thodrik

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1473715937' post='3132583'] Do you NEED to change your tuning to match what the rest of the band uses? On the two occasions when I've played with guitarists who down-tune or use non-standard tunings I've kept my bass tuned as normal and haven't had a problem. In fact IMO it generally leads to more interesting bass lines and overall arrangements since I can't always do the same as the guitars but an octave lower. [/quote] This is always an option worth considering and can lead to some very cool results. I usually tune my four string to match the guitarists as I find it easier for the guitarists to follow what I'm doing during a writing session (it avoids the 'what notes are you actually playing' discussions...). If I am using a five string I will sometimes tune that to suit the tuning of the guitarists as well rather than keeping it in standard tuning. That is just my personal preference though. For the original poster, what type of drop B are you using? Standard tuning with just the E string dropped to B or the drop D equivalent of tuning to C# standard? If it is the latter, I would look at the D'addario balanced tension set at 120 - 50. You can pick up a set for less than £20. I have used the strings for all manner of tunings from drop B up to D standard. If you prefer being in the same tuning as the guitarists then this might be more beneficial than tuning a four string bass tuned B E A D or getting a five string in standard tuning. It really just depends on how you want to approach it though. Personally, I play quite a lot of low tuned stoner and doom music and have never had any problems from setting up basses with various tunings with larger strings and then later setting the bass back up for standard tuning when I start another project. It will not under any circumstances mess up the bass. You just have to be conscious that there are no magic strings that will be able to play drop B and then tuned back up to standard tuning without the need for another set up. I have never turned down a band because of alternate tunings. I have however turned down bands where every song is played in drop D tuning using the same chord patterns, though that is the band's fault rather than the tuning. I have however turned down guitarists who are not willing explore alternate tunings, such as the songs are in D standard or drop C and he/she insists that it isn't possible to set up a guitar for this tuning despite the fact that they are a massive Mastodon fan and half of their songs are in that tuning or lower). If you don't want to play in that tuning though then just tell the band you are not interested and leave it at that.

[quote name='dyerseve' timestamp='1473683442' post='3132201'] Steve Hodson of Oceansize and Kong fame uses a Gibson Grabber and acheives a very nice tone from it! [/quote] I have seen a number of hardcore bands over the years who have been using Gibson Grabbers or Rippers. They always sound big and meaty. I would love to try one. I have an 1974 EB3. Great tone, though I think it hasn't been designed that well. Three bolt bridge, set neck, pickup selector options ranging from 'front', 'back' 'mud' and 'super mud', tone pots that are essentially on/off switches, massive neck dive, incredibly heavy. Still, great tone!

Peavey only bought Trace Elliot in 2005 so your amp is barely ten years old at most. You should get years and years of use out of it, probably decades. There are still people out there using Trace Elliot stuff from 1980s at gigs without any issues. I have 3 Trace Elliot amps made way before the Peavey purchase and they are still alive and kicking. If you like the amp, you could just get another Trace Elliot as a back up. A good model to look up is the Trace Elliot SMX series as they also offer dual band compression and a tube/solid state blend and pre-shape options. I have one myself that I picked up for only a couple of hundred pounds and it is really nice. The Trace Elliot Series 6 line is also really good and fairly cheap.

I always liked his playing, especially when he started becoming more audible in the mix. I would like to hear a properly remixed version of And Justice For All.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1472228057' post='3119676'] This is a matter of opinion. I had a Sadowsky which I got rid of because I didn't like the tone at all, it was bass-heavy and scooped with very weak mids, and I found the vintage tone control made very little difference to the overall character of the tone. For someone playing slap, or for people who love a scooped tone, sure - but for straight-up fingerstyle it just didn't have what I was after at all. The build quality was indeed flawless and it was a nice looking bass, but i much prefer the 2011 Deluxe Jazz I replaced it with, I love the preamp in that thing, the mid control is pretty much perfect and the build quality is at least as good as the Sadowsky. It's had one setup in the last 5 years, it's just a good bass. People say the output is quieter than other basses, which is true in passive mode, but I don't know of a situation where that would be a problem, you need to adjust gain for whatever bass you're playing. In active mode it's the perfect J tone for me, passive Jazz characteristics with a bit of a mid boost. Maybe it's a one off and I got lucky but I never get why people didn't get on with the USA Deluxe series, they get far too much of a hard time. [/quote] Of course it is a matter of opinion. I was just giving mine and I was not presenting my opinion as a fact. I know lots of bass players who I really rate who don't like Sadowsky basses or the preamp. It doesn't bother me in the slightest. I like the two I bought, so that is enough for me.

I'm just doing a clear up of all of my overdrive pedals. One of the best 'sounding like an overdriven valve amp' emulations I have got have been mixing a bass overdrive pedal with a Sansamp Bass Drive, with even the Boss ODB 3 delivering decent results. For a good old school sound while a used the Electro Harmonix English Muff'n which is a great pedal, but it has a really large footprint and it needs a 12v AC current. The connectors to the pedal is also a bit fiddly. Outside of the usual Sansamp recommendations, the EBS Valvedrive is also a really good EQ/gentle overdrive. The Aguilar Agro is one of my favourites at medium low settings for getting a bit of girth without getting very fuzzy (it could really do with a blend though on higher settings). I haven't had much experience with the Darkglass pedals but they seem to be really good overdrives but despite the name I don't consider them to actually replicate a valve amp preamp. The Catalinbread SFT would also be a good pedal. I haven't tried it but is another Ampeg clone idea. There is also the Zvex Basstortion but I wasn't really impressed with the one I tried for the price.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1471629408' post='3114653'] You could pick up an Am Del for around £1000 6 months ago.... the price bombed. I don't see how these Elites are any different. Looks like a classic Fender re-badge 'trick'... as with a CS. Same parts as an Am D. And if that is correct, then this is very dodgy, IMO. [/quote] I tried a couple of Fender Elites a few months ago and thought they were a marked improvement on the previous Deluxe models. The fit and finish was spot on and the pickups and EQ were a lot better. Still, I think that the Fender active EQ systems are still a good piece behind Sandberg, Lakland and Sadowsky. For £1700, yeah that is probably a reflection of the normal 'upwards' price increases. Laklands are great basses. Not sure I would pay £2000 grand for a passive Fender style bass when I know that if I tried enough I would find a Fender that would play just as well for half the price. I do like the active Laklands too, but when it comes to 'really expensive active Fender Jazz' designs I will choose Sadowsky (and have done so...twice)

