andruca

I'm a freak for skinny neck 5ers with a not too wide spacing. My faves amongst the ones I own now are the Stingray5 (34" scale, 20mm thickness @fret1, 44.5mm nut, 17.5mm spacing) and the Schecter CV-5 (35" scale, 19.5mm thickness @fret1, 45mm nut, 17mm spacing). Many other basses I've owned had such skinny necks, notably an Ibby SR, and an Ibby ATK (most ATKs I've owned were bulky necked, but this one, 2011 MIK ATK-405, 2 pickups, was as skinny as my Ray 5ers, same kinda' sharp C profile, same 17.5mm spacing).

I've been playing Stingray5 for the last 20 years as my #1 instrument. I own 2 ceramic era ones (1997 & 2003), which I prefer to the current alnico offerings. I've also owned a Sterling5 HS and tried innumerable HH models and I've found out the 2 pickup Stingray/Sterling thing simply doesn't do it for me. Both in the HH and HS versions the neck pickup is too close the bridge for my taste. I understand relocating that was not an option at design time as it'd end up right next to the "bridge" pickup (which, being the trad. MM position, is way further from the bridge than, say, a Jazz's bridge pickup), the way it is on $$ Warwicks. The neck pickup on those sounds more in mudbucker/neckside RIC than in P/neck J pickup territory. So I let that HS go (fortunately at no loss, as I had gotten it used too), gave up the fantasy of having a Musicman and a P/J in the same bass and ended up getting a much cheaper and much more flexible 2 humbucker bass (Schecter CV-5, basically a poor man's Roscoe Beck). Don't get me wrong the Sterling5 HS I've owned was a great bass, it just was real good at the Musicman sweet spot tone. Only tone I liked using the extra single coil pickup was a sorta' "all open J" sound (that's still not there). This is a test of some all positions but the classic (humbucker in series) tone: CLEAN 1) Single coil neck pickup (+ phantom coil) 2) Single coil pickup and bridge-side coil of bridge pickup (sorta' all open J tone) 3) All 3 coils (+ phantom coil) 4) Bridge-side coil of bridge pickup (+ phantom coil) PICKED/SANSAMP 1) Single coil neck pickup (+ phantom coil) 2) NON DEFAULT SELECTOR POSITION, neck-side coil of bridge pickup (+ phantom coil, modded the bass -easy mod- to select default -bridge- coil or neck coil -phase changed so it still cancels hum with the phantom coil- with the selector lever all towards the bridge; I modded my Stingray5s for having this coil soloed too, my fave position) http://andresdemarco.info/test-ST5HS.mp3 NOW, this other clip is from the only other HS bass I've owned (a 2001 MIK Ibanez ATK-405, MM+J). I honestñy liked this bass much more than the Sterling HS, except at the strictly Musicman game, of course (and it's way lighter, while having the same sort of string spacing, skinny sharp C neck profile and 3 band EQ). Fragments you hear are these 5 positions in order. Position 1 sounds way more P-like and position 2 is a much more convincing all open J than what's available from the HH/HSs. http://andresdemarco.info/test-ATK405.mp3

In the early 2000s I went from using just a HA3500 head to a SansAmp RBI + compressor + para EQ + power amp, then to RBI + HA3500 or any other bass amp. I find the preamp is great for carrying your tone with you and then you can plug into any clean amp's imput and use the particular amp's tone shaping to adapt to the room. Since 2015 I've only used a Zoom MS-60B for the same purpose (SansAmp emulation -my tone at a variety of gains- + comp) and I've never been happier, can get my tone on any clean loud amp with sufficient low end authority, no problem. Don't even use a stack anymore (seriously thinking about selling it), just 1 or 2 old Peavey TNT-150 combos. I really think the concept of bass preamp has changed. Used to be a stage just to take signal from instrument/mic level thru EQ and up to some 1V level that the power stage could amplify. We now expect bass preamps to OD, compress, etc. I think getting another device for that, a more personal territory, so you can take that everywhere and put it thru any shared/local amp or PA is a good idea.

Stock roundwounds. I see/hear nothing wrong with the stock mudbucker. It has a certain character that I find specially nice indeed, both for punking and for beatlesque "marching" pop bass stuff, not generic at all. I'm never surprised by the Epiphone quality, already owned a couple and they're ultra solid bang for the buck every time.

