casapete

I played at a club he owned called ( I think) Jimmy Deans. Was a new venture for him at the time, probably early 90’s ish. Certainly a colourful character...

Phil Spector was an early user of more than one drummer, primarily in the studio. Hal Blaine’s drum parts were often doubled to create the ‘Wall of Sound’. Drummer Earl Palmer was also a member of the legendary group of musicians known as ‘The Wrecking Crew’ who played on so many hits in the 60’s and 70’s. I recently watched a great film about this, available IIRC on YouTube. Search for ‘The Wrecking Crew Movie’ and I think it’s still there.

I believe the recent reissue (model 1974x) is a pretty good stab at matching the sound of the original, and is available with a matching 1x12 cab to augment the combo’s 1x12. They are quite a loud 18 watts too, used mine in a band scenario a few times. Maybe lacking the clean headroom of a Fender Deluxe but fabulous Bluesbreaker tones when running flat out. 😊

Ha ha, it was an interesting thing. Mate of mine has recently bought an Ibanez short scale acoustic bass, can’t remember the model number but similar scale to the Taylor and less than £200. He loves it. There’s also the Guild Jumbo Junior for around £400 if you’re still looking to scratch the short scale itch.

Hey Frank - no, and no! Although I liked the way the Taylor played, I found it a little problematic soundwise, some ‘wolf’ tones when using it on gigs that I couldn’t EQ out for some reason. Think it may have been something to do with the bridge/pickup arrangement, as a mate of mine brought his identical Taylor to a gig I was playing and that was okay. Anyway, no problems as I sold it on eBay for what I paid for it and just put it down to experience. Hope you’re okay mate, cheers. Pete.

Just in case you’re not aware, the Epi Jack Casady is a semi hollow electric bass, so if it’s the acoustic type of sound you’re looking for it won’t nail it. Cracking basses though. 🙂

Honestly think my next gig may be NYE. Hoping so as it’s local and a good payer too. That’s if I can remember how to set my gear up and play of course....😉

My Kingman sounds great too - use it through a Fender Rumble 100 and it seems to suit it well. You can definitely hear the ‘acousticness’ come through. Unfortunately I may have to sell it soon due to the Covid situation, as I’ll not be able to afford the luxury of having 2 electro acoustic basses much longer. 😕

That reminds me - bought a late 80’s Strat a while ago for £400. Kept it for a while but didn’t gel with it, so decided to give it a good clean prior to selling it. Found that it contained a full set of Kinman vintage pickups, which the previous seller either didn’t know or forgot to mention. So I priced it up accordingly and got £650 for it, new owner chuffed to bits too.

My best buys have usually concerned stuff I've bought that has eventually become worth a lot more! I acquired my 63 P-bass for not a lot of money, but it was in a right state after being left in a loft for a few years. Spent a fair bit getting it into shape, and it will be with me till the end. ( Originally belonged to an ex-bandmate who sadly got killed in a road accident, and his widow approached me a few years later to see if I wanted it.) Bought a very rare Marshall Bluesbreaker combo in the late 70's/early 80's for (IIRC) £80. It was a really rare 4x10 version which are like hen's teeth. Sold it for a paltry £150 I think - it let me down on a gig and I got fed up of it. Nowadays would be worth maybe 10K !! Got my 1959 Les Paul Junior for what would now be considered a song - think it was £400. This was at a time when they weren't particularly desirable, but to a Keith Richards fan like me it was priceless. The going rate for them now seems to be around the £3.5 to £4k range i think. Again, won't be going anywhere though. Probably the best thing I've got is my late 60's Marshall 1974 18 watt guitar combo. Bought for £45 in the late 70's, and now worth a fair bit. A friend who had a music shop was asked by his Marshall sales rep if he knew anyone who had one to sell, so he contacted me to see if I was interested. Told him thanks but no. He rang back and said the Marshall guy wanted it for a famous client of theirs (who had hired the same model for his blues album) and would I accept an offer of £4k? Must admit I did consider it, but again politely refused. Certainly the best guitar amp I've ever had.

