atsampson

Bought a synth from Russ - excellent communication - thanks very much!

Hello also from Dundee!

So this is kind of the Harley Benton version of the Schecter Model T?

It certainly sounds nice in the video! That's the kind of tone I aim for...

What strings are you using on it, @Joe Hubbard Bass?

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Can't work out the chord structure or even the key.

It's a jazz standard, so a fakebook is your friend here - e.g. on the Jean-Luc Barbier Quartet's very handy site: Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

That's awesome! Watched it over dinner and really enjoyed it - great playing from all involved. I particularly liked Brown-Eyed Women and Stella Blue.

Bought a set of strings from Alain - very happy! Cheers.

I use D'Addario ETB92 tapewounds on my two main basses, having tried a few brands of tapewounds and found the ETB92s most to my taste (good tension balance, nice smooth finish, and respond well to being hit hard for the occasional bit of emphasis).

I've recently bought a Greco bass which I'd like to try roundwounds on (it came strung with D'Addario chromes, as it happens). I was planning on trying a light set of NYXLs based on good experience with the ETB92s, and positive comments on here about the lifespan of the NYXLs. However, the real reason you should give me a free set is that it'll only be slightly late for my birthday 😉

I've been very happy with the Soundmagic E10 earphones I bought in 2015 - they sound as good as the Sennheisers they replaced, and are substantially more robust (I'm still using the same set daily 3 years later). I think they were What Hifi's budget recommendation at the time - they were £30 then, £35 now.

For those more used to a bass fretboard, remember that larger members of the mandolin family are available...

I play a flatback octave mandola, which is 21.5" scale length, tuned GDAE an octave down from a regular mandolin. It's great for chords and pretty good for playing tunes on. You can also stick a capo on 5 to turn it into a tenor mandola (tuned CGDA).

I've just finished listening to it - nice work, @SpondonBassed and @Akio Dāku :-) No negative comments about the production, writing, vocal style, etc.; it all sounded good. I thought the length was fine, but I'm used to listening to "long-format" podcasts (it was at least shorter than The Intellivisionaries).

The interview with @Chownybass was really interesting - thanks for going into lots of (messy!) detail for us about how the business works. It makes me wonder whether someone at Harmony in India would be willing to be interviewed about their end of the process...

Are you planning on doing a "show notes" page (which I guess would just be the first post in the comments thread)? It'd be nice to have links to the companies/threads you've talked about, the pedal settings you were demonstrating, and so on.

5 hours ago, Graham said:

It happens to the best of us (from 12:30)

To be fair, I've seen Show of Hands live several times, and their regular setlist has included covers of Sting, Dire Straits, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd... and they've got a song about this problem.

As a ceilidh band, our best request so far has been for the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean. We did a pretty good version of it, I thought. The five-year-old who asked for it seemed happy, anyway.

On 26/06/2018 at 23:04, nige1968 said:

Red Hot Chilli Pipers

Along similar lines, there's Ceilidh Minogue, and The Jimmy Shandrix Experience.

On 15/06/2018 at 08:38, Conan said:

The buyer seemed very happy to pay that much.

That'd be me. 🙂 I'm still really impressed with this passive Thunder 1 - particularly the neck, but it's also got a nice bridge and tuners, and a good-sounding P pickup with adjustable pole pieces. In general it feels like a decent Japanese reinterpretation of the P design.

I'm a bit surprised at the comments about them being heavy; this one is 3.5kg (600g lighter than my 2007 MIM P). I guess the more common active version will be a little heavier, and there's probably some production variation...

Vulfpeck's "Dean Town"?

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At that budget, Yamaha BB434 (new) or BB734A (second-hand).

I had a go on a BB434 the other day (since Kenny's in Dundee has them on special offer at £299: here), and the build quality was certainly very impressive, but I don't think it meets the "thin J style neck" criterion above, unfortunately...

Bought Geoff's Thunder 1 - excellent communication, very well packaged, and the package arrived the next working day. Thanks very much!

Fender have an excellent step-by-step bass setup guide: https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/214343843-How-do-I-set-up-my-bass-guitar-properly-

The recommendations in there for string height, neck relief etc. are sensible defaults -- as you get used to playing and maintaining basses, you'll probably discover what you like to change to suit your playing style.

Unless you particularly need it to be passive, I'd be tempted to spend a tenner more and get a Micro DI from Orchid -- http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/micro.htm -- active, more robust connectors and case, and fewer switches to go wrong.

Bought a strap from Andy - brand new and arrived faster than it would have done from Amazon! Thanks very much.

On 1/8/2018 at 18:56, TheGreek said:

[Status tapewounds are] available in 40s and 45s and are priced at around £16 for a four string set. The medium length are long enough for your typical 34" scale bass [...]

Having found myself in need of some strings for a Mustang Bass this week, this got me curious enough to order a couple of 45-105 sets of the Status medium length tapewounds at £13.99 + VAT, which arrived the next day by first class post.

Measuring from the inside of the ball, each string has 28mm of bridge end silk, and it's 905mm to the nut end silk, with the total length of the string being 1195mm. So yes, you can happily fit these to a typical 34"-scale bass with a top-loaded bridge - I've tried them on my Jazz, and the silk on all four strings ends up about 5mm above the nut, which is just about right. They fit fine on the Mustang (30" scale, through-body) as well.

In terms of finish, they're very similar to the D'Addario ETB92 set I'd normally use. The only downside is that the G is a bit light for my taste - these are 45 65 85 105, where the D'Addarios are 50 65 85 105 - but it's hard to complain for the price!

Bought a set of La Bella tapewounds from Gareth - arrived next day. Thanks very much!

... and if you don't have any PFL buttons down, then the monitor output mirrors the main output (or a group output, on the bigger MGs). So definitely don't use it for monitor wedges! Use one of the aux sends instead.

3 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

... just before Christmas 1985 ... Phil Winter of Holdenhurst Avenue, Finchley N12. God knows where he (or the bass) are now ...

Going by the comments on http://funderglass.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/lethal-poor-trancefloor.html - that could be the Phil Winter who now plays with Tunng: http://www.tunng.co.uk/

Don't know if this works for anyone else, but the approach I use: sing through the song a couple of times with the lyrics in front of you. The next day (while doing the washing up, or in the shower), try singing it from memory from the start - when you get stuck, skip forward to a bit you do remember and keep going. Note the bits that you can't remember. Look those up, and sing through them with the lyrics, paying attention to the transitions into them from the parts you do know. Repeat from "the next day" until it all flows properly.