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I think my first audition made the band giggle. They're a covers band that will cover anything from gossip to audioslave to GnR. I had never been in a band before, and was terrified turning up to the audition. I'd played the bass for years, at home.... When I get there the bassist before me was just tearing down his 2 4x10 rig with Trace head and I immediately thought "shi what am I doing?" I place my 25 watt peavey practice combo next to it and tell the other bassist I was ready to bring the thunder - we have a laugh. I take my guitar out of its bag. Did I forget to mention I didn't actually own my own bass? It's my sister's that I stole years ago and it still has pink ribbons on the case. Anyway... I play my heart out and barely get heard over the thunderous drums. I place my tiny amp in a corner at head height to allow us to just about hear me and somehow I get the gig! We've just booked our 8th gig in July in front of 200 festival goers.

Limelight 00218 has finally arrived and what a beauty she is. I asked Mark to do as light a relic as possible on a '57' precision. She looks great, sounds great, and plays great. What more can I ask?

Ok, heres my real world experience of using x3 types of set up this year. First Set Up - markbass 500w evo head & barefaced super compact gen 3 (giving 8ohms - so approx 300w). gig types: - a couple of large functions - 200 people + and a few smaller gigs - all with pa support. opinion: firstly the portability is phenomenal. believe the hype. you can easily carry in one hand. foot print is small and cab can go anywhere. i was able to get some gorgeous tones out of it, as well as some really nice gigging tones and volumes. Only occasionally on some songs did the volume become an issue and i had to really dig in to hear. I was convinced this was my set up for ever. the amp was running fairly full on, with a little headroom, but i didnt really need much more volume. Second Set Up - markbass evo head and 6ohm markbass 610 - so approx 400w. gig type: my current set up - did beer festival in fairly large social club - around 300 guests. i picked his up on a whim at a bargain price as our band was starting to do much bigger gigs, and i always fancied a 610. So .... i was 100% happy with the super compact, this 610 was just going to give a bit more volume.... WRONG!! Once i hit the first note i just sounded SO SO warm, full, powerful and suddenly lifted all the band. Volume nowhere near half, and everyone could hear it crystal clear without it being loud. I think the thing is, the super compact is perfectly acceptable, brilliantly portable and loud for what it is. However, the 610 is just back to what bass is about - full, warm, powerful, punchy and never needing to be over loud. Suddenly the super compact had been brought back down to earth. Fair enough - its not meant as a competitor to a 610 but the difference is there. Think of a soloist compared to a choir - just so much more full and nice. Third Set Up - ashdown evo 900w head and ashdown 8x10 4ohm cab. gig type: one off large out door festival. large stage. large pa support. rig supplied by the festival. i used this at the weekend - and i swear its a wonder the whole band didnt get blown 200 yards into the crowd. Absolute ridiculous power. Ridiculous. i think it was on half volume and i had to turn my bass right down and still all you could hear was bass. Not a particularly nice sound, but thats more to do with we only had a 10 minute window to get set up. I cant even compare how the super compact would have been in comparison. Probably a whisper to a scream. In conclusion, it doesnt take a genius to see that thicker, better constructed wooden cabs, with more speakers have a phenomenal effect on everything - volume, tone and presence. However they also are x amount heavier, bulkier and more awkward. In my opinion, can a super compact compete with an decent 4x10? - only just, and thats if the band dont need you playing full out. If your a smallish pub band the super compact is the way to go, absolutely. /itll be great for you. Just as loud as a 4x0 in a small space, nice sound and SO easy to move around. However, in a medium sized gig you can cope with a super compact, but dont expect it to have great presence or much headroom, regardless of whether you are using pa support or not. It becomes more of a monitor. In a large venue its 4x10 upwards all the way.

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Rhythm sections don't play solos EVER!!!!!

