bassbloke

I owned a Fender HM Bass. The HM either stood for 'Heartfield Model', Heartfield being a company Fender acquired in the 80s or 'Heavy Metal' - the bass had a suitably metal red crackle finish, black headstock. It had 3 jazz pickups with a 5 way switch, which I modded to give me a three way switch and push-pull on the tone, which gave me three pickup output. Pickup arrangement was different to the one you describe - it had two jazz pickups in the usual positions and a third in between the two to give a kind of musicman-esque feel. Anyway, to cut a long and boring story short, I didn't feel the third pickup gave me anything - the two rear pickups sounded like a musicman without the bottom end oomph and all three pickups sounded like a jazz with one of the pickups wired out of phase - all clicky and nasal. The two tried and tested combinations of twin jazz pickups or precision and jazz do the job admirably.

[quote name='icastle' post='1025911' date='Nov 16 2010, 02:33 PM']I'm going to bite this from a slightly different perspective. Fender basses appeared in the 1950s and by the 1960s and 1970s had more or less dominated the market, yes there were Hofners, Gibsons and a few other high end marques about, but Fender was the leader. Then the 1980s appeared, haircuts got weird and the popularity of white trousers went through the roof - everything was clean cut, fresh and modern - it was all very different from the previous decades. Steinberger, Jaydee, Wal, Ibanez, Aria, Yamaha and a whole raft of smaller suppliers took the basic concept of a bass guitar and updated them to match the fashion of the time.[/quote] +1. Take, for example, rock and metal bands. A lot of bands changed their image for the 80s and in came spandex and a whole host of other fashion disasters. A Fender Precision or Jazz just looked out of place. Even Iron Maiden dropped Fenders in favour of spikier instruments with louder paintjobs. The irony is that a lot of the instruments - BC Rich Gunslingers, ESPs, Ibanez, Jackson and Charvel were just modern takes on the jazz and precision with more sculpted bodies and pointier headstocks.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' post='1026334' date='Nov 16 2010, 08:34 PM']Not sure if I really need all these basses really. The bass I use the most seems to be the Washburn Status. (followed closely by the hamburger bass). I wanna keep the JD bass,and the fretless.I know that times are hard,and I don't wanna sell my Tele bass for less than I paid for it. (alot) And to be brutally honest ,altho' it's the nearest 'proper' bass sound i m h o , I'm frightened to gig with it. I love the look of the Taxi bass, but haven't used it in rehearsals yet. As for the 5 string? using it at home is fine ,but I think I'd be too nervous in a band situation.As for the 6 and 8 strings? They've been ignored. Not sure whether to sell most of 'em ,as I 'm almost certain my job is going around xmas. (Hate the place anyway) On the other side of the coin, I do like the look of basses on the wall etc. I was thinking of getting miniatures instead. Sorry if it sounds a bit miserable , but I'm not the miserable type Maybe I should start over again. Any ideas?[/quote] Sell everything bar 2 basses, one rig and whatever effects/leads/outboard gear you need as a bare minimum. It's incredibly liberating.

Mid Week slot? check Charity Gig? check Loads of bands? Check Very short set? Check Your 'nightmare gig' detector should be on overdrive. It has all of the classic hallmarks of a total disaster and, what's worse, it being a charity gig means you can't kick off about the poor planning as it will be regarded as not in the spirit of things. Realistically, how much of a difference would your presence make to the gig? Would they make that much more money if you turned up and played three songs or another band played for another 15-20 minutes - more in fact as you wouldn't waste time with the changeovers. Why don't you all pledge £15 to the charity and send that instead and settle for a nice evening in.

Dire. Started the year well with a few local gigs with respectable turnout. Then one big gig at the O2 Academy Islington, after which our singer left. Got a new singer, did one reasonably big gig at the Scala, one crap local gig and new singer left and band decided to split up. The gigs where we got a decent turnout, we really put in the effort to sell advance tickets. That is the only way you can guarantee numbers.

