Baloney Balderdash

Edit!!! : Just read up on some more reviews on the bass while I am waiting for it to arrive, and one of them mentioned that this bass do in fact have 2 truss rods in the neck, so how would I go about adjusting them correctly? So I ordered an Ibanez SR306EB 6 string bass a couple of says ago, and I expect to receive it by the end of this week. However I just realized that the neck might have 2 truss rods build into it (not positively sure if this is the case though), to ensure stability of the wider 6 string neck I assume, and I am already getting anxious about how to adjust them correctly. Knowing factory setups I guess I can't even be sure that the 2 truss rods are actually adjusted equally from factory, so how would I make sure to adjust them right without risking ultimately causing the neck to develop a twist/warp? Of course if someone can confirm that the neck of this bass in fact only got 1 single truss rod in it then I guess I have no need for knowing how to adjust a neck with 2 truss rods anyway.

Unlike my other basses I don't think I will add any visual mods to this, just keeping the nice stylish minimal matte black, though I do ponder on perhaps adding just one thing, a silver OM sign in a Lotus flower decal as the only thing, making it look something like this : Edit!!! : A fairly radical change in concept, but just found this Jack Skellington (from Tim Buton's animated "The Nightmare Before Christmas" movie) decal, that I think would fit absolutely perfect for this bass, so likely going to order that and transfer it to the bass, like this :

My old Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic, which was my first bass ever : You can read more about it here:

The shipment of my new strings got delayed, so only just received them today. So here is my old Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic, thoroughly cleaned, fretboard polished and conditioned, the .095 to .040 D'Addario NYXL string set installed, and action, neck relief, intonation and pickups adjusted properly : Plays and sounds absolutely beautifully.

I kind of ponder on getting a capo to the 6 string bass I ordered a few days ago and expect to receive with the mail service by the end of this week, an Ibanez SR306EB. I only will need it to fit like up to and including the 5th fret (I could possibly live with it just being up to and including 3rd fret though). This bass got a 54mm nut width and is 83mm wide at 24th fret. Preferably it would be a capo that is easy to clip on and off, and I'd prefer if it's one that I can get through Thomann as well. What options do I have?

They likely will include some old effect, kind of like the legacy effects in the Line6 Helix and Pod Go pedals, which are basically previous generation Line6 digital effects, but I strongly presume Zoom will include new improved effects as well, for one they would have to have used a new form of algorithm to allow for IR use. Though of course this is also just guesswork, but would at least make most sense to me.

I strongly presume they have, as I edited in in my previous post, for one this allows for loading third party IR's, and at a higher quality/resolution than the Line6 multi effects allows for. I also strongly assume this is a whole new generation of digital Zoom effects, with improved quality, and likely utilizing a circuit modeling technology (where instead of basing the modeling on approaching the sound of the original effects, it actually models the individual components of the circuit in question), similar to what the Line6 digital effects utilize, though the latter is purely guesswork.

That is still considerably cheaper than any of those Line6 pedals, and even a nice chunk cheaper then Line6 Pod Go, which doesn't feature parallel routing either, and which seems more like the direct competitor to this. Add to that I'd expect the effects on this to be able to fully compete in quality with the Line 6 modeling, if not even better, the IR loader at least allows for higher quality IRs than Line6 multi effect does (at very least I expect to like the effect models in this more, since I already prefer Zoom digital effects over for instance Boss ones).

This looks extremely promising. Especially as a big fan of the newer Zoom digital multi effects (G3/B3/G1X(on)/B1X(on)/Multi Stop Boxes and G3n/B3n/G1 Four/B1 Four), this though seems to most likely be a totally worthy competitor to the like of the new Line6 Pod Go and similar high end digital multi effects, and I guess in usual Zoom style for a considerably lower price. If it lives up to this I'll no doubt get one at some point. A proper high end Zoom multi effect seems like a wet dream come true to me.

It would probably be the way to go if I was doing a lot of chordal stuff involving the low D and G string, but with how low tuned they are I figure the chordal stuff I'll do will mainly be centered around the last high 4 strings C-F-A#-D#, as I expect to use those four strings a lot as I kind of would the 4 lowest strings of a guitar (this just being 4 half steps bellow regular E standard guitar tuning), with the low D and G mainly being the "bass" area strings. I did consider tuning the bass D-G-C-F-A-D though, exactly like a guitar tuned in D standard tuning, just an octave bellow, but after some pondering I ended up deciding that D-G-F-A#-D# would likely make most sense practically with how I was going to use the bass, so I have ordered the strings accommodating that tuning with proper tension, using the D'Addario String Tension Pro online string tension calculator app. Damn changing the strings is going to be expensive, especially since I have to buy individual strings with this tuning I plan to use, and because I prefer balanced tension strings for bass (something I actually have begun doing anyway for all my basses, cause there are not many truly balanced tension string set options out there, and I prefer my string tension to be as uniform as possible. I feel for guitar it matters less, or even is desirable, but for bass I feel balanced tension makes most sense). Also kind of wonder if I should maybe have ordered a proper looper pedal to go with it, as I think that would pair well with a 6 string bass, instead of the 49 key midi keyboard with weighted keys (so they will feel more like proper piano keys, instead of wet dough to play on) I ordered. Think that'll be the next musical equipment I need to order then (thinking of getting the EHX 720 Stereo Looper or perhaps the new 1440 one).

