Linus27

Red Red Wine by UB40.

Wow, what an absolute bargain and probably under priced. I have a BC208 which I run my Warwick Gnome through and it sounds fabulous, an absolutely brilliant bass cab and these BAM200 heads are amazing as well.

Someone is going to get a brilliant mini rig for a superb price. Good luck with the sale.

Sadly it's the world we live in. There are some wonderful, amazing human beings out there but there are equally some complete and utter tool's with toilet paper for brains. They walk among us and we sadly come in contact with them now and again.

14 minutes ago, borntohang said:

 

Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis. We played with those guys too - their mum wasn't still out with them on that point but they were nice and veteran tourers at the ripe age of 25 or so. Played about 15 instruments between them.

I really like those guys, great music.

Really sorry to read this Ray and Lewis.

As others have said, Basschat is the best place to sell.

I just remembered that whilst mixing an album back around 1999, I went to make coffee in the kitchen and The Corrs were in there making drinks. I think they were in the studio doing a song for a Pepsi advert. Also, when we then went to master the album at Metropolis Studios, OMD were in the next studio along.

1 hour ago, bassbiscuits said:

I one did an open mic slot in Swansea with a chap called Peter Singh, a famous local

Elvis impersonator.

That must have been awesome, were you All Shook Up about it 🤣

I've been a TV a few times. The first was a music show that Garry Crowley presented. He interviewed us and then we played a few live tracks. Be kind, its 27 years ago and we had no idea but we got signed after this TV show.

A lot of our music also got features of extreme sports shows on Eurosport etc. for stuff like snowboarding, water skiing etc. so they then did a special feature on us. Be kind, this was 26 years ago I was a little wasted on various substances.

We then had one of our tracks used in a Casio advert to advertise Casio G-Shock watches in Spanish cinema's. We got paid £500 for this and I actually wrote this track on an acoustic guitar that only had 2 strings on it whilst sitting on the landing of some ones house in Farnborough. The main part is just the bass line which is used here with the drums and feeding back guitar.

I have always sung my own original bass lines in my head when writing for new songs. I am a very melodic player so they are usually way too hard to play at first but I get there in the end once the muscle memory kicks in and I've worked out what the correct notes and phrasing is. Either way, everything is in my head singing along when I write bass lines. 

I'm also not the greatest at coming up with the initial song idea but for some reason, once I hear the rough version, be it just a voice and guitar, I can then hear the entire song in my head and I then go away and arrange the whole song. Its just something I've been able to do all the time, I can just hear the finished song from a very basic idea.

Another thing I can do sometimes is hear a note by looking at it on the fretboard before I've got there. So I may be playing a phrase and I hear the next note in my head and then looking at the fretboard, I see the note I'm hearing on the fretboard so I know where to play it.

I guess as musicians we all have music constantly running through our heads 24/7 right? It's like a constant noise all the time and certainly keeps me awake at night. It drives my wife crazy sometimes as if the music is very loud in my head, I end up tapping away or playing along but there's always something being played in my head, be it a song, melody, new bass line, drum beat. 

2 hours ago, Doctor J said:

I knew a classical flautist, years ago, who couldn't get their head around the idea of composing their own music and, in particular, improvisation. She was quite excellent at her instrument whereas, in the band I was in at the time, writing our own stuff and improvising were completely natural to us, it seemed like the kind of thing every musician would just instinctively know and do, but not so.

 

When I'm writing music, I usually hear everything, all the instruments and melodies. The process of making a real song out of it frequently becomes a tedious chore, as taking it out of my head and into the real world often involves lots of compromise because my ability to play the required instrumentation and manipulate my voice, in particular, frequently doesn't match what I think the music requires. I have to work hard to get rid of the pre-conceived idea and work at something I can actually do and record in real life.

 

 

I played with a few classically trained musicians in the past and they were exactly the same. Everything for them was in a box so improvisation or writing something unusual just caused absolute meltdown. What made it even more frustrating is whatever they were taught is the right way and there was an inability to compromise or even accept there are other ways, for example saying One-E-And, 2-E-And, Three-E-And etc. which I'd been taught and seen others musicians taught when reading music was absolute jibberish to one classically trained musician and their way was the only right way to count notes. 

15 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

if you search 50g vs 50g+ there's a series of YouTube videos where someone in Japan (I guess) has compared the sounds on each... 
He ended up selling the 50g+ and keeping the 50g! 

