LukeFRC

Walk into the shop, play, go away and look on web to research, if you're sure you want the thing (ie have the money in your pocket ready) go back, dont pay the price on the ticket. talk them down, get a free cable and tuner or something.
walk out with your first bass.

sorry, i lost that a while back, its my A level tech project.

So following on from the fretboard chat it got me thinking.
DOes the type/brand of battery affect the sound on an active bass?

No you are not mad.
Go to the for sale section and see how much old ones are selling for.
You will smile.
and not have to pay customs.

[quote name='simon1964' post='200976' date='May 17 2008, 12:09 PM']Coincidentally, due to my POD failing on me, I ended up playing my $$ straight into my amp at our gig last night - no pedals, effects or compression. The nicest live sound I've had in ages![/quote]


see theres a lesson to be learnt here....

when i got my maplenecked P bass the amount of noise i got of the fretboard compared to my rosewood shark was amazing, i had to totally refine my style to cope with it. More attack i think, and to my ears it does something different to the way it sustains.

if you apply the logic you are using to the rest of the bass, that 'the string doesnt touch it so therefore it doesnt affect the tone' then equally the string doesnt really touch the body. so therefore the body wood doesnt affect the tone? ?

the fretboard does affect the basic tone or colour of the notes. But ultimately the tones in yer fingers

throw this out here...... gold annodised scratchplate?

was intrigued by your description of the 'creamy' sound of sadowsky OutToPlayJazz. Went had wee listen at [url="http://basstasters.com"]http://basstasters.com[/url]
I've sold mine now (so feel a bit bad about recomending this) but next time you see one, or if Rob has some kicking around try out a active status shark. Creamy and warm is that sound, and would be great for Jazz me thinks. If you see one have a go!

an instrument makes sound, the musician makes music. To a certain extent gear as long as the instrument can do the fundemntals, (ie stay in turn and be intonated ok) then it is the player who makes it. If noone used company Xs gear then we think it is rubbish. But cos the great players use it in our minds it is good.
For isntance Fretless Fender Jazz are considered good possibly because Jaco did such cool stuff with his.
At the time he had to de fret the thing himself though.

so our opinions of gear is partially influenced by who plays it.

at that price i would take it!

when they brought out the guitar ones a few years back they were sold as copys of pawnshop style guitars, not exact reissues of anything.
I think it looks ace, though pefer the guitar ones for the look.

i would make my own.
get a nice bass, the craic of making it and playing around with tools and stuff.

having said that my idea would be to make a ridiculously cheap bass. But plays good. Ive just got an urge to make a semi hollow body out of ply (a la Danelectro), finish it in a silver sparkly finish, screw a P style neck to it. and see what sort of sound it would make.
If i got another company to make it it would be squier, simply cos i couldn't be arsed with the i have a [insert expensive bass manufacturer's name here] kudos rubbish.

[quote name='jono b' post='198174' date='May 13 2008, 06:54 PM']How about support bands that leave immediately after their set, taking all their gear with them that they'd told you and the promoter that you could borrow? It was only one guitar amp, and the sound man had a store room packed with tasty amps, but the band in question were meant to be headlining, turned up late for soundcheck and announced that they'd sold no tickets. And they'd sneaked all their gear out while the promoter was working her arse off trying to get stuff sorted out and not tell her that they were leaving. Unsurprisingly they were an arrogant bunch because they'd got to the quarter-finals of some Battle of the Bands.[/quote]

scotland isnt that big, i'm wondering who this was.....


From a PA side which i do from time to time....
[quote name='Ou7shined' post='197929' date='May 13 2008, 01:14 PM']What's with [b]line checks[/b]! I like a good old sound check to warm up with.

.....


[b]Stage fountains[/b] : When you take the 1st gentle sip from your pre-positioned bottle of beer and it froths over......... you try and catch it by quickly stuffing it in your mouth but it exits all available orifices and you have to jump about like a pansy so it doesn't get into your bass then you put it down on your set list (coz you don't like to leave a mess) and the ink runs and you have to share someone else's and you loose concentration coz you've just waisted a couple of mls of beer and then you think of something witty that you should have done to turn it into a rock n roll wheeze instead of looking like a noob that can't handle his shandy but it's too late and everyone thinks your a git then you forget all about it until you're tidying up and you loop a sticky, gritty lead around you arm........... No?...... Just me then. Happens every time. [/quote]

bands that want to use the sound check, you know the time when I try and make the best of a bad situation and make you sound good, and what do you want to do? Have a practice ses or warm up... practise before the gig, and take your spare bass to the dressing room ad warm up there.... do what i tell you and i can make you sound good....

numptys who coil wires around their arms. (or even worse tie a knot in it) Learn how to coil a wire properly, its not hard!

usethe big desk and put everything through the PA

this where the east coast yamaha owners unite?

its a stage one. its through neck. If you look at the body you can see the laminates

someone who would walk down the street with a hiscox case and amp head in one hand and pulling an ampeg flightcased 8x10 in the other without breaking sweat. He or she puts them down sets up and is organised ready to play beforev the guiarist has even finished sorting out all thier pedals.

my tip is develop likings for colours that no one else seems to like.

ive just noticed bluey matches the lights on my amp. ahhh they were made for one another

[quote name='NJE' post='194646' date='May 8 2008, 01:11 PM']I started a thread on my hunt/aquisition of a 5 string warwick.

