ASW

The aesthetic doesn't really fit the type of music I play in bands (bluesy rock and a punk band) and I don't need 6 strings for the other music I'm writing and recording. However, I accompanied a friend to PMT when he was trying and buying a guitar and this was sitting on a stand, so I picked it up, plugged it in a tried it out for a few minutes. It was lightweight, very comfortable and surprisingly easy to play given the number of strings and the multiscale frets. That was over a year ago and I still think about it! I should probably just buy one as they're not prohibitively expensive, but was hoping to get one used. They don't seem to come up for sale used very often at all. It is my birthday next week, so perhaps I should treat myself!

Ideal candidate for a shim the if everything else is in order. You'll be able to get the action much lower.

Assuming the relief is OK, the as others have said it is clearly a candidate for a simple shim. A bit of old train ticket or two may be enough. Fender have used shims since they started making bolt on neck guitars so there's nothing wrong with them. My 1962 Jazzmaster has one to get a suitable neck angle. Even the modern American Professional II Stratocasters have a micro tilt neck adjustment feature which is in effect a mechanical shim. Whether an instrument made in this day and age should need them with the accuracies of CNC machines is a different question! I suspect that someone has taken the neck off before and lost the shim that was put in the neck pocket at the factory (or didn't know what it was and discarded it). I doubt it left the factory with that action. Why would it when they probably have a stack of shims ready for this very issue?

Best is a MusicMan Stingray 5. I haven't had a 5 string for years (and the last one was a relatively cheap Washburn 2502) and joined a couple of bands this year that were playing songs that benefited from the lower notes. Worst was a Sandberg California TM5 purchased from a bass retailer online and within minutes of it being delivered, I initiated a return. I was after something a bit lighter than the Stingray and saw the Sandberg advertised online with a weight of 7lb 10oz. When it arrived though, I unpacked it and was shocked at how heavy it was. It was heavier than the Stingray! It transpires that there had been an error and it should have been advertised at 10lb 7oz.

Interesting. I think I'm getting it now. I'd like to hear what that sounds like.

Ah, I think that's making more sense. So it's more about patterns on the fretboard rather than music theory. So it seems the answer to the OPs question is that you can play B Dorian over a 1, 4, 6 chord progression in A major as you are in fact using the A major scale over an A major key chord progression. Is that right?

I'm not quite sure what's meant by the Dorian mode in A Major would be B Dorian. B Dorian does share the same notes as A Major/Ionian (as does C Phrygian, D Lydian, E Mixolydian etc.) but if you're using the notes from B Dorian over something in the key of A Major, you're not playing a Dorian scale at all. You're still playing a major/Ionian scale. As I understand it, the scale that is played is dictated by the tonal centre of the music. I'm not sure what stands to be gained by calling a scale something which is not, but which uses the same notes. Other commenters appear to understand though so I think it may just be me! It would be interesting to see the video if you can find and share the link!

Isn't that the B minor pentatonic?

I use the plugin a lot when mixing songs if the bass sound is a bit flat and bland. I've just bought the PSA 2.0 to experiment with it live for both bass and guitar. I couldn't pass it up at that price!

The Truetone power supplies are another option. I've used the CS12 with a Stomp and up to 9 other pedals without any issues. I also have a CS7 which is much cheaper and smaller, so probably ample for your needs.

Is this one?

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I've joined two bands this year and have had about 40 songs to work out, transcribe and learn so far. I've used splitter.ai on most of them and it's made the whole process so much quicker and more accurate. It's amazing what that software can do and has the added benefit that you can remove the bass and use it as a backing track to practice. For anyone who has not tried it, give it a go. It's free and just involves uploading an audio file. I have also tried a paid one called lalal.ai which was noticeably better at splitting the tracks so each instrument sounds better in isolation. However, you buy in units of time corresponding to the length of the audio file being uploaded. Some of my minutes went missing though and I got no joy with the customer support, so would be cautious about using it again. Has anyone else used any other AI based song splitting technology they could recommend?

I don't list gear for nearly new prices, but sometimes it will be closer to new than to the 70% you're willing to pay. Lots of factors come into play, such as stock levels of new items (i.e. If out of stock everywhere then my item may be the only option for someone), market rate for the item used (which may be higher than new for vintage gear), demand (these are interconnected), condition and last but not least, how much I want or need to sell something. If I'm not in a hurry for the money or don't need the space, then I'm happy for it to sit on ebay for as long as it takes until somebody wants it more than I do for a price that we're both happy with.

I've just received a Mono bass case from Dan and it arrived quickly, well packaged and in perfect condition. Highly recommended, thanks!

I ended up buying a TC Electronic Polytune 3 and am very happy with it. I prefer it to a Boss TU2 I used to have as it's easier to see. I also decided to buy the clip on Polytune for home use and am very impressed with it. I have lots of cheap Korg clip on tuners, but the polytune is much better and easier to to get the instrument in tune.

Thrust by Herbie Hancock. Very funky. I found this in a record shop in Bristol a couple of weeks ago. Nice bass playing by Paul Jackson.

I see, so you get used to how slow it is to be close enough.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm leaning towards the polytune, but the Peterson does look good. Is it so accurate as to be annoying to tune with though i.e. it takes ages to get the strobe to stop?