simonlittle

As @Beedster said, being in London is a big help. There are a few places that could sell you bass for you on commission. Plus there are plenty of double bass players about here. Found myself on the overground with two others in the same carriage coming back from a gig the other night! A lot will depend on the quality of the instruments. It’s probably easier to sell cheaper ones as there’s a larger market. The better basses are best off in a shop where the right people are more likely to see them. Laurence Dixon’s Bass Place in Herne Hill is a great place to start. Bridgewood & Neizert in Stoke Newington maybe. I’d probably steer clear of the bass guitar shops for now as it’s generally the wrong customer base. Out of town you could talk to Thomas & George Martin in Banbury about more high end basses, or The Double Bass Room in Battle for more mid-range instruments. I’m sure there are other places. There’s also a good Facebook group for selling double basses. It’s international but there don’t tend to be many basses for sale in the UK so you could attract a bit of attention there. And of course there’s the mighty Basschat! Let’s see some pictures! 📸

They’re fantastic amps. Great choice 👌

The neck and fingerboard on my regular SLB300 both feel excellent. I’ve never played a Pro version (not even sure there are that many around) but I certainly don’t feel like I’m missing out. Plus I’m really not a fan of the gold hardware the Pro sports 😬 Having played both the 100 and 200 in the past, 300 is the biggest step up in both feel and sound. I always liked the SLB200 and was about to pull the trigger on one when the 300 was announced. Was very glad I waited.

It does indeed 👍

I bought a bass from them a good few years ago. I was in the middle of a UK tour looking for a backup Precision and tried one out in the shop when we played Sheffield. Decided to buy it a couple of days later and they managed to have it delivered to one of the venues as we travelled on. Lovely people and very helpful.

@Burns-bass I use mine almost exclusively for jazz so I rarely do actually bow it. But it’s good to know a good clear arco sound is available if I need it. I have the regular SLB300, not the Pro version CMD plays. The Pro has a slightly nicer neck and an ebony fingerboard; can’t remember what mine is but it feels great. They share the same preamp etc. I don’t think there’d be much in it between the two models. I’d agree with everything CMD says in the video about the feel and sound of the bass. In a live situation it sounds and behaves way better than my acoustic bass and sits very nicely in a a live mix.

I’ve had an SLB300 for about a year and a half now and it’s been amazing. I’ve had a couple of other EUB’s in the past (Van Zalinge and Warwick Triumph) and the Yamaha was the only one that immediately felt like playing my regular upright bass. And it’s the only one that bows really well too. It’s a very well built instrument and incredibly intuitive to play; it balances beautifully. And it sounds great for both pizz and arco playing. I had played a few gigs on its predecessors (Boisdales in Canary Wharf had an SLB200 and more recently an SLB100 as their house bass) and the 300 is by far the best sounding and feeling instrument of the three. The only annoying foible, as has been mentioned here earlier, is the battery life. Why they decided on putting AA batteries in it I don’t know, but what I do know is that I need to change the batteries every four or five gigs to avoid the flashing red light of doom. And that’s with me unplugging it and switching it off religiously between sets. I always carry a big box of AA’s in the gig bag so I never get caught short. Having said that, I also know that even if the red light starts flashing right at the beginning of a set, I can get to the end of that set (~45mins) no problem. It’s a bit of a pain but frankly it’s such a lovely instrument I’m happy to live with it. I’m many ways I prefer playing it to my acoustic bass.

Might be a silly question but are you always in the same room when this is happening? ie: a particular rehearsal space? You could be hitting a resonant frequency in the space you’re in. It can happen anywhere and it wouldn’t matter what bass, amp or even instrument you’re playing; if something plays a note at the resonant frequency of the space it’ll jump right out and feel like the edge of feedback. If you’re in a rehearsal room with mics etc those notes could be setting off feedback somewhere else; bass drum/piano/vocal mics are often the culprit. Best plan/test is to find the exact notes that are causing problems and EQ them out; either on the channels that are feeding back or on your amp if you have a parametric EQ. I doubt there’s anything wrong with your gear; more with how it’s interacting with the room and the PA

Welcome to Basschat Bilbo! 👋

I really do miss the Bass Centre in Wapping! Bought several basses from that shop in the late nineties and early 2000’s.

It’s a win! Well done Mrs hpc364! 👌

Assuming you don’t have a rubber foot on the endpin, the easiest solution is to get a bit of carpet and stick the end pin on that and one leg of the stool on the other end. Or you could try a rubber stopper of some sort; either a donut like cellists use or perhaps one of these https://www.thestringzone.co.uk/stoppin-floor-protector-large?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_dcWv6G_ehrX06dOF4pZZK2wR-J&gclid=Cj0KCQiA19e8BhCVARIsALpFMgHmM4Ihe6wu_Earq5soOyfHpig0QaNYzTvto_flw12ad_UZxtBlZDIaAui0EALw_wcB To be honest, even with a rubber foot on the endpin, on certain floor surfaces it just bloody happens and it’s annoying. I have rubber feet on both my uprights and there’s one regular gig I do that I just know the bass will slide all over the place. It’d be good to figure out a solution sooner rather than later to help address the distance you are from the bass. On a slippy floor it’s very tempting (necessary even) to hold the bass very upright but it’s far better to have it lean into you at an angle; especially for going further up the neck. Good luck!

It’s arrived! Looks great Jamie 👍

Sounds like the ink is correct and the handwritten notes about funny tunings can be ignored. Perhaps the previous bass player wanted to practice alongside some of the original records in their original keys?? They really should’ve scrubbed those out before handing the music on to avoid such confusion

Agree with @fretmeister Looks like the part you’ve been given is assuming you’ve detuned the bass a semitone. Seems completely illogical to me to supply a written part that’s not in the key it’s going to be played in by the rest of the band but it looks like that’s what’s happened. Also agree that these are great lines to practice reading the notation.

Ps. The “4 string bass guitar” label is probably the standard labelling for whatever scoring program they’ve used that will allow it to play back and sound like a regular bass whilst they’re arranging.

I’ve never seen that on a gig. It does suggest that for some unknown reason they’ll be playing some of tunes (Baker Street here) down a semitone from the written parts but that begs the question what are the rest of the orchestra going to do?? Because I can guarantee they won’t all be able to transpose and/or detune. And presumably their parts won’t be in different keys to yours. Having said that I’ve also never seen a bass part for an orchestral arrangement with tab on it too. Intrigued to see how this pans out. I’m sure it’ll become clear very quickly once everyone starts playing together. If it were me and there were several parts with the Eb/Ab/Db/Gb note lurking in the pad I probably would take a spare bass detuned just in case…

Hi Dan I’ve had Evah Weichs on my main bass for a good few years now. Switched from Thomastik Weichs as I started doing a lot more bowed work and needed more of a hybrid string. I’ve always found it tricky to decide exactly when to change them, and for me it usually comes down to how they feel rather than how they sound. After a point you’ll find you have to work a lot harder to get the same results; both pizz and with the bow. It was always much easier to tell when the Thomastiks were dead as they sounded dead; whereas old Evahs don’t really sound that different as long as you’re willing to put more physical effort into playing them. Changed mine about three months ago and the bass sounded almost exactly the same but marginally louder. Much easier to play now though! I play that bass a lot and usually change the Evahs every 2.5-3 years. Hope that helps! Simon

Done!

I bet it did! The tension must be pretty brutal. I had no idea he strung his bass like that.