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Metal Sombreros · Jun 23, 2026

I remember the bernie mac show he had a lovely fiesta red P hanging in the background

HowieD72 · Jun 23, 2026

e-flat said:
GHS Balanced Nickels would be an awesome choice for a warm Nickel roundwound set. A bit more $ but also worth checking out are the Pyramid Nickel set (Blue Pack) - laid back with nice mids, not quite as supple as the GHS BN, but just as unique in their tone.

The Pyramid Pure Nickels are my favourite string. Pity about the price. I've just bought 2 sets of CME/LaBella Pure Nickels to try. If they're anything like the Pyramids, they might be my go-to.....We'll see what happens once I have them.

Matthew Tucker · Jun 23, 2026

duncan-rtfm said:
Hi,
I am currently building a KK "Baby Bass" look-alike (well, sort of). I have been reading about Matthew Tucker's "Responsive" bracing system. He provides (as you know) a lot of detail, certainly enough for me to use his system. However, he sometimes mentions the TOP of the bass, and shows a photo of a cross-braced top. So I;m a bit confused. I get the back bracing. But how do I brace the top?
https://4ormat-asset.s3.amazonaws.com/vfs/853749/public_assets/54992433/responsive bracing article Amended Jan 20191.pdf

I don't think the article mentions the top of the bass. The bracing is for the back. The top is done differently with bass bar and soundpost, and out of the scope of my article.

ChrisDev · Jun 23, 2026

The Sugar Hill Records rhythm section, which included Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc (drums), and Skip McDonald (guitar), was the backbone for many classic hip-hop tracks.

Liam Wald · Jun 23, 2026

I used a Keeley for several years and liked it but I am now using an Empress.
I like the Empress better because it has metering LED's which make it easier to dial in and it also has a Blend control which I find useful.

Melnick · Jun 23, 2026

zenrubrica said:
hey guys, anybody here has a copy of Bass Player Magazine issues June & August 2006. I'm after the transcriptions. It's Blood Sweat & Tears' You Made Me So Very Happy and Aretha Franklin's Rocksteady. I hope you can help me and send me PDF copie(s) of the transcriptions thru email.

Hey - I found the issue(s). Hit my email: [email protected]

41Hz To Go · Jun 23, 2026

-Boscoe- said:
Love it!

Thanks Boscoe.

First time using ramps. It's like a long runway for your thumb. :bassist:

41 Hz · Jun 23, 2026

LowNote said:
I've tried running my Stat-B with a Raven Labs PMB-1 instead of the pre-amp that came with the Schertler. Even though I had some email correspondence with Schertler and Raven at the time I was going to try this that said it should work, I was never able to get it to work. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on since I've found the little pre-amp/phantom power source that comes with the Stat-B to be very quiet and just fine. I'm running this directly into an AI Contra or a Walter Woods, and the EQ controls on both amps are fine on their own. In fact, the sound of the Stat-B is so accurate and natural that I've run it directly into the Effects Return jack of a GKMB150 which sounded great with absolutely zero EQ control.

Doing some reading up on the Stat-B recently and attempting to close the loop on this. I'm assuming you used the cable that comes with the Stat-B. I think it didn't work because the Stat-B needs the power on the tip of the TS 1/4" jack but the Raven Labs PMB-1 puts it on the Ring of a TRS 1/4" which would translate to it actually being applied on the Sleeve of the TS 1/4" - shorting with the ground and no voltage going anywhere.

From: http://soundchunks.com/RL_PMB-I.pdf page 2:
"PHANTOM POWER SWITCH Pushing this switch in provides nine-volts DC to the Aux/Mic input jack or to the Ring of the Stereo jack."

Iristone · Jun 23, 2026

+1 to Rotosounds. Bright, vocal mids, consistent across all 4 strings. Not the smoothest windings on the steel Swing Bass, the nickel Roto Bass could be better.

Other rounds I'd recommend:
- La Bella Deep Talkin' Rounds (unfortunately they only make a medium-scale 760RHBB set now)
- Gibson Brite Wires
- Thomastik Jazz Rounds (not my favourite, but come reasonably close to Jazz Flats)

covermego · Jun 22, 2026

OK, I hate to be the one to ask this question, but I have not seen nor heard from @B-Mac for several months. He was the "Resident Dean Enthusiast" and knew pretty much everything about Dean instruments. I attempted reaching out to him about 1 month ago, but no response. Does anybody know anything about him? I truly hope everything is ok.

therumour · Jun 22, 2026

Based upon what generally were stellar recommendations, I've had a not-so stellar experience with this vendor. You would think that an experienced shop would question the customer on what the toggle switches of as pedal are supposed to do, or at a minimum, use the internet to research (YouTube is full of demos, reviews and folks extolling the features of pedals they have).

