GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome (Part 1)

From what I understand neck thru has a bit better sustain compared to a 4 screw bolt on (more bolts more sustain). But these days I take everything I read on the interwebz with a grain of salt.

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Even if the claims on sustain are true, I don’t see it as important. A bolt on neck has ample sustain. All my basses have more sustain than I need.

Now, @T_dub liking the neck through for lower action, that is something I can see.

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Given the styles I play the last thing I worry about is sustain.

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Yeah, I am really attracted to neck thru basses, always was with guitars too.
And I have never felt lower action to maybe a better set up in general from a bolt on then a neck thru,
But AGAIN, to be Perfectly clear, I don’t demand a neck thru, and don’t shy away from most any bass that is bolt on, I only say this about Carvin bases, and if it came down to it, if I found a koa wood, tongue oil finished Carvin and it ended up being a bolt neck, and the price were right, I probably would go for it, but if it were a burst, probably not (Sorry @JustTim but thats really the main thing that kept me from buying your bass, the burst finish, and bolt on, I could live with one or the other but not both)

I will have to say I am not very partial to set necks however. No reasoning behind it, I just don’t like them. I think probably because most are bulky and boxy and ugly, take your pick??? I could be wrong, there may be set necks that are not one or all three above, but I just am not too keen on them. I suppose I could change my mind should I find the right bass.

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Oh no you don’t!
Don’t get people started :upside_down_face:

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Correct!
I built a ‘test bed’ bass out of a used Ray4 I got at GC for $189.
Modded a nice big flexible cavity to put in any pickups at all, with the intent on trying out the SIMs. Paired them with a Glockenklang 3-band preamp that goes active / passive. Liked it so much as is I kept them in the bass for now. Need to do a video one day of all the tonal options compared. It’s a lot of fun to play and I like some of the oddball config options. It’s like 15 basses in 1

Here’s the thread on the build

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@howard , remember about 3 years back when you and I finished the course, and I posted something about “Guitar Tools you really need?” (or something like that)?

You replied you didn’t think you were going to file your nut anytime soon (or something like that) . . . :smile: Wow, just think. . . ever since that time, you’ve become our B2B beacon for nut and action adjustment advice!

Times really flies by, doesn’t it my friend? . . . :wink: Thanks so much for all the contributions you’ve made to our Forums!

Cheers
Joe

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Hah! Yeah, I was terrified back then to touch the thing :slight_smile:

It’s been great to have you here for the last three years too. Time really did fly by… here. Everywhere else… it was a long three years :rofl:

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The past two I’ve been super active on the forum have been of course $hit across the globe but this forum was and remains a beacon of goodness for us all.

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On the other hand, for some of us, the $hittiness of the last two years is one of the reasons we’re here or at least a contributing factor.

Silver lining sort of thing.

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My Schecter C-5 GT is set neck. I had to double check their website and look carefully to spot where it’s glued on. It’s nothing like, say, a Les Paul where you can immediately tell. It’s like they glued the neck on and then carved the wood out like a neck through.

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That there schecter makes me feel good. I’ve never had one with a set neck. I’ve got a custom 4 and an omen extreme. A part of why i choose those 2 is the 6 bolt neck attachment. They seen to be built to be tough. I wanted a couple that i thought would stand the test of time, but thru-neck basses aint exactly free. And i was a little scared to get one? Like maybe my ability level didn’t justify it?

But as an official member of the schecter bass fanboy super old guy beginner bassist club i can can say that’s a sweet rig.

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Holy hell, WTF did I get myself into.
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it
I am not going to keep it, I am not gong to keep it, I am not going to keep it

Hey, did that ever work out for Bart Simpson?

Well, I got this pedal just to experiment, fully intending to return it, and I still plan to, BUT…

I think, for the price, this pedal is awesome.
I will give fair warning that there is a learning curve, but if you know what to look for it is easily overcome, I was past it in about 15 min.
I was given fair warning last night by my good buddy Jessie @Reasonably_Happy , when he said he returned it, and why, and the “and why” is what tipped me off on what I needed to do to use it.

