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Anyone know of a Ray Brown Biography Book not Ray Browns Bass Method book or a transcriptions book? I have looked but can't find one anywhere so Im assuming there isn't one which seems odd? Hopefully someone will prove me wrong! Cheers

Hey Geoff what is the difference between the normal 12"Wizzy and the Mline? I've got a Wizzy 10" with an EA Doubler for double bass. I really like the sound. Its nice and punchy.

Ha ha ha!!!!

Yeah Rev more than 3 dates is a Tour!! Ha ha ha! Would you trust them with your bass on an airline in one of those big polystyrene cases? I have assumed (and read somewhere) that you couldn't trust a baggage handler with a double bass in the hold unless it was in one of those David Gage Fibreglass flight cases that cost £2000 that have air pockets in and the only other way to do it is to book another seat next to you for the bass? ( I wasn't reading a David Gage advert at the time either). That has always been my assumption but at the end of the day I have no experience of it at all!

Great stuff that you are going on a US Tour Rev! Cool! What kind of prices are you looking at with luggage charges vs bass hire over there?

Thanks guys interesting stuff. Good idea about the TalkBass megathread, I'll take a look. Thats really funny that it is actually a Golf Club flight case! I thought they were joking! I'll have to look into that about the airlines giving luggage discounts as well. As I say Im not going yet but want to be well prepared with answers when it arrises.

Hi Bassace long time no see. I just had a look at The Kolstein. Looks very interesting and a good choice for travelling although probably a bit expensive for me. It does look good though especially when the only other option is to book a seat on a plane for a full size double bass! Yes Marc I thought the neck joint would be fine but always worth asking the question. Bridge being too high wouldn't be a problem at all, easily solved if not right. So what experience have people had with flying with these instruments? I have heard of people being able to take a guitar onboard the plane and it being stored with the cabin crew. Im sure thats not a regular occurrence but that could be a similar size to the Eminence in a soft bag. So forgetting that idea you've only got the overhead lockers which I doubt are big enough or then theres the aeroplanes hold. The Eminence does have a hard case, so would this be strong enough to go in the hold or would it need to be stored in a full on flight case to be protected properly?

Thanks for the replies guys. I have emailed smart distribution for their prices thanks Mr Basman. And Ive left a search on eBay for any coming up second hand as suggested by Marc S. Actually I have bought a couple of electric basses this way in the past too with great success. Its just a matter of the waiting game really. Thanks Rev for the offer of coming down to try yours out. Im in no immediate rush but if I find myself down your way in the near future I would be into that and I will get in touch with you. Thanks a lot. How much did you guys pay for yours? I do already play double bass but Im trying to think ahead as I may have opportunities to travel abroad coming up maybe later in the year or next year. So the removable neck is really appealing to me for flying. I know about the Czech Ease bass but still seems a bit big? I own a solid body Ned Steinberger CRT4 EUB but I only really use it for practicing on. I realised a while ago that I would probably prefer an EUB with more amplified acoustic qualities than the CRT. Along the way I tried someones Yamaha SLB which sounded more natural than the CRT I assumed because it had acoustic chambers in as well. Thinking about it I don't even know if that is true? The one thing that EUBs seem to have less of when compared to a double bass is dynamics making it harder to accent certain notes along the way. Recently at a gig I tried someone else's Eminence bass and realised that it wasn't infact an EUB but an actual acoustic bass with acoustic properties and a Realist pickup. Most of my gigs these days I am playing double bass amplified through the PA with a microphone and no amp so the closer I can get to acoustic qualities the better. Has anyone heard any issues with loose neck joints affecting the bass? Particularly second hand ones. I haven't but just checking any rumours. I do know its a solid metal joint though.

I was on a gig the other day with several bands on the bill. One of the bands bass players had an Eminence Upright Bass which he very kindly let me try out. I was quite impressed with what I heard so I started looking online to possibly look into finding somewhere that sells them to try out again and find a price. But I can't find much in the UK at all, both places that might sell them or a price. I like the look of the 4 string model with the removable neck. Any ideas?

[quote][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I wonder if this was easier in the days of heavy cymbals and calfskin heads, when the bass drum was used for accents rather than to keep time.[/font][/color][/quote] Actually I saw one of the bass players who doesn't use an amp twice with 2 different basses. The first time he had Spirocores on and the next time he had Velvet Anima strings on (synthetic gut). Interestingly I could hear him much better with the Spirocores (that was his own bass). I did speak to him about string choice and he said he had gone through a few different sets but has just decided to stick with the Spirocores and deal with them rather than trying loads out. Again he did sound good. Drums are louder these days though.

