tauzero

[quote name='chris_b' post='1002731' date='Oct 27 2010, 05:18 PM']Funny how everyone's so interested in James Jamerson’s bass, style, technique and strings but they're not bothered about the amp that he and many of the other studio aces used to create all those classics![/quote] Ampeg sent one of these back in time to him? That probably explains why it's so expensive.

I think that the "????" on the ??? amp currently [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=108194"]for sale in this very forum[/url] is vastly overrrrrated. I far prefer the "!!!!" but that just isn't on there.

I have several of [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110602209843"]these[/url] (now discontinued, sadly) and they're handy, resilient, and do the job. They can just about home in on a low B but it makes life a bit easier for them if you hit the octave harmonic. Also useful as they use PP3s, so if your active bass battery dies, you can take the one out of the tuner... There's another tuner, the Fender AT-3, which looks similar but it's not chromatic. I also like the Korg CA-30 (I think the CA-40 replaced it) - however, it does have a needle as well as lights and this seems to trigger full-on OCD in some musicians. They also do the CA-1 which doesn't go as far down as low B (it goes to one semitone above). I prefer chromatics to guitar/bass-specific tuners as you're then covered for 6- and 7-string basses, plus brass and woodwind instruments if you should ever allow them to emit sound rather than make attractive ornaments.

I find it annoying that they've moved the "Ask seller a question" from where it was if you win something. I often want to arrange collection with the seller and it completely baffled me initially how to do that, then there used to be a handy link up at the top in the "you've won this thing" page.

Preshape on Traces. Octave muffler on Ashdowns. Not too bothered about the VU meter on Ashdowns, I only use VU-equipped ones in rehearsal studios and those only work about 10% of the time Not being able to bridge a Superfly (or indeed a Supderduperfly). My Superduperfly has 1000W of Ashdown loveliness waiting to burst on my ears in a torrent of sound, but I can only get to 500W of it. The Crate Power Block's "speaker simulation circuitry" (ie. mush generator). This can be bypassed though.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1001836' date='Oct 26 2010, 10:30 PM']But it's not just cheap amps that can suffer such indignities. Our guitarist's Laney LC30 amp suffered the same problem when the tip of a 1/4-inch jack came off and lodged in the jack socket.[/quote] I suppose the irony is that the worst sockets for this to happen to are the blind-ended ones so you can't push the offending stray bit of plug back out again, which are also the most expensive variety. There's a lot to be said for these:

Just to add to the Wakemanny stuff, he also played keyboards on Bowie's "Life on Mars". And I once supported the Strawbs, and got the chance to tell Dave Cousins he was a major songwriting inspiration to me. Just hope he didn't think my songs were crap...

Concentrate on the bass, the backing vocals are the added bonus. You need to click with the drummer. You also need to provide the glue between the drums and the rhythm guitar. After you've got locked in with the drums, listen to the guitar to see whether they're doing the odd passing chord that you hadn't planned for. Priorities go rhythm, chord roots, fancy bits. And be yourself, unless you're a giant mutant star goat, in which case a disguise might e in order.

Something I'm curious about is what amps have been blown up by other bands, and just how the bloody hell they manage it. I wouldn't want to own an amp so fragile that it can be blown up in a fairly normal gigging situation.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='997640' date='Oct 22 2010, 11:25 PM']Also: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sakai-bass-guitar-RARE-99p-start-NO-RESERVE-/140468980512?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item20b49a8b20"]Sakai.[/url][/quote] Might be just a poor picture, but it looks like the nut is orientated somewhat differently to the bridge. Twisted neck, bad photo, or both?

[quote name='Gust0o' post='992448' date='Oct 18 2010, 05:02 PM']Short of sitting on stage I'm considering replacements.[/quote] Why not consider the alternative and get a bar stool to sit on on stage? [url="http://www.axemusic.co.uk/products/Kinsman_KGS_Stool/Guitar_Stand.html"]Kinsman KGS[/url]

[quote name='PaulWarning' post='995938' date='Oct 21 2010, 01:55 PM']I've no experience with sadowsky basses but I've owned a few P copies over the years including a Squire and I've had a MIM Fender Jazz, but none of these cut through/sat in the mix nearly as well as my old Stingray and my current MIA P, so I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.[/quote] Were you playing all of these through the same gear, with the same band?

