Soldato
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A powerful backdrop!
Cool bass
hah thanks. No doubt my wife would berate me for leaving the towel in
***The Official Guitar Thread***
- Thread starter Nitefly
- Start date
hah thanks. No doubt my wife would berate me for leaving the towel in
Soldato
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damn, if you're gonna be a cocky wee **** that's the way to do it
In the absence of my ability to buy my friend a musicman stingray bass for Christmas, what are some nice accessories I could get? I think he needs new longer lead to his amp; are new shoulder straps a thing or are they personal taste? He has 5 bass' I believe so maybe some bits for them would work.
Soldato
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Straps aren't bad - although sometimes if people own a lot of guitars already they'll use strap-locks and a single strap across all guitars (and if they do that the single strap they have will probably be pretty nice)
Honestly for Christmas/Birthday gift I think you want to go with something that isn't an accessory that all guitar/bass players need (especially if he already has 5 guitars, expect he's sorted for most of that sort of thing - straps, picks, strings and so on)... but instead go for something that's a little bit more of a novelty and that most players wouldn't necessarily buy for themselves yet will still appreciate having
As an example you can get a thing called an "eBow" for the guitar which is a sort of U/C shaped magnetic thing that resonates the strings in a kind of unique way (different to picking it or using your fingers, a bit like the way a violin or cello sounds) - not the sort of thing you'd buy yourself because what if you don't find a use for it? But get one for "free" as a gift and heck yeah you'll give it a go and as a bonus you may end up liking it!
Either that or a pedal, if you can think of one that would suit their setup
Man of Honour
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When I turned 60 my work colleagues bought me this and it gets used every week but I do have a lot of guitars - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elagon-Pro...ocphy=1007121&hvtargid=pla-574496260773&psc=1
Reading your post again that kit is perfect gift, I couldn't imagine any guitarist not having a smile getting that.
Things like straps do tend to be personal, I'm fussy what I use.
If you don't want to spend that much a headstock tuner is a great call. I have several
D'Addario Planet Waves PW-CT-12 NS Micro Headstock Tuner because they are quite hidden on the headstock - https://www.gak.co.uk/en/planet-wav...i8tFdTa6kuwQAg6mTEEaArhrEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
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Soldato
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Yeah I'm fussy about straps too. I use a nylon backed strap, for example, because I don't like how the others pull against whatever top I'm wearing. Pedals, also difficult because they're dependent on what sound they're looking for. It could be completely useless.
That kit looks awesome though. Ebow is also pretty cool, but as a bassist I'd prefer that kit. The headstock tuner not so much - if he has 5 basses already then he definitely has a tuner.
That kit looks awesome though. Ebow is also pretty cool, but as a bassist I'd prefer that kit. The headstock tuner not so much - if he has 5 basses already then he definitely has a tuner.
That's a nice bass mate
You could always look at wireless guitar leads. I have a 'pair' (transmitter/receiver) of boss wireless 'leads'. Gotta say being free from the tyranny of cables is pretty sweet. Latency is not really a thing with the wireless tech in the way it can be with blutooth systems.
There's various brands selling them, which all pretty much do what it says on the tin. Prices vary, the boss kit it probably one of the more expensive. All of them are usb charging and sync together before you plug them in. Not had any trouble in using them in the last 6 months.
I use them from my bass guitar to my pedals (tuner/compressor/bass driver) then use ordinary leads to the amp. Works well.
Thought I'd give a small review of a pedal I've recently acquired. Digitech Drop pedal.
https://www.digitech.com/whammy-pitch/DROP-V-01.html
I've been looking for an alternative to drop tuning my bass (commonly Eb) - without having to use heavier gauge strings. I have my bass set up for flatwould 100,80,60,40 strings and have liked these for a long time. Tuning a half/whole step down generally leaves the strings feeling a bit slack and wobbly, so I was on the lookout for a solution other than new strings and a set up.
Old guitarist in the band used one of these and I've had a quick go using it with my bass a few times, and decided to bite the bullet and get one.
Pros:
Cons:
Tracking is where this pedal both succeeds and fails somewhat.
Our old guitarist used this pedal a lot. I never noticed any artifacts colouring his sound. I suspect this has to do with the way the pedal tracks frequencies and the other effects he used in his signal chain; distortion etc. What is clear to hear is a certain 'modularity' of the sound on long single notes on anything lower than an A on the E string on a bass guitar. The sound warbles enough to notice when you are playing alone. Higher frequencies are perfectly smooth with no apparent alteration to the sound (other than the intended drop tuning).
The further I drop tune using this pedal from E standard, the more some of these artifacts are noticeable with the lower frequencies on the E string.
I've had a deal of youtube research for what some others have had to say about drop tune pedals and bass guitars and the consensus is pretty uniform: of the few pedals out there that do what this pedal does, the digitech is the best of the lot.
