molan

Omar Hakim & John Giblin - I'd love to see those two together!

Bit more background to the gig - it wasn't supposed to a be a jam night and all acts were invited and their line-up and songs confirmed in advance (partly to avoid duplication and/or repetitiveness). I was supposed to be the only bass player there so the two guys who decided to help themselves to my bass had decided to do so on the spur of the moment. There were no official house instruments but some of the solo singers had agreed in advance to swap acoustic guitars. There was no setup time or soundcheck so when we arrived we went straight on to the stage area and it was very clear that I brought the bass (in a case) and set up the little amp with the sound man. I guess I, foolishly, thought it was pretty clear that it was my kit. If the first guy decided to play bass with his friends on the spur of the moment he could easily have walked over and asked. I was standing near the stage all evening. I can accept the 2nd guy maybe thinking it was a house setup because he would have seen both me and the other player using it. What I found particularly galling was that it just seemed to be the two bassists that showed such little respect to the other musicians. Plus the overplaying was particularly annoying - one song was Get Lucky which has such a nice Nathan East bass line but this guy thought he could improve on it by adding loads of unnecessary fills, runs and slides. Given that the rest of the band was an acoustic guitar and a female singer he looked a right tit and was just embarrassing The baby MicroMark was the single speaker 801 by the way. Sounded great sitting on the floor with volume about 14:00 and eq flat. Little bit of cut on the Fender tone knob and both pickups on full There was some foh support as well but it certainly worked as a stage monitor really well.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1408706277' post='2532731'] Never leave your bass in that situation. The op is lucky it wasn't marked/damaged. [/quote] It was a Fender Relic - my tech tells me that each dent and scratch increases the value

I know this topic has been around before but it's the first time I've experienced it first-hand so thought I'd share. I was asked, at very short notice, to play a small 'acoustic' gig last night. I was told it would be a few singers with acoustic guitars and a pianist. The guys I knew wanted some bass for 4-5 songs to add a bit of depth and drive as they didn't have a drummer. I took a Fender Custom Shop Relic Jazz, nothing flashy so it would blend in reasonably well with the acoustic guitars and a tiny MarkBass MicroMark combo. We set up, played a few numbers and made way for the next act. I left my bass on the stage because I'd been told I was the only bass player there. Next act comes on and a twenty-something guy strolls straight over to my bass and straps it on. No 'is it ok if I use your bass and amp' or anything. My first thought was that he had a bit of a cheek but then I thought maybe he just thought it was a 'house bass' so assumed anyone could use it. He failed to get any sort of sound out of it because he obviously didn't understand how a tuner pedal worked and it was muting the signal. I showed him what to do and made a point of saying it was ok for him to borrow MY bass and amp. Once he got some sound he immediately started playing random Chic bass parts too loud whilst the musicians were being introduced. Once the song started it was obvious he could play but what he was playing was totally different from the original bass part of the song, slightly out of time and wholly inappropriate for the song! They played about 3 songs of gradually deteriorating quality and finished. He left the bass plugged in and turned on without muting it. He then strolled right past me without a word of thanks. I left the bass on stage because we were due back on soon. Then another young guy did pretty much exactly the same thing! Borrowed the bass without asking, overplayed horribly and drowned out some of the guitars and vocals and then buggered off. I wasn't particularly looking for gratitude for lending my gear but a simple word of thanks might have been nice. It was also a shame that the only people who overplayed and potentially spoiled songs because of a lack of basic stagecraft were these two bass players. All the other musicians on the night blended in really well and supported each other musically but the two bassists just came across as arrogant and disrespectful

Have you tried Jimmy Johnson with James Taylor? It's not entirely solo but on the double live album some of his playing is sublime and the tone of his Alembic is lovely. I can't hear quite how it is on this YT vid because I'm only on my iphone at the moment but worth hunting down the original live version of this song: http://youtu.be/AGmUsPp1yKI

Recently bought some speakers from Keith and they arrived super fast and perfectly packed. He did offer some free marrows as part of the deal but we didn't think they'd survive the courier journey Top bloke and very friendly and helpful!

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1408569476' post='2531513'] Yes. Yes, although the difference will be heard in the mids and highs, not the bass. If all speaker sizes had a 'signature sound' then all tens would sound the same, as would all twelves and all fifteens. Not only is that not the case, but you can make the same driver sound different by loading it into a different enclosure. For that matter you can realize literally dozens of audibly different sounds using the same driver with different cab configurations. [/quote] Simple example of this would be the Aguilar DB and GS ranges. Same speakers in all of them but they definitely sound noticeably different. I've tried a pair of DB112's vs GS112's and it was easy to tell them apart in a blind test.

[quote name='alstocko' timestamp='1408529145' post='2531009'] I thought so too. I haven't looked for one in a year (GAS avoidance), is this what the market is like now? [/quote] It's about £1,500 more than the '64 I sold a while ago . . .

I've owned five Sei basses, Original, Flamboyant, Jazz, Custom and back to Original again. The Flamboyant has always looked the prettiest to me but I struggled a little with the body shape and could never quite get it to sit comfortably on a strap. The Original I now have is probably my favourite in terms of playability but I'm afraid it's on its way out soon. I developed a nasty shoulder problem last year and hoped this bass would really help as It weighs next to nothing, about 6.5lbs only. However the design of the body throws the neck out to the left on a strap (because of where the upper horn strap button sits) and my shoulder problem is as more about stretching than carrying weight and the reach to first three frets is uncomfortable after even quite short periods. Such a shame as it's a cracking bass Sei is definitely one of those brands that I keep buying because I love the looks of them (Ziggy now has my old Flamboyant and it's a thing of great beauty) but then selling and looking back wistfully. . .

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1407963746' post='2525918'] I missed that. It's a good price. Although the more I look at them the better looking my Lakland gets. [/quote] Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like I was pointing out that you'd missed the earlier post. Just that the price was only an estimate before but it's definitely confirmed now

How about a Moolon? Great basses and hand made in Korea. Tim Lefevbre plays one and it sounds great in his hands!

Wish I'd been able to fit those marrows into the speaker box

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1407956187' post='2525785'] As a big fan of the Skylines I'm pretty excited about these. Hope they come to the UK and don't cost the earth when they do [/quote] As per post above, the price for the 4 string basses range from £1,100 for the standard models to £1,250 with blocks and binding.

I bought a Spector fretless for £40 in one in Palmers Green once. It needed some TLC but didn't need money spending on it to make it a lot nicer and playable

The Jazz Cafe in London has a MarkBass 6x10 as the house cab and it always sounds great. I've seen all sorts of people using it and it seems really adaptable as well.

We've got a WT1205 in the shop at only £599 and it's not selling. Eden gear really has plummeted in value over the last couple of years