I've just borrowed an Epiphone EB-0, unused for years in my nephews' closet. As new really, I minimally lowered the bridge, gave it some relief and it's playing NICE. Strings are original (still perfectly usable), I ignore the brand (D'Addarios?). Was missing some short scale action after letting go off my Epi Viola more than a year ago. This has a learning curve, of course, find where it belongs and where it doesn't. But all in all a pretty little bass that I like even better than the Viola (both how it feels/plays -prefer this skinny neck- and how it sounds). This is not a cover, as the song is one of my band's originals (and yes, the one singing is me, my condolences).

Definitely into that too, owned several of those, still own one in fact 👍

For rock music I always try to sound as HARLEYDAVIDSONIAN as I can. That'd be my description.

I've swapped the VVTT layout in my Star Bass to VVT plus a rotary switch to change tone cap value. REALLY USEFUL. In my case it was homemade (some 2€ total). The usual 47nF is too damm dark for any passive bass I've owned. My preferred zone usually lies between the 20nF and 32nF positions.

Over the last, say, 5 years I've been gigging less and less (used to make a -frugal- living out of music some 15 years ago). So I've progressively switched my attention to my bass stable (that at one point would consist of a dozen basses) and how to have a "reduced" one. So I've spent these last 5-6 years selling and trading some stuff (hadn't moved away from my Stingrays and Fernandes Gravitys for the previous decade), been thru' Maruszczyk, more EBMMs, Yamahas, Ibanezes, Schecter, Warwick, even some (cheap) DIY adventures. I was aiming at 5 basses, ended up being 6 because I changed my mind about a real chamaeleonic bass I was about to let go (Schecter CV-5), I've got a rented place where me and my musical partner for over a decade now have built our own studio, so thought it might be useful to keep (and really wouldn't sell for that much money). I'm pretty stupid, but not too stoooooopid to say I'm rehabilitated from GAS in any way (I'm just eyeing an Epi EB-0, need to take care of the short scale dept). But still, for the first time in 30+ years, I have a diverse enough bunch (at least for my needs, still lying as I really DON'T NEED 6 axes, few people do really). Must say I'm not "avant garde" at all, I'm in fact sorta' "rustic" when it comes to "modern" bass tones. I love me a good bass tone, no matter the bass, but I find many attempts real generic sounding, thus not interested. If it doesn't sound in the ballpark of traditional/"established" timbres (most of my bass playing has been on Musicmen, so that, P, J, RIC, EB-0, etc.) or has a marked personality of its own in some way (i.e. WAL) I just end up not getting it, paradoxically "getting old" easily on me. My fault, definitely. So, I wanted to make a video of each of them and finally did so over the last couple weeks. Tried to be as creative and diverse as I could about covered songs (there were no previous bass covers for 4 of these, so 66% achieved). One of them is from a band I sometimes do sub gigs with and another one is from my band (Bitter Mambo, and yes, I'm the one singing there, my condolences). Here's the playlist with: 1997 Stingray5 with Magma Ultra Flat flatwound strings 2011 Warwick (Korean) ProSeries Star Bass 5, strung with Warwick Red Label NICKEL roundwounds My rat rod DIY J (parts from a "donor" bass -38€ used, neck&body unusable- and the cheapest body& neck y could get from AliExpress -add 51€-), also on Warwick Red Label NICKEL roundwounds Schecter CV-5 (poor man's Roscoe Beck V -and not just for metal-), same Warwick Red Label NICKEL roundwounds My DIY P/J fretless 5er (originally a Harley Benton P style kit, highly modified), strung with LaBella LTF flats 2003 Stingray5, and yes strung with Warwick Red Label NICKEL roundwounds (best bang for the buck nickel strings around)

I've retired my SansAmp RBI from recording duties since I got a B3. Prior to that I had been confident for years in the SansAmp emulation in my MS-60B, just wasn't as convenient as the B3, with the DI and the recording interface functionality. Even tho' I've long been a SansAmp guy, I really like the MXR's emulation kinda' CMOS overdrive. Sounds a little thin to my ears, but nothing you can't fatten up with proper EQ. A B3 can definitely do what the M80 does and more.