Michedelic · Jun 22, 2026

DJ Bebop said:
If that's the Hollywood Guitar Center, I've been in that room a few times

Why yes, it is. I’ve drooled there many times.

The Golden Boy · Jun 22, 2026

I started playing bass.

My folks were not "rock" music people- I remember 'hit' songs of the 70s, and as I got towards like 3rd and 4th grade I developed that taste for the rock and roll that the kids were into (as well as the Village People)- I wanted to play bass to be like Paul McCartney. I didn't grow up with the Beatles in the house. I don't specifically remember, but for a 9/10 year old kid in 1979 I must've loved "Coming Up" a whole lot. There was a guy from church who lent me a faux Hofner and then a faux Jazz bass- and my amp was a broken tape recorder.

No other kids that I knew were playing, so after a few years of going "thok thok thok" on my own, I learned to play guitar to be able to play songs and then play with other kids. When I got into high school other kids were playing electrical guitar and drums and stuff, and I pulled back into bass playing.

Over the rest of my life I've played guitar in bunches of bands, and I've played bass in bunches of bands- there have been times that I've felt more comfortable playing guitar than bass, and other times I've felt more comfortable playing bass over guitar... but I think I've always had more of a feel and always been "better" at playing bass.

In 2012 I got my left (fretting) hand crushed in an 1920s freight elevator and have lasting nerve damage. My hand hurts, itches, burns, swells up... lots of fun for playing. I'm playing bass in one relatively busy band and got a first gig with a new band of "ringers" that I think might end up kinda busy. I used to play guitar with a bunch of different projects, but I've kind of drifted away from those- and because of that, I've really drifted away from playing guitar. It's been literally MONTHS since I've done any more than strumming a few chords here and there. This Friday I'm getting together with some people that I used to play guitar with- and I'm going to have to relearn how to play guitar in a couple of days.

FatStringer52 · Jun 22, 2026

Bob_Ross said:
Why does that exercise start on the natural 5th of a minor7flat5 chord?

I converted a minor ii-V-I exercise sheet and I forgot to take the b5 off of the chord label for the Dmin chord. Additionally, I forgot to change the exercise title to Major ii-V-I. Serves me right for trying too rush thru things. Sorry for the confusion!

Richland123 · Jun 22, 2026

The Beach Boys cover leans toward the original Richard Berry version.

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Beej · Jun 22, 2026

Jeff Scott · Jun 22, 2026

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Lownote38 · Jun 22, 2026

This one

DolphinBro · Jun 22, 2026

Bruce Johnson said:
Here's an old post of mine from 2018, describing my "rules" of pickup placement:

Most of us established (as in grey-haired) Luthiers have gone through the process of messing with pickup positions. When I got into designing and building my own pickups about 15 years ago, like everyone else, I built a bench mule and spent some time experimenting with moving the pickup up and down the body. The results were underwhelming.

Summary:
Take one particular pickup and mount it right in the middle of the body. Set the bass Tone controls wide open, and the amp's EQ controls all on 5. That's the "natural" sound of that pickup, when used with that combination of strings, the bass frame, and the amp.

Now, if you slide the pickup toward the bridge, the change in the sound is all in the bottom end of the EQ. It's just as if you had reached over to the amp and turned the Bass knob down from 5 to 4 to 3. It's not increasing the Treble, it's moderately cutting down the Bass. That's the only thing that's changing in the overall sound of the rig.

Slide the pickup the other way, toward the neck, and you boost the Bass from 5 to 6 to 7. The Treble stays the same; the Bass end of the curve gets louder.

Sliding the pickup doesn't change whether the pickup is muddy or clear, it just subdues it or exaggerates it. If the pickup, by its internal design, is muddy in the bottom end, then sliding it toward the neck will make the muddiness louder and more obvious. Sliding it toward the bridge will make the muddiness quieter. If the pickup's natural sound is very clear and wide range, sliding it toward the neck will boost a clear bottom end. Toward the bridge, it will reduce the bottom end, but still be very clear.

The point is that most of a pickups' tonal characteristic comes from its internal construction; the size and power of the magnetic field, the geometry of the coils, the size and number of turns of wire, etc., etc. None of that changes when you slide it around on the body. All you are doing is moderately adjusting the bottom end of the overall EQ curve.

There are no real "magic sweet spots" in the pickup position. Unless your definition of Magic Sweet Spot is that "the EQ curve sounds just the way I want it right here" or "right here it sounds just like this other bass". Okay. Pickup position is pretty much a linear adjustment. You can slide the pickup where you want it to get the Treble/Bass balance of the EQ where you want it. After you've settled on one position, you can further adjust the EQ balance by reaching over to the amp and turning the Bass knob up or down.

