stewblack

What a resource that site is. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thank you all for the comments, links and tunes. I love finding a new bass legend.

Gorgeous isn't it?

Okay, okay so plenty of head shaking from the experts and the knowledgeable, but I just discovered Chuck Rainey. I'm learning Rock Steady by Aretha for an audition and have steadily fallen in love with the extraordinarily splendid bass line. So I do a little research and discover that I probably haven't just discovered him as he has played on so much. I have actually been listening to him for quite some time, notably with King Curtis. I just didn't know who he was. The riff to the song is a joyous thing, rhythmically perfect, and perfectly repetitive with some little unexpected flashes. He then breaks into a few bars of pure inspiration before settling back onto the groove. Yum. It's beautiful. A little more research and I find he played with Steely Dan who were of course one of Bruce Thomas favourite bands and Bruce has always been my biggest influence. So there we go. Anyone familiar with Chuck's work who'd care to point me at other of his gems would render me eternally grateful.

Now this is the kind of info I like!

I'm auditioning for a few bands at the moment so can't be certain what if anything I'll be doing but I'd love to come along. Don't think I own anything anyone would be particularly excited to see or play but I could demo my homemade shoulder saver system which might prolong a few careers.

You're a splendid person, such open handed sharing of so much hard work. Thank you.

Ok then folks, let's have it. Favourite flat brand, size etc and why.

Thanks guys, interesting stuff. Despite the levity in the way I posed my question the difference between the flats and the round has raised serious considerations for me. As I've only recently returned to playing I have some pretty tatty old strings on a couple of instruments and am going to need to replace them. Sadly I don't know what make the flats I am using were as it was some time back I bought them. They definitely play differently after a couple of weeks of playing. No question. They were almost sticky when I started but are now as smooth and sleek as a Meerkat's smooth and sleek parts.

I have to be careful being a recovering addict so I watch out when I see danger signs. GAS is the only exception. Can't control it I'm afraid. A while back I fitted flats to a semi acoustic bass just because I wanted to try them out. As time passed I picked it up in an increasingly desultory and infrequent fashion, finding the strings unlovely in the extreme. Uncomfortable, unresponsive, lumpen brutes which had an effect not dissimilar to that an olive has on my mouth; they sucked the joy from living. Then I read here that you need to play them in a bit so I resolved to learn a bunch of songs using only the flat strung semi. I reasoned that as the instrument was so hard to play, the fast twiddly bits would therefore be a doddle when I tried them on a bass slung with proper strings. But a weird thing has happened. After a couple of weeks learning the songs I duly retrieved my Stingray with it's normal roundwounds and recoiled in horror at the fizzy, twangy, brittle sound and strings so weedy and thin it was like playing a six string guitar. Now I don't feel I'm playing a real instrument unless I'm playing my lovely warm, gentle flats. I even have the tone knob turned off on the guitar to minimise any residual nastiness from the upper frequencies. Are these things addictive? Will I ever enjoy the twang and sizzle of skinny round strings again? Is there help?

Simon went out of his way to deliver an amp and two cabs to me, despite being far from home. Got lost ( my poor directions), lost phone signal, ended up in horrendous traffic but was the nicest guy you could hope to meet. Helpful, reliable, honest and true - have no fear either buying or selling from this guy.

Ha! Just the head, I'm only getting the head fixed. Hmmm. Wonder how TE will sound through a couple of MB cabs....

Been lurking and loving this thread. Used to have this TE combo years ago. It lived in my bar as the resident bass amp. It got used at jam sessions and as back up for visiting bands. I lost count of the number of bassists who went off to find their own TE combo after using it. Promoted instant love. No one believed the wattage back then either! My most recent TE head blew up at a gig and took down the electrics in the venue too, leaving a drunken drummer pounding away in the dark unaware we were all suddenly silent. This thread has me gassing to get it up and running again. I'm buying a MarkBass rig because of my broken shoulder and dodgy back but a bit of TE goodness every now and then is food for the soul 😎

Just a quickie to reiterate what a top man Obbm is. Buy with confidence and above all buy the best most longest lasting cables you will ever use. My latest purchase is a thing of beauty and perfect function.

Hi Marc, NYE was amazing. Loved every minute, currently learning songs for another audition and so happy to be back doing what I do best. Thank you for your kind words.

Thank you. I struggle on, sometimes it's all we can do