mtroun

I believe Mark Knopfler's URB man is Dudley Phillips, a very nice guy and terrific player! I used to have lessons with him at the Welsh College. I've played double bass through an SVT and 810 and quite liked the sound, very rich and smooth down to the low end. I guess the main reason double bass players aren't often seen with stacks of speakers is the overkill factor on most gigs.

What's the idea? I've never been to one of these things before, but I'm intrigued. I don't live very far away though being a trainee teacher my weekends are generally filling out forms and wishing weekends were three days...

Beautiful. Where is it located?

I used to use them and I can't recommend them Pete, have you considered Spiro Weichs? I've got meds on my new bass but I know the tension is quite a bit higher on yours.

Sorry Greg! Just joking...

P-Bass included in the sale?

Thanks for the info,

I'm going to see Paul Bryant and his instruments next week as I'm visiting the midlands, I'm tempted to visit the Martin shop in the near future as well. The Bryant instruments do seem incredible value for money, I must say.
I'm getting incredibly fed up with my Stentor so I'm sure anything would be a vast improvement, though actually I've played a fair few basses in violin shops that have sat there for a long time and were totally uninspiring to play on, either pizz or under the bow.
My friend has a Martin Penning bass, absolutely beautiful instrument, flawless workmanship, stunning playability, refined sound. If I had the moolah I'd be all over it. Met him recently as well and he's a top bloke.

How does the Martin compare to the Upton and the Bryant?

[quote name='mtroun' timestamp='1340548598' post='1705959']
Larry Grenadier, Ben Street and Larry Grenadier are examples of players who use Velvet strings
[/quote]

Whoops I meant Matt Penman as the third person on the list!
GCordez is indeed a Bristolian, well actually he's moved to Bath recently but he's a very approachable guy and loves his strings!

The only gut string I've ever used on my bass was the Pirastro Oliv G, it's about £80 for one string, rather pricey and it didn't last all that long on my bass before it lost its characteristic richness of tone. I used it on top of a set of regular guage Evah Pirazzi (synthetic core, steel wrapped strings) The Oliv is a wrapped gut set - so it feels like a steel string but has gut underneath the steel windings. I have also played unwrapped guts on my friend's bass (Gcordez here on basschat). Guts, particularly the unwrapped variety, have a very soft feel under the arm and are quite supple, meaning you can really pull back on them like elastic bands.

The actual size of gut strings tends to be larger than steel or synthetic strings, though the lower tension makes it easier to handle. Gut strings also have to be set up much higher than steel so they have much less accurate tuning and are harder to play fast passages on.

The sound of gut strings is considerably darker than steel and synthetic core strings tend to try to emulate that sound and feel by having a darker sound and lower tension. In addition to the necessarily higher action, gut strings also go out of tune regularly, are extremely vulnerable to breakage and last about six months.

The silk core strings made by Velvet and the synthetic core strings made by Picato (Innovation strings) are perhaps the closest in characteristics to gut strings available without going for actual gut. Larry Grenadier, Ben Street and Larry Grenadier are examples of players who use Velvet strings (sometimes mixed with spirocores) while a large number of UK jazz and rockabilly players use Innovation strings to get close to the sound of gut.

If you get the chance, try gut strings on someone else's bass, it's the best way to find out what they're like, though personally (and I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with me) I think unless you absolutely feel you must use gut strings because you want that sound, then don't! They are incredibly expensive, easy to break, last no time at all and hard to play on. Wrapped gut strings (perhaps mixed with synthetic or steel strings) offer something of a compromise in that they are generally less massive and the action can be set lower, plus they are less likely to break. For me, though, the Oliv as a top string was too much hassle to constantly retune and it didn't last long on my bass, plus it cost a fortune! The Evah Pirazzi set are designed to be a compromise between some of the characteristics of steel and gut and they are my preferred set. Some players use a mixture of Velvet strings on the G and D strings with Spirocores on the E and A, allowing for a 'gutty' sound on the higher strings, with the clarity of steel on the lower strings.

There might be some 'cheap' gut string sets out there but they aren't likely to be of any quality, you definitely get what you pay for with gut and you get incredibly expensive strings!

Thanks!

