WHUFC BASS

Thanks for the replies chaps. I'm hoping there's a tinted oil wood stain out there that will do the job, doesn't have to be black, very dark blue, green or grey would do. Good thing is, the wood is a dark brown colour do it might make for some interesting colour options.

Has anyone got any idea how to prepare the wood on an oil finished bass for re-staining a different colour? I was wondering how hard it would be to stain a bass body black (its mahogany). Would I need to remove the oil finish with some sort of spirits and apply the stain or is there another soloution?

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='498864' date='May 27 2009, 03:16 PM']Do you seriously take Harmony Central reviews as anything but with a pinch of salt? The amount of people who review them bassed on a 30 second dabble in a shot is ridiculous. Similarly, you get the metallers reviewing a Hofner jazz box saying that it's sh1te because it just howls the second you put the overdrive pedal on. This Marshall TSL sounds crap for jazz... you get the idea. Most of the people on there are idiots. [i][b]Thats a bit of a sweeping statement - usually its easy to spot the idiots from the ones who know what they're talking about. I agree, it has its idiots, but there's also a high number of sensible reviewers that get on there. You can't dismiss the whole site just because some idiots get on there. [/b][/i] Nobody - but how many times do you revisit an interview on the web - or rewatch a youtube video of an interview? [i][b]A few times, if there's sensible content on there.[/b][/i] ...and a lot of tab sites are wrong... and the people playing them on YouTube are wrong. But if thats cool... that's cool. [i][b]..and a lot of magazines are wrong too. Thing is, if I've paid money for a magazine with transcriptions then I'd expect them to be right on numerous occasions I have come across mistakes. Again, you are dismissing the web as being full of idiots and wrong information when in fact there's a wealth of information out there. [/b][/i] A free DVD or CD is alot of extra work and will require an increase in the price of the magazine. Are they going to do this for what is quite a niche market. At the end of the day, BGM is still a business. They have to make it pay for itself. [i][b]I'm no expert on marketing but surely there needs to be a bit of incentive here. If they churn out the same old boring formula then there's nothing to inspire me to buy it. A little investment may go a little way in renewing interest in the mag. As it stands, its just plain boring. [/b][/i] This has been discussed many times - they need to make it look more pro - with proper editing... etc, do a search for some of the past discussions. My main gripe is that they need in depth reviews with people that know what they are talking about. Anybody can go to a website, lift the press photos and present them in a magazine. It's the credability of the person reviewing the products that give a magazine review some weight... and that only comes with providing reviews with edge and convincing the readers that you really do know your stuff. [i][b]Thats why I prefer the web. Despite dismissing it as full of 30 second dabblers and Metallers there are some knowledgeable people who post on Harmony Central - from stuff I've bought, a lot of the reviews appear to be spot on. Many are very critical, not biased or connected with any manufacturer. If someone states they play and listen to a certain style (say Heavy Metal) and then buy an instrument which isn't suited to that style and say so in the review - then guess what, I think I'd find that helpful if I was buying the instrument with that playing style in mind. Granted, if you bought a semi-acoustic bass to play metal then that's just ridiculous but for other instruments it may well be pertinent. I think we're in agreement that the magazine needs an overhaul - my point is that it needs to compete with whats on the web by being more professional in its outlook and content and offering better value for money [/b][/i][/quote]

I've often said about magazines and papers, they'll really have to up their game as the internet offers vastly more than a mag can without the price tag. Let's look at what they offer: ADS!! The ads I can do without however, they need this to generate income so its a fact of life. Mags will have ads in them. Some enjoy them but generally from a punters point of view they are just space fillers. What else do they offer? Not a lot. Reviews can be had on Harmony Central and numerous other sites and will be brutally honest if something is bad - often mags won't be for fear of upsetting manufacturers. On the web, you often get a cross section of players reviewing a particular item which is a whole lot better than just one person reviewing an item. Secondly the interviews they do are mildly interesting but again, after reading them once or twice, who goes back to them? Then there's the transcriptions which again can be had on numerous tab sites with many youtube clips available showing how its done. I know that BPM has a website and it isn't that bad, but for a mag to be successful these days they really have to do something special. Many don't. As mentioned, free DVDs or CDs might be an option but if they're going on content alone, they're going to struggle. What can they do? Difficult one. Maybe by doing special features month such as some guitarist mags have done - for example, devoting the mag to one paticular style each month with a free CD of transcriptions and / or lessons. Discounts negotiated with manufacturers for readers. that's all I can think of at the moment ! Just my two bobs worth...