The last time I saw a performance like that of the poor old gentleman to Jack's left was when we played a bank's office Christmas party. The CEO's secretary who booked us was there to explain that her boss fancied joining us on stage. For the whole set. And he'd already set up his stack. And his pedalboard. And he had some song suggestions. We'd just finished setting up on the periphery of the CEO's square footage when this perfectly pleasant, slightly porky chap wandered over with a PRS round his neck and asked us if we were ready to go? We were and we did. After a couple of numbers I looked round and this chap was pulling all these guitar faces and widdling away like a nutjob - in total silence, his amp being turned to zero. Our guitard looked at me, I looked at him, we both looked at the drummer and we smiled. After we finished he shook our hands, fulsomely complimented us on our playing and asked if we'd like to do it again some time. I said yes, certainly then wandered off to talk to his secretary away from the main party and ended up boffing her across his desk. Funny old world, eh?

Added this nice one to my arsenal Arpege six SeNr 026

I've said this before, but BC is one of the most polite, friendly and supportive forums I've ever come across. Mind you, what would you expect? - we're bass players aren't we ?

Honestly, didn't expect any of this, as i've said on the other thread i initially started, just to warn people of the fact there was a scammer out there. Great community here. Thank you so much

He only committed a bit of fraud - not murder, for Christ's sake!

If he does time, that won't be necessary.

The specs for the TKS 1126 are available online. http://www.tks.se/ The F112 specs will be similar enough to get a general idea (except the high frequency range will be around 20khz due to the tweeter). Specs won't tell you too much given, for instance, that the stated power handling is quoted at 450watts and Ed Friedland in the review is using a 2kw amp. I'm using 450/500w @8ohms into my TKS but a lot of Fearless users are using a lot more. The more important factors in tone will be the crossover points and the sound of the mid driver used. As with the Barefaced cabs there is a lot of user chat/reviews out there regarding the Fearless line. The Greenboy website states this about the DIY fEARFUL cab A 12/6 is almost as loud as most 210 cabs with one watt input, and more extended in response. When driven fully it can get nearly as loud as a good 410. The fEARFUL will sound fuller while maintaining clarity, and will disperse wider. It will not lose its punch when driven hard.

The bass version compromises by combining attack and release into one knob, but adds an ace up its sleeve in the form of the HPF. This lets you filter out the low end from the part of the circuit that detects the peaks, and with it dialled in you can negate the issue that many single band compressors have where if you hit a low note hard, it makes the compressor clamp down so hard that it audibly impacts your overall volume until it recovers and swells back up again (depending on how fast your attack/release is set).

Surely that should be … irregularly?

Musical masturbation. Please do this in private, not on stage.

There might be huge technical ‘evidence’ as to why one ‘thing’ (wood, pedal, make, mode, bass) is better than another but in the end I think the majority of people make their decisions according to something far more mysterious, the vibe or the feeling they get from whatever ‘thing’ it is. There are endless threads on here (extremely helpful threads I hasten to add) on the merits of all sorts of ‘things’ that go into huge technical detail but I remain convinced that the final decisions we make about what equipment we choose is based, usually, upon highly subjective and nebulous criteria that it’s difficult to name, let alone define.

So basically the other guy's made a £60 profit on a voided transaction, the 'justification' being a couple of vanilla set-ups. Nice work if you can get it. Really, everyone needs to learn how to fettle their own guitars. It's not difficult; the basic tools are dirt cheap; forums like BC are full of helpful people with bundles of experience; there's tons of information and vids out there; and even a little practical knowledge helps when trying out prospective purchases.

