Linus27

37 years of playing here and only ever played 4 string. Now I only play fretless. I did try a 5 string once but my head couldn't get used to an extra string being where the E is. So I'm thinking of taking on a challenge and buying a 5 string fretless as I love the look of the fretless 5 string headless Ibanez make 🤣

7 hours ago, Acebassmusic said:

Yep, ASC Pro17's get my vote as well. I must have used them for the last 15 years both playing, rehearsing and attending gigs. 👍

 

Just finished rehearsing tonight with a bunch of very talented musicians that I've been with for 2 years. Unfortunately I'm seriously considering giving it up. 😢 I can see so much potential to take the band from "good" to "excellent" by working on the sound, both the balance, dynamics and overall volume levels. However only the singer is appreciating what I'm proposing. Her husband, one of the guitarists, has serious hearing loss in one ear and is refusing / ignoring / "still in teenager mode" as far as volume, guitar tone and sound levels are concerned. The last few songs we played tonight I mimed. Yep, I turned my bass down to 0 and pretended to play along.......no-one noticed and I even asked the other guitarist how the overall sound of the songs were....."Great" was the reply and then I told him I'd mimed.......😲 I asked myself "If they couldn't hear a difference, do they need a bass player?"

 

Sorry for the grumble....back to the OP....I use ACS to protect my hearing but feel in some situations I shouldnt need to. I find that many of my peers have hearing loss and play louder to compensate.....thus compounding their hearing loss so then they turn up more The usual response is "We used to play this loud in the 70's". No you didn't because the gear you're now using is twice as powerful with more headroom and the old WEM 3x10 PA columns maxed out at 50w per side wouldn't allow the vocals to go higher.

 

I've been playing for over 40 years now and am tired of the "quantity over quality" being dictated by ego's. But then, is it just MY ego that's saying "my way is the right way?"  🤣🤣

I actually have a similar story. A band I was in back at the end of the 90's, at one rehearsal the drummer says the bass is too loud, can you turn down. I was surprised as I was not any louder than normal and I'm actually a quite player as well. So I turn down. We play the song but again, he says I'm still too loud so I turn down a bit more but again, after playing the song, he says I am still too loud. The singer also joins in and says yeah, I think you are too loud so I turn down more and play super softly but nope, still really loud. Confused by all of this I say ok, I'll turn down more but turn my amp off. We play the song again and yep, I'm too loud so I point out that my amp isn't actually on and it turns out it was the rhythm guitarist 🤣 We turn him down and put me back to the original levels and everything was ok again.

I even used to play fretless in a 50's/60's Rock n Roll band so if its good for Elvis and Chuck Berry then its good for anything

1 hour ago, JoeEvans said:

I always wear earplugs now for more or less any musical activity. 10db for acoustic sessions (I play Irish trad and fiddles are loud!); 20db if there's a drummer using sticks not brushes. If I was in a loud band I'd want 25db+.

The great thing for bass players is that with earplugs in, the higher the level of protection, the better you can hear the important bits: yourself and the kick drum.

On a different note, I'd love to play in an Irish Trad band, what's the name of your band so I can try and have a listen?

2 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

They are completely different animals. I would not form any opinion on the custom molds based on the universal ones.

 

15dB is pretty minimal if you are right next to the PA stack but for goodness sakes put them in both ears!!!!!

Will do and thank you.

2 hours ago, ezbass said:

For those you who haven’t seen my NBD thread (if not, why not? ), I’ve added a tort PG to my 40th anniversary P. For your consideration…

 

Definitely needs those cream pickup covers.

Yep, no problem at all, just do it.

1 hour ago, Jonesy said:

Both look great, the tort is a really nice shade too. I reckon cream pup covers would go nicely with the tort......

That's a great idea 👍

3 hours ago, greyparrot said:

aw brilliant . Burning love is a big one on this show. Yes they are loads of fun to play, and there is still a huge demand for Elvis. 

Yeah I really miss playing this sort of stuff and the bass lines are just superb, from the early Rock n Roll bass lines right up to the Jerry Scheff parts. We also played stuff by Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bill Haily etc. and it went down a storm and was so much fun to play. Keep up the great work, its sounding great 👍

12 minutes ago, greyparrot said:

aw thank you, yes it's a great show to be a part of. 

I played in a 50's Rock n Roll club band for 3 years and I loved playing the Elvis numbers. My favourite was The Wonder of You but loved Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, Jail House Rock and Elvis's version of Whole Lotta Shakin. I even had an old chap who was an bassist session player from the 60's come up to me and say I'm the only one he's heard play Burning Love properly 😁

That was awesome and what a great gig to have.

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

New pickguard arrived today from https://www.guitarselectric.co.uk , whom I now recommend (quick delivery, great price, superb communications) and Ive fitted it. I added a whole load of aluminium tape for shielding and it's as quiet as with the original PG (I kind of overdid the cavity as it's quite tight and I managed to cause a short ).

 

Pics as promised:

 

 

That looks so much better with the tort guard

Did you use aluminum tape or copper tape and did you do the cavity and pickguard or just the cavity?

1 minute ago, greavesbass said:

The main reason Ive packed it all in. Dr's will tell u never ever "squirt" noise into ur ears and Im including in ears too.   If I do a gig now its with those purple, industrial 30 dec plugs with a spare set in a top pocket and I care not a jot if I cant really hear the all of the frequencys. My hearing is way more important than the show.

That was kind of me on Saturday night, more concerned for my hearing than the show.

8 minutes ago, neepheid said:

Has anyone noticed the 3 screw neck attachment with microtilt on the Telebass?  Never thought I'd see those reappear on a mainstream model...

