bassace

17 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

 I need a gig bag for a Bryant bass that’s currently living on the floor in the loft (don’t ask)

Tut Tut!

23 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

He's not bad for a 73 yr old to be fair.

Dave

Why, what’s for sale?

‘Do you play requests?’  ‘Only when we’re asked’ seemed to work well enough for us.

Or if you’re asked ‘How do you get that under your chin?’  You sweetly reply ‘By keeping my f*****g mouth shut’.  Then be prepared to run if you’re small. Or old.

Did you collect this from Gatwick at the same time I picked up my WB? Just wondering.

I’d agree with the above. Looking back at several past posts asking for advice about getting a decent starter bass this is the one, folks. Plus you’ll go onwards and upwards with this.

The DJ hasn’t arrived yet so the stage is clear for you to set up on.

Wow!!  Something I never achieved.

But wanted to.

Amazing!

10 hours ago, Rodbass said:

Hi, is this still for sale, please?

Yes it is.

Jazz musicians never play the same phrase once.

19 minutes ago, NickA said:

Not playing any more?!! What happened?  Hope you're ok.

 

Ps: I'll vouch for the amp. Works nicely.

Hi Nick

Thanks for asking. I just got old and it’s about time I stopped. I’m 82 now and nobody has got any business inflicting themselves on an audience at that age. Mind you, I’ve still got a bit of gear and a nice double bass.

The difference between a jazz guitarist and a 12” pizza?
 

The latter will feed a family of four.

Just as a heads up, I have a Genz Benz 3.0 Shuttle Combo advertised in Amps and Cabs for Sale. It has a 10” cab and weighs in at 18 lbs and is perfect for in an out DB gigs. I’m only getting rid of it because I’m not playing anymore. 

Heres a pic of the controls, including the versatile eq section.

I’ve just pulled this ad from the vaults and given it a massive bump. I now live in Broadway, Worcs and have reduced the price to £350 to include shipping in UK. 

You’re welcome to come and try it if you live close but I can vouch for the good condition and perfect working order. It’s been a great amp for gigs with my double bass and very portable with it at 18lbs. Works well for BG too.

175 watts as is, or 300W with extension speaker.

£350

5 hours ago, lurksalot said:

I believe @bassace might have a relevant registration for this topic 😁

Yes, I’ve still got BA55 ACE but it’s on retention as I don’t play anymore. I run around on my wife’s number. Which is BA55 MRS - no, only kidding.

I started out in the fifties. Money was still tight post war so we didn’t have anything like the goodies we take for granted today. We all still owe a lot to Lonnie Donegan who kicked off the skiffle movement and with it the ability to play music on the most rudimentary materials, such as tea chest bass and washboard which was my starter instrument. It wasn’t long before I graduated to double bass which I bought new for £45. Recording was single track, unsophisticated, but we had a very nice reel to reel Ferrograph. 
 

I met up with Guy and Ted Fletcher and recording time was curtailed because we had plenty of gigs coming in. But I remember Ted made me a simple compressor - the first TFPro model? -  soldered together which didn’t seem to have many components apart from a 2v light bulb that glowed dimly or brightly according to the strength of my amped signal. Amp was a 50 watt Leak with KT 88 outputs.

At the same time my younger brother cobbled a bass guitar together, with a body made from two sheets of blockboard glued together and a hand crafted fretless neck - a very early fretless indeed - because he didn’t have the skills to put the frets in. The pickup was canibalised from a moving coil headphone earpiece.

The Fletchers went on to do very well in the business but I kept music as a hobby.

Happy days

Those were the days, and I also had a laminate in the garage. But I’ve only got one bass now.

Great, inspiring story. Congrats!

I’ve always thought that slapping the bass is like the guy who plays the spoons. Or the female contortionist.  Doesn’t add much to the whole scheme of things.

This is what I do if I need to slacken strings or take the bridge off. You can see the spacer I made to go between the end of the fingerboard and the top of the bass. It keeps the pressure on the soundpost. Blue towel optional (!).

I’ve done a few gigs in my time - maybe a few thousand even - and have mostly used my best bass, even in pubs. As I’ve previously said I’d hate my gravestone to say ‘he had a better bass at home’.  The main exception has been outdoor gigs when I’ve always taken a laminate, just in case it rains or the sun is too strong.

I’ve found the bass to be a resilient instrument, the main weakness in my experience being the tail wire. I’ve had three go over the years, once while I was playing, with dramatic results, and the other two while tuning up before the gig. My advice is if you find that your tail wire is solid, like a piece of welding rod, replace it as soon as with a length of multi- strand rigging cable.

I’ve never taken any back up bass with me, just a set of strings, duplicate leads and a spare amp top.

Heard of ‘cutting’?

Oh, that is worrying. I hope he’s OK, he did a great job of work on my Bryant.

We obviously need another DB Bash. But where?