Manchester...erm, mid-80s... Our drummer (in an originals-with-the-odd-cover 80s Rock Band) was about to become a Dad, and had reluctantly decided he'd have to shelve the rehearsals and gigging for a good while, so he'd stepped down, and we were on the urgent look-out for a replacement. As a thoroughly nice chap, and knowing we had gigs booked we needed to fulfil, he had even left his kit at the rehearsal rooms for new drummers to use, in part or whole, for the auditions. We organised a Sunday afternoon, with an hour slot for each drummer we'd contacted, and it started unremarkably, but then, second to last, was the standout. And not in a good way. He turned up in a six-wheel Transit, immediately earning about a thousand bonus points, but it became terribly clear that all this thing held was his kit...and there was little room for anything else. After refusing to use of any of the already-set-up kit, he began ferrying kit in. And more kit. And more kit. After ten minutes of watching boxes piling up, and with his end of the rehearsal room beginning to look like the dockside of the Queen Mary before a round the world jaunt, we volunteered to help, and then we all spent the next 45 minutes setting up a furry tigerskin-covered double-kick kit, with six raised toms, three floor toms, eight rototoms and so many cymbals we couldn't see him any more. As he tightened up the third china cymbal, I said "No gong, then?", and he froze, looking concerned. "I didn't bring it...should I have done?" I assured him it wouldn't count against him, and eventually, with about five minutes left of his allotted hour, he was ready. The singist had been forced to nip outside to intercept the last auditionee, apologise and ask him to bear with and go for a pint in the local for twenty minutes, and then our hero launched into the first intro, to a then-bog-standard Bon Jovi tune we'd decided would make a good starter audition song. Now, in 35 years of bands, I've never played in a freeform jazz ensemble, and I certainly hadn't back then, so I was unfamiliar with the five-count intro, and the thirteen-bar drum fill*, but this chap was clearly a master. We couldn't possibly fault him for brio, enthusiasm, and certainly energy...it was his counting which left quite a lot to be desired**. In addition, having taken so long to set up his mahoooosive kit, he was determined to hit every single drum and cymbal as often as he could, with scant regard for the song, or indeed the befuddlement he was creating amongst his prospective fellow band-members. I shall leave to your imagination the meal he made of the drawn-out ending, suffice to say Richard Wagner, had he been hanging around the rehearsal rooms (unlikely) and not dead for about a century (for once, fortunate), would probably have shaken his head and said something unflattering about bombast. In German. He finished by standing, his arms aloft and his eyes shining. Had that thing Usain Bolt does (not the running, the archery-arms thing) been around, he would have been doing that. We shuffled our feet, unable to maintain eye contact with him or each other, for fear of collapsing into hysterics. Eventually the singer thanked him for his time, and we all heaved-to loading his van again, while the singer went to buy the other auditionee another pint. He didn't get the job. * I'm probably doing an enormous disservice to freeform jazz ensembles around the globe here, so apologies if so, but I'm at a loss as to where else to place it musically. Perhaps amongst those gangs of glassy-eyed, saffron-robed enthusiasts one encounters on the city streets, each banging a drum in a random manner with a blissful expression and no regard for hard-pressed shoppers... ** I note that 'dyscalcula' is the numerical equivalent of dyselxia, and apparently A Real Medical Thing. It may have been that he was a secret sufferer; that would explain an awful lot. Edit: I've just spotted that I've spelt 'dyslexia' wrong in the footnote above. Oh, the irony...

Just got an email offering 10% discount on orders before June 4th 2018. Code to use at the checkout is GDPBLAH Cheers.

I've never heard a bad word about the older Eden gear in fact I had a WT550 for quite a while and it is the best amp I have ever owned. Plug it in, switch it on and "Boom", it was all there, tone in spades. Only sold it as it was a bit heavy. I then bought a WTX500 and was a bit underwhelmed. The tone was there but it just didn't have the "welly" of the WT500. I don't know much about the later gear but Eden is now owned by Marshall and I don't know what influence they have on the product line. Comparing old school watts with present day Class D watts is like chalk and cheese. An old 150W Trace Elliot or Peavey etc. is likely to sound much louder than the Eden. To get double the loudness of a particular setup you need 10 times the power output. Even if you were comparing like with like the difference between 150 and 225 Watts is inaudible. I don't know about the deal you have been offered but a quick look seems to suggest they are around £600 which is £100 dearer than a Fender Rumble 500. The Rumble is in a different league and has a massive following on here and you can hook up an additional speaker to it, (albeit an 8 Ohm one). The other alternative, if you like the Eden sound is buy one of the new Terra Nova heads and use your 4 Ohm cab. At the end of the day it is your money and you can spend it as you like but the Eden Combo will not do what you outlined above.

