Gareth Hughes

Nice one, thanks for that.

I’ve played around with the first few on double bass, never tried them on electric though. And then I get ..... distracted by things that are easier to play! Thanks for the link to your book, that looks like a worthy addition to the library.

The counting isn’t so much that you need it want to say ‘1234’ out loud, it’s more for you to have an internal reference point. The more you do it - counting out loud while tapping a rhythm - the more your brain will switch off the focus on counting (though you will still be counting) and then you can focus on tapping the rhythm. We do this all the time when we tap our foot or bob our head to the beat while playing a bass line that has all sorts of rhythmic variations. Counting out loud seems tricky at first because you are now having to consciously do it, just as consciously thinking ‘left foot, right foot’ would feel odd whilst walking over rough ground. Try switching things around - instead of saying ‘1234’, try clapping the beats ‘1234’ whilst saying the rhythm, using ‘da da’ or some variation to vocalise the patterns. The fight sequence in ‘Cool’ from ‘West Side Story’ is probably the only time I’ve consciously counted beats on a professional gig. Absolute headache!!!!

Nice one!!!

I had one of these Joyo American pedals. It did make a righteous sound - truly glorious - but....... it was a noisy bugger, even with low gain levels.

Are these not phantom-powerable like a lot of other Tech21 pedals? (I mean the other fly-rigs like the Dug and the Bass Fly-Rig)

I don’t have any experience with the GT-1B, but I get my Rhodes kick from cranking up the speed on a chorus pedal, with the depth at 50%. No it doesn’t sound like a convincing Rhodes on its own, but on gigs it allows me to keep a solid low-end and have a warbly, Leslie-rotating, kind of sound that keeps me happy. Two chorus pedals I use are an MXR Analog Chorus and a TC Electronic AfterGlow. So maybe a chorus patch on the GT-1B might be worth twiddling with?

What is football?

I haven’t had the LowBlow but I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of a Wampler Black ‘65. It’s a Fender Bassman clone. I spent a LOT of time on this page checking out different clips and found the Wampler closest to what I wanted: http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/Overdrive-Pedals.html

Excellent dealing all round. Frank was very patient with my PayPal headaches, and does the best packing you'll ever see. I'm tempted to believe the bubble wrap INSIDE the outer box was heat-shrunk around the inner box. Too damn good.

They are leather, but Maruszczyk’s straps are so damn comfy. And very pliable. By comparison I have some similarly wide straps by Italia that make the bass seem heavier because the straps feel so stiff. Great straps, just stiff.

I played through an Acoustic Image head for years - on acoustic and electric bass - and loved it. My one reservation is similar to your EA experience, it could sound a little sterile with electric bass - but that’s what overdrive pedals are for 😜

I had a good experience with a Markbass LMK head. It's a two channel head, with a footswitch to turn each channel on/off, not just A or B. I found that really helpful for muting. Sadly discontinued but they do pop up from time to time. Failing that, Acoustic Image make the wonderful Clarus head.

Steve Harris for me - because his entire signal chain from bass to strings to preamp/poweramp to cabs shouldn’t sound as dominating as it does, but it does. The sum is much greater than the parts - like every great band.

Bought a GenzBenz Shuttle 3.0T Combo from Donovan last week. Arrived safe and sound from Belgium. Great communication throughout - quality Basschatter.

Only just found this - thanks for sharing these. Much appreciated.

Don’t be alarmed BUT - I’ve always understood this to be a sign of too much pressure and/or a weak top plate. It’s not something that is going to collapse overnight but it will continue over the next number of years. Maybe take it to a repair shop and have them evaluate it - might not be anything to be concerned about at all.

How important?!?!?!?!? As the song said - 'If you have to ask, you'll never know'. Yes, I am that bass player that stands BEFORE the bride at the buffet.