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Everything posted by WinterMute
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[quote name='Bay Splayer' post='536554' date='Jul 9 2009, 04:12 PM']is the truss rod adjustment in the headstock or at the body end of the neck reason i ask is that i have read some [i]"internet reviews" [/i]posted a few years ago that moan about difficult truss rod adjustment yet the pics i have seen look like it adjusts at the headstock end[/quote] It's at the body and it's partially covered by the scratchplate, which needs ro be removed to get to the truss rod, so yes it;s a bit of a pain. That said, mine's straight as an arrow and hasn't moved all through the summer in a loft conversion.
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I own a Geddy Lee and have played and recorded both, the Geddy's neck is slim and very nice, the MM's neck is a little heavier, but not by much, I thought about getting an MM before I played the Geddy Lee. Tone wise the GL is pure 70's Jazz, plenty of lovely passive grunt with good variation, the Badass on both helps them sustain, and the sound is great for rock and pop, it slaps reasonably well if you have a good amp EQ and fresh strings. The MM is a more versatile beast, it's pre gives it the ability to cover more tonal range from the bass than the GL, but it seemed to need just a little in the low end for heavier rock, might have been the player though. Play both, choose the one that you like the feel of, they are both great instruments.
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USB 2 will deliver 24/96 in stereo, and multiple channels of 24/48. FireWire is the better option for multiple input channels, but only at hi res really. If you can find an interface with "hardware monitoring" or "zero latency monitoring" you'll be able to record without the latency delays that bug some interfaces. Most of the good ones do. It's a bit of a false economy to buy a cheap interface if you intend to get some use out of it, as you will replace it later.
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Onboard interfaces are rarely earthed as well as exterior, and the PSU for a PC is not rated for Mic amps etc. Much better to get an external box, but make sure it has it's own power supply, a 9v or direct 240v is fine, but don;t get one that powers from the USB of FireWire buss, they simp[ly don;t have the voltage to power the mic amps properly. If you can find a MOTU 828 cheap they are the dogs. I use an M-box Pro and a 003 desk currently, both self powered.
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A couple of tips: 1-2Khz is where the "presence" of the electric bass usually sits, if you want to accentuate the sound of the strings boost here. Unless you're going for an exceptionally bright snappy sound, there is nothing above about 10Khz that will help in an ensemble. The frequencies around 120-140Hz will make basses (and kick drums) sound "boxy", for a cleaner LF, cut here, but for Motown/60's thud boost here. The Smile or Frown settings are almost useless in many situations, but remember, you have 2 or 3 EQ stages in your signal chain, one on your bass, one (maybe more or less) in your pedals and effects and one in your amp, all will effect the shape of your sound. It is as useful to cut frequencies as it is to boost them. The frequencies below 40Hz are going to be very difficult to amplify cleanly unless you have some very serious backline or a pro PA, rolling off the bass at 35hz (or filtering if you have a filter) is a good way to clean up your bass sound and allow the other frequencies room to breath, you will not notice these frequencies missing in a band, but may hear them solo. Do not boost below 35Hz with a "shelving" EQ, if you have the option use a "bell" shape. Every bass sound is different, learn to listen to your bass in the context it finds itself in, unless you are world famous for your tone, one sound will not work in all situations.
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How may Basses do we own collectively on Basschat?
WinterMute replied to G-77's topic in General Discussion
It'd be more telling to post a thread counting the number of basses we've owned [i]in our whole lives[/i]!! -
How may Basses do we own collectively on Basschat?
WinterMute replied to G-77's topic in General Discussion
[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='526420' date='Jun 28 2009, 12:29 AM']Plus my 11 = 1348[/quote] +2 = 1350 -
I have a VMJ with the ebanol board, it marks up quite early with roundwounds (as does everything not epoxied to within an inch of its life), but it;s not bad by any means. I think its brighter than ebony or rosewood (thats just a suspicion however) and I've nener played a maple fretless. It feels very slick, sort of between a very good Ebony and a graphite. I like it a lot.
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[quote name='warwickhunt' post='523998' date='Jun 25 2009, 06:46 PM']Correction; Sogg's Sadowsky now! [/quote] Don't I know it, and don't think I didn't take a long hard look at the finances when you posted the damn thing, that's one beautiful bass.
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I used a Thumb 5 for 20 years, lovely beast, mine had the single piece bridge and EMG's. It's a great and versatile bass, I played lots of different stuff with it, rock, pop, a little ska, some blues, as close to jazz as my meagre talent allows.... I sold it last year because I wasn't playing at all, and it was too good to leave on a stand. I now have a Geddy Lee and a Squire VMJ fretless, the Geddy takes care of the rock and blues (and isn;t bad for poppy stuff). I think I'd want a pre-amp in the Jazz if I was going to try to make it as versatile as the Thumb, an East J Retro would do the trick. As it stands I think one of the super Jazzes is more than equal to the Thumb and it really depends which bass you are happiest with. I'd kill for Warwickhunt's Sadowsky.
