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Bought a new bass, but the allen wrench...socket things (?) that I turn to raise/lower my action seem to be stripped. Is there anything I can do?
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Aug 17, 2013 05:39
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New saddles or new bridge altogether, and may I recommend the Leo Quan Badass II if you're looking to replace a 4-string bridge?
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Aug 17, 2013 06:06
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RandomCheese posted:My main guitar is a Firebird and I have the same neck-heavy issues. I tried repositioning the strap buttons, getting a wider strap, using a big shoulder pad, even buying a HeadsUp strap that has 3 lead weights in the body, and none of it worked as the neck always went on a freefall straight to the floor if I stopped supporting it. I was in the middle of designing some body harness system to mount it to my torso when I stumbled upon a pretty neat solution: Awesome idea! I'll give that a shot with one of my cheap nylons. DEUCE SLUICE posted:I was looking through some old pictures today, and found this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaApMFaADNs Related: I'm waiting for my new Carvin B2000 with 410brx cab to come in, the wait is killing me. I got a rack and power conditioner with it since I've needed that for a while too. I've got this goofy plan to mount a DMX controller in there and run some lighting programs for bass solos (okay, this isn't really a plan, just a dream)
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Aug 17, 2013 06:51
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Jeff Goldblum posted:New saddles or new bridge altogether, and may I recommend the Leo Quan Badass II if you're looking to replace a 4-string bridge? I am. I have a string-through body, does that matter? Also, where can I get one? I'm dumb.
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Aug 17, 2013 09:32
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Macavity posted:Bought a new bass, but the allen wrench...socket things (?) that I turn to raise/lower my action seem to be stripped. Is there anything I can do? What kind of bass? Did it not come with a set of allen-wrenches to adjust the truss-rod and bridge saddles? And just to be clear you're trying to adjust the action at the bridge, right? Because you certainly don't want to be doing it by adjusting the truss-rod.
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Aug 17, 2013 17:35
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It's a Mark Hoppus P-bass. Got it from a pawn shop for $300. I love it so far but the action is too low for me. I don't know if 'stripped' is the right word, but when I put an allen wrench in the bridge saddle, some can be turned to raise/lower the action, and some can't. And no, I'm definitely not doing it at the truss rod, haha. edit: guess I should have clarified my earlier post: I bought a new (to me) bass 
Macavity fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 19:52
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Stripped just means the shape it's meant to lock into is worn away, so the wrench can't grip and just spins freely. If it's stuck it might just need oiling up  Is anyone else thinking it might be time for a new thread title? I mean I don't even baka kaba fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 20:20
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Macavity posted:It's a Mark Hoppus P-bass. Got it from a pawn shop for $300. I love it so far but the action is too low for me. Ahhh gotcha. Yeah you can either buy a new bridge or just new saddles if you want. Depends on how much money you want to put into it. Stewart MacDonald should carry that stuff, but will probably be a tad pricer than if you shopped around a bit. stewmac dot com
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Aug 17, 2013 20:24
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Just got my MXR Envelope Filter in the mail. I've never owned a pedal like this before so I thought I'd grab one since MXR has been very, very good to me lately. If anyone has any tips for me or wants to know anything about it, shoot. I'm running it between a Bongo 5 and a TH500.
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Aug 17, 2013 21:34
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Can anyone recommend a good series for beginners starting entirely from scratch on YouTube or something similar?