I love Trace Elliots I aspired to get one more or less since I started playing bass. Used a couple in rehearsal studios and bought my first one in the mid 1980s. AH250 with a 1x15 and 4x10 cab. I used to get goosebumps when I turned it on and the UV light kicked in. It looked the dogs bollocks on stage all lit up and sounded absoloutley killer at the time. It was a nightmare to cart around and I sold it in the end. Then I got a Series 6 GP7 combo bought new from the bass centre in Wapping. I gigged it extensively with my Status 6-String for years, must have done around 100 gigs with it and it never let me down. Great sound, easily transportable and reliable. I sold it when I gave up playing bass and forgot how great they sound until I used one the other week at an audition. It sounded amazing with my Sansamp VT running through the effects loop. I also used to own a 1x15 GP12 SMX combo with the solid state/valve tuning (sadly women didn't take their clothes off when I dialled in a valve sound) but that was also a great little amp. I sold it on Basschat years ago. The one thing I've found with Trace Elliot amps, as soon as I do a gig or turn up at a studio where I am borrowing an amp, if its a Trace I know its going to sound OK without massive amounts of tweaking and dialling in. I love 'em. If they did something like the Genz Benz shuttle which gave you that Trace sound. I'd beat a path to their doors and buy it without a moments hesitation.

If I were him I'd lose them demo vids. They do absoloutley nothing to inspire me on how the bass sounds.

We're in Sweden in August. Can't f***ing wait.

Squier do two models of Precision with Jazz necks - the a P-bass special and a Pete Wentz signature model.

Funny thing happened the other day. I had an audition for a band who are quite well known on the punk scene, they have a few CDs out etc. Anyway they asked me to learn ten songs in a week which I did, but I didn't have two of the songs. I downloaded them off the web but whoever recorded them used a record player to convert them from into an MP3. I didn't think this was a problem and duly learned these songs. When it came to playing them at the audition I was a semitone out - and I had been using open strings on my version. They off-handly told me everything was a semi-tome lower and began to count in again. Cue manic transposing on the spot which thankfully worked and I didn't bother arguing with them about the key as they were the ones who wrote the songs in the first place. For the life of me I couldn't work out how I had much such a bad error until it dawned on me that the record player speed was slight slow and as a result altered the pitch slightly. I've also noticed this will MP3s that have been sampled at various different rates.

Best strap I've used is a Comfort Strapp...if you've got a heavy bass, this is the one for you.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='494878' date='May 22 2009, 08:51 AM']...but don't you realise that this is important in maintaining the snobbery around musical instruments and keeping the prices of the Big Brands artificially high?[/quote] In the words of Bill Hicks - "If you're in marketing, kill youself now. This isn't a joke, really...kill yourself now. You are Satan's little helpers". Dead right about Yamaha and Ibanez. Same can be said for Washburn too...have stuff made in Japan, Korea, Indonesia etc. and all make high quality instruments. The thing to be borne in mind is that many are made in the same factory using the same machines and just differ in design. Schecter are a good example of how they get the best of both worlds, parts manufactured in Korea and assembled in the U.S. - which in my mind doesn't make any difference to the end result. If the parts of an Encore P-bass were transported to heaven and assembled by God, it'd still be a sh*t playing and sounding bass due to the cheap components used in the first place.

I don't really buy into all this "Its all about what country its made in". A lot of people slag off Korean-made instruments but I've had quality guitars and basses made in Korea and I mean really nice. It was the same in the 1980s when people were knocking Japanese instruments but they have stood the test of time and are top quality, easily on a par with U.S. instruments. Then you've got the Mexican Fender argument - they are great instruments in their own right, there's nothing wrong with them. I think you've just got to take each instrument on its own individual merit. Individual quality control comes into it a lot, and to be honest it's not down the country of manufacture which determines the level of QC. Take Gibson for examples, they do have QC isues and some of the guitars they pump out are really bad QC wise. I noticed one in Denmark Street (a Gibson Explorer) which had a section of paint on the back that looked like the surface of an orange peel. How it got through QC I'll never know. Thats not an isolated case either. In 90% of cases you'll get what you pay for. A £99 bass will never have the quality and workmanship of a bass costing over £500. However you do get the odd diamond in the dog-sh*t like the Squier Vintage which are great.

