moonbass

Major 6th = my bonny lies over the ocean

Yes, I'd agree with Nige. (Although it seems a long time ago now!) I liked the JVXs, and I did A-B them against the stock pups in the '75 reissue. They were much brighter and clearer; more even sounding and best of all entirely silent under stage lights, etc. But as you'd expect they don't match the passive warmth of the Fenders, so considerably change the character of the bass. You pays your money you takes yer choice.

I have to say, I remember the old EMG JVs being much warmer sounding, and I would definitely choose them over the new JVXs for a sound closer to passive jazz pickups, but if you're after a more modern sound the definitely go for the Xs.
A

Dear All Clever Recording Types,
I've bought a WD MyBook Studio to use for audio files for use in Logic Pro on my iMac.
I have been using my internal hard drive until now for recording and would like to transfer over this material to the external drive, and then in future record directly onto the external drive (I think?!)
If anyone has done anything similar and has advice how to do it with least trauma I would be very grateful.
In simple terms would be great as I'm no computer expert!
Thanks in advance.
Andy

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1354310063' post='1884798']

So your finding a passive P with year old strings to be more lively than a ray with strings a few weeks old? You do know it needs a 9v battery in the back of it?
[/quote]

In a word, yes! The P retains a usable tone despite old strings (ok, I wouldn't go as far as bright, but not dull) whereas I can boost the treble on the SR5 but it still sounds like old strings for recording. I'll admit this may have a lot to do with how famous P and MM players string changing habits alter how I expect each bass to sound! (Eg Jamerson vs Flea)

I've got an Oly White Fender P5 and I just love it! Build quality seems as good as any other Fender I've tried. Although in no way exotic I just find it sits in the mix, be it live or recorded, like no other bass I've owned. I haven't changed the strings in a year and it still records great, whereas my Stingray 5 sounds dull after just a few weeks. I think the P5 is criminally underrated!

Some fun funk tracks from our set:

Sing a Simple Song - Sly and the Family Stone
Love the One You're With - The Meters
Shake Your Rump to the Funk - The Bar-Kay's

I have the Takamine. Tried three of the same model in Guitar Guitar and all sounded quite different, so try before you buy if you can. I'm very happy with mine. Good build quality. I'm not a massive fan of the plugged in sound, but it's ok at low volumes.

An extra £125 a cab for the MNTs? I don't know, I never did the comparison, but I've never got to a stage where my EXTs have been lacking. I'd definitely suggest trying as many of the range (212 and 410 at least) as well before buying as you never know what's going to get the sonic juices flowing!

It's hard to be truly objective about these things as even when A/Bing one and two cabs it depends very much on room characteristics and volume level as well. My personal view is that in bigger rooms 2 cabs are needed for the bass response, but in smaller rooms running one just sounds better for midrange. Yes, I do think there are times when you need two of them.

I've had the Streamliner 900 and two Vanderkley 112 EXTs for the past year (also courtesy of Mark's sales skills!) It's a great rig and as loud as I'll ever need. I would be interested to hear what the higher powered MNT cabs add, but I guess they're only relevant at massive volumes?! Interestingly I'm increasingly taking out just one cab as running one a bit harder works better for me than under-powering the two. Seems to add a bit of grit to the otherwise very flat response of the cabs. Also, it's been said before but bares repeating that the power to weight ratio of this rig is just ridiculous compared to what was possible just 10 years ago!

Thanks all. I suspect my soldering wouldn't be up to the Seventh Circle route (or budget!) I like the idea of the Mackie Onyx Charic; have you used it yourself? I actually quite like Mackie's price to value ratio, and unlike many have never had a problem with their stuff. I have a ProFx desk and it is a bit noisy for recording, so would be interested to know how the Onyx performs. (Looks like it takes up a big bit of space though.) Anyone used the MOTUs? Are they really to be avoided?

Hi all clever recording types,

I'm in the market for a new audio interface. I'm currently using my Zoom H4n for the job (!), which has done admirably well considering, but the time has come to upgrade.

