Leaderboard

And it's pretty much finished... @eude is probably going to change the electrics so we opted to just put the old electrics back in. The jack is actually fine, but both pots are shot. I'll order some replacements anyway to fit while the finish is hardening. But, other than the final tweaks on the setup and a final buff up in a few days time, its finished. I've obviously gone heavy on the tru-oil because it's ended up at 8 3/4 lbs rather than the 8 1/2 I was projecting but it sits BEAUTIFULLY on the strap. Even my slippy cheap nylon strap - it rests level and will sit and stay at almost any angle you care to play. It actually feels lighter on the strap than it actually is, presumably for the same reason. The fretboard is just polished - progressive from around 2000 grit paper to 12000 micro-web. The figuring shows up great in real life. I'll probably take a few more fancier shots when the lighting is right, but here it is in the meantime:

Mate of mine is into gypsy jazz (he's a guitarist, obvs). He went over to the big festival they have every year in Holland and joined in with some of the workshops. He realises during said workshops he is sitting in with some of the very best gypsy jazz musicians in the world - 1 being Django Reinhardt's grandson! Later he was due to be on stage for a group performance - playing rhythm guitar (which in gypsy jazz is no calkwalk), but ends up sitting at the front! Ok he thinks, I'll keep my head down and just concentrate on my rhythm work. During the performance all the top guys (remember, these are the best in the world) take turns to solo. He is sat next to Django's grandson who, after finishing ripping out a blinding solo (and if you now anything about gypsy jazz you'll know that everything is played at at least 90 mph) he turns to my mate Andy, (for that is his name) and indicates it's his turn...to take a solo! My mate did his best and 'got through it' as he said. The next day, he's sitting playing in another workshop when the aforementioned Django's grandson turns up with some of the other top performers, joins in with the music and everyone takes a turn soloing, my mate included, not quite so nervous this time and felt he made a better account of himself compared to the previous evenings performance. When the workshop finishes my mate then recounts how nervous he was at the previous evenings show and how he felt like an imposter. The reply of Django's grandson and all the other top players was to tell him that it matters not what you play, but the fact that you do and that everyone has to start somewhere. They were so encouraging and supporting he's booked to go again this year.

That's a bit of a sweeping statement. We have band practice once a week because we are not pro musicians. We have jobs and families, and have band practice so we can be tighter than a very tight thing and give the audience what they paid for, a decent nights entertainment. Being able to busk your way through a set is not the only measure of a musician. Being prepared to the best of your ability, however limited that ability may be, is the very least I expect from any band mate. I have busked through a gig, as a drummer, and I did not enjoy it as I spent all my time watching the other musicians like a hawk and trying to keep up. So much so the dynamics of the gig completely passed me by.