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Aug 17, 2013 22:21
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Kilometers Davis posted:Just got my MXR Envelope Filter in the mail. I've never owned a pedal like this before so I thought I'd grab one since MXR has been very, very good to me lately. If anyone has any tips for me or wants to know anything about it, shoot. I'm running it between a Bongo 5 and a TH500. The MXR BEF utilizes a mid-pass filter, so be sure you use a good bit of your dry signal blended in to help it from sounding too thin. Sensitivity is going to determine how much the filter reacts to your playing. If you're pretty heavy-handed you'll probably want to lower the sens, otherwise the filter sweep is going to go wide open almost from the get-go. Vice versa if you play pretty lightly. You'll want to turn up the sens so that you can get a full sweep. Q is how "weird" it sounds. Here's a decent vid with Uriah Duffy going through the pedal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j_WqyHJaoQ Scarf fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Aug 17, 2013 |
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Aug 17, 2013 22:21
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Geisladisk posted:I went to my local music shop earlier today to pick up a set of four strings, and well, I walked out with six of them instead, attached to a bass. Nice! I have the Studio 5 and I love it. I only wish I had gone for a fretless model, but that's okay. The two large knobs are volume (top knob) and tone/pickup fader. The three smaller knobs are your EQ. From top to bottom it's bass, mids, and highs. You'll notice that the tone knob and the three EQ knobs click into place at the halfway point. There's a huge variety of tones to choose from with that thing. Good choice, IMO.
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Aug 17, 2013 22:35
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So I started looking into Iron Maiden bass lines since my guitarist and singer want to do Maiden covers for Halloween. Wowee wow I never knew what an incredible bassist Steve Harris is. His right hand technique is just  I can match his gallop on two fingers for maybe a minute at most before I start tensing up and wearing out. I'm a pretty light touch but from what I understand, Harris' fingers are punching the strings at force. Blows me away that he can pluck that fast while hitting that hard.To be honest I'm a little concerned about playing this stuff for 2-3 hours straight. Halloween is still a ways off so I have time to prepare, and I think if I make it my main focus during my practice routine I'll be okay (I hope). I read in a few places that he might use some sort of chalk (never heard of something like this) or oil, will probably look into that. Anyone have words of wisdom for me re: making my right hand as metal as Steve's?
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Aug 17, 2013 23:21
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Apparition posted:Can anyone recommend a good series for beginners starting entirely from scratch on YouTube or something similar? Not on youtube but http://www.studybass.com/ That's a great grounding Ericadia posted:Anyone have words of wisdom for me re: making my right hand as metal as Steve's? There's some chat on here http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f21/steve-harris-2-3-fingers-92049/ And other threads, but someone there is recommending picking patterns to get the gallop down
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Aug 17, 2013 23:35
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Ericadia posted:So I started looking into Iron Maiden bass lines since my guitarist and singer want to do Maiden covers for Halloween. Wowee wow I never knew what an incredible bassist Steve Harris is. His right hand technique is just You'll probably have to cheat and use three fingers for your gallops. I go 3-2-1 3-2-1 3-2-1 whenever I do groups of gallops during Maiden songs or similar. Get your ring finger strong and you can do it all night. I've been a metal bassist for my whole bass career and Steve Harris is my favorite bassist but I can't keep up with him with just two.
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Aug 17, 2013 23:36
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Scarf posted:The MXR BEF utilizes a mid-pass filter, so be sure you use a good bit of your dry signal blended in to help it from sounding too thin. Thank you! I spent a half hour or so messing with it and it's a lot more complex than I expected, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it though. Study time tonight 
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Aug 18, 2013 00:24
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Kilometers Davis posted:Thank you! I spent a half hour or so messing with it and it's a lot more complex than I expected, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it though. Study time tonight Haha, the BEF is actually one of the simpler envelop filters out there these days. I have an EHX Enigma and while the multitude of knobs gives me greater control over the sound, it can quickly get confusing and frustrating to adjust until you spend a LOT of time with it. The MXR is much easier to get going straight out of the box.
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Aug 18, 2013 00:42
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Apparition posted:Can anyone recommend a good series for beginners starting entirely from scratch on YouTube or something similar? I think the Hal Leonard Bass Method book is really good. I wish I had followed something like it when I first starting playing.
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Aug 19, 2013 08:55
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Seconding that. It teaches you to read music, but it also gets you into the less structured methods people on youtube like to use, like box shapes for pentatonic scales, etc. I also highly recommend http://scottsbasslessons.com/. Very high quality videos, tons of them, all free.
