progben

A lot of people quite enjoy restoring basses so price fairly and sell as is, would be my suggestion. I imagine it'd be more tempting to someone as a 'diamond in the rough' than in better, refurbed condition!

I'd recommend David Mitson. He's worked with a lot of big names including Michael Jackson, Santana, Alice in Chains etc. Charges us £60 for a 4 track EP

Personally I love Lars - for all his flaws he's absolutely vital to the band (drummer and as a personality). For me Cliff is largely the same. Jason and Rob are probably "better" bass players, in the same way that most drummers are better than Lars, but he was the right guy, IMO. People also sometimes forget that Cliff also wrote a lot and was instrumental in making albums like Ride and Puppets as good as they are. His knowledge of theory and experimental nature also contrasted well with the more 'sturm und drang' nature of Lars/James.

My main bass is a Warwick Dolphin Pro II and can't recommend them enough. Light, ergonomic, thin neck, massive growl and a solid range of tones. They're about £500 used and very much worth trying out imo

Played guitar on and off for years, moved to 8 string because I loved the low end, switched to bass when my best friend/guitarist started a band and wanted me to be the bassist. The first time I ever played a bass (my friend's dad's old Aria) was at our first band practice. We wrote 2 songs and jammed Crucified (Agnostic Front). I bought a TRBX304 about 2 weeks after that and played my first gig on bass within a month. Recorded our first EP shortly after that. After that, I started isolating the bass lines in songs I loved and figuring out why they worked. I dont know many covers though, I much prefer writing lines and learning through trial and error (mostly error)

Like a kid after one too many blue smarties.

Personally I just approach the bass as an extension of myself and so don't really worry about how "good" I am. I'm not really a conventional player and am more interested in experimenting and letting my abilities grow with the music. I've got a lot of admiration for technicians (Alex Webster is probably my favourite player) but I'll never be one. I'd say just figure out what makes you happy/comfortable and rock it.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1473801157' post='3133308'] So ... your playing with the bass control at 1 and complaining thats its "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]impossible to dial in a sound with punch and it honestly sounds nasal" .. am I missing something obvious ?.[/font][/color] [/quote] As below, 1 as in 1 o clock. My apologies for not making this clearer!

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1473691879' post='3132297'] As I mentioned earlier, it's a shame how the thread's turned into a Class D bash (again), when the OP's posts don't seem quite as clear-cut as that...he has an issue some of the time with not enough low end, and experiences boominess and wooliness when boosting said bottom end to compensate. Sometimes. Bound to be a power stage issue... Having said that, he'll probably fire up the ABM500 and the problem'll go away... [/quote] Yeah, less of the Class D bashing guys. To be honest, it could be just down to the middy warmness of the TH500 not really gelling with the cab/bass/rooms/other elements. My suggestion is tweak the Tonehammer some more (maybe scoop nearly all of the midrange and add some Drive?), then (if a low weight is important to you, as it is for me), try another, more neutral voiced Class D. If that fails, then stuff it - let the Class D bashing continue.

[quote name='catmanhog' timestamp='1473682395' post='3132184'] I becomes wooly and boomy, which leads to much moving of cab position & being tempted by the EQ once more! Thanks for the info, Progben. [/quote] No problem buddy!

For reference, I play with Drive @ 3, Gain @ 9, Bass @ 1, Treble @ 9, Low Mids boosted slightly and this seems to work in most situations for me. I then make adjustments to the bass's pre-amp for tweaks between songs live.

I have this problem with mine too, although I've realised that what sounds 'correct' to me is not always what sounds right in a band situation (plus the EQ requires some extra thought in comparison to other amps). My experience with the TH500 improved significantly when my guitarist dialled back his bass, upped his mids and treble and gave me the room to take up the entire lower mid/bass frequencies. I found that beforehand, I was dialling in too many mids (on what is already a mid-baked amp), hence the nasal and separated sound I was getting. Hope this helps in some way, although it might not be entirely applicable to the OP.

* he's selling a 305, just to be clear

I had the 304 and it's great - very versatile and was my main gigging and recording bass for a whole year. Dyerseve is selling one over in the classifieds for £175. Drop him a PM!

Met Stuart today for a bass trade. The Warwick was perfectly as described and communication was excellent. As others have said, top bloke - don't hesitate and buy/sell with confidence.

I have the same problem with the electric guitars. Was never able to get inspired by picking one up. Watching this thread with interest! What am I missing?

Deliverance by Opeth. Huge fan of Martin Mendez's bass playing - dude is a genius.

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1473421867' post='3130070'] Guitar test with Gibson firebird through all home amps I've got led to some clipping, so new amp too now. Looking more and more like starter pack zone. [/quote] I recommend the Fender Mustang series if you want a decent practice amp at home. They're pretty cheap and have a tonne of built in effects, headphone jack, USB etc.

Nice rig! Currently I'm using a Yamaha RBX800, Tonehammer 500 and Barefaced Super Midget which I managed to pick up for around £1000 used too. Crazy how much you can get for so little money these days.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1473327889' post='3129079'] I love Peter Steele's tone - massively distorted and drenched in howling feedback. It's so unique that anyone who gets even remotely close to sounding like it would be accused of ripping off his sound. Also, as mentioned above, it wouldn't really work for wedding gigs. [/quote] Niche markets my friend, niche markets.