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I prefer roundwounds, usually Rotosound nickels. Sure they chew the board up after a while, but that's just the price you pay for the tone. My sweat is nasty stuff and I kill strings quite quickly, even with a careful clean after playing, flats don't cut it for me in the high end, and groundwound die too quickly. I'll keep the roundwounds a stump up for a new board every couple of years like I used to I think.
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Whatever it takes t get the sound for the track. I really like bass tone controls through a flat SVT, but it's rarely whats required, so I'll use the bass, the amp, pedals, outboard, mics and rooms to get the recorded sound I'm after, then slap EQ and dynamics on if needed in the mix. Live it used to be bass, amp and a chorus occasionally.
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Oh dear no, no that won't do at all, sunburst? Sunburst isn't a finish a Geddy Lee Jazz should be available in... Looks good though, doesn't it?
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Lovely, he's quoting Jaco's work all the way through that, as is the sax actually. Ala Joni Mitchell, Shadows and Light.
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You going for a big live sounding room there? Those panels in that positioning wouldn't take the room down to diffuse, so I'm hoping you'll be looking for a signature sound rather than a neutral sound. What are you doing with the floor? All carpet, or different surfaces? I loves me some positive room sound, and yours looks big enough to be useful to a decent sized ensemble. Nice work so far, looking forward to seeing it finished (I know it doesn't feel like it ever will be, that's the nature of studio builds isn't it?).
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I [i]am[/i] an Apple evangelist, no question, however the Mac vs PC question has been a dead rubber for some time now. The important thing to remember is that all recording software will do a good job, but great recordings start and end with good mics and pre-amps, if you have a shed load of cash by all means get a Mac, they are lovely machines to run Protools on (and obviously Logic etc.) and Garageband isn't half bad (it's not what it could be however, but that would dent Logic wouldn't it?) If you're on a budget, I'd suggest a decent PC and spend the extra cash on good mics and a solid interface, the MOTU range is very good for instance. Look at mics from SE and Sontronics before shelling out of Neumann and AKG. Logic, Nuendo and Digital performer are all good MIDI programmers, and have great suites of synths and samplers, Protools is an audio recorder, editor and mixer first and foremost, however all can record and all can edit MIDI and run synths. Abelton Live is an interesting alternative. Have a think about what you want to achieve and how you want to go about it, do you need lots of mics at once (MOTU 828 has 8 mic inputs for instance) or will a single or stereo input suffice. Get the best mics and pre's you can afford, they will last a lot longer than any mac or PC. I have a set of mics that go back 20 years, I've seen 10 Macs off in that time easily. Software and computers come and go, mics and good signal paths are eternal...
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Peter Cooks have them listed for £610, but they never seem to have stock...! eBay has them pretty regularly, usually under £500.
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Just been reading some stuff about Mr. Manring, someone asked him if he'd tried a Chapman Stick, he said yes he had and that (and I quote) "he sucked"... I tried a Chapman Stick too, and I sucked, maybe there's hope for my fretless playing yet.
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[quote name='bythesea' post='519849' date='Jun 21 2009, 11:25 AM']A fretless stick? He does have a few basses, including a 10 string (though it's a 5x2) and a 6. Lists them and shows the tunings he uses (14 on "The Enormous Room" alone!!!) on [url="http://www.manthing.com/tunings.htm"]this[/url] page of his website.[/quote] Well, there's the half fretless NS Stick.... 8 strings, multi-mode, strung like a bass and not in one of their weird "my hands are on backwards" tunings... [url="http://www.stick.com/news/halffretless_ns.html"]Half-fretless NS Stick.[/url] Loads of fun.
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Astonishing intonation on a fretless, and some very interesting uses of the hardware, I can't say I particularly liked the song, parts of it were beautiful, but overall it didn't do a lot for me. I watched some of the other videos, Morning Star is a display of virtuoso level, and he is clearly an exceptionally talented musician. I'm always a little underwhelmed by these solo bassists, most of them have such advanced technique, but few of them write decent tunes. The only solo bass pieces that remain on my iPod for long are Jaco's. Someone get him a Chapman Stick, for god's sake!!
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Anyone watching Leonard Cohen on BBC4?
WinterMute replied to Huge Hands's topic in General Discussion
[quote name='foal30' post='519100' date='Jun 20 2009, 09:40 AM']my old man has been to literally thousands of gigs and he says this Leonard Cohen stuff was at the top of the pile. A+ stuff. a spiritual experience by all accounts.[/quote] One of the best gigs I have ever seen, and I've seen a few biggies in my time. It wasn't a one-off either, I took the in-laws to one of the repeat performances later that year, and it was another absolute cracker. Never seen one man hold a 20,000+ seat stadium in complete silence while he recites a poem... There were people crying in the aisles. As I said, god-like. -
Anyone watching Leonard Cohen on BBC4?