So, just to confirm - are Bryan Adams covers back on the table? Too soon?? 😖

My observation - from teaching and talking to an awful lot of bassists - is that the role that magazines played in terms of filling in historical knowledge isn't one that people are using the web for... It's weird, because YouTube is the greatest learning resource that humanity has ever come up with - whether you want to fix the screen on your phone, or work out what Allan Holdsworth was doing with symmetrical scales, there are SO many amazing lessons on there, but because the focus is on 'info that will benefit me right now' rather than the contained, delineated authoritative experience of reading an episodic magazine, it seems that relatively few people are spending time online digging into the history of the instrument. Reading BP cover to cover in the 90s (and reading every bass-related thing in Guitarist in the late 80s) was as much my school as the two years I did at music college. I have things I use every day in my playing that I learned from Rich Appleman's theory column in the 90s. I know about players because instead of, as has been indicated here, worrying that I didn't know who the players were, I read more voraciously when they were musicians I hadn't heard of than when it was ones I knew... So magazines were a way of accumulating knowledge... That was, in many ways, a problem, in that it meant that the writers and editors were the gatekeepers of knowledge, and as they were almost exclusively dudes (in the case of BP editors, all of them ever were men), women got WAY WAY worse coverage, and were often written about in a really shitty way. Likewise, the coverage was overwhelmingly US and Europe-centric. YouTube has its filters which provide similar levels of myopia if you use their algorithms to decide what to watch, but the capacity for learning is huge (I recently went on a Soca binge, and discovered a ton of amazing music and bass playing). ...So, I'm still a fan of magazines - the economics of running a mag is way more perilous than a website, you can get away with more auto-generated content on a website and have zero print costs (hosting doesn't even come close in terms of monthly outgoing per reader), even though mags have a cover price - there's obviously no granularity to the reader spend. You don't get people who give you 5p a month for reading a page or two and some who pay the full price. It's all or nothing... I greatly appreciate what No Treble are doing - particularly their attempts to fill that knowledge gap I suggested above - Ryan Madora's column on players to know is a really useful one, and the video tuition stuff is great - but the factors that drive virality, and therefor ad money, are far more damaging to so much web video content than perceived bias in reviews (there's SO much to say about reviewing, but my one observation would be that there is, objectively VERY little 'bad' gear out there now, above the rebadged absurdly cheap garbage on eBay from no-name manufacturers - the big players can't afford to make bad gear, and CNC means that consistency across instruments is lightyears beyond where it was 20 years ago when I was reviewing stuff for Bassist - I was regularly sent really bogus stuff, gave things mediocre reviews, and even refused to write about some stuff... It was way more useful to fill the pages with reviews of good stuff that I was to write a hit piece on some crappy gear. Ignore it, and it'll go away - at that point, magazines were the lifeblood of companies' ad strategy, so a bad review was actually more coverage than their rubbish gear deserved... But that's a whole other discussion) Anyway, decent journalism is expensive, so expensive that it makes a lot of magazines impossible to fund, and no commercial publisher is going to run a mag at a loss in order to meet readers' desires. The economics are a total mess right now. I'm really glad that we still have any print mags for bass at all, and I hope the people involved find a way to keep them going - my rate for writing in a UK bass mag is lower now than it was 20 years ago. They've cut everything back as far as it'll go, so we'll see if that's enough. I don't know the specifics of what was happening at BP, but I do know they ditched all their offices a while back and went to a remote working model to try and cut costs. I guess it wasn't enough.

Been after an 8x10 for a while to complete the SVT rig. Went today to pick up one I got on eBay. Sounds good, except I can't really crank it at home right now to gig volume to really hear what it sounds like in anger. Pretty angry, I'd imagine. After hearing horror stories about carting them about, I have to say it's actually easier (provided you've got wide enough doors etc) to move than a couple of 4x10s, just because you wheel it about like a trolley. The head is more of a pain in the backside tbh Anyway, i'm delighted & wanted to share in the delight with you

I think its a mixture of poor advertising on here, as in, vague descriptions, shoddy photo's etc, plus competition from Facebook, eBay and a quiet market I advertised a mint Gibson Thunderbird on here - no takers, not even an enquiry. Listed it on eBay at a higher price and sold it within 3 days. Just lucky that a guy who wanted the exact model I had (a 2015 model with the Babicz bridge) was looking at the time I posted it. He pressed the BIN button and off we went. Out of interest after the sale I asked him if he was on BC and he said he'd never heard of it! So in summary Not all bass players use this forum (shock horror!) eBay, Facebook and thefretboard - a guitar forum which also sells basses and where I bought my T-Bird from - are competing places to buy/sell (and that's without mentioning Gumtree) Many of the owners of collections who advertise on here are 'thinning the herd' which naturally reduces the pool of buyers Selling on commission through specialist shops - Bass Direct sold a Sandberg of mine for a very good price to me, which then appeared on eBay for about 6 months and is now back on Bass Direct's books. It's this one btw http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Sandberg_Classic_4.html It's a cracking bass btw! Having said all of the above I'll still use this forum to advertise my gear. I'm a big fan of BC but like most things, it ain't perfect!

Pea Turgh did ask for lots of piccies....... I think you'll all agree, this does not look like a homemade cab. The Ashdown badge probably helps here, but you can buy all kinds of badges on eBay for a few pounds (plenty of Trace Elliot, for example). So if you feel like putting a name on your cab there's nothing to stop you.

I once played in a band that backed a reggae singer from St Vincent. We were white, he was black. None of us gave a sh 1t about that. It was the best musical experience of my life. Tell me where I went wrong...

