Ed_S

This journey, into bass playing? What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road? I was given a musical aptitude test at school when I was in Y2 (age 6-ish?) and got picked to take violin lessons. Kept violin going for about 10 years, hit maybe grade 7 practical-wise and enjoyed playing in big orchestras with a G7/8 entry requirement and audition.. but played by a mixture of sight-reading and ear-training, refused to take grade exams or learn any more theory than was absolutely required, and almost never practiced at home. I give myself an A for blagging-it, looking back. In a Y9 music class (age 13-ish?) I had a classical guitar shoved at me and was taught the chords to play along to 90% of Everybody Hurts by REM, and that was enough to get me interested in guitar and signal the beginning of the end for the violin which, if I'm honest, I was mostly keeping as a way of avoiding PE lessons by that point. I bought a cheap electric guitar and amp (a Session Pro black and white Strat copy and a Peavey Rage) from the son of a friend of my mum, and proceeded to get absolutely nowhere with it because the focus of everything I read was learning ever more chords. Traded the guitar and amp against a bass working on the theory that it was more violin-like; 4 strings and focused on one note at a time instead of bloody chords. The difference in pitch and the idea of playing the 'bass part' never came into my thinking at all. Brought it home, tuned it up, sat on the sofa and proceeded to just play along to the football show theme tune that happened to strike up on the telly in the background. It made near-instant sense to me and I had a new instrument. Do you still have the same fire and enthusiasm? Do you still love it? Yeah, it's still my thing. My other thing is being the kind of computer geek that has an 8U rack of switches, routers and firewalls where most people have a BT smart hub on top of a Billy bookcase, so I need something mainstream-cool going on outside that. What has changed along the way? Your taste in music, taste in basses? My mum was (..and still is) into rock music so she passed that on to me and it's always been home. The classical years were great ear training but I don't seek out classical music. Meeting friends and playing in bands has forced me into some slightly heavier metal styles but if I can't hear a definite note from somewhere at all times then I just can't play along, so bands that are constant blast-beats with a wall of guitar-noise, flappity-fingered bass parts and growling/screaming vocals are still completely inaccessible to me from a playing standpoint. Basses-wise, I've gone from playing 5-string Vampyres and Warlocks for 10 years, over to 4-string Precisions and Jazzes for 10 years, and am now back to 5-string Streamers and Stingrays. Thought it might be Spectors and Ibanez SRs for a while, but nope. What was the first bass? And what’s the latest? First was technically a black/white/rosewood Squier P-bass Special, but it had issues which I now know were to do with the truss rod, and the shop eventually let me know the distributor was recalling the batch so I should return it. They fixed me up with a Yamaha BB N4ii in 'yellow natural satin' (read: wood), which was orders of magnitude better. Latest is one of the new '24-spec Warwick RB Streamer LX 5s in gloss white.

Possibly, though I'm not sure what I could do much differently. I don't get obvious callouses but I just find that if I've not done a few 15-20 minute practice sessions in the week, and then try to hit a 3 hour jam session on the weekend, I'll be at risk. If I've put that bit of pre-work in then I'm good to go, but I don't always have the time, inclination or advance notice.

I realise nobody was asking me, but... I play acoustic rock and singer-songwriter stuff with fingers as I prefer the sound for those genres, and I use a pick for pretty much everything else. The 'everything else' is a much greater proportion of my playing time, though, so my fingers aren't always in the kind of shape that can withstand hours of playing without risking blisters. Some seem to accept blistered fingers as an occupational hazard (maybe because it's their only option) but I can just switch to pick and not have to suffer, so having a pick and/or pick technique that gets me somewhere in the ballpark of my finger-style sound is really useful as it keeps things consistent-ish.

That's just it, isn't it - what works for one falls completely flat for another. Genuinely glad yours worked out for you 🙂 I tried again with a Fender Kingman when they first came out, and that was a nice bass. But I had to put one of those rubber feedback bungs in the sound-hole to use it live, which made it sound broadly the same as a P-bass and meant its only advantage was aesthetic.

