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This cropped up on my instagram stream. It's not often that you hear one of these played by someone who knows how to play an acoustic upright bass - to my ears this is a really usable tone if you wanted an amplified acoustic tone for a gig, and Marcus reckons there's no extra tone-shaping going on here. Maybe it's the amp. Whaddaya reckon?

The band in question had a very dense sound and the two guitarists would want to hear an on-stage mix that sounded as close to the recording as possible. OtOH I was quite happy so long as I could hear the drums so I could tell I was in time and the vocals so I knew where I was in the song. Being able to take the bass guitar out of the foldback certainly helped with the on-stage clarity for the other members.

Still worth seeing, Mike Clark still quite dynamic and Chris Severin sounded fine on a Seven String schecter. I'd go again, specially since I might scrounge another guest list spot from Mr Clark.

I mentioned artistic freedom and reworking with reference to projects that are avoiding playing songs as was originally composed on purpose. That is separate and apart from projects that look to nail an original note for note. I'm not suggesting that hitting a wrong note accidentally should be passed off as an interpretation,by all means it should be corrected.

Turn the tone control down?

Nothing out the ordinary to me. Why not arrange a rehearsal and see how it goes?

Parental Guidance - Judas Priest

You can't have it both ways. You brought up the notion of entire reworking/artistic freedom and then claimed we were discussing one semitone. Make your mind up. Interestingly, we play this number in my soul band. Our keyboard player was playing the major third on the way up as well as on the way down. We had a quick word and played him the Otis original and, being a sensible grown-up, he didn't try to double down or claim he was "interpreting" it. He just said "Thanks, chaps. Got it" and played it right from then on.

I do that at rehearsal where we don't PA the bass, and it works well. However on stage I've actually used it next to the drummer but pointing away from him and towards me, so that his monitor mix isn't muddied by my amp. Given that I'm off to the side with nobody else next to me, I think it gives the rest of the band less bass bleed and a cleaner stage sound.

Bump for a worthy cause.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the "right" way to play it would be the original version by Otis Redding. I've had a very quick listen to the original. It's in a different key for a start, and to play it the same way as Johnny Colt does you would have to tune down a semitone. To my ear Duck Dunn plays the part in question completely differently, with a root-five-octave figure replacing the bit with a low E. It's quite clear however, that he plays the contentious G# version, except it's a G because Otis' version is in B flat. To my sensibilities the bass part works better the "right" way because part of the musical effect of the song is how it moves between major and minor tonalities. I'm all in favour of making adjustments in the name of individual expression, but sometimes it's a question of judgement whether embellishments are to the detriment of what made the song what it was originally. In this case either approach will work, but I think the "right" way is the right choice because it sounds better.

When I was still using my RCF FRFR I'd often position it at the front of the stage but "firing" across so that the rest of the band also got the benefit.

Tie Your Mother Down - Queen

Things are deffo happening behind the scenes - my outstanding order has been subtly edited. I ordered two things as a bundle. Last time I looked at the order, the bundle had been zeroed (but was still visible on the order) and the two items spun out as individual items (honouring the bundle pricing). Today I had a look and there is now no mention of the bundle at all, just the two items in question. Don't worry, I'm not getting my hopes up, but I am quietly watching developments.

Okay. So how does artistic freedom and reworking equate to "playing a load of wrong notes?"

A bandmate a few years ago owned one of the early 90s ones that hung around the rehearsal space, and I'd play it sometimes. This one was definitely solid wood as it had suffered a half-arséd attempt to strip it. My impression was that the body and neck were not bad, perfectly functional P copy, but the tuners, pickup and pots were naff.

At the moment I am listening to and enjoying Butcher Brown, the new album by Monkey House called Crashbox if you like Steely Dan you will probably like them too, The Big Galoot by King Baby with Kevin Scott on bass and the fabulous Men I Trust from Canada.

We were back at the Horse & Jockey in Lanark on Friday. We've had a wee glut of gigs recently but I've not really been in the zone with everything else going on in life at the moment. But I really enjoyed this one. Tiny wee performance area, but not as bad as last time as this time we played as a four piece (parted ways amicably with previous guitarist, his job and shifts meant we couldn't rehearse till after 10pm and he would have to take holidays for Friday gigs - new guitarist getting up to speed). I brought my bass cabs as have been struggling a bit to get the bass levels sorted through the PA. Made a massive difference and I felt much more connected to the band. I thought we played really well, even had dancers up in the first set, unheard of! Had to cut things a little short as our drummer was feeling very dodgy after a suspect sausage supper pre-gig, poor guy. Gear was Fender Player Jazz, HX Stomp based pedalboard, Aguilar Tonehammer and Markbass NY121 cabs. Very happy with my sound.

I saw them years ago in Leeds with TM Stevens on bass, what a gig that was.

I had one and recently sold it but not because of any issues or complaints. As a low gain ‘fattener’ adding in harmonic content it will do what it says on the tin (box)! It won’t offer tonnes of gain and drive but it will ‘saturate’ and those descriptions should be considered as two separate sonic characteristics. I liked it but as my signal chain already has output TX’ers and tubes it wasn’t doing more or giving me a ‘better’ version of what I had. What it does do is add in that tube saturation/character which is very pleasing sonically and warms up the signal chain and can do that “sonic stock cube” thing where it just makes the tone sit well within the full band mix. Pedals like this and some lower gain/ drive units really need to be heard in that context sometimes to judge their true value IMO be that via IEM or in the room. The bass soul food springs to mind! I realise this all reads like marketing but you might find a lower gain unit like a Solid Gold FX Beta does more of what you like in a more pronounced way with more gain on tap should you need it. I know @tayste_2000 is shifting a Beta MkV which can do lovely low gain tones.