xilddx

[quote name='flyfisher' post='737306' date='Feb 6 2010, 03:29 PM']Interesting point - and I agree with you - but you won't convince the diehards. I'm also a keen photographer and a similar impassioned debate rages in that world between 'chemical' (i.e. film) and digital photography. The really amusing thing about such debates, I think, is that people start to lose the plot. Photography and music are both artistic endeavours and the end results are subjective - you like them or you don't. If you like the tone that comes out of your speakers then the method by which it has been generated is irrelevant. Same with a photograph. The music is not 'better' just because there are valves instead of DSPs in the signal chain anymore than a photo is any 'better' because it came out of a darkroom. But, in a world where you can buy gold-lated mains plugs and interconnects costing £1000's, there are strong vested interests to keep such debates raging on.[/quote] Right on the money, my friend.

This is a fascinating interview with a MrX who knows an awful lot of stuff about how to choose a Les Paul, how rare a good one is, and how poor Gibson QC can be. I learned a lot about choosing a bass from this even though basses get no mention. That's why I put it here instead of Off Topic, but Mods, please move it if you see fit. [url="http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/240"]http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/240[/url]

[quote name='4000' post='737290' date='Feb 6 2010, 03:14 PM']Which is why I so love buffets. [/quote] Ha ha, me too! The Bass Buffet is the best

[quote name='Sibob' post='737238' date='Feb 6 2010, 02:32 PM']But variety for varieties sake is pointless!? It has to be relevant given the musical context!. But even that doesn't detract from having a good tone as a basis and adding to it as neceesary. Surely no one says "Oh it doesn't matter if my core sound is crap to my own ears, because all the bands I play in need loads of EQ and Pedals!?". Si[/quote] There are enough basses out there which fit my criteria to have a new one every month and be happy. I'm not especially attached to any piece of gear I have, except my POD. My POD is the crucial interface to my music making and I would feel lost without it. I like variety, I adore getting new instruments, but i normally get bored with them after a while, the Black Warwick Corvette $$ has been my mainstay for a couple of years and I swore I'd never sell it, but I love my Wilkins Jazz at the moment, its very pretty and I really enjoy playing it. I'm sure I'll sell it at some point probably, but i wouldn't dream of doing so at the moment. Variety is fabulous, it's simply another of life's indulgences.

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='737094' date='Feb 6 2010, 12:33 PM']Ah, thanks for that! Bit nervous about the wire wool bit, but I'll give it a shot with some good quality cleaning cloth. [/quote] Don't worry bout the wire wool, if you get zero grade it's just like a slightly abrasive cloth. It just takes a few microns off. Naturally, start off gently in a seldom seen area and see how it goes. I can't believe your basses are just wood with nothing to seal them though. That would be daft. They must have something on to protect them from moisture loss and moisture absorption. Unless they were made by your mum or something

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='736735' date='Feb 5 2010, 10:26 PM']Great thread! Nig - do you put your thread ideas through a POD as well??[/quote] I tried but they cooked the firmware

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='737073' date='Feb 6 2010, 12:17 PM']Silver are a step too far - you need blue (and Cutter's Choice).[/quote] I can't stand blues, they taste weird to me. There is also no difference between green and red other than green have the corners clipped. Nevertheless, I simply can't use red, I perceive a difference even though it isn't there! Plenty of people think red has salt petre in them to help them burn, it's not true.

[quote name='Hot Tub' post='737044' date='Feb 6 2010, 11:42 AM']What would you recommend for cleaning open pore instruments? I have a combination of swamp ash and bubinga bodies, wenge and maple necks, and rosewood fingerboards. There's no laquer finishes - it's all natural wood. Can you get kits, or can I use one "do it all" cleaner? [/quote] Hard furniture wax on the open pore wood bodies and necks, Briwax is very good, sort of thing Warwick give you, and Martin Petersen uses a similar wax. Get it on a clean cloth and rub it in a circular motion. You can also put some wax on a piece of very fine grade wire wool which should take off the top layer of dirt and give the wood a nice sheen. If the wood is really dirty, you may need to use something like naptha, but be really careful, it's nasty and extremely flammable, read the safety data sheet and stick to it. Lemon oil on the rosewood boards. Dunlop 65. Give it a good soak for 10 minutes then cloth it, working off the crap with your cloth covered finger tips, you'll get a lot of crap out that way.

Erm, what about this for heaven's sake? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284[/url] Major Minor is the unsung hero of Basschat.

