silverfoxnik

[quote name='alexclaber' post='381912' date='Jan 15 2009, 11:39 PM']A good example is to just think back to when you started playing bass and how much harder you found it to hear the basslines in recordings compared to now after years of experience. Have your ears got better or has your hearing got better? Alex[/quote] Ears, definitely due to more experience..

[quote name='Boneless' post='381043' date='Jan 15 2009, 10:04 AM']Seeing that not many people know what a Peavey T-40 sounds like (not even as a vague idea), I made some samples (I know, I know... they're awful ) just to give, yeah, a vague idea of the T-40's tone. Played sh*te Here goes: [url="http://www.labibliotecadeserta.com/manico-beat.mp3"]Neck pickup[/url] [url="http://www.labibliotecadeserta.com/manico+ponte-beat.mp3"]Both pickups maxed[/url] [url="http://www.labibliotecadeserta.com/ponte-beat.mp3"]Bridge pickup[/url] Tones are maxed for both pickups. I have replaced the pots with new ones (I stripped the tone pots of the coil tap function, it was useless, since the "single coil" mode is really too much lower in volume and it has a "brittle" tone, and I put 500K pots instead of the 250K that were installed in the bass before). Tone cap for the neck pickup is a .22uF now, it's better now since it doesn't "mud up" the tone as much as before. The strings... erm... the guitar tech put some "handmade" nickel strings, and they're awful I'll definitely put some nice ones as soon as the current strings are gonna be too awful to put up with Oh, here's how I recorded the samples: Bass -> Behringer MIC200 in the "valve" mode (it slightly scoops the mids, but it sounds better, really, the T-40 is best amplified with some colour, it doesn't pair very well with "hi-fi" preamps, IMHO) -> Echo Indigo IO -> small Linux app that dumps all input in a file on disk, alongside a Hydrogen demo drum loop The neck pickup sample is played, maybe, a bit too much close to the neck, it probably sounds better when playing over the bridge pickup, but I wanted to "define" its tone better.[/quote] Thanks.. Sounds great to my ears and I really like your playing! I had one 2 years ago and it was really great but very heavy as has been said earlier. I didn't mind the weight but it wasn't getting a look in for gigs because I was mainly using 5 string basses (still am) and if I needed a 4, then it'd be my Wal.. Been regretting letting the T-40 go ever since though...

[quote name='charic' post='381640' date='Jan 15 2009, 07:25 PM']Who knows why we percieve 1-2khz as being loudest then? Latest theory I heard in acoustics (back in uni) is it is approximately the same frequency range as a baby crying. Course were still not sure how we percieve pitch so all of this is irrelevant lol[/quote] That's right.. A babies vocal range is designed by nature to be at the most attention grabbing pitch it can be, purely for survival reasons..

[quote name='overwater#1' post='380821' date='Jan 14 2009, 10:55 PM']I still have it! It's phenomenal Nik.. oo its nice!! I could do with looking at getting the electronics serviced sometime though, as there is still a very slight distortion when playing hard. Its nice to play light sometimes though!! Lovellly sound.. infact, im going to do some practic now!! [/quote] I have a copy of the circuit diagram for it if you need it?

[quote name='Philwbass' post='380315' date='Jan 14 2009, 03:12 PM']Here's the advice from the Wal forum for an identical problem. Thanks so much for pointing me to this. [i]It's almost certainly that the lead for that pickup pole has come loose from the multi-pin connector that attaches to the circuit board. I had the exact same issue with one of my Wals. It is a very simple issue to correct. You will need to remove the circuit board. Start by removing the knobs, nuts and washers. You will then be able to pull the circuit board out through the back of the bass. Once you get a clear look at the multi-pin connector you'll be able to see both how it attaches to the circuit board and how the individual leads attach to the connector. The offending lead will probably pull right out as you are removing the circuit board. Just reattach and you should be good to go! Best of luck.[/i] I'm not handy enough to do that myself. I'll see if Paul has time - which I doubt - otherwise I'll just pay someone to do it. Thanks, Phil[/quote] Does sound like a tricky job! Hopefully Paul can sort it for you but if not, I'm sure you'll find someone good local or via Basschat who can. The Wal forum really has got some useful stuff on there, so it's definitely worth joining and getting to know the people on there..

[quote name='overwater#1' post='379879' date='Jan 14 2009, 12:19 AM']Stunnning lineup of basses!!! All look fantastic! I do like the look of the fretless pro![/quote] I keep looking at that sunburst Pro2e in your avatar Matt; lovely stuff!

[quote name='GreeneKing' post='379960' date='Jan 14 2009, 08:55 AM']+1 for 1 [/quote] +2 for 1 I'm 100% original by the way.. Still as badly designed as when I left the factory!