Yep, the "Illegal device connected" means a firmware-model mismatch. It happens even with identical hardware, say, between any guitar and bass model, there's a protection against that, even if it'd work (sad, I really wanted to transform my B3 into a G3 -fimware can't be edited in such models to add individual guitar FX-). You have to start from your model's firmware and add individual effect files extracted from other models' firmwares.

V.2.10 is the newest one. The Zoom Firmare Editor's page claims to be compatible with the MS-70CDR (I don't have 1st. hand experience with such device). That version came out at the same time as the 2.1 update for the MS-60B, which I own and can update OK. What's the symptom/error/impediment you get? I can't think of any possible way any firmware update/version will make the hardware itself not accept updates (unless the firmware you're trying to install is corrupted somehow or the pedal is not turned on in firmware update mode). Maybe if you give some more details we can be of more help.

I did the mod on a DIY P-bass and even tho' it wasn't radical by any stretch of the imagination I had the chance to try one and the other (recorded) and it was still noticeable. I ended up preferring the reverse option, IN THAT PARTICULAR BASS.

I own a SansAmp RBI but might get away with almost any OD pedal as long as it has a blend/mix (wet vs. dry) control. I also get SansAmp and many other preamp/dist/OD emulations from a variety of small Zoom multi-FX units. Emulations are decent and you have many different preamp/dist/OD models in there to decide what you prefer (also, Zooms are abundant in the 2nd. hand market for half your budget or less). I'd start there to get familiar with dist/OD/grit in general and what it can do for you, the different sounds and the different ways to obtain them, then eventually decide pursuing a particular dirt pedal if you feel the need and have found that's the one for you.

I got the cheapest body and neck I could get from AliExpress. Neck was 23.40€ (Outdoor Equip Store) and body was 28.97€ (Soundly Music Store) back then, shipping included. It's been one year since I put up a DIY with those and all other parts from a "Jazz" I got from a guy for 38€ (badly shaped, painted by someone on LSD, truss rod not working, etc.). So far no issues with the neck. Not the thinnest Jazz neck but decent enough. Truss rod doing great too (have adjusted it 3 times IIRC). Will never know what the parts on the "donor" bass were, no brand to be seen anywhere. Still came out nice and sounds good for any kinda' stuff, even tho' it's mostly set up to play punk/HC/metal. At 90€ (if I don't count the Hipshot D-tuner, which I already had lying around) it's been a great bass. STILL, it had dead spots (most notably the Bb at E string fret 6) which I got rid of with a Fat Finger (add some 10-15€) I have always on it these days (not used in this recording) so the neck's not perfect, but still intonation's good, no high frets, fret ends are OK (except for just 4 I had to file a little), no ski jump so far and stays straight, so at 23.40€ it's way more than I ever expected. With such precedent, I expect a 55£ to be definitely decent. I love maple+blocks. I would have payed a little more for maple+black blocks but back then it was more than double the money (around 50€), so I decided to stick to cheapest possible. Cheapest neck you can get from AliExpress right now is 53+€ (either "rosewood" or maple).

Also don't discard Schecter. IDK if they make 34" 5ers but even at 35" they don't feel cumbersome and their 5er necks are SKINNY (19.5mm thick @ fret 1), super sharp C shape, with a 45mm nut. Most (if not all) have a 17mm string spacing at the bridge, OK for me (used to Stingray5's 17.5mm), but might not be your thing.

I've had two of the same bass in three occasions. 1) (Korean) Fernandes Gravity Deluxe Vs, early '2000s, production of each some 3 years apart according to serial #, totally consistent, virtually undistinguishable. 2) Ceramic era Stingray5s (1997 & 2003), real consistent despite one being full birdseye and swamp ash and the other being regular maple with rosewood board and regular ash. They used to play different as one of them needed a shim. Once that was done they're indistinguishable, even in tone if they're on the same strings. Still own these 2 guys, my kids will probably inherit them. 3) Yamaha BB-615 (both made around 2008-9 in Indonesia), indistinguishable too. Guess some brands are better at consistency than others. That said, I own a Pro Series (Korean) Warwick Star Bass 5 and I can't really tell a difference between that and some more "modern" RockBass version specimens, they feel and sound the same. Not implying one of your Warwicks is a lemon (don't think those guys' QC lets lemons out of their factory) but maybe it's on their weakest extreme as per wood and electronics quality, as some have already mention.