I would highly recomend anyone on this thread to go and check one out. I was never much of a lover of warwicks apart from one streamer LX I played about 10 years ago. I always thought I was a fender (or fender style bass) lover but I picked up a 5 string pro M for stupid money and I dont think i will ever look back.

Just go and check them out, as someone said the market is slow for them but fashion will change as it always does. I remeber a period when I could hardly give away my fender.

here is mine anyway just incase you didnt see my thread all for the grand total of £375 with hard case, please excuse crappy ebay pics. (sorry dont mean to hijak)


[attachment=8536:2d2a_1.jpg]

[attachment=8537:35c7_1.jpg][/quote]

Looks nice. A great price too, that money would buy you very little bass new! I think Fender's have their place but im loving the warwick.
Im finding i am playing less 'busy' on it, which is nice.
I am working less than 15 hours tomorrow so should get a chance to actually play it!

screw the lakes, loch lomond is only a short train ride from glasgow. its pretty

i love the challenge of having to think fast and play something.
1) good
2) interesting to play
3) suitable
4) without any practice at all


although sometimes you can be a bit cheeky with it. Some new hillsongs* song we played had a similar rhythm and the same flipping chords as londons calling. the recorded version had a standard punk bass playing green day style. I wasnt intrested in that.
never before has Paul Simonon been ripped of so much


*Hillsongs are a big church in oz which has folk who write lots of songs. Some are good, some suck some just sound derivative. Mostof them have a similar drum rhythm to snow patrol.

[quote name='OldGit' post='193015' date='May 6 2008, 03:58 PM']Be careful what you wish for:

Warwick: Sales Assistant - UK

---------------------------

Sales Assistant needed for the Warwick UK Branch. If selected, you would be responsible for selling musical products such as, RockBass by Warwick, Hipshot Products, Floyd Rose, Kahler, MEC Electronics, Warwick Strings, RockBag, RockStand, RockCase and RockCable.

We are looking for an ambitious salesperson with experience within the MI Industry. The position is office-based and located in Manchester. Working hours are 8.30am - 7pm

You will be expected to be determined, highly motivated and employ a disciplined and strong work ethic.

The right candidate will receive a competitive salary and commission structure.

Please email your cv to:
[email protected]

-----------------------------------------


"Working hours are 8.30am - 7pm"

Let us know how you get on [/quote]

Thanks but no!
I think i would want to work with the guys trying to work out how to sell and market the stuff rather than the actually bods ringing around music shops trying to get them to carry rockbags.
With the right ideas and 'image' constructed a warwick bass should sell itself. As it is have adverts exclusively full of metal players and they dont work at selling their main product. (IMO obviously i dont know their accounts, it just seems slightly strange to push such expensive instruments at such a small market which has no real focus on expensive kit!)
Fender however have it quite right. A core product which they know and understand how to sell. Thy sell P and J between the high end stuff of the greats and the bread and butter minimum you need for a rock tone. The p shape means a certain tone. The bread and butter of music. ANd everyone needs bread. and then if you get folk paying more for more fancy butter.....

lack of weight good.
small cab
and portable head.
for 200w you possibly arnt talking much money either.
scour the for sale section.

If you like ashdown tone maybe that. But its like marmite

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='193185' date='May 6 2008, 06:50 PM']Thanks for the nice feedback, Luke... I've always liked the gloss finish Warwicks & your blue Streamer is no exception. "Status" who bought your Shark II obviously likes your old bass so much that he's selling his black passive one now![/quote]

haha i only just saw that. He's already sold his natural one too. I'm not really surprised though, if you liked 4 string sharks my old on must have been near the ultimate in shark-ness.


And i can actually slap! wow!
It's funny how certain things come natuaraly on different basses. In my last band a load of the stuff was written on the shark, it was then a learning thing to make my p do it well enough in terms of attack to individual notes. What came naturally to your fingers and your ears. go [url="http://www.myspace.com/retrochamps"]here[/url] and listen to the song Jenna (one of the few with my bass playing still on it) the bit in the second half of the chorus riff came natuaraly to me on the shark. I had to think about how i played each note on the fender.
Im still trying to work out what the warwick makes me want to play, it responds well rhythmically to things but it seems to have less limitations (if that makes sense) And as Joe said its hard to get the practice in at the moment so that's with very out of practice fingers.
At the moment i only have time to play at church where you turn up with no band practice and 40 min later you are playing songs you have never heard or played before before 150+ folk. It has a way of keeping you on your toes!