I had a couple of minor issues with it: It was upstairs - at least this year I've got a lighter cab... I'm not sure how well off we were for car parking space - I got there early so didn't have a problem but it looked as if there might have been a bit of an issue. Did anyone who came have problems paring there? Neither of those would put me off coming back there again.

[quote name='spinynorman' post='992947' date='Oct 18 2010, 11:30 PM']Heatherlovesashley - I bet they have that across the top of the windscreen in their Vauxhall Corsa.[/quote] As it's heatherlovesashley2010, perhaps she has a best-before date for her affections.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='992240' date='Oct 18 2010, 02:28 PM']It seems to be the theme thru this is that originals bands are always the ones wanting to borrow gear, however I suspect that the underlying theme to this is that the real issue is that promoters don`t want major gear changeovers, so are trying to get the headliners to make things easy for them.[/quote] Possibly also that originals bands are the ones more likely to be on a multi-band line-up.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='991771' date='Oct 17 2010, 11:06 PM']"Imagine a perfect world" Ah, but who's idea of a perfect world, that is the question.[/quote] It's where the perfectly spherical cows beloved of science problem setters live.

[quote name='Protium' post='991716' date='Oct 17 2010, 10:18 PM']Who is Stanley Clarke?[/quote] A famous dead science fiction writer who speaks in gobbledygook.

[quote name='chaypup' post='991959' date='Oct 18 2010, 09:15 AM']Why can't we just have a Bass Player World Cup? Invite every bass player in the world, pitch them against each in a series of comps and then the eventual winner can be undisputed.[/quote] There may be slight logistical problems involved with getting John Entwistle, Jaco Pastorius, Bernie Edwards, and James Jamerson involved.

I should be there.

I am generally happy to share gear. I try to avoid buying fragile amps like Ampegs (these seem to be the most cited in threads about some other bassist blowing up one's rig). I lime to think that if a promoter says that I can borrow someone else's amp that that is actually true, though I do tend to stick my amp (not my cab) into the car so I can use it just in case. Generally just saying that you've got your own amp with you is sufficient for a fellow bassist to tell you that it won't be necessary. And if someone else was using my gear, I would expect them to treat it properly - any perching of beer on top of it would be immediately corrected...

[quote name='Bassassin' post='988145' date='Oct 14 2010, 03:48 PM']Like I said several (hundred) pages back - if you're a bassist in an originals band, nine times out of ten you'll be playing music that someone else has written anyway.[/quote] Which would you find more frustrating - playing in a covers band, or playing in an originals band that played original music written by another member of the band but not original music (of at least as high a standard) written by you?

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='988512' date='Oct 14 2010, 10:08 PM']You want to avoid the bass player from obviously 5 believers especially when he's armed with an ashbory, LMII & Schroeder 1212L.[/quote] Don't you find the Ashbory a little light to get a good swing with? I keep trying to wind myself up to the point of actually building one which would be nice and solid, ideal for those rapid blows that you can't get in with a more clumsy full-size bass. Does anyone else find that a 36" scale slows their swing down too much?

[quote name='4 candles' post='988463' date='Oct 14 2010, 09:42 PM']some punk keys waller from leeds uni, 4 years into his degree gets lost soloing over "mustang sally" !!!! guitar player "4 years at leeds" has the contempt to not even listen to "celebration by cool and the gang", shows up and cant read the charts, or even remotely play the tune. w***er[/quote] That's all very well, but the first one's degree was in biochemistry and the second one's was in Russian.

Two covers bands One originals band that does the occasional cover One Trad Arr band One acoustic duo that for any one gig will range between all originals and all covers

The singer (who is also rhythm guitarist) writes the lyrics and a fair bit of the guitar part, the lead guitarist writes some guitar parts, I make some suggestions about where to go with chords. I'm feeling it a little frustrating as I've also got a fair number of songs what I have wrote and would like to get at least looked at by the band but it never seems to happen. I've also just written a tune for the ceilidh band, my first attempt at diddly-diddly music. It's all Mrs Zero's fault, for the initial play-in tune she wrote "Up to you chaps" on the set list, so we decided to write a tune called "Up to you chaps"...