I’d be very (pleasantly) surprised if my band manage any of our scheduled gigs before the end of the year. As the majority of our work is in theatres, I just can’t see how it will work with social distancing, and that’s if there are the theatres still open. Like a lot of other workers in the entertainment world, we will be some of the last to return to whatever ‘normal’ will be. We have 8 professional band members and 3 sound and lighting crew all relying on these gigs for our living, so it’s a massive blow to us. (And just to rub it in, I should have been playing at the TT races on the sunny Isle of Man this weekend - just hope we get the chance to rearrange it for next year. )

I agree with most of the above posts regarding using them purely acoustically. However, I’m struggling to think of any that are made without any provision to amplify them, so am guessing manufacturers believe they are designed to be / best used plugged in ,unless playing on your own for rehearsal etc. There doesn’t seem to ever be a lot of love on here for electro / acoustic basses - ‘I’d rather just take my Precision with flats’ etc being the usual kind of comment. For me I do think they have a different enough sound from a solid body electric, and perhaps more importantly they look different too! I’ve had my Washburn AB20 for over 25 years and used it on many acoustic duo and band gigs. It always sounds great and often gets commented on by people in the audience. Also got a Fender Kingman too, which sounds fab. I use Fender 8060 acoustic bronzewound strings on both.

Just bought a bass from Mark, and the whole thing has been so easy. Great communication, bass exactly as described in the listing and he even arranged to courier it to me despite having a preference for it to be collected! This is what makes BC a great place for buying and selling, many thanks Mark. 100% recommended! Cheers, Pete.

He did! Actually used a small trampoline during his set, whilst playing guitar too. Think it was a bit of a gimmick TBH, bit of theatrics etc. He partly blames this and doing flips as well for recently having both hips replaced!

Think he's being a trifle modest - I've seen him play piano on all his gigs I've been to over the last 40 odd years, and whilst he's no virtuoso he can certainly play what's needed. 'The sun hasn't set on this boy yet' and especially 'Goin back' are wonderful.

I loved Nils from his first solo album onwards. ‘ Keith don’t go ‘is a great song, remember seeing him in the OGWT clip highlighted.. He did an acoustic tour in the 90’s and came to a small club not far from us. Wonderful gig, and we managed to chat to him afterwards and get some cd’s signed. Also enjoy his playing in the E Street Band, and love the fact that when Steve Van Zandt returned to the fold, Bruce didn’t want to let Nils go so he kept him on with Steve too. Nils is also a very talented pianist as well as having a superb voice and his guitar playing is instantly recognisable.

It certainly would - a great venue, played there a few times. Just been a feature on Jeremy Vine’s Radio 2 programme highlighting the problems theatres and venues are facing, not looking good at the moment.

He plays guitar a bit (in a fashion anyway...) - seen here with his dad!

The ones who always asked me for a spare cable were the guys who spent next to nothing on theirs but laughed at me for buying quality ones, which last forever if looked after. I've also depped with a band that kept all their cables slung into a big trunk, and if you didn't get to the gig in good time you got the duff ones! I've always preferred to buy and look after my own cables, not to be anal about it but just to have that peace of mind in knowing they're all good. Having said that, my mate in my acoustic duo goes even further. He not only has a spare everything, but even a spare ipad (with all the parts on natch) and spare shirts / black suit in case of a drink / dining related mishap on high end function gigs. Needless to say he always gets paid for doing a top job.

Same here Stew. I actually have a spare of everything I use, apart from a cab. Think I would be really unlucky to blow all 4 speakers, hope I haven’t tempted fate though! Keep a small road trunk with everything in (apart from a bass obvs) including my 2 GK amps. I’ve always been the guy other band members come to when they need a spare item, but then again I think that seems to be the norm for most bassists ?

Yeah but you’ve got a Dano too so no problems. 😀

Always have a spare bass on every gig with my main gigging band. It’s a cheap and cheerful passive P-bass which I’ve used on a couple of occasions when my active bass didn’t like the wiring in old theatres for some reason. Not an ideal instrument for me ( bit heavier than my usual bass etc) but so glad it was there then. It usually lives in our van most of the time so I take it out every now and then to give it an airing and check it over.

I think Kevin McCloud from Channel 4’s Grand Designs was / is a bassist.

Reading a lot of the posts on here has made me realise I generally dislike music that is predominantly male orientated! I have tried to get on with heavy rock / all forms of metal / prog / jazz rock / anything else that is shouty or stupidly angry etc etc. Of course these genres are not exclusively 'male' but do seem to attract a larger male following than female. I've always been drawn to stuff with a groove and a 'tune' - something basically singable and/or danceable too! Fortunately Mrs CP likes pretty much the same stuff that i do, so no real problems there - she has even enlightened me to Leonard Cohen! If I played a lot of the songs at home that I've listened to on this post I would certainly now be single. 😁