skej21

How can you tell if the stage is level? The drummer is drooling out of both sides of his mouth! On a serious note, the two things I look for in a 'good' drummer are; 1) Can keep time and 2) they don't change their beat every 2 bars. I don't mind how simple or technical they want to make their playing if they can keep to those two things. There's nothing worse than playing with a technically brilliant, metronomic drummer who you can't lock in with because they don't play the same bass drum pattern twice!

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1473801157' post='3133308'] So ... your playing with the bass control at 1 and complaining thats its "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]impossible to dial in a sound with punch and it honestly sounds nasal" .. am I missing something obvious ?.[/font][/color] [/quote] If the bass dial is at 1, I think that refers to '1 o'clock', meaning it would be boosted fractionally above the flat setting of '12 o'clock' (therefore '9' would be cutting the treble etc). That's how I would describe settings on my TH preamp as the knobs only turn from 'off' at about 7 o'clock up to 'full' at about 5 o'clock. Just a thought, or maybe I am also missing something obvious?! Lol.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1473792958' post='3133206'] I'm not sure what you are saying here. The pickup will respond to the bit of string above it, filtered by the inductance of the coil and the capacitance of the wiring etc. How that string vibrates will be affected by anything attached to it, the neck and body of the bass and the termination of the strings, the nut or the fret/fingerboard and bridge. So though I've probably oversimplified all of these will affect the tone. [/quote] I think what I'm trying to ask is, if our ears perceive 'tone' as the waveforms that an instrument produces acoustically through the combination of wood, construction, resonance, sustain etc how does this translate through a magnetic pickup which uses interference of a magnetic field to reproduce a sound?

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1473774841' post='3133010'] If the tone of a bass is simply determined by strings vibrating in the magnetic flux of a pickup; and that's it. Nothing more to it... Then why buy anything better than a Harley Benton PB50? Surely nothing there's nothing more to add to a Harley B, to make it as good as a Wal or All-singing-Fender is a good setup and better pups and tuners? [/quote] I'm not saying all of the tone of the instrument is determined by the pickup. Clearly, woods, construction etc make a huge difference be instrument acoustically but surely that all becomes redundant once you use the pickups? Prime example, if you have a jazz and solo the bridge you wouldn't retain the low end response and resonance that the wood type brings to the acoustic tone. It would be manipulated by the voicing of the pickup (if it transferred into the pickup in the first place) surely?

Genuine question (maybe slightly on & off topic!)... Ive worked in music retail for a few years now and I can hear the difference between wood types used, body shapes and how they change resonance and other elements discussed with an acoustic guitar, a violin, a double bass etc. One of the guys I work with can hear the type of pick that's been used if we blind test him! So I understand that these factors are important for projection of an acoustic instrument's tonal character. However, I'm really struggling to see how any of those tonal factors can be picked up by a magnetic pickup? Surely it's actually not possible without using a microphone that has the technology to translate actual waveforms into an electrical signal? I can understand the sustain maybe would be picked up as the quality of the instrument would increase sustain which would be carried through to the amplifier but I can't see how any of the other factors could affect it. I was under the impression that the strings interrupt the magnetic field of the pickup and create the signal? So surely the characteristics of an alder body would not interrupt the magnetic field at all, let alone in a different manner to a walnut body or a mahogany body?

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1473592861' post='3131412'] Any camera would do, if you get something with a tripod hole and one of those mini tripods, you can stand it on a table, and if you manage to get clear line of sight you can certainly get youtube / facebook quaility video. GoPro isn't very useful, it is a very fisheyed lens, and although the iPhone video is easily good enough, it is hard to mount it to stay still for a video without handshake. [/quote] With GoPro, you just press a button in the software to change it from Fisheye to standard. Pretty decent quality, small and easy to use too!

Biggest as in number or biggest as in stature? Number, probably 40k+ at a couple of football stadium gigs. Biggest in terms of stature, Royal Albert Hall (5,800 ish seats).

