Vin Venal

On 15/02/2024 at 08:07, Downunderwonder said:

How so?

 

As a DI preamp I can't for the life of me fathom why it doesn't have pre and post loops for more fx.

 

Otherwise, it's got a lot going on that covers a whole lot of ground, including the famed SMX dual band compressor.

 

I appreciate you are already covered for compression, just curious how it got written off.

I dunno, I think I prefer separate pedals over multi effects, and I'm not really into the whole bass preamp pedal as a concept, I prefer to find overdrive and boost pedals I like and stack em. My current rig is a compressor, a fuzz and a boost into a proco rat. 🤷🏼‍♀️

10 hours ago, MartinB said:

2nd hand Keeley Bassist. Only three controls, and one of them is just output volume. Automated attack and release times. Does everything from the mildest squish to full limiting. Nice and transparent.
If the name bothers you, the Keeley GC-2 is essentially the same thing - it just lets a little more low-end through.

Went with this in the end cuz one came up on marketplace. Think I can live with it saying bassist on it, as it ticks all my other boxes. 😁

Thanks for the suggestions all.

Pm sent

5 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

You might find a used Trace SMX compressor pedal for £100. Can't get any simpler for having three knobs. One for highs one for lows and the EQ balancer. Subtle as a subtle thing until you crank on it and then you know what you did wrong.

 

Dood does a really good demo of the one in his TransitB which gives you a good idea what it is about.

 

You could do worse than a couple of pedals gone byebye and go with the TransitB. Unity gain distortion is the holy grail. Never go for the overdrive and blow out the room again. They seem to be going around the £200 mark. Friggen bargain.

Hadn't heard of the SMX compressor, but that pedal definitely has vibes.

The transit b is not my thing I'm afraid.

Only thing that worries me bout the spectra comp is the app based stuff, like will it need updates, will I need to plug it into my phone to make it sound good, cuz I can't be arsed with that stuff.

I don't really understand compression, and you can't really go by demos, cuz compression is more of a thing you feel imo.

I've used two compressors, one was the Aguilar TLC which I hated cuz it had too many knobs which confused me, and when it was on it made my sound worse. The one I'm using at the moment is the behringer CS-9 which is based on the ibabez CP-9, but has better bass response. I like the way this sounds, and I don't have to think about what the knobs do too much cuz it sounds OK with them all pointing straight up, but it's cheap and not at all vibey.

So what I want is:

Something that sounds gentle, like it's just softly smoothing everything out and making everything sound subtly better.

Reasonably priced - around 100 quid used or new is fine.

Simpler the better. I don't want a lot of control, that gets me into trouble.

Preferably not a bass specific pedal, cuz I have an aversion to that.

Vibes 

Proco Rat 2, Behringer SF300, Behringer CS-9, TC Spark, Drugs 

I just switched to a warwick gnome I pro, the 300 watt one. 

Have played through it for quite a few hours already, and it's been with me to band practice, and I'm seriously impressed. Plenty loud enough. Really great clean sound. Nice musical eq (I push the mids and roll off the treble a bit and it's perfect).

I got it for easier transportation cuz it's so compact and light, but I wasn't expecting to be as happy as I am with the sound.

It got slightly warm after a long practice, but nothing I'm worried about. Can't wait to record with it. This will be my main amp now.

51 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

Racism isn't a trivial matter and accusations of racism shouldn't be so casually thrown around as it badly dilutes the importance of the message. You've gone from slandering all of them, including Filipino Kirk and Cliff, to just some of them. What did Kirk and Cliff do which lead you to accuse them of being racist, out of curiosity?

 

Sure, Hetfield was a tool and I'd imagine him and Rose in a room together at that time was hardly a shrine to enlightenment, but do you really think a band who have been paying Mensch and Burnstein, their jewish management, 20% for almost 40 years really believe in National Socialism? Think about it for just a minute.

Nah, I don't reckon they were literal nazis, just casual racists. Slander? Blimey. 🙃

19 hours ago, TimR said:

 

What about Motorhead and Lemmy? 

Wait what did Lemmy do? I only know about the collecting nazi memorabilia stuff, which I'm OK giving people a pass for, like it's definitely not advisable, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're a racist, or at least it didn't at the time. I reckon some of the people in Metallica were actually racists, and the stuff some of them have said/done would have been treated with derision in the circles I'm in then as it is now. I hope I don't have to add lemmy to the list of scumbags lol.

4 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

 

It's mega wild to me that people are so quick to judge and libel people they've never met with no foundation 😉

I don't reckon I need to worry too much about libel in this case, as Hetfield hasn't even sued the woman who's on record saying she heard him call Ice T a n*****, which is astonishing given how litigious metallica are.

5 hours ago, Jackroadkill said:

 

Oh, now you're talking....  Kyuss with Cliff would have been amazing.

Yeah, cliff had groove, I could see that. That's the difference with Newsted for me, it isn't so much that he was a pick player, its that Cliff and Trujillo have groove, he was dead linear.

41 minutes ago, TimR said:

Are you guys expecting members of a Thrash Metal band to own kittens and spend their time shopping for soft furnishings?

This take is wild honestly. It's like putting lost prophets on when your mates are round and when they look at you funny being like "what you expect rock stars to be saints..."

