Official buying advice thread

well, to be fair. there is alot that contributes to farty tone. scale length being another big factor.
~gR~
 
Eligos said:
I can't figure out why my B string is floppy. The intonation has been fixed, it's long scale, and it still flops all over the place. I'm using heavy gauge strings as well.
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A lot of the time "heavy gauge strings" are really "I'm a pussy so I'm going to try some medium gauge strings".

I use 11-56 guitar strings tuned to D standard, I see people recommend 12-52 for B standard all the time, and people say "You gotta get heavy gauge strings man!!"

That said I don't know the equivalent for bass, but a look at Juststrings.com shows that the thickest bass string D'addario makes is a .145. I'd order a ton of low B strings from there, and see which one works best for you. That's what I did, over the course of about 3 months, to figure out what string tension sounded and played the best for my tuning.
 
Eligos said:
I can't figure out why my B string is floppy. The intonation has been fixed, it's long scale, and it still flops all over the place. I'm using heavy gauge strings as well.
Click to expand...

your grind is a 36, right?

youve played my dingwall, so you know what im about to say hehe. each string has an optimum scale length. for the B, its 37. my conklin is a 36 and its way floppy. partly due to scale, partly because the strings are old. scale length has the biggest influence on floppiness

but here is the problem most companies face. they need to find a happy scale length for ALL the strings. the B suffers the most from this compromise.

fanned frets are the way to go!
~gR~
 
Google is your friend.
BeeBasses.jpg


Genocide roach has it right. But you can compensate for scale length by increasing string gauge. Tightness/floppiness is directly affected by how far the string is stretched and how tight the string needs to be stretched in order to reach pitch. The tighter the string, the tighter the bass.
 
those are Bee basses right? isnt that what... oh man... whats his name... fuck!

edit: OH!! JEAN BAUDIN! i think he's playing Bees now

also check out the dingwalls! mine:
100_0116-1.jpg

~gR~
 
genocide roach said:
your grind is a 36, right?

youve played my dingwall, so you know what im about to say hehe. each string has an optimum scale length. for the B, its 37. my conklin is a 36 and its way floppy. partly due to scale, partly because the strings are old. scale length has the biggest influence on floppiness

but here is the problem most companies face. they need to find a happy scale length for ALL the strings. the B suffers the most from this compromise.

fanned frets are the way to go!
~gR~
Click to expand...

35, man. Long scale, but not crazy long scale. Still I don't use D'addarios (sp?) because their "long scale" strings are only 34" and the tapered end hangs over my nut.

Elixirs are the same way...

The only ones I've found are GHS bass boomers and frickin Peavey Cirrus strings "Xtra Heavy" longscale. That's what I have now.
 
So has anyone ever used the Kustom Groove 1300HD? I'm curious about it. I was looking around to see what 1100/1200 Watt amps are out there, since I'm getting that Carvin 8x10 pretty soon here, and it has 1200W power handling. The name kept popping up, so I'd like to hear any positive or negative feedback on it.

P.S. I have heard that it has uses Speakon cables, not 1/4", but I have a contact who provides me with free cables of every kind, so it's all good.
 
A few minutes ago my brother plugged in and turned on my Spider III 15 W and it started smoking. Obviously, it doesn't work any more, but conveniently, I was thinking about getting a new amp anyway.

However, I don't know anything about gear, so I'm not sure what to look for. A friend of mine recommended a while ago that I don't get another effects amp though, because they have issues when you try to use effects pedals with them. Is this true?

I'm looking for a small or mid-size amp though, because I live in a dorm and don't need to bother the neighbors with my shitty attempts at guitar playing.

I'm also in the market for a pedal that produces (at least) distortion and overdrive tones. I looked through the Best Pedals - Best Tones thread and heard good things about the Digitech RP serious, but I'm definitely open to other suggestions. Preferably, I'd like tone quality that's comparable to bands like Necrophagist, but with a low budget and smaller amps, I understand that this may not be possible.

I should be able to get the $99 back for my broken amp, so that gives me a budget of roughly $300 - $400 for an amp and pedal.
 
sorry dude, im moving this to the proper thread. to answer your question though. i would get the hughes and kettner edition blue. it doesnt have 34735835 effects. but it has great reverb (real spring reverb) and great tone both clean and distorted. i have one for my practice amp.

and i dont like pedals. if you cant get good tone out of your amp, get a different amp.

http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/products.php?mode=prod&id=16
~gR~
 
genocide roach said:
sorry dude, im moving this to the proper thread. to answer your question though. i would get the hughes and kettner edition blue. it doesnt have 34735835 effects. but it has great reverb (real spring reverb) and great tone both clean and distorted. i have one for my practice amp.

and i dont like pedals. if you cant get good tone out of your amp, get a different amp.

http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/products.php?mode=prod&id=16
~gR~
Click to expand...
Thanks, I checked these out and their clean tone is amazing, but the overdrive is not what I'm looking for. Would you be able to post a sample of the distortion tone? If by chance the overdrive and distortion are the same, I'll definitely be getting a distortion / effects pedal as well, so can anyone give me some suggestions? I've been looking at the Digitech RP 150 since it was mentioned in the pedals thread, but if anyone wants to recommend a different model or brand, I'm definitely open to suggestions.

Alternatively, I'm willing to consider other amps, because I'm not in a hurry and I'd rather make an informed decision than waste my money in a hurry.

Also, sorry for being such a gear newb, but what's the difference between Spring Reverb and Dual Digital FX?
 
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