Oomo

I remember Scott saying that he used the gloves as a workaround for focal dystonia, he talks about it a bit here: https://scottsbasslessons.com/blog/the-gloves. As to whether they help for other things, I have no idea

Thanks, that makes a ton of sense now. So sounds like something you'd use any time you're not using an actual physical amp - direct into house PA, headphone practice at home, recording direct etc. The IR thing is a lot clearer too - rather than being just a set of EQ applied uniformly, sounds like something more dynamic that responds to input.

I've never really tried any seriously (I've quickly tried some software ones, and they just made everything sound wooly/muffled), and confused about what they're for or how they work. If you've got a 1x8 speaker and run a 4x10 cab sim into it, it can't possibly sound like a real 4x10 - so what am I missing? Are they just something you'd maybe use for recording direct rather than for live sound? Or are they more like some EQ presets which are applied to get familiar sounds conveniently?

Yeah, not too bad at all really. Bit spoilt for choice at the moment - every time I think I've found a nice preamp/DI (was leaning towards the Trickfish Trilobite), then another one comes along (or will in September at least...).

Looks like Andertons have it on pre-order for £350: https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/two-notes/two-notes-revolt-bass-analog-amp-sim-pedal But still not cheap

I'll be playing (just casually at their home) with a couple of friends that live about an hour from me, 30 minute walk plus 30 minutes train. Looking for a small super portable combo I can walk with without collapsing or pulling my arms off. The Phil Jones double four gets great reviews, so wondering if any of you can comment on whether it's light and ergonomic enough to carry on foot for a while? Otherwise any other suggestions for a small combo that'll fill the slot? Will be playing with guitar and keys, so nothing too loud/powerful needed.

I've seen a few basses which look like they've got fixed bridges (like acoustic guitars), e.g. Kristall bass: (https://www.facebook.com/kristallbass/posts/4498173800305313), acoustic basses, etc. I'm wondering how intonation is set/tweaked on those? Is it adjusted elsewhere somehow? Or you just have to live with it being a bit out without replacing the bridge?

I don't own many, but I do think that playing a bunch of basses is beneficial. Mostly in that it's a good way to hear a bunch of different sounds, figure out which you like or don't, how to achieve those tones, etc. Plus helps to identify things you love or hate in future basses to save money, or to wisely spend money when some ultra rare bass becomes available.

Another one I remembered - long/thin horns. They just look flimsy to me, and I'd always be worried how much stress a heavy bass must be putting on the the wood. Plus I hate the looks Thinking things like:

Any of you have absolute dealbreakers on what you do/don't look for in a bass? For me it's: 1) block inlays - for some reason I just can't stand them (dots are just about acceptable, but prefer side markings only) 2) neck dive - I've tried various things, but basses with neck dive just drive me crazy. I find myself constantly adjusting them, fiddling with straps, knocking over cups of tea when they dive unexpectedly, etc. Most other things I'm willing to live with though...

I'm hoping for the opposite - there's a lovely lefty fretless Wal on Reverb at the moment with an eye watering price tag of £8000. I just want someone to buy it so that I don't end up drunkenly trying to sell a kidney/heart/lung to afford it.

I'm not associated with them in any way, but thought it might be of interest to some lefties in the vicinity: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141576/ No idea what the guitar to bass ratio will be, but happy for this sort of event to be encouraged.

I haven't gigged for a long time now, but definitely went through the same cycle a few times: 1. bored playing solo, miss playing with others 2. find a band 3. have great fun jamming/rehearsing 4. gigging, dealing with huge amount of time spent in cars, setting up/tearing down, uninterested crowds/venues, poor sound, tiredness at work next day, etc. 5. getting fed up with it all and thinking I'd rather spend 6 hours playing/practicing than 5h30m dealing with all of the above just for a 30m set 6. go to step 1 I think I'd honestly be happy stopping at step 3 and just find some nice people to play with, with no intention of gigging. But that never seems to be very easy, most ads/social sites seems to be full of people super eager to rush out and gig ASAP. 🤷‍♂️

Might be overkill, but for finishing advice, I can't recommend this book enough: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/156604.Understanding_Wood_Finishing It goes into detail on the properties of different finishes, misconceptions, etc. Definitely saved me screwing up more than one project...

I'm currently torn between this and the Darkglass Hyperluminal, that also gets excellent reviews, though the Cali 76 seems to be a bit more established.

For me it's always the time leading up to a gig/speech/flight etc. that I get most anxious about. More like a niggling bit of my brain that can't stop thinking about all that can go wrong in the lead up to the event (what if my car breaks down? What if I don't know the part well enough? What if I injure my arm at the gym the day before the gig? My throat's a bit sore what if I get too ill, should I cancel now? Etc.). Then in the day itself when it's too late to back out then (or when I get to the airport, speaking venue etc.), then I'm completely fine. I just get annoyed at the mental bandwidth it takes up beforehand.

Does anyone know what the difference between his reading book and the separate package courses are? Is the book a starting point, then the other courses a more advanced follow up?

I couldn't imagine Primus without humour.

Mostly just curious - do your basses tend to be in a certain price/quality range, or do you have a wide variety, and why? I've always wanted to try out a 6-string someday, and that got me thinking about what price/quality I'd look for. On the one hand, if I got a fantastic top end model, that I'd just want to play that due to sound/comfort (and sunk cost...), regardless of whether I got on with that many strings. On the other hand, a budget model might just be horrible to play in comparison to my other basses, and might put me off regardless of number of strings. Which also got me to thinking... if I ever got a really top end custom bass, would that ruin my other basses for me?

Was considering an OC5, but sounds like the new MXR might be worth holding out for (if it's favourably received...).

I think there's also a fight to get exclusive access to as much as possible (this happens with Netflix/Disney+/Amazon Prime etc.). Many people won't want to subscribe to many streaming platforms, so if your platform has exclusive rights to X% of music, hope is that people will pick yours, and eventually kill of the competition.

I sometimes wonder how to best approach learning with tasteful playing in mind. There often seems to a view that technique is in some way linear (i.e. that if you can play something incredibly technical, you can easily play something more laid back and tasteful), and often encouraged to work on things that are hard but less commonly used (e.g. playing harder songs, increasing metronome speed for exercises, learning double thumbing, tapping, pinch harmonics etc.). Could that time be better spent on learning to play with more restraint? If you spends hours learning a technique you'd use in 1 in 1000 songs, would be better to skip that technique entirely, to avoid the temptation of using it on the other 999 where it wouldn't be appropriate?

Don't forget to also slightly tweak the circuit each year, but keep the name/design the same. Then enthusiasts can argue for years over how the pre-2018 versions had a warmer sound and go for 2x the price, and how the 2019 versions with serial numbers between 234786 and 765866 should be avoided like the plague.

Every time I look at a Helix, I end up wondering if it'll be enough, and I should get the next model up instead. Then when I get to the top model, I wonder if I should consider a Neural DSP Quad Cortext instead. Then I look at the price and go back to considering the Helix Stomp again. Then repeat.

Another vote for Transcribe here. Been using it for years. Lets you change pitches, slow down parts, loop parts, change eq to better hear parts, and a ton more. It also has footswitch support for hands-free playback, which can be handy (or footsy?).