Leaderboard

Why would anyone not use all the tonal variations and fingering possibilities that are available to you?

Had a festival this summer. Quick turnaround time to get on. Had all my stuff ready to go.. Plugged everything in - no sound. Nada. Nothing. 5 mins panicking and then... ..realised I'd plugged into a different amp that wasn't even mine. Oh, you didn't mean that sort of disaster tho huh?

Both of my Precisions tuned DGCF with 45-105's. Im running bi amped and loving the low end.☺

I've fancied an FRFR for my Helix for some time. Always had my eye on a Yamaha DXR10 - for both guitar and bass duties. Mostly I'd DI Helix to front of house so the FRFR became a monitor - and it's useful at home too. In the local music shop today I decided to have a look at a DXR10. Yeah. It's quite nice. Over pops the assistant. I explain the setup and my need. "I wouldn't have the DXR10 personally. I'd have the QSC K10.2 instead. It's a bit more but..." The what now? Ok, I think. Prove it to me. Let's hear them side by side. So he did. Set them up for me. The QSC was louder. A lot louder. A lot lot lot louder. And it was a more natural reproduction of what you hear through headphones on Helix - much less coloured. "It's on the default flat DSP setting." He said. "Here, try the bass amp DSP setting" Uh? Well, not only was it interesting as a setting, but I plugged the bass in directly. There's 3 channel input - two have combi XLR/jack and one small 3.5 stereo. Channel A can be set as line or mic, but B can be set as line or instrument. So jack into B with inst straight from a passive bass and it does a pretty damned good impression of a decent bass amp - there's even eq on it to tweak it. Crikey. So I bought one. Got it home and tried my mini pedalboard straight in. Signal chain is smoothhound - tuner - Ampeg SCR-DI - QSC k10.2 I would say realistically it's about as loud as a 500w head into my BF Compact. Possibly a bit more, and with slightly less heft but a bit more top. But, it's 14 kilos and really very compact. And it's one less thing to drag to a gig. It's also a wedge so I can angle it and use it as a proper bass monitor with DI out to FOH. So this is my live rig (to be trialled!) Now I'm wondering whether it's worth bothering with another power amp for use with the BF cab for the board, when it looks like the FRFR I bought for the Helix can pretty much do both.

I wanted to raise something by way of insight that has come to me very late in life and which relates to the issue of technical ability. As players, we have probably all, at some point, dreamed of achieving something as a musician that, as we failed to achieve it, may have appeared increasingly unattainable. I have had periods when I had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that I was a total genius but also have had (much longer) periods when I have held the view that I am either a total wanker or, at best, am only ever going to be a B-Lister at best. In my mid-50s, through conscious decisions made over the last few years, I have long since stopped doing gigs that I found frustrating musically and just done gigs that I know are going to involve a good standard of music making. Whilst this has reduced the numbers of gigs I am doing considerably, every gig I now do is with people who are playing at a high standard and I am almost always the weakest player in the band (there are almost no ‘bands’ involved in this as most of the music I play is with ensembles are scratch bands that are made up of deps and guests with local rhythm sections etc). What I have noticed is that there are many occasions where I find myself playing fairly demanding material and generally nailing it. The bits where things fall apart tend to be the complex passages of written material that I am not familiar with before the gig. What is apparent is that the difference between my playing being good and it being great is NOT ability (unless you mean my ability to read complex passages ‘cold’) but simply a lack of rehearsal and of familiarity with the material being performed (no stinky poo, Sherlock). Looking back at my development over the years, I have to say that a lot of my early and mid-term lack of confidence has come from playing with people who, frankly, weren’t very good and my failing to recognise that, whatever levels of competence I had as a player, I could not make it swing or groove on my own no matter how hard I tried. However good I may or may not have been, a crap drummer/pianist/ guitarist etc was always going to compromise the performance and make it sound ropey. The issue is, how does a developing player learn to recognise when a weak performance is his/her fault and when it is the fault of a weak sideman? When I think back, a lot of the weaknesses in performances I was involved in in the past were not my fault (some undoubtedly were so don’t think this is a cop out). When I play with the ‘big guns’ now, I know my shortcomings (extended harmony mostly) but I have also come to realise that I am only two or three rehearsals away from nailing pretty much anything within reason. There have been a few occasions when there has been a rehearsal and things gel quite quickly. It feels good, particularly as a semi-pro, to think that the ability to play the music I love at a high standard is not necessarily as far away as I thought. It’s not about ability per se but about the amount of time I can commit to preparing for each specific performance. I guess most of us are better when we practice, rehearse and prepare.

Thanks for enquiring. I feel that I am making slow progress , I think it takes a bit longer for me learn new things as I get older. Still, slow progress is still progress.

