jazzyvee

I've used Ashdown cabs a lot at festivals and gigs where a back line is provided and i've never been happy with their sound to be honest. I would recommend checking out some Mesa Boogie Power house cabs. I have 3 of them and they are superb. I've been using them for about 10 yrs now. A 4x10 and a 1x15 which i generally individually and a 2x10 that I use on it's own or with the 1x15. They have a lot of punch and clarity and sound very solid. I don't play rock music but Mesa gear is used a lot in rock so you should be fine with the music you play and the techniques you use. I hope you find something suitable. It took me ages listening to cabs and amps before i settled on these. They were right as soon as I plugged them in.

I have had those FretFX thingies on my bass since about 2006/2007 and they have been a great asset when playing dark stages. Mine is the earlier version that has AAA batteries and has two brightness levels. They fit fine and although it makes the neck slightly wider if you use your thumb over the neck, I got used to it and I have recommended them to a few bass players. No idea if they went ahead with the purchase though. Recently I had to solder one of the connections as it came apart just where the join is by the side of the nut, other than that it still has the original batteries. When I was touring as a guitarist I used this kind of thing, glow dots and they worked perfectly. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WO-UK-100PCS-Home-Wall-Glow-In-The-Dark-Stars-Stickers-Decal-Kids-Nursery-Room-/181462655032?pt=UK_Children_s_Decor&hash=item2a40046038 Jazzyvee

Some pictures from my regular guitar playing days touring as guitarist for Apache Indian and Musical Youth. Soundchecking at Womad Reading with Apache Indian ( Strat Ultra) 2005 [attachment=170584:305201_10151100884399192_1295791883_n.jpg] Afro Latin Festival Belgium with Apache Indian ( Alembic Orion Guitar) 2006 [attachment=170586:1930267_17789479191_1520_n.jpg] Womad Singapore with Apache Indian (Parker Fly) 2005 [attachment=170588:1930267_17789509191_3322_n.jpg] Ljubliana Slovenia with Musical Youth ( Fender USA Strat) 2007 [attachment=170587:1930267_17789499191_2726_n.jpg] [attachment=170589:1930267_17789529191_4180_n.jpg]

Interesting video clip and good to see musicians using little if any effects pedals. I then got distracted and watching other rig rundowns ending up on George Bensons signature fender amp. Nice little earner for Gene especially if it's cash in hand :-)

Here is a clip of my series Ii alembic played by Nate at the Alembic gathering in California a couple of years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGpSJO8zBDo&list=UUQwyLh07zkCIZuRPMJL0Nmw You can also try listening to Bass Folk Song No. 10 from the most recent Stanley Clarke Band album it has quite a long section with the bass solo. [url="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/bass-folk-song-no.-10/id380065097?i=380065144"]https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/bass-folk-song-no.-10/id380065097?i=380065144[/url]

For a while I put ACG filters in one of my alembic basses and whilst it sounded great and has a wider controllable filter range than alembic it did not sound the same. Earlier this year I put the alembic electronics back in the bass and installed the filters one of my other basses. Kiwi you are correct when you mention Alembic does not a have much ability to manipulate/boost the lowest frequencies. That said I don't usually have any problems with getting a good bottom end from my alembic. Here is a link to a friend of mine in USA who has added alembic activators to his fender P-bass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCkTk04jT6Y&list=UUJPTKHxB_XKoP1BDy5-yXwQ You may like the sound. If you can't find alembic pickups and electronics package, you could try looking for a used Alembic Soundfilter SF-2 which is more or less the same system that is in the series II basses but with wider filter range plus band pass and high pass options.. There have been a few alembic activators on ebay lately but you could always get them direct from Alembic. http://alembic.stores.yahoo.net/jzbtacpic.html Jazzyvee

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1378546452' post='2201612'] If I want a new bass I will say 'I'm thinking of buying a new bass' and she will say 'Well, go and buy it then'. Simple as that. Maybe I am in a happy place financially but, more to the point, I'm in a happy place in my relationship. I have to wonder about all these little deceptions going on, doesn't seem healthy. [/quote] + 1 I bought the latest one last year. She likes that one the most of all my basses so I had her name engraved on the truss rod cover and usually that's the one I use when she comes to my gigs.

