LITTLEWING

I've had it in both hands a few times where one of the fingers will just cramp right over and I had to quickly employ a thumb to finish the number. I think it's partly down to dehydration. Drink loads of water during the day prior to a gig and don't drink alcohol before or while playing (I know, sorry!!) as it's well known to suck all the sugars out of the body and dehydrate you that way. It may well be also tensing up too much when digging in so try to play with relaxed fingers. Thinking about it, I've also felt it coming on when my playing hand arm is draped over the edge of the bass body too hard affecting things that way. I have tried the banana trick and I think it certainly helps to boost the system up. All I know is, it's an embarrassing state of affairs standing there like a silly billy trying to undo the stuck down digit while the others are rocking on!!

Play along to every genre of music even if you don't like it, learn where 3rds and 5ths are in major and minor chords on every fret, use a metronome once a month and record yourself. Don't feel you have to use all your fingers like the other guys - Jamerson used just one. Never assume you're okay, stay humble - every day's a school day.

Wire it in series. You won't look back. BIG sound.

OLP passive Stingray - great neck but a very bland and sleep inducing sound. Westone Thunder 1 - same as above. Yamaha RBX's - embarrassing looks and sound. Squier VM 5 string Jazz - a definitive case of try before you buy. (Bought it new blind online) Buzzy frets and horrid rubber band elephant fart B string. LTD B series of some description - let's just say I nearly cried, quietly rocking in a corner.

Yep. With a Jazz neck. Very near the Holy Grail.

Okay, had the cab apart and found the crossover circuit board cracked in two places probably due to abuse in it's past. Obviously this isn't sending a signal to the tweeter, so not knowing if the tweeter is even blown due to overloading without the correct frequency, I took the whole thing out and wired the 15" speaker direct from the input jack. FWIW, to my ears it doesn't seem to sound any different but at least I know all is well and doing what it should when my amp is plugged in.

If it's active, turn everything flat. Might be distorting the signal in E and low B.

Anyone happen to know if the speaker in a VX115 cab comes off of the crossover? Thing is, the horn in mine doesn't work and I just wondered if the 15" sounds the same with or without the crossover? I'm not a huge tweeter fan anyway, so I was looking at wiring up the speaker direct from the jack socket but if there's nothing from the crossover to the speaker anyway, then it saves me the hassle. Then again I might even just get another horn and learn to like the sound for the odd pop on some funk toons, Thomann does the exact Hartke unit for under £30 apparently.

Anyone happen to know if the speaker in a VX115 cab comes off of the crossover? Thing is, the horn in mine doesn't work and I just wondered if the 15" sounds the same with or without the crossover? I'm not a huge tweeter fan anyway, so I was looking at wiring up the speaker direct from the jack socket but if there's nothing from the crossover to the speaker anyway, then it saves me the hassle. Then again I might even just get another horn and learn to like the sound for the odd pop on some funk toons, Thomann does the exact Hartke unit for under £30 apparently.

I have to admit I've never felt happier with my strings and the whole sweet tone thing since I dropped from 45-105's to 40-100's. If you're not over the moon with the change, then go halfway with 45-65-80-100 to keep the thin side balanced.

I'm not at all sure about hanging my basses on wall hangers or best storing them in cases any more. I have kept two cheapie 'go to' guitars on the wall for a couple of years and my other two giggers in their cases. Lately, the two on the wall have both developed the dreaded 'ski jump' at the last frets above the neck joint even though they're never in direct sunlight or near a radiator. The radiator in the 'music room' is only half on at this time of year to keep all the gear from getting cold and tarnished or damp. My case bound basses are still absolutely bang on despite varying temperatures over the year and only require the usual rod tweak as they move a little in summer and winter. Anybody else come across this wall hanging thing or Is it coincidence or is there some scientific gravity reason?

