deepbass5

I think you may find that it is too dense, and wont let the strings vibrate enough, the softer open pore wash bowl sponge is nearer the texture required. But down to taste in the end and will also depend on fingers or Pick.

Sorry to hear that - sounds like small claims is the way forward, good luck

Just one comment on commission sales in music shops I have done this with two basses and other PA gear. It is normal for the shop to hold the money after the sale as they are obliged to offer refunds and a cooling off period, so the buyer can return the kit if not operating as described or as the buyer believed it would. This I believe is normally two weeks but should be discussed with you when entering into your contract with the store, they should also discuss % commission/markup etc. If this time has now passed I believe a final warning is best with a reference to small claims court should do the trick. The only time I have had trouble was with a second hand shop, specialising in Band and disco equipment where a price was agreed, he sold my gear but wasn't answering my calls, A trip over there and standing in the store while he tried to deal with other customers did the trick and he managed to find £200 in the till quite easily.

Here is a Picture of my foam mute that has now gone back in my CS 62 P I had this cut months ago from some of that old grey foam and used it smooth side up but after our conversations about allowing the G string to sing a little more i put it in bobble side up this has allowed key strings to run between the valleys in the foam and sounds just right. Gigged it like this last Saturday and was great, so it stays 👍

I have also messed about with various foam to push under the strings on my P bass. I like the idea of the Nordy with slots you can apply from above, as I usually end up pulling the spong out if i find it stops the tone ringing too much in the live situation. One thing i have learnt over the years is the old soft rubbery foam we used to get works best The sort we used to get in boxes e.g Sure microphone box foam was great. much of what is used in packaging now is expanded plastic foam which is harder and tends to kill the sound. I have also tried to taper the thickness so less pressure is on the lighter strings, as i feel each string would benifit from a differing degree of damping. any comments on your observations on this?

and ties your mains cales in a tight knot

Keyboard players who do solo gigs and love bass on their amps, but are not capable of listening and setting there amp differently in a band setting where "hey guys i'm the bass player" and if i compete with you its going to be too loud. second point would be, you are now inaudible and nobody in the band has noticed your part is missing.

Yes was great to have had a top Bass shop easy to get to, I bought quite a bit from them as well as supporting them by selling a couple of my basses through the shop, even with the mark up etc I felt it was the right thing to do.

I do feel for you guys who can't break out of the work restraints and or family responsibilities, its a real worry when you are responsible for your families wellbeing, work contractual arrangements and you have signed up to be performing at somebodies wedding on a given date, looking back I don't know how we managed it so long. My wife was also the signer and when we started out pre 1990 we had two boys of 7 and 4 and one not born yet. The only thing that really made it possible, we ran a function wedding band and it paid enough with two cuts to be able to give baby sitters a good wack, so that they always wanted to do the long nights e.g 4pm till 2am any longer and I would get my parents to stay over if we had to leave mid afternoon and not back till say 3 am. But this would also involve sorting a tea and breakfast and probably sunday lunch for them.

with great difficulty, But I wuz a manager,!!** and had some good guys who always needed the money. Just recalculating that time period down to 20 years as I was in a different role the last ten so not required to, but 20 years is a long time worrying about the next re-organisation, and who will try and mess with my little standby arrangement. I have to say my whole career path was down to applying for jobs that would least mess up my bass playing. not advancement or money

I started work as an electrical apprentice in 72, as soon as i was qualified i was given a van and put on a standby rosta in 1977 the very year i joined a busy working band, so i applied for a job in the office, a small works group. I hated it but those 3 years allowed me to follow a dream. It also allowed me to find a better job from there without contracted overtime. So I married the singer and carried on gigging. It all came back to haunt me later as I was required again to be on an out of hours call, but with a lot of luck and good people to swap with I juggled this for the next 30 years 🤘 Not quite the same as a shift rosta, but plenty of stress when that phone rings as you are about to leave the house on a gig. I was usually one step ahead with my diary, when the mellennium new year was on MY horizon, I sat down and worked it backwards 18 months to work out when and how our work pattern should start so i would miss it and could Gig 👌

I would be interested to hear from any plo players out there if the buisiness has sunk to the level of being asked to mime to bass tracks on certain gigs or doubling over a track live because those fronting the band want a consistand sound, e.g when some function bands advertise you can book a 3 piece 4,5,6 or the 7 piece recently saw a caberet show where the house band (organ Bass and drums) where not always playing each number, The bass player seem to choose which he could manage I started to doubt if he was a bass player but then played other numbers well and was live ???