I am GASing badly for a Combustion! What's it's core tone like? You'll like the unique European sense of humour here In all honesty, this is the nicest forum I have ever been privileged to be a part of, hope you enjoy it, welcome home.

[quote name='gjones' post='736724' date='Feb 5 2010, 10:10 PM']I resent that.... I live in the Gorbals! But on the other hand my bass does look like sh*t.[/quote] Jeez, it was only a little quip, a phrase, people are getting pissed off with me because of it. Not one person has screeched at me because they are offended by my Helmand Province reference. [b]SORRY TO ALL GLASWEGIANS![/b] I'll be up there in a couple of months, I'll take a look. If you look at my profile in May and see "Last seen 14th April", you'll know what's happened.

[quote name='Linus27' post='736680' date='Feb 5 2010, 09:26 PM']One of my basses has lots of battle scars but only because its been gigged to hell and back. I've looked after it but being on the road and recording for 20 years has resulted in it being bashed about but unintentionally may I add. I don't mind a working bass to get scars and marks. A working bass to me is exactly that, a woking bass, a tool, something that you use and will in time, get worn out, damaged or break. I try and look after it, the same as I would clothes but eventually the more it gets used, the more its going to become worn.[/quote] But that's fine isn't it. I was talking about complete lack of care, chucking an expensive lovely bass about, dumping it in a concrete corner, etc. Road wear is perfectly acceptable.

[quote name='Protium' post='736607' date='Feb 5 2010, 07:58 PM']Switching back to Elites for a sensible £13.30, my usual La Bellas have gone up to £17.40 a set!! I do like the black silk wrapping though End communication.[/quote] I'd end everything if I had to play Elites.

[quote name='urb' post='735677' date='Feb 4 2010, 11:59 PM']Here's one I made earlier (todat!) A little groove based jam on my lovely Sei Jazz, bass went direct into Logic and has a tiny bit EQ/compression but it sounds great straight in... Hooe you dig it Mike[/quote] Mike, that's not my cup of cha, but by god, it's bloody amazing!

[quote name='Rasta' post='736346' date='Feb 5 2010, 03:56 PM']Ah thanks mate, i never get much compliments for my 5-6 notes b-lines (although this one's a riddim). It was just a live practice which we recorded and a mate who's into filming came along with his camera. Hopefully get some gigging soon from the recordings [/quote] I don't know why you don't get comps mate, your playing is beautiful! I've been sucked in and I've watched your vid five times You got the whole package there, great band, I love the singer, he looks like a real character And the band name is brilliant! In the early eighties I used to play in a band in West Wales, we we often on the bill with a white reggae band, the singer was this little geezer with big lungs and spiky peroxide hair. They were wickid, and also had a great name - Chalky White and the Shamrastas.

[quote name='Sibob' post='736455' date='Feb 5 2010, 05:32 PM']And yes the rehearsal went well cheers Silldx , shooting a video on sunday, then a Camden gig next Tuesday (16th) I ended up not using the distorted sound because......it sucked the low end out my sound The bottom boost was cool, gives a real dub sound, and the chorus was pretty lost, although it's only meant to give a real subtle warble on the bottom anyway, so I may leave it on. Again, just using subtle effects because of the musical situation, but all added to a solid tone that can stand alone if necessary. Si[/quote] Top! Where are you playing in Camden on the 16th?

[quote name='51m0n' post='736388' date='Feb 5 2010, 04:28 PM']We'll happily have to go with slightly different philosophies there then, and why not? I'm with SiBob, the rest of you are all nuts! [/quote] Si made an earlier point that the tonal options he has with his pups and finger placement were enough, and any further subtle eq would be lost through the PA. I have to admit, it caused me some consternation, and I'm along the lines of agreeing he has a good point! Here it is [i]"If I need different sounds within a song, I'll use finger dynamics and hand placement, this is on a fairly standard pop/rock/funk gig that is. If I need a bassier/dub sound, I'll move my picking hand towards the neck, perhaps use my thumb. Need a tighter, more mid sound, play near the bridge. If I need some bite/overdrive, I'll play a lot harder over the neck pickup as I have my tube on my ashdown at 3 o'clock. This allows me to sound clean when I want to, but breaks up beautifully when played hard!. In my personal experience, any different sounds and tone further to that are generally so subtle that they'll be lost in the band mix or over the PA. I have started messing around with my Boss Multi-FX again because I'm going to start playing for a hip-hop/electonica band soon (first rehearsal tonight actually), just some chorus, wah and octave sounds going on.....but I've got a feeling that over a large sound system and with the other warbly noises going on in the mix, I'll find myself playing straight into my amp. "[/i] I meant to say earlier, hope the rehearsal went well, Si.