I use a 2009 iMac and I want ideally to get 8 audio ins and MIDI via firewire. Must have phantom power. Recording varied stuff from folksy to electronic. Budget is probably up to £1000 but would consider lower price good value or expandable options. Thoughts so far are:

[b]Motu 8pre:[/b] Has 8 XLR ins and MIDI. Not many routing options, but I don't think that will bother me for home recording myself on a Mac (will it?)

[b]Motu 896mk3: [/b]Has 8 XLRs and more routing options with effects, but doesn't seem to have MIDI (is this right, please correct me as I find it hard to believe it wouldn't have MIDI?!) Also a step up in price and there's mixed views on forums about sound quality.

[b]Focusrite Saffire Pro 40: [/b]8 XLRs and MIDI, lots of routing options, apparently very good pre's.

[b]RME Fireface 800:[/b] Only 4 XLR ins but 10 audio inputs and a line input with valve emulating stuff, MIDI, apparently excellent pre's, expandable by adding further units

I'm sure a lot of it is subjective and you get what you pay for, but it could be a fair whack of money to get something that doesn't do the job. So any thoughts welcomed. Anybody got or used these units? Any disasters? Any praise? Anything else I should be looking at? (Most of these units seem a good few years old, so anything new that I've not looked at?)

Much obliged and all that guv'nors
Andy

I acquired one (with an added bridge jazz pickup which I rarely use) from a fellow Basschatter about a year ago. I absolutely love it! When I got it, it was competing with my SR5 and it easily keeps pace with that. In fact the two basses give me the best of old school passive and modern active tones (if you could only stick these two basses together it'd be dream bass territory!)

I really liked the Ed Friedland video BUT I think his fairly clinical playing style and tone didn't really show off the precision 5s best side; for me it really excels at fat 60s funk and Jamerson soul and fairly driven plectrum rock tones. It's got way more soul than Eds demo might suggest (and you never feel the need to change the strings!)

Downsides? I'm struggling. It's not got the fastest of necks, but that kind of misses the point. It's a very comfy neck for a 5 string. And the pickups are a bit wobbly in their fittings. But all in all I'm amazed everyone hasn't got one!
A.

Bon Iver - I can't make you love me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3VjaCy5gck&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Nina Simone - To love somebody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxzPeojtmUA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Thanks guys, you're all bloomin' marvellous! I now have some shopping and tidying to do!
Andy

Er, I think I mean RAM; I think it's called DRAM on the Apple support site. Isnt this what limits how many effects you can use at one time? I could be talking twaddle of course!

And I was thinking about removing unused audio files to free up memory. I can understand how just silenced bits (eg by automation) would be harder to get rid of, but wondered if there was a shortcut to getting rid of unused audio (ie: takes that are stored but not used if you know you've finished editing a track.)

Oh, and is there an easy way to remove audio unused regions to free up memory?

Thanks for all the advice chaps - very useful. Any suggestions on models of hard drive to go for?
While I'm at it, how would upgrading my RAM benefit recording? I have occasionally caused a spinning wheel of death when using a lot of tracks with multiple effects, and sometimes latency becomes a problem when running mastering effects while trying to record. Would upgrading RAM solve this? (I've currently got 4GB using 2 slots, but I think I can upgrade to 16GB with 4x4GB).
A.

Hi. I'm after a bit of advice regarding recording on Logic:
I started off recording just using my iMac and saving everything to its internal hard drive. This has been fine until now but I'm starting to run out of space. (I know I should have got an external drive from the start, but never thought I'd be doing as much home recording as I am.)

So my questions are: what hard drive should I get? Do I need two for samples and project files? I understand that it's best to get non-'green' 7200rpm firewire drives; is this true? And how do I safely transfer my current files over to a new hard drive? I currently back up to a wireless TimeMachine; is this good enough for backups, or should I use something else?
Any thoughts muchly appreciated.
Andy.

