roman_sub

Think I saw this one on gumtree a while back looks like a great bass! :-)

incredible. would you play the strings in threes? (i.e. one "fretting finger" to cover low bass string and 2 adjacent higher strings at once) Obviously would love to see a video :-)

I added a John-East mids module to my fretless Warwick streamer, in addition to the stock MEC 2-band EQ (and also wired everything at 18v). The mids module has totally enhanced the sound and is super useful for fretless. I hear what you're saying about frequency positions / gain - I haven't touched my EQ for months, for this very reason! I'd keep it, I think it would indeed do more of the "heavy-lifting" when it comes to tone sculpting than the Bass/Treble stack.

Bought some strings from Ed - met up in person. Nice and easy. Thank you.

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1435751133' post='2812058']
The only real difference I hear between the Taiwan/Japanese Octave & the earlier Japanese Octaver is that the OctaveR has a slight gain drop on the clean signal. I actually prefer how the OctaveR sits in a mix, however all OC2s sound great, even the Taiwan versions.
[/quote] On our test rig, the tone difference was fairly clear - no problem telling the two pedals apart in a blind test. Taiwan one was a bit "ruder", and Japanese OctaveR had a sweeter mid-range (that may be for the reason described!). Both good in different applications. But then again we only tested 2, not 9

Is there no label on the back?

A friend and I did a side-by-side test of a Taiwan OC2 vs Japanese OC2 'octaver' and you could hear a difference IMO. Both good though

marvellous pedal, GLWTS!

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1435332490' post='2807837']
And I'm sure my Custom Shop Strat is 44 times better than that HB...
[/quote]
I did mean that the HB looks to be absolutely incredible value for money, and cost differences between it and MIA instruments simply cannot be reflective of instruments' actual playability :-)

I don't meant to side-track the thread, HNGD!

looks nice! talk about diminishing returns, when comparing this to £1k fender strat...

When I used to play guitar in a band, I bought a double-guitar gig bag and never looked back! Out of 100+ gigs, the back-up guitar came in handy maybe 5-6 times, but it was worth it. I guess I also alternated the two guitars in tour (ideally you'd want them to be similar enough not to have change EQ on amps etc).....

For bass, I would say it is less important to have back-ups for live shows. Over the same 100+ gigs, our bassist never needed to use his back-up, which he brought only sometimes anyway!

Hi - could you tell me which values are the treble and bass pots? trying to figure out if this will work as direct replacement for my Warwick thumb electronics :-)

Fretted to fretless conversion looks tidy. How much wear is there on the fingerboard?

thanks! not an official Fender term, then good luck with the sale Si, hope you're keeping well.

sorry always to ask - what does BBOT stand for?

bought a book from Mark, very smooth deal. many thanks!

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1434383409' post='2799082']
Hi, Roman

That's a sort of 'Yes and No'. The intention is to have a bass that has the same feel, balance and sound as the thumb tribute I built but without it trying to look like a copy. As such, by and large, the dimensions, woods and hardware are going to be the same where practical.

The other reason is that I like some of the features of Warwick hardware and it is really not comparatively expensive in terms of bang-for-buck. It is remarkable how reasonable the prices are considering that this is what they put on their very expensive German-made models. I like the adjust-a-nut...especially for a fretless...and I like the mass and height adjustment options of the bridge (the top half is adjustable for height as a block, and then additionally each of the saddles. Particularly for a homebuilt set-neck, that means that - in the event of the action needing to be higher - I don't end up with the rather unnerving 'saddles on stilts' . Instead, the whole block is adjusted for the correct general height and then the saddles simply adjusted to match the radius.

Andy
[/quote]
Andy, Thanks for explaining. Don't think Warwick use mahogany (much) so interesting how this one is going to turn out tonally (maybe somewhat deeper/warmer tone?)... May be wrong, but is mahogany softer than the more "typical" Warwick neck woods, e.g. wenge / ovangkol- so does the mean any changes in terms of the finish you are planning to apply? Roman

Andy, this is looking really great, and I look forward to seeing this progress :-) Just a question re: hardware, did you choose "W" hardware because of a particular characteristic / tonal quality? Would be interested to hear a builder's perspective here .... Cheers, Roman

Indeed. I hated the idea of someone paying top $$$ for a vintage Warwick, without full knowledge of (prior) issues...

I think anyone can learn to sing well, and singing lessons are indeed a great place to start - not least because you'll develop your ears and start hearing music/intervals/arrangements in a fresh way. Some people are born with natural voices, others are not... Practice and a GOOD teacher would be a good recipe for most. Lots and lots of quacks out there though, so pick which advice you follow sensibly!

FromFrFr
[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1433928460' post='2795076']
All my life I've been told not to sing.

Recently however I've accidentally stumbled upon something that has completely thrown me. If I sing through monitors I can sing in tune. If I turn the monitors off it sounds hopelessly out of tune to me, but in tune to everyone else, turn them back on and my voice is still in tune. What the hell is going on? It seems I can't hear my own voice properly. It works the other way too, if I start singing without monitors it sounds in tune to me but the monitors (and the rest of the world) show it is way out.

Please, please if anyone has an explanation I'd love to hear it. If I understood it there might be things I could do to find my way round the problem.
[/quote]
It sounds like it could be an issue regarding relative pitching. Good singing is largely a mental process (no doubt, some will disagree...), and if you've heard yourself back through the monitors to be able to pitch correctly initially, you should be able to retain the memory of the relative pitch.... If, on the other hand, you could not "align" yourself to start with (i.e. you were not sure where the note you were singing "should" be pitched), then it sounds plausible that you will be off-key when you can finally hear yourself, having not previously established a link between your vocal pitching and the other instruments. I guess just to add to that, securely knowing where the pitches without simple reference is hard and may take years of practice!!

coffee. lots and lots of coffee :-)

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1433538664' post='2792058']

My guitarist used to run his delay pedal in his FX loop....not sure why.

Si
[/quote]
this makes sense if the pre-amp is overdriven / distorted - running delay post "dirt" will sound cleaner than if the delays were also being overdriven.

wow, the knobs look great and match perfectly!

Not sure if you mean MiniFooger or MoogerFooger... I only have experience with the latter, which is incredible. You can either be very musical with it, and go completely mad with modulation on effects and get infinite feedback. I don't think it's muddy, compared to digital delays, it actually sounds clearer since the delays seem to be less in the "way" of what you are playing now.... not tried it with bass, and mostly used it with synths, though.

When I was looking for a 5/6 string, it also came down to a choice of those two brands in the shop... new Ibanez or 2nd hand Germamn Warwick thumb. Ibanez was much lighter and the neck felt ridiculously easy to play, but the Warwick had a deep growly tone and more character... for me the right choice was the Warwick thumb :-)