Chris2112

I often use my Zoom! drum machine when I'm practising. It's very easy to use and sounds good. I've used it for rehearsals too when the drummer has been unavailable. In those situations I'll use just program a pattern and let it run and we'll improvise over it.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1369835' date='Sep 11 2011, 08:43 PM']Can you get an ACG for £1500?[/quote] To be fair, I'm not sure. In the past, yes I believe you could. I've specced up a bass which pulls out all the stops in terms of fine materials and crafting techniques and it was quoted to me at £1800 a few months ago. Sadly, real life got in the way and I had to spend the money elsewhere. I still think about that bass and I expect next year I'll sell something and make the dream a reality! You can technically get an ACG for much less than £1500 if you look at the superb Graft series. They are 'no frills' instruments in terms of spec but they are beautifully made and play very well (and I assume they sound fantastic). Yes, I think I'll get a new ACG next year as my ACG is by far my favourite bass. I still want a Stingray in the meantime too...

Nice! I think if I had £1500 spare I'd be on the phone to Alan at ACG!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1369810' date='Sep 11 2011, 08:27 PM']It's also the position I find you need to play with attack on none MM basses to get the growl,[/quote] You're absolutely right. I never play near the neck and you just lose that punch and definition. My Zoot bass has a Bartolini humbucker in the MM position and playing over that just nets bags of growl!

[quote name='ead' post='1369716' date='Sep 11 2011, 07:21 PM']New pups, bridge and VVT now rather than VBT as it came.[/quote] Variable Valve Timing?

[quote name='4000' post='1369668' date='Sep 11 2011, 06:41 PM']FWIW, whilst Peter's old bass (which I've spent some time with) was certainly not particularly heavy, my Sei Melt singelcut was waaaay lighter.[/quote] Wow, was it wafer thin? Glad you enjoyed the Sei. That said, I wouldn't make the ACG lighter if I had the choice. It feels wonderfully substantial without being heavy. It's just right!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1369728' date='Sep 11 2011, 07:29 PM']You could just buy a Stingray some folk don't like the fact they always growl even when you don't want it too though.[/quote] Indeed, just that pickup position that Stingrays use gets a growl (often referred to as the "Stingray position" when looking at other basses with a humbucker in the same position). It's not so close to the bridge that it 'honks' effortlessly, not so close to the neck that it's muddy. It just captures that low mid rang burp that makes a bass growl.

[quote name='molan' post='1369512' date='Sep 11 2011, 04:07 PM']How about a Kubicki? One of the 5 pre-sets is designed as a passive 'Precision-alike' but you've got all that flexibility from the twin pickups in active mode as well [/quote] With the two active presets and the amazing tone you get from having both pickups going I doubt anyone would use just the neck pickup! That 'huge' sound I'm talking about is just too addictive! I think for my next Kubicki I will look for one of the exotic top customs!

[quote name='ezbass' post='1369434' date='Sep 11 2011, 02:21 PM']How's this for you? [/quote] Thats awesome! I'd not heard that before either!

No, but then I tend to sit in a seat when I'm playing live so that wouldn't be such an issue.

I've always fancied a Jaydee just to go with my Status for a Mark King collection. But then I consider that the Status sounds better than the Jaydee and that makes it hard for me to justify buying something to play second fiddle to my Series II!

Is there a chance to gig promoter will get arsey with you if you don't lend the kit?

[quote name='freelancesam' post='1369050' date='Sep 11 2011, 03:45 AM']Can anybody guess what instrument this guy plays in the band? [/quote] The skin flute?

Typically that 'growl' is thought of as a strong low mid presence as seen in Warwicks, so look at your EQ in relation to that. There is also a jazz bass 'growl', caused by that burpy sound from the bridge pickup. Try playing closer to the bridge and see if this improves things for you. On the other hand, some basses just do not 'growl'. Some have a little bit when you're really digging in and playing hard but more often than not it seems dicated by wood choice and pickup placement. You can try and make the most of what you have through string choice and EQ'ing but nothing is going to change the inherent tonal character of a bass.

[quote name='billyapple' post='1369519' date='Sep 11 2011, 04:14 PM']Is that the reasoning behind the design then? What kind of an improvement would increasing body rigidity give? Anyone with any experience owning them, they look like they could be quite weighty, is this an issue?[/quote] If you look at the bass Peter posted above (which I now own), thats a great example of how good a singlecut can be. It's not heavy. My Zoot bass is heavier, when on paper it shouldn't be, as they both have mahogany bodies but the Zoot has a carbon fibre neck! Often it's not so much an issue of weight as it is balance, and this ACG here balances perfectly. The body appears slightly elongated when you look at it when it isn't strapped on. In practice, this results in the bass sitting in a very ergonomically friendly position. Out of my three current basses it is the most comfortable to play for long periods. As for the neck access issue, it's not a problem. You soon adapt to having your thumb in the correct place even if you've hung your thumb over the neck for years. Does it make a difference to the tone? I'm not sure as this is the only ACG bass I've really played. Surely it must do though. It looks great, sounds great, plays great and thus I'm sold on singlecuts!* *In truth though, I've always had a soft spot for them.

