Iron1

19 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Never seen or heard of those before. Love the body on it. 

www.solar-guitars.com check 'em out! 

17 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

Looks deadly! Great finish - how does it sound?

It sounds great. At first I wasn't keen on the pickups, but after some adjustments and tone fiddling I love them. For manufacturer pickups, I don't see how you can go wrong. I don't like them quite as much as I like the Ibanez Powerspans, but they get the job done for sure. 

So, I just bought the TRBX174, then put Entwistle Neodymium pickups in it (which rock, BTW) and a buddy popped up needing to sell stuff to cover unexpected bills. He made me a deal I couldn't say no to on this monster and now I have a TRBX w/Entwistle pickups for sale.  

It's nice & light while still feeling very substantial. Has a very fast neck that's smooth as silk. The tuning keys are a great added bonus, as the ergonomic shape makes them easier to turn (for me at least). Took me a bit of tone fiddling to dial in a fat tone, but I started with one I'd dialed in for the TRBX and ended with a tone I like even more than those Entwistles. Overall, I'm very in love with this one. I held onto the TRBX until this arrived as I wasn't sure which one I'd keep, but now that I have them both, it's a no brainer. 

3 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

A mate of mine was a big Ibanez endorsee for years (on guitar) and has recently switched…

Speaks volumes if they’re keeping up with premium/prestige ibanez stuff - especially as they seem to be a relatively new brand.

Very “metal” - but he sings their praises.

Well, I'm very metal, so that works for me. Haha. And, I was a huge Ibanez guy for years too (not endorsed, but very brand loyal that is) so that tidbit helps a lot. Thx!

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I've not played one. There are quite a few poor reviews about the guitars and customer service.

There's a facebook group of Solar users raising issues about them.

I was very close to buying (new) one of their guitars but the reviews put me off enough to decide against it.

 

That being said, you have the chance to properly look at this one rather than an online purchase and I've got no doubt there will be some cracking examples out there too. I may well consider a used one where someone else has dealt with any issues.

Interesting that you cite bad customer service, I've heard tons of stories of the opposite. I'm in a Solar FB group and it's almost nothing but people saying "I love this guitar" sort of stuff. Funny how two of us can gain opposite perspectives based on the good 'ole internet. 

Anyone have a bass from Solar Guitars? A buddy is making me an offer I might not be able to refuse, but figured I'd see if anyone here has one and their thoughts on 'em before I pull the trigger. TIA! 

I don't know about the UK, but Kreator used to be huge in the US, in the metal world at least. They were one of my faves in the late 80s/early 90s. Saw them 2 nights in a row with Coroner and wow did they put on a great show! 

10 hours ago, Bolo said:

I replaced my old EB stingray5 with a custom built flying V model my guitarist made for me http://cellarguitars.com/index.php/celcellar-v

Wow, that's gorgeous!

26 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

I've played metal (among other things) on and off for nearly 30 years, everything from hard rock to pretty brutal death metal. Heading closer to djent type stuff more recently but most time spent on what somebody else described as "melancholy metal" - Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Katatonia type stuff. My previous band released a pretty decent album 11 or so years ago with ex-paradise lost drummer Lee Morris and Jens Bogren producing (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Mhb2Peo_VtXjbkDJX1M9w).

Things looked to be going pretty well, decent reviews, etc. Then the singer disappeared up his own derrière with ridiculous self promotion antics and everything stopped dead at that point... 

Gear wise I've played pretty much everything going over the last 20 odd years but my signature shows pretty much where I'm at now - Vigier leading the pack at the minute. Ridiculously good bass. Still love my ACGs to death, and really I'm a dyed-in-the-wool P-bass guy and have too many basses, but it's a nice problem to have...

Rig-wise, after being an Ashdown fan for the longest time, I moved on to an Orange Terror which is probably my fav head of all time, but with no gigging band for the last few years my rig is kind of up in the air. Lots of nice gear knocking around. I'd love an oldschool Trace Elliot SMX rig after playing through one in a rehearsal room last year. Maybe a cull is required to enable that to happen...

