bassace

If you're not looking for a jaw-dropping sound I suppose any mic in the vicinity of the bass will do. The quick and easy solution seems to be a SM57 in a sponge and stuffed down the tail-piece pointing up towards the bridge. My advice to anyone starting out to amp a bass would be to use a pickup and then............use another pickup and then............when you're really comfortable with your sound try experimenting with a mic, such as the SM57. I've played around with mics but it's just too much hassle. I'm talking gigs rather than recording.

Diana Krall with Christian McBride. Ella, married to Ray Brown.

After a 'near miss' when our keyboard amp blew a fuse last week I've bought spares for all my amps. The ratings range from 6.3A for the Clarus down to 2.5A for the MB150. Some are fast blow and some slow blow. Anyone know the significance of this? And no sexual innuendo........please!

I wonder how it works for double bass. Hmm.

[quote name='obbm' post='460879' date='Apr 12 2009, 11:37 PM']I used to be the oldest until bassace joined.[/quote] Bloody cheek! Actually I'm 68 and look a bit like my avatar which was painted by a nice lady artist a year ago. If it scares too many people I could change it.

[quote name='OldGit' post='457629' date='Apr 8 2009, 05:28 PM']It's the comma before the "and" in a list of things. EG Fender has produced several classics down the years: the Precision Bass, the Jazz Bass, the Mustang Bass, the Paisley P, and the Stratocaster[/quote] Thanks, OG. Something Clarkson would do, in other words.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's an Oxford comma? Somebody tell me please.

I booked Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames into a Cheltenham gig in 1962 for £45. Wish I still had the letter. I'd recently met him at Redruth where we had a gig and he was recovering from sunstroke. As we were setting up he came up onto the stage and we did an impromptu version of Dat Dere - and we were meant to be a trad band!

I should think a Kay would sell quite easily.

Good luck! Are you taking the Stagg? If not it may be a good idea to mention it to show your versatility. Might give them some ideas.

Fess up time! I was mainly playing double bass in those days, used to travel around in my first car, a Standard 10 with the bass on the roof. No amp then. Then in about 62 I played Blond Fender Jazz, worth a fortune today, with the Ramrods in Cheltenham for a while, through a Vox AC somethingorother. I remember that the PA came out of the rhythm guitarist's Vox. In 64 I came back to Reading and played double bass and bass guitar with all sorts of rock and jazz outfits. I made my own cabinets and finished up with an 18" Goodmans speaker in a large cab powered by a 50watt Leak HiFi amp and a custom preamp that my bro made for me. I dimly remember supporting John Barry Seven, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, Tornadoes, Barron Knights, Elkie Brooks, Chris Barber, Humph, Acker, Tubby Hayes, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee. I played with Bobby Wellins, Cathy Stobart, Jimmy Skidmore, Arthur Brown (CrazyWorldOf) and others. You may recognise some of those names. End of the sixties brought marriage and the responsibilities that go with it so I 'rested' for 15 years until I picked up again. They were happy days.

[quote name='TPJ' post='444810' date='Mar 25 2009, 10:38 AM']The trio, in various guises, also backed Ella Fitzgerald I believe and that stuff is just lovely, swingy goodness[/quote] He was married to Ella for a time. Incidentally, are you guys into Spotify yet? It's not been mentioned much on BC but is a free resource from which you can play tens of thousands of tracks through your computer. I put Ray into the search and there is a lot of his stuff, even more if you also search for Oscar P and others he played with. On his listings there are quite a few tracks with him leading a big band on cello! I wonder if he had it tuned in fifths (correctly) or fourths. I dimly remember having this LP in my younger days. Get into Spotify. There's a lot of Ray on You Tube as well. You may have gathered that I'm a fan of his!

