peteb

The thing with Mark Bass is that the amps are pretty transparent, so it's not going to send like (for example) a SVT rig or whatever. I have used MB at various times in thepast (including that 210 combo you have) with a number of basses (including a Stingray) and they have always sounded great.

The thing is that there has always been a bit of a prevailing macho culture in musicians’ circles, which you could argue goes way back to medieval times. This is evident throughout 20th century popular music, from jazz to blues to the various forms of rock and roll. Even in classical music, there may be more females playing in orchestras but it’s certainly nowhere near 50:50 Of course, the occasional girl does come through. I can think of a few females playing successfully on the local circuit (generally bass players for some reason), but they are all happy to be ‘one of the boys’. Of course, not all girls are comfortable in that sort of culture.

I know that it's all subjective, but you genuinely can make a good case for everyone on that list (in terms of influence). If you include Tina Weymouth or someone relatively obscure like Kinga Glyk, then you are going to be accused of tokenism and you really don't want to go down that route. I suppose you could include Tal Wilkenfeld at a push. But good as she is, should she really be included in the top 100?

Top 100 ever??

The problem I have with these lists is that they claim to identify the ‘best’, rather than the most important or most influential. They have Paul McCartney as the third best bass player ever, which is a joke as he just isn’t. But the third most important / influential bass player?? Absolutely…! I know that it is all subjective, but given the above criteria, there are not many on the list I can argue with too much (even if they have ignored a few of my favourites).

I counted three - who else would you have included??

Rick Beato has just posted a new clip of '5 Things EVERY Bass Player SHOULD Master', except that he has miscounted and included two point 4s, so there's actually 6 things that every bass player should master...! Not exactly rocket science, but still an interesting summary of what you need to be a good bass player in a band...

That is the thing - what is the 'new normal' going to be and how will it impact on gigs in pubs / clubs as well as larger venues and events??

Depends on the supermarket - some have got it sorted quite well, some are just chaos and we're avoiding them.

The singer in one of my bands has just been told he is being 'unfurloughed' and going back to work on Monday. That might seem slightly early and I’m sure that pubs and clubs will take a bit longer to get back to ‘normal’, but I doubt that they will be kept shut till the end of the year.

I've got a Shure GLXD wireless system, which the best I've found for bass (and I've tried a fair few over the years)...

Lee's back with Stratus (off the Spectrum album by Billy Cobham). I have attempted to play this in the past (but never actually gigged it) and it is a real exercise in stamina. My right hand is cramping up just at the thought of it. I haven't had chance to watch this all the way through, so I will look forward to doing so tomorrow. One of the seminal albums he has contributed to and I am sure that he will have an interesting anecdote about making it to share.

It’s nothing to do with politics, it’s about competence. Murdoch and a large section of the Tory party are already out for the PM’s blood over the way he has mishandled this crisis, hence the extraordinary article in the Sunday Times. Ask yourself, out of the major economies, which country has handled the pandemic in the most effective way (hint: it’s Germany)? Who do you think is best placed to come out of the coming worldwide recession the strongest as a result?

Thanks Daryl - scary times - you look after yourself as well...

Please note that I agree with everything you are saying apart from when it is likely that smaller gigs will start to go ahead again. Exactly how things will look this time next year is another thing. For example, Glastonbury has been cancelled this summer. It will be very interesting to see if it goes ahead next year...!

Exactly...!

I’m basing my views on what I’ve read and briefings going out to public bodies and I’m not trying to be overly optimistic. I completely agree with your friends that there should have been a far earlier lockdown and can see why they would want to ban non-essential large gatherings. But that doesn’t mean that what they want will happen, if only due to economic pressures. We don’t know what the ongoing threat will be at the moment, nor do we know what the ‘new normal’ will be. Will there be a different protocol for mass gatherings to that for pubs and clubs? Certainly, the findings of the WHO and other experts are very worrying (hence the wish of certain governments to get rid of the WHO), but I imagine that most types of economic activity will resume in some recognisable shape or form.

From what I can gather, he is possibly being a touch pessimistic. There will be a lot of pressure to get back to ‘normal’ as soon as it is judged that the risk level is acceptable (my worry is that it maybe be lifted too soon) and I doubt that pubs / venues, etc will be still closed by the end of the year, provided that there isn’t a massive secondary peak of infection. Of course, the real issue is what the ‘new normal’ will look like? It is possible that in the future that there could be short-term seasonal lockdowns if the virus mutates and there is another coronavirus going round.

With respect, I don't think that your analysis is likely to be correct. If it is, then it's all academic anyway. I doubt that there will be a single venue that I play regularly that will still be in business.

I would imagine that you are probably right and July is a realistic target for gigs to open up again. We are on ‘lockdown’ (or the UK equivalent) for a further 3 weeks with probably a further 3 weeks after that. By then the infection / death rate will hopefully have flattened sufficiently for people to be allowed back to work in many sectors, with pubs / clubs / places of entertainment to follow a few weeks later. Of course, something might happen to change this, but I would think that your timeline is pretty likely from what we know now. As far as vaccines go, I’m sure that one will be produced in about a year’s time, which of course will be too late for this pandemic (note that they did eventually produce a vaccine for the more deadly SARS virus). Of course, what we need is a general coronavirus vaccine, but will they continue putting resources into developing one once the immediate danger from COVID-19 has passed?

What a moronic attitude! I doubt that I would care to spend much time in your company at any time, but now I would literally avoid you like the plague. A guy I’ve done a string of gigs with (50 something, very friendly chap, pro guitar player) died from it. Apparently, he had diabetes, although I never knew until after he passed away. Now I’m never going see him play again, have a chat with him or grab a quick beer at the end of the night. You might think that you might survive catching it (although at your age you should worry more), but it’s also who you are in contact with at a gig and who they are going to be in contact with later. Obviously, otherwise healthy people who have had higher levels of exposure (from medics to bus drivers) have died. I’m sure that I can manage without gigging for a few months given the current situation.

Guy is back with a couple of Pink Floyd licks. The more eagle-eyed may notice that his flies are undone in the second piece...! He did put something on Facebook asking if he should re-shoot it, which would take time to do, or just upload it anyway. He has obviously gone with the prevailing view to just put it out in all its glory as it is...

I’ve been playing this type of stuff for 40+ years, from pubs to much bigger stages. I think that you can overthink how to approach this, so keep it simple and get a valve or hybrid amp (you’re probably right to avoid Class D amps) and run the gain relatively high and use the master just to control the volume. Ideally you would want an SVT or a Mesa Boogie or Aguilar 750 or similar. Assuming that you don’t want to spend that much, then pick up a secondhand Hartke 3500 or something like that (quite a lot of pros playing this type of music use Hartke as they are loud, reliable and work). I’m not a big fan of Ashdown, but a lot of people are, and I’m sure that one of their hybrid heads will be fine for what you want.

And he's back again with a story of being mistaken for Santa and making new friends on the road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5eylRjVJ0

But is that necessarily an issue? I once got a bass in an eBay auction for not much more than half of what I was expecting to pay for it, gigged it for the best part of ten years then sold it on for between three to four times what I paid for it. I certainly don’t think that there was anything wrong with that. Sometimes that is the way the market works. The main thing is that sellers are honest in their description of the item and not trying to mislead potential buyers.