut I'm mostly concerned with. I'm not necessarily looking for "100% perfect", just reasonably playable to give them a whirl and see if they sound as good up close as they do in the demos I've listened to online, whilst being able to go back to the factory gauge if I don't. If the tape wounds become a permanent feature I may have the slots opened up a little. Cheers, H.

Not sure I'd go with the number plate screw covers for covering the screw holes, but damn, that would make an ideal single screw thumbrest. I only really need something small to perch my thumb on, and it naturally goes to roughly where one of the pickguard screws are. Thanks for posting that.

Don't really fancy having the tug bar on at the same time as a thumb rest. Purely for cosmetic reasons. It would - to my eyes - look odd. Purely a matter of personal taste. Pickguard replacement is possible and has been considered, but seems a bit like overkill for two small holes. Now what are these grommets? Could you elaborate or point me in the right direction please?

It's the best I've thought up so far. I think any type of invisible repair would be too much to hope for. Just wondering if anyone had come up with anything clever for disguising them. Some kind of cover or something. Like a small version of the things that cover screws on flatpack furniture or somesuch.

I've just got a vintage style p bass with a tug bar on it (on the G string side). I'm an habitual thumb rester, and I'm really missing having a thumb rest. I find the pickups on it a tad too far back for using as a thumb rest, so I'm probably going to remove the tug and put on a thumb rest in the usual E string position. Question is, does anyone have a neat way of sorting out the old screw holes in the pick guard that the tug bar will leave behind? Short of replacing the pick guard that is? I've toyed with the idea of cutting down the original tug bar screws and putting them back in, but has anyone got anything better?

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1462205207' post='3041080'] I would not say that 45 65 80 105 was a normal set offered by manufacturers, or perhaps I am losing the plot?? [/quote] Sorry, perhaps I was being too generalist. Swing Bass was one of the string sets I had in mind, as was the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flatwounds. I'd also noticed that Epiphone fitted 45, 65, 80, 105 as standard (I'm looking for a new set for my Epi Thunderbird). The question still stands, however. Why the .80 instead of a .85? why the slightly lighter A string? What are they aiming to achieve?

This is probably a bit of a newbie question, by why do so many manufacturers consider 45, 65, 80, 105 a standard gauge set and 45, 65, 85, 105 a hybrid or non standard set? Why the 80 instead of the evenly spaced 85?

Has anyone used bone conduction headphones for practising? And if so, what were they like for bottom end tone? I find I just can't get on with ordinary headphones down the bottom end of the E string. They always sound farty.

...or the headphone driver?

If I have a stereo headphone output socket that requires 32 ohm impedance from the headphones, and I make a converter that bonds the tip and ring on the jack to make it a mono signal to feed just one of the two headphone cans, what does that mean for the impedance requirement? Will it cause any damage to the output?

[quote name='xzodar' timestamp='1425245532' post='2705574'] Would using a headphone splitter (Y cable) with headphones in one side and MP3 player in the other work? [/quote] It would probably work, but is it safe? I'm not an electrical engineer, so maybe someone could comment? Does it risk damage to either the mp3 player or the B3 if you splice two supplies like that on ports that are only expecting to send a signal out and don't have common grounds, etc? I assume (yeah, I know, stupid) that a proper mixer would take care of all that in the circuit. H.

I've got an Amplug and it would be ideal, but it lives in a drawer. With my passive Epi T-bird I have to have its volume up to max, and gain half way up just to get any volume out of it. And then it just sounds clipped and farty. Really awful. Not sure what the tone dial is supposed to do, either. No appreciable change with it. Having read around a few forum posts, it sounds common. People have really variable experiences with them. Random quality, perhaps? I must admit the B1on doesn't look much more expensive than a mixer and does it all. It just feels odd buying it when I already have the B3.

Discreet - Typical. Where was that when I was shelling out for the B3? Chrismanbass - That's a nice looking mixer. Can it be run on batteries, or is it mains only?

Hi, Currently when practising with headphones I've settled on using my Zoom B3, and it sounds great for that. The trouble is that it doesn't have an aux in for when I want to play along to a music source like an mp3 player (I know I can use it with a laptop over usb, but that's a bit of a pain with my cronky old laptop). Anyone got any good ideas / recommendations on something like a simple mixer that will allow me to mix the headphone output from the B3 with the headphone output from my mp3 player? Ideally something that's not a lot of messing around to set up for a quick practice, or costs the earth. Cheep and cheerful, really. H.

Cheers for the ideas. Yorick, I had raised the pickup slightly. I'll try raising it a little more. 40Hz, I didn't even know about the string twist issue. I'll slacken the string off and see if I can see any twist in it. I'll also be a lot more careful when stringing up in the future. H.

I've got an Epi Thunderbird. The bolt on neck version with the Epiphone pickups. I'm finding that when playing over the neck pickup the E string lacks attack compared to the other strings. Especially when open or fretted up to about G#. A very lifeless flat tone. If I play over the bridge pickup it sounds far better, but then the other three strings sound really twangy. Any ideas where best to look for more attack on that string? Any likely issues that could be causing it? I've tried changing the strings but it still sounds lifeless. I should say I'd prefer to improve the E over the neck pickup rather than making the A, D and G less twangy over the bridge pickup as I find that a more comfortable position to play.

A bit of an odd request, this. I'm trying to figure out how to recreate a bass tone. Only it's from a cartoon... Anyone want to hazard a guess how to recreate the bass sound in the clip when it really gets going from around 48 seconds onwards? I'm interested in feedback on both technique and what effects may be in use. Cheers in advance, and I know how strange this is [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwINzqPQFTg"]https://www.youtube....h?v=BwINzqPQFTg[/url]

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400710222' post='2456403'] Crazy ideas time but... 'brighter' doesn't need to mean boosted treble. A passive bass cut will make the bass seem brighter as you are sending less 'mush' to the amp. [/quote] How would I go about trying this? I'm not sure I know what a passive bass cut is. [quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1400710222' post='2456403'] The other option is to replace the tone control with a varitone switch. I recently built one into a pedal, and I like being able to 'tune' the mids with it. Another option that can be built as a 'no load' device on one setting. [/quote] I think I may have seen something like this before. Is this based on a rotary switch with different caps on each switch position, soldered to a common ground? Like this: [url="http://www.diyguitarmods.com/custom-varitone-wiring.php"]http://www.diyguitarmods.com/custom-varitone-wiring.php[/url] If so, have you seen these before? [url="http://www.stellartone.com/Page.asp?NavID=147"]http://www.stellartone.com/Page.asp?NavID=147[/url] I suspect that's largely what's inside them. Pricey though from the uk distributer, but they sound nice. There's a demo of one here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkgqmxfXKSc&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkgqmxfXKSc&feature=player_embedded[/url]