bassbiscuits

An old album called Max Q from back in 1989. It was a collaboration between Michael Hutchence taking time out from INXS, a chap called Ollie Olsen and some other under-the-radar American electronic musicians. It's not universally amazing, but it has a really cool vibe of open experimentation and is a real grower after a couple of listens. First two songs in particular are awesome. Worth a listen if you can find a copy (it wasn't a massive hit at the time, and has never been reissued) so you're looking at secondhand copies only.

And have a wee before you start - it'll distract you for the entire first half otherwise.... Enjoy the gig tho - playing live is great.

My best amp has been the one i've used for every single gig since i bought it back in 2011 - a Markbass LM3. I went through a load of Peavey, GK and Ashdown kit before settling on one of these, and i've never looked back. Touch wood but its never had so much as a hiccup and has never let me down in six years of being gigged loud pretty regularly. In that time i've rehearsed and gigged with provided backline that included Orange AD200, Ampeg SVT and Marshall MBA valve heads, all of which sounded awesome but are way out of my league in terms of cost and (lack of) portability. So the Markbass is a better fit for me and what I want/need at the mo. I love mine.

Surely the next natural step to this discussion is "Bands you do like, which have a member you don't like." Trickier, but i'm sure they exist.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1505319016' post='3371027'] I also like the Levellers. Levelling The Land is one of my favourite albums. Fantastic live in the early 90's. [/quote] I hear ya - I loved Levelling the Land and have seen the band twice at various festivals over the years - been brilliant each time. In fairness I don't remember them ever being heaped with quite the same gushing praise as some of the other truly overrated acts on this list anyway. Hence whether the Levellers are any good is secondary to how highly-acclaimed they are/were in the first place, if you follow me.

Has to be Oasis for me. Granted I wasn't into them in their heyday, and therefore I've only ever known them as the staple diet of a million pub cover bands ever since. Closely followed by Kings of Leon, for much the same reasons (tho i did see them live in their heyday and still thought they were pretty dull).

I used a P with La Bella flats at a recent blues weekender gig using the supplied backline ( a nondescript but reasonably effective 1x15 combo ). The guy before me had a Gibson Thunderbird with rounds, which sounded great, growly and punchy. I was relieved to plug the P in and get a really lovely smooth punchy old school bass sound too! I like the idea of adding a touch of grit tho - bet that sounds quite valvey and hot.

That's magnificent! One of the finest local news stories I've read in a while.

To be honest my back up bass is just anything reliable and versatile enough that will get me through a gig. Currently a Yamaha BB604, which does a bit of everything and plays nicely, so thats job done for me.

[quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1504288025' post='3363959'] Now there's some PROPER obscure 👏👏👏👏 [/quote] I do aim to please...

Here's an obscure one. I used to live in a flat above a shop and the newsagent next door was owned by the sister of Welsh bassist Andy 'Wal' Coughlan, who played with among others Gary Numan,Shakin Stevens and Cerys Matthews.

I use both, because as we all know, its hard to cover everything with one bass (which is why we keep buying them!) Two out of my three basses have flats, so I guess I'd say flats overall, but rounds perfectly good too. I use Ti flats, La bella flats, and D'Addario EXL165 nickel rounds.

A bloke at a posh function gig threw a stool at my band onstage once - I think he had some issues. Nearly hit our banjo player. Can't hold that against him in fairness tho. IIRC i was using my old P bass at the time too, so quite fortunate really.

If a place is a real flying stool place, then i probably wouldn't take the gig anyway. Saying that, I will tend to take cheaper gear if i know its a gig that's going to be particularly rowdy or messy, especially if its one which involves leaving some gear at the venue for any reason. Sods law is that some of these gigs turn out to be the best ones, so i try to make sure the cheap gear I take is still good enough to enjoy playing hard!

I once made Neil Murray a cup of tea. I was working at Roland/Boss at the time and he came to our HQ for something. I also sat in a hotel bar with Guy Pratt once after a stand up show he was doing called My Bass and Other Animals a few years ago now. Ended up getting pissed together and talking about our fave bass lines. And Marcus Miller once rang me when I worked at Roland to get some info on a sound module. No idea whether he ever went out and bought it tho!

I'm off to a Francis Dunnery house gig tonight in Stamford. Not quite sure what to expect, but the albums I have of his have been outstanding (Tall Blond Helicopter, Lets Go Do What Happens). Not really up to speed on his It Bites material i must admit. He's gone a bit mellower since then i think, but really looking forward to seeing and hearing him. Anyone else been to one of these, and what did they make of it? Just curious really. Cheers

That looks great - cool colour too. A refreshing change from the sunburst which all my fenders are! I like that sort of 50s maple neck look. V nice.

Still none the wiser i'm afraid....

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1502694556' post='3352835'] bass biscuits - I`m beginning to wonder if this isnt the future for me too. Plenty of small cafe gigs in nearby Cambridge... Did they provide a PA or do you have to take your own? [/quote] This particular one was PA provided along with a bloke who did the sound and even played some cajon on a few tunes. I've got a little PA of my own which does the job for small gigs too as a couple of my other regular ones don't provide one. I do love proper band gigs as a bassist but over the years I've racked up enough songs I can enjoy playing on guitar and singing that it's a no brainer not to get some gigs out of it. Nice to have the choice tho.

Solo gig at local cafe/pub thing on vocals and acoustic guitar. First time using Boss RC-1 looper pedal I bought a few days back. All well and good for the first half when there's fewer people and you can hear yourself - less successful during rowdy second half so in reverted to mashing out the hits on my acoustic guitar. Decent enough gig tho. A few other local musos popped by which was cool. Nice early finish at 9.30pm and home by 10pm with a cuppa.

Blimey - that's astonishing. Makes even the oldest, most valuable electric guitars and basses seem like newcomers.