peteb

20 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

So many good, or at least very competent, bassists that seem to put fills in songs that really don't need them and in one case, the fill was actually too long and meant he was always late getting out of the chorus. Now, I get bored playing root and fifth occasionally, but does the song need a fill? Does it fit?

I would suggest that guy wasn't a good bass player at all - being good isn't just about technique (far from it)! 

Drummers tend to be far worse... 

4 hours ago, Paul S said:

 

Understand the term, understand yourself.  Google it, Tim.  Then reflect back and see if you recognise anything in your history of posting that might possibly fit.

Tim appears to be a rather singular person (based on his posting here) and seems to have a rather unique outlook on life. While he seems to hold his own experiences and outlook on life in rather high regard, I certainly wouldn't go as far as to say that he is narcissistic. 

Also, he isn't always wrong and he certainly isn't wrong in the post that attracted your comment...! 

15 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

whenever I've had booming it's not the very low end but around the 100Hz range, I thought, maybe mistakenly, that anything below about 30 Hz is inaudible to the human hearing, well it is to mine anyway

You might not be able to hear it, that isn't to say that it isn't there causing havoc with the low frequencies being sent to the desk. 

I should say that generally I like the sound of my rig, but at SOME venues I've found that I need to turn the master volume higher than I would really like and occasionally you get a booming bottom end where I have had to cut loads of bass on the amp, which again I would rather not have to do. The idea is just to cut some of the unnecessary low frequencies to free up some headroom in the amp and to send a signal to FOH that makes it as easy as possible for the sound engineer to get a good bass sound as quickly as possible.  

I am going to use a HPF pedal on a gig next week that @LukeFRC has very kindly offered to loan me to get an idea how it will work, but I am tending towards a micro-thumpinator at the front of the signal chain at the moment. 

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Overkill? 

 

Yep... 

Terrific night last night at the Forum in Darlington with the Zep tribute. Great venue, good sound, decent guy promoting and, above all, a brilliant audience. Second gig with Phil (Didge Digital) on keys and about the sixth with Damian, the new singer, which has taken a good band and lifted it up a level. Great night... 

3 minutes ago, Downunderwonder said:

You meant HPF I think as you used the correct term later.

 

Yes, I did mean HPF (now amended) 

2 hours ago, ped said:

I chose to go after my compressor and DI. The way I see it, my comp is designed to see the full signal and I like how it responds, and I want to send a full signal to desk where it can be filtered by someone else if necessary. The HPF is for my monitoring only. 

That makes sense about putting the HPF after the compressor. With my rig, it would have to go before the DI, which is OK with me. You seem to have more faith in the guy doing HOF than I often have! I like as much control with what goes to the desk as possible, as you never know if the engineer is any good or not...! 

I'm thinking of adding a HPF to my set-up to free up some headroom on my amp and control a bit of the boom you occasionally get in some venues. I assume that a LPF would help with that? If I get one, should I put it before or after the compressor. 

I'm afraid that  haven't waded through all 19 pages of this thread, but has anybody used a Sine Effect H24 HPF pedal and is it any good? Or would I be better looking for a micro-thumpinator second hand? 

3 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

It's music for musicians.

 

Surely the idea is that we are all supposed to be musicians here?? 

Has anyone tried any of the Caveman Bass Preamps, rack unit or the more compact pedals??

I must admit that I am a bit curious about them... 

It is pretty standard fusion stuff, with really good playing but nothing to make it great. As with any album that is driven by pieces of music as opposed to 'songs' , it has to be exceptional to warrant a second listen and this isn't 'Spectrum', 'There & Back', 'Surfing With the Alien' or 'Race with Devil on Spanish Highway'. 

A pretty cool effort but nowhere near exceptional enough to transcend what is a very niche genre. 

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

Dave,,

Where can I get that Levi pouch? Link?

 

Daryl

I use these for the wireless transmitter on my straps 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_wireless_holder.htm

A double header for the Zep tribute this weekend. First up was a gig in St Helens on Friday. A slightly strange venue, a very small theatre with a seated dress circle and a decent sized stage. We were a bit rusty and had one of our old keyboard players depping (who was good), but not a bad gig. Quite a reasonable crowd in the end, despite initially slow ticket sales, so all in all a pretty good night. 

Saturday night was at the Cluny in Newcastle, one of our favourite venues. We had Phil Manchester (aka Didge Digital from FM) depping on keys and a big step up by the band from the night before in terms of performance. A packed crowd who were great (as they always are in Newcastle), a top performance and a decent payday. A 100 mile drive home (for me, longer for some of the rest of the band), but an awesome gig…! 

