Eight

I thought they looked cool. The photos - not the people. Although not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with the people. Oh eck. Loving the toy drum kit.

[quote name='dlloyd' post='431453' date='Mar 11 2009, 01:18 PM']Why?[/quote] Finding a 10,000 year old mammoth, and then killing it just to make a nut seems excessive.

[quote name='Monz' post='385760' date='Jan 20 2009, 10:26 AM']Smashing bloke, 100% A proper gent.[/quote] +1 I think that says it best really. Anything else I say will just be repeating Monz.

Just bought a Hell Babe wah from Pete - really easy guy to deal with, delivered said babe quickly and safely. Would definitely deal with again and thoroughly recommend him. Cheers Pete.

GAS!!!! Oh god help me.

Ok that is pretty though.

[quote name='pete.young' post='431011' date='Mar 10 2009, 09:05 PM']Failing that, my Bass Collection SB310 strung B-E-A-D will soon be up for sale at a very reasonable price, just as soon as I can replace the balance pot that crapped out t'other day. This does sound reasonable on the B even with a 120, but I've gone to the 5-string dark side so needs must.[/quote] I might have to keep an eye out for that one. Argh... must stop spending money on bass gear. I'll allow myself to buy one more bass and then I'm stopping myself until I learn to play properly.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='430965' date='Mar 10 2009, 08:34 PM']Just out of interest, what is this magical £50 bass?[/quote] Um... well I've never owned up to this on the forum before. But since at the Bass Bash I spoke at length to VoodooBassman about them, I feel a bit braver. He seemed to share my opinion that for the money, they're not too bad. What else can you get for £50 in life these days!?! It's a Swift four string from eBay, in a rather girly colour. Needless to say I didn't actually take to the bash. Would have looked great standing next to the Vigier etc. Lol. But it works, and aside from a tuning peg coming lose (just the flappy bit you turn) and some delam on the pickguard, its not that bad.

+1 for the taperwounds and no bridge grinding. I'm not too bothered about fullness of tone etc. Its a £50 bass (including shipping) - I was surprised it had any tone at all. Roughly the right pitch on the notes is all I ask. Cheers for the info fella. Think I'll order a set and give it a go.

Oh - changed my mind. I have seen tab you could play without knowing the track. AC/DC. 80% of them.

Some tabs might contain indications of rhythm... but I've never seen one that you could play without listening to the track. Depends on what you're playing, but little details like rests, phrasings, time signatures etc. are pretty handy sometimes. Especially if you're expected to play with others and you haven't heard the piece before. And I'm not persuaded by the suggestion that notation is too hard for beginners. I've seen some pretty stupid kids who happily learned to read standard notation as part of learning classical instruments. Are beginner guitarists and bassists somehow defective in that we can't? Fair enough if you don't want to though. Anyway, that wasn't actually what I wanted to ask. I've seen the suggestion a few times that tab is somehow better because it was "designed for our instrument". I'm curious - in what way is tab better suited to our strings than standard notation which suits the rest of the stringed instrument family? I've been on the internet a long time. What tab was good for, was being able to send/receive music in a format that didn't require any special software to produce or read (as long as you had a monospaced font you were ok). Cheap/free notation software, scanners and the ability to create things like PDFs wasn't so common place a few years ago.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='430740' date='Mar 10 2009, 05:15 PM']and depending on how your bass strings up, you might have to go for a taperwound B.[/quote] Was with you right up to this bit. Um... it has strings with come through the bridge as opposed to through the body. Other than that I have no idea. Right, I'm off google taperwound. Lol.

[quote name='Alien' post='430413' date='Mar 10 2009, 12:58 PM']If you still have it, why not keep the old one in standard tuning and the Cort in C[/quote] I do still have it, but it was a £50 eBay jobbie just to get me started. it doesn't play anywhere nearly as nicely as the Cort. In fact, by comparison it plays pretty awful - I love it in a different kind of way... a way which doesn't involve playing it that much. [quote]There are a lot of good basses for sale (especially on this very forum) which would probably cost you a damn sight less than a decent pitch shifter.[/quote] I didn't know much about shifters before posting but I think you're right there. Picking up another bass that I can leave in C and feel happy playing is probablty a better way to go. Cheers fella.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='430354' date='Mar 10 2009, 12:23 PM']I have got a 34inch bass tuned quite happy to BEAD. You can do it to any bass.[/quote] I have been thinking about that... except my "spare" bass is pretty basic. I have my doubts it would really stand up to putting thick strings on and tuning to BEAD or (C/F/Bb/Eb). I suppose I should probably get some strings and give it a whirl while I gas.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='430176' date='Mar 10 2009, 10:15 AM']I think Warwick have a set of strings designed BEAD for their basses...?[/quote] Yeah, I saw those on a website earlier - couldn't really figure out what the score was with them. Whether they're specific to Warwicks, work on anything or have some kind of weird voodoo. Might take another peek and see what I can learn.