[quote name='wombatboter' post='379474' date='Jan 13 2009, 06:43 PM']For the moment I have these four Wals.... fretless Pro, fretted MKI shedua, blue MKI fretted and a shedua MKI fretless [/quote] Lovely...

[quote name='Merton' post='379268' date='Jan 13 2009, 04:26 PM']Paul Herman is the guy to talk to, he's taken on all the Wal stuff from Pete. Contact him thru [url="http://guitar-xperience.com/"]Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience[/url] if nothing else. Good luck [/quote] +1 There's just been a thread about this on the [url="http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/walbassesnaturally/"]Wal Basses forum [/url] on Yahoo Groups, so have a look there... Something to do with individual wiring to each pole piece IIRC?

I quite like the functional look of it personally and I wish I had the wherewithal to make one myself... Certainly wouldn't want one with Beringher written on it either

[quote name='The Admiral' post='378587' date='Jan 13 2009, 07:21 AM']In the midst of some BC surfing the other day, I came across a forum member offering an old Jap bass for sale - which was the exact model I first bought for £118 in 1982 from Russell Acott's in Oxford - a Satellite through neck precision copy. Mine had a factory sticker on it, which pointed out the pick ups were DiMarzio's, and looked lovely when it was polished up, and I wish I'd kept it, as it sounded nice too. Bloody heavy though. This made me think about how the price of instruments has changed over time - so I had a look for a UK inflation calculator, to work out what £118 would be worth today - and the answer : £311.52. If you want to do the same - here is the calculator link : [url="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator"]http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/historic-inflation-calculator[/url] If I then think about the quality of the instruments available today as beginners basses - Yamaha RBX 170 for instance @ £120 on the internet - there is just no comparison, they are so much better and easier to play. Also, not only are the basses better, but the breadth and availability of teaching aids is astounding now : MP3 bass trainers, internet video lessons and even school music grades on rock instruments (unheard of in the 80s) etc. Yet a friend who teaches guitar and bass, regularly moans about the inability of his students to stick at the instrument through the basic 'pain' stage of scales and building up their hand strength, and their attention span seems so short too. He gets paid irrepective of course, but his main beef is that so many of them don't do any work between lessons, the progress is painful for both he and the kids, and they seem to want to be Jaco, without doing any work! He also finds plenty of kids, guitar players particularly, who can't pick up anything by listening, and have no idea where to start unless it's Tab, and whilst they can play any amount of widdly widdly solos, have no idea how to play chords and the rhythm guitar parts. That said, if I was 15 now - I would probably be pretty much the same - so it's not a serious rant about the youth of today, and perhaps it would be more interesting to build a thread on 'first bass, what was it, where from, and how much in today's terms?' Anyone fancy filling in the gaps here? First bass was : From : It cost : Which today is : Cheers A[/quote] Great thread! Mine would be: First bass was : Kay short-scale From : Woolworths in 1975 It cost : £22 Which today is : £0 Sad but true....

[quote name='beerdragon' post='378290' date='Jan 12 2009, 09:36 PM']Do you do a tune in your set strictly for your own playing pleasure, rather than thinking this would go down well with the punters. the reason i'm asking is that i have managed to pursade the band to do Use somebody by Kings of Leon. well they did'nt take much pursuading really as they all like it. its a really simple bass thats going on but the sound Jared folowill gets makes the track i think. really looking forward to doing this one[/quote] Completely unhelpful answer is, 'a bit of both'.. Depends on the mood of the band members, what kind of gigs we've got coming up etc, etc.. We hope all the songs we cover will please sombody - and there's enough variety of gig type and audience type to be fairly sure about that - but about half a dozen songs we do are thrown in mainly because we like them! Songs like 'Trouble' by Ray LaMontagne, 'When You Were Young' by the Killers or 'Rasberry Beret' by Prince aren't that well known or those artists have more well-known tunes, but we prefer them so we've put them in the set. And I think because we like them in particular it shows in the performance and touchwood, they've always gone down well..

[quote name='alexclaber' post='378276' date='Jan 12 2009, 09:23 PM']Something that's always bugged me is how theory and technique is such a mislabelled backwater - "for those who like to push the boundaries"??? "For those who'd like to learn" would be a much better statement. A sub-forum that is really centred on developing your bass playing would be a great thing and maybe a 'beginner/learning' rebranding would be a good move for pushing more traffic towards "theory and technique". It may appear that I spend all my time talking about gear but I'm a big advocate of really getting deep into what bass playing is about and I spent much of my early time on the web and forums hunting for the hows and whys of being a bassist. Alex[/quote] +1 Again, wise words Alex!

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='376874' date='Jan 11 2009, 04:15 PM']Dark and disturbingly beautiful [/quote] +1