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So here we go... ACG Krell Kompakt Fretless 6 String, Uber Spec, multicoil pickups, DFM preamp, 32" scale. These are Alan's pics - way better than I could do and it sounds and feels as good as they look! I'll try and get some sound clips together over the next few days. It's been worth the wait! 😀

Joe's secret is that he had a pioneering operation during his youth to swap the the skin from each of his fingertips with the skin from each toe. Initially, he did this to help with his early career as a cat burgler. Having found that there was little money to be earned by just stealing cats, he tried selling them as well. While waiting for responses to his classified ads for affordable pedigree moggies, he took up bass and realised that he had something that no-one else had. He's not looked back since and cat theft has been at a record low since records began.

I have a new addition to my harem of sexy 80s basses ... a 2nd Washburn B80 in Pearl White, I think It would be easier to find hens teeth !!

Those Luminlay are a great addition to a bass. Makes positioning sooo much easier. Will you be adding these to the control knobs too?

We're all MU members, so fortunately we've not had anything pulled that we really care about, (i.e. important gigs, functions etc) mainly because we have a signed contract in place. I feel for those that have been plopped on; I appreciate that the MU subs might seem expensive at first look, but it only needs to save one gig to pay for itself I suppose. Oh and I see no problem with calling out venues/managers/promoters for acting badly. In fact, the MU like to hear about them and their misdemeanours!

Keep going. The more complex and precise the search the less chance I have of finding one!

More like a Harley Davidson. They do the same thing as other motorcycles, but they have a loyal following (maybe too loyal in some cases?). Each to their own.

I was actually quite impressed by the control panels. I think it must take a lot of skill and patience, when lacking the correct tools, to be able to chew the plastic into a suitable shape.

Holy Crap!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds this. My sympathy for your restrictions. I never felt free to practice properly in the terraced house but I am now fortunate enough to be detached and with a practice space that is separated from the main living space by another room. Trouble is; now I can practice but I can't do anything with it because I am housebound and no-one wants to come and play. Actually, my step-grandson and I butchered played Dancing in the Moonlight with him on uke yesterday so it's not all that bad. He's getting a moped soon so he reckons he'll come to practice and visit his grandad more often. Cool.

Welp, what I generally like to do is listen to a recording, and once I more-or-less get the idea of the bass part (usually wrongly, because what we hear and what we think we hear from the bass are often different things)... (bass is funny like that)... anyway, it doesn't matter if you're a fret or two out (especially at the "bassy" end where it's harder to tell). (I once spent all day listening to a tiny bit of a whole afternoon of rehearsal, because there was one teeny bit in one of the songs that I thought sounded good - yet I couldn't replicate it... eventually the drummer came in, and decided it wasn't me, so it must have been a guitarist) (dammit). Anyhoo, further tips: 1. Don't ever feel comfortable. That is the moment before you realise you haven't moved your fretting hand ready for the next note in a really simple bass line* and you're screwed. b. Don't concentrate on the next bit - you'll mess up the bit you're playing. 3. Don't concentrate on the bit you're playing - you'll mess up the next bit**. 4. Don't worry about horrible fret buzz and finger noise - apparently it doesn't come out on recordings (like a vampire doesn't appear in a mirror - weird eh?). 5' There are 2 types of bass fills: The ones everybody in the room is expecting (you have to have a go at those), the ones that nobody is expecting (you don't have to do those), and one other type... I thought of it just now, but it's gone... 5a. People may tell you that fills are best unrehearsed, wrong, random, loud, and half a beat late - this is not true. 6" People may tell you that uncomfortable / embarrassed glances from other band members is jealousy - this is also not true. 7. As you're already a guitar player - you must know all of this already. Hope this helps! 👍 * Don't ever play something that people think is easy, or something that sounds easy. It's more embarrassing to mess that up. ** see "b."

Sounds dumb but why not just learn the bass line or pattern and apply it to your own playing? I learnt how to octave by watching a bass cover of Duran Duran - girls on film. I was curious how it looked on the fretboard and when I watched the video I was like ahhh I see what you did there. So I practised it. Just the chorus. Got that down and could play it over and over. I loaded up the song into virtualDJ and set it to loop on the chorus and played along to it until I nailed it. Forgotten how to play it now but I still know how to octave. Rock and roll blues stuff yeah same thing if you’re playing 12 bar blues. You get bored of root notes so eventually you work out the scales and recycle the same shape or note grouping on each string or to the appropriate fret. For funk not that I’m any good at it whatsoever, probably worth learning a couple of tracks and picking out the key elements that you feel are funkaaaay 😬

Isn't that the elusive part though? You can learn the meter of the song and measure your notes precisely against the bar and yet that does not guarantee you a groove. I believe in the words of the title of Deee-Lite's song; Groove is in the Heart... ain't it the truth?

