SimonK

I switch to Cajon when there isn't a drummer as can't stand playing bass without drums as to me it gets all mushy - what instruments do you have?

RE compressor, the signal goes Octamizer -> Filter -> compressor for exactly the reason you stated. RE LS-2, I could but that would be an extra pedal, and if I am putting something new on the board a standalone synth pedal is probably easier - also I use the fuzz on it's own so it would get complicated if it was in a loop. Some of the EHX synth pedals have been catching my eye - does anyone use a POG on bass?

Right so a few weeks of trying to actually use a synth bass sound live and things haven't been going great. Picture of the board is above - I've found the main part of the synth tone comes from the octamizer & big muff, with the chorus adding a bit of icing on top (but not being that noticable especially live) and the decay control on the envelope filter really changing the sound but not in a great way. Was irritating hitting four pedals when I wanted the synth sound so ended up just using the octave & fuzz. BUT, and it's a big one, the tracking on the Octamizer even when it was the very first pedal in the chain wasn't great. Not too bad for quarter notes or less above the third fret or so, but any attempt to sustain a note - which is kind of what I was wanting with the synth sound - just kept dropping out/changing. So my conclusion is maybe I need a new everything in one synth pedal - any recommendations?

It seems to have gone for £78 in the end, presumably to someone local with tail-lift! The suspension on my car has never quite recoved after bringing a 1510x back from Wales a few months back!

Here's another: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196967398730

"God tier" is for those who not only don't buy something, but also do not rearrange their pedal board for a whole year...

I've always used a EHX big muff which is cheap and cheerful, but the controls do what they say and critically it has the "dry" mode to mix clean signal in with the fuzz so that you don't get lost in the mix when you engage it.

Awesome - so that cab shaped Trace Elliot side board that I have never plugged in (who knew you could play bass through a table!) doesn't count - and it looks so nice with a lamp and some pictures on top!

I am wondering whether rather than always arguing for creative exclusions (albeit fun!) it might be more helpful just to state what does count as a purchase? Something like: Tier 1: Bass Guitars Bass Amps/Cabs Pedals Tier 2: Guitars or other instruments including percussion Guitar or other instruments/PA amps or cabs Effects pedals Studio equipment, keyboards, synths etc.

If it wasn't tucked awkwardly on the other side of London from me I would have had this, albeit no gurantee the guy would have accepted £100 - I think probably £250 would be fair for a GP12 & cab. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/176794584421

Radial Engineering have a bunch of different options for this. All a bit pricy but as good as you can get. A cheaper option is the EHX Tri Parallel mixer that gives you three controllable channels at a much more reasonable price, also with the critical phase switch.

I did indeed - I think evolution is the reason why we need to be very sensitive to quiet rustling in the undergrowth (which is roughly mid frequencies). As things get louder everything balances out as per the graph, so if you are "used" to hearing more mids they need to be boosted as opposed to the smiley EQ that people use at lower volumes.

Not certain everyone "ought" to know this albeit it is fascinating. The table at the bottom also gives the reason why sounds dialled in at bedroom volume do not work well at gig volume as you generally need to reduce boost (sorry typo!) mids on EQ as things get louder.

As a classical guitarist originally, there is place for tab to see how someone else chose to finger something. Certainly a major challenge I had when I took things seriously was trying to work out the best fingering/position... but yes a pre-requisite was being able to read normal music!

I can't ever recall doing it with pizza, but certainly interfering with the brass players plumbing is standard par for the course certainly in relatively junior (or immature) band situations! As is lobbing things at the tubas when the conductor isn't looking...

Someone will come in with a formula in a moment to provide the answer in terms of SPL, but I certainly find that for the same volume I get better dispersal with more speakers, and thus I actually prefer to practice at home at low volume with as many speakers as possible - I use a Marshall 4x12 and TE 4x10 for guitar and bass respectively at home, and despite the low volumes think they sound much better than the fewer speaker options I have. But I do think this is to do with sound dispersal rather than anything else. Thinking logically, speaker area must have an effect on SPL - if you google it there is a talkbass thread that seems to think 3dB every time you double the speaker area with no change in the amp settings.

Thing is the strength of a forum is the personal interaction - asking the question in your own words and hearing someone's answer. Stickies or FAQs work for some people, but I always wonder at the point of a forum where people just say "do a search as we've talked about this before"... to me this misses the point of a forum. (BTW Trace Watts are bigger than other brand's Watts - they used to grow them specially and combine with groovilium)

If I start another thread complaining about a divorce you can probably conclude that I failed the gear abstinence challenge as well!

...we could turn this into a game of "traitor"... who is still in but misleading everyone else that they haven't just purchased a £3k bass... 😎

Yes I agree - hence it's not for everyone as it is a cultural difference. Thus said some bands are a bit more flexible than others.

It can also be defined as Joule per Coulomb, so the amount of energy needed to move a charge through a component (hence also being a descriptor).

This is so important! I make it very clear to every band I'm in that I'm not the right player if they just want someone to stick to what's written. I get bored far too easily and start experimenting once I've played something a few times! Of course iconic bass lines need to stay more or less the same, but elsewhere I start experimenting with different fingerings, different octaves, trying it on a fretless instead, seeing if a different syncopation works...

I broadly agree with this - as Biochemist/Biophysicist speaking (at least originally) - there are plenty of biochemical systems that rely on the flow of protons rather than electrons, with the resulting electrochemical gradient measured in volts, so I would say volts are often used to describe the state of a system.

Every band I've ever been in, of any type, has started off with music/tabs in standard tuning followed by a discussion of whether the key works or not, and then usually the key might be changed to suit the singers (or Eb instruments etc.). But it has always been up to each musician to transpose for themselves - either by doing it on the fly, re-writing/re-printing the music in the new key, or by cheating (often keyboardists using a transpose button but I suppose if I had a lot of Eb songs I probably would detune a bass by a semi-tone). It looks to me that the previous bass player had indeed decided to detune their bass, but then create tabs in different keys on the basis of playing a detuned bass, meaning that the fingering is up a semi-tone in all keys compared to standard tuning. Makes sense, but does need explanation if someone else is trying to use the tab!