Has anyone ever sold a bass and suddenly found it again? Last week I was scanning some old photo's and found a picture of myself from 1980 with my washburn bass. I sold it a few years later as I was more of a guitar player at the time. I didn't know what model of Washburn it was so I decided to check on line to see if I could find out what model it was. Eventually i found a picture on audio fanzine that looked like mine and it is apparently Washburn Wing Vulture II. On close inspection between my photo and the one on-line I realised they looked very similar. On my bass I had also replaced the jack socket for a 3 pin canon xlr socket as I remember being told by a more experienced player that it would make the bass sound cleaner. So I checked the next photo on the site and this bass also had the 3pin canon socket.... Lastly I found a picture with the serial number on then checked my purchase records, i used to keep records back then, and found the serial number was the same. [url="http://en.audiofanzine.com/electric-fretted-bass/washburn/vulture-wing-series/medias/pictures/a.play,m.518699.html"]http://en.audiofanzi...y,m.518699.html[/url] I don't recall if the bass was any good at all as I only used it at home occasionally and then only through a guitar amp. But I have thought it might be good to get it back if it is dirt cheap as I only paid £100 for it used back then I wouldn't be prepared to pay much for the nostalgia value of owning it now. The person listing the bass is from Rhone in France with a username philihpetokyo Anyone else had a similar experience. Jazzyvee

Double post Moderator please remove

A video clip from our festival appearance at Bestival 2013. You probably recognise the song. :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWp7EE6NNis

Just before Christmas about 10 years back I saw a virtually new Vigier Surfretter fretless guitar including case, gold coloured hardware( no not bass) not a single mark on it in a local CC shop up for sale about £700 I offered them £400 which they refused. They insisted they would sell it on line. I told them why it was such a specialist instrument and that they would never sell it for such a high price but they were sure they would sell it. I went back in the new year and it was still on sale I offered them £300 and we settled on £350. Bingo. At the time they could be seen in guitar magazines for £1300.

Most of my gigs have a back line provided by the venue so it's rarely an issue. Where I've been asked to share my bass rig, the answer has always been a polite "No" which is usually met with a surprised stare. I have a hard earned clean and powerful rack rig with a QSC power amp into mesa boogie cabs and that amp will easily trash my speakers in the wrong hands. I've read stories on line about people who after having shared their rig had problems getting damage paid for. So for that reason also it's not worth the risk. I also prefer not to use other peoples gear. On one gig the band on before us was a band we knew and they kindly left their gear for us to use. However at soundcheck the bass rig was not up to much so I just used a DI into the PA and monitors.

[quote name='Dazed' timestamp='1407349958' post='2519733'] Isn't Mr Clarks Infamous Alembic Brown Bass a short scale version? He seems to have done ok for himself [/quote] Yeah he seems to have. I was gonna say Alembic make some great short scale basses.

Here is my shorty 30.75" scale length. Body is a hippy sandwich of mahogany, purple heart & maple with cocobolo top and back. Maple & Purpleheart through neck.

Carlos Santana's guitar tech discusses a little about the problems if CITES in this rig rundown http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=MBNm0Ax4Vzc

I got my flight cases made at flight case warehouse. Also take the batteries out if you are travelling with an active bass. I travelled with an active guitar to the states and even though I paid to have the guitar case checked, scanned and wrapped so that it would not need to be opened during transit, it still got the wrap cut off, opened , the back taken off the guitar and a us customs tag inside to say it was opened. And no they didn't re-wrap the case either so money for nothing.

I haven't knowingly heard many female bass players but from those I have listened to, i really like what Yolanda Charles is doing on bass. I also like Tal Wilkenfield.

[attachment=167776:20140730-BrownLion.jpg][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I'm doing a gig with my NotStrictlyJazz quartet at the Brown Lion Pub, 18 Hall St, Hockley Birmingham on 30th July 2014[/font][/color] [url="http://livebrum.co.uk/the-brown-lion/2014/07/30/delano-mills-notstrictlyjazz-quartet"]http://livebrum.co.u...tlyjazz-quartet[/url] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]It's a mixture tracks including Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, Grover Washington Jr, Jeff Lorber.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]It's a free gig... well free to get in but we are getting paid. :-)[/font][/color] [attachment=167775:20140730-BrownLion.jpg]

