Latest Posts

lowplaces said:

I may not be out of the woods yet on the sepsis. I'm watching my temperature though.

I've got my home environment quite pristine and sterile compared to the room they had me in at the hospital.

Click to expand...

Clarification: I had an emergency nephrostomy where they passed a catheter across the abdominal wall directly into the kidney...like tapping a maple tree. Upon withdrawal, we're of the suspicion that it lit the fire. 5 more days in the hospital on IV antibiotics.

Riis

kinda cool, my Sadowski pickups arrived, they are also made in Korea.

MultiScaleMale said:

They may have been doing an upgrade to the site. Was able to use the links today.

Click to expand...

I think I have managed to get the Spectra to work - but the other 2 settings are now oddly louder and somewhat distorted.
All things being equal, I think the pedal is "broken" - but functional enough in that one setting!

Alper Yilmaz said:

I just bought Blackstar Dept. 10 Boost. I have no experience with other tube boosters but this one seems to be working fine. Also it comes with a
bass/treble Baxandall EQ stage.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of picking one up. They are pretty inexpensive for tube pedals. $160 used on Reverb. I was going to put it early in my chain to give a smidge of tube flavor

Hello,

I just received an order from Mike and I am pleased with it. I was initially worried about my purchase due to comments on this thread. However, I can attest that Mike is not a scammer. However, they do appear to be going through a big transition in their company that has messed up their inventory system. Also they seem very overworked. I do not think he is a scammer. But it does seem the business is somewhat disorganized during this time of transition. Moreover, it does look like Mike is trying to take back his reputation and get past this blot on his otherwise stellar reputation.

I came to Mike after finding his online reverb store to buy a used Nord Stage 4 (heavily discounted). Mike offered to sell to me privately so that I could skip the reverb fees. This made the price even more discounted. However, after I bought the keyboard, Mike realized he couldn't find it in his inventory (again, seems to be getting over some inventory issues). To make matters worse, I was on a time crunch. He ended up paying to overnight me a brand new Nord straight from his distributor (AM&S). He didn't charge me any extra for the overnight delivery or for the difference between a new and used Nord. He just wanted to make sure he had a happy customer. And it worked. I am ecstatic. It arrived in perfect condition. I was a little worried about this large of a purchase (my first time buying an instrument this expensive). But overall this was a good experience. Mike and the people at Mass Musik seem to be going through a big transition in their company so the communication had a little friction at times due to a little bit of what seemed like disorganization. But even though communication wasn't always the most clear, Mike was always nice, and I just took it that they were extremely busy in this time of transition for their store. That was my only complaint. But overall a good experience.

I would recommend Mass Musik to any one, as Mike definitely took a loss to keep a happy customer. However, I will say you may need to be prepared for a little patience with them during this time of disorganization. In my case, I just tried to maintain communication with him and he was generally pretty responsive.

Dino Boreanaz said:

Hey, welcome to Talkbass from a fellow Ontarian!

If yours is a medium scale version, the check out my post in this thread. I've got a medium scale MIJ E-series Squier P bass and I got a new pickguard from Pickguard Planet (Chandler Music) several years ago. Unfortunately they're not a Canadian company, but I've been very happy with the result.

Click to expand...

Ah yes I’ve seen their site. They do have quite the selection, wow! That might be my best bet. Guess I’ll treat myself!

Thanks very much.

Dusky Bass said:

Hey, Kalani! Nice job putting in the work and putting yourself out there. Let me start by saying I'm not the standard nor bar for good time, and am constantly working on it myself (I think my tendency is to rush).

For me, it's honestly a little difficult to tell if your timing is on/off here because bass is a bit buried/lost with all the 16th notes going on with the drums & guitar (so you can kinda 'hide' behind it without realizing it). It sounds like there are times when you're playing 8th notes then going into a gallop with 8th note triplets, but not sure. Not sure how you're recording this, but maybe you can find a way to bring your bass up in the mix and drop the volume of the rest of the track.

If you do want to work on time in general, there are so many great YT videos that might seem boring or lame at first, but if you just sit with them, put in the work using a metronome and start slower than you think is fun—you might find that playing faster becomes a lot easier. You could also try first working on something where the kick drum is at a tempo and pattern you can try to keep up with and play 'target practice'. For example, find a song where you can hear the kick pattern (not double bass at first), then try to play a single note exactly with it through the whole song just for fun. Keep at it!

Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I’ll keep all of this in mind for the next covers

Michedelic said:

Why so long? I’d think 3-4 feet would suffice for head on cab situations. The only time I could see needing that length is if you had a tiny lightweight Class D amp on a pedalboard or on a mic stand tray.

Click to expand...

I don't put heads on top of the cabinets. I put them next to me where I sit in my living room so I can adjust them easily.

Coke Kane said:

Someone already alluded to the issue earlier on in this thread. The E string is no longer the last string on the fretboard, so it is difficult to set your pickup height identical to your 4-string bass. No matter if it's a J, P, or MM pickup, you cannot optimize the pickup height under your E sting without it affecting the B string.

While you can set the pickup height for each individual string with a P pickup, you can't on the 5-string because the E string is in between the A and B string. Raising the pickup height to match the height on the 4-string will place the pickup too close to the the B string (too much magnetic pull = muddy). So, you pull the pickup back on your B sting to optimize the tone, but now your E string loses punch.

And that's why the E string on a 4 string does not sound the same as a 5-string, Not because of the quality of the manufacturer, string choice, or technique. But because there will always be a compromise between the E and B sting when it comes to pickup height.

Click to expand...

I agree 100%

LL-Toolbox said:

I'll definitely let you know. I'm so looking forward to working with Dany. I love him already.

Click to expand...

Dany is fantastic. Make sure you get him to send you pics and videos as he works on it. He won't necessarily send a lot but he'll send a few. Always fun to see it develop.

LL-Toolbox said:

I'm fairly new to TX, been here 3 years. I'm in Brenham. We're fixing up our old farm house and I have no time to play out yet, but I hope to some day.

Click to expand...

My son had a soccer tournament in Brenham years ago. I was impressed—nice town and GORGEOUS soccer complex.

Nice. I had a Linc Luthier 5 string fretless for some years back in college. It had a single passive Bart soapbar in the bridge position. It sang like a bird but yes, the finish was so thick!

Jeff Elkins said:

Too tricksy to get to the foot switch over the pedal below if it was on proper, methinks. I’ve begrudgingly made these kind of function-over-aesthetics decisions.

Click to expand...

I'm just building my first board (classic 2) after years and years of playing. I got the classic 2 so I'd have some room...I'm already running out of room in my head (and on pedalboard planner, lol).

Original big Diamond here too. Sounds great and it's simple enough that even I can use it. First in the chain right after wireless and tuner.

Bassdirty said:

Woah. I'm not 100% sure that the replies in this thread are any Guarantee that there will be no "affect to functionality".
(I could be wrong, I think it may have happened once before).

Click to expand...

yeah, should of said "most likely" wont affect functionality

It’s funny, I played for decades with a Pbass, solid state amps, a pick, roundwounds, and lots of effects. Got a few compliments over the years, but not much. Made a huge switch to short scale, tube amps, only utility effects (always-on stuff, usually just compressor and preamp, maybe a little overdrive), flats and fingers. I get tone compliments of one sort or another pretty much every gig. Not that the first approach was bad, but at least for me simpler and sort of old-school is better.

Bent77 said:

By the description and pictures, it looks like the tuners they listed as “also boughts” underneath the listing wound fit. player/standard series tuners

Click to expand...

Yep - I have a few of these necks. Player/standard is correct.

As they are single coil pickups , I'd guess it's the typical environmental RF noise that single coils are subject too.
Here is an example of various Ground noise, 60 cycle & RF noises on guitar for reference

Login to view embedded media

Wood and Wire said:

I haven't seen one in person, but that bass looks incredible in that video (the still photos really didn't do them justice), and sounds completely appropriate in that context - which I think a lot of people would say couldn't possibly work on paper.

It's also forming an appropriate Golden Arch, because I think I saw one of your CHICKNNUGGETS...

Click to expand...

This is the funniest post I’ve ever seen on TB!!!

Thanks to all for all the replies here, I've learnt a few things I didn't know.

I am primarily using an active bass (1999 MM Stingray 5 with a Piezo bridge), but the pops happen with anything plugged in, they also happen whether or not I'm playing at the time. I've also tried, as suggested, the clicking the switch a few times before with the volume off but the issue persists. So, as some here also say they don't have these problems with this pedal, I conclude that either the pedal is faulty or that somehow the way my pedal board interracts with it isn't optimal. Therefore I will look for an alternative pedal with buffering, ideally one that does nothing but give a level boost. I'm not after any tonal shaping at this point in the signal path, this is the last pedal in the chain, unless I decide to add a low pass filter at some point in the future.

