skej21

Contacted John about a loom. Great service and had the loom incredibly quickly. Easy to fit and works great. Thanks again!

Slap is certainly not dead. Depends where you look, as it seems pretty main stream on YouTube, where every other video seems to be a product demo consisting mostly of slap!

[quote name='LZD56' timestamp='1506070913' post='3376209'] Interesting feature yesterday in No Treble including a rare live performance of Shadows & Light with Joni Mitchell, featuring a much more laid back Jaco. http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2017/09/21/jaco-pastorius-30-years-later/ [/quote] You can buy shadows and light live on DVD/Bluray :-)

I had to use one because Kevin Dean was already taken...

Why put '£70 ONO' if you then get offered £65 & £100 and accept £100. Any idiot can tell you that £65 is nearer to £70 than £100 is to £70!

For me, you should view every weakness as an opportunity. The biggest weakness of TAB is the lack of information you get. The best thing about this is that in order to get the same end result as reading the dots to a tune, you have to use your ears to help you fill the gaps. It's a great chance to mix-up your ear training!

Trace Elliot combo was the first amp I had. I used to hate how heavy it was and always thought my bass was the reason for awful tone I was getting until I bought a couple of new basses and pedals, played through other rigs and realised it was the combo. Got rid of it ASAP and never looked back. I've tried a couple of bits of TE since (as a mix of GAS and curiosity got the better of me) and I wondered if my opinion may have changed now I've been playing longer and have a better understanding and experience with gear. Nope. Still think they're not my cup of tea and my back and ears are much happier with my current class D rig!

[quote name='Merton' timestamp='1498980841' post='3328293'] I guess they use it to gauge audience/consumer reaction. Imagine doing it the way you suggest with hundreds of amps built and ready to ship only for it to be met with complete indifference? What they should at least do is have all the prototyping and production issues ironed out so that it's just a case of hitting the switch and getting a production order for 50/100/200 whatever.... [/quote] That's what I was suggesting. Doing the focus group work ahead of time with heir retailers (to judge the market without releasing) and then release to the public at NAMM... or maybe just use NAMM as the testing point it's supposed to be without everybody sharing every detail with the public who then want to buy something they can't get! For me, it's like putting loads of money into a movie and releasing lots of trailers and then bypassing cinema to release it on BluRay 6 months later.

You'd have thought with NAMM every year being the pinnacle of manufacturers showing off their new stuff that they would plan their release around NAMM. I.e. Build prototypes, do testing etc before NAMM, get loads produced before NAMM and then release with stock following almost instantly. Most manufacturers seem to take something to NAMM sand you're lucky if it hits the retailers within 3-6 months, even for the big guys. Totally crazy, cos you'd make a killing if you had something good and people could just buy it before anything else got released!

It was coming though. They had a whole year a couple of years back where they had zero left-handed models. Between guitars and all the studio gear they now make, selling the odd thunderbird or leftie probably isn't worth the effort!

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1496055211' post='3308387'] You'd get on with our singer. If we mention a song, he always says; "If we are going to do a song by X, I'd rather do ..." I can't quite understand this approach. We are choosing a song because of what it sounds like and how popular it is, not because of the artist. Although we are at point now where, because his favourite artist is David Bowie, we play 4 songs that David Bowie wrote. So I might be slightly hypocritical as when he asks "What about another Bowie song", I switch off before considering it. I think maybe the audience may also think along the lines of who sang the originals and think we are playing too many Bowie songs. I'm not sure. I suspect there's a balance and the two positions may be related but are not the same. [/quote] Im all for giving punters what they want but at the same time, with Stevie I don't think that HAS to be Superstition. For example, if you played ' The Bucket' by Kings of Leon, most WMC crowds would go 'what the hell is this?!' so 'Sex on fire' is the only obvious choice. If you dropped Superstition and put I Wish in its place (in my experience) people still flock to the dance floor. So if you have the choice of replacing a song every other band in coversland plays with something just as recognisable and fun for the punters, I'd rather do it to keep it interesting for us and the punters!

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1495881050' post='3307269'] I'm not sure Superstition deserves to be. [/quote] For me, it does! I love Stevie's as much as the next guy but putting superstition in the set is such a cop out. Stevie's got so many fantastic well-known tunes that punters would love just as much but people would rather stick with the lazy option, thudding away for 90% of a song on a single E (because nobody can be bothered to drop tune and do it in Eb like the original). I'd much rather see a band play 'I wish', 'Sir Duke', 'Master Blaster' etc something that doesn't take all of 5 minutes to 'learn' in a rehearsal one night because everyone knows it already and it's an easy set filler!

[quote name='louisthebass' timestamp='1495515670' post='3304302'] They're UL110''s - getting a distorted sound, so I'm guessing that the drivers have blown [/quote] With my active bass, when the battery is low it distorts the sound even though amp/cabs are fine. Just thought I'd share so you can rule that out (as it's a cheap fix!) :-)

[quote name='plankspanker' timestamp='1495279682' post='3302665'] Why is no-one saying compressor? I've never owned one or any other effect but it's the sort of thing I keep thinking I ought to get without really knowing why. I've watched a lot of compressor demo videos but the A/B difference is usually slight (to my old ears) so would it even be noticeable in a live band? [/quote] Compressor would be my first suggestion for anyone but in this case the OP asked for 'fun/wow factor'... compression is great but it's very sensible and practical. Like buying someone new school shoes for their birthday!

