jazzyvee

[quote name='three' timestamp='1413361075' post='2577397'] The black oblong is a coil - effectively an inactive pickup between the two low impedance pickups. It's there to eliminate hum (it works). You'll see this on most SI and SII instruments, though it can be embedde under a full-face laminate (I believe) [/quote] Yep it can be located anywhere inside the bass. On custom builds some signature basses have them in if they are constructed as "series ready" such that they can be upgraded to series I or II in the future. Others have them in for cosmetic reasons. They do work extremely well.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1413324983' post='2577272'] Bit of a noob to Alembics question here, but what's the function of the black oblong located between the two pickups? I've seen this on some of Stanley Clarke's basses as well. [/quote] Those are usually found on the series I and II basses. They are a hum cancelling pickup. Basically it's just a coil without a magnet. The neck and bridge pickups are single coils and this central pickup, picks up the electrical noise, hum etc. in the surrounding environment and via some internal electronics in the body of the bass, cancels them out. This enables the pickups to produce that clean single coil sound with out noise and interference. On the back of the basses there are a couple of trim pots that you use to calibrate the circuit.

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1413211760' post='2575858'] Maybe you need to stop obsessing about trying to find a perfect solution and simply enjoy playing what you do have access to. [/quote] + 1 I suppose many of us really only need one bass and we could do everything we need to do with it. Thankfully playing bass does not have to be singular.

I knew I'd seen the catalog somewhere on line. [url="http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fernandes/1980/en_index.html"]http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fernandes/1980/en_index.html[/url]

I think if you play one single genre of music it would be easier to find a bass that would be everything for you. However if you play a wide spectrum of music it may be necessary to have a selection of basses to give you what you need. That is not to say that one bass can't do it all for everything it depends on what you need tonally and if the bass is able to give you the sound you want for yourself or the sound the music needs.

[font="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"][color="#000000"]Duplicate thread somehow. Please ignore[/color][/font]

This evening I had a gig this evening where we were the second of two bands playing. Anyway about 3/4 of the way through the first band set the bass player walks into the dressing room with our trombone player and sheepishly asks if he can use my bass to finish the set as the jack socket on his bass had stopped working........... My answer was a clear but polite. "No I don't lend out my basses" I did feel sorry for his predicament but I've always had a policy of not allowing anyone to use my instruments, guitar or bass, at gigs or jam sessions. There have been rare occasions where I've let someone I know really well try my bass out at my home or rehearsal but never on a gig. Funnily though a few minutes later we could still hear bass coming from the stage so I guess he managed to fix something somehow and finish the gig. What would your response have been?

nope.

My drummer can't make a gig on 12th December 2014 and I'm having problems sourcing a dep for the gig who is also willing to make the self available for essential rehearsals. I'd be grateful I'f anyone can put me in touch with someone suitable. The music for the gig is Grover Washington jr so it's mellow but with funky grooves in most of the tracks also some reggae feel is required too. The gig is being professionally multiTrack recorded and multi camera video shot as well so we need the show to be really tight musically and visually so I need a drummer who is prepared to learn the arrangements, give some priority to band rehearsals and not rely on busking through the arrangements. The band is Birmingham based most rehearsals will be in the evening but some may be daytime. Pm me please if you can point me to the right drummer. If you can help, that would be fantastic. Jazzyvee

I have all heavy basses and bought about 4 Minator leather straps over the past couple of years or so for different basses and they are great, nice soft padded leather on the inside. Also got one from Bayus http://bayus.eu/comfort/ when they had a stall on the Birmingham Guitar Show earlier this year. I think they are Hungarian and the quality is superb. Prior leather straps I got were the soft padded leather from Leathercraft Liverpool, they are really soft, wide and have a suede inner lining which stops the bass moving about if that's what your need is.

Medival Overture by Return to Forever. It's one of my favourite RTF tracks and from my favourite album of theirs called Romantic Warrior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDkqu7GPd0o

I'm the bass player in the band. http://www.alban-arena.co.uk/events/reggae-sun-ska-boogie-night/

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1412511014' post='2569429'] aha... Pass the dutchie.. [/quote] Yep that's us. At the moment we are finishing of a new album so it will be interesting to see how it is received when it's released. We are also playing at the St. Albans Arena on 25th with Maxi Priest.

Have you found the sweet spot on stage to stand relative to where your bass rig is located? When I was playing guitar live I tried to have my guitar cab about 6 to 8 ft behind me raised up if possible so that I could hear a more accurate sound rather than have it blowing my trousers and the rig could be lower in volume too. However I've yet to find the sweet spot for a bass rig. Sometimes I have the space to locate it about 6 to 8 feet behind and i can hear it's sound better. Almost All of my gigs these days are on big stages and this sometimes causes a problem as I stand with the keyboard player on my left and drummer on the right and the stage guys are worried about the bass spilling into the drum mics due to my rig being in line with where the drummer is sitting on his riser and the keyboard players vocal mic. So usually it's pushed slightly forward of the the snare drum. On a gig this Friday I tried DI only and not using a bass rig at all and getting the bass through the monitors which is good however it was a big stage and the bass on stage wasn't ideal for me. One solution I've seen is when I watched Steel Pulse in concert this year at a festival we also played and the bass player's rig was on the far corner of his riser but facing him. On face value I think this seems good as rear facing rig would mean the volume could also be lower and with it pointing towards the back of the stage there would be less pickup on other microphones but I wonder how well the bass is felt on stage by the rest of the band. We were also on the same stage and used the same rig but in the regular 2ft behind the bass player mode . Do you have you had this situation and how do you deal with it?

Had a gig last night with Musical youth at the Ultimate 80's weekender at Butlins Skegness. We played really tight, great on stage and FOH sound and crowd loved the set. junior Giscombe was on before us and Bad Manners afterwards. I should have posted earlier that we were at the 80's night in Bognor Regis on Friday night.

Home at last Steely Dan.

I found this interesting link about Alembic today. It may be interesting to alembic lovers, haters and those in between. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/alembic-guitars-wickersham-grateful-dead-20141001

[quote name='luckylips' timestamp='1410015721' post='2545434'] In the for sale section of this site [url="http://s91.photobucket.com/user/luckylips2/media/Modulus%20Quantum%20Q6%20Semi%20Hollow/imagejpg2_zps3f4a7904.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] I saw Steve Lawson play two of these basses at a gig on Sunday night, a fretted and fretless and they sounded superb. The only other time I've heard a Modulus bass is when Benny Reitveld was using one back in the early 90's.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1410882578' post='2554274'] Decent cable and decent connectors, so that would be Klotz and Neutrik for me. There might be alternatives to Klotz but that is your standard, IMO. Obbm makes them, iirc as do a few others. I get mine made by a local studio engr. Expect to pay around £25 for a 6m cable [/quote] I have bought this cable and connectors and made up my own. No problems.

What frustrates me is when I put a gig up on Facebook and people indicate that they are coming to the gig and you know full well the person does not live anywhere close enough to attend the gig so what's the point of then saying you will go to the gig. Maybe some people just want to be seen to be supportive but not with bums on seats.

I'm interested in getting the Stanley Clarke Documentary when it comes out next year.