Baceface

5 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

This ^^ is correct. A mono jack has the signal delivered through the tip, the sleeve is the ground (earth...) connection, and doubles in carrying the signal 'return' path. A TRS (Tip, Ring, Sleeve...) jack has the signal delivered by the tip, and returned by the ring. The sleeve has only the grounding to do. The signal is less likely to be perturbed with this method.
A balanced Xlr does the same thing in a more robust (and 'lockable') connector. Go with the 2 x TRS jack cable if you're not going to be plugging in and out often.
Hope this helps. 

Brilliant! Thanks @Dad3353 and @lurksalot
Unfortunately, I've just had a ratch in my box-o-leads and the stereo ones have either gone or I just imagined that I owned them. I'll get some ordered. The noise is not intolerable but a bit more than I was expecting from monitor speakers. Of course, it might be the less than optimal positioning of the stuff I have that's contributing. Thanks again for the help.
 

Sorry to crash in on this thread @leschirons but I have a similar question...

I have a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 interface connected to some Yamaha MSP5 Monitors.
The speakers have some background hiss/noise which increases with higher volumes. 

The KA6 has only ¼" jack outputs, which I believe are balanced. The MSP5 inputs are either  ¼" jack or XLR, again balanced.
Being an idiot, I've just bunged some regular, mono jack leads in to connect them.  My questions are:

1. Is there a decent chance that I can reduce the noise by using balanced cables?
2. If so, is it better to buy XLR > ¼" jack cables, or would a standard, TRS stereo ¼" jack > ¼" jack do exactly the same job?

From what I've read, the ¼" jack stereo cable (I might even have some somewhere) should be the same, with the second connection being used as the balancing "doodad" (check out my electronics chops!) while the XLR is doing the same thing but is a more professional/robust connection. However, I might be wrong (and often am).

The BB colour selection has, IMO, been very small and rather uninspired in recent times.

If I had just one wish, it would be to bring back the metallic orange from the BB414.

Beyond this, it would be great to see pastel shades like cream, surf green, pink etc. Colour matched headstocks would be the icing on the cake.

Oh and some tort' pickguards would also be splendid.

And that was the result of a plea bargain:

Quote

The penalty would have been £14.2m had Fender not admitted to the offence under the CMA’s leniency and settlement procedures. 

I lack the knowledge to know if the fine is a good thing. On the face of it, it would seem to be excellent news but this is where someone far better informed points out that the decision will have some terrible knock-on effect that I hadn't considered.

1 hour ago, AREA said:

I'd like to see that with a cream pearl, or tortoise pickguard...

I think the black/maple/black 434 looks nice, particularly with the cream 'guard.

However, I don't like the black headstock on the sunburst/maple version but think it looks great on the sunburst/rosewood model.

I am also unsure why this is.

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

'Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow' - but on mandolin, no fancy picking, just chords. 

I'm sure you know this but I believe Ian Anderson used a non-standard tuning on the mandolin for most of the Tull stuff. I think it was GDGD (as opposed to standard GDAE) which gives a really cool modal, droning effect and is great for chords.

...Until I realised this, I could never figure out why his mandolin parts sounded so cool and why I could never get the same sound myself! 

EDIT

I was being a colossal derrière as usual. 

Jack Frost was an outtake from Broadsword and I believe that Dave Pegg played the mandolin on the track, which probably means it was in GDAE. 
A quick experiment seems to back this up in that the chords sound a bit closer in standard, as opposed to Anderson, tuning.

I know that Dave Pegg was always very attached to the song and remember him playing it with Fairport around '85.
I've got a copy of him playing it on "The Cocktail Cowboy Goes it Alone" somewhere but I find that album a bit of a challenging listen.

Anyway, a fantastic tune in it's Tull guise and one of my favourites. I like the 80s version more that the Christmas Album one but both are splendid. Good luck!

 

I've pretty much parked it for the last few weeks. Just found it hugely frustrating to hit a wall and not be able to get past it. It's almost like I've hit my terminal velocity as a bass player! 

I realise it's a challenging part for someone like me but I was really enjoying making the progress I did. Once I got stuck, it became a bit if a torment. Thanks again for all the advice.

I've just picked up a VM4 with the Sandberg own label pickups in it (I'm assuming that's what they are as they have the Sandberg 4 dot logo on the covers).

I've read a lot of posts,/reviews that say the Sandberg 2 band pre is made by Glockenklang. I guess the German connection makes sense but I've seen no proof and the configurator supplies no information about the electronics. It might even be that each pickup manufacturer has a different pre amp configuration?

It would be interesting to know more.

I lack the knowledge about active eq to form a judgement. My other bass (Yamaha BB614) is active but the eq on that is like a sledgehammer compared to the more organic, subtle Sandberg. I do however miss an active mid as I like to boost that a bit on the BB to give an überburp, jazz-on-steroids kind of sound. That said, the humbucker on the VM4 is pretty much in that territory anyway, without eq. I'm preferring the passive sound at the moment but it's early days and I just noodle at home. I'd expect the active option to come into it's own in a live setting.

