Graham56

Do I get a second go? How about Rhiannon Giddens?

Rachael Price with Bridget Kearney on bass (Lake Street Dive) - pretty much anything she sings Patti Smith - lots of bassists, currently Tony Shanahan

I've used a Korg Pandora into cheap headphones for years. Doesn't sound terribly great but it's good enough for practice. I also stream recordings from iTunes into the Pandora through the aux input. I have a preset on the iTunes EQ section that drops all the bass out of the recording so allowing me to play along with a clearer sound. Apart from allowing me to play into the night, one good thing about headphones is that they pick up the clacks and buzzes from less than perfect finger positioning. Forces me to pay attention to this - which is a good thing. Cheers, Graham

No Mick, you were born in Dartford, and I doubt very much if the weather was as bad as you say.

Basses are supposed to be boring. It's what we do, innit?

I mean... What? How the hell does she... Singing and playing that stuff... I mean...

The piano in this (solo from about 1.22), and how it works with everything else.

Anything I play. Seriously, I find nothing works as well as setting up the bass and playing along with any blues or rock or Americana I have on my PC. I wear headphones then really crank it up. An hour or so of that and I am re-energised and back up there. Cheers, Graham

Yes. A 'P'. It's all you need. 🙂

The P comes with a lot more coolness and mojo...

Tell them to get the piano properly tuned?

I think he was referring to the 'assignable knob"?

Me the rest of the band: "Guys, I've got an idea...."

From the viewpoint of my age, my question is "How the hell does he get back up again?"

I'm a freelance with two roles. 1) I run training courses for businesses on business writing skills, editing, proofreading and such like. 2) I edit books for a couple of publishers. As with the freelance musicians, engineers etc on Basschat, my future training work has evaporated in the space of a fortnight. Every client has cancelled. Every. One. Oh well, just as well the missus has a salary (for now) and can work from home. Cheers!!! :-) Graham

This one is timely...

"All band members take one step forward!" "Not so fast sunshine, where do you think you are going?"

The scene was a pub gig in south London. England were playing a football match that night (why do bar managers book bands on nights like that?) so we had to set up then wait until the game finished. England had a terrible game, and the bar was filled with frustration and gloom at the end. I switched on, did a quick line check, and God knows why, played the bass line from Queen's "Another one bites the dust"... A large, beefy red-faced punter stumbled up, finger pointing: "Oi mate, we don't want none of that bites the dust here!". The problem is I have a very definite Scottish accent and the thought went through my mind, "The minute I speak this isn't going to go well..." Luckily the (English) guitarist realised, did the "Sorry mate" bit and commiserated with our new friend.... Cheers, Graham

I was all set up with a new instrument lead I had just bought. Time to start - but no sound. The head was on and correctly plugged into cab. It was a passive bass so no problem with the battery. A moment or two of panic until the guitarist asked if I'd pressed the button on the lead. Eh? Wassat? It turned out this lead has a button to cut the circuit, allowing you to cheerfully unplug or change instruments without popping the speaker. I hadn't noticed this when I bought the lead, and I didn't even know such things existed. So a quick button press and we were off. I've done this a few other times since but at least now I know ... Cheers, Graham

Electric Mayhem!

I just bought a head from Tyler. He's easy to deal with, communicates well, the amp was exactly as described and the whole transaction was very smooth. I'd happily deal with him again. Cheers, Graham

Or this superb version: And I still think this one has a lot to say:

Where do you want to spend your energy? Getting bitter and twisted? Planning 'revenge' sillyness? Badmouthing them? Playing it over and over in your head? Or you could accept that phase is in the past and don't waste any more time, energy and emotion on it. Instead, look forward and upwards and start working on getting your next gig. I've been fired from more than one paying job, and that's what you have to do. Forget the past, the injustice etc. Get yer erse in gear and start on the next phase. Because that's what you really need to do. This time with a drummer that can keep time... Cheers! Graham

Could be worse. He could be referring to himself as "The Rikkster"....

Thanks to everyone for contributing, and there's a lot of food for thought. As I said, I don't actually need more volume as such, but I would like a better sound quality. The current head is over 10 years old and when I push it, the sound gets 'tight', kinda like someone speaking between clenched teeth (is this making any sense???) I tend to set the EQ with a bit of a treble drop to make the most of the P-Bass mid-range hump. It sounds great at low volumes but not once the master goes past about 1 o'clock. I know nothing about compression, but maybe a decent compressor would help as well? I don't play in terribly loud bands, but the two I'm working with at the moment have lots of instruments that fill up the sonic space. I do get the points about extra cab, but if I have to trade sound quality for portability I'm leaning towards portability. There are a couple of venues I play where I often have to park some distance away, so a single trip is really important to me. To misquote Al Krow: "But we also need to factor in the age and efficiency of the OP..." I'm tempted by the Ashdown. I had a Mag 300 head before which had a great sound, but couldn't keep up (this was with an inefficient 210 cab). I do keep seeing comments about Ashdown output not being as loud as the wattage suggests but other people love them. I didn't know anything about the Fender, although a friend has a Rumble combo and that sounds great to me. I was very interested in the Quilter, although a couple of people (including Dave_bass 5) have commented on their 'flatness'. I guess I have to go up to Wembley to hear one. Some tests in retailers may be called for! Cheers, Graham