dmccombe7

Wow a set of strings every weekend gig / gigs. Mine last about 2 months before i start to notice a major deterioration and that's me playing weekly rehearsals or gigs and playing a minimum of 1-2 hrs a day at home. I'm not an energetic bassist and therefore don't hand sweat much. At the very least i would change at a month if i thought i needed that little bit of extra twang for a special gig or even an audition but typically 2mths for me. Dave

I took lessons when i started 40+ yrs ago and was told to use the 1234 finger technique. I always struggled at lower end of the fretboard and over the years i found i now use both techniques 124 at lower end of board ie 1-4th frets and as i move up the board from the 5th i use 1234 technique. I don't recall ever making a conscious decision to do that more it just seemed right and i also have varying thumb technique on back of the neck. Sometimes i will keep my thumb rooted on back of the neck and other times i've seen me wrap my thumb round the edge of the neck. I think it usually depends on style of music i'm playing. Rock or metal playing straight 8's on same note i sometimes wrap round edge of the neck.(my lazy technique ) If its something quite complicated or fast moving i tend to have my thumb anchored on the back of the neck. Over last few years i've tried to keep my wrist straight as much as possible on my fretting hand as i tended to have it quite angled at times causing some aches and pains. I tend to play fingerstyle using mainly 1st & 2nd fingers and occasionally adding my thumb, 3rd or 4th depending on what i'm doing. All in all i'd say do what's comfortable but try and keep to Good technique as much as possible if you can. Dave

Good point about the ball end being earthed so that now confuses me even more I think it might have been my Jazz bass i tried them on.

My Warwick Thumb and Overwater custom 6 fretless have Elixir strings on them but i find the tension is a little tight more so on the Warwick. I guess i could get used to that However i've also noticed that i pick up noise on some basses as if i have a dodgy earth system on the bass. I've put that down to the coating on them. If i put non coated on its perfect. If i touch the bridge the buzz stops. Don't quite understand why tho. Dave

Its just a bit o fun and hopefully people shouldn't take too seriously. Certainly if it was me thinking of buying a new bass i would be listening to many many reviews and VID clips before trying out for myself. Based on the above clip i wouldn't even look at the Stingray yet i know they sound great on other clips and live. Dave

Based on limited knowledge of settings and solely on what i'm hearing in the clip i thought the P bass sounded better. The T bird surprised me a fair bit. It maintained the same tone throughout and yet it worked on all styles played. Jazz sounded a bit thin to me. Not the sound i hear from mine. The Warwick also sounded a little weak. Again not what i hear from mine. Guessing all controls at mid point on Thumb. Rik sounded old school 70's in every style. Not what i was expecting at all. The Stingray bass had no guts to it and not what i recognise as a typical Stingray sound especially noticeable during the slap section. It should have won that section hands down. I have a Jazz (my goto bass), Precision (PJ), Thumb, Thunderbird and have owned a Ric. The only bass i haven't owned is the Stingray and that's not how they sounded when i played them. All that said i really enjoyed the clip tho. Quite a varied sound across the basses. Pity he didn't post the EQ settings on each bass. Dave

This was my first time using the 170's rather than 190's and fair pleased with them. Now that i know they are so good i'll look at the twin packs next time around. I'm using them on my Jazz bass. I can see them having more effect on my PJ bass. That's the other big difference i noted was that the D'addario's have a smoother feel and not as hard on my wee delicate finger tips There are just some things in life that just seem right for you when you come across them. Same with my Jazz. It always seems to be just about right for what i do. The EXL170's have that same effect in my opinion of course. Dave

Few months back i decided to move from D'addario EXL190 nickel strings to DR Sunbeams after reading many reviews and a lot of praise for them. They were ok but didn't seem to last any longer than the EXL190's and to me the tone was quite similar. Probably the most noticeable difference for me was the string tension was less. Cheapest i could get was £32 for the DR's so not cheap by anyone's standards. Thought i would go back to my D'addario's but having read a few reviews i thought i would try the EXL170's with 45, 65, 80, 100 gauge rather than the 40, 60, 80, 100 on the EXL190's. They gave a far more balanced tone across the strings and couldn't believe the difference. What i found with the 190's was the D & G string was quite twangy compared to the E & A whereas the 170's seemed to have an even spread as you moved across the strings from E to G. They don't have the twang of the 190's but i'm loving the more even tone. The EXL170's only cost £18 Not a big issue but thought i would mention it for those thinking about changing strings soon as i've nearly always used 40-100 gauge. Just goes to show you're never too old to learn or too old to change. Dave

Think i'll stick with Berkeley studios in Glasgow. All the gear is there apart from me and my bass. Costing us approx £120 / month. Was paying £80 / month for a studio space in Borders area but it was basically a builder that had a spare large office he didn't need and we could leave all our gear there. Included electricity and use at anytime. Think that was just a bit of luck to be honest. Friend of a friend kinda thing. Dave

what sort of rental charge is it ?