[quote name='leonshelley01' post='430170' date='Mar 10 2009, 10:10 AM']Now you've got me thinking about doing the same thing![/quote] Hahaha GAS is contagious I think.

Cheers guys, ESP are worth a look - they seem like the type who'd do one. That Tom Araya signature bass is pretty wild - . Fingerz, good point. Quite possibly any 35" is going to be able to do the job (perhaps with a bit of tweaking by someone in the know). I'll check into your Yam suggestion and have a bit more of a general think. Thanking you.

Apologies if you're seeing too many posts from me on this. In an effort to resolve needing to be playing in standard E tuning for a while, and wanting to be playing in standard C (along to records, doing transcriptions and maybe a bit of writing), I've come to the conclusion that what I need is another new bass. I know Schecter make the Stilletto Sub which is a 35" scale four string bass that comes set up for BEAD. Pricing isn't too bad but stock levels are awful. Do you know of anyone else who makes such a beast? I don't really want a five string if I can help it. Although I'll be keeping an eye on the For Sale section for them just in case.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='429244' date='Mar 9 2009, 12:10 PM']I think it depends what you're hoping to get out of your lessons. Although if most of the music you want to play requires you to tune down to C, shouldn't your lessons take this into account?[/quote] Yeah, but its very early stages. I have my fourth bass lesson ever this week - and have only been playing since December. So right now we're still covering pretty basic (but important) stuff. Throwing in C tuning is possibly not my wisest move but hey... I blame the bands I like. I guess in time (when I know the fretboard better) it won't be so much of an issue. I'm going to write down your comment about not playing open strings and stick it on a post-it note above my bass playing area. The sooner I get into that habit the better.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='429164' date='Mar 9 2009, 11:19 AM']When you're practising in standard tuning are you playing along to anything or just on your own?[/quote] Generally, on my own. Sometimes to backing tracks my teacher prepares, and in lessons there's often a guitar accompanying my clumbsy bass efforts. Might try that capo suggestion - it never even occured to me. I usually run off and look for the most complicated solution to a problem. Fly and bazooka sounds about right. Lol. Thanks for the comments and advice guys.

[quote name='JPJ' post='429099' date='Mar 9 2009, 09:49 AM']Cheers matey, thats my next port of call. I tried the Oxygen 49 driver which windows refused point blank to recognise, so my next thought was to abandon the USB port on the keyboard, get a midi interface with Vista drivers and try that. A quick trip to sounds live at lunchtime seems to be in order.[/quote] Soundslive's website isn't working for me at the minute but if I remember rightly the used to have E-mu interfaces - the X-midi devices have Vista drivers; and Maplin in town used to carry M-Audio stuff (in very low numbers) and I know there are 32-bit Vista drivers available for their midi interfaces.

I bought my second bass a little while ago (Cort Curbow4) and have it tuned to C pretty much all the time. Works for me, and most of the stuff I'm trying to play. The problem is, I'm currently having lessons and most of this is in standard tuning. Still learning the E fretboard so I havent really tried to learn the notes in C yet. My other bass doesn't really like C, so its only the Cort I can use for that; but it seems a shame not to play the Cort all the time. I wondered if anyone can recommend a good pitch shift pedal - so that in theory, I can shift the C up a major third to E when I'm in lessons or practicing lesson material? What would the sound quality be like - I'd be looking to using the 100% affected signal. Cheers guys.

Do you have another midi interface? I would expect, if you take the midi out from the Carillon into the midi in of a Vista compatible midi interface then most of the important features would work i.e. the keys and assignable pots/faders etc. should still work. I don't know that controller too well so couldn't guess what you'd be losing; but it might be an option for you.

[quote name='jimbartlett' post='429049' date='Mar 9 2009, 08:29 AM']This will give you 5 or 6 months to save up! [/quote] I really can't justify another bass... well.... I can but its a weak justification. But I'd have 5 or 6 months to come up with something. Jeez this is tempting. No... I can't... I mustn't....

I spent a while looking for one, and the only one I found generated one bar but didn't loop it. Had to resort to creating my own - Groove Agent (drums) and Virtual Guitarist (er... guitars?) into Ableton Live. Those plugins are both absolutely pants but let me get a loop going in under a minute.