pete.young

Alan Prosser of Oysterband

[quote name='OldGit' post='401499' date='Feb 5 2009, 08:58 PM']... but an illuminated fretboard is not needed.[/quote] Depends on the fretboard. I have a Dean BB2 which has a very dark fretboard, no fretboard markers on the neck and very small marker dots up the edge. I've been in a situation in a very dingy pub where I couldn't work out where I was on the fretboard. The fretboard illuminator has sorted out the problem, at the expense of looking a bit bizarre.

+1 to all the good wishes

A 1964 Hofner Senator, £15 second-hand from Bell Music in Surbiton, c. 1972. A lot cooler at the time than the double bass I was playing.

EBS Neo 2x12. Best cab I've ever owned. So far.

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='394162' date='Jan 28 2009, 10:59 PM']As far as a national bash goes, then it seems the consensus is somewhere in the Midlands or Northants as has been the case for previous events - I'm still however thinking about an `Anglian Bassh' (c NJS2009!) as perhaps a separate event which would more than likely occur later on this year. The nice thing is, there's little problem with oversaturation because each event attracts different members etc. I'd try and get people like Colin Hodgkinson there (he's a good mate of mine) and other players such as Alan Jones who would be more than willing to attend. Ciao! Nick[/quote] Nick, If you can persuade Colin Hodgkinson to be there, I'll crawl to Peterborough on my hands and knees!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='390273' date='Jan 24 2009, 11:01 AM']They'll definitely hit the spot at a civil partnership. Nothing wrong with that, but I think you need to understand who your audience are going to be. Disco works well with 30's and above, plus any crowds that aren't too self conscious. Motown works with nearly everyone, no class divides or associations there. We tend to do a mix of both with some cool top 40 stuff thrown in too. In an ideal world my band would have a set dedicated to each, once we'd seen from the first set what the punters liked the most.[/quote] +1 to all of this. Also, some of the suggestions further down the thread simply aint gonna work with a female vocalist.

You could try a Jessops tie clip microphone. I'm not sure what they're like for bass, but a pair of them makes a really decent recording of all kinds of bands when used with a minidisk player. They're about 20 quid.

If you had 200 quid or less to spend on a pair of nearfields, what would you buy? Old basschat threads seem to indicate that the Tascam VL X5 was highly rated - it appears to have been replaced by the VL A5 so any comments on that are welcome. The Tapco S5 also looks like good value - anything else I should be looking at?

[quote name='matt_citizenbass' post='380511' date='Jan 14 2009, 06:06 PM']that sounds great! i really want to try some now! also surely 100 watts all valve head is just ridiculous?[/quote] Not at all. My Burman 100w is plenty loud enough, so is my LMII.

[quote name='escholl' post='381415' date='Jan 15 2009, 03:49 PM']Also to add that part of human speech that makes it intelligible is around 2-4kHz, regardless of fundamental. Hence why this range is sometimes boosted if a vocal track is having difficulty standing out in a mix[/quote] When I studied acoustics at university, I was taught that hearing loss induced by exposure to noise always peaks at 4 KHz, at the top end of the speech range. This is another reason why lots of music has a spurious boost at 4 KHz (Paul Adams at Fellside Records once told me that it was SOP in many mastering shops) and why when you get old you can stand in a pub, hear the background noise perfectly but struggle to pick out the conversation of the bloke sitting across the table from you.

+1 to leschirons. I've always rated Beck as one of the very best, despite Hi Ho Silver Lining.

[quote name='Sean' post='370323' date='Jan 4 2009, 08:39 PM']in bar 2 after the F to Ab hammer on the Bb hammers on to C before the Eb staccato sixteenths. Anyone else hear this?[/quote] I don't hear that, though you could put it in as a variation. There is a difference in that bar between what Norm plays on the Blockheads site soundclip (and also the version I learned off the record) and what's on the sheet music. I reckon Normans version has that run going C - Eb - F - Ab rather than C - F -Ab - Bb There are number of ways to play that and I can't decide which one I like the best.

This is the EBS Octabass? I have one and it doesn't behave quite as badly as yours. It's fine down to the 5th fret on the E string (A) and certainly doesn't misbehave at 7th fret on the G. Sustained notes don't present a problem. I do find that a bit of compression seems to help it track below the 5th fret on the E. I managed to break a beer glass with a low 'A' a couple of gigs back! I also have a Digitech Bass Synth Wah and that tracks fine all the way down to the bottom E, though it's pretty useless as a synth!

I think you should have a chat with Andy at Wizard Pickups.

[quote name='casapete' post='372552' date='Jan 6 2009, 10:47 PM']Just watched great programme on Motown's 50th anniversary presented by Martin Freeman. Featured some current footage of the Funk Brothers, Bob Babbit etc. There is an extended repeat showing on Friday 9th on BBC2 at 11.35pm (The Culture Show) which should be even better.[/quote] Nice one, thanks for the heads up. I'm out playing tonight and I couldn't find it on the digibox - it showed up as " Martin Freema ....." which didn't exactly ring any bells! I'd never have known but for your post, ta muchly.

[quote name='AM1' post='374254' date='Jan 8 2009, 05:26 PM']I am detail oriented and focussed therefore sometimes I don't want a tangential debate, I want to ask a question and get a variety of perspectives on that specific subject matter.[/quote] It may come as a surprise to you, but this forum doesn't exist just to provide what you think you may need or want. You've made your point. The best thing you can do now is to sit back and watch the discussion develop. Picking out individual points in individual posts and arguing the toss with the moderators before they have formed their opinions may work in the technical diving world, but in this forum it is more likely to prejudice them against your opinion in my experience. The Wiki is a great idea, but despite the efforts of Bassferret history shows that most people can't be bothered with it. A shame, but there you go.

There's a scurrilous rumour going the rounds that the great Norm did indeed tune his bass up a semitone to play this. Anyone want to confirm? Personally I can't see it because it's as easy to play in Fm as it is in Em tuned up.