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Hello bass chatters and fellow gear nerds! I've been on basschat for a while now so apologies for this very belated introduction, better late than never! Ok so here goes... My name is Jim, I'm 31 years old and have been playing bass since the age 14. Im self taught. Im starting to get into music theory and production techniques and have just recently completed course in music technology. I've toured extensively across UK, Europe and Canada. Playing in Brighton based hardcore metal act Johhny Truant for over 10 years. I've Toured and supported some great bands such as Isis, Fear Factory, Killswitch Engage, Sikth, Architects just to name a few! I'm currently in a new sludge band called Anacondas and have just finished recording our first album. Ok gear wise Basses My first bass was a cheap 4string Tanglewood p bass copy, which I still own today for sentimental value. I then moved onto 5string basses, my first of which was an Aria pro 2 that I found in a local pawn shop & brought it with pennies raised from washing dishes...Funtime's! The Aria accompanied me at my first ever gig at the ripe age of 17. Sadly, I don't own that bass anymore. I've also owned an Ibanez clone made by Vintage which I brought brand new with money earnt from working nights in a care home, Nasty stuff! I recorded my first full length album on the Vintage and had my first live press photo featured in Kerrang with it. Gutted I don't own that one anymore either! A few Warwick basses a thumb NT5 a breif fling with a $$ and a Streamer stage one NT5 which was stolen. Also was in a band recently where I got to play An American Fender 62 reissue 4string P bass...A thing of Beauty! I now own a USA fender deluxe pbass 5 string which Is the best bass I've ever had the luxury of playing. This bass is set up to play in a low F# which is thunderous! Amps. My first full stack was a peavy combo 1x15 with 4x10 cab and then had two Warwick xtreme heads with four neo pro cabs. I now use Ampeg SVT 4 pro and sized down too just one 410 hlf cab. Pedals I have a love/hate relationship with effects pedals I love them and can't stop buying them and hate them for the same reason. Ha Im a confessed Addict! Currently I'm using TU2, NS2, Fuzzroucios Rat Tail, EHX Big Muff Pi, Digitech BSW, CEB3, PS3, DD3,EHX HolyGrail +, Sansamp BDDI. And growing... Nice to meet you all feel free to ask any me any questions Cheers J

+1 Polysaturator

I tried one out today on bass in my local guitar store and I was mostly impressed... This tiny lil box made the walls shake! It goes from light od through to grinding fuzzy distortion, whilst retaining harmonic factors! I did notice it was slightly farty at 9v so i asked to put it through 15v which gave it more headroom! My gripes are, the in/out are both on one side of the unit, no blend control. 15v is awkward my fuel tank goes 9v 12v and 18v So I would have to use the power suply provided to get it to full power..or go to 12v Not massive deal breaker though. The Eq is a cool feature and this thing is seriously loud.

I'm sure this has been covered before but can anyone tell me what wah pedals are good for bass? I will be using it with distortion and fuzz! Many thanks

[quote name='Bass-Thing' timestamp='1340972198' post='1712242'] Very interesting that the lightest gauge I've seen in this topic is 35. My teacher uses 30, 50, 70, 90, 110 steel Elites on his Geoff Chapman 5 string and I've strung my Spector Performer with the same gauge nickelwounds (Rotobass/Elite mix). Even with a Badass V it took a while to get used to but I'm being taught to play with the lightest touch possible on a super low action and now the strings are worn in, it's heaven to play. On my Ray 35 I've got super slinky's which are OK but I might just try the same gauge on that too because I don't enjoy playing it as much as the Spector even though it's a far superior bass. [/quote] I have once strung my 5 string up with a high C (25) gauge on top so it was tuned E A D G C Sounded really nice kinda made me want a 6 string for a while ha

I play newtone custom strings 145 125 100 75 45 tuned to Sub-contra!

It's not stupid at all... I've had one of those plastic latched doors break on me onstage and my battery fell out mid gig...Nightmare! Nail that door shut I say, if not then gaffa it shut, I don't trust those plastic things. Before performing, I give my 9v battery's a little lick if there getting on a bit, just to check if they still have enough zing in em! Plus I get little extra buzzz before going on stage if your going from passive to active basses or vice verser on stage then just remember to go in relevant inputs on the amp. (-15db inputs for active)

Has anyone here used the Aguilar bass agro pedal how is it? Is it worth the price tag? Has anyone used it with super low tuning like F#?

I'm sure this has already been mentioned before here but I'm new to these forums and to this tuning. There's not much information on-line about this. so advise welcome. I'm tuning my 5 string Fender to low F# B F# B E, my string gauge is 130-45 which is a bit floppy, I want too change strings too a thicker gauge will 135 be enough or 145 perhaps? I don't want the tension to be to high or strings to be too thick, do any of you use this tuning what gauges do you use? what alterations need to be made to the bass itself. many thanks

All suggestions welcome. [/quote] The power supply. that's what's causing your noise issues and it's relation to your noisy pedals i.e ODB/big muff. Get a better power supply or power brick and power pedals from the same source.

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='1045411' date='Dec 2 2010, 06:07 PM']I think low F is pushing it for these, but worth a look anyhow: [url="http://www.drstrings.com/catalog/ddt-bass-strings"]http://www.drstrings.com/catalog/ddt-bass-strings[/url] There's also the Rotosound Drop Zone Plus set, but I don't know if they do a 5-string set: [url="http://www.rotosound.com/dz66_scroll.html"]http://www.rotosound.com/dz66_scroll.html[/url] I'm still trying to convince my guitarist he needs a low B, I'd love to try out this F# malarkey![/quote] Thanks for the links, those Heavy 5 DR String DDT5-55 (135-55) look good. Do you think 135 is pushing it for a low F# then? I have looked at the drop zones before but think that the 175 is too much, I don't want standard tension. I' want to retain the drop tuned feel, I think that a 145 is as far as i'd go for the F#

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='1045406' date='Dec 2 2010, 06:01 PM']I used the bottom 4 of that gauge from Newtone for ADGC tuning, it was just about acceptably tension wise. The tapered core means they fit into your bridge, and the thickness doesn't dampen the flex as much. It probably helps the intonation too as the string can be straight over the saddle rather than tending to have a hump because it is so stiff.[/quote] OK Thanks for that makes sense for the F# and possibly the B to be tapered then.

OK I'm in a doom sludge metal band which tunes down to low F#! I've been using 130-45 (insane I know) currently using a 5 string fender deluxe p-bass 34" My main problem is intonation especially the 130 F# anything after the 12 fret. Now i'm looking into thicker strings, but don't want to go to thick nothing silly like those darklords 165. I've ordered 135 110 85 70 50 from Newtones what do you guys think? should this be ok? or i was thinking something like 145 115 100 80 60. Do any of you guys have experience in this tuning? what's your thoughts? Also should I go for a tapered core, what difference does this make and is it worth the extra money??? please any help appreciated