Just received a bass from Paddy aka @knicknack.

Absolutely splendid fellow to deal with: accurate description, great communication etc.

Highly recommended.

3 minutes ago, jay-syncro said:

Is there a release date for the Barlow? 

Not as yet. There's fierce dispute between going with the matching Wainwright's Guide shelf or the integrated pipe rack. Also the 1x8 "No-No-Lumbago" cab has to be redesigned so that the port can double up as druid robe storage.

They're also worried that any further delay may result in the target market actually dying off before they can buy the thing.

5 minutes ago, franzbassist said:

Someone has waaaay too much time on his hands....

Someone has plenty of things he should be doing but is choosing to selflessly sacrifice cleaning the kitchen and bathroom so that I can enrich the forum with my ideas. I'm very generous in that way.

21 hours ago, HazBeen said:

Great sounding amps, but WHY do they insist on the childlike colour schemes..... beyond me.

Fear not. They would be foolish to ignore the mellow market.
There are rumours of a limited, "Beige Cardigan" edition being released. The end caps are supposed to be made of recycled leather elbow patches!
Get comfortable in your favourite armchair and gently feast your eyes on this leaked image. Speaking of leaked, I think it comes with some Markbass signature incontinence pads, lest we get too jiggy with those low frequencies.


 

3 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Me too, I find it amazing that people care *so* much about which bass was used for what!

In my case it's not so much caring about which bass was used as caring about challenging my thoughts on which bass was used. (If that makes any sense.)

What that does is remind me that although, in isolation, a Ricky and a P-Bass would appear to be two fairly different sounding basses, once they're mixed into a track and mastered, the differences are not as huge as we sometimes think. What I am actually reacting to as a listener is the overall feel, created by a combination of the playing and the sound of the instrument.

However, it's clear that the bass used does influence the overall feel. I believe that, more than the sound it makes, it's the associations the player has with a particular instrument that make them play the way they do with it. In the quote above, Glenn Hughes (him again!) says...

Quote

My playing comes from a James Jamerson place, and the Rickenbacker wasn’t the right bass to achieve that sound

What interests me is that, despite the above, the Burn-era Ricky lines still sound bloody great played on the P-bass. I do however wonder if he'd have composed those lines in the first place if he was using the P-bass in the studio. Maybe he'd have gone for a more in-the-pocket, Jamerson-influenced vibe because that's his association with the P-bass.

1 minute ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

We seem to have derailed this thread somewhat. 

I was thinking that too. Someone should start a Glenn Hughes thread and we can all pile into that one. 

Hi @james_027

Like many people here, my older Yamaha BB seems fine with a one piece neck, 4 bolt neck join and top loading bbot bridge!

I'd not really be concerned about the structural side of things (as you say, that's what you get on most of the  multi-thousand dollar Fender custom shop basses) but it's more a question of whether the laminated neck, and through body stringing give a "better" sound to your ears.

The biggest difference (for me) would be the pickups. The 2 series have ceramic magnets while the 4 have alnico5 magnets. Received wisdom would imply that the 4 series pickups are a bit more subtle and vintage voiced. As always, it's a bit more complicated than that. One player's "vintage mojo" is another players "weak and characterless", one players "brash and unsubtle" is another's "punchy and agressive" etc.

Bear in mind that, unlike previous BBs, these new ones feature standard-sized pickups so upgrades will be possible further down the line if you feel there's something missing. Needless to say that Yamaha make great sounding pickups anyway!

I guess this isn't helping. It's 5am and I can't sleep so I thought I'd put some thoughts out there. I don't think you can go wrong with either choice and a great deal on either is what might sway it for me. I particularly like the yellow natural 2 series look but the teal 4 series is pretty saucy too. 

I daresay some of the Big Beasts of the BB thread will be along with far more informed guidance soon enough. 

1 hour ago, 4000 said:

 Glenn has said in various interviews over the the years that Geezer wouldn’t sell it him back, as, in Geezer’s words, “I don’t sell me basses” (although I may have read recently that in the end he did, I can’t quite remember). 

I think Geezer still has it, assuming nothing's changed in the last two years...
 

Quote

After capturing such an incredibly awesome sound with a Rickenbacker bass on Burn, why did you switch to Fender Precision and Fender Jazz basses on your many subsequent albums? —Carl Fragnito

When I joined Purple, I replaced Roger Glover, who played a Rickenbacker. So I decided to get one for myself because it represented the band’s sound. But when I started to play onstage with Purple, the Rickenbacker didn’t fulfill the groove-oriented sound I wanted, so I switched to the Fender basses. My playing comes from a James Jamerson place, and the Rickenbacker wasn’t the right bass to achieve that sound. I wound up foolishly giving the Rickenbacker to Geezer Butler. When I saw him at Ronnie James Dio’s funeral in 2010, I asked him if I could have it back. He told me flat out, “No,” but that he would let me look at it. I should have never given it to him in the first place, but everyone makes mistakes.