One or two reviewers thought there was a latency introduced by the pedal doing it's analog/digital/analog converting thing, but honestly so far I've not noticed this in my brief time using the pedal. If it was going to be an issue I'm sure I'd have spotted it already.
So is the pedal a win, or a fail?
I think it's both with some mitigation given my use of it with bass guitar.
Does it allow me to tune to Eb without loosing string tension and setting my bass up for different strings etc? Yes.
Does it introduce artifacts to my sound over long single notes when testing the pedal alone and through a clean signal chain? Yes.
However I'll say that this isn't really a problem when you are playing 1/4 8th or 16th notes as they don't last long enough to introduce the warbling of the note due to the pedal attempting to track the lower frequencies of the E string on a bass guitar. As one of the reviewers for use of this pedal with bass stated - You have to use strings with good tension to get this pedal to work, otherwise it struggles a bit when attempting to track a low frequency note that is degrading.
I suspect that at my next rehearsal I'll not be able to hear any difference when playing with the rest of the band.
Conclusion:
Until a dedicated bass guitar version optimised for lower frequencies comes out this is it. If you're aware of the limitations of pedals like these and use them within that envelope, then you'll find it a useful tool and alternative to changing your preferred strings and guitar setup.
And no, I don't djent.
https://www.digitech.com/whammy-pitch/DROP-V-01.html
I've been looking for an alternative to drop tuning my bass (commonly Eb) - without having to use heavier gauge strings. I have my bass set up for flatwould 100,80,60,40 strings and have liked these for a long time. Tuning a half/whole step down generally leaves the strings feeling a bit slack and wobbly, so I was on the lookout for a solution other than new strings and a set up.
Old guitarist in the band used one of these and I've had a quick go using it with my bass a few times, and decided to bite the bullet and get one.
Pros:
- no noise on passthrough when the pedal is off
- works as stated and has more detune settings than I'll ever use
- robust construction
- comes with power supply
- simple function - turn the dial to where you want to tune down to from a half step all the way to an octeve
- momentry/toggle switch depending on how you have the pedal set is pretty good
Cons:
- when using a practice amp at low volume there's a dissonance between the sound from the amp and the sound of the strings on the guitar (though this goes away at louder volumes)
- tracking on lower pitched notes (more on this later)
- price - can be expensive depending on where you get it from (I went to amazon)
- the pedal doesn't fit into my boss carry case for my other pedals.... oh no, what a personal disaster.
Tracking is where this pedal both succeeds and fails somewhat.
Our old guitarist used this pedal a lot. I never noticed any artifacts colouring his sound. I suspect this has to do with the way the pedal tracks frequencies and the other effects he used in his signal chain; distortion etc. What is clear to hear is a certain 'modularity' of the sound on long single notes on anything lower than an A on the E string on a bass guitar. The sound warbles enough to notice when you are playing alone. Higher frequencies are perfectly smooth with no apparent alteration to the sound (other than the intended drop tuning).
The further I drop tune using this pedal from E standard, the more some of these artifacts are noticeable with the lower frequencies on the E string.
I've had a deal of youtube research for what some others have had to say about drop tune pedals and bass guitars and the consensus is pretty uniform: of the few pedals out there that do what this pedal does, the digitech is the best of the lot.
One or two reviewers thought there was a latency introduced by the pedal doing it's analog/digital/analog converting thing, but honestly so far I've not noticed this in my brief time using the pedal. If it was going to be an issue I'm sure I'd have spotted it already.
So is the pedal a win, or a fail?
I think it's both with some mitigation given my use of it with bass guitar.
Does it allow me to tune to Eb without loosing string tension and setting my bass up for different strings etc? Yes.
Does it introduce artifacts to my sound over long single notes when testing the pedal alone and through a clean signal chain? Yes.
However I'll say that this isn't really a problem when you are playing 1/4 8th or 16th notes as they don't last long enough to introduce the warbling of the note due to the pedal attempting to track the lower frequencies of the E string on a bass guitar. As one of the reviewers for use of this pedal with bass stated - You have to use strings with good tension to get this pedal to work, otherwise it struggles a bit when attempting to track a low frequency note that is degrading.
I suspect that at my next rehearsal I'll not be able to hear any difference when playing with the rest of the band.
Conclusion:
Until a dedicated bass guitar version optimised for lower frequencies comes out this is it. If you're aware of the limitations of pedals like these and use them within that envelope, then you'll find it a useful tool and alternative to changing your preferred strings and guitar setup.
And no, I don't djent.
Soldato
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Are you using it was a bass then? If so, why not just get a hipshot d-tuner?
Yes, using it with my bass.
I already have the standard hipshot tuners on the guitar (hb7 iirc?). For the hole pattern they took a while to source and they were about 25 quid each. Adding the detuners to all of the machine heads would be kind of neat in a michael manring kind of way, but not really practical.
