jazzyvee

I have had 3 lessons so far learning to play and would like to know the pros and cons of standing to play vs sitting. Most people ive seen tend to stand. I am currently doing that but i think my posture must be wrong as my left hand and lower back ache after a practice session. I plan to discuss with my tutor on my next lesson but wondered what you guys who play think.

I went for an interview at a company and when I got there I noticed a friend of mine I hadn't seen for a few years and had a quick chat with him on my way out of the interview room. As it happens I got the job and arrived there the following Monday and got shown to my desk which was next to the area that the admin ladies where. I presume my mate must have mentioned that I was a musician that played in few well known reggae bands. Anyway maybe an hour after I'd started working, one of them called me over to their cluster of desks showed me a picture of Astro they had googled and said.... "That's you isn't it"..!!!! Apart from our ethnicity, the fact we both have locks and are Brummies we look completely different. They could tell from my silence and facial response that, I did not take that as a compliment. 🙂 That said some of them came to a few of my gigs so that was cool.

Also you could try the Bass Lounge in Manchester http://greatbritishbasslounge.com/product-category/bass-guitars/

I m a real upright bass newbie and had 3 lessons so far. I bought an acoustic db about 5 years ago and it was inexpensive but OK based on my limited understanding of them. I took it for a setup and re-string which cost about the same as I paid for it. Then after a few years of neglect only because I have been far to busy to dedicate time to it due to work and other gigging pressures. I decided last year to start learning. I have noticed from years of going to watch jazz gigs that whenever they are used live they are always used with a pickup so you basically have an electro/acoustic EUB. (sorry if that sounds condescending it's not meant to). That in mind I decided to sell my mine and get a decent EUB that has a good DB sound, (my tutor assures me it does), is more portable and start learning from there. I'm not gonna say that an EUB is as authentic a sound or playing experience as a full blown acoustic DB but it's probably close enough for me now and hopefully in the future. I hope to play at least a couple of tracks with it on one of my gigs this year if my intonation is good enough.

All my guitars and basses have their own individual straps. It seems common sense to me and it is not expensive to get good straps. Excluding my Stratocaster which came with a cloth based strap, all my straps are leather and whilst I have always been vegetarian and in recent years vegan. I won't be throwing those straps away anytime soon. When they are due to be replaced I will consider what the alternatives are depending on my viewpoint at the time.🧐

My basses are heavy and as such I don't trust having any plastic on my straps so I use padded leather that are about 4" wide. One leather strap I bought way back in the late 70's for my guitar and it is now on one of my basses and is thick leather and looks like it will outlive me. Like someone else here I use Minotaur straps.

This thread has gone to sleep since 2014, so let's see how many "new" alembic lovers or haters we have since 03/06/2014?

Ha good to hear that view Earbrass, my ear tunes to all kinds of music and I'd like to think my playing benefits from that open mindedness to all genres. I have been constrained by that when I was playing guitar in a couple of major touring reggae bands because I was playing bluesy, sometimes rocky lines and funky rhythms which worked and were on some of the covers they did. On the cultural appropriation in the context that you put it I absolutely agree with you. There is another side to that which is completely different and not something I want to get into. 👍🤝

I play in a reggae band and I my experience when people start to play reggae on whatever instrument, the main reason it does not sound authentic is because they do not listen enough to what it ACTUALLY SOUNDS LIKE and what is being played. They have an idea in their head of what reggae sound like and play what they think it sounds like and that can be way off. (closer to calypso than reggae). That is not to say you need to be note perfect on a cover it is good to add your own take as long as you remember that in a lot of reggae the bass line is what makes the track work and if you move too far off it becomes a different song. Try not to get academic about it, the feel is what you are aiming to capture in the genre. To the OP, just listen carefully what is being played and what is not being played and how the rhythm sits. Remember the spaces are also a part of what is being played. Try to determine where the notes are being played on the bass as there are tonal and feel reasons why notes are played in a reggae bass line in a particular place on the neck. I would say that Sheriff is not the place to start if you are new to reggae bass playing. Try something really basic first to get the feel remember less is more. The busier reggae bass lines are great though easier to get lose the feel. (A great busy bass line is ‘now that we’ve found love’ by third world. Lots of good stuff going on there that can go unnoticed on first hearing) I think these two tracks are a great place to start. Crazy Ballhead Natural mystic. Let us know how you get on. 👍🏿

Interesting. I get what you mean, I was probably not as clear as I should have been. I can hear the bottom end fine but because there isn't much going on in the higher frequencies, sometimes it's hard to hear the pitch clear enough for me to play confidently so I do end up opening up my bass controls to allow me to hear those better.

I have had those same ones for maybe 5 years now and they do take a while to get used to. I find that although they reduce the volume evenly, if your ears , like probably most of us over a certain age, have lost a bit of the top end then it may be more challenging to hear the upper harmonics in the notes that help when hearing your pitch. I only use mine for loud gigs and with a reggae band there is not much top end happening on the bass anyway so it can sometimes be harder to hear my pitch, but because I know the tracks well it does not matter. We have a lot of dynamics in the music so early on in my use of them I found i needed more concentration to match my volume with the rest of the band who do not have ear plugs. But now it's not a problem. I have a second pair with 21db filters but they are a bit much and so I only use those when I'm in the audience listening to live music. Not sure if anyone else notices but when slapping the note always sounds slightly flat with the earplugs in.

