Doctor J

Did you ever see a bass and, even though you shouldn't, you still want it? I could rock this, I really could

Copying the copiers? F-Hole Jazz basses are old news

5mm is a lot. I cannot stand high action like that. I set mine up around 2mm at the 12th fret with very little relief in the neck.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1341054742' post='1713250'] I usually stand on the Hihat side if I can [/quote]This

If you've got any old albums knocking around I'll buy one off you.

Still £154 too much

Yes. Yes it would. I notice, like the Olympic fascists, you don't value your own time. Were you to invoice yourself at an hourly rate for time spent trying to de-sow's ear the Bach - in addition to the extra £500 on parts - you'd probably be able to afford a Gibson T-Bird. Think of all those horrible little cars with mad wings and loud exhausts extra parts bolted on, do you want to play the bass version of that? Of course not. Just buy a good bass which comes with good parts already attached, you'll be happier in the long run.

I like that. Good tune, great bass tone. I'd love to hear it without the soundcloud distortion at some point. Good work, fella.

We had an audition like that, the guy sent us mp3s of his playing, kind of Petrucci/Malmsteen widdly widdly. He had a couple of weeks ot learn three of our tunes which weren't really hard at all. Apart from having so much reverb on that he sounded like he was playing from the bottom of a very deep cave, he just couldn't play. He clearly wasn't the fella on the mp3. When we went through one of our tunes he played the intro riff (very badly) and kept playing it all the way through the verse and chorus, at which point the drummer had to stop after dissolving into a fit of giggles. There are a lot of crazy people out there.

[quote name='mcnach'] the protest site with the tree houses etc, protecting a bit of forest from some planned roadworks[/quote] Sounds reasonable. [quote name='mcnach'] They had a pretty amazing setup, to be honest, a [i]wooden[/i] stage, covered, [/quote] Bleedin' hypocrites!

I have a first series ABM 300w and it is most definitely not a quiet amp. First things first, you need to get the needle moving. If you're not getting the needle moving that means you're sending very little to the power amp, so this is where your problem is. Use the high input for passive basses - the one on the left. Even on my weakest output passive bass, I don't need to go any higher than about 3 O'Clock on the input gain to get the needle bouncing. If this isn't the case for you then you're never going to get any serious volume out of it. Try raising the pickups on your bass a little closer to the strings to see if that gives you more. If that doesn't work then try a different lead. Also, if you can, try a different bass with it too, just to compare outputs. In my experience, you need to get the needle going into the red with your loudest notes to really get the best out of that amp. Another thing to consider, once you've got that sorted, is the ohm rating of your cab. The ABM will give you 300W into 4 ohms. If your cab is 8 ohms then you're not getting the full 300W of output.

Sweet.

Next time I'm up Dublin way I will check one out. I can see one of these in my future. I haven't had a single offer for the 4x12 and it's just sitting there... seems a shame to leave it unused

I've never needed more sustain than even the shittiest bass could provide.

45-135 Elixirs, as I use 45-105 on a four banger. I love the B, would probably go to 140 if they sold one.

Ah, I was looking at that one. Great bass for double the £360 it went for.

Get some Freddie King, especially Burglar which is a sublime mix of Texas blues and 70's funk. Early ZZ Top cannot be faulted either. John Lee Hooker's 70's output is pretty cool too, lots of extended boogies. It's not all about 12 bar, you know. Albert King was fantastic too, guys who played songs rather than just solos and always had excellent bands behind them. I don't "get" Joe Bonamassa's blues. I've listened to several albums but he just leaves me cold. Not strictly blues but if you want to hear slide guitar played with unreal skill and melodic sense, check out Sonny Landreth, he'll have your jaw on the floor.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1340185568' post='1700486'] I don't think they're criticising you for having more basses... I think you read it that way because your subconscious feels guilty. You need to liberate yourself. How? Buy a LOT more basses. That will teach your subconscious!!! [/quote] I don't feel guilty at all. I'm just trying to help those who feel guilt to see the light

If we're actually honest with ourselves, there are very few of us here who couldn't do everything they want and need to do on a bog standard Jazz bass and, I put it to you, that even owning more than one is an induglence. Why are people who have two or three applying a stigma to having more than that? At a push, you could say there could be a need for fretted and fretless but saying you [i]need[/i] a Stingray tone and a P bass tone is a bit much. Just get more if you want more and enjoy it, don't think too much about it, just play them

Oil or wax is fine for maple. It has a wax coating, just like countless maple bodied and necked Streamer basses which have done ok since the 80s. It won't stay spotlessly clean like your average Fender entombed in poly and the likes, but it will be protected enough and I don't like the feel of a glossy neck anyway. Having spent a few days getting to know this, I must say I really like the electronics package. It could use a blend pot and I can't see myself ever using the bright switch, but I've really warmed to it in a short space of time. I would heartily recommend one of these for anyone who likes slapping, it has a perfect slap tone.

Do a full edit of the first post and you might/should have the option there.

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1339950029' post='1696647'] I knew I forgot to mention something... If I can, I'd like to avoid a blend pot as I can't stand the things. Cheers for the suggestion though :-) [/quote]I've spent the last few days getting to know a L2000 and the one thing I'd change is the selector switch, I'd love a blend pot in it. Different strokes for different folks though On the positive side, the sound out of it is pehnomenal even without one. Possibly not as versatile as legend would have you believe but the pickups and EQ really work well together and are very responsive to how you play. Take it easy and it really cleans up, dig in and unleash actual thunder. I like it a lot.

ProTools continually writes and reads to the disk your sessions are saved on. It's pretty intensive. If your operating system is on the same disk that can cause problems because your OS continually writes and reads it's system disk too. Hence, a disk dedicated to ProTools is a good idea. You can use USB but they don't officially support USB drives anymore. Ideally, you want your external disk to be as fast as possible, a USB powered one doesn't sound like a high-performance disk to me. Try it, but be prepard to invest if it doesn't work out.

If these are your criteria [quote]something with lots of thunderous, rattly bass, plenty of clarity and trebles that sing, but can turn aggressive if required[/quote] I'd say transplant the electronics from an L2000 into whatever you're building and you'll be set. Maybe change the pickup selector switch for a blend pot though

It's how you tell em