If you're asking plain quality, they sure are great. I own 2 USA Stingray5s (ceramic era) and I've owned a Ray35 H. Only aspects I could tell they were cutting corners were: 1) Pickup are screwed directly to wood, not thru' threaded inserts as the EBMM ones. 2) No compensated nut (not that I cared much, my old Rays also don't have one). 3) Had to go thru' the truss rod wheel in mine with a drill as the holes were sketchy, a nail/screwdriver/whatever you use to adjust wouldn't go all the way in. My Ray35 was great. I even did some experiments with its coil selection wiring (so I could use real single coil, each on its own). Still I didn't like its weight. It was a black one, presumably mahogany, still heavier than any of my (ash) Ray 5ers. Before buying it I had tried some SUB Ray5s. Found them equally playable, but lacking in the preamp dept (clear preamp clipping going on), and noticeably lighter, of course (basswood). After owning that Ray35 I wouldn't go Ray35 HH but a SUB Ray5 HH. IMHO the difference in price isn't justified by a consequent increase in quality nor functionality, plus the weight issue (personally, after putting up 2 very nice sounding cheapos I don't fear basswood at all). I'd just try powering the preamp with 18V first to try to get rid of these basses' endemic clipping (have done this a couple times in the past, most preamps do accept a wide range of supply voltage, so that manufacturers can use 9V or 18V depending on how hot their pickups of choice are, also a variable resistor before the preamp can work, if the bass is hot enough that losing a little output wouldn't suck too much). If that doesn't work you can swap the preamp for cheap. I feel spending too much would defeat the purpose in a 400€ bass, but there are still many options. There's 20€ Artec preamps from thomann. I've used some of those (3 band version, for a couple active Yamaha BB-615s, stock Q-Mix onboards were awful -lows control too high, also lacked headroom-) and am sure they're a hell of an upgrade for the stock Ray5 preamp. Here's a nice review of the Ray5HH (stock clipping and all)...

I have 2 Stingray5s with the unfinished neck. I oil them once a year, or if I eventually see they're real dry (you can defniitely feel it to the touch). ZERO humidity marks so far (my oldest SR5 is a 25 y/o birdseye necked one -pretty dark, looks almost roasted-). That's very dense maple. Other more porous untreated woods might need a different oiling frequency. I use abundant linseed oil, let it sit for a couple hours, then wipe all the excess oil out.

In my case it doesn't change much from bass to bass. I do almost always record with my SansAmp RBI, and sometimes I rehearse with it (+Hartke 3500+a couple old Peavey cabs). When recording I also use the uneffected output, even tho' I've almost never ended up mixing it in. But lately I've been using my Zoom gadgets more and more (same thing, basically SansAmp emulation, sounds convincingly good). I've got an MS-60B, a G1Xon and a B3. The B3 both has a DI and can be used as a sound interface. So I mostly record with it nowadays (DI output can be set to "uneffected" so you don't even need an extra DI for the wet/dry thing). It's SO convenient, it's "my tone in a box", I can go anywhere with a bass and one such gadget and have my tone on whatever amp/desk/interface I plug in, and also have a powerful tool I'm familiar with for the occasional tweak and/or experiment. Whatever the choice, I just don't conceive an alternative for live situations, I'm all for carrying my tone with me in whatever portable thing I use as a preamp, and using whatever amp' there is, with it's EQ to simply adapt to the room's response and resonances. Regarding tone, I use a thick crunchy tone for almost everything, might back off the gain a little for fingerstyle and that's about it. Here's the crunch out of my SansAmp RBI (a reference track for some recording)... http://www.andresdemarco.info/COCOYDANI.mp3 (Stingray5) and here's a sort of "clean" (cleanest I'll go) tone first, then crunchier, with my Star Bass...

Sure, I'm counting on that for FUTURE generations, not the current one.