I'm thinking possibly the Xotic Super Clean, partly because I have another Xotic pedal that is very good (Robothalk II), although I understand that this does have some tonal shaping options. Can anyone that uses this pedal tell me if there is a "flat" setting with this pedal? Or, if there is another pedal that would be a better fit?

Thanks again for the input.

More on that Dean Bass; There is no serial # anywhere on the bass. So I can't identify the model or year or even location of the mfg. Anyone have any ideas?

Yikes! I hope your fiddle player makes a full recovery. Good that everyone else was mostly unhurt.

As for the tree; that’s just a stage it was going through.

Tedthulhu said:

See, that's interesting, because I tend to learn songs on my fretted, and then, once I know the patterns and movements and have some muscle memory locked in, I can take it to the fretless and develop precision and technique on the naked board without also trying to learn a new song simultaneously. But hey, to each, their own. What works for me, might not be for everybody else, and vice versa.

Click to expand...

Makes some sense to me. I'm faster on fretted, certainly more proficient on it than the blank fretless. One thing I absolutely cannot do on fretless is learn something that has heavy effects. I cannot hear what I am doing well enough to play accurately. So for that, learn on fretted, take it to the fretless after it's solid. Or just skip it altogether cause I'm not a metal guy? "Yeah, that's the ticket."

Has anyone out there ever had the LED on an Audere preamp fail? I have the rear mount (non Jazz Plate) version. Some weeks ago the LED was acting funny. Not coming on or blinking faintly. Fresh batteries and the light started coming on again but not super bright. Now it doesn't come on at all though the bass works perfectly fine. I checked the output jack. With batteries (2x9v) removed there is no continuity between T/R/S.

I tried to test the LED with needles but the wires are too small to get good contact. I'm thinking the LED is bad or the preamp itself is no longer doing the battery test properly.

Normally I would just change the LED but this one would be super hard because of the way it was installed by previous owner.

@gtirard : It is much thinner than the Brooks 1.2. Plus it does not have the contoured flamed maple top.
Both the body thickness and the maple add to the weight.

Bob_Ross said:

Serious question: What’s the downside of giving *anyone* visual access to your property if it’s just an outward-facing view?

…besides knowing when the FedEx guy drops off your new Alembic bass at the front door. Okay, yeah, I guess there’s that.

Click to expand...

As much as I'd like to say it's a "tin foil hat" situation, it's really not. Anything it's tracking or keeping tabs on (or doesn't tell you it is, but IS) is accessible and being accessed by the company in question, 3rd party entities they sell/permit this information to, in many cases law enforcement (without needing a warrant or subpoena in some jurisdictions), and whoever gets unauthorized access to your account (general "bad actors").

"AI" Facial Recognition? It's capturing the FedEx guy, your spouse, your kids, and anyone else that comes to the front door within camera view. This is being used for "training data" and could be used for other things I won't go into detail on here. They can say it's stored/processed locally, but a $99 camera doesn't have the horsepower to process real-time, AI-grade facial recognition...that's offloaded to cloud compute services which means it's leaving your home. How long it's stored, who has access to it, and what's done with it is not even close to clearly disclosed.

Accessing the camera remotely via the Ring app? Your phone knows your location, so the Ring system documents when you are and aren't home. These types of apps want "keys to the kingdom" just to install them, so they try to get as much information extracted from your phone as possible. You can see how in the wrong hands that could be bad.

If it's connected to your home network, it is going to run around and try to get as much information as possible from any other device connected to your home network. If you don't know about how to set up a VLAN, how subnet addressing/segmentation works, or use client isolation on WiFi access points...chances are the device knows more about your home network than you do. Even instituting these things isn't foolproof, because new exploits get discovered all the time....and patched by manufacturers months later (if you remember to do firmware updates).

To reiterate, all this information passes through multiple hands and quite carelessly in most cases. Again, that is also best-case scenario, as it assumes no ill intent from the first 2-3 layers of parties involved. If you want surveillance for your home, use a closed-circuit system that doesn't touch the internet (IP cameras hooked up to a hub/DVR that doesn't have web access). Never configure anything to be accessible by your phone and avoid using wireless communication protocols for camera connections.



Sorry if that came off hostile, it's not meant to be. I see this stuff every day (even on an Enterprise level) and it's very worrying. The best defense is knowledge and awareness. The philosophy here is "They can't break through a door/window that doesn't exist", so best practice is to mitigate as much as you can.