ThomBassmonkey

Doh sorry, didn't see that somehow.

Cont. from [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=77217"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=77217[/url] Macmellus, generally I just teach fingering using scales. Students get a lashing if they use the wrong fingers. I'll have a play with your suggestion next time I'm on my bass though and see how it feels. Another one I use (for both hands) is (as intervals, I start off higher up the fret) 1, 2, minor 3, 4 and back down (so for example C, D, D#, F, D#, D, C.) Then play about with speed, get them doing it fast enough (once they've got it slowly of course) and there's no real option than use all four fingers because of the jump up from D to F. Same thing with the major scale, 1st to 4th and they have to use 4th finger to 1st for the movement from 2nd to 3rd. Faithless, good point. It's something that a LOT of people do because they think Blink-182 (and other bands) are doing it right. It may not look as cool, but at least you don't have to stop playing after 15 minutes because you have RSI. Plus the extra reach definitely helps. Another thing I see a lot in relation to positioning is elbows stuck into the sides when sat down.

I'm probably going to be selling my first proper giggable amp over the next couple of months so it's made me all nostalgic because I've had it for so long, I thought it could be interested to find out what other people first gigged with. Could be interesting to see what people use now for some comparison of how your tone started and how it is now. My first decent upgrade was my Ibanez BTB406 into a Carlsbro Bassline 80 combo. Upgraded to a Bassline 150 shortly after since the 80 just wasn't powerful enough for practices (and obviously not in that case for gigs), had that 150 for close to 9 years though and it only let me down once (in a practice fortunately). Currently just upgraded to a GK rig (700RB + 210RBH) and the same BTB406, but will over the next couple of months probably be getting a Warwick or MM (still not decided yet, it could be something completely different).

I suspected the biggest factor is appearance. Don't get me wrong, if I was an endorsee, first thing I'd want is a huge 1,000,000w head with 300 8x10s lined up behind me, I can't quite afford that at the moment though. I'm talking mainly about amateur musicians that only (regularly) gig up to medium sized venues with no endorsements. [quote name='chris_b' post='744741' date='Feb 14 2010, 01:14 PM']A 2x10 is OK but more speakers generally sound better at the same volume because more speakers move more air and, in my opinion, that improves your tone.[/quote] I've heard that and it's believable as more air would be moving rather than less air moving more. My point is more that any gig with a PA will either be DI'd (in which case your cab counts for squat anyway apart from on stage) or you'll be mic'd up (unlikely to be more than one mic, though I'm interested what to do with a tweeter since I'm going to be using a bi-amp from GK but I suspect the answer is: ignore it). Surely with a DI or mic, a 350w ABC head through a 2x10 XYZ cab would sound just as good as a 700w ABC head through an 8x10 XYZ cab out front. Like I said, this debate isn't about amps that struggle with headroom because obviously a more powerful amp is needed if your amp's having problems keeping up.

I play original songs up to several hundred people at a time too (and sometimes empty rooms, doh!) and being loud is a great advantage, but that's what the PA's there for. Surely there's got to be some reason beyond "LOUD BASSES ARE BEST!", I mean we all know that's true ( ), but there must be some reason why people are spending hundreds of pounds more than they need when the PA can make you louder than you need to be anyway.

As a bass and guitar teacher, I always try and encourage my students to use one finger per fret when they're doing exercises. If you can do it, it's the single best way to fret since with arpeggios and simple scales it's rare that you need to move outside a four fret range. With that said, no one's saying that you still have to hold down the first fret with your first finger while you're fretting with your little finger. Just that if you use all your fingers, it means a) you can be quicker on going backwards and forwards because you don't need to worry so much about moving your whole hand by up to four frets quickly between notes and it also builds up strength in all of your fingers giving you more options even when you're not using one finger per fret. Plus by practising one finger per fret (even while you're still moving your hand a bit) over time you'll be able to reach further confidently which is always a good thing. Sorry, I'll stop aiding with the thread hijack now.

Just replied to the thread about the GK1001RB+410RBH and I thought I'd start a new thread based on my reply in there. Basically I'm (shortly going to be) running a 700RB though a 210RBH, I personally can't see any advantage to having more watts and more speakers. The only apparent (looks aside) difference to me is volume and since any stage that can warrant having a big bass stack should have a PA that can handle having the bass put through it (whether mic'd or DI'd) I just don't get it. I see the same thing with guitars, people show up to small pub gigs with full Marshall stacks then sound awful because they have their amps on 2 and can't drive the valves or risk making the sound tech's job hard. Obviously SS bass amps don't suffer from not pushing the valves, but I still don't understand why people would fork out several times the amount of money for a huge amp when there just doesn't seem to be any point apart from to annoy sound techs. Is it just a case of "bigger is better"? Obviously this doesn't apply to smaller amps that don't have enough headroom to comfortably compete with drums/guitarists etc. It's more about things like the GK where there's a 320w-8ohm/480w-4ohm which should be loud enough for pretty much anywhere where there won't be a PA to run through up to 2001RB that gives 1080w-4ohm (though I can appreciate the 2001RB has more features, I'm talking specifically about the people who buy them for the higher power).