Source: Glenn Hughes on Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Bonamassa and the Rickenbacker He Gave to Geezer Butler

It seems a bit mean that Geezer is keeping hold of the bass that Glenn seems to have "given" him. Maybe there was some other, unspecified trade done? (Probably a few kilos of charlie, given the way Glenn was going at the time!)
I'd guess Geezer is very well off these days and Glenn somewhat less so (it's all relative, and highly speculative.) I suppose Geezer used the Rick on record and feels it's part of his history now. He also grew up in pretty poor circumstances and maybe that's part of it. 

Anyway, what's great is that they're both still here to tell the tales and that was definitely touch and go at one point. I'm enjoying Glenn's late career renaissance and that he seems to be getting a bit more recognition for his playing and singing. 

20 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

It was a Rick on Burn I think... I'm sure I read an interview with Glenn where he mentioned using the Rick to deliberately retain Roger Glover's sound. Ironic really as his tone was completely different.

 

Sorry, I wasn't being clear.

I know Burn was the Rick. He also used that live, definitely at the start of the Burn tour. At some point the Precision took over - he used it at the California Jam for example. Don't know if he swapped between the two for a while so I'm not sure exactly what he used on Made In Europe (I'm stuck with a small phone screen and can't find any big enough shots of the Graz/Saarbrucken/Paris gigs that were used for the album). 

The photos in Made in Europe show a Rick (IIRC) but I think they were taken from an earlier concert.

Funny about the Glover tone thing. Ruger had stuck two diagonally mounted jazz pickups in his Rick as he wanted a different sound anyway!

I think it all goes to show that it's ultimately the player's style that is the most striking thing we hear first and that the difference between instruments isn't always as huge as we think it would be.

On 28/11/2019 at 17:05, 4000 said:

The intro bit, where he first comes in, used to be one of my test lines when trying a new bass. Love his playing and tone on that album. 

I've just listened to that again. If it's the bit I think it is, it's the intro riff that Ritchie turned into "Still I'm Sad" on the first Rainbow LP. 

Glenn's playing in those few bars is wonderful. Just a basic octave riff but his timing and tone are both so cool! I know he'd long since ditched the Ricky by this stage but he still gets a magnificently "clanky" sound out of that Precision. He makes those signature "verrrp" and "vrooop" noises that only he seems to get out of the bass - I guess they might not be that technical but something about the way he plays that's instantly recognisable.  Great stuff.

2 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Oddly enough most of my bass heroes back when i started were probably pick players too Glenn Hughes, Roger Glover, Chris Squire, Phil Lynott, Gene Simmons, Dave Hope, Mike Rutherford, Roger Waters

i started with pick but moved to finger style as i got more into prog and jazz rock and then there was Geddy who had best of both worlds using finger style but sounding like a pick at times.

Dave

 

I've recently been trying to play along to "You Fool No One" from Burn and the Glenn Hughes part is a bit easier to play with a pick, which is why it's nice to be able to use both approaches.
Made in Europe was the first album I bought and I loved Glenn's playing on those Purple albums.

2 hours ago, stewblack said:

So the farther I got from the plectrum the more of a bass player I was becoming. 

As a guitar player learning bass, I identify very much with this thought. 

I've regularly heard the criticism "playing the bass like a guitarist" and I worry about it applying to me.

Oddly, I'm not entirely sure what it means, which makes it hard to know what I'm supposed to avoid to keep my sordid, six-string past a secret.

It seems to be an almost automatic response to anyone playing a bass in a busy-ish style with a plectrum. If so, I guess Macca and Chris Squire are guilty then! 

I've never heard the opposite criticism used (i.e. "playing the guitar like a bass player"). Presumably that would mean playing with great time and feel without a pick? Perhaps that's where Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck have been going wrong all these years?

21 hours ago, stewblack said:

First time out together... 
I think it's love 

All well and good but I couldn't hide my slight disappointment to see that you've changed your distinctive look since the profile photo.
Was expecting something more along the lines of...

 

My advice would be to develop the idea a bit. Try and come up with something a bit cleaner that will work just black on white at small and large sizes. Then you can think about colours/contexts etc.
 

2 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

I think that natural 614 would look lovely with a dark tort guard...

I know. I did some mockups earlier on and I liked the tort the best. It's just that this one was cheap, like me, and dispensed with the need to risk third-party manufacturers (splendid though their product doubtless is).
Needless to say, you're planting the seeds of option anxiety in my mind and another mockup leads me to think that a tort guard would indeed look great....

 

9 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Those jazz style knobs work well IMO. I'm completely with you in wanting to be able to see where the dials are set - I resorted to a much cruder set of white stick-on markers on my former 735A!

I think they look absolutely fine. I did try something similar but the 614 has much more rounded controls so it's not easy to get anything to stick. Also they have some kind of rubber band washer type things to aid grip, so any kind of marking down the "barrel" of the dial was a non-starter.
I was surprised at how heavy the stock controls were. Can't remember exactly but it was a few ounces and the new ones have taken the weight down to under 9lbs so that's another win, albeit slight.