Ceebass

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

So as well as being a synth it's a pretty decent octaver too. Having got my head around that, I kinda realised I could probably manage without my COG T16 on my board as well, so that duly got moved on today and the MB SS is going to take over duties as octaver as well as synth...

I made the same decision when I got mine! After one gig, I decided I wanted my other octave back though. One is never enough.

On 23/06/2018 at 16:47, Al Krow said:

Are we talking about 'pro' musicians mostly here?

Not necessarily... It is quite common for guys doing 'the big time' pop gigs to double, but I don't think that should stop anyone else from doing it! Letting your bass hang on it's strap while you press keys is no more or less complicated than stomping pedals while playing, in my book at least... 

Anyway, now that you've been converted to the Church of Dave Smith you'll just have to do it!

I've been using MainStage for all my live synth bass needs- spend a few hours playing with the stock synth engines and you can get some great timbres.

On 21/06/2018 at 11:51, Al Krow said:

"Sensible"?? Doesn't that mean you're now a keys rather than a bass player and have to swap instruments mid set to get your desired synth sounds? (Please shoot me down if I am being very dim here). Not sure that is going to work 'live'.

Have a look at this interview with Alex Al- he plays Moog and electric at the same time on some of the songs on This Is It😮

https://www.bassplayer.com/artists/men-in-the-mirror-the-bassists-of-michael-jackson-how-alex-al-and-his-predecessors-pumped-up-the-king-of-pop

Loads of pop guys are doing this these days!

7 hours ago, Tradfusion said:

Have this little beauty for a few months now so time to post a pic or two... I wanted a light weight Precision due to having alot of shoulder and neck pain recently and I found this nice demo at the Bass Freaks online store with a good discount... its only 3.1kg (6.8lbs) so feels like wearing fresh air... simple passive no frills P bass with Delano pickup... sounds great, plenty of bite and bark but can do old school really well too with flats... I've become the regular bassist for a busy blues band and this is the perfect bass for the job... its so light and comfortable to play that I'm finding myself grabbing it now for all my other gigs as well (pop & rock covers mostly)... overall I'm very impressed with this lovely instrument, I never thought I'd buy a red bass but I must admit its really grown on me 🙂

 

I had this model from Bass Direct for a very short time (couldn't afford it & had to give it back)- just a great instrument. Bit me baaaaaad with the Maryszczk GAS!

13 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

Have you looked inside to confirm there isn't a trim control already there? Worth a look if not!

I'll have a look... 

I was wondering if any of you clever mod-ers out there might be able to help me with something (before I start unscrewing things ). My T Rex Bass Juice has got a boost switch, which the manual helpfully says 'switches between moderate and high-gain'. Might it be possible to control with amount of gain the boost adds (either a trim switch or, even better, adding a dedicated boost control)? I'm no dirt connoisseur, but I like this pedal a lot: I just thought it would be cool to have the extra flexibility. Thanks!

Talking to my class of GCSE music students about favourite artists/albums the other day, the general consensus was that they didn't really have them! They seemed to have a list of songs they liked (that autoplay/spotify had helped them stumble across? I'm making assumptions), but no really affinity for/allegiance to any particular albums, artists or to some extent, genres. Interesting times.

13 hours ago, CameronJ said:

The split pickup is mainly aimed toward my collection of analog octavers. I may even put some Labella Black Nylon Tapes on it too. Honestly, the difference in tracking stability between my Sandberg VS4 (p-type) and my MTD Super 5 is pretty massive. All of my octavers track the Sandy like bloodhounds whereas the Super 5 is much more prone to glitching. I’m a little surprised they’ve never done a split P Wingbass before given how perfect they are for us bassists who are octave junkies.

You may have a good point re: reversing the pups - although the fact it’s tuned an octave up could mean it won’t make a blind bit of difference? I.e. it’s not much different to me just playing my Sandberg P high up the fretboard? If it were something like a Kala Ubass California (massively cut down scale but still tuned at normal bass pitch) I suspect there’d be a more vast difference to be found between standard and reverse orientation. Still, definitely worth investigating...

A concern i have is that because I’m going for a slightly extended scale compared to the standard Wingbass format, Andy won’t be able to provide me with a gigbag that fits and I’ll be in the lurch attempting to fashion something myself or have it swimming in a guitar bag. Another thing to think about!  

Do you think a violin or a ukulele case might do the job? I'm sure I've seen a swanky Mono uke bag around somewhere... 

1 hour ago, prowla said:

I wasn't intending it as a negative; I was following on from saying the high octave is not so good.

The 1 and -2 ones are good (subject to the caveat of physics wrt the -2).

You're right that ths SS's tracking is spot on.

Sorry, didn't mean it come across that way dude! Likewise, was just carrying on with that line of discussion (should have chosen a different quote )

On 04/05/2018 at 10:40, prowla said:

I think the -1 octave is alright, though; it's more stable than my Aguilar.

Everyone to their own I guess, but I thought the octaver was killer! Aside from the tracking, which was spot on, I loved it's growly timbre. I think it might be the only time I've seen an audience specifically react to me using an effect pedal (in a good way, I think).