I'd not been playing very long when I bought an acoustic bass because I thought I ought to. I was playing alongside a couple of acoustic guitarist / singers so it'd be the right tool for the job, and imagine the convenience of none of us needing to plug in to rehearse. Yeah. Just imagine it. There have been plenty of bits mentioned in this thread that I've bought 'to see what the fuss was about' and found that I genuinely liked, though... Precision basses, Markbass LM heads, Barefaced cabs, Thumpinator HPFs, SansAmp preamps, digital wirelesses (starting with the L6 G30) - they all arrived via that route and haven't left yet. Of course, I did also buy a TE Elf 🙄

Heh, yeah, all its pointy bits are still attached. The one and only time I ever tried to gig it, the damn hard case was too long to fit across the back seats of the car and allow the doors to close! With the boot already full of cabs and the back footwells full of everything else, it just wouldn't tessellate in so I had to leave the KB at home and take a different bass. Maybe next time I have to do the dreaded band photo-shoot thing I'll take it as a prop...

Nice one - I'm not normally a fan of gold hardware, but that works! Here's a naff photo of my cheaper KB1. Probably the oldest piece of kit I own but, whilst I don't play 4 string basses any more so it just sits in storage, there's just no point me selling it as it's hardly worth anything and it's very 'mine'. I should get it out and check it still works, but even if it didn't I'd just bung it on the wall as art.

I'd been a bass player for about 19 years when I picked up a GSR200b by chance at a local shop and thought it was not only good, but actually too good not to buy right there and then. I'm sure there are some individual examples out there that have issues, but that can be said of just about any production bass. In my experience the neck was smooth and straight, the fretwork was well done, the hardware was solid, the pickups and preamp sounded good, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it alongside other basses that cost anything up to 20 times more. If you get a good one there's no reason it can't be much more than just a beginner bass, and the only reason I don't still own mine is because I switched back to playing 5 strings exclusively and couldn't quite justify the space to store it.

Reminds me of a gig I did aaaages ago where the sound guy was quite aggressively insistent that I plug my bass straight into his very ordinary £50-ish DI box, and then take the link-out from that to my pedalboard and amp. Main problem being that I had a Drop pedal on my board at the time, which would have meant that had I agreed, half the set would have been in the wrong tuning through the PA. The concept didn't seem to bother him at all. When I'd finally made him understand that I wasn't going to use his DI (I'm still not sure he grasped why...) he still wouldn't take the feed from the Sansamp on my board, and instead angrily set up an SM57 on the cab.

At the risk of being the 5th person with recommendations 9 and 10, I play melodic metal originals using a standard tuned 5 and favour this method.. - Use a compact pedalboard with a preamp at the end to get the DI tone you want to send to the PA, rather than a particular amp/cab - Just take the pedalboard if good foldback or full backline is provided by the venue (or you use IEMs - I personally don't) - Get a simple, light, workhorse of an amp that just makes the pedalboard output loud (mine's a Markbass Nano 2 - highly recommend it) - Use the amp EQ to keep the stage sounding how you need it, knowing it can't inadvertently affect the FoH DI - Use whatever cab is provided by a venue or headline band, as it'll probably be fine for stage monitoring and you don't have to move it - Get a cab based mostly on the weight you can stand to move and the value you can stand to lend (mine's a Barefaced Two10 - my wallet is healthier than my neck/back) - If you need two cabs then get two the same, and if you like to keep your gear clean and presentable in metal venues then avoid carpeted cabs Of course, my free advice is worth every penny you paid, but all the very best of luck with the new band and the gear search! 🙂

Rare outing as a 4-piece last night, as one of our guitarists is taking some time away to savour the constant wailing of his new baby. We were supporting another local band's album launch and a decent number of people turned up, which is always nice. Very warm on stage, and as the headliners got rain-soaked during load-in the whole venue was at rainforest-level humidity. Still, I thought we played well and there were some nice comments from random people afterwards. First time out with my latest stage bass (a white RB Streamer 5 LX to match the black one I already had) and I'm really pleased with it - it looks/feels/sounds just right. Thickened up the bass tone a little with just a hint of octave-up to suggest more guitar than we actually had, and from what I could tell it seemed to work acceptably. For the tech-inclined: RB Streamer 5 LX -> G30 Wireless -> TU-3 Tuner -> Thumpinator HPF -> BC-1X Comp -> VT Bass v2 OD -> Sub-n-Up Oct -> BDDI v2 Pre (-> FoH) -> Markbass Nano 2 -> Blackstar 115