At first, you will set everything flat and go for unity gain, logically, first with the compressor. Once that is set, logically you would go for unity gain with the EQ side, and then you would hope that when turned on together, they will stay that way.
Well, they will, but there is a trick to it, and it is reverse logic.
Unfortunately, they made the EQ side a bit of a tone sucker, and sadly, most people will return it thinking it is crap,
BUT
it is a 5 band EQ with a 6th switch, which is volume, all the way to the right, and you need that just to get unity gain.
so, you have to do the opposite of how you would normally use an eq, leaving it flat and cutting what you don’t need, keeping what you need, and boosting only if needed.
Well, this one needs to be boosted on bass and treble with volume almost all the way up, and you can play with the kids, but not really cut them lower then flat.
They saved themselves giving each part of the pedal its own volume and EQ (yes, EQ, there is a one band EQ on the compressor side, along with Compress and volume).
So after figuring it all out and getting it set, it was a kick in the pants, and I almost want to keep it, cuz I was having fun with it.
It compresses reasonably well, actually extremely well for the price of the unit, and the 1 band EQ (really a tone knob) works great, and the volume on the compressor side boosts just fine, almost could be used as a boost pedal alone.
On the EQ side, things work a little backwards, but knowing that, you can really get the tones you want out of it with zero tone suck.
You practically have to consider the graphic EQ being set flat means pushed all the way up, with no boosts and only cuts, but it does an extremely good job of shaping your tone, again, for the price.
And for the price you get two pedals in one is just amazing to me.

I could use it to get some OD and clipping a bit, or shape it back for cleaner tones, and I could get it limiting slap, each using their own unique eq settings. If I were looking for a compressor on the cheap, I would highly consider this pedal.

The $25 compressor from Amazon that was on Guns n Guitars a few years back, that was listed as a good compressor for the money. I tried it, and it was ok for $25, but on this pedal, the compressor was much better for only a few bucks more (considering just the compressor side being half cost of the pedal and the eq the other half, so about $32 each) and for a little more money then that $25 compressor, you can have the combo for $64.

I like it. I would use it (If I needed it) and I think it can work well for people if that it their budget.
I do think it is a GREAT BUY.
BUT
I still think the SAN JUNE is a better buy because it is SO MUCH MORE COMPRESSOR then this one. TRUE, the canine does a reasonable job, the San June is way better for all around, always on compressor.
AND
I really don’t have any use for this pedal, I have it all built into my amp. I literally had to set my Carvin BX-500 flat, and turn off any eq shaping, turn the comp all the way off, and make it as transparent as possible.
I can easily get the same amount of comp, graphic EQ or parametric EQ and tone shape all I want with a great limiter compression knob that works very well, and protects my amp and speakers.

I could use it with my SWR’s, as they don’t have graphic EQ’s, and are easy to set flat, and don’t really have a limiter on them, but I have 4 compressors already that I can use in front of them, or in the fx loop, and although I don’t haver a graphic eq pedal, I have many pedals with parametric eq’s in my chain, so this would be redundantly redundant.
So, Yes, I will send it back.
I will take a few days and use them with my SWR combo’s in front and in the loop and even with some other pedals to see if I can find any other treasures or faults about it before it goes back.

Here is a little video to watch about Graphic EQ that explains why I am saying you need to use reverse logic when approaching the EQ on this pedal to get it to work, AND if you do, the pedal is a little gem for less then $70

You only need to watch about the first half of the video (if that) to get to the explanation I am referring to.

Lastly, I would like to add that each side of the pedal works well alone, as well as together.

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I was about to say something like that, but I see you already have my friend.

Yeah, I could get behind something like that., in fact, I might find I prefer it to bolt on, but I am not going that far because of the simple fact that this picture is the only one I am aware of I have seen and as far as I am aware, I have never played one.
Although I have played quite a few Schecters, including neck thru, IDK if I have touched a set neck and not known it.

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Glue a bolt on neck on. Now you have a set neck. Cut/carve out a heel, hope you didn’t take out the truss rod, sand to taste. Use remaining bolts that still work as intended :thinking: iirc Guns and Guitars guy does parallel bolts, too, which could be a use for the remaining bolts. Ie they pull the neck into the body from a different direction. This is all wild speculation on my part and I have no idea what I’m doing or talking about XD

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This sale is still going:

It also likes to pop up a “make an offer” window. Who knows what they will take? And they always seem to give me a “150OFF” 15% off code every time I look at the site :eyes:

They even do the name your price on the everything bundle.

Caveat: these products are aimed at metalheads, some punk stuff thrown in, iirc, ie angry guitars :smile:

(there aren’t as many bass options as I thought… oops)

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Yamaha BB734A has this; the back two bolts out of 6 are at a different angle. Amazing neck joint.

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I was sure someone has done this, I just couldn’t remember who. Thanks

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Much better sale for some drums to jam out to:

I can feel the corpse-paint already applying itself to my face :joy:

(Ugritone specializes in raw, unpolished drum sounds, the complete opposite of say, Steven Slate)

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Slate ships the raw samples now too alongside the processed samples but yeah, part of the draw of SSD5 is that he’s done the miking, processing and initial compression for you.

I think part of this is he wants a drop-in product to use with SSD Trigger, which he is selling as a main use case.

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