Aston Barrett is one of my favourite bassists but he isn't one of your "regular" reggae bassists. His lines are totally unique. If you want to get the feel and learn the style of Reggae I'd listen to others first, then progress to Barrett. For starters, try stuff like : Peter Tosh - Johnny B Goode, Feel No Way, Glass House, Reggae Mylitis etc Toots and the Maytals - Pressure Drop, Monkey Man, Louie Louie, Funky Kingston etc

Might be worth absorbing a live version of the sheriff, as well 👍 Once you can do everything on this thread - if it still doesn't work, then it's probably safe to blame the drummer. 😁

I think that we do need to consider that we have an ageing population in the UK (and the rest of the western world) and the rock and roll generations of the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s have now reached various stages of middle age and are not interested in the same things their parents were at that age. Younger people may enjoy live music if they are exposed to it, but it is not the same thing as it used to be and they can't be expected to turn up en mass for a night out to see a band playing a type of music that their parents grew up with. There is still an audience for rock music (or dad rock as some people prefer) and a few years ago there was a pretty vibrant scene in pubs. You could always get a decent audience if the band was good enough. Now you can't help but notice that austerity has taken its toll and it is more difficult to get people away from their TVs and supermarket booze, but I have still been managing to gig pretty regularly for the past few years in decent bands with guys ranging from their late 30s to early 60s playing to audiences of a similar age group. You need to know your audience. These days yoof culture is no longer necessarily king and its the older punters who are more likely to be interested in watching live music, not to mention to have the disposable income to do so...

Check out this vid, at 7 minutes...

Vim Fuego........

@The59Sound do you need to take a break?! How about it, or do you think you can behave like a grown up for a bit? Calm down.

Why are you being rude? What an odd reply. Literally an opinion, a point of view - my 2p. The concept of a cheaper (‘kiddy’) Flea bass in itself was acknowledged by Flea when he brought out the “fleabass” range of instruments and further addressed by the introduction of a lower price point Fleabass (street bass). I was just pointing out that Fender may have missed a trick by only having the one price point which would be out of reach for younger/less affluent fans when they’ve done broader attempts to previously... Mike Dirnt has/had a Fender and a Squier model simultaneously BB King had a Gibson and Epiphone version of Lucille (there are plenty more examples) It just broadens their buying audience somewhat and more buyers means more money. Makes more business sense. And having left the guitar/bass retail industry after 12 years in 2015 - I might have an idea of what people buy into. As a point, the cheap fleabass instruments weren’t that great - but we sold 100’s of them because people bought into the Flea name/image. But what would I know, I’m only a child.

Oh dear - I've arranged to collect a Groove 5-string tomorrow...

I didn't really set out to make something close to the Barefaced. We've equalled the weight of the Barefaced but have got there by a slightly different route. This design is a development of the first one in this thread but the design objective this time was high performance and light weight. The performance is similar to the system with the Beyma 12 and ceramic Celestion 1" compression driver, but it's much lighter - and obviously costs more. In answer to your question, I believe the Barefaced BB2 uses a Faital Pro HF102 compression driver. Both the ceramic and neo version of the Basschat design use compression drivers with a 1.4" diaphragm - twice as much diaphragm area as the Faital. They are much better compression drivers for our purpose, but the neo Celestion we're using costs twice as much as the Faital in the Barefaced.

There always were great sounding light-weight basses. My 1969 P bass weighs about 8lbs. I know there were heavy basses that sounded good but there are many well made lighter basses that sound amazing, so the idea that you need a heavy bass in order to make a better sound really was/is a myth.

Just recently joined the the shuttlemax club with a 9.2 and loving it. There's a lot of knobs around ( no offence ) which some may see as too many, if you want old school, but i like miniscule control over the EQ, with the added bonus of dual preamp channels for 2 distinct sounds at the kick of a button.

I saw Pekko Käppi a few years back. I love his traditional Finnish folk stuff.

Great, glad to help, hope you like it

Mine landed today and very nice it is too. Many thanks for the heads up 👍

Couldn't agree more! BP is just a copy of BGM with different adverts. Well yes; that's what it's supposed to be. There's been no effort to cover up the fact. It was nice to see Joel McIver acknowledge in his first editorial that BP is the "finest and most prestigious publication devoted solely to the low end." So why not rename the UK publication "Bass Player"?

Just sold Peter a Future Impact synth pedal - quick, easy, great communication and a gentleman to boot. Definitely deal with confidence!

yep same goes for all class D amps. one nice feature of shuttles I recall is the internal hi pass filter is quite strong which prevents sub-baddy boomy sounds hitting the speaker too hard and is very helpful for upright bass especially

I'm the opposite. If I'm asked to do a dep gig I always do a lot of preparation beforehand. The last major dep I played, I had to learn 34 songs in 2 weeks. I made up cheat sheets for them all, just in case they were needed. In the end the band only played about 20 of them. Sometimes I'm better prepared than the bands I occasionally dep with. Sometimes they have to use my cheat sheets

The LMB is a limiter, not quite a compressor. It’s sole purpose is to make sure your signal doesn’t go above the volume you want, you only really need it if you’re clipping from getting huge jumps in volume when you’re digging in. It’s a utility, not really a tone shaper. A compressor evens out all your dynamics, while a limiter just stops them being too loud. Don’t bin it, sell it.