[quote name='AM1' post='493126' date='May 20 2009, 11:36 AM']Thanks for the tip. I think as I get older, I sweat (sorry, glow) more! Haha. Now this has changed my reasoning about gig clothes - let me give you an example. On a recent gig, I ended up mega sweaty as usual, flat out punk bass gigs tend to do that plus if you're a natural sweat-machine, well, it's ten fold. Anyway so I got mega sweaty, ended up extremely pissed and woke up on a random sofa, having slept in said sweaty clothes, overall situation normal, that top then went in the washing basket, anyway it came to the next gig and...shameful confession time, I thought f*ck it, I'm not getting a clean top sweaty, so I got the previous rancid one out of the basket, put it back on and played in it again! The plus point of this is you can dodge buying a round all night cos no one wants to get near you to challenge your skinflint ways. HAHAHAHA!!!! I think we should have a poll - how many gigs in a row, have you played in the same, stinky, sweaty, damp old threads. Haha.[/quote] You dodge rounds anyway and when you do buy one, its like trying to get blood out of a stone. You nearly took the pattern of that Jagermeister glass the other night, I thought you were going to try and ring it out.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='425153' date='Mar 4 2009, 04:11 PM'] I can't believe I've still got exactly the same gear as I had in 1985. It was old then! Still, [i]I thoroughly[/i] endorse H&H products - the finest bass amps ever made. Before that I had a Selmer Treble 'n'Bass valve amp which had more warmth and depth but didn't suit the Wal so much. Most modern amps sound rubbish to my ears. I tried for years to find an engineer willing to extract the pre amp from the main amp head ... to no avail. It would have been really handy to take it in a little box with me when I was doing loads of foreign gigs in the 90's. If anybody knows someone who can do this let me know.[/quote] I used to have a H|H Bass Baby in the late 1980s, used it with a massive 2x15 H|H cab. sounded - MASSIVE - I was playing in a metal band at the time using a Fender 62 re-issue Precision. The sound was great. By the way, I know a man who can do your pre-amp for you. If you're interested let me know.

[quote name='Russ' post='493446' date='May 20 2009, 04:49 PM']To be honest, every Westfield I've ever tried has been cheap, unplayable and boxy-sounding sh!te.[/quote] That describes the Stingray copy I got my nephew to a tee. I've just seen a Vintage Stingray copy go for over £100 second-hand. I know Vintage have a slightly better repuation but I couldn't help seeing the similarities. Not sure if they're made in the same factory or not though.

You must have got a half decent one. I bought one for my nephew and it wasn't that great to be honest. It was one of their stingray copies. Wasn't impressed at all.

I think he sells stuff on Ebay under the name "dazgixer" he's in Gillingham, Kent.

Get a Sansamp VT. Problem solved.

[quote name='Jase' post='397477' date='Feb 2 2009, 03:03 AM'][url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y6eri4-BcB4&feature=related"]Metallica[/url] ....sounds like a barking pig![/quote] Thats an excellent bass sound I reckon. Its the sort of sound I try to get on recordings. Overdriven with some mids in the mix.

[b]Very interesting... [/b] Real life experiences The following statements are from our supporters, and do not necessarily reflect the views of HSE. Paul Gray, rock guitarist, Musicians' Union Regional Officer, Wales & SW England Paul Gray, rock guitaristI spent over 20 years touring and recording internationally as bass guitarist with Eddie & the Hot Rods, The Damned and UFO. Eighteen of them were tinnitus free. When I realised my ears were still ringing 2 weeks after a tour had finished, I saw a doctor who referred me to the Audiology Department at University Hospital Wales. The tests showed I had significant hearing loss, tinnitus and the onset of hyperacusis. Against their advice I continued touring, during which time the tinnitus levels rapidly reached such high levels in both ears that I was unable to sleep or concentrate. Additionally hyperacusis rapidly precluded me from going to pubs, restaurants etc, performing onstage became stressful (even with the earplugs available at that time), everyday noises seemed excessively unpleasant and I had to concede defeat. Changing a successful career as a musician was a hard decision to make but I had no choice. Had suitable earplugs been available (eg with a protection factor of 30 dB), I would not be in the situation I am now, having to wear ear protection for everyday life, not least whenever my 2 year old boy gets noisy - which is pretty often! The implications of permanent noise damage go far beyond the working environment - 24 hours a day ringing in both ears, hearing loss, sensitivity to normal noises. And I was one of those who never thought I'd get problems!