itu

This guy wrote BS about time, but one single part of the western tuning is pretty well documented there. Many tuners have 415 Hz as an option, because it has been thought as a Baroque A. Several bands that play old music tend to tune higher (like 441 - 445 Hz) to sound "clearer". As you can see from the history, absolute hearing is learnt from the music heard around us. It is not (and cannot be) something truly absolute. Some people just have a better memory of pitches. 432 Hz is as good as 442 Hz. Eastern music may divide an octave to, say 31 pitches, which leads us to understand, that pitches, and their relative distances are just an agreement.

You can record something and then play it faster to reach 440. It sounds different. It is pretty hard to add an acoustic piano to your band.

If the bass is nice, electronics should be replaceable. Do you think Rob would help you with 300-series electronics, maybe?

I make mistakes quite often. If (and only if) I remember to check my faults at home, my right hand fingering is the main reason for mistakes. Even relatively slow song become much better (read: tighter) sounding when my plucking hand does less unnecessary movements. 1-2, 2-1, 1-2 is usually much worse than 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 even while doing string hopping.

If strange is in need, in a 1986 GP magazine Billy Gibbons is playing one very different creation. I do not remember the luthier's name.

A mail to Carey might be helpful, no?

Silicon grease? But not to the carbon track. Use some deoxit or similar, but nothing silicon based.

Fine, please describe your rig in detail. I am also interested.

To the original question: SCF, like the Danish used to say.

True. There only few preamps that mix pickups: John East, EMG, Audere. Noll Mixpot is an active mixing component. Most of the other systems use simple blend pot which loads both pickups, and cuts high end. pickups - blend - vol - tone stack - output As I have said countless times, any part of this signal path can use battery powered buffers producing lo-Z ("active") signal. But any does not mean that every part is lo-Z. @Woodinblack wrote: "...active pickups were created so that you could use a smaller magnetic field which would have less drag on the strings, giving you a more pure sound of what the strings were doing..." The main point is, that with lower inductance (less windings in the coil, and weaker magnet) you get wider frequency response. Very high output pickups have stronger magnets, more wire, and narrow f response. @Woodinblack: "...active preamp (on passive pickups, like most basses) was made so that you could control the output impedance of the bass..." I think you are partially on the right track here. Yes, lo-Z output is good while transferring signal through the cable. If Z and noise were the most important things, we would have balanced line outputs in our basses. But I have seen just few balanced output systems in basses, like in Wal, Sei and Vigier. Alembic did quite many trials with preamps during 70's (they weren't the first, but very visible). As they used very low impedance (power hungry and high quality) opamps (NE5532/4 family) they needed external PSUs. I do think their main goal was to make a functional preamp with powerful tone tweaking options. On top of that the result had a lo-Z output.

I would suggest a looper with a headphone output + aux in. It's the ultimate training unit: you can hear your own playing instantly. The red one I have is probably an older Valeton looking like a Dapper.

A different gig today - Monday! Government evening party. We weren't in the best shape, although we had lots of rehearsals, and the setlist was ready two or three weeks ago. It wasn't the easiest place, somewhat reverbing, but the worst was that I couldn't hear others on the other side of the stage. Two long sets, quite some people. There was too much light, and people were a bit shy to get to the floor. But our singers were in very good mood, and made the evening.

Green is the basic colour that glows longest. While I worked in a watch factory, we tried to laminate up to 4 layers of strontium based luminous material to a plate. After UV activation the material glew around 75 hours (+3 days) in a completely dark room. That powder was even better than Super Luminova.

I have heard that people take a case, and maybe even a £50 bass along, and come back with a case - and a bass. Just heard...

A ferry, or train... an option?

But "Log" was Les Paul's g-word, not a bass?

Any pics? Any bass is "rare", as they are individuals. The term "rare" is more or less inflated: for someone rare means a colour that was produced only a small batch. Collectible, maybe, but does it mean the instrument is better, or even playable? If your bass sounds, and feels good, it loves to be played. Now go out with it and make the gigs.

That B required lots of string changes, before it started to sound similar than the other strings. I found .120 was the best sounding in a 35" neck. I use both, 4 and 5, and they are different animals. 4 feels lighter and easier, but as @franzbassist wrote, 5 offers different patterns, and for me Eb and D are easier than with a 4+detuner. In a band, where 4 singers want to change everything all the time, and winds want to go flat, a 5 works like a tool made for transposing.

I have found, that certain basses need certain pedals: the pickiest are fuzz/dist/ODs and compressors. I use three boards, and one is for the hi-Z (passive) bass. I selected the comp that works best with that fretless, which is Daring Audio's Phat Beam. It is by far the best pedal comp that enhances the sound of the bass. tce HyperGravity in two other boards is for active basses.

In short: Yes. Longer answer: You can replace pickups, or preamp, or both.

This is against my idea of finding the suitable sound for the song. I use both bass and pedals (comp, octaver, fuzz, reverb, parametric, synth...) to alter the sound to fit the music. From very dry, middle peaking crack to reggaeish dark and mushy depending on the atmosphere. Adjustments are there, and with pedals, bass, and hand position I change the character of the tone quickly.

As can be seen here, 18-19 mm string spacing is a must, as well as long scale (33.8-36"), and carbon (at least as an insert in the neck). Relatively flat necks are fine, whether thin or thick. I like some special shapes (Auerswald, Linc Luthier, Spalt...) because they look different. 6 strings are for g-word players, F-word basses (J,P) just aren't for me. Maple fretboards and light coloured basses look like the luthier left the work too early (Larry G's off-white Moon is an exception). Acoustic basses are mostly a joke, semi acoustics on the other hand...

Which preamp you use that has mixer instead of plain blend pot? EMG, John East, Audere, or do you have a Noll MixPot? (My single pickup fretless has just a step attenuator, and a coil switch. All others are equipped with some kind of a lo-Z circuitry.)