I had that on my AV75 RI Jazz so they have been using them still.

36 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Unfortunately the Pacato versions didn't fit my ears. Apparently my ear canals are a bit too big.

 

The 16 attenuation level is quite low so the noise might still be too loud, but at least it will give you a good idea. The full custom ones are great - speech comes through fine and the loud stuff is limited. They are very clever indeed.

Thanks @fretmeister for your help, I will see how I get on. Thank you for your help and everyone else's help.

22 minutes ago, Cato said:

A lot of it's not in yet but the Sea Foam Green Telebass is showing as 'in stock'.

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender/vintera-series/fender-vintera-ii-70s-telecaster-bass-mn-seafoam-green

 

I wonder how long that will last?

Andertons is only about 15 mins away from me so if its still in stock then I might pop down on Friday and have a look. Will report back if I do.

1 minute ago, jrixn1 said:

If you are currently or previously a professional musician etc (there is an eligibility list - I don't know how/if they check...), you can get ACS Pro Series for £50:  https://www.helpmusicians.org.uk/get-support/physical-health/protect-your-hearing

Ooohh thank you very much, that is super handy.

4 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

If his hearing is shot then him swapping to in ears to have a perfect but quieter mix for him could save him loads of even worse trouble.

 

The ACS process is great. You buy, you get a voucher. You book in at a local authorised place - often in a Boots Chemist and get the ear impressions done. They send them off and a few weeks later they arrive in the post.

 

I have Pro17 and Pro26 filters as they are the flattest options. I usually wear the Pro26 if I'm anywhere near a drummer.

He used to use in-ears but that still didn't stop the front of house being too loud and in turn this bleeds onto the stage as if we are standing next to one of the PA speakers, then my left ear gets most of it. I think the sound has creeped up as he has stopped using the in-ears in the last years or so. 

So I have just ordered the ACS Pacato 16 which is a universal fit but does have a filter and gives a lower attenuation and flatter response. They were only a tenner so if I get on with them then I'll then get the Pro series custom fit ones.

1 minute ago, fretmeister said:

Get some made properly by ACS. They will fit your ears perfectly and you can swap the filters in them for different attenuation levels.

The attenuation will be pretty flat too - just like having a lower volume.

 

Your singer is killing his hearing. You'll be needing a new one at some point.

His hearing is already shot and he knows it but there's no winning this one and has been getting worse over the last few years of gigging. I'm super precious about my hearing and look after it as much as I possibly can which is why my hearing is so good still. I'm also super sensitive to high frequencies and loud volumes.

I like the idea of having different filters, this sounds like a winner.

Very nice and not a bad price either

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/fender/vintera-series/fender-vintera-ii-70s-telecaster-bass-mn-seafoam-green

https://www.andertons.co.uk/brands/fender/vintera-series/fender-vintera-ii-70s-telecaster-bass-mn-vintage-white

Our singer/guitarist tends to have the sound on stage really loud and is always being told he needs to turn down by sound crews. If he is doing the sound for us which is most gigs, then its always too loud and again is always being told to turn down and the front of house needs to turn down as well. We've said and others have said its all too loud but its become a bit of joke in the sense before we sound check we tell him he's too loud. However, its a losing battle so I decided to try ear plugs on Saturday night and tried the foam squidgy ones in one ear but it muted the sound too much. I have tried in-ears before but felt disconnected to the live sound so is there any better ear plugs I could try before I revisit in-ears?

I think today is the day of the official release.

22 minutes ago, casapete said:

I still have every diary from when I first started playing in bands in the mid 1970’s. Didn’t keep a list 

of which gear I used on them, but just the venue played and how much I earned. It was invaluable when

I got investigated by HMRC and enabled me to give them all the info they needed, which resulted

in them eventually dropping their case. 

Still have some stuff from local papers that featured articles on my bands, along with recordings

from both gigs and studios. These are mostly on cassette though, so need to get them transferred to

digital in the near future. During Covid lockdown I went through all my old photos and transferred

them to my PC so have some great memories there now. Most are excruciatingly embarrassing of

course, so will give my grand/great grandkids a laugh one day. Having been in my current band for

12 + years now, I have probably thousands of pictures which I’ve kept in date order and nice to

keep for when I’ve retired.

That is super impressive dating it back to the mid 70's and as you say, luckily you did  I do love looking back at some of the venue's to see if I can remember them, if they have closed or if anything funny or interesting happened at that gig.

I've played bass for 37 years now and pretty much been in 9 serious bands and a few smaller projects. I tend to keep a list of all the gigs I've played, press cuttings, set lists, posters and more recently over the last 7 years, I've even been writing down what bass I played on each gig. I also keep memorabilia of the bands I've played in like t-shirts, press photo's, magazines, interviews etc. as well as every release, recording, radio sessions, demo's and rehearsals. I've also gathered all the photo's I can from each band and put together a photo book which looks pretty cool. 

I kind of done it more for my kids to have for when I'm long gone and maybe show there kids. I have very little to no information on what my grand-parents did or even know what they looked like as I never met them. It would be great to have seen photos or know a bit more about them and their lives. I also have very few photo's of my dad or many stories about him so I thought it might be nice to be able to pass stuff on to my kids and even grand-kids in case any of them are interested or end up being musicians.

Anyone else collect or keep stuff or a bit sad like me 🤣

I did a gig the other month and the backline was a Rumble 500 and it sounded fantastic. Even our singer looked at me and said that thing sounds amazing. Super tempted to get one now although I love the look at the Ampeg Rocket as well.