karlbbb

That's extremely kind, I'll drop you a message shortly. To everyone else, thanks so much for all the input! It's certainly given a little clarity to last night's (non-drunk) ramble. I mentioned things like slapping, learning scales and modes because the general desire is to be a more "well-rounded" player. There's no real need as I'm only a bedroom player with no immediate plans to look for some kind of jamming/band situation, but it's probably useful to improve myself as much as possible rather than let myself stagnate for another 20 years of bass playing. Special thanks to those dissuading me from buying more gear, even a cheap Jazz clone 😁

As I reflect on nearly 20 years of bass playing, I realise that almost all of it has been spent on 5-strings of various quality and pickup layouts etc. I've played in bands in the past but I'm mostly a bedroom player now. But here's the thing... I'm ****. Like, really, still quite a bit ****. I've never bothered to "learn" bass properly, instead hunting for tabs and then being insanely critical of myself that I can't figure out or play every note exactly how it is in the recording. I still can barely slap a single note. Most of my first few years were spent in the 2000s pop-punk era of 8th or 16th root note plodding style basslines. I don't know my way around the fretboard. I can't move around in a song. I'm currently listening to "Inside Out" by Imelda May, and what must be the simplest of walking basslines would take me a couple of days to get all the notes down through sheer, brute force trial and error. The conventional wisdom is that one should learn on a 4. Is this really the case? I have those 4 strings on my 5 string, there's just another one there to add into learning modes and other shapes. Should I be picking up a nice cheap Harley Benton jazz clone and start learning properly?

Been trying to learn Loco in Acopulco by the Four Tops, though the middle section is very funky and I'm not that good 😆 some nice use of the low-B though.

What do you have before the QSC? I presume some kind of modeller or pre-amp?

But with this example rig you'd lose out on an immense versatility! To make it a fair comparison, you'd need to also buy every head your modeler can model, plus every cab available (I don't think the BF SC is an FRFR?). Plus if you have one of the more expensive modellers, you have a vast array of guitar amps to choose from should you choose, again meaning you'd need to buy every amp head and cab combo available. We'd probably be in the £20,000+ range to get all that gear. With modelling being so good these days that professional players fail a blind comparison test and huge acts switching to them in droves, it's hard to begin to a cost comparison of any "traditional rig" vs modelling as they'll always lose. Not a dig in any way, just making a general point of whether it's even fair to try and compare them 👍😃

FRFR (full range, flat response) refers to a speaker's ability to reproduce an audio signal with no colouration in its entirety, nothing more; a signal cannot be FRFR as it is just that - a signal. FRFR is a technical term so I'm not sure how it could be open to such interpretation.

Encouraging to hear I'm not the only one - I've got into music shops to try a guitar and forgotten a basic 4 powerchord progression before!

I had the Spector around 2009-2011, and after that I stopped playing for a good few years, aside from a little on-and-off. I could always look for a second hand one, I suppose. Fair point. I'll be going into a Zoom B3 for now, with a plan to either upgrade to the B3n, or stump up the cash for some variety of Helix, and get an FRFR speaker to use with it.

Thanks for the input, gents. I do like the look of the BB series, but I'm put off by it being passive - active is definitely something I'd be looking for!

Hey all! I'm currently rocking a couple of the cheaper Harley Benton's and they're great (B550 5-string and the JB75 Vintage 4 string jazz), but as always, I wouldn't mind a small little upgrade, somewhere around the £300 mark. I'm considering the three in the title, and I appreciate that the V7/P7 are in a slightly higher price bracket but I keep seeing them, reading about them, and consequently wanting one of them. The question I'm asking is, for those with experience with these basses, how do you find the B strings? The B550 is a touch floppy but plays ok with a little care. I play a mix of music, mostly towards the heavier side of things (hence looking at the TRB and the BZ with twin humbuckers), but I'm also branching out a little at the minute, playing more American/Modern Country kind of rock, as well as trying to broaden my horizons by playing a few things like older pop, funk etc etc, which is where the leaning for a V7 or P7 comes in. I think the P7 would be slightly preferable as a PJ seems to offer itself as one of the best all-rounders. Any further thought on my dilemma? I'm just bedroom playing at the moment, with half an eye to getting back into some proper playing in the near future. Note: One really annoying thing is the 6-string version of the Harley Benton neckthrough (the BZ-6000 NT) is a 35" scale, as is their 7, but the 4 and 5 string offerings are only 34". I think if the BZ-5000 was a 35" I wouldn't even need to be asking this question! Pulling a 6 string out of the bag still has a bit of a stigma and I'm not much of a doodler to be getting much use out of the high C. I used to have a Spector Legend 5 and that was a 35" scale too - it just felt that little bit nicer.