I have had one for about three years now, having had the D800 prior to the D800 plus. The reason was the extra features to be able to control the mids, I didn't feel the standard D800 was any better than my old Markbass as i feel the MB are voiced well and do the buisiness well with little tweeking. I also have two 4 ohm cabs 2 x 12 " so was looking for a 2 ohm capability, and had bought an SWR SM-500 sereo amp on here to get me over the two cab issue on larger gigs. I do like it a lot it seems to suit my basses and my cabs, The real plusses for me are :- two para mid controls, the deep and bright boost switches, the high pass filter is very good, and of course the two ohm setting, and mute switch. disapointments :- why 800 watts would have preferred 350 <500 watts but with the features, voicing control not as good as the markbass VPF (imo) there is no direct out gain control. I miss that. I only got to use this in our covers band with two cabs for about 9 months prior to lockdown, and now only play bigband jazz, so is now overkill, and i worry about having it plugged into one 350 watt 4 ohm cab. I have just bought a Markbass Black line 250 as back up and for rehearsals, which is all i need if honest and liking the sound of that and suprised that the MB set flat is as deep as the Mesa with the bass boost on. ? so A/B ing amps is important. Hope this helps any other questions fire away, If you are anywhere near me you are welcome to try or maybe find other members would do the same if not. all the best Just to add, ref 800 watts as my cabs are not good for 800W I have not pushed this anywhere near to be able to comment, but suprised that with one cab the gain is at 2 oclock and master at 2 oclock for a jazz rehearsal and the 250 watt Markbass is at 12 oclock gain and 9 oclock master. But this means nothing of course without knowing the design,

Not Bass related - but i just asked Alexa to play some YO YO Ma to chil out and this sound track came up I have now listened to all of it, movie soundtracks are just amazing arn't they - enjoy

I didn't know these were still available, probably 15 - 20 years since i used them but were my go to string, then went to Status pressure or half rounds also no longer available Strings are a real headache I would once have left a note in the control cavity so i knew what was on last but got out of the habit. My Marleaux M bass as a set of nickles on, I love I was given them with a cab i bought i think they are SIT strings but can't remember now and don't want to risk changing them, probably been on for four years now.

I have used both for long standing gigs, started out with the comfort straps as they seem to have been the first to attend to our shoulder needs, but think i prefer the Neotech, though i find the width of the shoulder pad needs to curve to avoid your neck a minor point, but annoying. There was a problem with comfort straps secondary plastic links breaking, people reported some bass accidents with them, I have had no such problems although when leaving them attached to the bass as padding in a case or gig bag to hold the bass firm I have found that these comfort strap hard nylon links can cause some indentations ( bucklerash)

I do own and have used the EBS dual comp pedal more recently, I got this as i was familiar with the old Trace elliot big dual compressor pedal no longer available. which allowed you can control the bass end and high signal end seperately. There are lots of good articles on compressors that explain all the jargon, soft knee, hard knee and thresholds and release etc. and you can buy pedals with all the features you may require to tweek. But live on stage a good quality pedal that is easy to control is best, even these can completely destroy your sound if you forget and turn your bass up after sound check. My EBS was only set up to really make a difference when I was required to do some slap and pop stuff, which is the only time i needed one to control those harsh transients. home recording would be the other. having tried the Boss LMB3 Ped mentioned they sound great and do the job without the fuss, without getting into all the head scratching and messing up your big stage entry

Some Jazz for you now, just corresponding to someone about Marion Montgomery here is a great clip with the lovely Dud

Thats far too close to my personal plate to be funny 😄 but it makes me drive very considerately

First car i got specifically for band gear was the old jelly mould siera estate, wife was the singer so two people Bass rig was two Trace 15's etc and PA , monitors and lights. But with three babies at home and a few near miss's on way to gigs we invested in a VW transporter as we would never have survived a smash. worth thinking about when loading up your daily commute. When serious gigging dropped off we sold the transporter and got a Skoda Yeti. and was amazed we could still get all the same gear in there. rear seats tip up but can also be completely removed so you can use footwells too