peteb

I believe that Guy has something similar, which does a 'reasonable facsimile' of the effects that he uses, but not something that he is going to take out on the road. Anyway, gotta chip - got to get down to Swindon for a gig (from West Yorkshire)...

That’s essentially true. Gear is just a part of how you sound, but it all starts with your fingers and if you haven’t got that bit right then it doesn’t matter what gear you have. I would always suggest that people get as good a bass as they can afford that feels right in their hands and is credible for the genres that they are going to play. As far as amps go, a lot of pros use gear like Hartke, nothing esoteric at all, because its reliable / does a job and the company give deals to pros like them. Audiences only care what the band as a whole sounds like (and what instruments look like to an extent). They will compare your band to the one they saw a couple of weeks ago, as well as the major acts they’ve seen over the years. No one comes up to me after a gig to say they liked how I subtly used compression to get the bass to sit in the mix – to them if it sounds good then job done, they don’t care about why it sounds like that. If you’re not playing Muse covers, then its pretty safe to say they don’t care what effects you’re using, just if it sounds right. Having said that, Guy Pratt has just posted pictures of his current live pedalboard on Facebook. I counted 17 pedals and not a MFX among them…!

I suppose it depends on what type of band and what type of player you are. I've got a Pedaltrain Jr for live work that holds my power supply, wireless receiver, compressor and tuner. It has also got a drive and a chorus pedal that I use (very occasionally) for some gigs as well as octave and filter pedals that I never use*...! * I say never, but I sometimes use the octave pedal for playing 'I Wanna Tear Your Playhouse Down' and the filter pedal for the Rhubarb & Custard theme that I sometimes muck about in soundchecks 🙂

I would think that most bass players who play a variety of gigs will still want to keep a decent amp that they can use if needed. Certainly, I am expected to turn up with an amp / rig for all the gigs that I do and I can’t see that changing while I’m still active. Funnily enough, the only time that I thought that I might need to get an IEM system was when I was asked to join a band by a BL who had used them a lot in the past. However, a five minute discussion at the first rehearsal showed that the musos he had assembled for the new band all wanted to use amps and he was happy to go along with that (although he used IEMs for his own personal monitoring).

He did indeed, as well as many others (Wishbone Ash, Kinks, etc). I believe that he is semi-retired now, but still occasionally plays in a band with some family members (or at least he was a few years ago).

But you do have to appreciate that a lot (most?) of players take a different approach. Personally, I rarely use effects and I've always gone for a sound that, although not extreme in any way, is identifiable as being "my sound". While I'm not precious about it, amps and cabs are part of that.

I suppose that I could, but why would I want to? If I play pubs then I will still need an amp for the whole room and when I do bigger gigs then I can take a relatively lightweight rig and benefit from having a consistent sound onstage (as WoT says above).

That describes my approach. Unless you are going to commit to in-ears 100%, then I would have thought that some sort of amp on stage is necessary (who wants that much bass guitar in a monitor). Personally, I would prefer that a sound engineer has some reference of what I want the bass to sound like.

Try this if you ant some fusion with a rock element to it

I think that people over-emphasise the difference between fingers and pick. Personally, I started playing with fingers, then moved to pick in the 80s, then back to fingers. These days I play fingerstyle pretty much exclusively, purely because I am a much better player using my fingers. I tend to go for a pretty consistent sound, but occasionally I will work out how I would play a part with a pick and then work out how to play it in that way with my fingers

Has the landlord finally got rid of the contents of an old second hand music shop that he used to keep at the back of the stage??

Maybe, I remember there being an ELO tribute on several years ago but could have been your mates (the venue is in Helmsley).

You also have to take into consideration what the strength and weaknesses of the band are. How good are the BVs, can the guitar player convincingly fill the space in a three piece, can the rhythm section create this space for him to work with, etc?? There is definitely a knack to playing in a three piece...

I keep suggesting that my classic rock covers band (3 piece plus lead vocals) just gets a setlist made up of Phil X band YouTube covers...!

@casapete did you play the Farmyard Party (big outdoor biker event in North Yorkshire) a few years ago?