OC-2.

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1495106713' post='3301293'] Does anyone know how well the TC Electronics Ditto Looper handles bass? I have the Harley Benton version, and while it is fine with higher notes and chords, playing a full-on bass line with it is too much for it to handle. It doesn't 'distort' in the usual sense of the word, but rather ends up somewhat 'bit-crushed'. I rarely use a looper, so this is hardly a big deal, but I'd like to know if I can keep the simple functionality and tiny footprint without 8-bit sizzle on my deep lines! Cheers! [/quote] I don't have a problem with headroom with my ditto looper but if you increase the volume of the pedal, it does start to colour the tone and get a bit mushy/woolly which I don't like. As a result, I bought a Mooer Micro Looper to try and it kicks the arse off the ditto. The tone and quality of the recording coming out is much closer to what goes in and the initial recording time is 30 minutes (not 5 like the ditto), so it's really useful for recording ideas at rehearsals and storing it in the looper! http://www.mooeraudio.com/?product/201410164920.html

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1495140643' post='3301653'] I can see Mr Hall seeing this as a promotion of things he doesn't like. [/quote] Quality instruments at a decent price that arrive in a reasonable amount of time?

Are any other northerners reading this, thinking "fingerless gloves?! It's got to be -50 before I put a jumper on!!"

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1493399939' post='3288119'] Yeah I use that technique all the time, so was fun to hear Michael talk about it . Got it from Ryan Martinie yeaaarrrsss ago. Combine it with an octave down pedal for biiig low end Si [/quote] Funnily enough, me too! Couldn't find a link to it easily though and I watched that League vid the other day so knew it was definitely in there!

Personally, I spent hours refining our covers set. I arranged every song in an interesting way, mashed up classics with new songs, rehearsed it with the band to perfection, got really excited and then went out to play it at a wedding we got booked to do and 90% of the guests were hammered and ignored us (apart from the dancing). Alternatively, spending hours tailoring lessons to help encourage and advance a promising pupil, only to find out they've turned up and not practiced the last lot of material... again. That's not fun. That's work. I don't go on Facebook and shout about it because nobody really cares. I use social media for just that. My social life. If that's a quick video of something I'm practicing or sharing a new pedal I bought and what it can do then that's fine. There's a large community of bass players who use the medium to engage with each other (just like basschat but with less places to hide). I also find it's a much more positive, less cynical and a more open-minded type of engagement than a lot of the cyclical 'Jaco didn't need five strings' or 'P bass and Ampeg, the only thing you ever need' arguments that rumble on some of the Forums.

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' timestamp='1493372709' post='3287813'] So here's something that's been on my mind lately. You know how when we play an open E, we're not actually hearing much of the 41Hz fundamental, however the harmonic content is sufficient for the brain to interpret it as an open E? Would it be possible to process that existing tone in some way, without actually adding any lower frequencies, to trick the ear/brain into thinking that it's actually hearing a note that's an octave lower? Has anyone made a pedal that does this? S.P. [/quote] Not sure if this answers your question but if you fret a note (let's say a Low G - 3rd fret on the E string) and attack the note over the octave above (15th fret on the E string, over the fret) it produces the low note and a suboctave at the same time. Maybe playing everything in a higher register using this technique would produce the effect you're after? I'm not sure if I described that properly but this video shows a good example. Skip to 3:37 :-) http://youtu.be/WI5Eg5Whu-8

I can hit my strings and make percussive sounds, it doesn't make me a drummer. I have pitches above the traditional bass range, it doesn't make me a guitarist or a pianist or a harpist etc. You can still be a bassist and have a range bigger than 4 strings.

Winging it is fine for a late notice dep gig or a buskers night etc but if you want to make the music your own and have some interesting arrangements, it means a bit of work prior to playing (either rehearsing or learning a pre-written arrangement). Makes the band sound much more professional and gives it all a tightness that can be compromised slightly if someone's winging it. I much prefer to be well rehearsed and the sound that produces.

I'm not sure if anyone else has found this but I lowered my action thinking it would help, used lighter strings (which to be honest, were worse as they have less tension, were more floppy and as a result had more of a tendancy to slap off the frets when I did dig in, even with a decent light technique) but the thing I really struggled with was how quickly my tone deteriorated as a result of a low action. Has anyone else found this? I thought at first it was my adjustment in technique but then realised that the lower the action was, the more it stifled the tone of the instrument and I ultimately decided to heighten the action a little bit. It has vastly improved the tone from the bass and I adjusted to the higher action fairly easily once I'd put some heavier strings on.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1492661349' post='3282048'] and to do it in such esteemed company too [/quote] No rehearsals either, according to this (which is a great read). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39632898