Mmmm, that's interesting. Does go into much details why, does he compare like for like and there's a noticeable difference?

I have a MS-60B which I love but I only use it for reverb. I'll be going for the MS-70CDR+ when it comes out as reverb, chorus, flanger etc. are my main effects for fretless along with my Boss OC5.  I use a Sansamp as well which us ace so no need for the cab sim stuff either.

My rig from last night. 

MarkBass Little Mark IV

Barefaced Two10

Fender Japan 62 RI Fretless Jazz

Fender Japan 62 RI Fretless Precision

Ibanez UB804 EUB

@Webby308 Hello from another Camberley resident here 🙂

As already said, Julian is very good and he's done all my basses in the past. If ever London way then The Gallery is also very good.

I've also just read this on Facebook and was super shocked as I knew Nick had a battle was cancer some time ago but thought he was in the all clear these days.

I met Nick through Basschat and we did meet up a good many times at his house in Woking and he also came to mine as we were both local. I even helped him write his CV for when he was applying for jobs and moving away. I can't remember which one but I did buy a bass and some other odds and sods from Nick and not only did we chat basses and music but also cars and rugby. This has knocked me for six for sure and I am so super sad. I remember once when he came to my house and I was playing his fretless Tony Franklin Precision and he was playing my fretless Warwick Streamer. We started to swap amps and cabs and at one point everything stopped working. I'd only gone and plugged both end of the speakon cable into the cab which made me look a complete idiot but we both found very funny.

Nick was an absolutely lovely guy, so friendly and will be so sadly missed. R.I.P buddy, will be thinking about you a lot.

39 minutes ago, tinyd said:

On double bass you usually measure string height at the end of the fingerboard so I'd guess it's the same here. For comparison, on DB "typical" string heights are around 5mm for the G up to 8 or 10 on the E, but these are hugely variable between players.

Amazing thank you. I had to raise the height of my G string as it was buzzing a little and sounding too much like a fretless. When I raised it a little it sounded so much better but as the string sustained, it then vibrated into an annoying buzz. So I raised it some more and the buzz went and its now sounding good. However the D started to do the same so I just raised that a little and its ok again. Now I have the measurements and know where to measure from, I can check what the actual heights are. 

17 hours ago, tinyd said:

Not sure if this has been shared before but his results sound pretty good at the end:
 

 

Thank you for sharing. Super interesting. When he talks about the height of the strings, where is he actually measuring from?

10 hours ago, JimmyN2 said:

Hi Linus 

Had our weekly rehearsal this morning and all the band members,  and in particular the keys player, agreed with my comment above.  In fact he said the fuller, more rounded and ‘big’ sound made it sound even more like a DB. Incidentally I didn’t alter the controls on the MarkBass amp.  
cheers

Jim

That sounds really promising, thank you for the update and letting me know.

24 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

It's also worth considering a reverb pedal to try and mimic the acoustic resonance of a DB. It's not foolproof, but used judiciously can add some lovely character to an EUB.

I will try that. I love reverb and use it a lot on my fretless to great effect. I did try it quickly on the EUB and it got a bit mushy so I think it needs to be subtle so I'll give that a go tonight.

1 hour ago, jrixn1 said:

Thanks for the additional info - makes sense.  To add to the suggestions, the MXR M81 is a small, well-built, transparent preamp pedal with DI.

You are welcome and hope it makes sense. Interesting that you suggest the MXR M81 as it has crossed my mind as well. I bought one of them in the past and I was really disappointed in it as I found it super subtle, very clean and didn't really add anything to my fretless tone so I returned it. I was thinking over the weekend how it would work with the EUB what with it being very clean and uncoloured. They are quite expensive for what they are though but it could be a good option.

19 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

 

Just going back to the original post - what's the reason for not wanting to use your amp's DI?

I have a MarkBass LM IV and a Warwick Gnome and I play fretless. Recently I have found that my MB DI has caused some buzzing. By pure chance I'd just bought a Sansamp to use on my pedalboard in case one day, my amp goes down. A few gigs back I was playing an amazing venue but in soundcheck, I was getting some buzzing which I'd had before at other venues so the soundman saw I had a Sansamp and said lets run the DI from that, we should get a beautiful clear sound as they are amazing pedals. So we did and the buzzing went and I had an amazing sound. I then did about 3 more gig running the DI from the Sansamp and again, the best sound I have ever had and so this is what I now do, DI to the desk from the Sansamp for my fretless gigs.

