Leaderboard

You may remember this build some months back. I finally got round to lacquering it. I’m super pleased with it. Output is quite low and I’m not sure why, as the preamp was pre-wired. (Noll). just need to set up intonation etc.

Hi All, Just a quick introduction to say I've started using BassChat again. I'm not sure why I stopped for a while, Facebook seemed to absorb my time. Anyway, if you have any questions about my Retrovibe products please drop me a line and I'll do my best to get back to you as quickly as I can. Cheers, D

Mainly for me. I'm in my late 40s playing original material so I can't always bank on having an audience. 🤣

Not sure if this will work. I hope your youngster has fun! ( We do)🤘😂 I'll just say wait for it.... 20210405_135127.mp4

Here's the one in question .. Owned by Paul gray from around the last Rods album 78/79 through the damned black/album strawberries and into UFO .. It was a bass used just for studio/spare from what i gather and he owned it until early 2000's. I know the guy he sold it to and the receipts are from the guy who then bought it from him ...who sold it to me ... can be heard here if anyone cares .... and not for sale... Ever ! as it's the best playing bass in the world

Some of you, I know, were following the build thread for my Zoot ZB-1000, built for me by Mike Walsh and finished back in January. Due to various supplier and Covid-related complications it was only several weeks later that I took delivery of it. I think one or two of you were interested in what it sounded like and - albeit very late in the day - I've finally got round to demo-ing it for anyone who is still interested! It's quite a lengthy vid as it has 21 core sounds courtesy of the 6-way varitone switch and the series/single/parallel switching for the pickup. So, if you'll forgive my somewhat ropey playing, here is a new vid, with no waffle and all playing. I play through the 6 positions of the varitone switch firstly with the pickup in parallel mode, then single coil, then series, and finally in those 3 positions with the varitone switched out completely. Signal is taken (pre-amplifier) from the DI on my TC RH750 and recorded on a Focusrite Scarlett Solo.

I ditched my amp and cabs completely for the very reasons described by the OP. I used to own a very nice (and very expensive) big rig that looked very impressive, but as the OP has discovered when all the gigs you do the bass goes through the PA it was starting to look a bit redundant. On the big stages as soon as I stepped away from being directly in front of my rig I could hear more or "me" in the fold back than I could from my cabs and on the smaller stages I was being asked to turn it down so as not to interfere with the FoH mix, that even stood directly in front of it the bass being supplied for the guitarist in his wedge on the other side of the stage was louder! At the same time I'd been following the various FRFR threads on here and they were making a lot more sense to me, so I sold everything and bought a Line6 Helix Floor and an RCF 745 powered cab. As I also play Bass VI in another band having a "neutral" sounding amp and cab system was a lot more versatile and saved having to carry a massive and complex rig that could cope with both "guitar" and "bass" sounds. And after selling all my conventional amplification I actually came away with a small profit! I don't miss the old big rig in the slightest. For the big gigs (Nottingham Rescue Rooms, Leeds O2 etc.) I do I don't even bother taking the RCF cab. I just give the PA a DI from the Helix and get a monitor mix that is balanced all the way across the stage. For the one gig I've done since changing where the PA was strictly vocals only the RCF was more than adequate for projecting the bass sound into the audience. For all the other in-between gigs I usually tuck the cab out of the way (the size and shape also lets me fit it in spaces where there would be no room for a conventional bass rig) and often have it firing across the stage so the rest of the band can hear me without it disturbing the FoH mix. All the sound shaping is done with the Helix and therefore what the audience hears is exactly what I hear on stage only much louder and with no nasty frequencies ready to spill into the drum and vocal mics and ruin the sound. It makes you think that the only bassists really benefiting from expensive boutique bass rigs are those who just play pub gigs where the bass doesn't go through the PA and their rig is entirely responsible for the bass sound that the audience hears.

Nice amp = Happy WoT = Happier audience, even if it's only a 1% increase.

No 'right' or 'wrong'. Do whatever gives you the sound you want.

The Damned undoubtably had the first UK punk single with New Rose

The secret is out! I worked with Zoom on presets for this unit, it's very capable indeed. If anyone has any questions i will do my best to answer them! Bear in mind I have only used a prototype, so my experiences may be slightly different from the complete unit!

Limelight P, Nash PB63, Dano Longhorn Custom Shop '60 Jazz.

Personally I'd get one of these over a PH... Just lovely! And that reverse P pup is likely to be awesome - would love to hear one being played live.

Couple of 2-10 Vanderklay cabs,1800 watts of mayhem mated to my Galien Kruger 800 fusion and sometimes I use my good old Trace elliot head

The Shapes Wot's for Lunch Mum (not beans again), is great, the bass is really up in the mix and superb playing, I was almost tempted to get a Ric when I heard that, almost

Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth - Pam Ayres

The above is Paul Gray. Plays Rics and TBirds. Nice bloke, chatted to him once. As per other posts, The Damned have had a few bassists, including Captain Sensible. The guy with the P was indeed Algy Ward, who went on to form Tank, who I saw supporting Motorhead a couple of times.