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='736314' date='Feb 5 2010, 03:37 PM']I remember going round to someone's house to try out a bass they had for sale. Beautiful Georgian town-house, immaculately decorated and tastefully furnished. The seller told me his Uncle had been in the Navy and had brought this old Fender over from the States in the early '60's, played it twice then stuck it under the bed. Anticipating a glorious, mint Precision I opened the case. Imagine my horror. The whole thing was covered in black gunge and sticky stuff. And it absolutely reeked of pineapples.[/quote]

[quote name='chris_b' post='736300' date='Feb 5 2010, 03:27 PM']No. GAS is wasted time, money and energy. Get a good bass, find a good sound then play the thing with as many musicians and on as many gigs as you can.[/quote] My tastes change all the time though, that wouldn't work for me at all. I couldn't live in the same house all my life, and I couldn't wear the same pair of underpants all my life either.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='736239' date='Feb 5 2010, 02:53 PM']I was talking about tonal shaping in general, and the way in which these days, you can get any sound from any number of methods. You don't need an all valve head, to get a sound the same as someone with one. You don't need a precision bass to sound like you're playing one etc. I don't mean to say that there are inconsequential parts in the chain. Everything in the chain has an effect, but lots of different chains, long and short, can create the same outcome. If that much scope is available for changing your tone, then the initial "core tone" of a bass becomes almost irrelevant. I mentioned that I would prefer one of my basses for certain sounds, because it has an active pre-amp. Well, if I wanted I could take the pre-amp out of the bass and put it in a pedal, or buy a similar sounding pre-amp to use with my other bass. I guess there some merit in the "if i'm spending X amount on Y bass with Z rig, I don't want to need any pedals to get MY sound", which is fair enough, but you've probably got a boring tone :-p I think the "everything needs to sound good set flat" mentality is crazy. You buy an amp, and it sounds amazing if you roll off some low end, but no, f*** that, you'd rather keep trading in amps until you find one where you can leave the EQ flat.[/quote] I think Ched and I have our ducks in a row here

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='736223' date='Feb 5 2010, 02:29 PM']Its all about the music. Some great musicians have produced sublime art on crap gear and some great gear has been used to create some pretty crap music but one of the things I struggle with is the [i}relevance[/i] of the details some of us, as bass players, are atuned to. As I said elsewhere, I can't tell the difference between basses (ie gear) on recordings - players, yes, but not gear. I don't know a Musicman from a Wal from an Alembic from a Fender from a Status. Most of our audience can't either. All I hear is the note. There is a depth (overtones wise) that comes from higher quality instruments over those made from cheaper materials but, after a point, I don't find it that important and, depending on the circumstances, it may matter less and less. What I DO believe is that the tone your instrument produces effects the way you hear the music being played and, when you are happier, you relax and play better. I have never got that from any digital source but I have not spent any real time with effects or amp modelling so what do I know? What I will say is that I will become convinced about the bass/amp modelling concept when they can make any electric bass sound like Ray Brown's upright. Until then, I would guess its almost always 'nearly but not quite'.[/quote] Ah, the sermon from the mount. Bilbo makes a lot of sense. How can you disagree with what he's said?

[quote name='robocorpse' post='736181' date='Feb 5 2010, 01:54 PM']Sure, heres mah baby! However, I prefer the term "Steinb*stard" to "Sh*teberger", this definitely aint sh*te!!!. Its real name is "Rambo". I haven't decided if its a he or a she, it will probably bite my arm off if I try to categorise it. Theses a bizarre hum sometimes that sounds like "dont puuuush me!" Note natty use of gaffa to hold radio transmitter into o/p socket. I'm considering bastardising a spare transmitter and fitting it internally to run off a bigger battery, and making it switchable from o/p socket so theres less chance of killing the batteries by knocking the on/off switch! I get bored carrying 4 different types of batteries in my gig case. [/quote] That looks alright from here!

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='736168' date='Feb 5 2010, 01:42 PM']As a Glaswegian, I don't appreciate that crack about The Gorbals. It's been a very, very long time since the Gorbals have been like that. It was completely renovated in the 60/70s and there's a hell of a lot of decent folk living there now. Geoff[/quote] Sorry Geoff