MartinB

Not my cup of tea. It's an odd choice of song to cover in that style. The original wasn't massively tuneful, but it got by on funk and aggression. Take those out, and there's not much left...

Yeah, I think the white one is likely to be a >2018 '60s Precision Bass (made in Indonesia), as opposed to the fiesta red >2008 Precision Bass '60s (made in China).

If the IR loader is any good, it's a bargain for that alone!

youtu.be (share) links seem to work ok:

Great story! There was a Reverb article recently with some similar tales: https://reverb.com/uk/news/when-studio-mistakes-created-music-magic

Legal considerations aside, why not just be up-front about it in the advert? "We're looking for a 30-something man, because our agents say this will get us more gigs" makes it clear that the decision is commercial. Whereas "No women, teenagers or fogeys" sounds like you're weirdly prejudiced 😆

Potentially! It's a Shin-Ei Wah King, which was sold under various brand and product names in different markets. I think some of Shin-Ei's vintage pedals are (rightly or wrongly) perceived as rare and unique-sounding, so you might have a nice little nest egg there.

I bought a compressor to limit peaks when playing slap. Turns out I also really like it for adding a certain bouncy magic to fingerstyle!

A better bass player? You mean like: "The guitarist writes all the bass parts, and they're perfect for the song/arrangement/genre - nothing needs to be added or taken away. They can play those bass parts perfectly, but I cannot." Nope. Hasn't happened to me. I'm sure your ex-guitarist doesn't really deserve to be piled on by internet strangers... but let's just say that he doesn't come across well in that video! 😆

Maybe your bass sounds awful through your amp, but your GK cab's voicing compensates to make it sound good. If that was the case, the Peavey cab is just being "honest". It's a shame there's no headphone out on the amp to test it. Have you tried running the amp's line out into an interface/desk? I've got one bass that sounds great through a DI box. I've got another that needs plenty of EQ from an amp and/or cab to sound great. Neither is better or worse than the other - just different ways to achieve a good sound.

It's possible to boost voltage - it's pretty common for pre-amp pedals to do this internally, from 9V to 18V or whatever. I think the term is a "charge pump"? Anyway, there's a cable that does this, allowing you to power 9V pedals from a 5V USB source: https://www.songbirdfx.com/products/birdcord/

Good luck! If you've already got the gear to do two tracks at once, there's no harm in having a go at lining up 1+2 and 3+4 manually before you go spending any money. I just wouldn't get your hopes up 😄 Behringer UMC404HD is probably as cheap as you'll find for a new 4-input interface (~£100)

☝️ Beg, borrow or steal a 4-input interface if you can. Not only can the playback speed vary, but that variation keeps changing over time. Trying to manually line up continually-shifting tracks is a massive pain in the derrière.

The article in the OP has been updated with a clarification from Facebook. Selected highlights: Doesn't sound too different from Twitch, YouTube etc, at least for band purposes. I'd like to see a statement about soundtracking a video with recorded music that you own the rights to, but I'm guessing that doesn't apply to the majority that they're going after..

If I had a car, I'd be delighted that big, heavy, great-sounding gear is cheaper than ever! But since I use public transport, I'm relieved that small, light, great-sounding gear is also available. Bulk (volume) is almost as important as weight. An 8x10 cab isn't going to fit on the bus no matter how lightweight it is!

The varnish itself is probably safe, but I've definitely melted pickup covers with nail varnish remover (acetone) before.

Looks like it was released this year, which was unfortunate timing. At 500W it's more than most people need for recording/home use, and I don't imagine many folks have been investing in gigging amps recently!

"Brit" isn't a derogatory term, so probably not. I'm sure some bands would take umbrage at being labelled "Pop" though 😆

I've got RightOns on both my basses - the latex padding is nice and comfy, and the microfibre lining is just the right amount of grippy-not-grabby. Also got an extremely nice plain leather one from Pinegrove for guitar, but for bass I like something with a bit of squish.

I'm too cloth-eared to hear any meaningful difference between solid-state, hybrid and valve amps that I've owned. But I like seeing that other people are getting such enjoyment out of valves!

They're not the best modern surf band, but they're good at promotion and social media - e.g. they had a Britney Spears cover that went viral with millions of views. So I think folks in the surf scene generally feel positive about them, even if they're not necessarily fans.

I'm guessing the truly innovative stuff that suggests no influences is probably unlistenable, and rightly stays in underground scenes 😆 But I'd argue that dubstep (mid-2000s) transcended its influences enough to feel like a "new" genre, not just a variation on an old one. And in particular, the US bro-step (e.g. Skrillex) that grew out of it around 2010 - that definitely crossed over into the mainstream enough to appear in adverts and film trailers. That's usually a good sign of something that sounds novel to the average person (and also that a genre has become creatively bankrupt and all the originators have moved on 🤣). I'm pretty out-of-touch with popular stuff now. I understand that trap has peaked in the last decade, but from what I've heard that's heavily influenced by eighties electro, so not that new - a bit like neo-soul compared to soul. I'm probably making myself sound ancient here!

Yeah, absolutely. But I'm also confident that if new music was outlawed tomorrow, there'd be enough stuff from the past ~70 years for me to spend the rest of my life digging into without ever running out.

If you're thinking of changing your amp head, it may be worth doing that first. To my way of thinking, the head determines what kind of cab you're looking for. If you can get the sound you want using just your head, then it's best paired with a cab that's fairly flat/neutral/transparent (more like a bass-capable monitor/PA speaker). But if you need a voiced cab to shape the sound the right way (and you normally mic your cab on stage), then you want something more traditional.

Blimey, that's (comparatively) cheap! I've seen the equivalent blacked-out Jaguars for pre-order in a few places at £749 - how can an extra four inches of neck cost £260 more?! 😆