The various discussions amount bass rigs that we have had on Basschat have definitely opened me up ideas I might have never considered otherwise. The ditching of the traditional rig being one of them. 3 or 4 years ago I would have never considered playing without my big impressive looking rig behind me, but times and bands change, and I can see my current solution to be perfectly adequate for any band I'm likely to be playing with in the foreseeable future. The only reason I could currently see for getting a traditional bass amp and cab(s) would be if I went back to playing covers in pubs, and given my previous experiences of that scene it's not something I would consider from either a personal or music PoV. I get what people are saying about having a good sound on stage, and while it is something to strive towards, I think a lot of the time we get over-precious about the on-stage sound and we might be better off putting on a show for the audience. I certainly used to one of those people who would get wound up and sulk if it didn't sound "right" when playing and as a result I could be rather unpleasant to be be with at gigs. I've since come to the conclusion that so long as I can hear that I'm in time and in tune with the rest of the band, that will do for the on-stage sound and instead I'll concentrate on playing and putting on a show for the audience (and I would like to think that I am a nicer person to be in a band with as a result). They after all are the reason why we do this. Also I've never understood the quest for "trouser flapping bass volume". When the band and most of the audience these days is wearing ear plugs it kind of defeats the object, and besides if the songs your are playing are up to scratch then they shouldn't need to be played loud to sound good. Also I don't think I've worn trousers with enough spare material to flap since to late 70s!

My favourite punk bassist, Klaus Flouride of Dead Kennedys uses a Jazz bass. He was using the same 60's jazz from 1978 to 2013 when it was lost by a South American airline. He's replaced it with another jazz. His bass sound is brilliantly disgusting.

Beat me to it. New York Dolls as well? I rewatched Gimme Danger the other day on Prime. The Stooges were years ahead with their sound, look and attitude.

It's impossible to identify the first ever punk song but MC5 and Stooges had songs the could be described as punk in the early 70's and maybe even late 60's. The label "punk" originated with a couple young lads who wrote a fanzine to sell at CBGB

it was the story put our by Maclaren that the Sex Pistols couldn't play, totally untrue of course, and it sort of stuck for all punk bands, in 1977 all the first wave of punk bands had been around for a while so had learnt to play, although it was fairly basic rock and roll it was well played at speed and some interesting bass lines as well, listen to some of the tracks on the Rezillos first album, it was a year or two later that punk emerged where they couldn't play very well, I know, I was one of them 😊

Less great are the sweeping generalisations. Whatever anyone's answer, every one is valid and everyone uses the gear they want to. Even on big stages, I have always liked moving to that spot where your bass rig just hits you in the chest, every once in a while.

There should be an Eden Metro Appreciation Society (it even has a good acronym - EMAS).

My gigging life is varied. I like the consistency of having my own amp. And I like its DI.

Second hand Squire CV P bass. Everything you need and no need to be precious about it at less than £300.

I'm an Eden fan, too. If you're selling, I'm buying 😉 I love the Eden sound. Twenty kilos isn't outrageously heavy. I couldn't use it as a practice amp though - I live in a tenement flat, so I have to use my WTX-264 as a headphone amp. But the sheer volume my Metro cranks out has got me hankering for an Eden valve power amp. We got back to regular rehearsals a few weeks ago. Our normal venue is a college recording studio, which sports a Phil James bass combo with 4 x 5" speakers below a weedy Class D amp which I cranked up to eleven. My bandmates, quite rightly, complained about the lack of bass on the rehearsal recordings. After a few rehearsals, I took the Metro along. Instantly, the reaction changed from 'no bass, wotcha daeing Lozz' to 'sh!t, the bass is drowning everything'. I'd had the weed up to eleven and the Metro was less than half-way up. The Metro is valve pre-amp and solid-state power amp. That's why I'd love to try an Eden valve power amp. I think it would take the roof off.

Yeah, too bad it took them forty-something years (and tens of thousands of amps) to "fail". Plenty of pro bassists used them as well.

Quite a phenomenon back in '93, I went to the 1st Phoenix Festival and Jamiroquai were in the Jazz tent. There was a big crowd all trying to get into this marquee so we didn't get to see Jamiroquai, just sat outside and listened 🤷🏻‍♂️ Jay Kay story. My ex Bro-in-law was part of the catering team at the Brit Awards one year. They were finished and started clearing up and Jay Kay was the only 'star' to come by and thank them for the spread. Not saying he's brilliant or owt, just saying what I heard.

