BassBod

Looks good! I've become a real born-again-DiMarzio fan in the last few years, I love 'em...always sound great

That's the sort of experience you will remember for a long time....I've always heard he's a nice bloke.

Its not just Ashdowns. A lot of engineers won't use the XLR output on any amp...because of noise/high/low level issues. Have a search and you will find plenty of discussion on the subject here. It all depends whether you consider your amp's tone settings and sound (plus effects?) to be an essential part of "your" sound or not. My solution is to use a passive DI box from a preamp send of the amp, so they get the sound of my instrument, plus the sound of the preamp and eq settings....then they can do whatever they need to......

No direct experience of these two. But I've generally found that any "decent" active DI box will do a pretty good job with current pickups, and there is less need for eq etc than there used to be. I use an Orchid muting DI most of the time, does the impedance matching fine, gives me an on/off footswitch and a good DI. I also really liked the LR Baggs Para-DI, but it had a few issues. The tuner send needed a return cable (or something like that..can't remember the details), and the eq was voiced for guitars so only the lowest band did much. It also had a low-cut built in (non-switchable) which helped to avoid subby-boom on bass. Second hand these are very good value.

I much prefer that to anything orange...good job.

Hi Chris, And welcome to the dark side...its got you, if you're looking at pickup options. No hope now. Good news is there weren't many EUBs around in 1964, bad news is there were a lot of old lovely double basses...some even older. Can you post a photo of the bridge on your Aria? That will help give an idea of what would fit etc.

I had one years ago - short-ish scale? Not much balls to the sound, but very lively with a good snap to it. Great for on the bus/train etc. The Schaller pickup was a good 'un...

The basic fender bag is a thin cover - not much protection. Go for a Protec (£25?) or the Thomann fake brown leather (£22?) its all about the padding....

Lee's sound on the Spectrum album is just fantastic - and his control is amazing, playing his part perfectly so that everyone else sounds good. Thanks for the interview!

The compression and reverb help a lot - my Martin produces a similar high quality tone...just very very quietly!

Well, they do the job fine, hold settings etc but I couldn't say anythng other than that. I understand the five screw fitting isn't an exact "fender" spacing though so swapping around could be more difficult?

One thing I forgot to mention - the string earth (thru bridge) doesn't work with black plastic strings. I've never had a problem with buzz or noise, but its worth remembering.

I will directly quote my three year old son..."what say??" Nuff already

I recently got a red CV Squier P bass - very good for the money. But you'll get better value buying a used bass of higher quality, maybe an earlier Japanese Squier or Tokai? Have a look at the ads here and take your time.

Hugh Manson's basses are great, and I know he's JPJ's tech etc - but I do get tired of the JPJ associations and marketing.....can someone else please do some endorsing for him and the shop?? Thinking about it, Manson must be about the only bass Mark King has never played, at least that would make a change...

My Sadowsky doesn't pick up phones any worse than my others - but the Alembic Epic is probably the most vulnerable. Its got very low output pickups and I guess a pretty powerful gain boost....but also very good (silver paint and ferrite bead?) shielding. I'd be interested to hear what Sadowsky's response is. I know Alembic are fairly open about it, and offer (expensive?) upgrades for their old electronics.

At one point I had a Bravewood Jbass with no neck..and a maple necked Bravewood Pbass. I had to try it, obviously, and the one piece big profile Pbass neck sounded amazing - really strong lows and bright attack, but also very very clear. Part of it was the all maple construction, but also it was huge profile and mass of the neck - it was a lot more wood than a normal "skinny" J neck. I've now got a Sadowsky PJ hybrid with maple J neck. The brightness and quick attack to the notes is there, and it sounds great. But I fancy it hasn't got the balls of the P bass Bravewood experiment??

I know..I know! But I learned to love the DI and it made it lot easier for me to leave the big boxes at home, particularly playing EUB. The bigger sound of upright bass really freaks some engineers, (even without a body to feedback) so give 'em a less threatening amp/cab and a DI they recognise and they usually respond much better. Makes for a happier gig - honestly. I have no problem letting someone else supply/transport the pa..for the record. Doesn't worry me one little bit.

Ummm...you won't like this...but learn to love the DI. Big heavy cabs are big heavy cabs, and if you are not playing big stages with plenty of helping hands (and backs) they will always be a problem. I still think my old SWR set up sounds fantastic, but I only use it a couple of times a year - most of my work is "stealth gigging" where I have to be in and out quick and easy, and there is little room for big black boxes and no need for that sort of volume...and probably no stage. I use your old Bag End cab a lot Keep the big Mesa cab..and enjoy it where it fits. The Barefaced approach is the best I've seen so far, and given your comments I'd try out the 2x12 - its probably much more detailed than the Mesa 12s, would give a you a "big" sound but also be very managable and a bit smaller. And the grill cloth looks a bit retro.... Good luck

IF thats the deal, it should be fine. Everyone knows you won't be getting rich from pub gigs..even the Revenue. Just record what you were paid, the miles it took to get there and any other immediate expenses that were "necessarily incurred".