SumOne

Agreed, for about £200 a well set-up second hand Ibanez SR 300 is really not that different to some £1k basses I've owned.

Yeah, I saw one posted that was touted as a 'new' Bob Marley and Peter Tosh song.....very obviously (for many reasons!) AI had basically been given a prompt to make it. For the sake of it, I asked AI to do a Reggae song about Chichester: https://suno.com/s/4N29U2W1xoc5Hrrh ....cheesy, but not terrible. It is a bit of a concern as I've just started in an originals Reggae band that doesn't gig (in addition to my usual band that does gig a lot), so the only thing this new band does is record original music, but I can only assume that AI music creation will only continue to get better and more easily available so originals bands are going to really have to up their game and add something properly original/authentic to be relevant.

A decent new dub album from Zion I Kings: ....my only issue with this and most other modern dub albums is they can sound a bit 'clean' and perfect to me, like it's not that far off what I try to make on a Laptop and that Laptop production process is what I can picture in my head. Whereas something like 1970s Black Ark type productions just give more of a feel of a hot smoky Jamaican ramshackle studio and live musicians.

The 'I can't hear myself at all - so will turn everything up full and then muck about with cables and power/mute switches etc' deserves severe punishment (or at least needing to buy the band a round of drinks). It's a pet hate of mine, I know it is easily done but is real amateur hour stuff that sounds terrible if there are punters within earshot, potentially breaks equipment, and is really dangerous for hearing. .....that's not to say I haven't done it myself though!

I think as with most players Bernard's sound was more about technique rather than equipment. He has quite a unique 'chucking' style. I don’t think he used effects pedals, and seem to remember hearing that his recorded sound was straight to desk. He did apparently use quite old flatwound strings and most famously used a Stingray bass - but he did also record with a Precision and other basses and made them all sound like him.

IEMs. (Xvive with ACS custom) After being told by most of the band and online about how amazing they are I got some and found them a hassle for bass playing and combined cost about £350 for something I haven't ended up using. Batteries needs charging, cable snags on things and makes noise as moved, sound cuts out sometimes and when it works the sound quity isn't great - poor bass sound (and this is with ACS custom moulded in-ears), relying on mixer settings etc, it just all adds complexity as I still need my Amp/Cab which I'm stood in front of as the PA isn't up to the task (so I don't need to monitor myself), and I'm stood next to the drummer so I can hear that main thing I need from the rest of the band anyway even if there weren't monitors (which there are - as the drummer needs them). I can see it being worthwhile if the whole band use them so no stage monitors, and if the PA wad good enough to not need a bass amp/cab. I do also have ACS earplugs which are great though.

I'm not saying Andertons aren't good, but if you buy pretty much anything online the shops legally need to let you easily return it for a refund within 14 days, defective or not - the buyer doesn't even need to provide a reason. "You must offer a refund to customers if they’ve told you within 14 days of receiving their goods that they want to cancel. They have another 14 days to return the goods once they’ve told you. You must refund the customer within 14 days of receiving the goods back. They do not have to provide a reason." https://www.gov.uk/accepting-returns-and-giving-refunds

Earl Sixteen 'Concrete Rockers' album ♨️

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Yeah nice, I like it, Scientist and Mad Professor both use that effect a lot. I bought a Boss GX-10 partly to be able to do that effect - small multi-fx with an assignable expression pedal for that EQ change and Reverb/Delay boost. I do use fx a fair bit for Reggae/Dub, but usuall quite subtly. I have found that even just a standard Reggae bass sound can vary quite a bit between different players and recordings so it can be quite worthwhile adding some compression, drive, EQ just for the core tone and to add some variety between songs (I don't know if it was on purpose or not, but some of the early Lee Perry recordings have some quite distorted sounding bass, and a lot of Robbie Shakespeare recordings sound edge of breakup sort of tube distortion). And then things like that Scientist reverb effect are good to use (sparingly!), or I ocasionally add space echo to the high end to trail off as the bass cuts out in parts like the breakdown or ending of songs, I quite like an ocasional bit of Phaser too. This reminds me that I need to try and make a preset to get near to this extreme version of the Scientist effect with EQ, delays, and reverb:

