I always keep an eye out for these. Played a few long long time ago and even quietly borrowed one from a studio for a few months 
In fact, I wouldnāt mind the new BB700 model (734?). Itās a third the cost of my Fender, and sounds a bit nicer!
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So when does this thread get renamed to the more-interesting āThe Bass Threadā? 
Kidding, I play both, but there is something particularly special and fun about playing bass.
Speaking of, does anyone play bass with an āamplessā setup? Basically, from bass/pedals direct to the interface, with some sort of amp/cab emulation. Iāve got a combo amp that I have been using, but Iām looking at buying some nice monitors and sub, and wondering if getting good enough monitors would be a viable and fun enough option for at-home playing. Iām really wanting to have it tied into Ableton as a looper on steroids. Iām not worried about getting good guitar tones through monitors, but Iām more concerned about bass.
In particular, Iām looking at the Adam A5Xs or A7Xs with a matched sub, if that matters.
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I used a Tech21 Sansamp Bass Driver with bass back in the day, going into mixer and PA. Sounded pretty good I thought. Now thereās a gazillion more options.
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I do most of the time now. Straight into a DI box for clean, with thru to a dirty channel for drive. Monitoring is 8" Yamahas. Forget the Sub, you wonāt need it, basically most Bass cabs donāt output anything below 40Hz (if Iām correctly informed), and mics have their limit too.
Does your bass combo have a headphone out? Thatāll work excellently into your mixer, if itās anything like my little Orange CB50. I can thoroughly recommend the Two Notes āLe Bassā DI/preamp/drive pedal for anything rock/pop.
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Mooer Radar works pretty well for bass, at least for clean sounds. I can get better sounds than with my HX STOMP easily with bass presets, so I kept it for that purpose.
Cheap and small.
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Iāve heard really good things about those Yamahas. You are right, a bigger speaker on the main monitors will probably do more for me than smaller speakers with a sub.
Iāve got a GK Microbass combo, so it does have line out and even XLR out, but what Iām trying to do is make it so I can leave that where I play with others, and have my studio as another option.
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I record bass and guitar into the DI of a DBX 580 while monitoring on KRKs. Itās clean, small and sounds great.
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Iāve been ampless the last seven years and have used Sansamp Tech 21 Liverpool and VT Bass pedals straight to my mixer/interface. I recently acquired a MXR M81 Bass Preamp and itās absolutely ideal for clean tones, which is all I really use for my bass.
I was after another amp/cab sim pedal because thatās what Iāve been used to, but it doesnāt seem necessary with the M81. It wouldnāt be ideal used with dirt pedals, but itās great for bringing out the nuances of your bass tone. It also can be powered via phantom power, which I enjoy a lot since I now have an on/off switch for the pedal via my mixerās phantom switch.
There are a lot of options these daysā¦ I saw Darkglass mentioned a lot when researching. Almost tried the Bass Driver but heard a lot about how good the MXR is for cleans and itās cheaper than the others so Iām glad I gave it a shot. It tames peaks nicely without distorting, has a solid eq, and is a proper DI. Worth giving a look if youāre into cleaner sounds.
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This is pretty much what Iām hoping to achieve. Iāve got a Strymon Iridium I use for guitar (I use the same pedalboard for both guitar/bass), and I figure if I can get a good bass preamp/sim pedal (like the VT Bass DI) and put it in front of the modulation effects and only use the IR part of the Iridium, I can play in stereo. Good enough size monitors (7ā+) sound like the missing piece for me.
Not sure how super useful stereo is for a bass setup, but if you are a band of 1, thereās plenty of room for it sonically!
With exception of the Vintage Ultra, I found the rest of the Darkglass lineup to sound too geared towards a modern metal vibe, which appears to be exactly where they want to be.
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+1 this
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Have a look at DSM & Humboldtās Simplifier and/or Bass Simplifier. I have one that complements my setup super nicely and fully replaces my amp (and 2 mics) if needed.
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I use Darkglass Vintage Deluxe for bass and guitar di, mostly mixer > Octatrack. But spuds great into an interface. Great range of dirt and tone sculpting. I run acoustic into it too.
This reminds me I need to dig out and spruce up, my Intersound IVP rack unit
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Thatās pretty cool, takes on the dependency on mixer routings too. But no one around here in Sydney has one, or even heard about it. 
no new DI box for me.
anyone ever get into Harry Manx back in the day? i had a gf once who introduced me to him. she really had such an old man taste in music lol. Manx had this really cool story at the time, like this guy who moved to India as a blues guitarist, but studied under indian musicians with an indian instrument called a Mohanveena - like a cross between a sitar and a guitar.
So he has this blues undercurrent, but peppered with all these improv sitar style moments. itās very low key, backwater bar type stuff. i saw him a bunch of times back in the early 2000ās. now his stuff has become a lot more bombastic with choirs and stuff, but the early records were just guitar, harmonica, singing. just classic stuff. check out Wise and Otherwise from 2002 and Dog my Cat from 2001. Just really chill stuff.
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Theyāre a brand new product out of Chile. I think the second run just got sent out. Not a lot of shops carrying them. Pretty good price and lots of interest so likely easy enough to resell in Oz if you shell out to ship one over and then decide you donāt like it.
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I saw him play at Edmonton Folk Fest years ago! Really tasteful blending of blues and indian classical music.
I randomly discovered that Fender recently introduced a new Squier model - the Paranormal Cyclone, which is a mashup of the Mustang, Jaguar, and Strat. The scale at 24.75" is a touch longer than the Mustangās 24". This guy gives it a positive review, stating that he thinks it just needs tweaks to the saddle heights and spring tension. I do like how it looks and sounds for the money. I also like the shell pink over the daphne blue.
A recent discussion on vibrato technique inspired me to try some focused practice. I played my Parker Nitefly for the first time in a long time because I was having some trouble playing a note that sustains without any vibrato, then vibrato rate and depth gradually get turned up. Horn players, violinists, singers, etc. can do this without trouble, but itās hard on a guitar without electronic assistance from a compressor, E-Bow or related device. On a guitar without whammy bar, the easiest vibrato is one in which rate and depth stay constant until the note decays. The Nitely with its whammy bar made the job easier.
This was the melody Iāve been challenging myself to copy by ear on guitar, since my shoulder isnāt feeling well enough yet for violin playing:
Anyway, I want to replace some pickups on the Nitefly and get the GK3 cable on it moved because itās blocking the little screw for adjusting the grip on the whammy bar. But my other side wants to get that cute pink Paranormal Cyclone.
Iām learning on an SG. Whatās the best way to go about it?
Already got the minor pentatonic scale down. Do I learn more scales, if so which ones? I like blues and hip hop. Or do I start learning songs?
Learning songs is the way to go.
For learning how to play blues solos, I found what works well is copying the vocal parts to blues songs first, then copying licks from the solos in blues songs. Search on Youtube for tracks by the greats before the time of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Donāt get me wrong, SRV himself was awesome but generations of guitarists who came after him copy his flashy style so their stuff isnāt so good for learning blues - too much āextraā.
I fell into the trap of practicing scale patterns first, before learning to play more than 3 songs. I was at a party when a guitar was being passed around. Each person played some songs on the guitar. When it was my turn, I realized I spent too little time learning songs. All I knew were the scale patterns Iād been practicing. It was embarrassing and enlightening at the same time.
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