Just detuning the E string and playing like that is just a pain in the backside. It's doable if you're tuning the E down To D (like on pearl jams 'even flow'), but if I tune my whole guitar to Eb standard then I start to have issues with the D and G string tension. I didn't want to source heavier strings and then mess with my bass setup as i have it how I like. Guess I'm picky like that.
I already have the standard hipshot tuners on the guitar (hb7 iirc?). For the hole pattern they took a while to source and they were about 25 quid each. Adding the detuners to all of the machine heads would be kind of neat in a michael manring kind of way, but not really practical.
Just detuning the E string and playing like that is just a pain in the backside. It's doable if you're tuning the E down To D (like on pearl jams 'even flow'), but if I tune my whole guitar to Eb standard then I start to have issues with the D and G string tension. I didn't want to source heavier strings and then mess with my bass setup as i have it how I like. Guess I'm picky like that.
Soldato
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Why do you detune your whole bass? Just going to drop D gets you everything you need...
Because our singer's range is best suited to singing what we play in Eb standard tuning so the whole band tunes down to Eb.
Otherwise we'd play in standard.
I've tried just tuning down the E string but it causes problems with some of the riffs we play (take master of puppets as an example).
Otherwise we'd play in standard.
I've tried just tuning down the E string but it causes problems with some of the riffs we play (take master of puppets as an example).
Soldato
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Maybe consider getting some thicker strings so they're more comfortable at a lower tension (I think it's thicker...)
Surely you can't play your whole set with this detuner pedal though?!
Surely you can't play your whole set with this detuner pedal though?!
Our old guitarist used to play our whole set using this thing. Never had any problems to notice.
I did consider heavier strings, but I had a fret leveling and setup under string tension; the guys who did it were quite specific about how the setup would change with different string weights. There's not much fret left on my old squier so any changes in strings and truss rod means upsetting the old girl lol.
Gonna give the pedal a chance and see how it copes for a week or so. If I don't get on with it I'll send it back.
I did consider heavier strings, but I had a fret leveling and setup under string tension; the guys who did it were quite specific about how the setup would change with different string weights. There's not much fret left on my old squier so any changes in strings and truss rod means upsetting the old girl lol.
Gonna give the pedal a chance and see how it copes for a week or so. If I don't get on with it I'll send it back.
Man of Honour
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I know there's a pedal out there that a local band were using on two guitars and a bass with no problem.
They were doing all sorts down to B and were happy.
They were doing all sorts down to B and were happy.
Soldato
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Well I'm afraid you're all completely neglecting the obvious solution to the problem
Buy another Bass... have that one tuned to Eb and keep the current one for E Standard. Simples
Buy another Bass... have that one tuned to Eb and keep the current one for E Standard. Simples
Man of Honour
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All my bands have played in Eb and I've never had anyone complain about saggy strings etc.
Probably the pedal I was banging on about earlier lol or at least something very similar. Opinion on the talkbass forum is fairly evenly divided.... some think it's great, others not so much. Depends on how it's being used I guess.
Damn! Why didn't I think of that already lol. I'd be super tempted for doing that, credit cards being what they areWell I'm afraid you're all completely neglecting the obvious solution to the problem
Buy another Bass... have that one tuned to Eb and keep the current one for E Standard. Simples
I mean, it's not like I've got any of the early signs of G.A.S at all. No no no, not me But more seriously, it'd be down to an American fender jazz in Olympic white with a mint pick guard or one of the Jackson david ellefson signature 5 string guitars (if I was feeling a bit more megadeth). So many guitars so many shinys, gotta get them all.....
I suppose all of this is because I have a preference for slightly lighter bass strings, particularly when they're flat wound as they have more tension than an equivalent round wound string in standard tuning. 105 to 45 strings would put significantly more tension into my 23 year old bass (she already has a delicate neck, so I don't want to push it). Also flat wound strings are really expensive (says the guy who just bought another guitar pedal) compared to their round wound counterparts.
Is all good though hehe
Deleted member 651465
Deleted member 651465
Just realised I never posted a picture, after getting my new amp and cab!
Anyway, apart from a minor glitch where I had to get the head sent back to Marshall to replace all the power tubes under warranty, it's been epic. I've tried playing it on volume 5 and it was ungodly loud, so on my Christmas list will be an attenuator. I think setting it to 10 would actually kill me
Marshall 1959HW with 1960AX 4x12 slant cabinet
Weird wide angle shot showing my new guitar stand that I got on Amazon. Really chuffed with it, but it's made me want to get another stand and buy a variety of guitars to fill it haha.
Anyway, apart from a minor glitch where I had to get the head sent back to Marshall to replace all the power tubes under warranty, it's been epic. I've tried playing it on volume 5 and it was ungodly loud, so on my Christmas list will be an attenuator. I think setting it to 10 would actually kill me
Marshall 1959HW with 1960AX 4x12 slant cabinet
Weird wide angle shot showing my new guitar stand that I got on Amazon. Really chuffed with it, but it's made me want to get another stand and buy a variety of guitars to fill it haha.