peteb

These days I'm usually driving to gigs, so I might have a pint before playing but no more. If I'm not driving I may have a couple more, but certainly not getting any where near drunk (besides, there is a limit to the amount of beer you can drink before needed to keep rushing off stage to go to the loo)! Some people can play when they've had a few and some can't. I wasn't too bad, but my drummer mate struggled after more than a couple so would always stay completely sober! I was once completely lit up and somehow managed to get through the gig, when a bass player that I know came up to me at the end of the night to complement me on how great I had played (didn't miss a note according to him)! It did help with that band that it was a pretty simple set and that we were gigging constantly...

Many years ago, I made the mistake of buying a suit from Next. The worst fitting suit I have ever worn, never bought anything from there since. Shall we get back to why cheap basses are better than more expensive ones now??

I made a point of getting my mpulse serviced every year, just in case. These days, i carry round a little TE Elf amp in my gigbag just in case. As a 200w Class D amp, it isn't really loud enough, but it is small, sounds OK and will get you out of trouble in an emergency (I also have a DI box in my gigbag).

I would have thought that the mpulse was as good as anything Orange ever did, even the old ones! There's only so many opportunities to use all the amps you've got. As I've mentioned before, I got the HB R-400 as an alternative to a Class D amp as I've decided that I'm just not prepared to accept the compromises that you have to make for Class D technology. Much as I would love to try a WB-100, I don't think that I would use it enough to justify buying one. No matter how good it is, I can't see it being that much better than my mpulse or R-400! There are certainly a few bargains around for s/h Eden amps. I recorded an album using an old Eden once... great amps!

You do still have the Mesa amp, don't you Dave?? I'm surprised that you haven't heard of Cornford Amps. They're great, but very expensive...

Forgot that, along with the 'Jaco was cr@p', for the full royal flush...

Why not ask if you really need a compressor and does it make any difference if a bass is made of 'tone woods' or polystyrene and you've got a Basschat full house!

I had one for about 10 minutes back in the 90s. I think it was one of the mid-price models - played great but I wasn't too keen on the sound, so I tried to put in a different active preamp, which didn't work out too well. Fortunately, I still managed to sell it for more than I paid for it and ended up buying a Warwick Streamer! I recently saw Rhino Edwards playing in a tiny venue with a headed Status four string, which looked and sounded great...!

More inverse snobbery again. I'm not sure how you determine just how much better one bass is from another, but lets just say that it is 'significantly' better (although that doesn't really do the Fodera justice). I'm not particularly keen on the slightly oversized headstock, but apart from that the Fodera I played looked great (you should note that it wasn't one of the singlecut affairs). The HB was one of the ugliest basses I've ever seen and weighed a ton, but played really well for such a cheap bass.

Let me put your mind at rest. I've played a Harley Benton (extremely good for the price point) and I've played a Fodera. I can assure you that the Fodera is by far the better bass (probably the best I've ever played)...!

But in this context, we're talking about the status associated with the instrument itself. In the real world, how many decent musicians would make a snide comment about another guy’s instrument? Most musicians learn pretty quickly if you act like an entitled d1ck then you don’t get called for many gigs. But that is not to say that they wouldn’t think that it lacked credibility, but if the guy was a good enough player then it wouldn’t really matter. On the other hand, if someone turns up for an audition with a Fodera everyone would say ‘cool bass’. But if they turned up in a Range Rover with three Foderas, then they would have prove that they weren’t a dilettante before they would be taken seriously. Again, if they can play well enough then it very quickly wouldn’t matter.

Very commendable, but we are not talking about the status of the people who happen to possess a particular type of bass, more the status associated with the bass itself.

No, inverted snobbery is the attitude of seeming to despise anything associated with status or what is generally perceived as quality or, while at the same time elevating those things associated with lack of status or quality.

Exactly

What a charming recollection. Vicar, would you care to stay for another cup of tea, Frank's strolling down memory lane!

From reading this thread, inverted bass snobbery is the real issue here...

AJS & Tico Torres (the drummer) were a fair bit older than the rest of the original band.

I'm guessing that was the point - Beck going out of his way to make a public show of support for Depp

The whole point of buying a Handbox (at least for me) was as a compact / relatively lightweight alternative to a Class D amp.

I saw Terry Sless' Kossof / Free / Back Street Crawler tribute (playing mainly Free songs) a couple of weeks ago, with Rhino Edwards (Jeff Rich's rhythm section partner in Quo for many years) playing bass!

There is a Gigs section in the Performance forum.

Is that an Elrick bass?? Never played one but always wondered what they were like.

I voted for the Elf as I carry one in my gigbag for the same reason that you are considering getting one for. It is very small and sounds pretty good. It isn't really quite loud enough, but will get you out of trouble in an emergency. I wonder what the 280w Gnome is like, maybe a little bit of extra power might be useful? I used to carry a GK MB200 as a spare, but that was larger than the Elf (didn't easily fit in an iGig pocket like the little Trace) and was nowhere near loud enough.

Yes, there are certain tonal advantages to a higher action that you have to balance against playability issues. Every player is different and there is no ‘right’ way – it’s all about what compromises you make to get the right set-up for how you play. I took a bass for a setup to Chris Dobson (Alpher Basses) and asked him for a low action. When it came back it had an incredibly low action, which I thought was brilliant until I tried to play it in anger and every note choked out. I took it back to him and he said, ‘so you like quite a high action then’ Now, I’m not particularly heavy handed and my basses are generally set-up with a lower action than many of my mates, but compared to the guys that Chris works / builds for, I need a pretty high action. Similarly, Joe talks about having a low action, yet his bass has probably been set up with a similar or even higher action to mine, which in turn is nowhere near as low as what a lot of guys use.