I have tried it as well although I struggled to hear myself. When put this to a couple of the people who don't use amps they say they don't need to hear exactly whet they are doing because they know that the sound being produced is fine. They did sound good from where I was sitting. Although I would still prefer bait of amplified sound like you Beer. I did see Elvin Jones a few years ago with a bass player who used no amp just an AKG D112 straight into the PA. I couldn't hear him! Not over Elvin. I saw Christian McBride last year at Band on The Wall. He had no amp just heard what he was hearing from what was coming out of the PA via an AMT S25B microphone mounted to the side of the bass. Maybe side fills but I didn't see any monitors around really. That was with acoustic piano and drums which weren't holding back.

Not seen those before ([color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Thomann Ovid[/font][/color]). Well worth trying at that price. Yes I know a few bass players who swear by not using an amp even with drummers in a jazz club setting. I was speaking to one who said "if I use an amp the drummer will only get louder". I know plenty of drummers who wouldn't even consider this thought though and play loud regardless of whats going on. Catch 22 really.

In my limited experience a mic on the bass with a louder type of band, perhaps with drums, and with bass back line (usually) on the floor just behind is going to have feedback problems. Saying that one of the best things I have seen was on the Smalls Jazz Club (jazz club in New York) live video feed which had drums in the band. This guy (Joe Sanders) had a normal sized mic on his bass on a microphone stand. This was then fed to a powered speaker on a tripod stand which was at his head height right next to him, (Im sure a preamp was involved somewhere). This meant that feedback was minimised as the mic and speaker weren't facing each other and a few feet distance between them. It also meant that he could hear himself as the speaker was by his head, the audience could hear the bass clearer (highs as well as lows) as it was higher up rather than on the ground and the volume needn't be as loud. So although I wasn't there to hear the actual sound in the club I really like the idea. Also I think blending is fine if you've the time to set it up at each gig. Some people would want a quicker system to set up but if it gives you the right sound then its definitely worth taking the time. The DPA's are very expensive and I only bought one because one came up second hand and I took the opportunity at the time. When I [b]didn't[/b] use it initially to amplify live I did use it to record the band via portable multitrack so it was still useful.

Hi Henry I use a DPA for front of house PA quite a lot. (Gypsy Jazz double bass playing with 2 acoustic guitars going through microphones). I don't have any back line so hear just what is coming back at me. When i first tried the mic it was as you mentioned low output but with feedback problems through back line and seemed unusable. I couldn't really work out why. Then one day for some reason i wanted to go from the mic into something that was jack only. So I used my ART Tube MP preamp to go in on XLR and out on jack. All of a sudden the sound was much more usable higher output with less feedback problems into back line. I don't know exactly the science behind it but obviously the ART does what it says on the tin. I know you say you used an old preamp but unsure of the differences between yours and my ART. Even with the higher output i still didn't find the whole thing feedback free but definitely better. It is a microphone after all. Sound engineers do seem to like the sound of it they say. I have an EA Doubler and in the past have tried blending with good results but still quite fiddly to set up when playing in different sounding rooms needing to tweak eqs for 2 different sound sources mic/pickup and also balance between the two. Hope that helps in any way at all?

Presume you've seen this Yamaha SLB100 for sale? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/245775-yamaha-silent-bass-slb100-for-sale-or-trade-l800/"]http://basschat.co.u...-or-trade-l800/[/url]

I bought Amazing Slow Downer which I really liked but after seeing Transcribe I bought Transcribe and now use Transcribe only! They are both really good but I am now happy with Transcribe! Both on my Mac.

I think there is a jam session at The Spotted Dog after every band on a Tuesday! (I think?) But they do definitely have jam sessions there. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-at-the-Spotted-Dog/439077176229411?fref=ts

Nightmare! Im in Scotland. I would have loved to have gone to this!!!!!! Have a good one, I know you all will.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1411043573' post='2555845'] Which brings me back to one of my original questions as to whether the Aria - having a small hollow body has some of the resonance of an acoustic? [/quote] Im going to try to answer this but its only one opinion. I know these threads can end up forgetting the original questions. The Aria does have a resonant chamber which will have some of the resonance of a double bass but a double basses resonant chamber is massive compared the the size of the Arias. So comparisons there are going to be very hard. Maybe its best to compare resonant chambers and their effects between different EUB's? For instance the NS bass doesn't have any resonant chamber and when compared to the Aria would sound more electric. That doesn't mean to say which one is best or which sound you prefer. I think looking at the two videos above even though the sound isn't the greatest I can hear elements of resonance and not. The bass on the video below looks and sounds to me like it has no resonant chamber. The Aria has a softer sound. But again i would go by which you prefer the sound of personally and not what it is supposed to sound like. In the end though if you do want to play a double bass then the only way to go is a double bass. But if you don't then EUBs aren't secondary double basses to me they are a different instrument to both the electric and double (Ive got all three). More choice. Excellent stuff.

