ltownbass

Double post, sorry

Bit late to the party but I also put both pickups close to the strings to beef up the j sound. I just raise the p to balance the with the j sound.

My oh my. I like that

I'm not sure if the pickups are the same but the combination of both pickups and preamp is not the same. The circuit is available for both preamps and they are definitely different circuits (one takes a piezo pickup input) but there is no indication that one should be higher quality than the other from the circuit diagrams: That's just from my experience. The centre detents are more pronounced on the TRB5pii and the pot shafts are grey, not black. It doesn't prove anything but indicates that they are different. Another point is that the preamp on TRB5ii stops working when the battery is at about 6.5v but the TRB5pii keeps going until about 4.5v. Again, this just indicates that they are different and all that I have said about better sound quality is just from experience. I agree, but I believe they do it to increase the appeal of their more expensive basses or to decrease the appeal of their cheaper one. My EBS effects pedals have a switch from active to passive and it seems to increase the input gain. It may well be changing the impedance rather than input gain but I'm afraid I don't know for sure. I own both and the TRB5pii is louder. Please see the attached specs from the Yamaha website. The phrase humcanceled single coil doesn't prove my point but I think that they would say humbuckers if they genuinely are "just humbuckers". Sorry to the original poster because I didn't want to distract from the point of the thread. Just to summarise: I would only recommend the TRB if you can be bothered to upgrade the electronics because they are likely to leave you wanting. You won't get the high end snap that people like for slap. If you are willing to upgrade everything then try saving some money by buying a second hand one. Woodwork and fret work on Yamahas is exceptional so you'll get a bass that feels great. If you're concerned about the tuners or bridge on the Yamaha, don't be because they are excellent.

Yamahas have great build quality so TRB will play like butter. The Cort will be probably be good but not as good. However, Yamaha seem to deliberately downgrade the electronics of their cheaper basses and this has the same preamp and pickups as the Japanese made TRB5ii. I own both a TRB5ii and a TRB5pii and the electronics are noticeably better in the TRB5pii. The sound of the TRB5pii is excellent and bright and the EQ works brilliantly but the TRB5ii sounds a bit dull and the EQ is less effective. The TRB5ii (and TRB1005) is also no louder than a loud passive bass whereas the TRB5pii is very loud, as you'd expect from an active bass. The TRB5ii also has a very weak detent on the blend, treble, mid and bass controls, which annoyed me at first but I put stickers on the knobs and I don't mind so much any more. The TRB5pii doesn't have any problem with the centre detents. Unfortunately, you will only get electronics like the TRB5pii in a BBEast or John Patitucci TRB, which around £2000. The electronics are not easy to upgrade in the TRB line because all of the electronics are housed on a single circuit board so you cannot upgrade one bit at a time. The dummy coil on the pickups will only work with the TRB preamp unless you're willing to reverse-engineer the circuitry. If you do replace the electronics, you'll also need to chisel some of the wood in the cavity because the panel is very thick and only accommodates the TRB preamp. The blend control is active on the TRB1005 which gives an incredibly smooth transition from one pickup to the other but unfortunately means that you can't simply add a passive switch without bypassing blend. I've attached a picture of the impenetrable circuit board preamp just in case you're interested. I'm certain that the TRB has better build quality and will feel absolutely fantastic under your fingers but the sound is probably better on the Cort. In my opinion, Yamaha should just bite the bullet and put their good electronics in 1005, 1004 etc. and just charge another £150 and they'd have such a killer bass for the price. It's such a shame. Regards

Any nut will be okay but you'll probably find that it's too wide and the string slots don't go deep enough or the nut is too tall but it will work okay. You can sand it down to the correct width yourself and deepen the string slots if required. If you get a luthier to fit it, he/she will use a blank (i.e. one with no string slots), cut it to size and file in some string slots of the right depth for you.

