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Everything posted by wombatboter
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Fretless Basses are really only for home use...
wombatboter replied to xgsjx's topic in General Discussion
I was so occupied with my intonation that I never could watch the belly-dancer... This seemed to be the solution -
Wasn't thrilled by the line-up... except for Rumer which I could listen to for hours. I'm no fan of the drummer of the Jools Holland band, I think he's the weakest link in the band. The bass-player holds it together for me. Interesting to see how an "easy" song like the one by Rumer can be so tough to lay down.. I see bass-virtuoso's every day on youtube but the real challenge is to play something really tight and smooth when it's slow and every note counts.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWA-gYXZiQs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWA-gYXZiQs[/url]
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Fretless Basses are really only for home use...
wombatboter replied to xgsjx's topic in General Discussion
Well... justice done, didn't know that, thanks for the info ! :-) -
Fretless Basses are really only for home use...
wombatboter replied to xgsjx's topic in General Discussion
Fact is that we don't live in those fretless times of the eighties anymore... Heard anyone recently asking you "make sure you bring your fretless along !" ? It still is my favourite instrument (I prefer fretless above fretted if I would have to choose) but I feel that I have to force it a bit more to get it into bands and if I wouldn't have taken the initiative it would be hanging in my living room forever.. I was asked to join this Stones-"cover" band and I decided to take the fretless along to take it to the first rehearsals and told them that I wanted to play it my way and that I wanted to play it really personal. It seemed to fit into the music but already after the first gig I got comments that it was a pity that the bass wasn't Wyman enough. I keep holding on to it but the fretless remains a bit less welcome.. I do realise that it is a long way from Wyman :-) For those interested here's a clip of a rehearsal I filmed (not really basses to be seen but the camera taped the more interesting parts :-)) Warning : it includes the dreaded slapping on fretless.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiVnvNPPAG0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiVnvNPPAG0[/url] -
WAL Custom 4. Mach.1. June 1996 - excellent
wombatboter replied to eubassix's topic in Basses For Sale
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Fretless Basses are really only for home use...
wombatboter replied to xgsjx's topic in General Discussion
In a way he is right.. I never encountered a bass era which is so bass unfriendly as the one we are living in now. I'm a free-lance bass-player and I don't really have my own band. Everytime I took my fretless Wal or Pedulla along to "standard" gigs I would get remarks from the other musicians : "Just bring your normal Fender along" or "it sounds nice but just leave it home next time". I don't think it had anything to do with my playing since my intonation seems to be ok but just think of the last fretless bass you've heard on your radiostation or in the charts ? I can't even remember one.. The days of Palladino and Giblin who were able to smuggle great fretless basslines into popular music are over.. I adore playing fretless a lot and I have owned great basses like my Lefay etc.. but I've sold a couple of them because I only played them at home and felt that they were not welcome in most popular environments.. I have only one left because it would be a weird idea to have two or three fretless basses when you hardly get to take one along every once and a while.. It sounds terrible and I do realise it depends on the style of music you are going to play but which bassplayer are they going to pick next time : the one with the fretted Precision or the one with the fretless ? I took my fretless along to a coverband-gig and played "Purple Rain" fretless.. Afterwards the same comments "Yeah...sounds uhmmmm...... "special"..." or "bit "jazzy"...." -
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Pedulla MVP Custom 4 (1989). SOLD SOLD SOLD
wombatboter replied to eubassix's topic in Basses For Sale
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Pedulla MVP Custom 4 (1989). SOLD SOLD SOLD
wombatboter replied to eubassix's topic in Basses For Sale
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I don't think she's gonna call her daughter "Karen".. I know a singer of a British band who called his son "Lennon" and would probably do anything to be a clone of another famous British band.
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I really liked the "Diamond life" album.. I don't care that she has a limited vocal range.. I find it more annoying that she sings so out of tune live. Heard her a couple of times in live shows and it was just terrible. I think the autotune has had a lot of work on some official "live" clips I've seen so far.
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And a fan over here in Belgium too... nicest surprise this year had to offer (just love her voice and the music, a quiet place between all the filth my ears have to endure..)
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Sold my amp to Gwilym and a really smooth transaction like it always should be... Recommended. Thanks a lot for the trust.
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Very kind of you ! Enjoy the amp and have a great Xmas and Newyear..
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What's the song on Alan Partridge Season 2 DVD
wombatboter replied to dbass's topic in General Discussion
It's from the cd "Assassin" by Gary Numan (if I'm correct, I have no sound here at work)...the whole cd features Pino's fretless. Great fretless bass-work.. -
[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1041768' date='Nov 29 2010, 11:44 PM']Just worth mentioning today is 9yrs since George Harrison lost his battle with cancer.[/quote] I remember a week before he died a friend came to my house and she told me that she had just heard that Harrison had died. The whole evening I was checking tv-stations and news-sites to hear more but couldn't find a thing. I believed her though and felt really down. Next morning I concluded that she must have been wrong. A week later it really happened but I felt I had already gone through the mourning ... My friend "spoiled" it a bit for me.
