T-Bay

Not on purpose but my 'what the hell, put a bid on as it's bound to go for far more' means another 4 string is heading my way as we speak.

I am new to this game having only been playing a few months but my experiences have not made Fender top of my wanted list. Knowing they have a reputation for being excellent I sought them out to have a go to set a benchmark. I have to admit I was disappointed by the build quality compared to the opposition. Sound is very variable but that could well be down to the set up and I don't have the experience to determine which it is. But the feel wasn't as good as others for the same or less money. Perhaps it's down to expectation and if you expect something to be superior it's easier to be disappointed than if you have no opinion at all. The one that really stood out was a Fender dimension which being their entry level bass you wouldn't expect to be amazing but it felt a lot cheaper than the basic Ibanez which was half the price and sound wise I preferred the Ibanez (but that's subjective). Neither sounded as good as the worn Aria I ended up buying for peanuts, or felt as good for that matter. Being such a beginner I am coming at this from a different angle to most of you very experienced folk but I have a background in engineering and from that point of view they were nothing to shout about. Then on the other hand you see someone play one that has obviously been around the world and back and it sounds superb, so has the quality dropped? Do they need to be bedded in? Or does it come down to what you play it through as much as the the bass itself? I don't know.......

Mud, lonely this Christmas.

Learned to play (well sort of), joined a band at work, played our first gig together. And all since September!

I have an applause for my daughter, plays very nice and was cheap enough (well under £100 2nd hand) and can be run through an amp if you ever want more volume.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1482064822' post='3197286'] It does - it's marvellous, and I make no apologies for endlessly going on about it :-D [/quote] Any info on where you get them/ cost? I did a search but can only find the homepage in Poland and links to people on hear singing their praises.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1482064172' post='3197278'] So Elixirs at £53 a set is a real bargain! [/quote] I guess it does, like everything it's relative. Bass strings look expensive to guitar players, 6 string sets look expensive to 4 string bassists and double bass look expensive to everyone apart from harp players perhaps!

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1482063509' post='3197270'] How much? [/quote] This much- http://www.gear4music.com/Woodwind-Brass-Strings/Pirastro-344020-The-Jazzer-3-4-Double-Bass-String-Set/1M9T?origin=product-ads&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhNnCBRCqkP6bvOjz_IwBEiQAMn_TMY5aWsJbe3iMjwFUINKTMkPU302LLsri_Jh110uw3fMaAl0b8P8HAQ

We had a practice session on Wednesday in the theatre we played yesterday and used the smoke machine from their store (our works do so know all the people). It's been used loads of times but we managed to set the alarm off with a couple of blasts. It has happened once before and no one has any clue as to why it's ok most of the time but always. We decided not to use it yesterday for obvious reasons!

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1481979107' post='3196718'] Newport. The bass drum was overwhelming and I couldn't hear the bass at all, it was just a wall of bass. Mind you, as I said I was within jumping distance of the stage so maybe that is why, but Placebo sounded fine and their bass was a lot clearer (so much so my GAS for an explorer tipped over and I have one coming next week!) I liked Minor Victories, but my wife hated them and went and sat down. Mind you she is not a fan of that sort of thing. [/quote] Different strokes and all that, if the sound was bad that wouldn't help. I was very impressed, my only complaint was that they were on long enough!

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1481844789' post='3195728'] I was going to start a topic of this the other day. I went to see placebo on Monday night, and they had support from a group called minor victories. The bass player was on the side of the stage in front of me, and obviously as it was the support there weren't too many people in front. So the drumming starts and the bass drum goes right through you as do the other drums. The bass player is standing there with a rather nice Jaguar bass, so i thought 'Nice bass, I wonder what that sounds like'. Then he started playing, and turns out, I was none the wiser. Pretty well couldn't hear him. [/quote] which venue? I saw them at Manchester on Monday the 6th and was very impressed with the sound of the bass coming through. I did think the drums bordered on being 'boomy' at times but nothing major and certainly didn't drown out the bass where I was. I was in a seat direct in line with the stage so would be interested to hear if the sound was significantly different to the standing area. They seemed pretty spot on to me, Placebo were also well set up (but you would expect that). I was very impressed with Minor Victories and will make a point of seeing more of them.