On an slightly unrelated note, I always used a solo'd sub octave before my SS (when I still had it), which seemed to really make it sing.

11 hours ago, thebassist said:

Any recommendations for a 6-string bass stand?

Anybody use the Hercules GS414B Guitar Stand successfully with a 6-string bass?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000EEHKVY/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

I attempted to use one once, they definitely don't fit! 

@Lee-Man ooooooo

2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

Is this what everybody is buying? https://www.geekbuying.com/item/KZ-ZS10-HiFi-10-Drivers-Earphones-394070.html

That's the one I've gone for!

1 hour ago, mrtcat said:

I ordered a pair from geekbuying.com yesterday. They'll ship to UK but takes a couple of weeks. 

Just ordered a set from the same site... Waiting game START

1 hour ago, Jus Lukin said:

The Boss LS-2 will do it, and with many more options too!

I've used mine for this too. They go for cheap 2nd hand!

5 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

I'm guessing they are off the shelf bulk purchase balanced armatures - probably from the Chinese wholesale manufacturers where a single balanced armature can be had for as little as 1 USD. Given that KZ themselves originate from China, it doesn't work out why their retail costs are so low.

The main players in the IEM world tend to stick with Sonion and Knowles (I don't believe Sony make their balanced armatures available to others) as the manufacture and audio output from balanced armatures can vary widely. Given the prices of the balanced armatures from these manufacturers, (a quick look shows that they are more like 9x the prices of the Chinese equivalents), it doesn't take long to work out why their is the price difference. It's probably worth also mentioning that the balanced armatures that you buy direct from the manufacturers are primarily used for hearing aids and pace makers, not hifi audio reproduction. Additionally, the various balanced armatures used by the CIEM world, (eg the quad balanced armatures etc) are specifically made for each IEM company, the specs of which are kept between the manufacturer and IEM company... and certainly not available off the shelf to anybody. For BAs like that, you'll pay a premium... and there will be a minimum order. This is why a lot of the small fish IEM companies using off the shelf components don't tend to compete with the offerings from the larger players.

The KZs are definitely worth a go though - in fact, I may be tempted myself! I quite like the idea of having a dynamic drive in the mix. In fact, I have GAS for the new Ultimate Ears Live piece... I want to hear it!! 

This is super useful- thanks @EBS_freak. Given your oracle-like knowledge, I might give them a go! 

Just out of interest (& slightly off topic), what is the difference between the armatures for hearing aids and musical applications?

16 hours ago, itsmedunc said:

I might try a pair of those on pay day. It says they can be returned if they aren't suitable. Quick search on Google finds them at under £33 at Gearbest. Never heard of the site before though.

 

Hmmmm I'm tempted too. I think you can only  get them from America, so I wonder if returns might be problematic? I just can't fathom how you can get 5 drivers for this price- do they know something I don't?

Has anyone come across these before?

https://www.amazon.com/Earbuds-KZ-Headphones-Drivers-Microphone/dp/B07BQ2CL5W/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_267_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5HVGQDHRN9MCA53G5XDE

Some guys on an American gospel forum I'm in were raving about them- they seem too good to true...

20 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

I believe Jed is of the female persuasion actually.

Fair enough- I didn't know!

There is a guy on FaceBook: Jed's Peds who might be worth trying. He sells pedal kits with (I think) various customisable options.

On 19/03/2018 at 13:27, ambient said:

I've never had a problem with connections coming loose. 

Same- I guess it might be true that a USB cable isn't as sturdy as a 35ml jack, but I've never had any problems using a laptop on stage. My Mac just lives on a laptop stand: I cable tie the USB/PSU cables to that too.

On 19/03/2018 at 19:35, Skybone said:

Wouldn't he be better using a multi-FX / modeller I stead of a laptop? He could then actually switch effects in real time, and not have to worry about its ruggedness, as they're designed to be used on stage. Something like the HD500x, Helix, Axe FX, Kemper etc. All more rugged than a laptop.

You can get a MIDI controller on the cheap, which can potentially give much more real-time functionality than a pedal. Also, MainStage is £30!

On 08/03/2018 at 10:19, paul_c2 said:

I've never heard of signalling the key by hand signals - I'd have thought you knew by knowing the music or simply listening to it. But I've heard of the hand signals to indicate the structure, ie moving on to the next section in a repeated bit, or ending the song.

I haven't come across it for showing keys, but have played with gospel guys who use it to indicate chord changes (using the 'numbers' system). 

On 04/03/2018 at 21:06, Kingbassist said:

Ian King, Hamilton - Small.mov

You're killing that second groove (and the others!). So clean & funky!

Good shout! Will check this out for sure.

UniDays do a 10% discount on all apple products:

https://www.myunidays.com/GB/en-GB

I would make sure that the Mac/laptop you go for has enough processing power & memory. I'm no expert, but if your lad wants to use it for production, it's gonna need to be a pretty powerful machine to support lots of plugins/effects.