I go for a pretty straight neck, low action and a set of light top/medium bottom strings. I use D'addario XLs. There's a lot of technique involved though. I realised that I'd not been pressing hard enough with my left hand to stop the lateral movement of the string and I was putting the action too high to compensate for that. I have high action and medium strings all the way down on my own bass and you can slap fine as long as you keep the string still with the left hand

FYI, I've heard nothing back

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1448958670' post='2919485'] People are too loud! It's funny how a lot of bassists don't really get just how far bass travels and just how swampy it can make everything sound if it's too loud. I sigh with dispair when people say stuff like "I need a minimum 2x12 cab and a 500w amp". You only need that sort of power for PA! Brands have been conning us for years saying that we need tonnes of power and super bassy cabs. We really don't! Anything under 100hz is mud. Once you cut those frequencies out of your life, you realise that you don't need massive cabs and you don't need loads of power. I use a 100w 1x12 combo which is enough for pubs and clubs and previously I used an 80w 1x10 combo for about 18 months with no volume issues at all. If I did need to be louder I would simply DI from the combo to the PA. OP - Thank you for sharing your revelation! [/quote] Brilliant post! I use a single Phil Jones C4. I thought it wasn't powerful enough for pub gigs until I sat in the audience and realised it was simply because the sound towards the player. Everything reacts differently when comparing a band and bedroom environment. I would say if you think you have a nice bass sound in your house, then add lots of mids and a bit of treble, and then reduce the bass considerably to adapt the sound for the stage.

I had a Planet Waves cable with compression springs and it broke. I emailed them to call in on their two-year warranty. They asked for a picture of the cable and when I sent it they gave me a new cable. A better one than the one they sold me (a better product, not just one that wasn't broken). I was surprised by the trust shown by the customer service and also their apologetic staff.

Probably won't hurt. Chord charts, paired with theory are important. Bass players, particularly in jazz are expected to read chord charts and solo, that's about it I think. . I find it helps to know which chord is the root etc. so that you can find your way in the chord chart when you get lost. Also, get an app called fakebook on android or iPhone. They're superb, loads of chord charts. Maybe more than all of the real books. The more conventional the jazz, the less music you'll have to read. At Least that's what I've found

I do it. It will provide invaluable experience to your playing. I gained lots of awareness. I learned to listen to everyone else and fit in. The other thing I learnt is how to read chord charts and start impromptu jams. There's lots of crap aswell. You'll end up playing with sh*t people in a sh*t song for way to long because no-one can end a song. That happens to me loads, still. Definately worthwhile. The rate at which you learn will slow down after six months or so but you'll learn loads

Thanks everyone for responding so quickly and with such good advice. I feel like I should clarify some things. I'm listening to jazz pretty much as often as I can. I've recently got into it and I'm beginning to develop some proficiency when reading chord charts and generally playing jazz. Normally I use a fretted G&L tribute. I have flats on a DIY fretless bass on which I use foam to dampen the strings. Yesterday I made the neck a more bowed and raised the action so that I have to fight it a little more and I must say it feels and sounds a lot better than before(more ballsy and less jaco) . I'm most tempted to listen to the advice of Tinyd, Bilbo and zero9: Do the (up) right thing. This may be because they are saying what I expected or wanted to hear. People tend to play differently on guitars. There seems to be a lot less emphasis on the depth and placement of notes. These are reasons why I'd like to make the switch. I think I want to the dynamic range you get with the upright bass. It seems like you can put so much expression in within your straight four notes per bar and guitarist have to use placement and muting among other things. However, I agree that in a band context it's unlikely to make a huge difference; especially in my crappy bands. I think I'm gonna try some big heavy flats on my fretless and see how that goes for now. I'm almost certainly gonna buy one of those Stagg EUBs to begin with. They go for something like £200 on here, I can't really go wrong with something like that. Thanks and keep the advice coming, Ryan

Hey dude. I'm pretty interested. I live in Luton and have a car. Gimme some more details. Thanks

I've been playing pretty conventional jazz for a little under a year with my bass guitar. I use some foam to dampen the strings and I've used this effect with some success. However, the more I listen to jazz, the more my satisfaction with my own tone decreases. Instead it is replaced with the desire for a deep, woody tone with low sustain. So I'm looking at fretless basses now, which I will try to use with the foam to dampen it and give a bit of a double bas thump. I'm not sure if I will want the double bass sound in the long run. There are characteristics I like about playing bass guitar, but I've not quite got to a point where I'm satisfied either way. Should I skip a stage and go straight for an upright? Has anyone else experienced something similar? What did you do? How did it work out? Thanks, Ryan