Baloney Balderdash

It's 100% not something inherent to short scale basses, and if your guess on why you got this issue is right then this effect would be even worse on a long scale bass, due to the relatively longer length of the string on the nut side compared to the bridge side of the tapped note, not less. And if it really was due to the short scale for some strange reason, then what, guitar players shouldn't be able to tap? Also I tap perfectly fine on my just 28,6" scale Ibanez Mikro Bass. So this issue of yours got to be something related to either your technique, specific setup, the tone you have dialed in, strings, or something inherent to the design of your bass model in specific. My best guess is that it might very well be something related to your strings, and that you might have gotten a somewhat faulty set. Could be your technique too though, you can't expect copying the way you execute a technique 100% identical from one instrument to another and get identical/optimal results, you always have to make slight adjustment based on the individual instrument you play. Also that you didn't have this issue on your regular 34" scale bass tells absolutely nothing, as long as the pickups, strings, string tension and setup e.t.c was not 100% identical, which it obviously couldn't possibly have been. One possible way that it could actually be related to the shorter scale is if you used too heavy gauge strings, since as you go up the fretboard on a short scale the active vibrating length of the string will be relatively shorter and therefor stiffer/less flexible, compared to on a regular 34" scale bass, which is why one, contrary to common misconception, shouldn't use thicker gauge strings on a short scale bass to compensate for the lesser tension, but instead adjust ones technique accordingly by applying less force when plucking/picking and fretting notes. As far as I am concerned a gauge .105 to .045 roundwound string set to a short scale is too heavy in E standard tuning, and the low E string will sound like stinky poo as soon as you approach the 12th fret and above, for me the ideal short scale set of roundwound strings is .095 to .040, and you shouldn't go beyond a gauge .100 to 45 set, instead, as said, adjust your technique to accommodate that you are actually playing a different instrument, cause one thing is 100% certain, the instrument won't automatically adjust to your technique, and trying to force it to do so will only bring less than optimal results.

New shot, new visual mods, and the DiMarzio Model P P pickup swapped for an EMG Geezer Butler P P pickup : Strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 regular D'Addario roundwound nickle plated steel core XL strings, and tuned in G1 standard tuning, 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E1 standard tuning. This tuning together with the exceptionally short scale length really making it function more like a downtuned 4 string baritone guitar than a bass, though still capable of filling out the sonic space of a bass instrument in the psychedelic stoner/doom rock bass and drums duo I use it for, also running it through an always on 1 octave up effect, to fill out even more sonic space, and giving an effect somewhat similar to that of an 8 string bass with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings. Love this bass to bits, and even though I usually don't name my instruments I did this one, "Dud Bottomfeeder", it is.

Playing with a pick first an foremost gives you an unique very specific snappy emphasis on the attack, that is the main difference tonally from finger picking. Be aware though that there is a big difference in sound depending on the gauge, flexibility and material of the pick, which will all have an influence both on fell and tone of a given pick, and choosing the right pick is very much entirely a matter of personal preferences. As an example picks made of Nylon will produce a warmer tone, mainly the attack, and be more flexible relatively to thickness compared to Tortex picks, which in comparison will produce a brighter tone, more clicky sort of attack, and be less flexible relatively to thickness. . Many prefer a relatively thick inflexible pick for bass, like 1mm and above, some even 3mm totally inflexible picks made of stone, but then again for example Bobby Vega prefers the .73mm Dunlop Tortex pick, and personally I prefer mine even more flexible, namely the .60mm Dunlop Tortex pick. Regarding overall playabillity, once you've mastered both finger picking and playing with a pick, and have found just the right pick for you that makes you play optimally and give you the tone that you prefer, you will find that some stuff will lend it self to, sound better and be easier to play with, a pick, other stuff more to finger style playing.

Eric's Trip - "May 11"

T-Rex Quint Machine! Quite affordable, tracks great, really low latency, does both 1 octave up and a 5th up, sounds good (better for this sort of thing than any of the EHX POGs if you ask me, not quite as synth/organ like, a bit more natural sounding).

The music that offends me most is Top 40 pop. It is a sacrilege perversion of the most sacred and advanced form of communication we humans are capable of. Hell, it's even worse than that, it is legitimate capitalist and fascist brainwash.

Which reminds me, I don't be believe D'Addario one bit when it says "String Tension Pro under construction", when you try to access their former great online string tension calculator, it's been like that for years, if it was truly under construction it had been done and up and available years ago, Something tells me they don't have any intentions of ever fixing it and making it available again. I refuse to believe it is that much of rocket science project that it couldn't be done in a matter of at least a couple of month at max, if just they actually had someone working on it. Would have been more accurate if the old D'Addario String Tension Pro site said "We don't care a flying hoot about your stupid string tension *lol*", instead of lying about doing something to get the string tension calculator up and running again.

The absolutely phenomenal "Sea Song" by Robert Wyatt, from his 1974 solo album "Rock Bottom" : You look different every time you come From the foam-crested brine Your skin shining softly in the moonlight Partly fish, partly porpoise, Partly baby sperm whale Am I yours? Are you mine to play with? Joking apart - when you're drunk you're terrific When you're drunk I like you mostly Late at night you're quite alright But I can't understand the different you in the morning When it's time to play At being human for a while, Please smile! You'll be different in the spring, I know You're a seasonal beast Like the starfish that drift in with the tide So until your blood runs to meet the next full moon You're madness fits in nicely with my own Your lunacy fits neatly with my own, My very own We're not alone

How does that even make sense, why would it? As stated above racism and xenophobic doesn't mean the same thing at all, and I don't see how you came to the conclusion that they do, that is unless you don't know what xenophobic actually means. But even if they did there are numerous examples in the English language of several different words meaning more or less the same, with more delicate nuances in difference.

