hubrad

3/4 is very much nominal, and encompasses a range of lengths. Add to that the weight - serious shops will tell you down to the gram - and choice of grip, type of wood, hair etc, and there are so many variables! If the price seems reasonable, and especially if you can get a little go on this bow first, I'd say go for it if you're looking for a bow to get you started. My first one was about 30 plus a rear, but it got me to the point where I knew I was up for spending a few hundred. Then I changed from French to German grip and so it goes.. The main thing to me is that you feel comfortable enough holding it, so there's a good chance you'll actually play with it. The rest should follow, the amount of work depending on where you're thinking of taking it.

I know you're off to the Show, but I'd have a look at this if it's nearby.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/overwater-perception-deluxe-5-string-fretless-bass-/222028065904?hash=item33b1e76c70:g:GDcAAOSwll1Wxi00

Ooh.. those two look good together! :-) We have a mutual friend in Gifford Rolfe; he's spoken very highly of you, Lou!

I'm sure I read, back in the day, that Jaco's 'chorus' effect was in fact achieved by running two stacks(!) with an extremely short delay between them. Applying finger vibrato then gives you an immense sound, kinda manual chorus. Tried it once with two amps, brill sound but I really wasn't up for doubling the amount of gear I already carried! Meself, I hardly use effects, preferring rather to use my fingers, but if I do then chorus/uni-vibe can be fun especially on more fixed notes such as natural harmonics. Each to their own.

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1455883292' post='2983244'] Off topic - but your band is awesome! [/quote] Thanks.. they are rather, and they put up with my foibles, particularly variable availability, rather well. A superb bunch of guys! :-)

+1 for the Thunder 1a.. such a versatile bass! I occasionally play one in a band, and it's great for a 4 string with frets. [size=4] [/size] Could be the whole active/passive thing.. go back to passive, and try to work out what's 'missing' relative to the tone you're after. Get on Seymour Duncan website and listen hard to all their P pickup samples remembering these are in another bass. It's all about relative tones, and results will vary with the actual bass, strings, playing style and strength, state of your nails/choice of pick... Experimenting is ace! Yonks back, I had 2 electric guitars of which I preferred the tone of one but the feel of the other. Swapped the pickups, hoping to achieve one amazing guitar. . No change whatsoever! :-D Tried the Fender pickup in the Westone yet?

Another thing strikes me.. what's your normal rig? If you have a 'normal' amp and it sits at floor level, firing past your ankles, you'll barely hear anything compared to a 'good' amp on a stack so now one cab is pretty much firing at your head. Same with feedback - firing past your ankles vs. firing straight at your bass.

Nicely done balancing the patch volumes! That's one of the trickiest bits for me. Good to hear a side-by-side test like that, especially played by someone else so I can just concentrate on the tones.

Neat idea.. does the looper affect the voicing of the bass at all, or leave it pretty natural as per your amp settings?

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1455448217' post='2979105'] Done. I listened to the tracks again and again...as often as I could, really. After a while, I felt that I knew the songs. The downside, though, was that the guitar and bass were a bit low in the mix. I played through them using the sheet music as may times as necessary until I felt that I knew the tracks well enough to play along to the mp3s of them. Some tracks, for some reason, I just could not grasp. For these, I deconstructed them - writing out the structure, chord changes etc - and that helped me understand them a lot better. Week 1: met up Wednesday and Saturday for full-band practice. Week 2: met up Monday with the whole band, Friday with the guitarist and drummer (playing along unplugged in the drummer's flat while he kept the beat with a keyboard) and Saturday for a final run-through with the whole band before heading off to the gig. All in all, I learnt all but two of the 19 tracks, but didn't play one more as I didn't feel comfortable with it. It felt very strange to stand on stage and not play...but it would have felt worse to fluff up everything. The music was very challenging; I have come from a fairly straightforward rock/metal background where everything was in 4/4. This band's music was incredibly fast and had lots of time changes. This is what threw me in the beginning...I could play the notes but kept being thrown off by the timing. The gig went well. As always, the sound tech did his best, but I had a hard time hearing myself or the singer. I had to play off the drums the whole time - which is what I normally do - but I had to play the song in my head to keep up with the changes as I could not hear any of my cues; as such, I made a few minor mistakes. To make matters worse, their previous bassist showed up; this threw me off a little bit. He was drunk and still a bit sore from being sacked, it seems, and gave a few backhanded compliments ("you were ok", "you did ok but it missed the magic touch I brought to the band") and said some less pleasant things. But he mellowed and became a little less dickish after a bit. He was a little loud in his criticism of the next band, too. He was booted because he did not want to come to practice (he lived about 2 hours away, so I understand) but I would not be surprised if there were other reasons involved. The crowd were great and the other bands were really full of compliments, which meant a lot. It was a good night - we, as grindcore, are too punk for metal but too metal for punk, but we mostly fit in with the other two bands on the bill: a punk/hardcore/screamo group and a punk/funk/fusion band. Success, I think. I would gladly join them again for other gigs if they cannot find a bassist in time. A huge thanks to all here for tips and tricks - these will come in handy for learning tracks (even at a more leisurely pace) that I can use later. I played my 5-string P with flats (and a chrome pickup cover!) through my DHA VT-1 pedal cranked for max distortion that went into a Boss DI and then into the house's backline, which was a Hughes and Kettner 100w combo. [/quote] Nicely done, by the sound of it - you enjoyed it, everyone else without an agenda enjoyed it, so win/win! I bet you get more gigs out of it, either with the same band or others.