So while I have a couple of days off work, I really wanted to take a couple of hours to scratch a P Bass itch I have, I don't know where it came from as I have NEVER liked the look or the thought of a P Bass, but I've been bitten recently and the itch is too much, so got to scratch it. I popped into Guitar Guitar in Newcastle and asked them to unfurl their in stock P Basses, line them up and let me try them all in a shootout fashion to see if any of them were a suitable ointment. With that said I was presented with lots of basses highlighting Fenders highly confusing catalogue of models, with a £5000 50's custom shop propping one end and a Squier Classic Vibe at the other, sandwiched in the middle were American Pro's, Vintera's, and Players series'. What a bloody hit and miss selection of basses they are, some were good, some were awful, combinations of good / bad strings, setups and neck feel, the £800 Vintera having a much better setup than the twice the price American Pro for instance... I can quickly talk about that £5k P bass here, and this is for people who have played it... that neck... WTF... it's a tree, U profile? sheesh!... ...So for an hour I went back and forward between 5 or 6 basses until I was playing just one and didn't want to put it down... that bass was... drum roll please... a... Squier FSR (Factory / Fender Special Run?) Late 50's Custom Vibe P Bass (awful mouthful) in a two tone sunburst (never liked this colour) with a anodised gold (never ever would have wanted this) pickguard... so it's a P Bass in a colour combination that I would never have looked twice at, it's got a maple fingerboard which I have forever told myself I don't like, and it's a squier... so why did I buy it? well put simply it's one of the best basses I have ever played, ever, I couldn't put it down, I went back to it after playing US Pros and Mex Vinteras and Players Series' and for me it was just better, the neck was better, the frets were better, the feel was better, it was just better so I left with it and then played it for 2.5 hours straight when I got it home, it's tremendous. £400, was the American Pro 4 times the bass? not a bloody chance. As for P Basses I thought they could only produce a stuffy wooly thumpy jumper sound, but it knocks most basses out the park for bark and bite, volume up, tone down and it just nails everything I want to play. I'm converted! It's a wonderful instrument, and I'm definitely coming round to the two tone sunburst and gold pickguard, it's classy in a "late 50's" kind of way 🤔.

Would something like this do the job..? ... I printed this, and the p/up surrounds, on my 3D printer for @PaulThePlug (his photo...); he attached them with double-sided tape. I can print any (reasonable...) length or size; any use to you..?

When did NEED ever get in the way when it comes to basses? Realistically none of us need more than 2 or 3 basses if we really admit it, but that doesn’t stop us from wanting 10, 20 or however many!

Do we even need basses? Or amps? What even is ‘music’? (wanders off in a haze)

Always played a ric during his time with the damned .. apart from the early 90’s when he rejoined when he used his thunderbird .. there’s the odd YouTube of him playing someone else’s gear but that when he did the odd song here and there as a guest

But you do have to appreciate that a lot (most?) of players take a different approach. Personally, I rarely use effects and I've always gone for a sound that, although not extreme in any way, is identifiable as being "my sound". While I'm not precious about it, amps and cabs are part of that.

Whatever bass you stole.

I've spent a fortune on amps that I like the sound of (and since I'm dreadful at letting stuff go, I still have nearly all of them). I doubt 99% of punters could tell much/any difference between any of them and wouldn't care if they could. I rarely play through FOH so in answer to the question, my amp sound is for me and the 1% of punters who give a toss what the bass sounds like.

Cheers Guys... Think its gonna be Star Wars Imperial March... But he quite likes a bit of The Black Keys...

70s Punk? Think you'd have a job to beat a P bass, both in looks and tone. Probably covers most of the bass parts played in that era!

Not last night, but last Saturday, a three-hour afternoon 'invitation only' private do, organised by our 2nd guitar/keys. The hall, originally, in bygone days, a stable for coach and horses, it's quite spacious enough for the fifty or so folks attending. Firstly, though, a clean sweep... Plenty of access from the wide-open side door... S'not as easy as all that, this 'ere keys stuff... ... but it all works come the sound check ... A first outing, too, for the newly-built and as yet unpainted, Hartke-driven bass combo (more on that in the Build section of the forum...). Unproven for 'live' work, we'd hedged our bets with the Ampeg, just in case, and just as well, as the combo isn't up to the task on its own. Maybe with the planned 4x5 extension cab..? The Ampeg was fine, of course, so no worries for the evening... Some pre-gig ambience from our LED PAR lights... An unusual format for this, our first outing for a couple of years, with a two sets alternating two or three as The Daub'z, with all five of us, and two or three songs as a solo or duo, giving a sort of cabaret feel to the occasion. A first outing, too, for one of my e-drum kits, for a more cut-down, one-hand set-up, which worked quite well. No need for a massive FOH for such a small room; it's the Behringers on sticks that you see in the corners. This meant, however, no foldback, which makes e-drums a little... erm... 'delicate' to play. All I hear is the clickety-flack of the nylon tips on the pads, and nothing at all from the bass pedal..! The event went off well, with a good turn-out, despite hard rain all day, and a splendid time was had by all. If I get any decent shots of us playing, or, even better, any video, I'll add them here. As a group we shared a marine choucroute for evening meal after breaking down the gear and I was home at half-past ten. A format to be repeated, with some slight technical adjustments. I'm not sure it would work quite so well with a 'cold' audience, but we're unlikely to be playing out again for some time yet, in any case. Altogether a very satisfactory, if modest, event, so 'Happy Daze'.