Boodang

Designacable defo.. go to them direct. PS good quality + not expensive = you'll be lucky! Design a cable are good value though.

I can vouch for the Blower Box. Just sold one of mine, light to heavy overdrive, can get very gnarly, has separate treble and bass eq and does have loads of balls if you push the bass.

I've got a custom finish T65 for sale if you're interested? Not quite a T47 but close....ish.

There's a custom grand tarkin for sale over in effects.

... oh, and something I found useful when initially getting to grips with the intonation on my new lined fretless was to put a clip on strobe tuner on the headstock to double check my technique. You still use your ears and don't rely on the tuner, but to initially fine tune my technique was really useful.

When I started playing bass many moons ago, I decided it would look cooler (!) on stage if I played fretless bass. So I went out and bought an unlined fretless bass and it was 20 years before I picked up a fretted bass (I've been playing bass for going on 40 years now). Something I have found over the years of playing fretless is that there is a period of time with each new fretless bass where you get familiar with the fingerboard and your fingering. I recently bought a lined fretless and it's taken a lot longer to get familiar with than my unlined basses (I don't consider lined to be cheating. If that was the case Jaco cheated! And what counts is the end result not how you get there). Anyway, tips; use your ears and concentrate on / practice your intonation technique (as in set aside some regular practice time for it) especially at the dusty end of the board. And, the best thing I've bought recently for practice purposes... an EHX Freeze. Great for playing along to chords, notes etc on the fly.

I bought an Aguilar Octamizer a few months ago and have been using it constantly. Has an organic tone which I love, the tilt eq is great and you can change the filter tone from smooth to something with a bit more edge. I also have a Cog T65 for full on synth style subs and use the built in in effects loop with a fuzz to dial it up a bit. A big sound but not very subtle!

Each toneprint radically changes the nature of a pedal... great fun. Out of interest, does the classic toneprint get close to the OC2 sound?

Have you tried the 'Classic' toneprint yet that does the old school monophonic thing?

Another variation!! Playing exercises that just concentrate on note learning can be boring, so quite good to combine it with something that has a musical element; Pick a note, now link all of them on the neck with a triad pattern. Try and make it musical, I find it helps if I play this with a drum track. Do the above exercise but with a chord progression, so now you have a bar or two with one triad before having to move over to another (there's plenty of apps that you can use to create chord progressions to play over and a great way to practice). I find by doing this I also come up with new bass lines.

Love BVs pick playing, such groove! What finally convinced me to nail the technique and now it's 50% of my playing.

Another method! Slightly more complicated but works a treat once you get your head around it; Start at C. Play a major triad. Now go around the circle of 5ths, doesn't matter which direction, and play a major triad each time. Say the root note each time you play it. Do it again with minor triads. Work out variations in how to play the triad patterns in different positions and do them. Use a click track. Now you not only know the notes on the fretboard but also associated triads.

Many years ago, my first proper lessons were with Joe Hubbard. He had a warm up exercise which doubled for learning the fretboard; Play all the E's - start with lowest, play them all on the E string then the A string then the D string etc until you get to the highest, then go back down from highest to lowest. You should now have played every E on the neck. Do the same for F, F#, G, G# etc. Say the notes as you play them and when it's, for example, G#, say G# going up and Ab on the way down. If you can use a metronome/ click start at a speed where you don't make mistakes then build it up.

Yep, Break the Machine out of stock so went online to get from Seamoon direct. Postage is a flat rate of around $35, they didn't mention if there was a waiting list so I'm assuming they're in stock. Then it's just a case of import duties!

According to their blurb it has an 'old school' monophonic octaver setting. I haven't tried it so I don't know how close to an OC2 it can get but I'll be interested to hear from others who have tried it. Apparently the toneprints enable modulation as well as octaver settings which sound interesting.... I'm tempted!

On the extreme, my double bass strings have been on for about 15 years and I've got no intention of changing them!

If your brain wins and you want to get some money back for the Seamoon, do let me know!

Players change roundwounds regularly as they can lose their top end quite quickly. Flatwounds don't have so much top end so not really an issue.

According to Sting in an interview, the song is about a stalker!

And STING. How to do (iconic) bass lines with the minimum of fuss.

If it's funk don't forget BOOTSY!!!

Scott's Bass Lessons or something similar. You can go through the free stuff on youtube but then you're just scratching the surface whereas completing a program really helps you dig in and internalise the information. For beginners tho I would recommend SBLs fretboard accelerator program. At the end of it you'll have fluidity around the neck, know where the notes are, know your triads and have a good understanding of the basics. Can't ask for more really.

Chris Squire used a pick, along with his Rickenbacker, to be heard. To aid this he would slightly brush the string with his thumb on the downstroke to increase upper harmonic content to cut through even more. Chris Squire was certainly not trying to blend in when it came to his playing! The other band members always said he was key to their sound.

If you do buy second hand I'd still pop into a shop, hopefully they're nice and friendly. Then you might know if you prefer chunky P type necks or the thinner jazz necks.