nicsim

OK. Next question (after my "Practise gear" one). Maybe getting slightly ahead of myself, but I'll ask anyway. I'm getting back into playing bass after many years inactive - I have a trusty Aria Pro II XRB 4-string, (think Jackson Concert lookalike) which I had serviced a few years ago by a good guitatar tech in Manchester. That'll do me nicely for now - I gigged with it years ago and it plays and sounds great still. Thing is, I've always fancied trying out a 5-string - especially as some of the stuff I listen to and would like to play seems to feature them quite a bit: rock/metal like Megadeth, Metallica, Nickelback* and such. Looking at various sites and forums, if I was to take the plunge into 5-string fun an Ibanez SR305 seems to be the out-and-out winner - slim, fast neck, good tone, good VFM) - especially as I'm not blessed with very long fingers. But I also like the Jackson Concert series 5-string and the specs seem similar to the Ibanez in terms of neck, etc - the Jackson has a compound radius as opposed to the Ibanez' flat one. I like the look of both basses and I could trial an Ibanez very easily as most music shops stock them. The Jackson would be harder to locate in a store. So the question is: what do the learned members of basschat recommend - Ibanez/Jackson or something else? * Opens can of worms. Stands back...

Thanks to everyone who's replied - much appreciated - it's why I love forums like this. I actually bought a Zoom B1 a few years ago - so that seems to be a good place to start. I'll [s]play about[/s] experiment with it and see how I get on. I also like the sound of the GB10 as well - although I looked on ebay and there's some software ("Song Surgeon") that claims to be cheaper and more feature rich. One for another day maybe....

Hello all! This is my first post on Bass chat. I've been digging around on various bass topics on the web and decided to be pro-active and actually put my hand in the air and ask a question or two. After deciding to dig out my old Aria XRB series from its [s]coffin[/s] case, and maybe get back into the habit after "a good few" years of not playing (either privately or in a band), I'm wondering what the cheapest/easiest way to setup a practise rig is these days. Bear in mind, it used to be a case of putting the stereo on quietly and playing along to tapes with my amp down low if my parents were about! , (and everything full whack when they weren't!). So 20 or so years later with most of my music collection in mp3 format and accesible via laptop. I'm wondering what's the best way to rig the bass through the laptop (and also maybe incorporate a Zoom bass effects unit) so I can play along using headphones and not disturb the mrs/kids while I try and get back in the swing of it - just for fun for now. Hopefully someone can recommend if I need some kind of USB-type thingy and/or software to adapt the bass input for the PC. Thanks in advance.