I absolutely recommend The Barefaced ONE 10. I use it with my GenzBenz Streamliner 900 or my Genzler Magellan 350. The latter for about £450 and the cab with cover £350 should do the trick. I also have two Bergantino HD 112 cabs at 20kg should I need them for bigger gigs. One of the HD112s is great with said amps. Certainly all work well for me. The bottom end out of the ONE 10 is superb and 7KG!!! Glynn Murray

Good shout ezbass! Yep Leslie West had a great sound. And yes you're right about a single pickup focusing the mind. As a lifelong P bass player I'm not really one for pointless fiddling - get a good sound, and then get on with playing.

I'm tempted to rent one from fxPR and give it a go. My basswitch does the job of providing loops for my basic tones but those filters seem like a fun way to add stuff. I can see octave and clean blended with drive being fun but alas not a tone I'll be using in the foreseeable future.

I'm there! Gigs be damned..... this is 'first in the book'

Open string notes are four notes (or more) that are available in all positions. I don't understand why one would never use them.

I can think of a pair... half-ars3d single-buttocked. Time for some polite customer feedback?

Report back! EDIT: A quick search reveals a few Yamaha THR10 owners here and no bad comments at all...

The original bassist in Saxon, played open as much as possible, so the other hand could be held aloft in rock salute! \m/ ?

Phil Jones Double four. Tiny shoe box sized amp with lovely tone and useful features.

"Check a lead connection"? Hardly, old chap. My wireless unit failed, and in less than 10 seconds mid-song I diagnosed the problem, unplugged the wireless unit at both ends, plugged in a lead at both ends, and rejoined the song. Actually, I'm actually quite proud of that. Actually.

Half way through our first gig in the first money making cover band I was ever in. Soundcraft desk had a fit and the master xlr outputs quit. We took a short break and set our active stage monitors up as vocal and acoustic guitar PA tops (monitor mixes were working fine). Cranked my wee Ashdown 1x10 combo/Aguilar 1x12 cab rig up and away we went. Guitar player had a Fender twin and was determined to use it! But the layout of the place made things really awkward - 2 long, narrow (about 12' x 5'), raised platforms surrounded by handrails, separated by about 15' of dance floor leading to a staircase (looking from other end of the room the stages were in the left and right corners, dance floor in front with stairs between the stages - designed by a lunatic with no regard for drunk punters safety!). Without monitors it turned into a total winging it session as the Fender Twin was pointing at me from the other stage and was SO loud I couldn't hear the drummer at all (he was also on the other stage!). Looking back if I'd had XLR to jack leads we could have run the monitor mix outputs to the power amp, but we didn't... Fault in the mixer was a 20p opamp. I know because I fixed it after it had sat with "a mate who fixes stuff" for 6 months before returning as repaired (but actually totally untouched)... Total comedy of errors in a venue totally unsuitable for live music. Of course we didn't learn our lesson and played there about 20 times over the following 2 years. Once had to play half the night without the drummer as his kick pedal disintegrated during soundcheck. He had to run home for a spare (45 mile round trip!). Same band (towards the end) were playing in a coastal hotel who'd just had a sound limiter installed. You can guess the rest. Thing had been wired wrong and took out the whole bar (except the gambling machine which always amused me!). 3 times... The look on punters faces when they're bouncing round to "Highway to Hell" and suddenly the noise stops...

Back when I was really seriously gigging and played with a pick I used to break on average 1 or 2 strings per gig. On a Rickenbacker it was dead easy but it did remind me why I took the rear ashtray of my P bass when I was using that all the time! And of course now I am old and knackered and have all kinds of problems with my hands due to playing too heavy with that pick. Can`t win, can you? As far as other gear issues are concerned I cant remember anything ov er 60 years of gigging other than the odd flat battery or dud lead. TYhat old valve gear was pretty reliable. Unlike the early transistor stuff!

I tend to play open strings as often as I can depending on the song and the position of my left hand on the neck. But I have nerve damage in my left arm so the fewer fretted notes I can play the less fatigued my left hand becomes. Needs must and all that.

Ive been playing live for 17 years. Worst i've had is a dodgy cable, and a battery that needed replacing. Never had a issue with amps breaking or speakers blowing etc. I don't recall ever breaking a string either?

I broke a string towards the end of a jazz gig. Not even one of the peripheral ones, but the D. I had no backup (in fact, I was an undergraduate at the time, so I couldn't even afford to buy a new set of strings for a couple of weeks) and had to finish the gig with three strings and a big gap. Shifting hand positions for a bossa was straightforward enough, but trying to play a walking bass line under Autumn Leaves on two strings is not an experience I'm in a hurry to repeat.