I broke my own rule last week and bought something from the BD website without ringing them up. I normally like to speak to someone to check the item is in stock and that it is exactly what I'm looking for, but it was a generic tool and back in stock (they didn't have it when I was last in the shop) and I was too busy to chat on the phone, so I ordered it online. 

I placed the order on Monday afternoon and it arrived on Wednesday morning. 

On 01/10/2023 at 15:31, TimR said:

Wondering if I should have seen them in the 80s when I had the chance to see 4 blokes dressed in black. 😆

 

Although the rate bands are having splits and members dying perhaps U2 should be a band I go to see. (Another thread?) to say I saw them, 

I always loved mid-period U2 and I am always bemused at the hate they get from some people (especially that directed at Bono – a rock and roll star with an ego, who would have thought) despite being one of the best loved bands ever.

I remember going to see that IMAX film of them playing to a ridiculously huge audience somewhere in South America, just a brilliant gig. A mate of mine who didn’t like them was dragged along by his then girlfriend – even he had to admit they had just one massive anthem after another and a connection with a crowd that hardly any other band has been able to manage. No offence to bands like Tool, but there is no way they could pull a gig off on that scale and with that reach to such a diverse audience.

The trouble is that on the evidence of that clip is that they’re finished, no matter how good the visuals are. Bono’s voice has gone and so has the energy they used to have. They are reduced to mega money gigs in Vegas to play to people who, like you said, just want to be able to say that they’ve seen them. A sad end to a great band.  

At least he didn't try to sing out of tune scat vocals along to his bassline! 

To use @BigRedX's headings: 

As a musician: 

I've been gigging since I've been sixteen and the thing is that I like to play live. When I was a kid it was all about being in original bands, but since I turned 30 or so (a long time ago) I've played in original bands (recording a few albums), many covers bands and more recently, a couple of really good tributes. I the band is good, playing decent music and there is an audience then I don't really care what category the band is. The one exception is that I wouldn't rehearse up an original band to play pubs or other small gigs. You have to appreciate that it isn't the 80s / 90s anymore and you are not going to fill a club unless you have really made a big splash, whereas 30 years ago you would have done. I've been on albums that have had licensing / distribution deals (mainly with German labels for some reason) and sold a few copies, but there was no suggestion that the band was going to rehearse and play live unless it was offered a genre specific festival or support. 

As an audience member:

I will go and support live music and go and see bands whenever possible. My expectations are different depending on the type of band. If I go and see an original band, I'm happy to travel and pay for a ticket, but I expect them to offer a good package and be good live - expectations are high. When you go to see a tribute band, you know that you will like the music and you expect to pay and the band to be of a good standard. Watching a covers band in a pub is a different thing, where they are part of a night out when you are meeting friends and you're probably going to have a few beers. I still expect them to be decent and hear songs that I know, ideally with just a few that I'm not so familiar with. 

As a composer: 

I'm not really a composer, although I have co-written a fair few songs in the past. It doesn't bother me if I haven't written the material, I'm just the bass player and I want to play decent material live. 

Let's not get into the bass players hating on Jaco thing on Basschat now. He is probably the most famous 'virtuoso' bass player and at his best he was astounding (whether you liked that type of music or not). When the drugs and mental illness kicked in, he could often be unlistenable.

The guy has been dead for 35 years now and whether he played anything other than a 4 string is hardly relevant to this thread. Let's face it, there were not too many 5 strings around when he was in his pomp. If he had lived and stayed healthy, it's quite likely that he would have also played 5 / 6 string basses. 

52 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Also fun fact, Jaco Pastorius's son, Felix Pastorius, who is also an absolute monster bass player, plays 6 string bass.

 

And if following that tendency statistically Felix's son will play a 9 string bass...

 

But Jaco's nephew (David Pastorius) is another top pro bass player - playing around Florida with Pat Travers, Eric Gales and touring with Carl Palmer (among others). He seems quite happy with just 4 strings! 

5 hours ago, Rich said:

The main reason I still use a 5 with one of my bands is that some of the songs are an absolute arrse to play up and down the neck on a 4 and are far easier across a 5.

Personally, I'm completely the opposite. I find it much easier to play a 4 string and I'm much more fluent playing one. I am using a 4 string bass for all of my current gigs. 

However, I was once up for a gig that involved playing songs that had obviously been recorded on a 5 and the guy (understandably) wanted me to play pretty much what was on the album. It was a real struggle to try and play them on a 4. I went out and bought a decent 5 string straight away. 

I prefer to play 4 sting basses, but as ever, it depends on the gig... 

