peteb

Just to mention that I have fitted the Thumb Rocker to my Stingray and it works great, exactly what I was looking for. So, thanks to @Greg Edwards69 for the suggestion. I might even start taking the Ray out on gigs now!

No one is doubting that PA gear is better these days. But it was possible to get a decent sound in most venues in the 80s if you had the gear and knew what you were doing. I'm not at all sure that I would say the same about the 70s and before. @TimR makes a good point about audience expectations though. How many people saw magical performances in the 70s, etc without a care that what was coming out of the PA wasn't perfect, whereas now everyone would just complain about the sound!

Speak for yourself bud! The big difference now is that you can get the same results from a PA that you can easily fit into a small hatchback, whereas before you were packing a transit to the roof. Everyone from that era can remember lugging huge amp racks and Martin bass bins up fire escapes, etc. It all sounded great, but today's gear is so much better in terms of efficiency, size and weight.

Can you be a bit more specific?

Absolutely, but I don't that it is necessarily that people can whistle it or remember the words (although that might be part of the reason). A track can be great for many different reasons, which along with the subjective issue, makes it difficult to precisely define what is 'great' or not. That doesn't mean that there are great songs though. The other thing is what is the bar for 'great'? Are people throwing the term 'great' around for tracks that are merely 'very good'?

Which is probably part of the unquantifiable factor that makes it 'great'?

Iconic track, which is very well written with great lyrics that seem to tell a story (although people can argue about exactly what it means), interesting tune with some slightly unusual influences (i.e. latin and reggae, which is not what you would necessarily have expected). This is all well played by a musically good band, with a strong lead vocal (not to mention great harmonies). At the end of the track, you have an iconic two minute guitar solo (duet!) that people from the mid-west (you know, places like Wolverhampton) and indeed, anywhere else, can sing along to every note.

It's also part of the reason why crowds are not as good as they used to be - audiences have stopped going out to gigs as there are too many cr*p bands playing at these places

A track can be great for many reasons. It can be for the performance (including technical ability) , the songwriting or even the production. In terms for performance, it can be for a display of technical ability (such as Whitney - see above). However, another record that I personally think is great is 'Another Girl, Another Planet'. The great thing about it is largely down to the vocal delivery, although I wouldn't say that Peter Perrett is a technically great singer by any means!

Have you ever read 'Everybody Loves Our Town', a rather lengthy (but surprisingly readable) tome about the grunge movement in the early 90s. In the book there is a quote from a friend of Alice in Chains, saying that the Seattle sound is 'the sound of middle class kids whining in drop D'! I agree with some of your other points, to a point. The thing is, just because something hits the mainstream, it doesn't mean that it is automatically cr*p! All art is by nature subjective, but there are levels of ability that you expect a community of musicians to recognise. Remember, we are talking about Whitney here, not Britney! Not that I have anything against La Spears, but Whitney was many levels of talent as a vocalist above her and the vast majority of popular singers. That is a good point. I am not the biggest jazz fan, but I accept that there are lots of top musicians out there playing music that I have no interest in. Just because it isn't to my taste, it doesn't mean that it is without value.

Absolutely, of course it is. Generally regarded as one of the great (if not the greatest) soul divas of all time, as well one of the top R&B artists! This kind of artistic Marxism bemuses me, the idea that if an artist is outstanding then you must find reasons to say they’re cr*p! There was a thread about great vocalists on here a while ago and there was one guy who hated every great rock vocalist (be it Robert Plant, Chris Cornell, Lou Gramm, Glenn Hughes or Paul Rodgers and many others). He hated them all, in fact the one rock singer he seemed to like was Kurt Cobain! Now, I like whiny, nihilist grunge as much as the next guy, and Nirvana are an example of a band that made a great record without relying on virtuoso performances, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t appreciate great singers! For the record, my favourite version of I Will Always Love You is the acoustic one that Chris Cornell did in tribute to Whitney a few days after she died.

Yes, it's a really good track - but I thought that you didn't like 'screechy' and 'over sung'?

A pretty safe choice there. Whether you like the genre or not, or even if you don't like the song, one of the greatest vocal performances ever recorded...!

I very much doubt that whoever buys this will use it the way you use your bass. I assume that you paid about £3.5k or so for your 73 Jazz? That's quite a lot of money for an electric bass, but (to me) easily justifiable if you love it and are going to play it regularly. I'm sure that you would be upset if it was to get stolen, but it wouldn't be the end of the world. That's the difference between getting a bass that is a 'player' and one that costs so much that it has to be viewed as an investment! There's no way that a rare 1960 Jazz is objectively going to be seven times better than your 73, but it is rare and extremely collectable. It is going to be bought either by a collector, or someone (presumably a top session player) who spends a lot of time in recording studios and might think that it would give him an edge in getting high level work. Either way, they are not going to put it in a gigbag and take it on the bus at night, they will just have too much money in it and it is too valuable / rare. Of course some people will say that you could get away with a Harley Benton for £150, but that's just the opposite extreme!

At that price, does anyone care about a new set of strings? You are not paying £27k to take it down to your gig at the Dog & Duck on Friday night - either it will go to a tech of your choice for a complete examination / set-up or into a locked display cabinet.

The Self-Adhering 'E-ThumbRocker' is exactly what I'm looking for. Many thanks.

Thanks for that, but I'm looking for something much smaller than any of their models, which I can place next to the pickup on a MM Stingray (with no screws). Also, all of those models would require you to have your thumb too far away from the E string (for me, at least).

I have never really got the 'floating thumb' technique down and have developed a perfectly serviceable technique based on anchoring my thumb on the pickup when playing fingerstyle. However, this causes a bit of a problem when playing my Stingray, as I would rather be playing a couple of centimetres or so nearer the neck. I wonder if anyone knows where I can get a thumb rest that I can stick to the scratchplate using double sided sticky tape? I want it to be pretty discreet, no more than 2 cm long and 5mm high, and easily removable if required. Any ideas?

Well it's certainly different to 'what cab are you using' or 'what wireless system have you got'...! They are black leather hi-tops from 'ecco' (I've just checked the make). I think that I got them from Amazon years ago (however I could be wrong), but you do sometimes see ecco shoe shops in some of the better heeled market towns (like Harrogate around here). I hope that helps...

The Zep tribute played a hometown gig (well for me, the singer and the keys player) at Tapestry Arts Centre in Bradford last Friday. A decent turnout and all in all it went really well, which is always good when you're playing in your own backyard. (pics courtesy of Nigel Bain)

If it was a £3 or £4k instrument then I would say that you are probably right - that's certainly how I would approach buying such a bass. However, for £15k I would suggest that you have to look at it primarily as an investment and I would be looking at all the photos and provenance I could reasonably ask for to justify such a high price tag.

This is my slightly re-configured mini board, complete with the new micro-thumpinator. I am thinking of adding a preamp / DI and using my bigger board (Pedaltrain Jr) again in the new year, but this is what I'm taking out at the moment.

Same here! I had and really liked it, but got fed up with the battery going down with no warning! I ended up getting a PJB Double Four, which is much more versatile and a great bit of kit, but not exactly cheap...!

I am definitely very tempted by the BP1 Compact. I need to get down to Bass Direct to try one out some time soon.

I gigged an old Italian built CMD102 for quite a while - really good amp, no problems at all...