dave_bass5

Ideally the height of each string follows the fingerboard radius.

Yeah, its medium low rather than low IMO. I know a few players who play with a lighter touch and can get 2mm or just under.

Ive been having a bit of trouble setting my Yamaha bass up to how i like it. Nothing wrong with it as such, just not comfortable. I read as many set up guides as i could, and i have been setting my own basses up for years. What i found strange was that the more relief i had, and going by most of the guides say more is better for harder playing, the more fret buzz i would get abve the 6th fret. I play with a pick so fret buzz can be a bit more obvious, and although dont dig in to hard i can get a bit heavy handed. Against my better judgment, i was going for .012 - .015 at he 8th fret, while trying to get the action down to 2.25(ish) at the 12th on the E. Most of the guides were saying this is needed if you play herder. In the past ive gone for .008 -.010 like in the Lakland video. In fact that video as been my reference point for years. Now i have the perfect set up for me, and its at the Lakland settings of .008, with just over 2.25mm action. My point of this long winded post, is that i was getting quite a bit of buzz when i was using the higher relief measurements, and although i dont go over the 12th most of the time it was in the upper part of the neck. I can now dig in a bit more and have a relatively low action. So yeah, tighten the truss rod beyond what you have it now and if the frets are fine i think its going to work. You have nothing to lose. I found this PDF to be quite interesting, although as i said, i went against the advice and used a tighter relief. https://www.dropbox.com/s/kos2qqse8q1vdj2/Truss_Rods_Made_Easy.pdf?dl=0

1, the most expensive one i have. Whatever it is at the time of course.

I had a Ashdown 1x15 combo for years, stopped using it about 8 years ago. I ended up giving it to my sons school for free. Dont have space for it and if im never going to use it why bother keeping it.

Quite often, and I dont really sweat that much.

If my 425 didn’t have the bridge that it does I doubt I’d have looked at the P34. Silly as it sounds I just think the bridges on the 200/400 series really cheapen the look.

How would it differ between a BBOT and HM bridge?

Yeah, if it does improve the tone or tension, why not put it on the higher end basses where you would expect this to matter just as much.

Today’s ‘ponder’ is why do the cheaper 5 sting basses have the offset B string saddle, but not on the high end ones? Obviously we can only speculate, but I’d be interested to know what others think. I thought it might be to do with the cheaper quality of bridges on the 400 series, maybe it’s not needed on the high mass bridges, but then why not put them on the 200 series as well.

No, the Q/strip (and most of my other pedals) have been shown the door by the Stomp. If the Q/Strip had a proper Drive section like the BDDI I would never have stopped using it. I said it before but I found both BF cabs I owned to lack mid punch, but I know others like them. This was with and without a BDDI I should add, and with jazz and P basses. You don’t really need a sweepable EQ, just something that can address the upper mids to bring out the clarity. My GK head can certainly go over the to[ with that, my BH800 can also open the tone up a bit more, but have it more control over the actual frequency seems to be the best option IME. I have 3 heads, i couldn't Possibly buy another. Plus I’m hoping to just use the preamp section of the BH800 and let the Stomp do the rest.

Anyone seen this film? I just watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very interesting and a great companion film to Standing in the shows. More about the company itself rather than the musicians, although plenty of that as well. I never realised how involved Smokey was with Motown.

And this is where the Q/strip was/is so useful. Ive got almost Jazz like growl from my Fender P by being able to play with the upper mid frequencies. You can even open the upper mids up so much that it sounds like its slightly breaking up. Never underestimate the power of a Parametric EQ lol.

Spot on. Ive used a BDDI for years with my P basses, as i too felt it needed a bit of a kick. Couldn’t play without it. Since I stopped using it my tone has become brighter and in fact more ‘P’ sounding. Not as thick as with the BDDI, but as much as I love the BDDI tone it’s been clouding the basic tone. I’m happier now with just adding EQ, without the BDDI ‘blanket’ over it. Saying that I never used the blend knob past about 10 o’clock, so it wasn’t adding too much. Also my BDDI has a mid knob so I wasn’t missing any of those. Ive recently got in to Yamaha basses, and these sound much more open and modern to me, even though still in the same P bass ball park tone. A bit more clarity and growl, but still with the P punch. I have noticed the bass rig can make a huge difference as well. Playing through some of the amp sims in my Zoom or Helix multi effects has produced very warm , to way too bright tones. Also my GK head can get much brighter than my MarkBass or TCE BH800 heads.

Ive had a Sire V7 5 string since they first came out, and its a bass I’ll probably never sell. It plays well and in passive mode it’s more Fender Jazz than any other non Fender Jazz bass ive owned. Ive never had an issue with mine, even the action is lower than most of my other basses. I agree about the active side though, and it’s one of the things that puts me off buying another. It just seems a waste as I dont use it. Luckily the basses do run in passive mode though. For me it’s the neck that I love. the necks are really nice. especially the gen 2 necks with the rolled edges. I prefer it to the Yamaha 5 string necks. The biggest issue seems to be the weight. They are quite heavy.

When I started looking for a 5 string PJ earlier this year I got a Sire P7 gen two in a very lovely deep sunburst with maple neck. Seriously nice bass to look at and lovely to play, more so than the 735 I tried, but it had a faulty bridge pup so I sent it back.

Oh yes, I’d love that. Ive seen the maple necked 435 and it looks lovely.

Let’s face it, along with the bass tone the audience will never notice 😂 As for the quit on about the P34/5 being worth the extra. I’d say no way would I call those basses value for money over the 435 or 735’s. I cant find anything wrong with my P34 but I can’t see anything to justify its high price either. Still, I’m sure it’s in there somewhere. Lovely basses, all of them, which makes it hard to justify the much higher cost to me.

Seeing Hugh McDonald plying live with Bon Jovi was the first time I had (knowingly) heard a Sadowsky. One of the best live bass tones I have ever heard. Ever since I’ve wanted to won one, but over the years realised it was more than just that specific bass. In this interview he talks about his first time with a Sadowsky.

Some people just like different things. I have never had a 'nice tone' comment with a Jazz bass in my band. They love the P34 (ok, not exactly a cheap bass), and also my 425. Took a Dingwall to one rehearsals (and gigged it once)and other than silly comments about its looks, nothing mentioned about the tone. Not my bass and IME one of most boring sounding basses ive ever played Still, a Sadowsky is about the only bass ive wanted to own for a good few years but probably never will, so who am i to comment.

Oh, i wouldn't go as far as to suggest I made the bass sound good, it just did. Its a P bass, how could it not sound good lol. All these higher end basses are about self-indulgence IMO, never about 'must have' one to get a job done. Still, as a hobby there is nothing wrong with being as self indulgent as your bank account will allow.

Or a Squier, i got told loads of times how nice the bass sounded 🙂

Although mine came with a short TRS cable, and i already have longer TRS cables, i just brought a short cable with right angled jacks. These should be safer and more reliable with less sticking out of the back.

Agreed, i cant get over how much better this sounds (to me) over the Zoom stuff. I only wanted it so i could use 3 stomp effects, each with a footswitch, but now ive heard what it can do life is going to get a bit more complicated. Ive already fallen in love with putting the B7K at the start of every patch lol.

No, Amazon (with prime delivery as well 🙂) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074PK2VT8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1