I can only add to weird sounds by saying a cheapy old combo ( I bought for quieter rehearsals) speaker was buzzing/rattling on low notes. I removed the 12" speaker and after a bit of detective work discovered the yellow concertina bit that surrounds the voice coil should have a nice continuous bead of glue around around it and one small section wasn't stuck fast and was vibrating. A squirt of gorilla glue and for good measure a bead of wood glue around the rest of the 360 degrees sorted it completely.

Okay, I've got a feeling I'm going to answer my own question as I write this, but I've always played with the guitar's volume right up full. I've been buying and selling amps and combo's for yonks (what the hell are yonks anyway?) in pursuit of that 'live gig' d.i. clear vibe as all my ears hear from my backline rig, big or small, when in full flight is a burpy farty sound and not the nice clear fat notes I'm after. (Although it mysteriously sounds quite good again without the rest of band in the sound waves). I'm quite aware of the potential of the volume control as I also play lead and rhythm guitar and am perfectly aware of the dramatic difference between clean-ish chords turned down a quarter and whacking it up full to crunch to take a solo. So, what SHOULD I be doing with a bass guitar's volume control? Does anybody play anything less than full up? I've never actually tried it out as rehearsal time is precious and live is too dodgy to fart about.

I'm starting with this one....

I imagine I might have changed my mind if I had an active 'Ray and got an incredible sound but I'm just saying take a look at how many people USED to play one and moved on to other fine marques. Apart from the one or two mentioned, I haven't seen one being played on telly or live for ages. There must be a reason. Flea only used one because he once got them for free and The Chillies wouldn't be the same without that growl. Bernard Edwards started with one but moved on, John Deacon had one but moved on. Gail Ann Dorsey made Bowie's band sound phenomenal but then slipped into a Jazz. They really are great basses and sound brilliant but dare I say they somehow get a tad boring. Bit like a Telecaster guitar. Great, but they only do the one thing. Just sayin'.

None. Who's the last one you saw anywhere with one? Get an active Jazz. Can't go wrong. I had a passive 'Ray and it simply didn't fit sonically anywhere in our varied 50 odd covers sets except maybe two funk numbers.

Brasso and kitchen roll.

Go for a set of Roto's 40-125's for a cheap trial. I only play fours nowadays but after playing 40-100's for a while, I picked up a spare indoors with 45-105's and hated it!

I recently took my jazz knobs off for a good old polish up and wondered where, when refitting, would be best to reposition the white pointers to look the most aesthetically pleasing. I ended up pointing them all full on at the 'V' at the top of the chrome plate where it meets the pickguard.

Ah, now that is one of the things I don't have any software to do. Wish I could. All I can tell you is that in humbucker mode it's bigger, fatter and a smidge louder. Imagine both jazz pups up full on a standard jazz and someone goes up a notch on the bass and middle on your amp?

Just thought I'd share this - if you think (like me) a Jazz is a little tame compared to a thumpy Precision, provided you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron, do this mod. You REALLY want to do this mod. One mini toggle switch and a quiet calm half hour alone and you will have a powerhouse of a bass in humbucker mode. Jeez, I didn't know what to expect but this I'm ashamed to say gave me an actual semi. There are loads of simple wiring diagrams on the wonderweb. If I can do it, anyone can. One way it's normal standard volume/volume/tone, the other is one volume, one redundant knob and then tone along with an incredible kickass earthquake. A 6mm drill will see the switch nicely between the socket and tone knob. The only fiddly bit was realigning the three pots so everything went back into the pit. Unless you want to swap the pots for mini pots while you're at it.

Those pickups have a VERY strong magnetic pull. Anything less than 3/32" from pole to underside of string and it's already tugging it down.

Isn't that a piece of foam you put under the strings near the bridge?......

I'm definitely going to try these bad boys out. I used to have Legacys (actually somehow Rotosounds) but jumping up from £9.99 to £13.99 when even real Roto's are only £12.89 (what??) they can go whistle now. I just wish Elixir Nano's weren't so ridiculously expensive for a bit of plastic coating.

Some great ideas there so far, well done!! The main reason I put this out there is that my E string is always the first to dull down and I'd really love to keep it reasonably fresh for longer and not contemplate buying single strings.