I came to Jaco (and the Bruford album that I couldn't listen to) as a rock fan (I had already been through my stint as a Yes / prog fan) who also liked blues / blues influenced music and was open to funk influences after listening to guys like Pat Travers, etc. I suppose that the funk influence was what attracted me more to Jaco, who also had a more soulful (not to mention damaged) personality that came across in his music, compared to the more bombastic Jeff Berlin. One thing about the more ‘lick’ based approach was that as a young bass player, there was always some little thing to take from Jaco and try and incorporate in my playing. Even though I usually ended up not getting it quite right, it opened up new ideas that I could use and influenced how I play to a small extent. Of course, I never had any intention of trying to transcribe a whole piece from either Jaco or Jeff!

Funnily enough , I had this discussion with a drummer at the last rehearsal we had. He always rated JB, putting him in the same league as Jaco. Personally, as good as Jeff Berlin is technically, I find him to be unlistenable whereas Jaco is often sublime (if you only listen to his best / least self indulgent / most iconic recordings of course)! I once bought a Bruford album featuring Berlin - just couldn't get into it at all...

I actually had an email conversation with Billy Sheehan about this very point and he advised me on how to get around it. The reason that the string comes back off pitch after you have flicked the switch back to the starting position to bring the string back up to the E, is because it will get slightly caught in the slot in the nut. All you have to do is get in the habit of lifting the string slightly out of the nut slot once you have returned to the higher pitch and the problem disappears. There you have it, a tip straight from King Billy! Of course it also helps if you have the D tuner properly set-up / installed and ensure that there is plenty of graphite / nut sauce or whatever in the E string slot on the nut.

I've been using 4 strings with a 'D' tuner for 35 years or so. Although I do have a couple of 5 strings, because there some gigs where you really can't get around using them, I much prefer the feel of 4 string basses. In answer to your questions: 1) No 2) Not that you would really notice (obviously the bottom string is a bit slacker when the D tuner is activated). 3) You don't have to, but it is something that you might want to consider if you are going to tune down to D for most of the set. 4) You have to get used to different patterns on the bottom two strings, but you get used to that pretty quickly - however, it depends on what you are playing. The reason that I got a 5 string is that I went to an audition where I had to play a part written on a 5 string. Trying to play it on a 4 string with a drop D turned it from a busy but relatively simple part into something pretty near unplayable. Against that, there are parts written for a drop D that are unplayable on a 5 string in normal tuning (just try playing Soundgarden tunes on a 5 string)!

FWIW, I have just switched from a modular 2 x 112 cab system to a single 212 cab. This is because I find it easier to carry one bigger cab at the end of the night (it has neo speakers, so the weight is alright) rather than having to bend to lift a smaller cab (then having to do it twice) and because I find that a cab with two speakers seems to be more efficient and appears to be louder / have more headroom.

Hey Daryl, great to see you back on the forum posting again. Everything you say in the OP is spot on. As regards to point 2, a trick I was told as a kid was to make eye contact with someone about ten or fifteen rows back in the audience. Everybody in the vicinity then thinks that you are playing to them. Another thing is when you are not moving around is to have a stance where you look comfortable and in control. Just stand with your feet planted a bit apart and relax. You don’t have to go the “full Slash”, although that can work if you are prepared to commit to it, but it does make you look more like you belong on the stage. Be careful not to do it when you’re offstage, or you risk looking like a tory MP who has been on a course and is adopting a Blackadder 3 power stance! I have just been to see a band that a couple of friends play in. the BL / guitarist / singer / frontman is an excellent musician and engaging enough. The rest of the band can play OK, but there is no show – the gaps between each song are too long, everyone on stage is static and there is no real communication with the audience. People enjoyed listening to them, but won’t remember them tomorrow and won’t go out of their way to see them again. Putting on some sort of a show (and we are not talking being OTT, just communicating with the audience) is important!

I'm sure that you're right, but I'm quite happy to take the HS410 to the bigger gigs and use the lighter CN212 for others (or where there are logistical issues). It may be a compromise, but it is hardly a terrible one...!

I still gig the HS410, but I do want a lightweight option for certain gigs. TBF, the HS is lighter than most 410 cabs that I have owned over the years. I'm certainly keeping it, as you say, it's the best cab I've ever used!

I haven't seen anything like that since the early 90s

The CN212 doesn't seem any heavier at all than a single HD112. I also find the 212 cab easier to lift than the smaller 112 format.