Another thing I thought was nuts was I saw an interview with Hetfield post-sobriety where he did that "I've been to therapy for the first time in my life at 50 something" thing of just casually revealing personal shit to people you've never met before, and he starts talking about how people wouldn't like him if they knew about all the terrible things he's done, like really heinous shit apparently, and I was thinking jesus James, if the stuff everybody knows about you isn't even the bad stuff, what have you been up to? Lol.

Also he thinks people like him. 😅

32 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

Metallica aren't racists, FFS. Hugh Tanner, the original guitarist, is black. He and Hetfield were in Leather Charm together before they joined Metallica. Kirk is Filipino. Trujillo is latino. They wouldn't be the first and won't be the last dopes to make that gesture in a poor effort at humour, especially in the past when enlightenment wasn't as easy to come by as it is now. Humans start as idiots, but we learn, some quicker thank others. Thankfully, most of us don't have every indiscretion photographed, ready to be dredged up out of context for some ill-guided outrage.
 

Let's not forget this guy married a black lady, much to the delight of his family.

Lol its wild to me that there's still people about who think having black friends proves you're not a racist. 😅

This one is less so, but people who've watched the dvd have said its clear Jason was goosestepping about giving the nazi salute.

The thing about Hetfield describing Ice T as a n***** is an account from a backing singer.

11 minutes ago, Cato said:

 

I'd need to see those pictures in context.

 

It was normal back in the 80s and 90s for metal fans to 'airpunch' enmasse during a gig and it was normal for the bands to do it back.

 

In hindsight I can see how that would look like a Nazi rally, all I can say is that I never heard those sentiments being openly expressed by a metal band on stage during that period .

 

I can't say that nobody in the crowds or on those stages believed that nonesense, but none of it was ever obvious to me.

 

I remember G&Rs 'One in a million' being incredibly controversial back in the day for it's use of the N word in the most negative possible way but, while I'm sure there were others that weren't as mainstream that were openly racist, that's the only recorded bit of metal racism I remember from the whole era.

 

 

 

 

That's pretty unambiguous... 😬

They were all also huge racists back in the day, which is fun. All of them except for Kirk have been pictured giving Nazi salutes (including Newsted, despite his modern day nice guy reputation), and Hetfield apparently once said he didn't wanna tour with Ice T cuz he wouldn't share a stage with a n*****. Hilariously he apparently said that in front of Slash, who he was on tour with at the time.

1 hour ago, Wolverinebass said:

In truth, there are so many hilarious things about that film and so many awful ones. All of them (Newsted excepted) come across as awful people. Kirk especially comes over as a passive aggressive tosser. Plus, he can't write lyrics either.

 

Frankly, they're an awful band. They've had some great material, but in every case it's mainly been ruined by crap production decisions and ludicrous egotism. 

 

I run a book with some fellow producers as to "How will Metallica ruin their next album." I won for Death Magnetic as since they're generally 8-10 years behind trends (plus they got Rick Rubin in) it was always going to be brickwalled and digitally distorted.

 

The best one was Lulu when one of my fellow producers said, "it'll just be awful." He won that one.

 

72 seasons has the whole "stupidly attacky drum samples." Nobody needs that amount of 10kHz on a kick drum. It's so obviously samples. How very 2011. They're so far behind the times.

They were great in 1992, when I was 10. By the time I was 12 I was well and truly over Metallica, and it's only gone downhill since.

If you watch early interviews with them, it's clear they were awful people from the get go really, but I was a pretty awful person in my early 20s too, and I think what's happened is, being millionaire rockstars meant they didn't have opportunities to grow and mature in the same way most people do, so like the music, they just got worse.

Hetfield is a big thick bully, Lars is his smarmy little mate, Kirk is a braindead stoner - none of them have evolved beyond high school.

What strings have you got on this?

I am using EB cobalt flats on my precision, which I love, loads of mid-range growl in these, and the main reason I got them is I hope they last a lot longer than rounds do before they go dead and lose that, cuz I hate changing strings.

However I have one slight issue which is that if I'm away from the bass for more than a day the cobalt seems to oxidise or something as they develop a coating which can only be described as sticky or clingy. It's definitely not something coming off my hands, cuz it goes away if I play, and stays away if I play regularly.

I noticed though that when I had just put some cuticle oil on my well manicured nails (lol), it solved the problem, instant nice slick feel.

Obviously I probably don't wanna use cuticle oil as an ongoing thing, cuz it's got all sorts of stuff in it, but I was thinking of getting some pure mineral oil, and basically just applying a dab of that to my fingertips before I start playing.

If I do that, do you think it would be bad for the longevity of the strings? Or even the poly finish on the maple fretboard?

If yes, any other recommendations?

Sorry if this is a bit of a dim question. 😬

20 hours ago, OzJzF said:

Lee Sklar did something similar to his '62 Jazz. Along with carving the top and reshaping the lower horn...

That's extremely cool though. That's art.

Just now, Sparky Mark said:

Can I ask why you've titled this thread "Ampeg Mucrotubes 900 V2"? Am I missing something? 

Oops, sorry, was just looking at something else and got my wires crossed, will fix now. Thanks! 🙃

Collection from Bristol preferred, but can arrange shipping by courier.

Not able to travel to meet up I'm afraid, as I don't drive.