I never really saw this as an either/or thing ...

Have you ever considered going to CGCG? I've recently got my hands on a 4 string Dingwall AB1 and have a set of heavy gauge Newtone strings ready to go on there for GCGC tuning (REALLY heavy gauge) - in preparation to release my inner Devin Townsend! Have my Ibanez baritone electric tuned GCGCGC already...

Thanks, Dave, glad someone appreciates and understands the mental anguish this is causing. I'll get all my listed and offered at too-good-to-be-true prices and then, once my spare room is empty, hopefully the pleasing reassurance of GAS will return. Your offer of a smart white jacket is noted and appreciated. My size is XL.

One option is keep the amp and cab in storage and use a little combo in the house? The PJB Double Four is the size of a shoebox for example.

She's an only child...I won't comment on her age as she's watching me...but she's a good six months younger than I am!

Here are the orginal Limelight pics with the plain p/g.

Me. I have a bass set up permanently in this tuning. I’m using Dunlop Flats (.45 .65 .85 .105) and the tension’s just right. ?

The majority of my band's stuff is CGCF...although newer songs we are yet to release are even lower, BF#BE....after several years I have finally had my Cirrus set up to handle the low tunings, and heavier strings of course. The difference is incredible, probably should have done it years ago rather than just putting up with flobby strings, ha ha.

... he played all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.

I play No One Knows in this tuning, the correct tuning is way too floppy

Just took a look at the for sale ad, and there's a "3 used available" button you can click on https://reverb.com/p/fender-jb62-62-reissue-jazz-bass-mij-aged-white Or am I being daft, and this is the same one? I can't comment on the MIJ '62RI per se - as I've not played one of these exact models. I have however, played several MIJ / CIJ Fenders, and they've all been really good basses Somehow, the necks on them feel lovely.... However, I have owned a Fender Flea Jazz, and just to add to your confusion - that was also a really nice bass, and yes, the Fender Roadworn series of necks also feel absolutely lovely.... sorry Again, I don't know quite how they achieve that "worn-in" or "played in" feel with the roadworn series, but achieve it they have I must say of the Fender Flea, it's the lightest weight Jazz I have played. (and I've owned 3 Jazzes, and played quite a few more) At first, I wasn't a fan of the stacked knob arrangement of controls. I know this arrangement has many fans, who would all quote flexibility of tone and control as being better - but I found it harder to get the tone I wanted as quickly as with the standard VVT arrangement of controls.... again, it's personal preference The MIJ bass is probably the more "collectible", for those with whom that is an issue. And IMO, it's a lovely aged white (I do like that off-white creamy colour some basses seem to go) Both have their plus points, it's just down to how you feel about each one Do you live near any other BC member who owns either one of these basses? Could you post an ad, asking for help / a try-out? Most BC'ers are very friendly, helpful sorts and would be only too willing to let you have a play of their Jazz As has already been asked, could you counter the sellers counter offer? Might be worth a try Just thought of a plus for the MIJ. If you didn't like a Flea Jazz and had bought it brand new - you'd lose money if selling on.... but you'd likely get more of your money back on the MIJ if you sold that on....

My old hard rock/metal originals band played in that tuning. Set of Elite 0.110 Steels and minimal setup adjustment from standard (think I had 0.100s on before that).

My Bass Big Muff has finally given up so I have one of these incoming - is everyone still in love with their's?

I think it is a bit like volcanoes. They sit there doing not much then periodically erupt. You'll have your Pompeii moment soon enough.

Everybody needs a shot of R and B, so come on down to my surgery ...

IMPOSTER!!! There is no such thing as a BC member without GAS, and if there was somebody who was temporarily content with their set up they certainly wouldn't miss an opportunity to shop if/when their partner offered them the chance. Also no self respecting BC member would admit to having "No GAS" even if such a condition existed (which it doesn't BTW). Continue with your lies and accept the consequences!!

Welcome to the low end...

Basschat is more of a GASchat for me. Enjoy the melodic candour.

[quote name='bassmayhem' timestamp='1509722116' post='3401208'] I took the neck, that was a really, really good neck, and threw the rest in the garbage recycling. With a friend's assistance I made a Jazz Bass body of 60 years old solid dried birch, equipped it with EMG DC45 and Hipshot bridge. It ended up being a very good bass. I sold it some years ago to a studio, where it was used a lot. It looked like this when rebuilt: [/quote] Ooh yes. That, we like.

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1509390989' post='3398581'] ESP's take on a thunderbird was called a phoenix too... [/quote] It's been discontinued, redesigned & called "Stream" now.

A consensus on BC??? Am I imagining things???