Al Krow

Struggling with that statement a bit, must admit! Thinking it through, I guess it boils down to what you're meaning by the "Sadowsky sound" i.e. if changing the pups didn't change the "sound" what was the point of doing it? I guess what I'm understanding from you is that the Sad sound is a particular EQ setting which has effectively been "bottled" in the preamp (either the on-board or in pedal form) and can be replicated, from what @molan and others were saying, pretty easily e.g. on the Helix once you know what the relevant EQ freqs are...I think I need to make a bee line for my Helix then!

Oh dear, I had better hold on to and look after that KS after such high praise!! It kinda now feels like I am temporarily holding it on trust for you for after your wedding - good job, I've managed to resist a couple of unsolicited offers so far...😊 (It is, no question, a wonderful instrument and I am very fortunate to have got my hands on it).

So here's the thing. What defines for any of us, what a great bass is? And why were the Sads lacking in that regard?

@FDC484950 really good post, thanks. It's interesting that the personal tuition that you had in your teenage years were the most influential / productive lessons you received. I similarly had regular lessons on classical guitar from 12 through to 17 and I was equally passionate about that instrument as I now am about bass playing. Just wonder if there are some general themes here? - Formal one to one lessons seem to me to be particularly beneficial when starting out, in terms of getting technique and "good habits" embedded and knowledge of some basic music theory; once we have this baseline (excuse the pun!) tool-kit, we're much more able to progress under own steam and bit of structure / guidance is perhaps all that we need. As you say, the quality of online tuition is streets ahead of what we had in our formative years and for many of us who have progressed beyond 'beginner' that could well be more than sufficient to focus our practice time? - Some instruments / styles seem to lend themselves more to personal tuition e.g. pretty much all classical musicians will have had lessons throughout their 'grades'. I wonder how much personal tuition bass players and rhythm / lead guitarists, both amateur and professional, have had and how many of the successful touring musicians are actually self-taught?

Does the Sadowsky preamp pedal really get that close Chris? I really thought that the Sadowsky pups would make an equally big, if not bigger, difference just on general principles.

@krispn what was the actual course name you took? I've currently got a [ ] in my OP for that one!

I get where you're coming from as you are someone who is giving lessons, but it's a question of value for money and the guarantee of consistent high quality from widely recognized and appreciated online tutors e.g. Mark's lessons work out at around £1 a lesson and I can take them in bite sized chunks depending on how quickly I master them and what else I have going on at the time, which is perfect for me. Consequently I've found every one of his lessons better than the (few) £30 / hr in person lessons I've had from a couple of capable tutors.

Actually that's the very one I've just signed up for (was meaning to take anyway!), which I look forward to getting onto once I've completed his excellent slap bass course which I am half way through.

Mark at Talking Bass is currently offering 30% off all his courses for one week.

Well she doesn't go by that name to me 😉

So the Big Baby T was the predecessor of the BB2 in my pic above. And yes I have a SC too ( @PJ-Bassist's old one as it happens!) so we essentially have identical cabs. Hmmm....😁

That is an impressive spot from a 15 month old post! I take it you're a bit of an 8 string and / or Greg Lake fan?

Oooh lovely bass! Slightly worrying the amount of taste we have in common on the home furnishing front: wooden floors, white doors and antique white basses with tort PGs. You sure our other halves aren't related? 😁

So here's the thing. This thread is supposed to be encouraging us to be making the most of the existing gear we have. Somewhat limited, I know, by our collective inability to use them with our bands, but nevertheless be great to hear what "extra" we're getting out of our existing gear. I'm happy to kick this off by saying that my pedals were a bit of a random and not much used collection this past 6 months. I've managed to organise them into two ready to use pedal boards with a multifx at the heart of each: Oh and by the way - newcomers are all very welcome to join this 'gear abstinence lite' challenge. The entry ticket is simply that you've have not bought any gear since the start date of March 25th (i.e. yesterday morning!)

In terms of design - all of the below, for me, have real elegance and it would literally boil down to personal preference. Other than the Yammy, each is verging on iconic i.e. you know "that's a Schecter" just from the outline of the headstock. If I had to chose one, it would be the Smith. It combines form (and that is before we look at the reverse of the headstock where the quality of the craftsmanship sets it apart) with function. Little touches such as having the 3 lighter guage strings on one side to balance the weight and tension of the two heavier bottom strings reflects the attention to detail that has gone into the design of the headstock as well as the rest of the bass.

Yes, I think I'm beginning to piece together your antipathy to the G string... 😁

Ahh, antique white. Well that's a very good start! 😎 And you're a West Midlander to boot. I may or may not have grown up around those very parts!

Haha, I think that's right but LAST NIGHT... It's been the 25th since 12.01 am this morning! I guess given the extreme economic disruption we could make an exception to allow for "genuine" confusion on this point...😄

Fair! I guess the key point is folk should simply be aware that he is teaching on 5 string bass and assumes you can read music (I'll mention both in the OP summary) - but that's the beauty of us sharing our collective experiences and thoughts. @OzMike - an excellent mini review of the ArtistWorks Jazz bass course, thank you!

I presume the two Sad bass preamp pedals do, however, nail, it? So if you want to experience the "Sad sound" you could get a chunk of the way there with one of those? But here's, the thing: I've always presumed that a bass' pups play a much more significant role in a bass' tone than its on board preamp?

With age comes wisdom Mr Black. And given that his courses are of sufficient quality to warrant being normally paid for, it would be churlish to exclude your and several other folks' recommendation, particularly if he's been big-hearted enough to make them available for free temporarily. Although for the sake of balance - worth sharing some separate feedback I've had from a couple of BC'ers on this particular course, particularly in relation to his use of 5 string basses to illustrate his points: "I found it hard to concentrate on what the guy was saying and kept losing interest. Also the fact that he was doing the classes on a 5 string meant there were gaps in being able to follow him. Not knocking the guy at all, but he isn't in the same league as Mark from Talking Bass when it comes to keeping you interested. Maybe it's just me." ... I guess it will be interesting, therefore, if any of us decide to go ahead and take paid for courses from Zoltan when they cease to be free.

I'm assuming you have a Helix? If so then his patches are available for download at http://drtonelab.com/

It does have both octave up and down. If you go to the Modulation section, there are 3 variable pitch shift effects (PitchSHFT, HPS, BaMn Pitch) you could try and one that just does octave down only (Ba Octave). Set the pitch shift interval to -12 for octave down and +12 for octave up, +5 for a fifth up etc. But I don't think that a Zoom multifx is going to get you there on a rich royal blood sound - for me one of things the Zoom effects don't do well is any form of pitch shifting including octave up, although octave down seems to be fine. If you create a patch with multiple intervals you're going to get a disappointing sonic mush. For me that's down to the fact you have a £75 multifx with corresponding chip processor power not a £350+ multifx and higher end processors that you have in the Helix.

Best get a Yammy BB then. They have passive aggression in their PJs down to a fine art.

Would the honourable gent like a PJ with a jazz neck, and plenty of knobs to twiddle on? Would you Sire?