molan

[quote name='Son of the Wear' timestamp='1360326658' post='1968627'] I saw Weather Report at Newcastle City Hall many, many years ago (think I may have posted about this before). Ironically enough, what struck me at the time was the fantastic live keyboard sounds that Joe Zawinul used - sounded really 'organic' (for want of a better word) rather than electronic. Wayne Shorter and the drummer (I think it was Chester Thompson - but it was a long time ago) were great but I found Jaco the least impressive of the lot: can't argue that he is an amazing player but his solo bit was just tiresome and 'flashy for the sake of being flashy'. [/quote] Have to agree - I saw them in London and Jaco grated on me all evening. I'm sure this is heresy in bass playing circles but I found him really uninteresting live

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1360260993' post='1967710'] ooo, who is it? [/quote] I'm not allowed to say He is stupidly good though!

I worked with Universal for a while (on two separate occasions in fact). I met the heads of each division and a lot of other senior people. Almost universally (see what I did there) unpleasant people to work with. So, so pretentious and self absorbed, one of them told me, in all seriousness, that without him there wouldn't have been an Amy Winehouse - I've read a fair bit about her and listed to some good radio docs, his name was never mentioned. Another told me he 'invented' Mumford & Sons. Tried to make out he'd come up with the image, style of music, etc etc in some sort of Svengali like way. I spent about 5 years working in movie promotion as well and, whilst the movie guys were tougher, they weren't in the same league as the music biz people for out and out pretentiousness. I've had a couple of good friends at smaller labels and independent management and they are so much more professional, switched on and dedicated to their bands. Much more interested in generating success for the band rather than simply puffing their own egos

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360181370' post='1966367'] I have got some fantastic band names stored up in my head for the right occasion , and I am willing to give you one if that is what it takes to save you from being in a band called Spinal Groove . Just give me the word and a truly memorable band name is yours to keep , my friend . But definitely [i]no[/i] to Spinal Groove . [/quote] Johannesburg

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1360180239' post='1966337'] It's actually a massage technique. [/quote] You see, I quite liked that about the name too, lol Maybe I'm really not the right person to be voting on it (I didn't come up with it).

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1360179932' post='1966325'] Is this you? If not, that's name is taken. [url="https://soundcloud.com/bloodsweattones/spinal-groove-dont-look-for-me"]https://soundcloud.com/bloodsweattones/spinal-groove-dont-look-for-me[/url] [/quote] I did spot that but it just seems to be a name used for one song - plus he seems to be in Sweden so it's far enough away not to worry me We'll only ever be playing pubs and clubs so no worries about recording rights. To be honest my biggest concern is that someone I regard as being one of the best funk bass players in the world is coming along to our first gig (he's the guitarist's mate), lol.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1360179283' post='1966303'] Not keen, me. I feel "Spinal" draws too strongly towards Spinal Tap, leaving "Groove" weakened. The covered artists you mention were present in the age of the Spiral Groove though, so maybe change the name to that? Radial Sulcus! best, bert [/quote] That was actually the first choice! But, as Discreet points out it's been picked

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1360158507' post='1965778'] Saw Gary a few times. I'm never sure whether his Blues albums should come under the headig of 'innovative' or 'bandwagon jumping' but there's no doubt they inspired many , many players to listen to Blues music , and to Blues guitarists that may have faded into relative obscurity. Incredible technical player with a lot of feel - shame his later audiences seemed to be just musicians with their notebooks out though. His band made one of the worst howlers I've ever heard at a big gig when supporting B B King in Sheffield. Completely cocked up the ebd of one song. Still - I shall continue to enjoy his music while not elevating him quite to the ranks of a Clapton or a Green. [/quote] I saw him just after he'd got all the acclaim for the blues albums at The Empire in Shepherds Bush and, whilst he obviously had loads of raw talent, it remains pretty high up on my list of most boring gigs ever. The band sat in the background looking disinterested whilst Gary threw himself around up front. Definitely a 'muso' audience all watching every move he made. I think that, apart from free pub gigs, it's the only time I've walked out of a gig early as it all got quite depressing. I still play the albums from that era though and try to put the gig out of my mind

Quick update - Poll amended to be less black/white

It has been, strongly, suggested that we name our new band Spinal Groove! Obviously there's a tongue in cheek Spinal Tap reference and our aim is to try and play rockier stuff with a really solid 'groove' and some funkier re-arrangements. It's all cover versions but, hopefully, not 'everyday' stuff, people like Lenny Kravitz, Little Feat, Joe Cocker, War, Bonnie Raitt, The Meters, Michael Jackson (!) etc. There's also supposed to be some sort of reference to music making your spine tingle and making you want to dance So what do people think? Love it, hate it, sounds like a comedy band ? ? ? Be as brutal as you like

The Bag End powered cabs sound amazing. I've tried the 1x15 and the 2x12. 1000w class D amp on board and a can specifically designed for bass. They run pretty heavy though - however, that's all part of the trade off for a serious speaker with a chunky ceramic magnet and a really heavy duty gigging cab.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1360104009' post='1965013'] ahhh thanks for this Molan! I've tried the amp in a shop and been impressed - but I couldn't for the life of me work out why I would want the buzzy channel- I thought it was something wrong with me! It is the one negative I have for this amp. [/quote] Simple solution is to go for the single channel version