Ranking Roger from the beat lived a few streets away from me and we used to hang out when we were teenagers. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranking_Roger"]http://en.wikipedia....i/Ranking_Roger[/url] Stephen Tin Tin Duffy was in my year at comprehensive school when knew each other but were not mates as such. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Duffy"]http://en.wikipedia....i/Stephen_Duffy[/url] Bassist Roger Inniss & I became friends sometime in the late 70's when his best mate was drummer in my band. We are still friends today but these days I only tend to bump into him at gigs. He always was a superb bass player and back then he was playing all that weather report and jaco stuff. http://www.rogerinniss.com

One of the things I've noticed about playing outdoor gigs is the strings feel different to when playing indoors. For some reason they have a more tacky abrasive feel to them and hence your plucking fingers tend to drag rather than slide off,and your fretting fingers require more effort when you need to slide between positions. Both have the potential to affect your timing. I posed this situation on the alembic forum last year sometime when I was doing a load of festivals and Jimmy Johnson, advised me to rub my fingers on the outside of my nose in between numbers as this will make them slightly greasy and help with playing. Usually this works but sometimes when you are hot its a bit too greasy and you have the opposite problem where your fingers move too quickly off the string. Just be aware of it anyway.

I've done a number of festivals that size in recent years in fact did one this weekend and they provided an Eden WT800 with 2, 4x10 eden cabs. In my experience, even with big cabs behind you, outdoors you don't hear them as well as you would think as they are usually too close behind you and so the sound disappears away from you and not reflected back so that even with an 8x10 you may still need a good monitor mix to hear yourself properly. If I can I usually ask the stage guys to push the cab at least 8 feet behind me which gives me a better sound. The headline band on the festival I was playing, had a riser for the bass player and he had the bass rig in the left front corner of his riser with the speakers facing in towards him and not out towards the crowd which I think for those gigs is a much better way of hearing your bass properly. But I doubt whether many people would get to do that.

[quote name='julietgreen' timestamp='1405975593' post='2507208'] Re the earplugs: I've got a great pair of 'musicians' earplugs' that work brilliantly [i]when I'm not playing.[/i] In spite of the claim that they don't change the sound quality, just cut it down, I really find it difficult to play with them in. Perhaps I just need to get used to it. [/quote] I've been using the off the shelf musicians earplugs for about 10 years now but and since moving to bass i found them to be difficult to use as they don't attenuate the sound evenly and the lower frequencies are less clear making it difficult to pitch notes properly. However recently i bought some ACS custom earplugs and after a bit of a hickup with the first mould, I have a new pair which were made as an open mouth impression. These are far superior to the general non custom mould ones and are better at attenuating the sound in a more even manner so I can hear everything even cues from band members. However I do find that I still need a bit of more mids in my stage monitor to accurately hear my note articulation when playing reggae. Other genre's of music is not a problem as my tone for other stuff has more bite in the tone.

[quote name='rednose200' timestamp='1406058535' post='2507968'] I have owned and played many basses in my time, but I always seem to keep going back to my Rogue. It has that unique Alembic tone that no other bass can provide. Both live and in the studio it never fails to cut through the mix. Yes they are expensive, but in my opinion they are worth the outlay. There is not one dead note on the neck. Every note sounds perfect. Your technique has to be pretty decent though. It will punish sloppy playing. You must be precise with your fingering. It is sometimes quite noticeable when I let the odd friend try it. Usually Fender players actually. Ah well. Personally I will never part with mine, unless a higher end model comes my way. That said I'm not keen on Series models. Maybe the MK, but that's about it to be honest. Set up is also extremely important and they are prone to neck variations due to temperature and humidity. I do my own set ups and it does take far longer than other basses. The dual truss rods take a bit of getting used to when setting up, but if you take your time and have patience, you can achieve a perfect action as per your own taste. Anyway there's my two penneth. All best. [/quote] I'm no fan of the classic series large body style but if you like the rogues alembic can make you one with series electronics or you may be fortunate and find one used. [url="http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_gwathnar.html"]http://www.alembic.com/info/fc_gwathnar.html[/url]

[quote name='Raslee' timestamp='1405894144' post='2506322'] Avoid Precision verses Jazz threads [/quote] +1 with that and I'll raise it to "Avoid the boutique bass bashing threads too".