I bet it just needs the pots cleaning! :-) Good combo for someone there.

Ah-hah.. this makes more clarity in your other thread.. probably the original pot was included when you bought it as some folks like to have the original (albeit knackered!) parts, even though it's unusable. Some folks will pay more for a thing if it still has the box, even though it's of no practical value. Unless it was a serious collectors piece, I really wouldn't be bothered myself. I'd be wanting the one with the working volume pot. Parallel to this, I'm sure I saw some mad Ebay item a while back of someone selling an original 1960s Fender P pot for some insane amount of money. Just WHY???

Just get new pots. Not worth the hassle if it needs more than a squirt of cleaner.

If it sounds good, use it. If not, change settings until it does. If I actually wanted a Ricky through an Ampeg, I'd have got one ages ago. If the model sounds useful then QED, whether it actually sounds like the 'real thing' or not. VB-99 part-timer.

Victor Wooten. End of.

Also consider whether you're after smoothie smoothie kinda fretless tone (probably what most folks are after) or more attacky sound (like me!) so you can play fretless in any context. I recently put a set of EMG into my Overwater Jazz; it was brilliant with the Barts, but the EMGs really slice though yet with tons of power! This is about the best recording of it I've heard so far.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew3NMmtYH3M Your ears, your choice. Have fun experimenting.

Yonks back, I had a Trace pre and Peavey CS-1000 power amp, racked up in a box of my own making. Even with the cabs separate, it were fookin' ridiculous! :-D How do you transport your gear, rather than keep it? Unless it gets wheeled up a ramp into a van and back out onto an easy access stage, keep it portable! All IMHO..

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1454927726' post='2974162'] I don't see it a 'learning to play the fretless' as much as 'playing the fretless'. A fretless is just a fretted bass without frets. It is not a 'new' instrument. A guitarist who plays six string doesn't need to 'learn' how to play 12 string. You need to explore the potential of a new voice but 'learning to play the fretless' is setting up a psychological barrier that isn't there. [/quote] Post Of The Week (so far, at least) for me!

[quote name='Rikki_Sixx' timestamp='1454584433' post='2970988'] Crikey, I grew up in Cleckheaton! Was there just a few days ago in fact. Didn't expect to see a mention of it here, haha. Bought my first bass there at Music Room, which I think moved to a much bigger premises a few years back - though I haven't been in the new shop. [/quote] The very place where I work! I hope that first bass was decent for you, as it could well have been me that sold it to you.. We've been in the 'new' place over 10 years now, bottom corner of the car park by the doctors'.

I did it, most successfully indeed! I did spend [u]alot[/u] of time first checking as suggested above that there was enough clear wood. Here's my story.. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/44673-ibanez-roadster-megacustom/ Dazed, I see you're over round Manchester.. I'm in W.Yorks, work at Cleckheaton, only 1 mile from M62 Jn.26 if you fancy a look at it.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1453225806' post='2957633'] I think the GR55 is the only GK system still in production which is a shame, maybe wait a bit and see if they do a VB100! I wonder... [/quote] I just spoke to Roland UK, who confirmed the VB-99 to be discontinued. Sadly nothing in the pipeline, so the best current one is the GR-55 and GK-3b. On another note, I've just been having some fun with the VB-99 as an effects unit - bass pugged in as normal rather than 13-pin into the modelling side. Excellent quality in there, esp. the modulation part of things, where you can use 3 different modulations in series (should you wish!). Onwards and upwards!

[quote name='Wonky2' timestamp='1454272548' post='2968171'] Listen to them, A lot. [/quote] This^^ I usually play the next gig's material on random for as long as possible, wherever I go. For me, it's on my phone plugged into the car stereo. You might use a walkman or whatever. I sometimes drive the missus nuts by playing it at home; sometimes she really likes the tracks ('you're playing with this guy? He's really good!') I rarely get round to actually playing the bass along with the listening, but by the time of the gig/rehearsal (do push for one of these) I'll have the shape of the songs in my head, so the actual key doesn't entirely matter. How many times have we done gigs where the singer says 'Oh, I don't sing it in that key any more; that was just on the album'? Enjoy!

I think a few folks have gone for the Weich for the lighter feel thus easier to press down. Go Medium! Stunning volume on those.

I made a couple in the past, including one for the DB made from a 3/4" socket with a slot cut hacksawed it! About a month after that I was introduced to that Planet Waves one with the cutter, and I now have four of them including the bass peg size one! Brilliant piece of kit.

I've never looked closely at the 3, but I would assume the string spacing to only work on guitar.. certainly on the 3b you have to set the spacing on the pickup, and even narrow bass spacing is way more than guitar.