TheRev

I thought the same thing. If only they had put proper old P bass single coils in, instead of jazz singles.

Personally I'd try the bass direct into the Passport and see how you get on before buying anything else. The Marcus Miller will have enough onboard EQ to give you a wide variety of sounds so it would be worth spending some time experimenting before adding FX or amp simulators. For recording, I'd plug straight into the Focusrite and then use your DAW to change the EQ or add FX.

Nice MM Sterling.

You haven't got a semi-acoustic or a short scale so you're not done by a long chalk matey.

You'll develop better finger strength with practice, but when I started out I found the critial element for playing a clear note without strain or injury was getting the bass at the right height (the nut should be approximately level with your eyebrows), keeping your left elbow up and using the weight of your arm and your shoulder muscles to exert the pressure on the string through your fingers. The thing you really want to avoid from the start is gripping/pinching the neck between the thumb and fingers, the thumb should be used as a pivot rather than a way of exerting force. Keep your fingers arched and stop the note with the tips rather than the pads, don't let your fingers collapse as that puts too much strain on the hand muscles.

I reckon theyre old style, slug-end Innovations. When Innovation switched to ball ends they also changed the silk colours which is why your colours don't appear in the string ID chart. I think the solid blue silks are Innovation Honeys and the blue/yellow/blue is an Innovation Braided.

I think that P basses with a Darkstar pickup is the second coolest looking thing on earth. The coolest looking thing on earth is a Jazz bass with two Darkstars. That doesn't really help as you've already said you can't afford/justify the cost of a Darkstar but are there cheaper alternatives?

I've extended mine a bit just by wrapping a load of foam around the but that rests against your body. The supplied waist extension would certainly benefit from a bit of adjustability. If you're a bit handy with wood, you could easily make your own, I think the trickiest bit would be getting the correct taper on the bit that goes into the body. If you're not handy with wood, some of the lovely people who hang out in the build forum might be willing to help you out.

There's a fretless, semi-hollow, piezo equipped Ibanez in the for sale forum at the moment. If you put a set of nylon wounds on there and stuffed some foam under the strings at the bridge, I think you'll get as close to a DB sound as you're likley to get from a bass guitar. Its also very competitivey priced.

I had one of those, was a bit farty sounding.

We've been re-recording some of our parody songs with Lockdown relevant lyrics. Drummer has been recording the drum part to a click track. That's then emailed to me and the guitarist and we record our parts. Those get emailed back to the drummer who does a rough mix which then goes to the singer for the vocal. Everyone videos themselves as they record their respective parts. While the drummer works on a final mix, the rest of us record little bits of video that can be edited together with the 'studio' footage. Everything is done in five separate locations (four band members plus the guy who did all the video editing) using smartphones, portastudios or laptops/DAW.

'Bigtown Fair' - I wonder where that might be? 🤔

Excellent, I really enjoyed that, thanks for posting. Want a Mustang now....

I'd give up the 3 position switch on my Sterling for a bridge with mutes.

Sometime in the early 90s, I went to see a new Irish band called The Cranberries play their first headline show at The Fleece in Bristol. There couldn't have been more than 30 people there band the band all looked despondent. About 6 months later they went on a US tour supporting Suede and proved to be so popular that halfway through the tour, The Cranberries were switched to headliners and Suede to support.

A few years back we got a call from a reasonably high profile manager/agent to 'come in for a meeting' "Sign with me lads and I'll get you booked at so many festivals, you won't know what hit you" He threw us a handful of private birthday/wedding gigs that his main bands didn't want and took 20% of every gig we booked ourselves for 2 years. It would have been peanuts to him, but to us it was like having a fifth member who never helped carry the PA.

Back when I was thinking of trading my Musicman in for a Fender Jazz, I A/B'ed a Squier CV against the just released 2012 American Standard Jazz bass. The Squier was about £360 and the American Std about £1200. The American Standard had a nicer finish on the neck and a smoother, rounder sounding neck pickup, but it was nowhere near 3 times nicer than the Squier.

I think this is a great idea as this is what happens when bass loading goes wrong. Luckily, for me I'd had the soundpost glued in place about 6 years ago after one too many on stage encounters with over-refreshed punters so I was back up and running in less than 10 minutes.

For a more contemporary take on the classic bass/drums/piano jazz trio, check out anything by E.S.T. and GoGo Penguin.

I know where you're coming from. We once had a manager/agent who could only manage dates with an Excel spreadsheet. Even though we gave him access to our Google calendar, he still insisted I maintain an Excel version for him to work from.

The cats are alive and well at every GoGo Penguin gig I've been to.

I'd be interested in your Golden Slaps if Jack isn't. Just sayin'.

I'm not sure which would make me feel more uncomfortable - the idea of the amp straddling two cabs on wheels or the 'offset' look of the cab firmly on one of the cabs. Gotta be stacked I suppose.

I think I'm going to miss this years' bash as well. Technically I'm available, but it' my birthday on the Friday, then I'm playing in That London on Saturday and may not be in a suitable condition to travel on Sunday.