I own a GK 700RB-II and I'm waiting on an order for the 210RBH. To be brutally honest, I don't really see the point of having massive bass stacks (or guitar stacks for that reason). By the time you're playing stages big enough to warrant 700w amps, they should have a good enough PA that the power section of your amp is basically irrelevant as you'll either be DI'd or mic'd up. In either case, how many cabs you have and what volume they're pushing out (obviously as long as it's enough to drown out background noise, which won't be a problem with any GK) won't affect your sound at all. It could potentially even cause problems for the soundman if you're too loud. For a GK 700RB and a 210RBH you're looking at under £1000, which, for the same sound as a 1001RB and 410RBH, is a much better deal IMO.

Move your finger a tiny bit to the right or left? You could try getting a thin bit of plastic and taping it to the side of the pickup, then you could still access the screw without even taking it off.

Reading the OP's posts again, I think it's probably a good idea not to get an amp for a while actually. If you have no chance of playing with a band, is there any reason why you really need one? At the budget you're looking for (being honest) you're not going to end up with a very good amp that can do the job well. That and a bigger amp (obviously) is louder and takes up more room. People use bigger amps because they're needed at practices and gigs. At home I still usually use a little 10w Kustom combo because it's way less hassle than a big amp and it still sounds fine. You're better off saving up while you're doing your GCSEs then when they're finished you can reward yourself with a new amp and hopefully get in a band with it. Trust me, 6 months down the line when you're auditioning for a band, you're going to be kicking yourself when you realise that the 80w combo you bought on a very tight budget isn't loud enough and you could've chucked in another couple of hundred and got a fairly nice combo.

Can someone explain exactly what ground lift is on a head and whether or not it's worth using (or the criteria on which it should be decided if it varies). I assume it removes the head from the PA's ground which can cause/eliminate (don't know which way around it would be) hiss but it'd be useful to know because I've never had the option on an amp when I was at college in the studio. I'm just guessing though so I may be very wide of the mark.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='744323' date='Feb 13 2010, 09:07 PM']nyer [/quote] I'm terrified of my 210 turning up, I'll probably have it in pieces before it's even turned on. Hopefully the GK 4 pin speakons are pretty self explanatory. hehe

I'd rest it personally. If you have to play, try a plaster, it should move the pressure across a bigger area on your finger. It'll make your finger slippier though so you might not be as tight for a while. Best bet is probably to leave it for a bit, you're better off being slightly under-rehearsed at a gig than still having an infection in your finger because you've been pushing too hard.

Look at Ibanez, I have a BTB406QM and I can't see any reason why I'd ever want to upgrade. Only cost around £500 for the equivalent that's around now too and some beautiful woods.

[quote name='chrisba' post='743274' date='Feb 12 2010, 04:38 PM']I can play with my eyes closed [snip] whilst reading War and Peace[/quote] That's pretty impressive. There's a couple of originals in one of my bands where the guitarist tunes to drop D then unleases some open riffing and I have to keep up with it on a 6 string bass (which I refuse to drop D when I have a B string). I'm ok when I'm relaxed (not quite up to recording standard, but if I was having trouble I'd just drop D for that. But tight enough to play live) but I always tense up because I'm afraid of flunking it. I've not made a complete mess yet, but it's definitely been looser then a very loose thing before.

From the sounds of it, I think the pattern with GAK is that their store is great but the online (and phone mail order) is pretty bad. Shame the shop's so far away from me, I'd like to have a good look around.

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='744266' date='Feb 13 2010, 07:35 PM']Hmmm . . . Might just try it on my VMJ, though TBH, it's already a bit of a handful on my BB605. My Tascam CD-BT is earning its keep on this song fo sho . . . Yep, a fun bass showboater - hope the feckers in my band apreciate the work a line like that involves. I actually have my tone (with headphones & CD-BT) pretty close, so I'm sure I'll get it when we rehearse amplified on Tuesday. Thanks all, Mark[/quote] A while back I learned this bassline for a college covers band I was in. I don't think they ever really appreciated the bassline, but it was gratifying to learn it note for note all the way through (though it's lost in the misty depths of my memory now). Can't help with the tone though I'm afraid, always just used my own. If he was using a Stingray through his GK rig (to be honest, I have no idea what he used, just that he's used that gear at various times) then both have a fairly distinctive tone so I'll sure you'll find good descriptions of both of those around then it'll just be a case of tweaking to get it right.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='744238' date='Feb 13 2010, 07:09 PM']you could have 4 x 16 ohm cabs [/quote] Not with 2 outputs. Unless you modified your amp, of course. Or would it work if you used splitter leads? Could be an interesting theory for anyone wanting more cabs without forking out for a new amp.