Personally I think its easy to say that this EUB and that EUB doesn't sound like a double bass but on the other hand when trying to amplify a double bass it can be hard to get a double bass to sound like a double bass naturally. The best results Ive had in amplifying a double bass live have been with a DPA microphone which is the closest thing to the real sound. Using double bass pickups can only ever approximate the sound of the double bass but some do it better than others. Ive found using a microphone gets the best results for me and in my main band I wouldn't consider a pickup. BUT you have to bear in mind that I an in the right situation to be able to amplify my bass in this way. Im very lucky! I do have pickups and use them occasionally but mainly not. When my musical situation changes I won't be able to use the microphone any more at all and will resort to having to use one of my 6 pickups (and be happy about it). I bought my NS after starting on a double bass knowing that it wasn't going to replace the double bass I just loved the sound of them. I don't use it as much now due to musical situations but Im not going to get rid of it anytime soon. I heard a guy last week playing a cheap double bass with an old electric bass amp, Spirocore strings and a Fishman BP 100 pickup. The sound wasn't exactly natural but I liked the sound regardless of what it was SUPPOSED to sound like. It fitted in well with the band and he was a good player so no issues there. I think a good way to think about it is if you like the sound of it thats the one to go for. Ive have heard someone say they saw a guy playing an NS and it sounded EXACTLY like a double bass. Everyone is going to hear differently so its probably best to go by your own ears in the end bearing everyone else's opinions (which are all valid) in mind secondary. As HugeHands mentioned the action of the NS bass when raised made the bass sound much better. Also TOP TIP! The NS also sounded much much better through my ART Tube Preamp adding a bit of warmth and body. I was amazed when I found that one out. It transformed the bass for me. Also mentioned by HugeHands when you play a bass on a stand it is very convenient for swapping basses etc and I did really like this feature. But double basses are meant to be moved around as they are played, thats why they are designed to stand on a single point on the floor. So there are advantages and trade offs. I think this is a cool thread with lots of good points

The Aria would have been very hard to cope with, without the support bracket as Burg says. The NS has no support bracket but is held in place by the stand. You can get an optional spike and support bracket for it though to be able to play in a more traditional upright way. I can relate to what ambient is saying having played an NS and Double Bass.

I would recommend buying second hand strings definitely. I bought some Evah Pirazzi's and loved them but wouldn't have known otherwise. I recently bought some new Velvet Animas for £270. I love them which is a good job! But buying second hand would have been miles better if I hadn't of liked them. I wouldn't try second hand electric bass strings but definitely would double bass strings.

Hi Marc Ive got an NS EUB but live I only use a Double Bass. I use the NS to practice with. The NS is a solid block of wood so the way I see it is that apart from the string length, essentially it is an electric bass (sounding like a big fretless). If I were to go out gigging with an EUB (to sound like a double bass) I would buy a Yamaha Silent Bass as played by Chris Minh Doky. The difference being that I think it has some sort of resonant chamber as opposed to none on the NS. I tried one briefly and it sounded good. Ive not tried the Aria but looking at it, it does have more of a resonant chamber than the NS? The BSX Allegro (above video) looks interesting as well as it says it has a sound post and bass bar just like a Double Bass, so again even more of a resonant chamber. Ive not tried one though. Ive got a CRT4 NS bass but as you say there are cheaper NXT basses. As far as I can tell the cheaper ones have a cheaper finish to the wood, they have cheaper internal electronics and also a cheaper stand. If I was going to buy one again I would still go for the more expensive CRT type version over the NXT versions for all these reasons. Im sure the NXTs are fine though. Another thought is that I love the minimalist look of the NS but when physically playing any EUB anything that can act as the upper bouts (both sides) of a real double bass is really really useful to playing the thing as it tends to wobble around A LOT without them! Various basses have add ons the can be attached. The body side can keep the bass more stable and the other side helps reference notes and aids in thumb position playing. My NS looks very cool but has none of these.