Well I guess if that isn't their big seller and they have the new guitar cabs to make and store, it makes good sense. I would imagine they could still find space for one off orders if requested.🔇

Anyone with inside info as to why it's no longer in current production? Any issues that existing owners need to be concerned about? https://barefacedbass.com/product-range/Dubster-2.htm

I think it's rare to find a reasonably priced alembic for sale outside the USA.

I'm curious about grasping the 6 string bass and I have put my hands on one maybe a handful of times. I have thought that if I ever went down that route I'd get a fretless one. But somehow I can't see that happening anytime soon as i'm still finding the 5 string enough of a challenge. 🙂

Hi Challxyz, yes I have used it on my 4 ohm Barefaced Big Twin II a few times and it has been fine. I emailed Synq to see if I could safely use the amp bridged into a 4 ohm cab and they categorically told me NO. I haven't tried bridging it into an 8 ohm cab yet as I mostly gig reggae and I think I would probably get more meat out of the Big Twin at 4ohms than the BB2 bridged. I might try it with the my 8ohm Dubster 2 just for fun though. Yes the amp delivers about 500w into each side into a 4 ohm load, so If I wanted some weight on an outdoor gig with no PA support I could put the BT2 on one side and the Dubster and BB2 (both 8ohms) on the other and turn the thing on full....!!! I have dropped in some pix. The Sync with either the BB2 or BT2 is in mono mode, the crown xls1502 with Dubster and BB2 is in bridge mode but after doing a couple of gigs with that setup I think I need to use it in Mono mode so that I can balance the Dubster with the BB2 as it is really dominant. Hope that helps.

I wouldn't describe a tuner as an effects pedal. I use one in my guitar effects board and not noticed any detriment to the signal but with bass I found the clip on to be easier to use as I have a standby switch on my bass so I can tune up in silence. The plus was also that I could then bring just two cables ( one spare) instead of 3 cables to have one spare. You are right the Clip-ons can be fooled by other vibes in the room.

Makes good sense to me. 🙂

I don't use effects at all in my bass playing and I don't also have any axes to grind with those who do. Most of the gigs I have been to these days there is some kind of effect pedal(s) being used by the bass guitarist and to be honest it works well with their music. So far in my gigging I have not found a need to nor been asked so I just wondered how common this is these days for bass players to go clean. I'm sure the sound guys would add some compression to most things going through FOH but I think that is his/her call and something different. Who else is into the naked sound of their bass through their amp.

I've recently found my self a great lightweight, shallow rack mountable 1u Power amp that I pair up with my F1-x pre-amp. It's a Synq 1K0 https://synq-audio.com/digit-1k0 It bridges at 8 ohms. I used again this past weekend with my barefaced Big Twin II on a reggae gig and the whole rig sounded big Phat and clean toned. I have also used it with my BB2 cab for travelling light to gigs and it is a great amp. It bridges at 8 ohms only but I haven't had a need to do that yet. Something from the Crown XLS Series is a good option too. I got the XLS1502 on recommendation and it's great.

I tend to play 5’s mostly. Though if im playing basslines for covers that i think were played on a 4 string bass i tend to stay away from the B string for tonal balance. There are times when i use the 5th string for emphasis if the song needs the extra weight of bottom end.

I recorded Stanley's School days solo and he users a JC120 as party of his bass rig it is fed from the high frequency output of the crossover on Alembic pre-amp. In the past I have seen him live with a small Fender Combo in place of the JC120 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tlmgkAqcGU&feature=youtu.be Admittedly he uses a tenor tuned bass ADGC so and using PA so less likely to blast heavy bottom end or volume through that guitar combo. Sounds sweet to me.

Yep I totally agree, although we buy for ourselves it does feel good when you get feedback like that because you know they are really listening to how you sound as well as what you are playing.

Well that is a simple question without a short answer. To me it matters in the same way that "Does it matter what car you drive?" matters. If the gear meets the basic requirements that it can be used to produce/reproduce the sound of a bass, then that is all that should matter. However what sits on top of that is whether I/we want to have more than that basic requirement, refinements, ergonomics that suit us, practicalities of one bit of gear over another etc etc. If we do then what gear we have matters to us. Same as we can go on auto trader or whatever and find for example a basic Ford car that will get us from A to B, and some will want more than just that and so choose a different model or manufacturer's model with all options bells whistles but it still just a tool to get us from A to B just a bit nicer. Though some may find a really nice old Austin allegro that is great to drive even though a bit beat up and dubious reliability. 🙂 ( not offence meant to anyone driving a ford or Austin car). I have never been into changing gear a lot or swapping bits in and out and I tend to do a lot of procrastinating before buying any of my gear and rarely buy on impulse. I also accept that my experience with bass gear is severely limited to a few brands. I have settled on one brand of bass now and have amps and cabs that I love and get me what I want. It's not that they are better or worse than any other gear but they work for me. Whether the sound the audience hears or understand is as different from any other bass sound doesn't really matter to me as long as I can hear what I want and they hear a bass that sounds like it fits with the rest of the music.