I'd like to comment (and probably polemicize -only out of frustration, sorry-) on the modules/blocks approach. I've been a Boss user (ME-8B and GT-6B -noisy!-) prior to switching permanently to Zoom around 2004 (a 708II back then, had previously owned a BFX-708). I 100% hate the "modules" approach. I like to simply chain effects. Who cares if they're MOD/SFX/REV/DLY/PRE/AMP/EQ/DYN? Don't get me wrong, Zoom switched to the "chain whatever you want in whichever order" (even several instances of the same effect) paradigm only for the recent 2 generations, but that is since 2011 (when the G3/B3 models were released). The modules thing kills Boss for me. The "workarounds" they came up with for this (such as having duplicate FX modules, so you can use, say, chorus and phaser at the same damm time) only make it more ridiculous to me. I'm a big fan of some features, as the parallel processing in the GT-1000, but then again, they're shootin' themselves in the foot by not allowing us to configure the "morphology" of our chain(s) however we want no matter the "module". How come I can use 5 MOD effects in a row on a 50€ B1on and not on a 600€ Boss multieffects? IDK if there's some limitation so that, say, for the hardware, a delay and a preamp are not comparable entities. Doesn't seem to be the case with Zoom, each FX is sort of a big config file for the audio engine. Some take more processing power, some less, but that's about it. Guess I'm waiting for a future Zoom generation that allows parallel chain processing (hopefully done right: chaining whatever I want with whatever else I want, in whichever order and putting both Ys wherever I want them when going parallel).

IME, only decent pitch shifter in either the MS-60B or B3 or G1Xon is the Ba Pitch model. I've tried both the regular PitchShift and the PedalPitch/BaPedalPitch but those simply track horrible or offer stupid useless modes (the pedal pitches). I don't use the single note ones, they work even worse. All this said, with the Ba Pitch I've managed to do some nice "Royal Blood on the cheap" tones basically with either 2 of my Zoom multiFXs (many tips in the video description).

Funny thing is, with 115 effects loaded in my G1Xon firmware, I still have 152 free blocks according to the editor. Thinking of an average of 6 blocks/pedal I could still fit some 25 more effects in there. Does anyone know of any pedal count limit? 140 effects is MS-60B zone (142 in fact). Will definitely give the B1Xon effects list a look. Owning the MS-60B first I've always looked down upon the B1on/Xon as less high end. WRONG! It's SO capable. And for anyone doubting about construction/ruggedness, well, last week my G1Xon took a 2+m (6-7ft) fall from a shelf. Hit the computer desk (IKEA kinda' stuff, left a HUGE triangular dent about 3/4" deep), then hit the floor, LOUDLY. For sure the hardest hit ever on any Zoom device I've owned (about a dozen). Still looks and works like new 😮 EDIT: best I could do, a G1Xon firmware with everything that comes stock plus 41 more effects, which is pretty much everything you'd need from the B1Xon (bass amps/preamps, BassOD, BassMetal, BassDist, all missing filters -Ztron, A-Filter, M-Filter, etc.-, Ba PEQ, Ba GEQ, many compressors and synths); also linking my MS-60B firmware (stock stuff minus minor useless crap, plus 13 guitar amps and the Ac Sim from the MS-60G). custom G1Xon firmware with plenty of bass stuff (total 146 fx) custom MS-60B firmware with 13 amps and Ac Sim (total 147 fx) Also, here's a compilation point I put up with everything Zoom firmware editing and all my 6 "maxed" firmware versions for the B/G1[X]on and MS-50G/60B.

For "guitar" I go BaPitch (fixed, octave up)+BaPitch (occasional 5th up, mix at 35)+guitar amp model (either BgCrunch, MsCrunch or VXJimi)+SuperChorus (stereo mode, allows for great L-R control). If using the G1Xon (one more effect slot) I'd add ZNR (you guessed it, the guitar signal path is DIRTY) and also keep the 2nd (5th) shifter on and blend it between 0 and 35 by lifting the expression pedal (so I don't have to go into on/off mode, therefore lose patch navigation abilities). No extreme EQ on the amp model, nor extreme drives (around 2/3). I also keep both BaPitch tones to ZERO, makes half the work of reducing roboticness (the other half is done with the distortion in the amp model after the shifters).