As I wrote in my previous comment to a reply stating something similar : Neither are black people, Chinese or American Indians. There is in fact only one human race. Racism is a term that stems from back when people wrongfully thought that several different human races actually existed. That doesn't however mean that racism doesn't exist. Today the term racism is defined by prejudices and discrimination based on ethnicity/nationality. And being American is an ethnicity/nationality. Worrying that so many people here are being ignorant of that fact. I guess that what can be concluded from this is that British people are dim (as if that had not already been proven by stuff I can not mention without going against the forum code of conduct).

This got to be my favorite doom metal song : Also I play bass in a bass and drums stoner/doom rock duo.

Neither are black people, Chinese or American Indians. There is in fact only one human race. Racism is a term that stems from back when people wrongfully thought that several different human races actually existed. That doesn't however mean that racism doesn't exist. Today the term racism is defined by prejudices and discrimination based on ethnicity/nationality. And being American is an ethnicity/nationality. Worrying that so many people here are being ignorant of that fact. I guess that what can be concluded from this is that British people are dim (as if that had not already been proven by stuff I can not mention without going against the forum code of conduct).

Melody Day - Caribou

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I don't like Muff type fuzzes in general for bass. They sound great for guitar, but for bass in my opinion they always end up sounding like a muddy unarticulated and undefined mess for bass, ragardless of what variation we are talking about, though some are worse than others. The Orange Fur Coat or Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz/Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz is where it is at as far as goes bass fuzz, as far as I am concerned.

No, I don't have any recordings of this bass setup yet, but I'll try to pull myself together to record a sample of it soon, and when that is done I'll be sure to throw an update with a link to it in this thread (have a look at my profile for a full signal chain description). As for a description tone and sound is kind of hard to put into words in a way that will convey it objectively, but I can say as much as compared to a piccolo bass that is tuned 12 half steps, or 1 octave, above (E2 standard tuning, like a guitar), regular E1 standard bass 4 string bass tuning, my bass tuned in G1 stadard, just 3 half steps above E1 standard 4 string bass tuning, obviously sounds a lot deeper and closer to that of a regular bass. To be exact somewhere between a bass and a baritone guitar, the latter most commonly tuned to B1, though sometimes A1, standard tuning. And the always on 1 octave up signal actually blend pretty perfectly in with the regular "clean" signal of my bass, so it gives less of a sense of 2 separate parallel signals, a bass and an octave one, and really sounds more like 1 single signal, but with a prominent harmonic content enhancing effect, which is further enhanced by the fact that I run my bass through 2 low gain overdrives, blended with parallel clean signal, and 2 tube preamp stages, each dialed in to a light tube breakup, all in all giving a rich tone with a lot of bite and snap, something that the compression stages are dialed in to enhance even further as well. But despite this it still sound mostly like a bass, perhaps if you could imagine J.J. Burnel's bass tone a bit less overdriven, a bit more polished and smooth and with a hint of an added 1 octave up signal, though as said the 1 octave up effect blends in pretty perfectly with the "clean" bass signal, and some of that enhanced harmonic content effect that results it really just counters the fact that the short scale of my Mikro generally results in less prominent harmonic content and more fundamentals (as is the case with all short scale basses) Also the fact that it is tuned slightly higher than a regular bass makes it a bit better suited for melodic work and chord work, but while still being able to fill out the role and sonic space of a bass instrument (both important factors since I use this for a bass and drums duo), as well as the thinner gauge strings needed for this tuning ensures that the deepest thickest gauge string sounds great all the way up the fretboard to the very last fret, where it otherwise would have had a tendency to go very thuddy and dead sounding as you approach about the 12th fret and above, due to the decreased flexibility of the thick string to vibrate caused by the shorter scale length of the Mikro. The issues that comes with shorter scale basses described in the above 2 paragraphs being the reason why I actually prefer relative thin gauge strings for short scale basses, and usually, against common (mis)conception, will advocate for such, some of the resulting decrease in tension being made up for by the lesser flexibility/stiffer feel, as mentioned also being caused by the shorter scale length (think about it both guitars and baritone guitars will usually use strings with overall much less tension than a bass.without the strings ending up feeling too floppy, thanks to their shorter scale length).

I since changed my setup. This is my complete always on signal chain: My "amp-less" setup in written form (only including always on effects) : 4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, tuned in G standard tuning, 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->> TC Electronic SpectraComp (3 band parallel compression, adding extra punch, snap and bite, but without really affecting my playing dynamics) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (low gain overdrive, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, approximately same settings as the other Orange Juice, except slightly higher gain setting, mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Artec SE-EQ8 (8 band graphic equalizer, settings as follows: [Freq=100Hz LoShlv Boost=+1dB ; Freq=170Hz Q=wide Boost=+1dB ; Freq=280Hz Q=narrow Boost=+3dB ; Freq=500Hz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=800Hz Q=narrow Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1.4kHz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=2.3kHz Q=wide Boost=+3dB ; Freq=5kHz HiShlv +/- 0dB]) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Always on subtle plate reverb, and additionally used for 4 other reverb patches) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (Always on "160 Comp" (emulating a DBX 160A compressor), set to a quite subtle compression -> always on 2 x 2 band parametric EQ : [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; [Freq=250Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; [I]Freq=400Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB ; [Freq=800Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB ; [/I]Freq=400Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB] -> always on faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=12kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; [I]Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], and additionally used for a lush Church reverb that can be switched on/off[/I]) ->> EHX Black Finger (tube driven optical compressor, but used primarily as a tube preamp stage) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF fixed @40Hz) ->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) And I guess most of these always on units could be seen as sharing joint preamp duties.

Merry Christmas! Low - "Santa's Coming Over" Captain Beefheart - "There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Evening Stage"