[quote name='njoha' post='1006736' date='Oct 30 2010, 08:49 PM']The Neutronics stripped down set @ St Pancras intl - The Station Sessions [/quote] Your stage outfit is one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

I would agree with the comments suggesting you invest in some vintage les pauls. Twice in the past few years I've been in a music shop and seen a middle aged father and son walk into the shop, ask to have a quick play on a very expensive Les Paul and, within 5 minutes, whip out a credit card and buy it, without haggling on price or extras.

I have a 8 Ohm Tech Soundsystems 4 x 10. However, to quote the late Charlton Heston, you'll have to prise it from my cold dead hands!

There are obvious convenience benefits to having an active preamp in your bass, plus active circuit and active pickups will lead to an improved signal to noise ratio when using very long cables. However if you are simply looking for the active sound, then an outboard preamp will work well and is a good way of obtaining some classic active circuit sounds without hacking up a bass - especially if the control cavity is tight. John East, Sadowsky, MXR all produce outboard preamps. In fact, any electronics builder will be able to fit the preamp of your choice into an external casing.

It's a criminal offence to write a cheque knowing that it will bounce. The fact he has written you a cheque is proof of intent to pay. If it were me, I'd send them a letter via recorded delivery asking for the outstanding balance plus bank charges for processing a bounced cheque or you'll initiate county court proceedings. He's an idiot. If he was serious about ripping you off he should have just paid you half and said he'd give you the rest of the cash next week. Of course, chances are he's financially screwed anyway and yours will be one of numerous debtors letters landing on his doormat. Next time you drive past the pub it'll probably be boarded up.

I'm not a Jamiroquai fan, but quite liked that song from the Godzilla soundtrack. I thought the reworked version was nice and chunky, but was missing a lot of the menace of the original because the bass sound was too clean - needed some fuzz and synth. Undoubtedly a good bass player, but he looked so lifeless too.

There's three I can remember, but this was years ago. You go up the main pedestrianised shopping street, heading away from Tivoli right to the top and there's a xcouple of big music shops on the right There's also the bass shop where Celinder are based. We are talking 10+ years ago since I went though. Danish girls and Tuborg. Very nice. 25% VAT on booze. Not so nice.

Ampeg still remain the gear of choice for most touring professionals, equipment hire companies, festivals, etc... so the loss of a few endorsees is probably of little consequence and probably more down to the artists in question being offered a more favourable endorsement package from other manufacturers.

[quote name='jazzyvee' post='960142' date='Sep 18 2010, 08:33 AM']Maybe you can enlighten me here. I can't understand why someone would pay the amount they do for an Alembic Bass which is renown for it's clean tones, then put some [b]flanger[/b] on it. Once you put the [b]flanger[/b] on it, to me, you lose a lot of the sonic reason for buying the bass in the first place because I'm sure it's gonna sound pretty much like any other bass with [b]flanger[/b].[/quote]

[quote name='jazzyvee' post='960142' date='Sep 18 2010, 08:33 AM']Maybe you can enlighten me here. I can't understand why someone would pay the amount they do for an Alembic Bass which is renown for it's clean tones, then put some [b]envelope filter[/b] on it. Once you put the [b]envelope filter[/b] on it, to me, you lose a lot of the sonic reason for buying the bass in the first place because I'm sure it's gonna sound pretty much like any other bass with [b]envelope filter[/b].[/quote]

The Boss 3 band paramteric EQ pedal is/was a very good piece of kit. I twas the firts pedal I ever bought and I frequently chastise myself for seling it during one of my many ill-advised ventures into Multi FX territory. However, they stopped making thos epedals some years ago, hence the high value. Also, I'd feel a bit scared gigging it knowing that I'd probaby not find a replacement easily. The MXR Bass DI+ is a brilliant pedal. I bought one earlier this year and it has totally transformed my sound. I'm always getting compliments on my bass tone and gigs and rehearsals are a doddle nowadays - gigs I can guarantee a pretty decent sound through anything with enough headroom and decent speakers and gigs - I just send a signal from the DI and run my amp flat for monitoring. Wonderful. I read an interview with John Entwistle where he said he used a parametric EQ to remove 1kHz from his sound. I tried it and the difference in tone is remarkable and that's the point of proper EQing - it's more than a selection of EQ curves it's about subtlety.

