Skybone

His work with Prong was great, as well as with KJ.

Actualy watched most of the half hour version of No.4 all the way through, I was more surprised at that than anything else. Wolf Alice were pretty good, Grizzly Bear were shoe gazingly indie, but it was nice to see a Ric being played, Paul Heaton was good & Sza (?) was good (though the bass player wasn't present on stage the song had a great bass line).

Great band with some brilliant songs.

Have you considered looking at something like a Fishman Rare Earth pickup? It can be retro-fitted to any acoustic with a standard round soundhole, and can just plug into an audio interface. I have the Fishman Neo Humbucker, which is the cheap version of the Rare Earth, but it still sounds really rather good. As ever, if you're looking to buy a new acoustic, take yourself off to your nearest merchant of acoustic instruments, and then simply sit & play as many as you can. Pick the one that sounds and plays the best. I did that a few years back, and ended up buying a seriously sweet sounding, all wood, acoustic (no piezo or preamp) by a company I'd never heard of (Naga Guitars). Even today, whenever I pick it up, it sounds as sweet as anything, and anyone who's tried it out really rates it.

Watched the one with Robert Plant & St Vincent the other day... pretty much a waste of time, though Ole Bob was the best thing on the show. However, "Mercury Prize" nominee Nick Mulvey was possibly the dullest thing I've heard in a long time (though I do have to say that the bass player was laying down some really cool lines, but unfortunately, even that valiant effort was completely wasted on the utterly dull songs that the band played). Thank goodness for iPlayer.

The G&L L2000 Tribute I had promised a lot, but never delivered. Seriously well made, great to play, but I could never find "the sound" I wanted from it. All of this analysis leads me to believe that when it comes to basses, I like single coils over humbuckers. Known for ages that I preferred passives over actives, but never realised about the single coil thing til yesterdays post. See, you do learn something new every day.

Where do you start? Fender Modern Player Jazz: looked nice, sounded dreadful, played... OK-ish EBMM StingRay (late 90's): Looked ace, played ace, sounded pants. Had an '89 that was brilliant, but stupidly sold it, bought another one. Awful. Aria Pro II SB1000: Wanted one for years, but the sound was pants. Superb build and another great player though. Tobias Toby: Another looked great & played great, but sounded pants. Washburn Mercury MB4: What was I thinking selling my old Thunder 1A for that? Except it was a damn sight lighter then the Westone. Pretty sure there are others, but these are the ones that stick in the memory.

Just a replacement switch

From memory, I would suspect that they're wired separately. IIRC, one switches between the 9v & 18v Active circuits, the other switches between Passive & Active.

I think there is life in the bass guitar yet, same with guitars and drums. Their popularity will wane and then grow, but they'll not be going anywhere.

Tha reet

Well, I'll be buying a copy

At least they're lighter than the Dunlop Cry Baby

Sounds like a visit to your local guitar tech/luthier may be in order.

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1506863901' post='3381567'] I saw Yob on the Clearing The Path To Ascend tour and the bassist was playing a Ric - it was probably the best bass tone I've heard live. Though I think he may have switched to EGC now. [/quote] Only followed them up to Midian, heard the Yob follow on and was not impressed. Overlong songs that didn't go anywhere. I only go on Talkbass because I can't get on here at work.

He used the Morley Power Wahl, I remember cos I bought one!

The original bassist in Yob used a Ric (Isamu? From Elaborations to Quantum Mystic), not sure what the latest bassist uses. You should also check out any of the Steve DiGiorgio vids on YT where he's playing a Ric, most of the time, it'll be tuned somewhere below the standard E.

What should the output be?

Make sure you have enough time to get to the gig, make sure you're fed & watered. Take time to warm up your fingers and run through a few songs, tune up etc. Most importantly, breathe slowly & deeply, try and relax, "centre" yourself.

Yes, most Ric 5 strings were 4 string conversions. IIRC, the current 4004/5 has a wider than standard neck, but they're not only bloody expensive, but also rare as rocking horse doings. Retrovibe made a few 5 string Fakers that had a good reputation, but again, because they're Fakers, rare as rocking horse doings again, but at least they are reasonably priced. If you're after the Ric look, but with a low B, find a Faker 4 string & put the low strings from a 5 string on it.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1506760521' post='3380893'] Aside from sounding better do fancy expensive earplugs actually offer better protection than standard 5p foam plugs? I grab the foam ones from work and they are supposedly designed to be used on building sites so must offer decent protection? Or am I just kidding myself and I might as well be using nothing... [/quote] I used the foam plugs for years too, but I had to stop using them for music as you couldn't actually hear what was going on properly. The ACS ER's have a filter in them, so that they not only attenuate the sounds, but they don't drown out certain frequencies, and allow you to hear what's going on better. I stopped using the foam one's on the bike, because I got sick of having plugs that either never fitted properly, or just lost their "elasticity". The reusable "Christmas tree" one's are much better in both situations. My only regret is not using them sooner, I might have fended off the tinnitus for a few more years.

I suspect that the "dead" pickup is actually a dead pot. The soldering iron has lingered too long and killed the pot, the pickup should be fine. If you have a multimeter, you can check the impedance on it. Back on topic, I must admit that for guitars, alnico magnet pickups haves a certain "warmth" over ceramic magnet pickups. I tried a load of different guitar pickups a few years back, and always kept coming back to alnico magnet pickups. TBH, I've never really noticed that much difference on bass pickups, though I'm pretty sure that the "warmth" of alnico pickups will come across on bass as well.

Another vote for ACS ER20's. I've looked into custom made earplugs, but I never have the spare cash for them, or can never find a set that can offer a similar level of attenuation to the ER20's. I use some 3M industrial ones while on the motorbike, and there's not one custom made option that comes anywhere near their level of attenuation.

Excellent set list, hope it pans out for you.