He's the man I'd like to be. Every note in its place and a huge tone. This came, so tis said, from having quite a high action and plucking very strongly with a single finger, either first or second sometimes alternating but never together(?) - check out on U Tube. When he played in the Oscar Peterson trio he and Ed Thigpen used to work out some nice patterns to play behind the piano. Try to catch him on Have you met Miss Jones? for some exquisite playing. I'm not sure how James Blanton can be compared. He was certainly a trail blazer and if his life had not been cut short at 24 who knows what he would have become, but Ray's the man.

I've plenty of stuff at home but don't have room in the car for a backup - well I suppose I could put a GK MBS in, but I don't. Like Simon I always carry a DI in case. Otherwise when/if something goes let's hope it's the preamp section of the amp so I can go into into the effects return.

I started on trombone, can't think why, playing in the school trad band. We did supports to all the (then) big names coming to Reading and Oxford Town Halls. We soon got tired of trad and went on to more modern stuff. Trouble was, while I was OK at Trad I wasn't too good at the smoother style needed for modern. Besides there were two more trombone players amongst our mates who were sh*t hot. So I saw the writing on the wall and thought a bass would be a good idea. I went up to Footes in Denman Street, London who were the top bass retailer in their day, as opposed regrettably to today. I picked out the cheapest I could find (£45 if I recall) which was not that good but it got me started. I remarked at the time that the E string was weak, to which a large black man joined in and pointed out a bass with a good E string, which I could not afford of course. We made small talk and when he had gone the assistant told me it was Ray Brown - doh!! I liked the bass and the bass seemed to like me. 50 years later after several adventures I'm still playing a lot and the phone still rings. I think we bass players are very lucky people, we play the best instrument in the band.

You'll find all the jazz you need on Spotify. Who's using it?

[quote name='pram_01' post='433338' date='Mar 13 2009, 10:28 AM']Thanks! I went there yesterday and tried a Zeller with adjustable bridge and thomastik spirocore strings. Not a huge sound but really nice though.[/quote] If you are going to amp your bass you probably won't need a huge sound, which could overwhelm the pickup. It's more important to have a nice precise focussed sound. I have a bass that doesn't have a very strong E string when played acoustically but it sounds great when amped. Your 'really nice though' impression should give you some encouragement. Good luck in your search.

My sixty-somethings and I did a DVD the other day. There is no way I'll put it on Basschat! Nice one, though, Chris.

10k - but how well do you play? On another subject (sorry) I've just watched the repeat of this week's Grand Designs. The bloke paid £40k for the staircase, all because his wife's an arty moo. One born.............

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='427959' date='Mar 7 2009, 12:35 PM']We ended up meeting at Costa Coffee instead ... which didn't help Bassace one bit since he spent 30 minutes sitting in the Starbucks we couldn't find! Sorry guys, I'll try to get it right next time.[/quote] I've made my peace with Happy Jack. Actually it's a good idea to have informal short notice gatherings like this. If no amps are brought along people can actually talk to each other. So if anyone is ever in the mood why not post it?

Thanks Julian for posting it and well done Royal Mail for getting it to me within less than 24 hrs. It's a great piece of kit; I 've been using the Pro eq (the budget version) for the last six years and was happy with that but this goes a lot further. I've just run it with my double bass and Underwood pickup through a Clarus and 10" Wizzy and the sound is very satisfying. I'd recommend it as a good piece of kit to have so look out for future 'for sales'. Sorry Hugh, but it was good to have our chat and interesting to find that we both use Meinels.

Thanks to the Rev and others in the thread for tuning me in to DT. I know of him, of course, and his awsome reputation but I've been so buried in jazz that I haven't really studied his stuff in the detail that I shall be doing now. The message of course is that technique doesn't equal busy-ness. From the few clips that I've seen here his playing is sparing but every note counts. And his sound, like all good players, comes from his right hand. I'm just off to practice my bass face for Sunday's gig.

I've mounted a 10" Wizzy on a modified PA tripod so it plays at ear level. This is very useful when playing at low volumes so you can hear what you're playing clearly. It also kills any feedback that may be present. Used in conjuction with a Clarus this is as good (even better) as any PA, IMO.