jazzyvee

I have found from person experience with Alembic is that it's always better to phone than to email. It is a small family business and so it can take a while to get to your emails. I recently have ordered some electronic upgrade bits for my bass. I'm fairly certain they have not been shipped yet as there are some work Ron Wickersham has to do on them. I have to speak to her anyway about my order soor so if it's any help I can ask her to drop a couple of the screws for your adjustable nut in the package and post them on to you when they arrive. Jazzyvee

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1384680754' post='2279318'] Alembic. [/quote] Alembic Series I & II basses do have an xlr socket but it is a 5 pin switchcraft socket not 3 pin one and provides 36v power to the bass brings back separate outs for neck and bridge pickups. As they can do whatever a customer wants, within reason, for a custom order someone could specifiy 3 pin DI socket. Jazzyvee

I remember years back when playing guitar and I started doing Jazz gigs from the real book. I didn't read music and so relied on the chords and I was on one gig and was given the set list. The one song we had was for example maybe in G, then on the count in for the song the keyboard player went went 1, 2, Bb, 4.. and straight into a song I completely didn't know and a new key I really struggled to transpose on the fly. The reason was that a trumpeter was coming on stage to do a solo and before I'd even got to grips with the transposition I was flagged to do a solo. .... Jazzyvee

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1384777899' post='2280519'] I get about one soundcheck a year. Never did my any harm [/quote] Many of my gigs we only get a line check and sound is sorted out on the first number. But we normally have our engineer on the desk so he is able to get our sound pretty quickly once we get started. Jazzyvee

Latest gig with my band. [color=#333333]The Dreadbeat & Jazz Session[/color] [color=#333333]Delano has invited a select group of musicians to give a modern twist to the reggae tradition of "Two Sounds Clash".[/color] [color=#333333]Tonight's gig will bring an exciting reggae inspired jazz set to the stage with music originated by Bob Marley, Ernest Ranglin. Monty Alexander and others.[/color] [color=#333333]Come along, bring a friend or two and help us create a vibe. [/color] [color=#333333]Musicians [/color] [color=#333333]Delano Mills: Bandleader & bass[/color] [color=#333333]David Lloyd Henry aka Gabby: guitars[/color] [color=#333333]Andre Bassing: keyboards[/color] [color=#333333]Bunny Dryden: drums[/color] [color=#333333]Guests include: Julie Penny (bass), Susan Berrry (vocals) & Joe Hands (drum)[/color] Andre bassing and Bunny Dryden are also the keys and drummer for The Aynsley Lister Band. See attached flyer for more details. [color=#333333]Venue: Bearwood Corks Jazz Club, [/color] [color=#333333]Date:21/11/2013[/color] [b] [url="http://livebrum.co.uk/venues/bearwood-corks-club"]Bearwood Corks Club[/url][/b] [font=inherit][font=inherit]558 Bearwood Road Smethwick[/font][/font] [font=inherit]B66 4BT[/font] [b] 0121 429 2091[/b] Entry fee: £5.00 £4.00 concession

I have a 36v ( + - 18v) pre-amp in my bass powered from an external 240v ac to 36v dc rackmounted power supply. Without the psu plugged in it operates at 18v with internal batteries. It'a very powerful sounding bass when compared to my 9v basses so I'd say it certainly gives me more clean headroom. Jazzyvee

[quote name='bbrich' timestamp='1383259514' post='2262420'] Hmmm… I work for an airline and, strictly speaking, you should always put an item as big as a bass in the hold - in which case you've got to have a "full" flight case. As mentioned throughout the thread you [i]can[/i] buy a seat for it but that could be expensive depending on where you're flying to and who you're flying with. [/quote] I'm glad you have mentioned about buying a seat for an instrument. I was offered that option on one flight home from the USA and Is I said to the person at the time I can't see the logic other than to make money. Why you would allow me to strap my guitar it into a seat with a seatbelt not designed to prevent it from bouncing around the plane if there was bad turbulence or something more serious and the plane was being buffeted about, but not allow me to put int into an overheard locker where it will not be in danger of hitting anyone in the same circumstances. He didn't have an answer just said those are my options or it goes in the hold. It went in the hold and was actually fine. Can you explain the logic for that?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1384261609' post='2274540'] As usual I recommend Minotaur straps. Greek leather, padded, extra wide (4.3" - 11cm), long (adjustable to 59" - 150cm) and great value. I've had mine for years and it makes my P bass seem very light. [url="http://www.minotaur.gr/index.php/cPath/25/osCsid/7h47qcsvp6pib7jbjdsl04numjd9e902"]http://www.minotaur....dsl04numjd9e902[/url] Don't be put off that they're based in Greece - mine arrived in four days. Support the Greek economy! [/quote] I can second that I've bought 4 wide padded leather ones in the last 18 months for my guitars and basses and they are great. I like the fact that there are no plastic fixings to break unpredictably. Just leather and my straplocks. Also Leathercraft in Liverpool make great straps too.

My bass has the option of mono, both pickups through one jack or "stereo" one pickup out per jack. I have volume and tone circuit for each pickup and an overall master volume. I want to do some experimenting with bi-amping and wonder if anyone has tried it yet and what were your thoughts on how successful /unsuccessful the venture was. 1) Is it better split the signal by frequency and use a mono out from the bass into my pre-amp with a crossover to a stereo power amp sending the lows to one cab and the higher frequencies to another cab. 2) Is it better to use the individual outs from each pickup to separate pre-amps then to the stereo amp and to one cab per pickup. I can imagine for some genres there would be no benefit like for example reggae when the higher frequencies are not so important to the tone but for genres of music where you need the full spectrum I wonder if there is anything I can gain. I will be using 2 x F1-x pre-amps, SF2-superfilter, QSC plx2402 and two mesa boogie cabs. I'm not looking for huge volume I'm trying to get the best and cleanest sound quality I can from the gear I have. Any pro's or cons would be good to hear. Jazzyvee

Not everyone agree's but I think they are incredible basses.