Three off the top of my head: Black Sabbath - Born Again Metallica - St Anger (an album that would win multiple categories of 'worst album...' discussions. Gary Glitter - Remember Me This Way This too... [attachment=225716:MHayes001.jpg]

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1469478433' post='3098704'] Good for metal, too... [/quote] Haha, I knew I'd forgotten something!

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1469476660' post='3098674'] Who says that?! Bit odd to categorise that with the Precision and Barefaced brigade! Dingwall's sell themselves..... [/quote] I've heard that the Super P model sounds really super when played through a Super Twin...

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1469475719' post='3098659'] Does it bother you when someone posts "please help me choose, a Jazz or a Stingray?" and someone invariably says "get a Precision!" [/quote] Very much so, even more so when people say 'buy a Dingwall!'

Okay, so I haven't been reading this thread, but after it reached ten pages I had to check it out thinking 'wow, I didn't realise that Tim Commerford was still so popular!' My bad... Seriously, well done for Barefaced. My only problem with Barefaced on this site are when threads along the lines of 'I'm going to buy an Ampeg 6x10 but I'm also considering a Mesa Boogie' lead to replies of 'get a Barefaced!'. Even that is a minor quibble.

I have an EBS Fafner and I have played the 350 and 650/660 EBS heads. They are all very versatile and perfectly suited for funk, metal or rock. Very transparent heads. To be honest though, you can't go wrong with any of the heads in your list. Just try a few out and buy the one you like the most.

Track down a Trace Elliot EQ pedal, then use a lightweight amp and cab.

I have used a Boss TU2 for about ten years with no issues tuning down to A on a five string.

Very nice. Not sure what the 'Masterbuilt' means in the description. A Sadowsky NYC is a Sadowsky NYC. Maybe it means it has the non standard black chrome hardware, ebony fingerboard and the fancy top. I bought a slightly older five string NYC from Bass Direct a couple of months ago and it was approximately a grand cheaper than that, though mine had none of the aforementioned extras and a few more cosmetic 'dings'. Still sounds great though!

Someone on here is bound to have bought a new Ritter, Fodera or Alembic. Or one of those custom shop Warwicks. Unless someone here ended up buying some of John Entwistle's Frankenstein bass?

Good stuff. I have a 12 band SMX head as well. Great amp.

I don't sorry. If I remember correctly, pre shape 2 is less of a mid cut than pre shape 1, but more of boost of the bass and lower mid frequencies and not much of a treble boost. Basically,just boost around 100hz -600hz and leave everything else at level (no boost/no cut). I never liked pre shape 2. I would just use pre shape 1 and add some mids back.

I have a 300 watt Mesa Walkabout that has been loud enough for pretty much every type of gig, from jazz, rock, doom, djent even when in 1x15 combo form. More speakers is always the best start. Speaker positioning can always help as well. Getting your band to pay attention to volume levels also helps.

I bought a set with 'heavier cores' to help downtuning after some rave reviews on this site. I thought that they were decent but did not see any difference compared with any other string of a similar gauge. Also the gauges I ordered were slightly different from the gauges I received. I didn't complain because .5 of a gauge is hardly worth kicking a fuss over. They were good to deal with as a company and I have no complaints about the price or general quality of the strings. I just can't personally give them a glowing review and doubt I would order them again when I can just buy a set D'addarios that I can find more easily and prefer using anyway.

There are gems and dogs for every year when it comes to Fender basses. Try before you buy. Also be wary, lots of people will market a bass as a '1978' Fender Precision because of the serial number. The serial numbers though do not always tell the whole story. The S9+5 digits serial number was used from 1978 to 1981, for example. This is the serial number on my own Fender. It might be a 1978 bass, it might not. It is a great bass though and I would never sell it.

I absolutely love the Sadowsky pre-amp on the two Sadowskys I have. Usually I just add a tiny bit of the bass, nowhere near a quarter of a turn. I generally leave the treble boost off. I don't need the ability to 'cut', as the preamp on with no EQ boost is pretty much the sound of the bass run passive. If I didn't like the passive sound of the bass I wouldn't have bought them in the first place. I can understand why some people don't like the Sadowsky pre-amp. I don't think that it is overly flexible compared to a cut-boost three band EQ you will find on lots of other basses where you can sculpt any number of different tones. The Sadowsky pre-amp does 'that Sadowsky sound' and not much else. Much more than minimal boost leads to a fairly unbalanced sound and takes away from the natural tone of the bass you are playing rather than adding to it. I personally have no need for three band EQs on a bass as it can be really tricky to get them right (what mid frequencies are going to be boosted? Is it going to be a narrow or wide boost?). If I need a mids boost I prefer using the EQ on the amp.

The Keeley Bassist is a really nice bit of kit. Can go from ultra transparent to pretty squishy. It also works as a clean boost if you want. The MXR is a good bet as well. EBS do a good compressor as well.