He should think himself lucky he didn't go on a killing spree or it'd have been the Beatles for all eternity.

Perhaps we ought to have an unofficial contest to come up with the most appropriate punishment for the miscreant? Or would that be slightly too much in the way of vicarious dark thoughts? I was thinking he could be chained to the front of a massive TE rig, and forced to listen to the Oasis back catalogue at full volume.

Done. Basschat is such a great bunch of people. All the best Stephen and FunkShui.

‘Murmur’ by R.E.M. for probably the first time this century. I was a massive fan and from the mid eighties until the early nineties was obsessed with them. I think ‘Murmur’ is one of the strongest, most self assured debuts by any band. I think I’ll be revisiting the rest of their back catalogue now.

Haha - my main motivation here is not to create a funding stream for your BMS sale (and I love the way you snuk in a shameless plug for that!)

Clearly BC generally seen as a forum dedicated to the bass guitar but obviously there are also many instruments which use the bass clef. What about the bass singer in opera or doo-wap groups? The tuba in brass bands? The (contra) bassoon in orchestras? The bass synth in dance music? Anyone here play the euphonium or baritone horn? For me some of the best bass sounds come from the church organ, I mean those big muthas in cathedrals with pipes several metres tall. Is this kinda talk sacrilege?

I am the same, I like to have a thumbrest where a Stingray pickup would be. I add them to Precisions and even to Jazz basses. I once bought an OLP Stingray copy that had a metal piece glued on the pickguard as a thumbrest where a Precision pickup would be. I removed it but kept it... and ended up using it on another bass: It is held in place with strong double sided sticky tape. It's solid, but not so solid that you cannot remove it if you try gently but with persuasion, and the sticky residue that's left behind is easy to remove and leaves no mark (on poly finishes at least! If yours is nitrocellulose I am not sure this would work well). A while ago, we had a thread about this kind of thing and the idea became popular enough that some BC member with access to the right machinery took orders and produced a bunch of them in black acrylic based on a scan of mine. Another BC member also made me a handful in aluminium. I do not have any spare ones anymore. I use them on various basses and have given away the rest, but it's a simple idea that definitely works for me (and a few others too). I can send you the scan if you want an exact copy and know where to have it made... but you could probably make one from a small piece of acrylic and files/sanding. At least that's my plan for when I end up needing another! Other shapes work, of course, but I liked this one as it is so that's why we copied it. I have no idea what the original bit was initially. It seems made or some kind of steel. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a thumbrest... but it has a really good comfy shape for one. It's only about 3-4mm tall, which is perfect. Here's my Classic 50 Precision with a black acrylic one:

As far as I can see the vendor gave every chance for the purchaser to do their own investigation before and during the exchange, he's a couple of sets of strings down and a couple of hours time out of pocket.

My rig is always Ampeg portaflex (either a PF50t head or a PF500 into a PF115HE or PF410 cab) and the bass depends on the band - I range Americana through to 50s rock n roll through to a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute through to Iggy Pop meets Tom Petty solo project I'm involved in. It's crazy but the only constant throughout, aside me, is that Sansamp pedal!

just in case?

Is there a Guitar Guitar near you? They usually stock Roli stuff. If you're ever up my way, you're welcome to pop in for a play about on it.

Isn't the whole point of jazz to riff off each other? Not to play everything exactly by rote, the same every time, but to see where a tune can go? Otherwise it becomes like some classical concerts, where the front row is populated by people following the score and tutting if there's even the slightest hint of "Interpretation" rather than just enjoying the music...

Pleased to help.

I'll just leave this here...