Up for sale are two relics from the age I used to try and play every instrument in the band:

First up, a Boss ME-50 multifx. This multifx board allows you to select between three different presets per performance, or use the three different modules as 'virtual stompboxes'. Loads of cool effects including normal and reverse delays, choruses, ring mod, pitch shifter, wah etc. I haven't used this much at all lately, having sold my electric guitar. It runs off batteries or a standard 9v adaptor (not supplied) and it also comes complete with a flight case fitted to carry it safely. I'll post pics if necessary but a google search will show you all you need to know. I've lost the manual though it's pretty easy to figure out how to operate it.
Looking for £120

Secondly, the Korg MicroX synth. This is essentially Korg's Triton sound engine packed into a cute little 25-key chassis, doubles very nicely as a desktop controller keyboard. Big trance sounds and loads of traditional keyboard sounds. It comes with a funky orange molded plastic case, USB midi connector and power adaptor. The manual is at my parent's house in Cornwall so I will try and get hold of it asap and post it to the buyer at no extra cost. Again, pictures on request but you can get a pretty good idea just by looking on google search.
Looking for £220

You can either collect these items from my home in Cardiff or I can post them anywhere in the UK. Price of postage will be exactly what the post office tells me, nothing more!

Mark

Thanks for doing this. While I'm aware of all of the above it's really nice to have all of them on one list, will be very useful when I go on my search for 'the one', very soon I hope!

His playing is sublime. Being based in the UK in the 1980s he had made quite an impact on the straight-ahead jazz community at the time. I'm lucky enough to study with both Nick Weldon and Simon Woolf: Nick played with MM quite a bit and has some interesting stories about him; while Simon studied at various times Michael Moore, Red Mitchell and Peter Ind, you can certainly see the positive effects in his playing! It's definitely a rare gift to have that kind of melodic inventiveness, I hope I can get there one day...

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1336634710' post='1648551']
I've been looking for a while to get a less boxy-sounding instrument than the one I've been learning on, but I found there's a big gap in the market spanning my price range. I'm talking about the used market really; it seems there's good mid 20th century ply basses for £5-800, and there's flatbacks from Germany from circa 1900 for £3-4k. Nothing seems to hit the £1-2k range really.

I don't know if this situation is unique to the UK or Europe, but it's annoying. I ended up buying a new bass from Gedo Musik in the end, which the postie is due to deliver today, so we'll see how well my budget buying has worked out this afternoon...
[/quote]

I know how you feel, looking for a quality instrument, there is little middle ground between 'budget' (no resale value) and £3000+ which, at least to me, is quite a lot of money for what is considered an 'entry level' instrument. It seems there are occasionally quality old instruments, but they can be a bit hit or miss and often require expensive repairs, then there's a whole world of new-ish instruments, generally bought by string dealers who can only tell you 'I think it's Hungarian' or similar. I know if I was spending £6000 on a bass guitar I'd want to know exactly who made it!

That's it, I've decided I'm in on this, the search begins as soon as I can get out to look at the various options. I'm just about to finish Music College (Jazz) and I'm still playing on a £400 Stentor. I'm going to consider all options: old/new/custom build basically try and work out what's right for me with no preconceptions (well besides my five years of playing the thing!) and try and come to some conclusions. Any advice?

Paul Bryant has two for sale on his website, in case you didn't already know.

Hi there,

My name's Mark and I teach Double Bass and Bass Guitar in Cardiff and surrounding areas.

I have been playing electric bass for ten years and double bass for five.

My experience of playing has included jazz, rock, blues, folk and classical performances and I have studied with a number of the UK's top jazz players.

I am currently studying for an MA in jazz performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and hold an undergraduate degree from Goldsmiths College, University of London. I am also able to teach Music Theory (classical or jazz) to advanced level.

I am quite happy to teach beginners, improvers or advanced players looking to get into jazz concepts and I am also happy to help facilitate the transition from electric bass to double bass.

PM me for further details.

Mark

Back on sale!

Sold pending the usual.

Still up for sale but a lot of interest at the moment so make me best offers please!

[quote name='Krinks' post='1235886' date='May 18 2011, 03:54 PM']Would you sell it for 800 GPD including the shipping to Germany?[/quote]
PM sent

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