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FS : Herom Setos Custom V (Reserved (on hold))
wombatboter replied to wombatboter's topic in Basses For Sale
[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1041429' date='Nov 29 2010, 06:39 PM']But what's really depressing is that Geert presumably can earn better/safer money as a receptionist than as a full-time pro bass player. [Geert, I probably have NO business making that assumption. If you're unhappy with it, tell me and I'll delete it.][/quote] There used to be a time when I earned more money with gigs etc but times have changed... During the last years it has gone downhill (crises, the changing music scene, a lot of sharks trying to get in the popular bass-chairs at any cost (I never offered myself, always got called), the decline of bass and the live-scene in general (play rootnotes, look like Orlando Bloom and give cheap compliments to every musician around you even if they are totally crap)). Not that I'm in anyway frustrated : I've had and have good times but I enjoy it more and more to play just bass on my own in my living room without people telling me what to play or not. It's a very conservative free-lance scene around here (take a fretless along and you get weird looks) And to be really honest : everytime I was in the company of musicians a couple of days in a row I got tired of them : complaining about the public, their sound, the catering, their parking space, the waiting-hours, listening to the same old jokes, acting sometimes as if they were a gift to Earth. I prefer listening to someone sitting on a train with the story about their life than to be with certain musicians.. That's why I like the internet, the musicians are here but it's very easy to turn them off :-) Still am very pleased with the feedback though around here... -
FS : Herom Setos Custom V (Reserved (on hold))
wombatboter replied to wombatboter's topic in Basses For Sale
[quote name='bassaussie' post='1040798' date='Nov 29 2010, 10:17 AM']WB, first, that's a beautiful bass. Second, you should NEVER feel concerned about your playing. You've got talent absolutely oozing from you, both with technical prowess and a lovely sense of feel. I've watched that video a few times now, and I wish could pull off some of the fingerwork you were doing there, it's excellent.[/quote] Very kind of you, thanks... bit off-topic but I always preferred to be really very down to earth about my playing. No doubt I can play a bit of bass but I've met so many musicians full of pretention that I always remained on guard whenever that horrible attitude would stick its head up (I'm a receptionist during the day so that keeps everything balanced). Taste and feel is the most important and technique is nice but I've experienced that the sort of bassplaying in the video mostly remains in my living room :-) -
FS : Herom Setos Custom V (Reserved (on hold))
wombatboter replied to wombatboter's topic in Basses For Sale
Thanks.. I feel a bit uncomfortable on five-strings (the muting is hard) so I'm selling all my five-strings. About the playing : spend five minutes on Youtube and you see bedside-wonders from Japan to Columbia playing amazing bass-lines. It is véry easy to stay with your feet on the ground when you see these young virtuosos play.. Luckily it's not all about speed but also about taste and making a band groove (that's the hard part) The bass is on hold meanwhile... Never expected it (thought it would disappear from the page in a day and need ten bumps and still) since it's an unknown brand. The sound and the looks seem to speak for themselves.. -
FS : Herom Setos Custom V (Reserved (on hold))
wombatboter replied to wombatboter's topic in Basses For Sale
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FS : Herom Setos Custom V (Reserved (on hold))
wombatboter replied to wombatboter's topic in Basses For Sale
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I doubt if there is anyone around here waiting for an unknown bass with these looks but when I saw it for the first time I decided to buy it because I felt potential. This is one of the first basses a German luthier made.. To be honest I can't remember the specs anymore (they were in his advertisement at the time) and since I'm mainly interested in sound and the question if an instrument inspires me enough I never really dug deep to get to know more. Hendrik has a myspace.page but a lot of information isn't really available..He seems to use really great pieces of wood to construct basses. [url="http://www.myspace.com/herombasses"]http://www.myspace.com/herombasses[/url] I've had this for around two (?) years I think but since I don't play five string anymore this is for sale. Not expecting tons of emails for this but you never know that the right person seems to catch on (just like I did) It is not a very versatile bass : just one pick-up with volume, treble and an active bass-boost (bass is passive when the volume-pot is pulled up). It has this sort of wooden sound with a twangy edge which I like. I made this YT thing to give an impression (sorry for my boring manierisms) then you know what I mean. You like this sort or sound or not (tastes differ) I played it in the passive mode (without the bass-boost) on my Epifani amp with the controls flat (on a Vdkley speaker). Sorry for the distortion : it's the zoom camera peaking a bit, it's not the bass.. Normally they would cost around 2000 euros (so the luthier states) but I'm asking 725 euros (can deliver a gigbag). Can be picked up or send..feel free to email me for any more information. Thanks, Geert The YT link : [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejslHP5zZY0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejslHP5zZY0[/url] Some pictures :
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Just a message from over the canal.. Depends on what you consider as "playing a lot".. I have a friend and he has around 15 gigs at least every month (probably more) but for a lot of people that's a lot (he plays everything : from kids shows to crooners, not always at his liking but he has a family to support) The last twenty years I've had nothing to complain about : I combined it with my steady job as a receptionist and I had around 70 gigs a year. Since two years it has gone downhill... maybe a bit because I'm a bit of a freelancer and I don't promote myself a lot. I'll never ask for a gig, people have to ask me... This year has been the worst with hardly twenty gigs so far.. I hear musicians complaining around here everywhere : the crisis, dj's who take over, a lot of musicians are teaching again and the prices for bands gave gone down..I've heard of bands playing huge festivals for around 200 euros (for the whole band).. If you refuse, they take someone else who accepts the price.. The musical scene has changed a lot, I've experienced the really great years of clubs and bars where you could play and have a great time. I have the impression that it used to be reason for the public to go to a pub because there was a band playing and that nowadays they stay away because there is a band playing.. A lot more DJ's like I said : saves pub owners soundchecks and drumkits and loud amps.