This absolutely astonishing beautiful song :

Volunteers (by Jefferson Airplane)

Think you have misunderstood something, I am tuning it to D standard tuning (D - G - C - F - A# - D#), not A standard tuning, as in 2 half steps bellow regular 4 string E standard tuning, which would be 3 half steps higher than regular 6 string B standard tuning, and there's no open A at all in D standard tuning on a 6 string bass, also I have ordered the right gauge individual strings to accommodate they will have proper tension, so no. And the reason would be that I am mainly going to use it for more melodically based work, with no need of going as low as the low B. Also, yeah, Ibanez makes some amazing quality instruments for the money, even my 4 and 5 string Mikro Basses are great instruments, as good as perfect fretwork and all from stock, even if belonging to Ibanez's entry budget line of instruments that would be the line just bellow the one the Ibanez SR306EB belongs to, so this ought to be a step up in terms of quality. Will do an update once I have got it home, set up, and had a chance to try it out properly, though it'll likely not happen before towards the end of next week.

You could claim that being able to adjust the pickups and better upper fret access would be an advantage of the Ibanez over the Harley Benton, and judging from reviews and YouTube demos it sounds better too, to me at least, many mention the Harley Benton sounding boomy and muddy, whereas there seem to be a lot of praise of the pickups in the Ibanez, finally to me the Ibanez also looks much much better. The only disadvantages of the Ibanez over the Harley Benton, from what I can see and to me personally, would be the fact that you can't run it in passive mode from stock, as you mention, which though would just be a matter of always making sure the battery is fresh and keep an extra one, just in case (there's easy access to the battery compartment at least), and that it has slightly wider string spacing, though to some that would actually be an advantage, well and then the price obviously. Hard to tell for certain though, when I haven't actually personally played any of the two basses in question. In any case I have already ordered the Ibanez, so no turning back, unless I return it again, but if it works as it is supposed to and live up to the impression I got from the reviews I've read and the YouTube demos I watched featuring it that won't happen.

Final update (now with audio sample) : Original post : Just got my yearly revenue of streaming/playback money from my music production and it excelled all expectation, almost thought that it might had been a mistake. I am not complaining though. So I decided to use most of the money on musical gear, among that a 6 string bass, which is the Ibanez SR306EB in the weathered black finish. This is going to be my first 6 string bass, and I am really looking forward to get it. I am going to tune it in D standard tuning though (D - G - C - F - A# - D#), as in 2 half steps bellow regular E standard 4 string bass tuning, and I've ordered strings to accommodate that too. I'd imagine it will be very useful both for my progressive psychedlic stoner rock bass/vocal and drums duo that I have with a drummer friend of mine and for my drone/ambient solo project. Generally it gets really good reviews and the demos of it I have been able to find on YouTube sounds great too. Looks like this (Nyatoh body, 5 piece Maple/Walnut neck, 24 medium fret Jatoba fretboard, 54mm nut, 16.5mm string spacing) :

Well, that certainly got me reconsidering. Luckily my yearly revenue of streaming/playback money from my music production excels all expectations, just checked my bank account and got a minor shock of how much it was. Almost thought it might have been a mistake. Anyway that means that I can easily afford the Ibanez SR306EB, plus some other musical equipment I have been wanting for a long time, so I think I'd likely end up getting that Ibanez 6 string bass, in the weathered black finish with black hardware.

Don't use gorilla glue! Fill the hole with wood glue, then squeeze in as many wooden tooth sticks, matches, or similar thin wood sticks that will fit into the hole, as you can into the hole so they sit tight, break or cut them off at the surface of the hole and wipe off excess glue with a moist cloth, then screw the strap nut back in and let the glue dry (usually wood glue will take 24 hours to completely dry), this will with guarantee make the strap nut sit more securely in the bass than it even did before.

I Remember (by Low)

Another option is buying the Zoom B1 Four or G1 Four, and by staking 5 of the fully parametric equalizer models in a patch you get a 5 band fully parametric equalizer much much cheaper, and since it is just an EQ I wouldn't think there would really be much of a difference quality wise, at least not something you will be able to hear, not even with the bass soloed and specifically focusing on listening for differences. So if 5 EQ bands is enough for you and you don't need any of the other functions unique to the Source Audio I know what I would get, you could even program several 5 band parametric EQ patches with the Zoom and swap between them if you need different presets.

I consider getting the Harley Benton B-650 Progressive Series 6 string bass in black finish. Would be my first 6 string bass, though if I get it I will tune it in D standard tuning, as in the lowest string just being 2 half steps bellow regular E 4 string bass standard tuning. It gotten some great reviews and I like the fact that it got a more narrow fretboard than most other 6 string basses on the market (unless you go shortscale Fender Bass VI type instruments, but that is too narrow string spacing for my taste, and I actually want to go regular 34" scale too), with a just 51mm nut width and 16mm string spacing. Not too pretty though in my opinion, but honestly not something that really bothers me much :

Elevator to Hell :

Yes, exactly. The relation between scale length and a perceived tension (aka stiffness) is easy to understand intuitively though without much explanation, just think of a wooden stick laid out between two raised points (sort of like a simple bridge (not a string bridge but an actual bridge)), the longer the distance between the two points the stick rest on are the less force it will require to bend the stick on the middle (the less stiff it will be), which of course applies in reverse too, the closer the distance between the stick's two resting points are the harder it will be to bend (the stiffer it will be). In terms of strings on an instrument this translates to not only how easy a string will be to actually bend but also how much force is required to fret it, and just in general the overall perceived tension, which equals the actual physical stiffness, of the string (the two raised points here of course being respectively the nut and the bridge saddle, and the stick the string in question).

Honestly I like how it looks. Not that I would buy it though for that price, even if I had had that kind of money.