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Aug 19, 2013 14:54
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I'm having a bit of an identity crisis here. I recently bought a Spector Coda 5 Deluxe, and it's a fantastic bass. The sound and feel are amazing and I really enjoy playing it. But I'm not sure if 5's are right for me. I've had it for a few months, and I'm to the point where I can play just about anything I could on the 4 (a stingray) minus some of the more intense slap stuff, and it actually feels weird going back to the 4 now, but I'm still having a tough time seeing the draw of the 5. I play with lite gauge strings and a generally low action, and even with a 135 B string (balanced tension set) I still am conflicted. I can't really slap on the B because it's too boomy, and it tends to get a lot of buzz/muddiness when I play finger-style. I was hoping to play higher up the neck like some people recommend, but the timbre on the B string is so different. It feels less punchy and I don't really like the way it sounds. Having the lower range is nice, but doesn't really seem necessary. Am I doing something wrong, or are these the reasons most players stick to 4s? Should I try raising the action on just the B?
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Aug 20, 2013 16:45
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.135 is still a pretty substantial B-string. I play .040 - .120 sets and would consider those "lights." I don't really like "balanced tension" sets because I feel like equal tension doesn't make for balanced tone across the board; you just end up with a thick stiff cable of a B string that doesn't sound anything like the rest of the instrument. If you're getting buzzing you'll want to check out your technique along with potentially raising the saddle on that string. That's a nice bass and it absolutely should have a "good" B-string, but much like everything else on the instrument you'll want to look at your hands first if something's not cutting it. That said, there are plenty of reasons why people stick with fours, whether it's hand comfort or familiarity, or just that they like what they play more with a four vs. a five. I've had a fiver for my main bass since 1998 and I'm very comfortable with them, but I find that I approach parts differently if it's on a four. Sometimes that approach is what I want, and sometimes it isn't.
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Aug 20, 2013 23:23
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It's definitely reasonable to dislike 5s for the B string timbre. It can be improved but it's always going to sound a bit boomy and not as punchy like the others, at least in my experience. I love grinding away on that huge beastly string but in certain cases it sounds really off.
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Aug 21, 2013 05:40
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Bruce Boxliker posted:You'll probably have to cheat and use three fingers for your gallops. I go 3-2-1 3-2-1 3-2-1 whenever I do groups of gallops during Maiden songs or similar. Get your ring finger strong and you can do it all night. I've been a metal bassist for my whole bass career and Steve Harris is my favorite bassist but I can't keep up with him with just two. I've been putting in some good practice and I can make it through Running Free, but I still have to be very mindful on keeping my right hand relaxed. That speed with two fingers makes it want to throw my pinky and ring out. DEUCE SLUICE posted:.135 is still a pretty substantial B-string. I play .040 - .120 sets and would consider those "lights." I don't really like "balanced tension" sets because I feel like equal tension doesn't make for balanced tone across the board; you just end up with a thick stiff cable of a B string that doesn't sound anything like the rest of the instrument. If you're getting buzzing you'll want to check out your technique along with potentially raising the saddle on that string. That's a nice bass and it absolutely should have a "good" B-string, but much like everything else on the instrument you'll want to look at your hands first if something's not cutting it. I use that same gauge set, I recommend em too. I actually like really light strings on all of my basses. But I agree that technique should be checked first and always. Amp Update: This is replacing an old Peavey TNT115 (a solid, but underpowered amp) for gigging. The Peavey will stick around as a practice amp/night stand. Coming off a 115, I do really enjoy the sheer punchiness of the BRX10.4, however, I don't enjoy the 16 extra pounds of weight. The Harmony bass (still gotta post photos of it, sorry) sounds just sublime through it, and even my old hated warlock bass from my teen years was thumpin my chest.  (I was going to try it out with my old sampler but realized that all of my cables are at my guitarist's house)  Now I just need to fill that last space in the rack, anyone have suggestions? 
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Aug 22, 2013 01:33
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Ericadia posted:Now I just need to fill that last space in the rack, anyone have suggestions?
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Aug 22, 2013 02:13
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Macavity posted:It's a Mark Hoppus P-bass. Got it from a pawn shop for $300. I love it so far but the action is too low for me. Is there enough of the screws proud of the saddle for you to unscrew them with pliers? You could save yourself some money, and just buy new screws. Clitch fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Aug 23, 2013 |
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Aug 23, 2013 12:02
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I decided to buy one of these for my AV75RI Jazz Bass. Anyone else have one of these?