How much does that cost to rent ? Dave

We used to use a builders office space in Borders regions so it might be worth asking around if you know anyone with a possible spare office that you could use after work hrs or weekends. We paid a monthly rental of £80 but we could use any night or weekend we wanted and we could leave our gear and PA set up ready to go. Dave

A TV experiment showed that LIDL long life batteries actually lasted longer than Duracell. They usually have 2 brands but i think its the Varta ones that were better but couldn't be 100% sure so best check. Dave

I change my smoke alarm batteries every Xmas too but use Duracells. My SLR battery is a rechargeable one and i've had that a while. Regards my basses i'll just keep changing them every couple of years. My goto bass is my Jazz so not a problem there. My next goto bass is my PJ deluxe but it has a fallback passive switch so i never really worry too much about it. Dave

The more i think about it i've changed the battery in my Overwater maybe twice since buying it in 2010. My Warwick i've had since 89 and i think i might have changed that maybe 6-8 times in 29 yrs. To be fair i haven't used the Warwick a lot since mid 90's and the Overwater is mostly used at home. My Precision Deluxe i've replaced once in last year mainly to be on safe side and my other Overwater J4 i've replaced battery 2-3 times in about 6-7 yrs but i was using that bass a lot during 2012-2014. Looks like my batteries have been lasting 2-3 yrs on average. My Precision has a passive switch which is always a good fall back to have. Dave

I tried the rechargeable batteries few yrs back and found they didn't charge to same voltage as a new Duracell but that was quite a while back. At that time they simply didn't last too long but batteries have come a long way since. Dave

Congratulations to both of you. Gorgeous. Hopefully things will work out OK but no matter what she's a little stunner. Wishing all our very best from the McCombe household. David & Linda

Gonna try another set Daddarios just to double check on my thoughts. The set i have on my Jazz i fitted end Jan and the tone is a bit bland. My PJ bass since Nov last year but they still sound ok on that bass but i generally use that bass for rock / metal. The Jazz i use for Glam Rock and anything else. One of the reasons i changed to DR's was they were more flex and less tension but i don't really notice it that much compared to other basses i have with either Daddarios or Overwater strings (all nickel) Dave

I always use Duracell batteries and tend to get a good few months before i change a battery that's with me playing every night at home, rehearsals and gigs. I don't check the battery when i remove it. My basses are a little different. With some i notice a tone change altho very slight and not sure i would notice it on a gig but def at home. Other basses the volume starts to decrease or i hear a little distortion in the tone. At that point i have checked the battery on removal and they are down below 9V off load. A new battery is typically 9.5V or more off-load. Some basses i can simply put into passive mode and i have no active EQ other basses simply don't work without a battery. Best to know that before you gig. If the latter then replace battery far more regularly as you will have no fallback position if battery goes. Dave

DR Sunbeams. They are good enough strings but not a lot of difference to the D'addario's EXL190 i was using. That's just a personal opinion of course and others may well disagree.

I was using D'addarios and thought i would try DR's but going back to my D'addarios EXL190's. Pretty similar in feel and tone to the DR's i tried but far cheaper and they both last about same time before tone starts going approx 2mths.

I didn't get back into bands until i was 50 and now at 58 i'm currently in a rock / metal band and also a Glam Rock covers band. I've never been out of a band for any more than 2-3mths over the past 8 yrs. I've played in everything from Classic rock, Glam rock, 70's covers, Prog originals, Blues / funk rock covers in that period. I've seriously never been so busy. I'm retired 2 yrs so its much easier to learn sets now hence reason for taking on 2 bands. My last band the blues / funk covers from last year have recently been hinting again as they have reformed again but having committed to 2 other bands i think 3 is far too much for what i need. My point is that age is not a limit when it comes to playing bass so do not give up and just get out there looking. Much of it is thru people you might know or even get to know but Bandmix, Join My Band and even Gumtree are all places i have used over the years. All the best and hopefully something will come along. Dave

I can understand your dilemma having lot of gear in the house but not using it but as others have said so long as the family are ok and there's no desperate need to sell i would hang onto them. Once the kids are all at school and things have settled down a little who knows maybe you will have time to rethink playing in bands again. Good basses are hard to come by. Dave

Decided to retire 2 yrs ago and its the best thing i ever did. Make sure you have things to do tho. You don't want to be a couch potato. You can only watch so much Loose Women, Judge Rinder and Jeremy Kyle in one year. Enjoy your retirement and have fun. That's what life is all about. Congrats Dave

Once i'm home i usually sit with a coffee and a bourbon or two to wind down. Think its more to do with the drive home as i get like that when i've had to drive for more than a couple of hours during the night. I find by the time i get home the gig adrenalin has usually worn of unless its an absolute blinder where everything went perfect and the audience were up for a great night. . Dave