Checked out the tracks - great bass tone. The few I listened to were a little sleepy for me, but overall very cool stuff. Bummer it was yet another promising band killed by ego. I'm sort of in the same place but further down the road. Did albums and tours and what not back in the 90s, and now I just do the one man band thing with lots of cull/gear churn to rekindle novelty. 

20 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

The Thunderbird is an Epiphone Vintage Pro. I really like this bass, it's got a huge tone and it's beautifully finished for a £600 far eastern bass. I actually went to PMT to buy a Gibson but they let me try the Epi and I preferred it. 

The other one is an Ibanez SR300 EB. I don't really play it much these days. I love the neck on it and it plays really nice but lacks punch. I did put it up for sale but couldn't even get £150 for it so it just hangs there now. I might give it to my daughter, she's getting better than me now.

I definitely have a weakness for T-Birds. Some day I'll get one. Glad you love yours. Not sure how true this is, but I've always heard the only difference in a lot of Epi/Gibs is the hardware. So, with QC all over the map these days, it's easy to believe you found an Episode that's better than the Gibson equivalent. 

19 hours ago, MHMSWC#03 said:

 

Other than the KCC, I have nothing to compare it to. But the Jackson is lighter and the neck is more slender, which were two boxes I really needed to tick. The KCC is clunky in comparison and not as smooth in feel or tone. 24 frets also a plus for egotistical rockstar aspirations.

 

 

The lightness and neck feel were definitely appealing with the Spectra I checked out. I played 5 or 6 basses that day from different brands and lines and it played the best. Glad you like yours! 

21 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

We've got a slightly unusual sound...

 

Slightly unusual is awesome. I've been in metal bands since the 80s and it seems these days 90% of the new stuff all sounds the same. Unusual is original. 

And, tell me more about the other two in this pic. Can't tell if that's a Gibson or an Epi, but it look gorgeous. And, is the other one an SR of some sort? 

21 hours ago, Doctor J said:

I've been playing metal for a long time, among other things. Current favourites are this Blade B4 and Hamer Chaparral. The amp, since the early 2000's, has been an ABM with a compact 2x10 and 1x15.

Gorgeous Hamer! 

15 hours ago, MHMSWC#03 said:

I play nothing but metal.

I bought the JS2 Spectra last summer but really, have no gear to speak of. I have a little practise amp and a second hand Boss tuning pedal. I do have a virtually soundproof room for practising in though.

 

 

How do you like the Jackson? I almost bought one before getting my Yamaha, but the store clerk was a tool, so I went elsewhere and landed the TRBX instead. 

Speaking of, after some great recommendations on here, I put some Entwistle Neo pups in it and they sound massive. Still tone fiddling a bit, but here's where I am right now with it: 

I looked around and didn't find a thread like this, so figured I'd start one. 

If you play bass in any form of metal, here's a place to chat about it.

Share pix of your bass, gear, etc.

Share info on what you play and what you play it through.

General chat related to bass players who lay the foundation for metal of any sort. 

Here's my bottom end toys: 

1994 Ibanez EXB445 & 2020 Yamaha TRBX164

I run them through an Axe FXII XL+ using a mixture of Mesa and Soldano amps 

12 hours ago, Sarah5string said:

There definitely needs to be more ladies in these lists, gents!

13 hours ago, Iron1 said:

 Jo Bench. 

As a kid, Gene Simmons.

As music taste matured, Cliff Burton. 

Today, Cliff and Jo Bench. 

Not a big fan of raw wood finishes, but wow that's a gorgeous example of one done right. Congrats! 

I have D'Addario XLs on both my 4- and 5-string basses and want to change them both out. The best bass player I've ever known personally swears by GHS Boomers which I've actually never had (always been a D'Addario fan) but I did get a set of Dean Markley Blue Steels a few years back I just loved. 

For playing metal, where I want less jangle and more boom, which would you recommend? 

I got a set of Shure SRH840s for Christmas this past year and they're amazing. You can hear the bass clearly and feel it in the sides of your skull as well. And, not fake bass like Beats, but true bass. They were recommended to me by one of the best sound engineers I've met over the last 30 years as the most accurate cans he's found under $500. 

5 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

They know I'm pleased to be there and I'm excited about the music and that I respect their experience and ability. They also know I'll work on anything I'm having trouble with and it'll be improved at the next rehearsal. 