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Aug 31, 2013 02:27
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No, but that looks nice! I was thinking of replacing my bass's stock onboard preamp with one of those Artecs with the parametric mid. That looks even better, though, with the bright pull.
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Aug 31, 2013 20:20
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js86 posted:I decided to buy one of these for my AV75RI Jazz Bass. Anyone else have one of these? Yeah, actually. I had one for a few years because I was plugging directly into PA's for a few years. I then lost battery power at a gig, flipped it into passive mode and liked the way it sounded so much I never put the battery back in. If you're using dirt/fuzz effects active basses don't usually play nice with them but YMMV.
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Sep 1, 2013 08:34
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Noise Machine posted:Yeah, actually. I had one for a few years because I was plugging directly into PA's for a few years. I then lost battery power at a gig, flipped it into passive mode and liked the way it sounded so much I never put the battery back in. If you're using dirt/fuzz effects active basses don't usually play nice with them but YMMV. Thanks for the heads up. I always liked how active basses sounded without dirt and I think my 75 would sound great with a J-Retro. I'll post a review with my live setup once I get everything setup.
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Sep 2, 2013 02:24
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js86 posted:Thanks for the heads up. I always liked how active basses sounded without dirt and I think my 75 would sound great with a J-Retro. I'll post a review with my live setup once I get everything setup. That would be awesome and I hope you do this. 
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Sep 2, 2013 03:51
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Does the blend still work in passive mode? Cause if not it's really not worth it.
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Sep 2, 2013 21:06
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cactuscarpet posted:Does the blend still work in passive mode? Cause if not it's really not worth it. The blend knob works in passive mode. See 1:15 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32j6CI5S0Oo
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Sep 2, 2013 21:51
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I don't see him using the knob at that point in the video. I have an older set of J-RETRO electronics in my '75 reissue and all I can do pups wise in passive is flip the switch to bridge pup only, which sounds way too thin and Jaco-like for my tastes. I bought the bass with the electronics already in it but in retrospect I'd really have preferred it without. Still haven't gotten round to putting in a regular set of pots.
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Sep 4, 2013 22:24
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Anyone use the moog pedals on bass? I was looking into them and they seem to have a lot of versatility but don't know much about pedals. I've seen a lot of gigging musicians with their rig shown in interviews that use some variant of the pedals.
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Sep 8, 2013 04:04
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They're pretty much top of the line as far as synths and envelopes go. They sound amazing, they're very sturdy and they basically have permanent resale value. If you've got the money you can hardly go wrong.
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Sep 9, 2013 14:20
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Yesterday I attempted to do a set up on a bass I have owned (but hardly played) for about 8 years. When I tried to loosen the truss rod, it did not move at all (either way). I guess taking it to a luthier is the sensible thing to do here?
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Sep 9, 2013 14:32
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Hotzenplotz posted:Yesterday I attempted to do a set up on a bass I have owned (but hardly played) for about 8 years. When I tried to loosen the truss rod, it did not move at all (either way). I have never had this problem before so I'd say yeah that is the most sensible thing, unless some of the more knowledgeable members want to weigh in.
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Sep 9, 2013 21:14
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Hotzenplotz posted:I guess taking it to a luthier is the sensible thing to do here?
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Sep 10, 2013 02:34
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RetardedRobots posted:Depends what it is. If the strings were off just restring it and wait a couple days. The string tension will loosen the rod. Should loosen the rod. Might loosen the rod. Probably. I took the strings off to oil the fretboard, so maybe that caused it. I will wait a couple of days and try again. On the other hand I never really had a clue about humidity and temperature levels, so who knows when this happened.
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Sep 10, 2013 08:30
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Anyone here play a Hofner?js86 posted:I decided to buy one of these for my AV75RI Jazz Bass. Anyone else have one of these? I have an Audere in my Fender Jaz that may or may not be similar. I dig it very much. Controls for pup blend, volume, high and low, and a tone switch that does highs, lows, regular.
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Sep 11, 2013 04:44
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