So I want to build a very small pedalboard for my EUB of basically a DI, Preamp and Octave pedal. I don't want to keep taking the Sansamp on and off my fretless pedalboard and to be fair, when I have tried my Sansamp with the EUB, its not really complimented it and thus my request for a fairly uncoloured preamp. My Warwick Gnome is the head I use for my EUB but I'm keen to follow suit with my fretless pedalboard and run a DI to the desk from a preamp or DI rather than rely on my Warwick Gnome DI.

On 11/03/2024 at 12:14, JPJ said:

I’m using the EBS Stanley Clarke pre as I double between NS EUB and fretless bass but it’s probably a bit overkill for what you want. Failing this, keep an eye out for a Radial Tone Bone. They come up on here quite regularly and are an excellent preamp with DI for EUB. 

Thanks JPJ, I'd also read that the Radial Tonebone is another good product.

29 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

Why not just use your existing MS-60B, and then only change if after a number of gigs it transpires you are not happy with it.  I used a MS-60B with a Behringer DI400P DI box for ages.  In the end I was pulled to EBS preamps for their feature set (as I am doubling nearly all the time), but I was never unhappy with the way the Zoom sounded.

This is my other option, to use the MS-60B but it has no DI out which is something I would like so I can run direct to the desk. So I'm happy to do this and I know the MS-60B is great so it would be recommendations on a good DI if I went this route. I'll into the Behringer DI400P DI box if you think its a good option. It might be a good short term option until I can afford a Fishman Platinum Pro or EBS Preamp which I've heard is excellent.

I've just bought an Ibanez UB804 Upswing EUB which I absolutely love. I'd like to get a fairly uncoloured preamp with DI that I can then run straight to the desk rather than going through the DI in my amp. I don't really want to spend a huge amount but I do want to get something that's going to be half decent with a little bit of tone shaping. I was looking at the Fishman Platinum Pro which has great reviews but is a little pricey for my budget. They do also have the Platinum Stage which also looks good but no idea if it is any good. I could go super cheap and get the Behringer DBI21 but not sure if this would be suitable for a EUB. The other option is use my Zoom MS-60B for tone shaping and buy a decent DI to run to the desk.

Anyone got any recommendations for a half decent preamp with DI that's good with a EUB or even a half decent DI if I use my MS-60B. Open to other suggestions or recommendations

I was asked to appear in a charity video for ELO in the late 80's miming bass. Went to a studio and just played along to the track whilst we were all being filmed. I can't remember much about it and only being 18, I didn't really know much about ELO but they were all very nice.

Recorded an album at Paul Weller's studio in Ripley which Paul played on a few track. I had to teach him a few of the piano parts and at the end of the week we all went for a curry in Ripley. We then supported him on his Sonic Kicks tour.

Recorded an album with Mark Wallis who produced the It Bites album, Travis albums, engineered on U2's Joshua Tree to name a few. The studio was owned by Geoff Downs of Buggles fame and John Payne from Asia. Geoff played Hammond on a few tracks and John sung backing on a few tracks. They were both super nice people.

Hung out backstage with Cactus World News and Deacon Blue at a festival we were all playing at in the 90's.

A few mates of mine went to see Mike Peter's play in Bath Moles. Mike asked if anyone could play guitar and my guitarist friend stepped forward and was his roadie for the night. Got to hang out and chat music with him and talk about our band with him. A few months later, I interviewed Derek Forbes and then saw him when he was playing in Portsmouth. Mike Peter's was also singing in the band and he remembered us and we ended up having a good chat again about music.

I played bass with a band for a few months as a dep that had Jodie Hawkes (Chesney's brother) on drums and a few other siblings of famous musicians.

Supported 80's pop band Breathe at Guildford Civic Hall (G Live) in the 90's.

One of our roadies, Patch, was the drummer in The Audience with Sophie Ellis-Bexter and The Sunday's. After a tour in London, we headed back to his studio for a party which happened to be some old mill and he played us the early demo's of track's from Natalie Imbruglia's first album and Robbie Williams - Millennium which started out as a reggae track. Paul Nicholls who was in Eastenders was there as well as other people who I can't remember.

To now go full circle, I recorded an EP in a studio in Soho in the late 80's. There was a guy working there who was super kind and let me use his amazing Vintage Fender basses. It turns out to be our very own @Steve Browning 😁