To be fair Neil is from the tribe of jahova 😀

And twins.

That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times That ten times Have i won the prize ?

Don’t disagree but needs to be Tina Weymouth comp stripe lol.

Sunburst it should be sunburst, split pickup, jack on the front, maple fingerboard, with LaBella 760F-MUS strings. Why they don't make these anymore I don't know, it's my go-to bass now.

Playing?? You are supposed to play them as well? Oh...

The best bit of advice I was given when I started was that as long as you start together, stop together and smile together, no one notices the bit in the middle. I thought they were joking but it’s surprisingl true. There have been a couple of car crash moments when we have murdered a song but never has anyone commented on it. Quite the opposite on one occasion where we did a short set and for some reason just weren’t on it (borrowed kit, no set up time didn’t help) but we had people raving about us, in a good way, on Facebook.

Playing 5-a-side tonight. Head height rule applies so I'll bring my low-pass filter....

I know you’ve said you don’t like leather straps, but a standard width leather strap with an ‘unfinished’ underside usually does the trick. Enough friction to stop neck dive but won’t tear the shirt off your back!

There are a billion better bassists in London than me. No way would I get through auditions and get hired. To get around that small hurdle I've formed my own bands. Am just about to start my third in the new year: gigs in the diary, 2 hour set list sorted and talented 5 piece line-up on board. We just need to start rehearsing My advice FWIW: why look to jump on someone else's coat tails? Be bold, believe in yourself and make it happen. Age is just a number.

I think the switch was made somewhere around 1964.

I am not a knowledgeable fan but do enjoy the nicely laconic bass line in this:

I'd take the strings off and remove the bridge piece. The Piezo element should be under there. It's worth looking in the groove it sits in to see that it is flat and no bits of wood or dust are in the slot. Also the underside of the bridge piece should be flat and smooth to make even contact on the piezo element. I have seen bridge pieces that have a slight scallop so that each string presses down on the piezo with a bit more pressure. Even the act of removing the bridge and replacing it might help. I had a guitar where the bridge was so tight in it's slot that it didn't allow even pressure under all the strings. I found that out by pressing down on the bridge using the plastic handle of a screwdriver whilst playing the quiet string. All things to try before giving up on it!

On Saturday we played a breakfast gig (8:30 to 11:30) for an investment company and its clients and staff.Our jazz quartet has done this gig for about six years now and although it is essentially playing "wallpaper music" we do get some occasional applause and a lot of comments from individuals.Over the three hours about 300 people came and went while we played some lighter jazz and some Christmas songs and we view the gig as a good rehearsal and play some songs that we don't play too often on our regular gigs. It's always fun to hear our singer/keyboardist do "Santa Baby" and we do some "jazzy" arrangements of Christmas songs and we all enjoy "Everyone's Waiting For The Man With The Bag" and "Baby,It's Cold Outside" which the singer and I do and is a lot harder to sing while playing a good bass line that it sounds but we nailed it.I used my DB and had fantastic sound straight into our Bose PA using just the Schatten Mini Pre for volume control and the EQ on the Bose. I know it sounds like a dreadful gig to some of you but it is held in a beautiful venue, we are fed well from a huge breakfast buffet, easy load in/out, nice friendly crowd including some young kids who dance up a storm and we are well paid and can pretty much play what we want.We are booked for next year already. Downside...I leave home at 6:30 for a snowy one hour drive for 7:30 load in.

Might be worth investigating a mixer controlled by a tablet, allowing you to do both/either.

I disagree, Cuzzie. Even if manufacturers standardise on peak/RMS, there's still so many ways to fudge the numbers that it'll continue to be meaningless. If you're looking for the certainty that amp A having more watts than amp B means that it will be louder, then you'll forever be disappointed. The only way to know how loud an amp goes, is to try it at a gig. S.P.

Yes, had an 'armchair' bassist address me on stage the other night with 'why are you playing a girls bass?' (referring to my MIJ comp stripe 'stang). I proceeded to play the crap out of it, making the growliest sound come out of a small package.......he left before the end of the first spot.

You lucky, lucky bastard!