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1360072785' post='1964341'] . From what i know about the Aggies you can't go wrong with the AG500 (just make sure it's not the SC so you can indulge youself with some AGRO goodness from time to time ) [/quote] I'm afraid I have to disagree with you on the dual channel AG. I had one and found the second channel unusable, the thinnest nastiest distortion I've ever heard. At least 7-8 people I knew all tried it and between us none of us could get a tone we'd ever be able to use. The guy who sold it to, and the owner before him, said they never used the 2nd channel and both are top gigging pros. There wasn't even a mildly pleasant low level grind option to add a bit of grit to a classic funk tone If you want distortion then the TH500 has a much nicer tone - either that or get a decent pedal to put in front of the clean channel.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1360012797' post='1963648'] Thanks for the PM, Barrie - I'll have a think and get back to you tomorrow. Is anyone aware of a decent bag for these? As in, a bag you take the head out of, rather than a rack bag? I'm guessing the Aggie one is no longer made... [/quote] The Aggie rack pop up now and then but, personally I don't like them all that much. I much prefer the Tolex head cases but these seem to be rarer and I think they're out of production now

I've replied by PM but one thing I forgot to say was that I've heard Paul Turner play through an AG500 into DB112's and also, because it was a house rig, into a Markbass 6x10. Both times were at the Jazz Cafe with a full funk band. Both times he was using his trusty 66 J and both times I thought it sounded great It is, for me, one of those plug n play heads - needs very little tone tweaking. Not sure if this helps but I've also seen him A/B the Aggie against a Thunderfunk (which I quite like). He screwed his face up immediately at the TF and thought it really coloured his natural sound way too much.

It'll be interesting to try the 1x12'up against the Aguilar SL112. I've been surprised that Aggie haven't made a 212 version (both 4 and 8 ohms). The SL is about the same weight too, slightly lighter, so there will definitely bit of a head to head on these

Not quite on topic but vaguely similar. I use to do some sound engineering with a friend of mine. I split with my wife around this time and spent more time working with him whilst we were sorting out divorce stuff. He got offered a gig running personal sound for Joe Strummer at the Mount Fuji festival in Japan. He asked me to go with him as a backup. Would have had to pay for flights but everything thereafter was free and there would have been a small fee for the work. Because of the divorce stuff, which looked like it was going to settle quickly, I decided to turn it down. Needless to say my friend had a brilliant time, spent most of the trip hanging out with Joe Strummer and became a good friend for a while. The Clash were my favourite ever band for a long time and, as a teenager, I'd idolised Strummer. Still kicking myself for missing out on this experience. Meanwhile my divorce stuff went horribly wrong and dragged on for 18 months!

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1359766526' post='1960226'] too right- I've been reading this and wondering what has happened to this place in the last few years! Quite a change I think - I always thought there used to be a unwritten rule that you didn't try and make a profit out of buying and selling on here. Yes when ebay/inflation rates/or things generally going up in price get involved it gets more complex. It used to be if barry sold me a bass for £700 and I didn't get on with it I would sell it for about £700 to someone else - even if the bass could have fetched a wee bit more elsewhere, sticking it up here for £1000 a month later... it's not 'wrong' as such but kinda against the spirit of the thing. But then there are lots of different shades of it being right or wrong - like if I buy a bass and two years later everyone wants that bass so the value has gone up then aye you would stick the price up from what you paid. But if you bought something and 2 min later stuck it up... well the motivation for buying it seems to have been profit and not wanting to own a bass - that's when I think it can get a bit dubious for the forum. If it's about basses and there are small amount's of increase sometimes fine, if it's about folk trying to make a profit off each other then it all gets a bit crappy. (and if it is then shouldn't Basschat should be charging £5 per bass ad or something?) Like I'm fairly good at photography and words - so I can make a bass look nice (which makes it easier to sell), you work in a bass shop so I'm sure could easily sell things through there at a higher price (even after comms) just cos we have the abilty to take something from someone in the community cheaply and turn it into profit through our skills.... it doesn't make it morally right does it? [/quote] I hear what you're saying Luke. From a personal viewpoint I don't think I've ever bought a bass purely to make a profit on it. I do buy and sell a lot of stuff but pretty much every bass I buy is because I've really fancied owning it and giving it a try (I'm not including stuff where I've taken something in PX and have said up front I'm only doing it to sell onwards). Every now and then I've picked something up that has almost immediately felt 'wrong' for one reason or another and I've re-sold it quickly. Most of the time I always like to give something a few months to bed in before selling. I do put a lot of my basses up for sale through the shop where I help out and they will almost always go up for a higher price than I paid. There are loads of reasons for this. Simple overheads of running a shop like rent, rates, phones etc. Poxy VAT that's chargeable on any 'added value', Credit card and PayPal fees, promotional costs of advertising etc. etc. it's amazing how much all this adds to the basic price of a bass but there are so few specialist bass retailers out there that I'm more than happy to support one that's just 20 mins from me. There's zilch in it for me but if it helps keep a little money heading their way then I'm fine with getting a little less from some stuff. There's an added extra cost of using a pro luthier to set stuff up properly and/or adding new strings. As it happens someone recently took a run at me for selling at a profit on a bass that needed some serious luthier repair work and strings. Cost me over £120 to get it into a condition where I'd be happy to sell it. It's not something I'd promote because it would look bad on the person who sold it to me. However, I then got a message to say I was deliberately profiteering - I just ignored it

Tried an Ashdown again yesterday just in case my view was clouded by those Nasty rehearsal room heads. But no, it was still horrible, lots of flashing lights, VU meters, eq options etc etc. However, it failed to do the basic job of reproducing an even half decent bass tone Mind you, some people love 'em so what do I know!

[quote name='nottswarwick' timestamp='1359664158' post='1958559'] Really?. I use one and have never A B tested n the same stage....so I just always assumed it must work [/quote] I had a pair of cabs that were quite boomy on some stages. Bought an Auralex and they stopped booming. I've also loaned mine to a friend and he said it really helped with boom at one venue where he'd always had issues before. That's good enough for me to recommend them. Mind you - it does look like you could make one that did the same job for a lot less. Too much hassle for me though, lol