Been looking at the JumDunlopUSA YouTube channel. Whilst most manufacturers have inane shredders and nobodies demoing their gear, Dunlop have the great Bobby Vega laying down some fantastic pick, fingerstyle and slap work on a number of demos. This is a man who has played on some absolutely classic recordings. He was in Sly and the family Stone for f*cks sake. Yet this is lost on the pr*cks of cyberspace who rip his playing apart.

Just noticed that you're in Leatherhead. You could put up a musician available ad in Tweeters, The Peel (Kingston), Backline and Andertons in Guildford. You could pop down to the Blues and rock jam at the Elm Tree in Surbiton or to the jam at the Grey Horse Kingston. There's loads of music really close to you.

[quote name='starman' post='941329' date='Aug 31 2010, 08:13 PM']I've been playing bass with a band for about four months, we've been playing along to original tracks so far as at the moment we have no singer. I was given the task of looking for one and forwarded various mp3 tracks and details from about six interested singers onto my bandmates, who weren't interested in any of them without even giving them an audition (their comments were too cheesy/too heavy/not really us etc etc). Last week I found two singers that were going to audition, one changed her mind as she didn't like the material we were doing, but one had an excellent voice and would have been perfect. She asked if she could audition three of our songs and three of the songs she likes. I checked with the band members if that would be ok (as it was ok with me), of which only one replied saying she would probably want to do Celine Dion type stuff and to tell her no. I had already asked her what songs she would like to do and they were by Pearl Jam and Bon Jovi). When I forwarded this on to the band, they sent a really rude email back saying "If we have to play that stuff its over, tell her to poke it". So we are back to no singer again. The material we were playing was great at first (Motown, Bowie, Squeeze, Ace, Wild Cherry) but it's now getting too diverse (Dusty Springfield, Pulp and Ian Dury, Byrds, Buzzcocks, a song called Pirate Aggro by the Housemartins). I feel we need less diversity and to stick to more of a genre than be all over the place if we want to eventually gig. I've spoken to the band about this and they agreed, though nothings changed. Do you think I'm wrong? I'm 45 and bands are fairly hard to find around this area. Would you put up with it, keep quiet and play something you don't enjoy or quit and have no band? If you've read this far, thanks![/quote] Based on how your bandmates have handled the process of auditioning a new singer, they sound like a bunch of losers and arseholes and, from experience, I've found that a lot of people believe in guilt by association... ...So if it were me, I'd leave.

Although not as extreme, I've been in the same situation a couple of times. Although people set out, I would hope, with the best of intentions, human nature kicks in and the realisation that they're not going to be centre of attention during their farewell gig and that life will go on without them makes them spiteful and unpredictable.

[quote name='Johnston' post='929408' date='Aug 19 2010, 09:28 AM']Has anyone ever managed to get into or start a band just for the craic with none of the politics involved?? Just get together play some tunes from over the last 6+ decades . I would love to get back into it again sometime but the whole back stabbing and bitching that goes on really puts me off.[/quote] Yes, I got back together with a load of old bandmates for the sole purpose of playing a load of our old songs from 10+ years ago and having a laugh. It sounded good as we'd all matured and improved as musicians so everything sounded more fluid. We then decided that we wanted to gig and write new material because there was only so much enjoyment from playing songs to each other, and there began the issues associated with sorting childcare, etc... Shame.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='925181' date='Aug 14 2010, 08:52 PM']This is a perfect example of why I feel Myung is an overrated bassist - in my opinion there is no musicality in this piece whatsoever... it's just a collection of really fast arpeggios and scale exercises played not very well at all to quite a nice ballad background piece! What's so special about that? Any bassist with half a mind to practice can do this given time and patience. I can't help but feel John really wanted to be a guitarist but got landed the role of bassist instead because no else would do it... this is just spanking the plank! PS... I know it's a jam session, but still![/quote] IIRC, that video is around 15 years old, so probably not truly representative.