[quote name='AlanP2008' post='743863' date='Feb 13 2010, 11:59 AM']The first part of your posting was correct, but the above is incorrect. Two outputs from a mono amp, each marked 8 ohms, is a reasonable marking but not too helpful (and potentially misleading if you don't understand about speaker impedance). Yes, either one or two 8 ohm cabs can be plugged in, and that would probably be the normal case (and two x 8ohms in parallel gives 4 ohms). However, a single 4 ohm cab may also be used, although that isn't explicitly stated. From the ratings, with an 8 ohm load the amp will provide 240W, with a 4 ohm load it will deliver 350W total, and if the 4 ohm load consists of two 8 ohm cabinets, then those cabinets will share that 350W - ie. 175W per cab... ...And you might also want to ponder on the idea that in an 8 ohm cab containing 4 separate drivers, each of those drivers will be sharing the total that the cab is receiving... Hope this helps. Alan[/quote] Ah ok thanks, I wasn't sure about the last bit. I just went for the simple option and bought a head and cab that were advertised together.

The confusing thing is about ohms. The ohms combine when you add bits of gear together. So in an 8ohm 4x10 there's 4 32ohm speakers. Instead of doing 32 x 4 to work out the total, you divide it by 4 which gives you 8ohms for the cab. If you're running 2 8ohm cabs, same idea, so you get 4ohm total. From 4 ohms you'll be getting the full 350w from your head that's available in 4ohms. If both outputs have 8ohms next to them, is it possible that it means you can't just run a single 4ohm cab from it? The only way to achieve 4 ohms is to have 2 8ohm cabs? I'm not an expert anyway so I might be wrong. Any way, it should work out, as has been said, 2 outputs from 240W doesn't mean 120W a side, they're both in the same channel so it'll actually go up to the 350W for both.

The best: Music Inn in Nottingham. I've been in to try stuff out and they're always pleasant. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them, they just never seem to have anything in that I want apart from an RG370 that I picked up and have never had problems with (beyond the usual setup ballache on a floating FR. ). To be honest, I've never really had good experiences buying anything expensive and music-related from any shops. I could produce a list as long as my arm of bad shops though. Worst: Take2Music in Long Eaton, only a little shop and to be fair I've never had bad really bad experiences with them personally (they sold me an awful acoustic guitar a while back but I should've known better really by then) but I work in a music shop and the amount of people that come in to see us for help with their guitars that they've bought at T2M is absurd. We've literally had 9 year old kids come in with full size Spanish guitars because that's what the guys at T2M have said would be best for them. It's not even an isolated incident. I could rant about them for hours. The guys at Academy of Sound in Nottingham were always awful. They always thought they were better than you and, as such, you weren't worth their time. Also there seems to be way more mess ups at GAK than chance would explain. I'll make my choice on whether or not I'd use them again (which I will if I will) depending on how a current order goes.

OK, after playing a Rockbass Streamer 4 string and a Musicman StingRay 5 string (not the Sterling) I found they both fell nicely into my hand. The problem was that the Ray had a very old set of strings on so I couldn't get a real idea of the tone, that and I was trying them on a Pro Fet so the sound test was very much biased in favour of the Warwick, which hands down thrashed the Ray which almost had the punch I'm after using the single coil setting. But saying that, I know that they're usually punchy basses and it was still very clear even down to the low B. Does anyone know of any soundclips of the Sterling by MM ray 35 through a Gallien RB? I think I'm still edging towards the Ray purely because of the finances (I can get one for only a tad more than the high end Rockbasses) and if there's a problem with it, I work at the shop I'd be buying from, so there would be no problems. The clips people have posted on youtube playing the ray 35 sound great and punchy so I feel relatively confident that the sound would be great for me.

I know that sometimes I find cheap gear more appealing. If I spend a lot of money on something, it sometimes seems like it's something to be proud of and to admire. Something cheap just seems like more of a work horse and if it gets the job done, the feeling of excitement is as much fun as playing a more expensive bass. There's also the fact that you've put a new pickup in it. A stock £3k bass might be nice, but if you have a pickup in a squire that gives you the exact tone you want, the squire will be a better bass for your purposes regardless (assuming it plays well, of course ).

The guy had some nice grooves going on but I thought when he was doing the fast slap his right hand sounded very messy. Everything else was really good though.

[quote name='bigsmokebass' post='742724' date='Feb 12 2010, 01:22 AM']Don't get me wrong, you see one going cheap and you like it, go for it! I haven't seen many go and when they have, hasn't been cheap. What shop be that? Sounds ace, ones near me are complete sh*t and nasty or sh*t service *cough* Dawsons *cough*. I do like Warwicks, they too pack a punch and versatile also but would personally save up and buy one new, even if they do go over £3k =][/quote] Rattle and Drum in Derby. I'm kind of swaying towards Sterlings now. I really need to just sit down and play them, but I've found out the music shop I do a bit of teaching at can get in MMs, so I can get a new Ray 35 for a bargain. R&D don't have any of the 5 strings in that I'm looking at but they have all the 4 strings so I'm hoping I'll get a good enough idea of the neck and tone from that. Should be heading over tomorrow to have a go then I'll know what I want hopefully.