Looking back, things stayed broadly the same for another 6 years and then started to gravitate back towards 5s, with a complete switch during 2020. First bass: Yamaha BB-N4 'Go-to' bass: Warwick/Rockbass Streamer 5 'Your' bass: EBMM Stingray 5 Special

We're missing a guitarist for a little while, but got offered a gig that we didn't want to turn down so decided to fly missing-man. We've done it before and it's generally been fine but I've definitely felt the lack of the rhythm guitar during the lead solo sections, so wanted to try and 'thicken' the bass tone a bit this time. I had an unused corner of one of my boards so decided to try a cheap octave-up, and am happy to report that it's actually doing what I hoped it might. Placing it after a bit of gentle overdrive seems to have brought the whole sound together and gives a suggestion of extra guitar without making the bass sound too iffy on its own, meaning I should be able to just leave it on.

I have to wonder whether there was actually something wrong with the Elf that I had and moved on. Nice tone, but it couldn't produce anywhere near enough volume to be useful through a pair of cabs which are more than capable with amps of only slightly higher quoted power. I think in the OP situation, if the Elf proved to be lacking I'd be tempted to try the Transit B preamp pedal into a power amp. I like the Crown XLS xx02 series, myself.

I don't take my slightly more expensive couple of basses out because whilst they greatly enhance my enjoyment of practicing and recording, they'd absolutely ruin my enjoyment of rehearsing and gigging. I don't want to spend my time preoccupied with thoughts of theft, loss and damage.. I want to put my gear in a storeroom and head out for food after soundcheck, load offstage into the dressing room and drink irresponsibly to the other bands that are on after us, and maybe let somebody else in the band take my stuff back with them if they're driving. So I take a pair of less expensive basses that are perfectly solid and reliable, and I enjoy playing them, and they look great on live photos.. but they don't cause me any stress and I believe I play better for it.

Got another dep outing yesterday, helping to open proceedings at the Sheffield M2TM competition final at Corporation. To say that the doors opened at 13:30 and we were on at 13:40, there was actually a decent crowd pretty much straight from the start. I think some of that was possibly initially helped by there being 4 other guest bands and 5 competition bands on the premises at the time, but a crowd's a crowd and there were definitely increasing numbers of paying public there, too. Played well, enjoyed the gig, got positive feedback from people who'd seen us, and a box of lager from the band as a thanks for jumping in last-minute. Played my Rockbass Streamer LX 5 (which I bought as b-stock, fettled, gutted and re-wired passive) through a couple of new bits of kit which I bought as an aid to travelling light; a Fender Telepath wireless system and a Tech21 Bass Fly Rig v2. Went straight into the PA from the Fly Rig, and also into my Markbass Nano 2 on top of the house Blackstar 115 cab - pretty unnecessary if I'm honest, given the foldback on the main stage. The Fender wireless seems to be decent - perhaps functionally no more decent than any of the much cheaper 5.8GHz alternatives, but it feels solid and it performed flawlessly so I'm happy with it. The Fly Rig v2 sounds much better to me than the original version I had a few years back ever did - definitely keeping this one for when the full pedalboard isn't practical. Same black boots as usual.

That's fair, I can see how that'd work from an engineering standpoint. I guess 'inferior' is a poor choice of word without a good deal more qualification, isn't it. Better to simply say I personally don't like them for a number of reasons, both practical and aesthetic, and much prefer my cabs to have metal corners and rubber feet. Is your preference for the plastic all-in-ones such that you'd actively avoid metal/rubber?

It was kinda squinty - I wanted them close enough to the edges to be stable and far enough away from them to still be well under, so I matched them up (by eye) with the centre of the first large ridge or channel. Very scientific. Can only speak for myself, of course, but I think plastic stacking corners will always be a massively inferior solution to metal corners that don't break and rubber feet that give significant ground clearance. I used to have the NY121 cabinet to put under the CMD121p and even then I had rubber feet on both; even if you never use the combo on its own, at some point you have to put the combo down on the ground, so if its carpet then collects guff it'll just be transferred onto the top of the extension cab. I'll take misaligned over soiled. I suppose if the stacking corners were redesigned so that the ridges had undercuts in them (kinda mushroom shaped in profile, if you get what I mean) and there was an optional corner-piece with a rubber foot mounted on it, that was moulded to interlock with the new shape, slide diagonally into the corner and lock in place somehow, that would give you the option of both. But it'd still be made of plastic.