WinterMute replied to Huge Hands's topic in General Discussion
[quote name='Huge Hands' post='518853' date='Jun 19 2009, 09:14 PM']Was just wondering what the red fiver with maple neck was the bass player is using? Any ideas?[/quote] It's the Roscoe Beck signature Fender, appropriate being as he's Roscoe Beck I guess...! I was at that gig, Cohen was god-like. -
[quote name='dr.funk' post='517758' date='Jun 18 2009, 07:53 PM']I understand what you are saying but here is an interesting article on the matter of Hifi vs Monitors [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun02/articles/monitors.asp"]One[/url] [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul02/articles/monitors2.asp"]Two[/url][/quote] Yes, I saw those articles when they were published, there's certainly more choice in the lower end of the market these days, and I must say I have mixed very successfully on a pair of KEF 105.4 Reference hi-fi speakers before I got my PMC's. I spec Dynaudio M1 and BM5 or 6a's in the studios at the Uni, and we also have some PMC sets too. They certainly kick out some serious SPL, but we do try to teach moderation in monitoring levels for tracking and mixing. I think it's probably a better use of your money to buy a cheaper pair of speakers in the first instance and spend some money learning how to record and mix properly, this is somewhat akin to buying a starter bass to learn on then getting lessons from a great teacher before buying some custom monster. Good speakers (and good kit in general) is no guarantee of good recordings.
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[quote name='escholl' post='517064' date='Jun 18 2009, 12:52 AM']Not sure what you're trying to tell me here. They didn't cut off at 300Hz they cut off around 100Hz when installed properly (IIRC) and they cut off with a less steep slope than bass reflex speakers, for that matter they're not a bass reflex design they're acoustic suspension and thus have much better time domain response in the low frequency for a box that size. Not sure what "tunable porting" is, but if you're somehow referring to the ability of the end user to physically change the port, I can't really see where there would be any advantage in a monitor having that capability, nor can I think of a single monitor with that capability. No idea what orientation they were designed for, but based on the driver layout both versions should have been used vertical, on their side to minimize horizontal response lobing and improve the imaging. The response peaks at 2K in an inverted V shape, like I mentioned -- this doesn't hurt vox or guitar IME, it helps bring them out a bit more so you can place them better. YMMV. Sure, they were marketed well -- so are a lot of other products. I never said they were the [i]ultimate[/i] monitor or something, simply that there were factual reasons behind their usefulness and success. Not sure why people are so vehemently trying to prove to me that they're no good -- I've used them, I've studied them, I've done this before and this is not my first day, thanks. The Rokits have a hyped frequency response IME, agree about the Tannoys to a point and I think it probably goes without saying that the PMC's will likely be good. Not sure if you're talking to me or the OP in the last two paragraphs however.[/quote] I wasn't really trying to tell you anything, I was just carrying on a themed discussion on the merits of monitors, specifically the NS10... The lack of ports on any speaker severely limits the usefulness of the box on the response of the speaker, a closed box design like the NS10 gets very little help from the resonant frequency of the boxes internal design, (in this case, none, it's just box) better designed monitors have an internal structure that allows the volume to resonate at low frequencies, the ports to the front or rear allow that resonance to be projected and thus support the limited low frequency response of the raw driver. Tunable ports use various methods to allow the alteration of that resonant frequency to adjust the speaker to the needs on the room. PMC do it, Tannoy used to do it in the larger monitors, Urie do it, few others. The addition of any EQ peak in the design of a [i]monitor[/i] speaker is always a bad idea, as it forces the user to compensate and that means the user has to understand the curve and know enough about audio to avoid its effect, the 2K lift in most small box nearfields plays to the strengths of standard hifi speaker design and to small speaker systems like radios, TV and ICE. This is one of the reasons the NS10 was liked so much despite actually being quite a poor unit, a mix on NS10, when played through a standard hifi, would benefit from the enhanced presence that band brings, inducing that sense of impact that hi-fi speakers are designed to give. The clue to the orientation is in the writing on the box, original NS10's (the famous "tissue paper over the tweeter" model) were designed to stand up like hi fi speakers. The Studio model was supposed to sit in the more bridge friendly horizontal orientation, but there was no difference in the design bar an improved tweeter that made the response flatter, as you not, the sideways orientation buggers up the imaging, which is why the dual concentric design works for imaging. I'm not trying to pick a fight, and you can't actually buy NS10's new anymore (or can you?), but the NS10 simply isn't the best monitor for inexperienced engineers, and the OP was looking for advice.
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[quote name='Rimskidog' post='517043' date='Jun 17 2009, 11:54 PM']And FWIW, you don't need an NS10 driver to do the subkick trick. Any speaker will do it.[/quote] ...but that white speaker cone makes it so much [i]cooler[/i] to use and NS10 driver...