jonno1981

Un-trimmed strings on guitars. Resulting in string ends dangling off at eye-poking height. You’re not Tom Morello! Cut them off dammit!

If I recall correctly, ashdown just made a whopper of a delivery of these to sound control as they went under. This is a distributors worst nightmare as chances are you’ve lost your stock and won’t see much of anything back for them. I think a lot of them were sold off cheaply as a result which canned the reputation of the brand.

I still have the rumble 200 I bought from you and really rate it. It’s not as loud as the 4x10 half stack I used to have (no suprises), but it’s a quarter the weight and sounds marvellous. If you’re not playing a big stage or with a daft metal drummer it’ll suit most folks more than adequately.

As a further thought, is the pre-amp a cut and boost model, or can you only add and not cut bass and treble? Is the pre-amp heavily boosting bass and treble in the recording? It sounds like it might be and that’ll also amplify the buzz.

Is it the jazz pickup at the bridge which is buzzing? I wonder if this is a single coil issue. Does the buzz go away when you blend the pickups together? Does it buzz more/less if you move the bass around the room? Angle it away from lights or electronics?

TI flats live on my jazz and BB. They must be at least 5, maybe 10 years old now. One thing that makes a colossal difference to tone is keeping them clean, way more than any round wounds I’ve used in the past. A couple of wipe downs with fast fret with the cloth supplied and they zing back into life and feel much better. There might be a superior product to use but it works for me.

Sadowsky, sandberg or lakland for me. I’d get the sadowsky as I love the feel, electronics and build quality.

Cool! I guess the lower tension dropped the string too close to the pickup. Glad you’re sorted.

I’d slacken it right down and reseat it at the nut and bridge. It might be sitting awkward or twisted. If that doesn’t fix it and you can’t live with it then you might have a string that needs replacing.

I’d love to know how to stop nerves! I think it’s healthy and shows that the gig means something to you, if you didn’t care it would show in your attitude and playing. It’s a bit like going into an exam, you don’t know exactly how it’s going to go, but you can control how you prep for it. In this case, learn the songs, rehearse and when it comes to playing the gig try to look up and enjoy yourself!!!! The crowd will pick up if the band are having fun (it’s infectious), literally no one will notice or care if you make an occasional fluffed note.

I’m unemployed and on holiday! It’s not the best time to splash out. This looks like something I’d be massively excited about for five minutes, never find a practical use for and leave it to live on the wall. A beautifully made wall ornament to admire and then take back to cash generators!

Still there!

Those little sliders on graphic eqs for acoustic instruments. Why do they always feel like they cost 5p and a fart from a mouse will knock them out of position? Arrrrrrgh.

Glad you’ve found a great bass. Also, I love DILLIGAF, I’m stealing that.

That’s crap packaging. I can’t believe they sent it out like that. It’s just inviting problems and a return, causing them and you misery and effort to resolve.

Sadowsky, musicman, Dingwall, lakland, Warwick, fender etc all produce high quality 5 string instruments. I’d never, ever consider buying one without having it in my hands first, as I’ve had some that were miles better and worse than others. In an ideal world, I’d settle on a specific model than I’d want to try about five of the same model to pick the best one and avoid an expensive lemon. If only there was enough stock around in a single dealer to do this.

This. I wouldn’t want the event to turn into a hideous music-show style volume war and a good break is crucial.

Bassgear 🥲 Salt of the earth blokes running it. Brands you couldn’t get anywhere else. Interesting secondhand selection. No horrible salesman pressure to buy anything.

I’m getting to grips with a Roland pro mixer x. Annoyingly, this has just been released and looks like a good new alternative. It doesn’t offer multiple inputs, but has a good internal mic and some effects through an app. https://blackstaramps.com/polargo/

Glad I’m not the only one. For some reason I tend to play more softly when I do this which probably gives me better tone. I’ve got more dynamic range which helps to build songs and you get a real lift when you dig in.

I try to keep gain as high as possible to benefit from the character of the pre-amp and adjust master for the volume. On some amps this can mean riding it into the red, I just trust ears on whether it sounds nice. When I had an ashdown abm I always ran the gain about 80%. It wasn’t overdriving but sounded warm and full.

This is a good read. Wine journalist moves to Cuba to learn the double bass. It’s as much a study of the music and culture as it is the bass. https://amzn.eu/d/0dP0zXY

Simplified sight reading for electric bass by Jos des Pres. I used this to learn bass notation. It’s brilliant!

I love zero 7, didn’t realise he was the guy. So much thought in his bass lines that are just enough for the song.

Spanking new round wounds, huge attack with right hand to push the pre-amp into the red as well. It’s a great bass line with loads of energy, I’m surprised how sloppy some of the bits are. Did they really decide to go for this as “the take”. Lots of string noise and undampened strings around 1.10. Some timing issues and inconsistent attack later on. Flea is great, but this isn’t perfect!