45 minutes ago, GuyR said:

He put his LP up for with ATB at £995,000, not £100,000. That’s not really for sale. Mike has two more golden era sunburst LPs he can’t shift currently at £300k.

All of my vintage kit, and pretty much everything I own is equally for sale if someone wants to pay me over double its value.

Having said that, not doubt some people buy stuff to sell on, I’m not one of them🙂

 

Yes, you are quite right about the price of BM's LP (I missed a zero off). I'm guessing that once he put it up for sale, even at an inflated price, he was letting serious collectors know that he was open for offers. Of course, the price of Bernie's LLP reflected not only that it was the guitar that he was most associated with, but also that it had also been owned by Clapton, Paul Kossof and Andy Fraser at some point. Didn't Jeff Beck record with it as well, or have I just imagined that?

All I am saying is that people who have spent their life making a precarious living as a pro muso, maybe a little less sentimental about instruments than many of us might be. I've never owned a proper vintage instrument, so I'm not going to argue about it, but that's just an impression that I get... 

3 minutes ago, GuyR said:

15 hours ago, peteb said:

The late and lamented Mr Marsden never sold his LP, owned since 1974, and only put a substantial number of his accumulated instruments up for sale just before his sad passing, so I’m not sure he’s the best example.🙂

The thing is that Bernie did actually put his famous LP up for sale for £100k not long before he died, along with many other high value guitars from his collection. However, he withdrew it from sale following a lot of feedback from his fanbase who urged him to keep it. On the back of this, he said that he was going keep it for a bit longer. Then he got ill and unfortunately, passed away a matter of weeks later. 

It's worth noting that he made it quite clear that he may sell at some point and that he would have considered a particularly good offer, at pretty much any time since he first got it! 

11 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Not far apart Pete.

I'm currently using the Ampeg SVT7 Pro for gigs.

Still have the Handbox WB-100 that i may sell at some point but not sure. Its a nice back up to the SVT7. I did find the WB-100 struggled at bigger venues altho i wasn't thru FOH whereas the Ampeg manages same venue with ease.

I still have the Mpulse 600 and like you i don't think i'd ever sell it. I use it for practice at home with my Mesa PH212 cab.

I also have the MB Nano 300W as my gig back up mainly because it fits easily in my bag.

I also have a GK MB200 head that i use as a pre-amp for sound effects in Glam covers band.

 

Have to admit i am loving the Ampeg tone again and the SVT7 is reasonably lightweight. Had an Ampeg SVT4 Pro few yrs back but it kept breaking down on me and it weighed a ton. It was an older one to be fair but moved it on after the last repairs which were mainly poor soldering joints around the valve bases on the circuit board. That kinda put me off Ampeg for a few yrs but friends had bought the PF500 and had no issues at all so thought i'd give them another try.

 

I did fancy the Mesa TT800 but its gonna cost a fortune when they start selling to UK again and i grudge paying it nowadays.

I use Mesa Subway 210 and 115 cabs for gigging.

 

I'm playing 70's Glam covers and other band is classic Punk covers band. Only thing i change is a different bass for each band altho both basses are now Sandbergs. Marlowe with punk and VM4 with Glam band

We do seem to have similar taste in amps. Sometimes i wish i had gone for the R-400 which i reckon would be a little louder than the WB-100. The WB-100 is pretty loud and manages most venues i've played circa 100-150 persons. It struggled at a club venue with around 200 people tho and i had to ramp up the gain a bit more taking it into distortion which i wasn't a big fan off but you can't hear that in the vids i've seen.

Dave

I must admit that I wondered if the WB-100 would be loud enough / have enough headroom for bigger gigs. I've been using the R-400 as it is in the same ballpark as the mpulse in terms of sound, but a bit easier to carry round (no rack needed) and sits neatly on a 212 cab. It's just easier to unload in the early hours of the morning after a long drive home, so the mpulse and the Berg 410 stay at home! 

As far as the TT800 goes, I did have a Subway D-800 amp (the little one) for a while. However, even though it sounded great in a room on its own, it didn't really cut it for me on a stage with a band. This is something that I've always found with Class D amps, so an amp with a proper A/B power section in a smaller casing was (to me) a suitable alternative to carrying a 4u rack around. The R-400 sounds great, is loud enough and an easy one handed carry. 

8 minutes ago, GuyR said:

I can see for some a lovely old bass could be a store of wealth, or hedge against financial difficulties.
Once you have bought one (a good one, not a lemon), you may well find yourself looking for alternative sources to fill the pecuniary hole, should hard times arise.

I can see that, but it seems that pros are a bit less sentimental about their assets tied up in vintage guitars...!