[quote name='GetYourFunkOut93' timestamp='1342771697' post='1740578']
Finally someone who runns Vanderkley cabs. They were the first cabs I well for on the website (Bit pricey but the demo on youtube )... What are they like? Are they worth spending some extra cash on?
[/quote]

Well, at the risk of derailing the thread, a bit about my Vanderkleys:
The EXT's are the lower power handling of the 1x12 range (300W 8ohm, as oppose to the 112MNT at 600W). Mark at Bass Direct suggested these as, although nominally under-rated for the power of the Streamliner 900, the chances of needing to run the amp at full tilt are virtually zero! As it is for rehearsal and most gig volumes I get the feeling I'm under-running both the amp and cabs (when I use both the 1x12s). In fact I'm getting much better results using just one 1x12 cab and running it a bit harder; it gives more punch and growl. I'm guessing that with the 600W MNTs this problem would be compounded (never tried them though, so hard to comment).

The sound of the cabs is quite hard to pin down. They are certainly a good stab at full range; I think there is a certain lack of sub bass when standing next to them as might be expected, but actually once you get a few yards away and the waves have had time to propagate they have plenty of bass for medium sized clubs. They are not to my ear as punchy as a 4x10, but then they're not shifting as much air, and the fact that I'm even making that comparison probably shows how much 1x12s have come on in the past few years!

What they definitely are is LIGHT! They are an easy one hand carry, and I can carry two for long distances without problems. I can fit two easily into my Audi A3 boot with room to spare. And you get less damage to your shins and doorways than with a larger cab. They're not cheap, but they are exceptionally well constructed and feel mighty sturdy. I do wish they'd put the red facing on the EXTs as well as the more expensive cabs as they do look a little 'meh', but hey, substance over style every time.

I think given a choice again, I would definitely try one of the bigger Vanderkleys (2x10 or 2x12) but if you want a compact solution to go with a Streamliner 900, you could do a lot, lot worse.
Andy

[quote name='GetYourFunkOut93' timestamp='1342736400' post='1740373']
Thanks mate What cabs are you running It through?
[/quote]

Two Vanderkley 1x12 EXTs. It's an exceptionally light and powerful rig, but I'd go for one of the larger Vanderkley cabs if I was going to change.

Yep, I've had mine for nearly a year now. Just got back from a rehearsal with it in fact. Hardly got a bad word (or indeed heard) a bad word about them. They have quite a coloured sound and are certainly not hi-fi. Unlike Markbass you can really hear the 3 pre-amp valves driving the mids, and that's where it excels. I would have preferred a sweepable mid rather than the 3 presets on offer, but it does make dialling in sounds dead easy. The treble is very clever; cut and boost work differently. The best way I can describe it is it cuts like a fender and boosts like Musicman!

Niggles? Well, some of the pots were a bit scratchy initially but now seem fine. The DI out is a bit noisy if selected post eq. And, although not really a bad poin,t it is almost too powerful for a lot of applications. I ran it into a Vanderklay 1x12 tonight with a fairly loud drummer and it was pretty overpowering on '1'! I would love to hear it through an 8x10 as I bet it would give an Ampeg SVT a good run for it's money (which is twice as expensive!)

In summary: love it!

I got a Takamine (G series I think) from Guitar Guitar in Epsom. They had about 5 different acoustics of varying prices. Nothing special, but certainly a more pleasant experience than Denmark Street. The Takamine has been great for noodling, and I've also got good results from micing it for recording.

I put the D'Addario NS Trads on mine which were fine. I think you have to be careful with lengths of some DB strings as they can be a bit long (which is why theres that option of stringing all the way round the end of the bass) whereas the D'Adadrio are the right length. I never played arco, but pizz was fine with decent tension (although the B felt a lot different to the rest of the set). Also if you are using the magnetic pickups you'll need metal core strings.

Theremin?
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=130679335214&siteId=3&isClassified=false