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1473011854' post='3126040'] Have a walk past your local music college, you'll see that's plainly not the case. [/quote] You live in London. It's a much more diverse and desirable destination for musicians than other areas of the country to be fair. I'm not sure it's representative of every institution, as much as I wish it was. My local college currently has 3 bass students across 4 years and as such, has a bass tutor who teaches across two local universities and three FE colleges, as there are so few players studying the instrument. This also seemed to be the case further afield when I moved for Uni. When I was there (at a large traditional red brick uni with a large music department) not long ago, I was one of 3 bass players. Me and another in my first year and one in the third who left after my first year, cutting the number down to two. We were heavily outnumbered by music tech students who worked heavily on electronic music production and software such as MaxMSP. I'm not trying to cause an argument, I'm just stating that there are two sides to every coin, as much as I'd like it to not be the case.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1473007677' post='3125993'] Er, surely somebody with an acoustic guitar is more "traditional musicianship" than somebody playing in an electric band? [/quote] I meant 'traditional' as in a Classic Rock 4-piece setup that we associate with 'pub bands'...

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1473006449' post='3125977'] I thin k you are probably correct on this, we do accept that age is against us and to be fair this project was based around recording the best music we could and if we got some decent gigs out of it then that was an additional bonus, so we didn't bring a crowd, no surprise (we actually stepped in last minute to fill a hole, so couldn't really promote it in advance, not that it would have made much difference if we had!) but we played with a young post hardcore band (whatever that may be!) on their first European tour who to some extent are relying on merchandising sales to fund the tour and a truly phenomenal Australian beat box performer who just blew my mind! It is not as if the event didn't have diversity and appeal. What does annoy me is people moaning locally that "you're always playing in Leicester" (20 miles away so hardly the other side of the world) so when we do play locally and invite those that moaned they still can't be bothered to get off their lazy asses and attend. I know I can play in a covers band and trot out the much hated Sex On Fire to our hearts content but what are the next generation of covers bands going to have to pick from if there is no one creating new music that anyone is interested in? [/quote] I think you're missing one of the saddest points made by your own observations... The 'next generation' will be more interested in music like electronic music or acoustic material and probably less interested in 'bands'/traditional musicianship. Covers bands 20 years from now will either be a guy with a laptop and a launchpad blasting out classic dub tracks or a guy with an acoustic and a looper covering Ed Sheeran.

I hate X factor, Strictly etc so I would never spend my Saturday evening watching 'Saturday night tv'... However, I find it equally frustrating when I go out to see live music with my friends in an attempt to watch/support a band (original or covers) in an intimate venue, only for them to turn up with a stadium-ready PA and play so excessively loud that we can't chat and enjoy the music together and all go home with ringing ears (or I have to take my earplugs, which isn't very sociable either!). So instead of chatting to your friends/family, being sociable and chatting about how great the band are, you instead spend the beginning of the night attempting to shout at each before realising it's futile and retreat to the beer garden or the other end of the pub in attempt to resume being sociable away from the excessive volume levels of the music. Funnily enough, wedding bands rarely seem to have this issue...

[quote name='Spaced' timestamp='1472824468' post='3124564'] Surely then it's a golden age for technology and the availability of music rather than bass itself? For my part I'm a big fan of the late 70s/ early 80s. New Wave was great for basslines. Indie had a few good ones in the early 2000s which are worth a mention. [/quote] Maybe missed explaining my point properly. There's access to bass lines in music that may only have 400 listens on youtube that I would never have even discovered/fallen in love with (and taken influence from) in a time when music was not so accessible!

I can take my phone out, plug my headphones in and turn on Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music and queue up high quality tracks with bass lines from Jack Bruce followed by Matt Freeman, followed by Michael Jackson, followed by Dirty Loops, followed by Young Blood Brass band. Rock, Punk, Synth, virtuoso and bass lines played by Tuba players... The possibilities are endless. I could listen to all of the above in a 30 minute listening session at the touch of a button. When I first started listening to music, I had a tape Walkman and the options of what you could listen to were restricted by what you could afford to have and store! 'Now' would be the time for me.