Sounds like a perfect bandmate, if you ask me. 

My first band the drummer and I were the least experienced/talented, and me more so than him. Fast forward 5 years and I was the most successful, then 5 years later the drummer was. 

As said upstream, I've been the least and most experienced in bands and I'd take the least any day of the week. I'd suggest you should be very thankful, and make sure the other bands members know it. 

20 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

I lived in San-Pedro, moved to L.A. the same year as Lemmy, so bumped into him in various locations, like Riki Rachtman's clubs & of course the Rainbow.

I spent about 4 nights/week in Hollyweird, but also hit Helter Skelter (not in HW at the time), every weekend that I could.

 

I always remember him just glued to that pinball machine in the Whisky. Got to the point where if I went in there and he wasn't right there it seemed odd. 

Got 'em installed and set them at the same height the stock ones were set, then quickly realized they needed to be lowered quite a bit.  

Not quite sure I have them set at the perfect height just yet, but they are far more articulate than the stock Yamaha pups. There's also a bit of harshness to them I'm not sure I like, but that could be just further height adjustment/a little tone fiddling with my Amp Sim in my Fractal. 

So far, definitely happy with them. 

Any suggestions on perfect pickup height?

Entwistle's showed up late yesterday. Hopefully will have them installed later today! 


Picture added for those who haven't yet seen the monster poles on the P:



Time to shake the ground!

13 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

I just thought about the fact that it's a 5-string, DiMarzio doesn't appear to make the Model J for a 5-string, which I find odd, but the Ultra-Jazz are DEEP:

https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/5-string-bass/ultra-jazz-5-pair

They're also high-output, so you probably wouldn't even need to wire them in Series, but people have.

 

Oooo... that's a sexy curve. 

I just got my Entwistle PBXN/JBXN set for my TRBX174, so if I really love them, I might try a set of those for the Ibby if the wiring doesn't get me where I want to go. If not, I do love me some Dimarzio. Thx!

And, fun fact (for no one but me), Killed By Death is the song that turned me into a lifelong Motorhead fan. So much so that when I lived in H'wood and almost ran Lemmy over with my car when he was J-walking, I listened to it on hard repeat for weeks after. 

7 hours ago, ashevans09 said:

Got a II XL+, amazing bit of kit! Thanks to COVID I haven't had the opportunity to use mine live yet but been very happy in rehearsals. Also a lot of fun to noodle around with on guitar too. Wish the UI was better but can't have it all I guess

I have the same one. Tons of fun to mess around with. Do you use the front interface or Axe Edit? 

3 hours ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

DOH!, EMG didn't click to me at first, but IF your pickups are ACTIVE (battery powered), you will not be able to wire them in Series.

There's a couple of reasons, 1 is the onboard preamp, feeding one into the next will cause clipping, but 2 = they combine the battery (-) & pickup coil (-) wires.

 

The EMG Selects are actually passives, so no worries on that front. 

2 hours ago, pete.young said:

I would describe those as soapbars.

If you want a humbucker in a Jazz shell, you'll usually end up with split coils. Lots of people make these, I have a set of Delanos that I really like, but there are lots of options from the likes of Nordstrand, Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, ...

Any particular ones that have a nice, thick tone you'd recommend checking into? 

31 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

I'm surprised no one came along to claim you cannot have Series wiring & independent volumes, but it's coming, so there's the diagram:

credit to Walter W who works at Alpha Music in Virginia Beach, VA

 

So, essentially I should just rewire the EMG Selects and try that? Sounds an awful lot cheaper and easier than buying more pickups.  

28 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

I used to own a Rickenbacker 4004 & when I tried a SR370E with PowerSpans it reminded me of the Ric, so responsive!

My only complaint about those pickups is there are only 3 conductors available on the outside, so you can't do series/parallel.

 

So, is there a J style pickup you think has a tone in the same ballpark? 

3 minutes ago, Killed_by_Death said:

 

Those are PowerSpan pickups & they are very bright in comparison to other humbuckers.

IMHO they are The Best OEM pickups Ibanez has used since the PFR (Passive Full Range) that they put in the SR eXtreme (SRX).

 

I believe it. Loved the sound I got with them.