It's a great song to play on bass isn't it. There's so many bass-centric songs in our set, it's great, Pinball Wizard, The Real Me, Down in the Tubestation, Town Called Malice, Keep on Running, the list goes on. We've got a reasonable following and they all know what the bass does, it's quite uplifting compared to the average pub goer who has no idea.

Shame. I still think it sounds like fun though. Good on yer. Shan't. I'm one of those who can't stand authority figures who are sure they are right and everything else is somehow not valid. I have no need to suffer the righteousness of zealous teachers any more - so there. While I respect Scott's expertise as a teacher, I can't conform. Having the highest IQ in most of the schools that I attended, I never could. The handicap to it was that teachers saw me as a vehicle to advance their own careers. I realised that when one of my secondary school teachers tried to earn geek points from the fact that I had learned the first three years worth of the Vocational School syllabus for tech drawing, metalwork and art in a single year. I passed with good grades while maintaining the grades in my established subjects. I mean to say; who had to do the work? Her or me? Sorry. There is nothing wrong with what you say. It just doesn't work for me.

Wouldn't music be interesting if that were the case.

So, nobody should play what they didn't write themselves? Or just pretty young ladies shouldn't? Or if they do, they shouldn't appear to be "happy" about it? 😁

muiscmen aNd rikerbakers an fendr all suk big leage best bas giutar evr is sqire afinnity percizion i got one it so good my brther Cody keeep steelig an hide IT in his room I get back is all out tune I tell mom but she not lssning jus drink mor beer I say Cody yu wait til Dad gt back from deployment he kik yor butt. Fuk U, logo Nzis.

It’s unlikely that Joe records using his amp rig, nor the same bass each time, so attributing it to those things is a little pointless. Even with his bass, I think he sounds very similar with his Jazz as with his MusicMan. Much of his sound on record will come from the production process (or lack thereof....it’s all really lo-fi) I reckon, and his live sound will be processed to match that. You recognise Joe for the way he plays, so it’s all characteristics I reckon, we just attribute it to ‘tone’. Si

Just a gentle reminder to, ahem, keep it country, on this thread. No formal warnings but please make sure you adhere to Basschat rules about being respectful and also BC rules about not commenting on prices of things for sale here. I've hidden a couple of posts but no further action at this stage.

Bass playing aside, the most impressive thing about this song is Ian's knowledge of world geography 🌍

Reckon I could fix that for you. I've some carbon twill weave tube and epoxy resin in the garage. If you want it done, pm me for an address. No charge beyond postage .. fixing carbon things is something I enjoy doing for fun. It won't look quote the same mind, but who's going to be looking down there.

Christmas 1997, I got a Japanese bb300 in red, £99.99, dad put a £30 deposit down and payed the rest on Christmas Eve that year. Ive owned loads of Yamaha basses, my brother still regularly gigs an AES500 les Paul type (very 90’s pseudo retro thing). Ive had many BB’s, a TRB5PII and a BEX4C. Ive always had a soft spot for Yamaha basses, and I’ve owned 100’s of basses from £50 to £5000, and I think it’s about knowing what you’re getting when other brands can be hit and miss. I’ve got a custom shop 64 jazz which won’t be going anywhere and two basses which were made for me and live in a double case I use these to record with a lot. The bigger BB’s just sit right on me and I think familiarity counts for a lot.

OK - a bit of a respite between visiting one set of relatives for Christmas and another set visiting us running up to New Year While the finishing process is progressing, I'm knocking off a few of the remaining jobs. First is recessing the bridge. It's a small change but makes such a difference. From this: To this: using these simple tools: This is one of the only thing I use the little Veritas hand router for - but it's great for ensuring the bottom is completely flat. This small version is actually a bit of a flawed design but I think I've used it often enough to consider its bigger brother which is a much better design. Other things done are the luminlay side dots: And in the meantime, the finish is becoming silky smooth to the touch and nice and satin to the eye: Tomorrow I'm going to try to make a trio of knobs and also sort the truss rod cover

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Just pulling you over to the more relevant thread from our Yammy general purpose chat (on all matters apart from Yamaha basses currently - lol!) You've probably already seen this, but just in case...and who knows there may be a couple of other Helix HX's that might come out of the woodwork direct to your pm inbox

Absolutely - it's been sitting in various cold trucks, vans and warehouses for the past 24 hours so I have it sitting in the living room getting up to temperature before I open it up and try it out

Absolutely but what I meant was that as soon as I adjusted my playing position to suit the Rickenbacker, it felt the most comfortable of the two basses. I play mine finger style with Fender flats and it still has that amazing sound. Not in the least bit thuddy

My Mesa 400+ and a Fender 610 neo in the studio

Sir, I’ll take your USA passive SUB (which I once owned and enjoyed) and raise you an Old Smoothie - for cleaning up the zing of the pre 2018 Rays, but adding some serious booty and punch if you need it too

Things happen, bad things happen, and family crises occur. That's why you just do not start a thread like this one single day after the incident, possibly damaging their reputation in the process. I'm not proposing to never react, but one single day? That, and/or your style could have been considerably less aggressive and accusing. Total waste of our time, IMHO.