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1472396819' post='3120789'] Mustangs are seriously small basses, especially if you come from the P or J camps. The headstock looks bigger on them as Fender use conventional machine heads, so cannot really shrink them any smaller. I've not played a Mustang for a while, but I remember that it felt very much like a 4 string guitar, because most shortscale basses I've tried have been semi-hollow and had huge bodies. [/quote] I think the headstock/tuners isn't noticed as much with mustangs normally. I think the combination of a full headstock and full size pickup set (rather than the standard smaller spilt coil) on this specific model make the body look like its shrunken and throws the visual proportions quite a lot!

It's a shame they aren't doing that nice "Olive" colour for the mustang bass or I'd have one in a heartbeat!

I think string spacing is like many other things. If you have the ability to adapt and pick up the change quickly it'll not be a problem. I used to think I had issues with tighter spacing or P bass width necks but after a week of working in Music retail and regularly switching between a strat, a Martin acoustic, an upright, a ukulele, a Precision, an Ibanez etc you develop a level of adaptability. Now, I can see why these issues seem huge to people but seem trivial to me when I read about them, as it doesn't really affect me personally anymore. However, I can also see that whilst it appears to be a pretty big issue for some, I don't believe it's something that you can't get past by putting in a little bit of time :-)

Current set up but got a second S112 coming in the next week or so!

How long before someone asks why RHCP have replaced Flea with Adam Clayton? ;-)

[quote name='BobTheBassist' timestamp='1471725436' post='3115418'] Thank you for everyone's advice and help. As I have little or no self control I went ahead and bought the 1800, and I can honestly say i could not be happier. It plays beautifully, sounds fantastic (lovely growly sound when you dig in, smooth as butter when you don't) and looks stunning. It's also light weight and really well balanced, and the neck is [i]seriously [/i]fast. [attachment=225931:BASS.JPG] I did have a play on the 1805, and it was a close run thing - but the four just ticked the boxes. [/quote] Looks lovely. Great grain on the top! The SR serious are really fabulous basses.

I have a few bits that I like playing if people ask (bit of Janek Gwizdala, Jaco or Stu Hamm stuff) but the only one that non-musicians seem to like is this: http://youtu.be/uJpR-xinwCI It is groovy as hell though!

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1471091967' post='3110472'] The price rise is across the board on virtually all products, especially imported products. Boss pedals had a normal price and then a further rise....after Brexit. Not to bring politics into it, but the price rises are due to our 'decision' to leave the EU. [/quote] Partially true. Having worked in Music Retail for a number of years, almost all of the manufacturers have an annual price-hike regardless and Fender are no exception. I very much doubt that the Brexit decision will have had much of an influence on their decision to continue with their incremental price increases but it will obviously affect us additionally because of the Brexit decision. Just for context, one of the reps from one of the big brands we stock told us that the American Guitar Centre stores sell more of their instruments in a year than ALL of the European retailers - Thomann, GuitarGuitar, Gak etc all combined (and as a result, they get first dibs on almost everything). This is also the reason why some companies like Ibanez have models that are available in the US only (like the Buckeye Burl SC Ibanez model. We only get the Poplar Burl option) . It's not because we can't have it but because the brand and it's distributors often think the volume of sales wont be large enough to justify it. Europe isn't that big a deal to these companies. Gibson instruments in Europe only make up about 10% of their global market. I imagine bigger brands like Fender are the same.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1470681983' post='3107642'] If you dent a relic bass, does it improve the finish? [/quote] Yup. It's like Benjamin Button. You just keeping relicing until you go full circle and it's back to new.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1471007338' post='3109951'] Early retiree on BBC pension, supplemented by income from gigs, no idea what that makes me except bloody lucky! [/quote] Sorry, for clarity for those of us under 30, what's a pension lol?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1470581059' post='3106860'] He was going to use his but the control plate fell off back stage, I suppose that's to be expected on a budget one thousand pound bass?! Ha. [/quote] They are all battered and broken... and it's supposed to be a new bass too!