I started playing in the middle of September, we started a band at work in the middle of October (other guys are all experienced), yesterday was our first gig (our works do). I expected to be nervous but wasn't at all (the clueless not knowing what to expect?). We ended up going on half an hour early as the other things on didn't run to time so we also finished the set early and having not been playing long together long we had nothing in reserve so just played the same ones again which no one seemed to mind. I absolutely loved every minute and would have happily played through again. The buzz I got was amazing and everyone had a great time so all good. I missed a few notes but had practised enough that I could come back in no problem or just improvise for a couple of seconds and then back in and no one noticed. We were really tight and had a lot of fun on stage. I need more time to be able to interact with the crowd at the same as playing. I could do a bit but had to concentrate on playing most of the time. Strangely the song I enjoyed most was Slade merry Christmas everybody. The walking bassline sounded really good in the big space and everyone knows it so was singing along. We did it as the last song and got loads of our colleagues up on stage to sing along. Brilliant night all round and we are now planning to do another social in a few months after requests.

All you need to do is take a classic song S L O W it down, then S L O W it down some more, put a stupid dance beat drum machine track behind and you are on a guaranteed hit. Or so it seems with some of the rubbish that passes for the charts these days.

[quote name='funkgod' timestamp='1481750695' post='3194915'] "Hello kind seller, i want to bye your bass to me, it is what i am perfect looking for for my son. What is your full asking price to me, i pay this price so you know i am serious for it. i want this to be sent right away to my son so i can send a collector. i can not collect this item i work off shore on an oil rig so i order from there. so you know i am real i am prepaired to pay rightaway by paypal only when you have the money in your account you can send the item to my son for his birthday he is looking forward to getting this item. give me your paypal address and i pay today. take this item off ebay now and i will take it" Bla Bla Bla.... Yea right, how does the paypall scam work ? if it shows up in your account ? can they call it back once sent ? i had a few selling when i have sold basses on ebay, but gumtree seems really bad [/quote] Yup, a guy on a motoring forum I use lost a camera worth £700 that way. He posted it to an address in Nottingham and that was the last he saw of it. Person who's net the. Only claimed the account was hacked so PayPal claimed it back. I think the scammer here is PayPal as much as anyone as the seller did nothing wrong but they don't care. What do you pay the fee for after all. It was painful to read the stress the guy went through over a couple of weeks as he desperately needed the money.

I would pay serious money to see Rage against the machine do it.

I saw the same in Manchester last week, I find it a bit tragic, crap video, appalling sound. What is the point?

I am new to this whole game but it seems everyone loves someone who can sort the technical stuff out and fix things when needed so do that as well as playing bass and hoping not to cock up too much. First proper outing Friday so time will tell.

I thought it looked familiar! There isn't much room in there at all. I can see why you are a bit concerned. Why can't you have the function room?

Does he regularly have live music? That looks small for pretty much anything beyond an unergetic duo.

The grey powder is probably the inner block, it's very easy to drill and doesn't hold well at the best of time.

I used some electrical contact cleaner and held it on, then tried a small amount of some conductive paste I have which is normally as good as soldering for testing but I think you are right and I will try soldering it and see. What is puzzling me so much is that it comes through its own hole and it's hard to see evidence of where it could have been and everything works beautifully as is. Perhaps it's just a spare wire that hasn't been capped off. The quality of the wiring in general shows they are built to a price but I love the sound so shouldn't complain. Most people would just ignore it I guess but I like my kit to be spot on.

The rawl plugs are the old type that aren't the best. There are far better ones available. If the wall is solid and you want to 100% sure than either expanding rawl bolts or chemical anchor is the best solution. If it's a stud wall then 'butterfly' type expanding fixings would be better.

One things for sure - it's not 10% of the quality of the one you made!

If I Earth it to a pot I get severe noise. I think I need to drop off the minihumbucker and see what is going on. It all works fine so I can't see what is happening really, the volume, tone and pickup selector all work fine. But the wire is so short it could only reach the back plate or the one pot which is why I am a bit baffled.

[quote name='anDy LAKIN' timestamp='1481385281' post='3191948'] if you are not happy with it send it back if you cant live with it and its always going to bother you [/quote] This^^^^^ it wouldn't bother me personally but if you felt the need to put a post about it then chances are it will always bug you.