That's what we builders and manufacturers do. We set the pickup position on the body as a final adjustment of the overall EQ balance, for that particular pickup.

A follow-up post:

I notice that no one has yelled "What about the harmonics?" yet. You know, how pickups have to be placed precisely so you can hear the harmonics!! The magic sweet spot locations.

Guitar players and builders go wacko about Harmonics, because they want that screeching dog-whistle high end ringing while they hold a chord, trying to figure out where to go next with the lead. And some bass players want screeching harmonics too, so they can do solos too.

And by the way, The Screeching Harmonics could be a good band name.

If you want to, you can use measurement and math to locate your pickups precisely at the right spot to maximize the screeching harmonics....for a particular set of notes and chords. Up or down a step, and you get gentler normal harmonics.

Personally, I don't build my basses to have exaggerated harmonics on particular notes. I make my pickups to have a nice clear high end, but not excessive extra-highs. And I make them fairly wide aperture, so the harmonics are picked up more evenly on all notes. Less high spikes with position. That's intentional. My basses have nice harmonics, but they are gentle, more in the background, even up and down the scale.

I'm sorry if I've offended the Screeching Harmonics believers.

A sound man once told me he adjusts the bass mix by cutting bass and adjusting the highs first. Then he adds mids and lastly bass to the mix. Decades of building (and the above post) confirms that idea. I remember that sliding pickup bass where pups were on rails. Surely that would satisfy one person and with that one bass. But a bass is a combo of many many materials and physics. The most important part about choosing a bass is a full length mirror. Every Guitar store should have one. Ha.

Robass1963 · Jun 22, 2026

Awesome! I too am an electric bass player searching for an upright, think I inquired about the same SB80 as you did, pics looked good, setup a meeting for the upcoming weekend to check out. Couple days later they sent me a pic of the neck cracks you described, and said someone else noticed, and wanted me to know about it before I made the trip. Dealbreaker for me, at least they told me before I made the trip! So my search is still going for an SB80 or SB88. Looks like you found a gem!

coyoteboy · Jun 22, 2026

No audio check yet, but MB3 comes on normally with my new isolated pwr supply! Still usb powered through 539M. Its about the same amount of black spaghetti, however.

Saetia · Jun 22, 2026

Rich Fiscus · Jun 22, 2026

Cory rich40 said:
I have narrowed it down to 3 brands for my step daughter’s first bass. A Sterling by music man(the reason being, I love stingrays), a Squire cv bass(upper end Squire), or Ibanez SR. I have a plan to take her to our local guitar center to try them out. Sadly I have never played a Ibanez SR. The budget is going to be $500. For those with experience with the Sterling brand, how will it compare to a real stingray as far as comfort and string spacing goes? I know Sterling gets a lot of hate with quality control issues. Would a Sterling make someone a good beginner bass? I’m dead set on this bass being a 4 string since I started on a 4 string, but I’m sure a competent teacher could teach a student how to begin on a 5 string. Now the scary part. How many times did we develop calluses on our fretting hand’s fingers when we first started? We overcame it and toughened up. She was diagnosed as autistic when she was in first grade. If they still used the term, you would probably say she has Asperger syndrome. Which is on the milder end of the spectrum. The calluses could cause sensory overload for her and I don’t want her to give up. I will give her encouragement but is their a cheat sheet on how to deal with calluses on your fingers? Maybe a light glove or something? I also suspect I’m mildly autistic but my parents never had me diagnosed or if they did when I was younger they never told me.

Speaking as someone with an Asperger’s/autism diagnosis, and with 2 daughters on the spectrum, I don’t know that I’d worry about callouses, but if it is a problem, gloves could definitely be a solution. I use Musician’s Practice Gloves to deal with neurological issues, and they should definitely make a difference. But I wouldn’t worry about it unless/until it becomes a problem.

RicheyLather · Jun 22, 2026

Bob_Ross said:
That reminds me of this funny story: When I was shopping for a flattop steel string acoustic guitar a couple years ago I went into this modest-sized Mom & Pop music store in Tucson AZ and started checking out some Yamaha instruments. I played the first two chords from Allan Holdsworth's "Fred" and I swear every employee in that shop stopped what they were doing and came over to listen. One guy -- who turned out to be the store manager -- said "Them sure is some purty chords!" in a voice that reminded me a bit too much of the movie Deliverance.

Is ^^^that the episode where he also played "Do The Nothing"?
If so, I'm pretty sure you can see a pre-Cars Greg Hawkes playing saxophone in either Martin's, or Flo & Eddie's, band.

Yeah, Greg is there, remember noticing that 30 years ago or better.

RicoTheBassMan · Jun 22, 2026

John D Harris said:
OP's first post of the thread:

"Any suggestions for a light weight bass combo?"

Next time I use sarcasm I will note it in my post. (sarcasm)

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