Damn it! I had been getting quite comfortable just using my Boss GX-10 that has decent enough Tuner, EQ, Compressor, Drive, and modulation and delay effects - enough that I wasn't really after any indididual pedals. It is convenient and means I can get all my Amp + Cables + Bass stand + Effects etc. in one single relatively small bag for gigs. .....But I've just received an Octamizer in a part exchange - and nothing on a multi-fx quite gets that same analogue octave sound, and the GX-10 (or other multi-fx) don't quite get the analogue analogue filter feel of something like an MXR Bass Envelope Filter so I'd been eyeing up them again. And now this MXR Bass synth (and @knicknack's excellent video) is enough to tip me over the edge! The GX-10 is more of a stand-alone thing as it is a bit big to incorporate into a pedal board so it puts me on the path of selling it and getting indididual pedals yet again!

Thread resurrecting! I'm now onto my third Ibanez EHB 5 string (long story, basically I changed them each time when I felt a more traditional 4 string Jazz type would be better for the bands I was in, then regretted it and went back), and can say none had any issues with the truss rod. In fact, none have had any big issues but all needed a bit of tinkering to set up properly e.g. the latest one (bought from Andertons) had a couple of loose screws holding the mono bridges on (a bit of a faff as need the saddle part out of the way to access) and all of the bridge saddles were set as far towards the neck as possible - so not set-up for intonation at all, and the G string needed making shorter as it couldn't tighten up enough via the bridge tuners to get into tune. All of that was fine, I usually expect an hour or so setting up a new bass to my liking, but if you were new to bass playing it wouldn't be ideal. What I would say are small issues are: The bottom parts of the stacked knobs are difficult to read (fixable with some Tipp-ex) Side dots are too dull to see in low light (fixable with stick on ones) Locking jack is a bit annoying (the lock can be disabled though) The matte paint is very delicate Slanted back isn't something I'm really sold on, it isn't a big deal but I think I'd prefer to not have the bass angled up Some people don't like the Bartolini pickups (the general complaint is they sound too muddy), they sound fine to me though, but I suppose the Bass overall does sound quite modern/generic.

Yeah, it is fun and I like having a bit of creativity in making new ska/reggae versions of songs that are still familiar enough songs for pub crowds to get into and sing/dance along. The band started gigging in 2022, I joined in 2023.

Skavana....... you guessed it: Ska covers of Nirvana (it's the law that ska covers bands need to have 'ska' in the title isn't it?!) Quite a lot of the set are our ska and reggae versions of Nirvana songs, also some straightforward 2 tone covers, and our ska/reggae versions of the sort of stuff most pub punters know and can sing and dance along to (Billy Idol, Green Day, Radiohead, The Cure etc.). We're an 8 piece: Drum, Bass, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Singer, Trombone, Sax x2 (alto and baritone). We gig about once a fortnight, mostly around Sussex - usually pubs and small festivals. 21 gigs booked in for 2025 and a few more will get added. https://www.facebook.com/skavanaband

I'm going to go back to an EHB1005MS Sea Foam Green which a bit mental as I've bought/sold two previously, they aren't perfect but I miss it! No other 5 (including the new EHBs) tick as many boxes for me. Price ✅ Weight/balance ✅ Multiscale ✅ Headless ✅ Passive mode, pickup blend, sweepable mids ✅ The new ones look nice n'all but are about £500 more expensive, no mid sweep, and I think if the battery dies then that's it (no true passive mode, as the Fishman pickups themselves are active).

Yes

Fair enough for the Moog Voyager effect, I'll need to (virtually) give that a try - but I think it is niche. And yeah, stereo modulations and delays applied to bass/synth bass - mostly if just affecting the high end can be great, but personally they are features I'd look for on modulation and delay pedals to apply further down the signal chain rather than a synth bass pedal itself.

I suppose for more atmospheric pad type sounds it can be useful. But bass (synth or otherwise ) is best in mono as far as I'm concerned, and that's the general rule in music production as well as live. Stereo bass can cause phase issues, and it just looses some of the impact. e.g. on a reggae soundsystem all the bass is mono.

You're right - I am keen on this pedal! I'll try to have a bit of self control though (both for buying, and for selling once something else shiny and new gets my attention). That restraint probably won't last long though! Like others have said, this looks like MXR have hit quite a sweet spot gap in the market of useful bass synth sounds, tracking (hopefully), functionality, hands-on editing, presets, size. Feels a bit pricey, but I must be getting old as I think everything is pricey nowadays!