Oakbear

I finally got these on Friday (with an email a few days before apologising for the delay due to illness, snow etc), and strung them and did a full setup on my Chiwanese 6, which i've now defretted. I have to say that although i haven't played flats before, so have no comparison, i'm really impressed with these. They appear very well made, and are smooth and uniform with no perceivable flaws. The tone is beautiful, clear and piano like, but with a mellow edge. Getting plenty of the much sought 'mwah' with them, and you can get a good solid thump from them too when muted. They are a joy to play, i've not stopped since restringing! I'd recommend them to anyone, and when i need a new set will seriously consider trying these again rather than experimenting with a more expensive set.

I do wonder about that bog oak one, as bog oak is an odd wood to work with, light and brittle with lots of small voids. I guess he got an exceptional piece... I have to so there's nothing in the current crop which makes me go wow compared to some older stuff. Now that fretless jupiter 6 for sale here, that's another matter! Oh to have 3 grand spare! I've gigged my Ritter (it's my only 'proper' bass), and used to do so regularly. It's had it's share of bumps and the odd fall, but fortunately remains pretty much unscathed. No point having one if you don't use it!

Moog will always be cooler than an iPad. Having said that, i'm tempted to buy an iPad just for this.... [url="http://www.reactable.com/products/mobile/"]http://www.reactable.com/products/mobile/[/url]

Still awaiting delivery! I'll cut them some slack with Crimbo and postal chaos though, as it's not urgent.... I'll let you know when i get them!

You can't really 'negate' compression, unless you do some fairly odd stuff. The sound engineer should be happy with a nicely compressed signal, as it makes their life easier. I do have to say that compression is an effect that you really need to understand the basic technical stuff to use right. In fact it isn't really what most people would call an effect at all unless you intentionally mess with it....

It seems to me that that end result (call it tone if you will), from a bass rig is a combination of all the factors discussed. Because they are all in balance with each other, chnaging one can change all the others. How much each part will play proportionally will depend on the each of these individual factors. I honestly don't think it's all in the player - Mark King would sound pretty different on a Ashbory going through a bass heavy rig. However likewise you can't 'buy' tone, as if you are missing skill it'll throw all the rest out. I'm all for getting the tone you want, if you can replicate it! A lot of it may be in your head though.....

It's a bit naughty having a pic of Claypool under special guests if he isn't going to be there.....

A big part of it is in your head imho. Price can certainly play a big part of that though, especially as that is often seen as a marked for status or desirability of an item. My Ritter would cost silly money to buy new. Is it good? Absolutly, it's wonderful. I also have a Chiwanese 6 that cost £100. Is it good? Actually it's pretty decent after a good set-up. As good as the Ritter? No, but there's not several thousand pounds of objective difference there, some of it is quite small details. I'm gradually upgrading and playing with the cheapo job, and it's getting closer to the Ritter each time....

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1055727' date='Dec 12 2010, 09:59 AM']All smacks of derivative blues licks played very loud and with a very clumsy technique. Sorry but I don't rate Entwhistle at all and didn't even when I was into rock music as a teenager. The Who had their good days but Entwhistle was, for me as a developing player, pretty irrelevant. The videos embedded here offer nothing to challenge my view. Another one of the 'greats' who is only great because they played with one of the more popular bands and not because they offered anything particularly interesting. At best, it could be argued that his was a unique voice but, frankly, like Lemmy, that would be because noone else would actually want to play like that. And I can't believe anyone actually [i]wants[/i] to get that tone? But what do I know? [/quote] +1

Thia all sounds highly dodgy, but i must admit i'm intregued, and secretly quite fancy a go!

[quote name='dave.c' post='1054627' date='Dec 11 2010, 12:47 AM']Try the Status Graphite website, 6 string flatwound sets at £23.50[/quote] Thanks dave.c, that looks just the ticket! Order has gone in.....

Cheers for that! The price is certainly right, but they only do 4 and 5 sets it seems.... Anyone know any 6 options, or a 5 set i could buy an individual string to add? Ta!

Having played the one for sale i can say it's much better quality than other Ibanez basses i've played, and apart from the weirdness is really nice. Couldn't get my head around it though! D and G are repeated, which feels very odd to someone used to a regular six... If i won one or something, i may play around with different tunings.... With a bit of practice i'm sure you could pull some fancy stunts, but when i tried i got a headache!

Hang in there champ!

I fancy trying some flats on my second bass, but don't fancy spending £50 unless i know i like them. Anywhere do cheapy sets?

[quote name='Doctor J' post='1043590' date='Dec 1 2010, 11:44 AM']Eight and a half grand doesn't get you an E string that isn't practically hanging off the side of the neck? I'll pass, thanks.[/quote] +1 That'd have to sound like angels singing to be worth half the money and justify the fugly lumpy design....

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1040944' date='Nov 29 2010, 11:21 AM']I have a P bass pre-amp knocking around if you wanna give it a try?[/quote] That's a very generous offer thankyou. What model is it?

I've only just discovered this brand, and for the specs on paper they seem amazing value. But how do they compare to established brands in the real world? I've thought about buying a couple of bits to play with as they're so cheap, but don't fancy shelling out 70 odd quid if they're essentially cheap standard pups and preamps..... Opinions appreciated, cheers!

Some seem to alternate grain, others just laminate with it in the same direction. Likewise some joint, others don't! A bit confused now!

Anybody used or heard those Artecs? They seem pretty cheap....

Well, strong enough to hold 6 bass string under tension and not snap if it gets dinged against a door frame! It would be easiest for me to make a laminate neck and carve the headstock shape and angle out, and leave it at that. But i'm aware that in single piece necks this may not be strong enough without a scarf joint. It seems from the Alembic site (unless i spotted wrongly) that a laminate neck alone is fine, and a scarf joint is not needed. (Although the headstock laminates come into the neck as overlap i think). So is it worth my while using a scarf joint if i already have the strength from the lamination?

I've had a peruse of the Alembic site thanks, but can't find info specifically on their neck joints. From the photos i can see it looks like they don't use a joint at all, but carve from a normal laminate blank and the build up the back of the head stock with laminates running the other way. Looks quite nice i think, but shouldn't have any strength advantage? So would it be stronger if there was a scarf joint too?

Hi folks! Is there any advantage, other than using less timber, to scarf jointing a multi laminate neck? I'm planning on a 5 piece maple and wenge laminate neck with dual carbon fibre rod reinforcment. I'll have the timber to spare to make the headstock from the single laminate, but wondered if that would be stronger or weaker than if i were to joint it? Thanks!

Cheers! Those Artecs look purdy!

That's what i thought, thanks for a very helpful post! It's probably going to be a couple of months at least until i'm ordering pickups, but if you want to pm details regards your custom maker i'd be very interested in talking to them! Thanks again! Ryan