Done, and very glad to get behind this. Anyone who behaves like this scammer should be nailed (and as I understand the story SH provided the key evidence that nailed him). And anyone in our BC community, I hope, will get this kind of support. I'm only responding to the support I've had.

Yes, to be fair, after posting that sweeping statement I did decide it was high time I revisited the two Kenney Jones-era albums. I'm coming to the conclusion that I should give It's Hard more credit than I have done previously - it does have a lot of the elements that made me think Endless Wire was a surprisingly good album, except that the latter didn't have Mr Entwistle on bass.

You'd think that would be an easy question to answer but in fact it requires more consideration! For example, I think its an unforgivable sin to have done a gig with every note perfectly in tune and in time; but with a drab soulless performance given. I'd much rather someone put their all into the music, to make it expressive, emotional, varied their touch and tone, used dynamics etc etc and the odd mistake crept in here and there because you're trying your best, rather than sleepwalk through all the notes and think you did okay when in fact it was quite dull to the audience.

Some photos from the factory this morning. First we have an unpainted test assembly of a 2018 CHB bass. Next we have some CHBs queued up ready for painting And finally some painted SWB-1 bass necks in tubes

Let's distinguish second hand bargains from list prices. My cheapest bass is an old Encore P (£79) that lives in my office and gets played through a c**p guitar amp at drunken after-work jams now and then. It feels pretty good to play, but I put it through a decent bass amp for the first time recently and was shocked at how dull and flat it sounded. Ok, it does what I bought it for, and I wouldn't leave anything better at work. My cheapest "real" bass is my GMR fretless, bought here, which has build and tone quality which should cost at least three times what I paid for it (£350). The only change I've made is to re-string it with chrome flats.

True. I once popped into PMT to get a cable and left with a Music Man Stingray. That took some explaining when I got home haha.

To my mind punch is midrange - I would look at Markbass or Aguilar.

High praise indeed, from the forum's premier wordsmith. I am pink to the ears. It really was an excruciating afternoon though, and has left, as you'll have gathered, an indelible impression. I occasionally wonder where he is now, no doubt counting some hapless new recruits in with a 'one, two, seven, nine, er...four...'

BOURNEMOUTH Mid 80s and our soul/Motown band is expanding, we are looking for a keyboard player. Get a call from bloke in his 40s who tells us of his talented daughter. Our guitarist took call and explained all the relevant stuff. Dad assures him that she can blow through this material - no problem! Family turns up at guitarist’s house with keyboard, stand, armfuls of music scores. Pretty 17 year old sets up behind singer but no amp - keyboard has built in speakers we are told so all will be good. We show her set list and she counters with one of her own including “tie a yellow ribbon” and “viva España”. Smirks are beginning to appear on faces of various personnel but no one seems to have the heart to say anything. Guitarist is just about to when girl cranks up her built-in drum machine and launches into “España” in a hideously tuneless voice. Some band members attempt to tag along musically and both girl plus both parents are grinning enthusiastically as she blazes on oblivious to the suppressed laughter emanating from behind. Trumpet player is overtaken with mirth and just manages to get outside the door before he explodes into laughter. We find him 10 minutes later weeping uncontrollably by the stairs! When song ended it was a difficult moment for all but our ever diplomatic guitarist explained we were perhaps doing the wrong material for her talents. The family seemed very satisfied with the explanation and left the house beaming from ear to ear! To this day I feel guilty for the poor girl but in reality there was little that could be done. We went on to hire the fabulous “Mr Amazed”, but that as they say, is a story for another day.

Finally got a friend round to take the Clan Gathering photo After much moving of furniture we got them all in frame,still not swapped the switches on one of the T-40s so it's missing,Cirrus should have changed places with the Dyna to get seen better. It's a big picture so I've went the Photobucket route,just click the photo. Hope you folks enjoy it [url="http://s1205.photobucket.com/user/kodiakblair/media/Peavey%20Family%205.jpg.html"][/url]