Follow the advice of the Players Association. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhy2eLp_Ap8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhy2eLp_Ap8[/url]

RCocco are the noisiest in relation to finger noise, that I've ever played. They are quite rough in texture when new and they feel like they are filing off the fingertips. But they sound great otherwise but by the time the surface is more pleasant, the brightness has gone..

Beautiful bass.

Try this off ebay. I got two of them about 3 weeks ago and they are fine. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Neutrik-Speakon-to-1-4-Jack-Socket-Adaptor-NA4LJX-/141028868911?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Cables_Leads_Connectors&hash=item20d5f9c32f"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20d5f9c32f[/url]

Good news, for me anyway, I've managed to locate a used Alembic F1-x pre-amp in europe so just sorting out how to get the payment to someone in another country. Anyway, my existing power amp for my bass rig QSC PLX2404 has for a few months stopped working properly on one of it's channels. It hasn't been a problem because only use one channel for mono. However, when the new pre-amp comes I want to investigate going stereo with my bass and I'd like some recommendations on a new power amp that is just as good as the qsc but lighter in weight. I will be using a variety of Mesa Powerhouse cabs and although the existing amp is high powered it's more for the headroom and quietness rather than high volume. Jazzyvee

Bass and guitar forums.

Maybe the seller had an non Ebay buyer. To me it seemed a good price for an alembic of that model. Jazzyvee

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1383328289' post='2263296'] a £3000 bass won't make me practise more, play better, or get me more gigs. [/quote] My experience has been different. Having a bass I could get a great sound from made me want to practice more and as a result I play much better and virtually all my gigs now are on bass. Jazzyvee

I started out playing electric guitar and since I bought my Alembic bass in 2002, I've almost completely migrated into becoming a bass player. I think a big part of that is because the sound I get from it represents me more than on any other instrument I've ever owned be that bass or guitar. At the time of purchase I already had a Musicman Sterling bass that i bought new a year or so previously but the sound I got from it didn't inspire me to play it much so that didn't last very long after getting the alembic. So for me personally, it has been a fantastic decision and certainly not a waste of time or money. Jazzyvee

I have an old Samson True Diversity Concert series wireless system that I used to use for guitar in the 90's but haven't used it since then. It's an analogue system and I just wondered if anyone knew the law regarding their use. Are they now illegal to use? Jazzyvee

3,2,1

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1383057145' post='2259608'] Yeah, well built and exotic wood and all that. But it's like a meal cooked by a world class chef made with truffles, saffron and lobster -- but it doesn't suit you. Who cares if the ingredients are expensive? [/quote] i like that. :-)

I've had that problem with my strat hard case and decided to stop locking it and got myself a lockable luggage strap that has a combination lock and put that round the middle instead. It now goes round my flight cases when I'm using them and with the lock under the handle its safe from being knocked about. Similar to this one Jazzyvee

I personally use a different set of muting practices and they seem to operate sub consciously now rather than me employing anything directly. But it seems like for most of my playing I use my left hand to mute strings I'm not using but other times my right thumb mutes the B string, my little finger mutes the E-string and left hand mutes the rest. As a guitarist also I used the tips of the fretting fingers to touch the strings adjacent to the ones I'm playing to stop them ringing so I naturally do this for bass also. If I'm going for a deliberate muted tone on my bass lines I tend to use the edge of my right hand near the bridge and pluck strings with my thumb and forefinger. Not sure what happens with slapping as it's not my main string hitting technique but whatever is muting at that time seems to work and keep the non played strings quiet. Gary Willis's technique is challenging. Jazzyvee

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1382295088' post='2250306'] To be serious, I think its just because it doesn't follow simple verse, chorus, verse, chorus etc and therefore becomes somehow mysterious, intellectual and 'pseud-y' to many. Probably the same would apply if you played some of the prog rock excesses (eg, 'Tales of Topographic Oceans') to many people. [/quote] Nicely put Clarky. As well as a musician I'm also a Jazz radio presenter and when I first got into doing this programme I had quite a few callers who said that they wanted to listen to jazz but didn't know what was going on or what to buy to listen to. So I produced a series of programmes where I picked well known "popular" songs so that the user could in their mind establish the song format and the melody chorus etc. Once that was done I then played lightly jazzed up versions of them and then later programmes I did the same process but used stronger more progressive versions of some of the songs with different instruments taking solo's and the heads etc. I went on to try to point out what instrumentation was doing what in the track. I have to say the response from the audience was incredible. They got the hang of it and for most people they just didn't understand what was supposed to be going on or what each individual instrument was being played. For the most part I got the view that a large proportion of non musicians do not, or are not able to break down a peice of music they are hearing into separate instruments so for them listening to jazz can be sort of overload, with all these sounds going on at the same time. But yes many people just turn off from jazz without even trying to work it out. I'm a lot like that with Rap and Hip hop. It leaves me totally cold. I guess this thread is an example of why it is a blessing to have so many genres of music out there to choose from. I know audiences are pretty low for jazz gigs as well but how do we change the perception and get more people to accept jazz and equally important suport it by going to gigs and buying the music. (if anyone has any self produced, written etc jazz based music, I'm alway looking for new stuff to play on air, PM me and I'll send you a postal address) Jazzyvee