Caught Bring Me The Horizon at the Leeds Direct Arena on Saturday night. They put on a great show that was dampened only by the fact I had foam earplugs which drained most of the sound of everything away, and not in a good way. It was also great to see another band embrace the silent stage philosophy - not an amp or cab on stage, just the guys (well, a couple of pedal boards and acoustic drums obviously). The stage was also a metal grid affair with a range of lights underneath, as well as some CO2, confetti and streamer cannons for good measure. I thought it was a great show! YouTube link for the opening show and first song:

100% agree with this topic. I'd wager most on this board haven't heard of Brian Robinson from A Wilhelm Scream yet his bass playing is amazing in my opinion. (YouTube Line 1 YouTube Link 2 ). But how many people would be turned off by this band's style? As a younger whipper-snapper (just turned 30 😐 ), I actually struggle to like a lot of the bands and music of the older generations when people general recommend the "best" bass players.

Would you say that would be needed even if the input signal display shows I never got much above -12dB? The sound is lovely and clear with the Native plugin turned off... But I'll join that group and have a look. Thanks!

So I'm just trialling the Native plugin and it's running via Mainstage on my Macbook - it seems a touch, overdrivey? Most amps just seem to start overdriving even on my passive (Harley Benton) jazz. I'm guessing this may by due to setup but it's just the Zoom B3 as an audio interface in bypass mode, which is the input for a single channel in Mainstage, which has only the Native plugin. Yet even if I choose the Aguilar modeller (Agua 51) at the default drive setting (2.5) on it's own, it starts distorting the input.

Wow, that's more comprehensive than I was expecting! That looks very flexible indeed. I'm currently running an older Zoom B3 for "everything" and I've been eyeing up a B3n to replace it, but to balance out the nicer sounds I'm losing the DI and USB audio (which is how I play at home, bass into Mainstage via the USB on the B3 to play along to songs or backing tracks etc). I know DI and USB interfaces aren't exactly expensive anymore but still bit of a pain turning a £150 pedal into a £260+ purchase. Looks like the dream setup at the moment would be a Helix in a rack with the foot controller, paired with wireless in-ears and an FRFR if needed. I've always been more than happy to play direct where possible as I love the idea of a very low-volume stage. However, I'm not in a band, and play only Harley-Benton basses in the spare room so maybe a £2,500 rig is a touch excessive however this looks like an amazing piece of kit. I'd definitely prefer this over a traditional amp setup if I were to ever find a band.

I'm not a gigging musician, I'm just a bedroom warrior, and this thread is giving me some serious issues. This looks like an amazing piece of kit, and looks like it'll double up nicely for when I'm twiddling on a 6 or 7 string cousin too. Must....resist..... Is anyone willing to share a quick overview of their setups? Whether running into a cab or IEM etc?

I'm always curious about the advice to cut the lows out. A low E is about 40Hz, and a low B is about 30Hz - if you're cutting the lows, then you're surely cutting out the actual core of the notes you're trying to play? It does seem very counter-intuitive!

Здрасти, Цветан. Добре дошли!

Also considering getting back into playing bass after a few years away, and just want something cheap to see how my wrists take it. What are your feelings on this? It's about £110 now but seems like it should still be worth a punt.