It’s a dead giveaway i’init? You are Santa 🎅 and I claim my five pounds.

Used my Backbeat tonight for the first time with my new Cosmic Audio CE6B IEMs (also for the first time) and it was outstanding! The rumbling on your back combined with the clarity of IEMs is a formidable combination. I can honestly say it was one of the best live experiences of my gigging career. I’ve always loved playing with an amp and cab, and could never see myself playing without them. Until tonight! I had my rig (Darkglass MT900 and Bergantino AE210) on stage just in case, but its safe to say I didn’t need it. For the first time ever I can actually see myself forgoing the use of a bass rig entirely in favour of this setup. The Backbeat is a seriously cool piece of kit for sure. Combined with a decent DI and some decent IEMs, it really is the best of both worlds - Pristine audio and ‘physical’ feedback similar to what you would get from a cranked amp behind you. Highly recommended!

Whichever way you do the maths with any modern drivers it will be 5.33-ohms. Markbass have just rounded it up to 6-ohms so as not to confuse the uninitiated. There is no way you could rewire it to anything other than multiples of 2.66-ohms. You can safely use that with a valve amp on a 4-ohm setting without any problem

I think we should all give your wife a round of applause, what a lovely thing to do.

How do you play it? Loud and Proud. Only way to go.

just put this up here....

Living in the Past and Bouree, both by Jethto Tull. I like the rhythmic and melodic lines in both songs and by coincidence they are both in 5/4 time.

I can't see any family resemblance but I'd go along with it if she's certain.

There’s a good reason why that happened. The ‘60s Rics came with very low tension flats. So what did everyone do? They stuck Rotosounds on them. 😉 Then there’s the other thing; they had to adjust the truss rods. But 4001 rods don’t adjust like other rods; you first slacken off the truss rod nuts, then move the neck into position, then tighten the nuts to hold it in place. Unfortunately, up until relatively recently, not a lot of people knew that. So the first thing they do is tighten the rods as per other basses, which either screws up the rods, pops the fingerboard, or both (if you’re really lucky). And of course it has to be said that those thin necks, in the days before reinforcement, weren’t really designed to handle heavy strings. Having said that, many of the necks managed, but some didn’t. When adjusted correctly the rods are pretty effective; Geddy’s tech said that they got one of his Rics out after some years and the neck hadn’t budged an inch, whereas his Jazz had been through several necks at that point.

Get thee behind me Satan.

God this brings back memories of seeing New Model Army for the first time at Klub Foot at the Clarendon Hotel in Hammersmith, the one and only time I saw them with Stuart Morrow who was amazing.

I`ve only played a couple, thought they were great though the pickup cover on one was seriously in the way. Iconic looks, and great sounds/playability from the ones I had a go on.

funnily enough...I depped for an extreme metal band for a couple of gigs last weekend. Went fine, excellently actually, but they're mates anyway, and couldn't have been nicer to me personally. However, their need for an emergency bass player follows them having had a guitarist playing bass, very badly, about two years ago - they figured that anybody who can play reasonable guitar can play OK bass. He was so bad that he wasn't allowed to play on their album, and eventually got sacked. They finally appreciated what a bass player actually brings to the band, which they had taken for granted previously, but only spotted when it wasn't there. So they find a really good bass player and they immediately see/hear the difference...but never quite get round to announcing that he's actually in the band, keep using old photos with the sacked bassist, and surprisingly enough he gets fed up and jacks it in. So now they've learned both important lessons - get someone who can actually play bass properly, and treat them well enough so that they don't get fed up and leave. Third time's the charm...

I should be so lucky

I was going to say "westcountry"? Glastonbury's over two hours north from me. Eden is westcountry. (Tongue in cheek disclaimer for the argumentative types) I don't know why anyone gets upset over these Glastonbury bookings, it's a mainstream pop festival and Kylie is a mainstream pop star whose been churning out hits for three decades. I'd have thought that qualified her for 'Legend' status in the eyes of the average Glastonbury goer. I'd be fairly content to have had her longevity and success, as would many more on here I'd imagine. Never mind keep knocking her.

Christine could I ask what glue (with sanding dust?) you used to glue in your blocks and how much pressure it needs? I would hate to have one crack. Thanks for your invaluable advice.