lukeward2004

Thanks guys, we are booked for the Jazz Cafe at the Madejski stadium in Reading on the 2nd August. We will be playing a short 8 song jazz set whilst the guests sit and eat thier meals, and I think we have pretty much pinned down our set for that. When the food is gone, the next 2 sets will be our usual hard hitting funk/soul combo to get them burning off the meal! The Jazz Cafe in the Madejski is linked to the big famous one in Camden, and with any luck I may be able to secure us a gig there soon...

Dood is almost like a girl, what with the long hair and all that....

Sam (Drummer) is a legend - he plays out of his years, hes my age, 23, and can get a groove going like the best of em! Thought you guys might like my Trillby

Also forgot to mention, we have a female vocalist so any female led jazz acts are cool....

Hi Good People of Basschat, I have been booked to play at the Jazz Cafe with my band in the near future, and they have asked us to play one of our sets as a Jazz set, and I need some help finding songs I can do! Im not the most knowledgable when it comes to jazz, but can someone recommend some easy, laid back dinner jazz for a set of around 45 minutes? So far I have thought of Santana's Black Magic Woman, and George Benson's "This Masquerade". Any Help appreciated!

Hi Guys, My band where booked to headline the fleet carnival at the weekend, and my god, what a disaster! The Stage looked like it was made out of MDF and didnt look stable at all, and it was covered over with a horrible blue and white "tesco value" tarpaulin that was supposed to shelter the stage from any bad weather. Then of course it rained hard for an hour before the gig and the whole thing got waterlogged as the tarpaulin failed to hold up, and we simpluy refused to set up on such a dangerous stage. There where plug sockets with water all over them!!! NO WAY!! Anyway, the gig was promptly moved to a club called Propaganda, and despite the mad rush to grab out PA and get it all set up, and the late start (10.30pm) - we all had a cracking time and tore the roof off, even had people screaming for an encore after our encore! Here are some pics for you:

Having been through a whole slew of amps, cabs and basses the last 7 years, I think its safe to say I have settled on my tone and gear. I find that my sound is nailed with my current setup - Bass POD > Aphex Aural Exciter C102 > QSC PowerAmp > Epifani UL310. Bass Wise, I use 3 different basses, a Standard Stingray 4, Vigier Passion III 5 String, and a Warwick Streamer LX 5 as a backup bass. I spent quite a while setting up sounds on the Pod before I settled on tones for each bass, and I think I could get any sound from it if needed - I used to use a lot of effects but to be honest the Bass Pod satisfies my needs, I only use an Envelope Filter and a bit of EQ/Compression. I used to have problems cutting through with my Jazz basses, but not since I got a Stingray!

Nick, you are always welcome mate, would be good to see you again and catch up! If you come along you will hear your old bass POD in action... and my new Stingray next to the Vigier!

Gorgeous Ray there mate - looks a lot like the Ray Homerplaysbass used to own!! GOt to say im not a fan of the 2 Band Ray, for me it has to be a 3 band - but that is a real looker.

Hi Guys n Gals, Just a quick shout out to any of you who are based around the Hampshire area, my Funk/Soul band Projec13 are headlining the fleet festival tonight, from 9pm. Check out [url="http://www.fleetcarnival.co.uk/"]http://www.fleetcarnival.co.uk/[/url] for details - its in the Views recreation ground opposite the Hart District Council. Should be a good night with some fantastic events taking place aside from the music, including a car and bike show, beer tasting, line dancing, a beauty contest which I will inevitably win hands down and various kids events amongst others. Its a free event, no tickets required, and we are on stage from 9pm - postcode for the site is GU51 4AE for your sat navs. Would love to meet with some of you folks and have a beer before or after the show if you fancy a night out! Cheers Luke

Sweet J bass there mate!

I would say that my funk/soul functions band is a "Versions" band from what you guys have said, and I can say that since playing a shedload of covers and doing our own versions of them, I have improved as a player. I think you can still be creative with the songs, we tend to drop in breakdowns, the odd change and big ass endings/beginnings - not just the basslines but the whole song. Its amazing how one short break can make a song groove and make a band sound so tight! In any context, a song should not be written to support a bassline - the bassline is written to fit the context of the overall composition, and whatever you do, it should fit into that context. Ive seen many "covers" bands just replicating the song, and sounding like the record, which is boring IMHO - people appreciate a show more than a set of covers. By Show I mean medleys, breakdowns, big intro's and a band making the versions of other peoples songs into a seemless show.

Stingray all the way! Having recently aquired one, i cant recommend them highly enough. Tried mine in anger with the full live band the other night, no problems coming through and thats with a loud drummer and two loud guitarists!!!

Bloody Marvellous!

Just to add, I took this to the studio last night and gave it a good thrashing with the full lineup - and it sounded immense! No problems cutting through, and my drummer asked me about halfway through the practise: "Have you changed something in your rig? New Strings?" I said: "No, just the new bass" He said: "Your bass sounds awesome!"

Thats no Wilderbeast - thats a pillow made up from cast-offs from Doods flowing locks ;p

Cracking stuff mate, I remember your vigier from the last bash - it is surprisingly different to mine! SPecs wise its only slightly different, I think my pickups are different which is probably why mine sounds a tad bit "fatter" than yours did (to my ears anyway). Still a cracking bass, dont ever sell it (unless its to me!).

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='216096' date='Jun 10 2008, 12:47 PM']Good question! I've never found them to be that variable... Although I'm willing to concede that I have a preference for 2-Band EQ models with Maple fretboards!![/quote] Cheers for the kind words guys! In all honesty, it is just a standard Ray, so it pretty much does what you would expect it to do - sounds like a stingray! Ive always been a massive fan of the ray sound, but never got on with the neck profile on them. I guess its a combination of my technique improving and experience with playing chunky necked Warwicks the last couple of years that has done it for me, I havent given her a proper thrashing in the studio yet but I will do tomorrow. Shouldnt have any problems coming through! One of the reasons I got this was because when I switch from fingerstyle to slap mid song, my sound seems to disappear from the overall mix, despite endless tweaking with the mids and hi-mids, whereas Stingrays always seem to cut through very well and the slap sound is really nice on this one.

Cheers GUys, ill get myself one of those Roadie Wrench things - looks useful!

Hi Guys, Ive just got my lovely new Musicman Stingray (see gear porn section), but I find i need to lower the action a tad. Unfortunately the bass didnt come with any tools or allen keys, and the set I have does not fit the bridge pieces. Does anyone know the size of key I need to lower the strings? Cheers Luke

Hi All, I never thought I would say this but I have actually found a Stingray I can get along with, and it is now duely added to my arsenal in place of the recently departed Streamer Stage One: Pics where taken by the previous owner, Ben White, who is a smashing bloke. Im thinking of trying to hunt down a Tortoiseshell plate for it, to make it look a little less "common" if you like, as its all standard at the moment and I like Torty on Black more than Black on Black. Also, anyone know what size Allen key is needed for the bridge to adjust the string height? None of my allen keys fit it and I want to lower the action a shade. Cheers Luke

[quote name='Tinman' post='212422' date='Jun 4 2008, 12:27 PM']Thanks Luke Yep, thanks to you I regularly come home with the back of my skull caved in from the soundwaves [/quote] Its the only way to be my friend!

I have 2 Warwicks at present and I love them - A Streamer Stage One and a Streamer LX5. The Stage One is a 4 string and is for sale/trade at the moment purely because it doesnt get played much next to my LX5 and Vigier Passion III - your best bet really is to play a bunch and see what you like. WHere are you based? You are welcome to pop in and have a go on my babies if you want to mate!