Where carpeted cabs only have stacking corners, I'd always fit rubber feet to avoid them soaking up the usual cocktail of beer, fruit juice and other less wholesome substances that ends up all over most venue floors and car parks by the end of a night. I totally get the warranty concerns about driving screws into the bottom of a new cab, but I consider the alternative a much worse situation so I've attached rubber feet to all my Markbass cabs and combos before taking them out. Never had any problems with either the feet or the carpet covering, so my vote is definitely to feet. My CMD 121p for example - still nice and clean:

£40 or less should get you a Peavey Micro Bass in decent condition. They're built tough and sound alright.

Sorry, was just revisiting the topic as it resurfaced and realised that I never responded. Of course you're absolutely right on both counts, and in the case of Steve Harris I'd say he manages even more impressively than most, his preference being for fresh sets of Rotosounds. I personally found them uncommonly harsh and inflexible when I tried them, so I'm guessing he has a very different touch to me and/or much hardier fingers after years at it! In any case, my own most recent foray into flat territory with the Ernie Ball stainless 'group' set has just ended and I think that's probably me finally done with the concept. If I absolutely needed flats in future (unsure how that would ever come about) they'd have to be the Cobalt Slinky variety, and at that point I might as well spend the same amount on a set of my usual rounds and an EQ pedal.

Our lead singer tried the SE V7 at rehearsal last night and I thought it behaved very well in a loud room. It sounded good with no EQ or DSP - just straight into a QSC K8.2 set flat. Needed a bit more gain to achieve the maximum output level before feedback that we've previously been getting with the e838 on a stand, but then allowed me to go on and almost max-out the dial on the QSC with no feedback even whilst being hand-held. We'll give it a first proper run out at a gig on Friday, but on current evidence I'm hopeful it'll work well for her.

I had the 2816 set (2814 with a 130 B string added) on a Fender Jazz V not too long ago and my personal experience was... They aren't silky smooth (Galli Jazz Flats would be my benchmark for that) but they're also not rough; they're just kinda finely textured and uniformly grippy. If it makes any sense, they have the kind of texture than makes them 'sing' when you run your hands across them. I found the tension to be similar to other comparable-gauge flats I've had (Fender, Chromes, EB Group) which I guess is to say they feel like playing the next-gauge-up set of rounds. They do sound brighter and more like rounds than all other flats I've tried, and I personally liked the grippy feel of them so I'd happily get another set at some point in the future. I think the feel is what might put some other people off, though.

That's something I've been pondering just recently. I provide a mic for our lead singer who is an operatic soprano and therefore not used to needing a mic, but now fronting a metal band. Whilst the Sennheiser e838 (cardioid) she's been using sounds great for her voice and was very forgiving while she was developing her mic technique, I've noticed that some sound guys seem to have a hard time working with it. I was considering just getting her an SM58 for all the reasons given, but then couple of months ago I played alongside another metal soprano who was using an SE V7 (super-cardioid) and it both sounded great for the style and didn't seem to cause undue headache at the desk, so I've actually got one of those arriving tomorrow to try out at rehearsal next week.

I owned multiple Ashdown cabs back in the day, but that was because I was experimenting with different speaker sizes before I knew better. It wasn't brand loyalty - it was just all you could buy in local shops. These days I own multiple Barefaced cabs based on the progression... Super 12 - Bought because everybody said it was the one cab to do pretty much any gig. It was. It still is. G2 Midget - Bought because it's half a Super 12 and sometimes that's all you need. Also vertical 3x12 potential. One10 #1 - Received as a birthday gift. One10 #2 - Bought to make a pair with the first one so it was any use to me. Two10 - Bought to give me the same sound as the pair of One10s in a one-hand-carry format. Also vertical 4x10 potential. I don't know whether it's brand loyalty as such - more just that they engineer light cabs that perform well and look acceptable in a utilitarian kind of way, and if something goes wrong they sort it out.