[quote name='jcater' post='1268414' date='Jun 14 2011, 11:24 AM']One day maybe roundwounds will be hard to find in shops?[/quote] I doubt that somehow.

[quote name='ern500evo' post='1369254' date='Sep 11 2011, 11:42 AM']He was happy enough to borrow it but obviously didn't like the clean sound it produced, he thought the best idea was to max everything to make it distort![/quote] I assume it was clipping like mad in that state too, you were right to storm the stage and put him right!

To be fair, I don't mind playing with a guitarist who really has his chops together and can solo well. But only if everyone in the band is on the same page chops wise (think the Gambale Hamm Smith records). If you've got a trio playing and they're all on top of their game it can be amazing. But if the bassist and the drummer aren't up to it, the guitar god thing just doesn't work. No-one wants to hear fantastic soloing over a plodding 8th note bass line and a 4/4 drum beat. That would get boring quickly, because it's all about the interplay!

Definitely do not let this mug anyway near your equipment. For one, you'd be enabling Rockabilly, a serious offence in itself. Secondly, the chance is that something will go wrong. You've had it happen once, don't let it happen twice. The best you'll get if the amp does go bang is the other bassist looking sheepish and saying sorry. Follow your common sense and don't let them anywhere near it. Instead, chide them for being so unprofessional. If they can't do their set without using someone else's gear they shouldn't be playing at all.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1368944' date='Sep 10 2011, 10:28 PM']Indeed, nothing can be silly unless it looks like a toy bought in an adult speciality store.[/quote] Warwick Corvette? I remember one bloke on Talkbass telling a story about how he went to a pawn shop and was looking at a Corvette which was priced up really cheap, so he sat down to play it. When he was playing it, he realised the bass reeked of sh*t and was deeply unpleasant to be around. He pressed the store about it and it turned out the bloke who had owned it had parted with it on bad terms. Whether or not bailiffs took it or he had to begrudingly trade it in, he didn't want to let go of it so he 'soiled' the bass by sticking the top horn up his arse! With the wood being 'open pore' the vile arse miasma soaked into the wood and the shop had tried everything to get rid of the smell without success! As you can imagine, that thread was quite funny.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1366846' date='Sep 8 2011, 07:22 PM']Some of the stuff they threw out must be terrible, they seriously released the dolphin, after all![/quote] The Dolphin is great! It looks strange but balances well and sounds great. Tonally, it's not far off the sound of a Thumb, which is a good thing. I have always considered the Thumb to be Warwick's best bass for a number of reasons, not least because of it's amazing tone. It is the most 'Warwick' sounding of all Warwick basses! Warwick really seemed to go downhill a bit when the $$ came out. That was where it all started going a bit wrong for me, moving away from the great designs and great wood choices. I remember when that bass became very popular with jazz bass fans, who loved the big, open sound. Sadly, that was just Warwick moving away from the cool niche they occupied. Mind you, I suppose you could argue that Warwick have been becoming more and more mainstream since the early 90's. Funnily enough, Warwick were considered boutique at one time!

I noticed that when I bought that DVD, namely that I was commenting that even Myung didn't like his signature bass in standard form! The bass surely won't have a massive resale value so you're not damaging anything really valuable if you do fit another pickup. If it changes the bass for better and you're happy with the bass then that would be great, but it sounds like a big job on a cheaper instrument like the RBXJM2, which will need to go to a luthier to have the front routed for the new pickup and a pickup selector control added. And given the finish on the front I imagine it will be a tricky job to do, not as simple as just stripping a finish off a natural finish bass and routing the pickup space out. So give this some serious consideration. In my opinion, the RBXJM2 was never a good bass and I considered buying one until I got my hands on a couple and realised I didn't like them at all. If you go to all this trouble it might still not be great, and the lack of tonal quality that you've identified now could be due to any number of things, not just the lack of a pickup right next to the bridge. I would consider selling and moving on. I suspect a TRB1006 would suit you well if you're into Yamaha basses.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1368766' date='Sep 10 2011, 06:04 PM']Not entirely sure that the 'Ray5 is a good bass to have as a fretless.[/quote] Why not?