thodrik

The snare trigger is intriguing by itself!

Bass number 5 will SHOCK you.

I quite liked it. Probably a solid 7/10 for me.

This how I approached the last Tool album after hearing the first single.

I have taken the decision to rid myself of additional delays, fuzz effects and additional drives now that I am doing more ‘meat and potatoes’ rock music. The result is my smallest board since about 2011. Tuner, drive, compression, Sansamp. Not especially original, but it works! Forgive the cable spaghetti…

I was hoping for Lars Ulrich to appear on a version of Big Bottom and for him to insist on all bass guitars being lowered/removed from the mix in order to make space for more hi hat, kick and snare drum. .

In a stoner doom band this would be a sackable offence.

I didn't actually say anything about my actual core tone. I just find that I can get a decent pick or finger tone without having to massively change the EQ I am using at a given time. My main amp is a Mesa Walkabout, about 50% of the tone shaping on the amp is based from where the gain control is set. It isn't a very 'flat' amp with settings all at 12 o'clock to start with, but it sounds really nice fingerstyle or pick, so I tend to EQ more for the room/stage rather than making big tonal shaping moves on the amp.

I use these for guitar (sometimes the green 0.88m version): I use these for bass (though sometimes the red 1.5mm version): I don't really consider the exact tonal benefits of a pick, I just like a good amount of rigidity as opposed to 'flex' and I only really consider types of picks that are readily available and easy to source. I also love the stubby triable picks because they are very large (so more difficult to lose), durable, easy to hold and it doesn't matter which point I use. I don't generally EQ the amps differently between fingers and pick playing on bass.

I did a gig on Saturday and one of the other players had a v7. There are definitely a few about in the wild but I suspect that those who bought them do not frequent bass gear forums. I didn't get to use it. I used the house supplied TC Electronic BQ500. It was perfectly fine given that I was running a Sansamp through the preamp anyway. Personally, I think that the Venture designs look nice but the product line is about 7-8 years too late to make a significant splash in the market.

The design reminds me of this:

Well, I mentioned that you have to choose a type music you actually like, not a type of music you don't like and have no intention of actually playing. If my former bands had decided to suddenly become a downtuned stoner band then I probably wouldn't have left them so I wouldn't consider this an example of the tactic backfiring. Even then, if the resultant music wasn't what I liked I would advise that I was looking to do a different type of downtuned stoner and leave anyway.

'Hi everyone, I have really enjoyed rehearsals over the last couple of weeks. However after much thought and deliberation I can't help but realise that we are focusing on traditional Czech polka music. I do not wish to force you to change directions again and as such I must with regret offer my resignation in order to enable me to put together a new group which will focus on my own particular love of Slovenian polka.' When there are sub-genres there is always a way to quit.

Exactly!

I'm a big fan of The Cult and every time I hear She Sells Sanctuary on a coffee advert, a car advert, holiday advert, adverts for podcasts, adverts for tv shows, adverts about musical streaming sites, adverts about headphones or adverts about the merits of advertising, my first reaction is one of 'good stuff, Billy Duffy and Ian Astbury got paid again'.

My response is usually 'I really enjoy playing in the band, but I have come to the stage in life that all I really want to play is downtuned stoner doom music' Just insert a genre of music you like that the band isn't playing and is never likely to play and you are fine.

Clover basses. I don't think they are made anymore but some of the models looked quite cool. I was tempted by the Xpression models back in the day when Bass Direct carried them. Don't think they go for much when they do come up. I don't actually know the history of the basses but before they stopped the general electronics and pickups seemed very familiar with Sandberg models and bore no resemblance to the earlier models.

I have only heard the first half of the album but I quite like it so far. The whole sound of Deftones has changed post Chi. Carpenter now generally uses 8 string guitars which takes up a lot of low end space. The bass now takes up a lot of the midrange and doesn't have much sub-frequency content. Even when Sergio was in the band he often wasn't even playing downtuned like Chi was previously. I don't think it is bad at all, just different. Still sounds like Deftones to me, though I actually like Diamond Eyes and Koi No Yokan more than a lot of the earlier albums.

When I was 15 I had saved up enough money to buy a Fender American Standard Jazz or a Musicman Stingray. I went to Denmark Street in London for the first time, tried a bunch of basses and ended up buying a 1974 Gibson EB3 purely because 'Jack Bruce and Andy Fraser played them'. I rarely use it, but I still own it 24 years later. The other one would be a Boss ODB3 (the yellow bass overdrive) because every bass player I knew had one. I used it a lot, but ended up selling it for £30 during lockdown because I was fed up of even looking at it after 20+ years. I probably should have kept it.

Not sure if it counts as a 'great deal' but Softube just announced their Equalizers plugin. It is essentially Softube's own version of the Fabfilter Pro Q4/Sonnox Claro/name your graphic EQ. The main benefit to the plugin is that if you already have any of Softube's EQ plugins, then you can load these into the Equalizers plugin so you can use a Softube Neve/API/Trident EQ for 'broad tone shaping' and use the graphic for for detailed corrective work. The graphic EQ includes dynamic EQ and mid-side processing. You can then manage the EQ within a single plugin window, at least that is the idea. It is very smart, at least in concept. Launch price is £69 or £87 bundled with your Softube channel strip or EQ of choice. The bundle options include the ridiculously expensive Softube EQs which get sold for up £250 individually (I can't even imagine paying that for a plugin). So if you really really want a very expensive Softube EQ this is the most cost effective way, even though it is not particularly cost effective. I tried the demo, just because I own the Softube British Class A (Neve) channel (I got it in a bundle for £40 or so) and use that on most stuff for half-arsed, 'that'll do' post tracking tone shaping before I sent the tracks off to somebody who knows what they are doing (I am better/less bad at setting up mics and tracking than I am at mixing) Also, you can't add drive or compression within the Equalizer plugin. If you want to add in preamp/console saturation/compression then you have to load another instance of your Softube EQ of choice which to me kinda defeats the point of the 'single plugin' basis. I am better off using a regular channel strip and Claro or Pro Q3 because with Neve and API type plugins, the saturation and colour is a key part of the sound. Worth a try if you have a bunch of Softube EQs but I don't think I need it and not even worth considering if you have no Softube plugins and already have a decent graphic EQ.

I completely agree with this take.

I did buy Smart-EQ3 but didn't really enjoy it. I found that the EQ moves it suggested with some instruments (mainly acoustic drums) to be truly strange! I didn't get to the point of using the plugin as intended over a number of tracks. I might have to revist it. Smart-gate however is really great.

After years of everyone taking issue with Waves business practice of always running sales, nearly every plugin maker is going the same route and/moving to a subscription model. Claro is really good. It lacks a couple of key features for me (being able to raise/lower the overall volume post EQ, dynamic EQ) but for 20 quid it is marvellous. I use Listen Hub a lot. It really helps to bring into context how crap my rough mixes are!

The guy in the store told me that the pickups had been changed before he even plugged it in. I think that it is a website description error rather than a case of the dealer being deliberately shady.

If you fancy owing essentially the same bass as me: https://www.kennysmusic.co.uk/1979-82-fender-usa-international-series-precision-bass-in-sienna-sunburst-pre-owned-p8462 I actually played this bass when I was in Aberdeen a few months ago. Definitely replacement pickups but they sounded great. Neck was in better condition than mine. I nearly bought it, but I didn't because it would just be a back up to the bass I already have. I do really love the neck profile of the Precisions from this era.