uk_lefty

I got my first bass at 15 and a couple of learning books. No lessons, no previous real ability on any instrument though I really loved music. Typical story, three of my school friends played guitar and wanted to start a band so they needed a bassist. It took me too long to learn so one of the guitarists switched to bass and I was left to learn. Fast forward to age 17 and I saw an ad in my local music shop "bassist wanted" list of influences for the band and a note at the bottom "...and we will always play something you like". By this time I had the ability to play along to one side of a cassettes worth of songs, the Kinks, Hendrix, a bit of Sabbath. I went to the band leaders house, he was 20 but had been gigging since his early teens and was ridiculously talented on guitar, though a rubbish singer. I had tried to play with friends at school and college before but it never really worked, playing with guys who had been in bands and being the last piece of the jigsaw really helped me. We rehearsed for a year before our first gig which was fantastic, then we set about getting gigs. I learned so much from the other two guys in the band, about following what was going on, jamming with the drummer, quickly reading the guitarists hands for when he wants to medley into a song I've not played before, etc.

Agree with you! Our website gets barely any visitors, Facebook page not a lot, Instagram gets tons. Luckily our guitarist is well on top of it, if it were left to me it would be nowhere near.

An "expensive" band can justify what they're asking for by having a well stocked social media account that shows what the venue will get: good quality band, crowd interaction, a following, etc. Speaking to a friendly promoter we were asking about how we get a foot in the door a but further afield, he says it's all down to Social Media: short video clips, how many followers, comments from punters... The ones that play for £40 a head probably aren't doing this stuff or are probably doing it very badly.

I think the stage your band is at is the key here. If I was still getting a band off the ground and everyone was available without too much inconvenience I'd probably do the gig. Reason being you can iron out a lot of issues, even things like why the PA is making that hissing noise, how to set up quickly or different venues, all the boring stuff, as well as working on your act: song endings, new songs, how to get the four punters tapping their feet, how you respond to requests etc. You say you haven't got a following but if you want to turn down small gigs how will you earn the following to get you in the door for the bigger gigs? I know I'm being very idealistic here but it's hard work building up a band and takes a lot of ups and downs.

Marshall Jackhammer overdrive/ distortion pedal. Great EQ control for bass and a big range of sounds from it.

Those were fantastic! I had one too and only sold it when I went to multi fx. They are listed at £70ish second hand these days. I did hear that they were the same as NUX or Joyo or something but can't be sure on that one...

I think you could buy one of the really cheap SG style short scale basses and just trim it to shape.

If only Ashdown did some kind of a Trace tribute amp.... They'd sell about fifty to those of us on Bass chat who long for those sounds!

Not coming back in on the one after a stop... Really throws me! Really fast chord changes that make little sense to me That thing the Killers do where they do half or three quarters of what you think is the verse, skip the pre chorus, throw in a bridge, go back to the second part of the chorus, hold onto a chord where you'd usually change.... When you're learning this stuff on the fly it's so hard to keep up, then commit it to memory out of a set of 100 songs. Those things can often beat me. Sometimes I'm up for the challenge (Killers songs being worth the effort to get right) other times it's just not worth the effort.

They really are crazy quality. My fretless jazz was supposed to be until I save up for a more costly brand but got to be honest I don't think an "upgrade" is required at all. I really like everything Harley Benton do.

Artec Les Paul bass pickups ordered. I'm seduced by the chrome. I will get myself some Sadowsky lightweight tuners, they're lightweight but have the clover leaf, and then I am almost set. I just need to find someone brave enough to do the trickier parts of the assembly. With their being no pilot holes in the body for the bridge and the neck pocket requiring a small amount of adjustment (or maybe better to adjust the neck rather than the body...) These are jobs that need to be done at the same time by the same person to ensure I get a proper scale length for the strings. With the bridge in, neck fitted, pickups in place I'll just be missing the wiring loom and then a custom pickguard to finish it off. Might take a while to get more kit sold to find the rest of the parts and build but hoping it will all be done before Easter.

I like the fretboard. That's it. £7500 is a LOT of money.

It depends on how you transport it and how careful you can trust yourself to be. Hard case, foam lightweight case, padded gig bag, no case at all... If it's going to get chucked in a van you probably want some protection, if it's being carefully carried about and never leaving your side maybe a gig bag is enough. Whatever you do, don't take a brand new US Fender out, leaving the case in your car and think "I'll be ok carrying this back to the car to save on trips back and forth" and then tw4t it into a brick wall, removing a chunk of paint. That's not clever.

I only use the Duff chorus, does the job perfectly

Can't go wrong with a TC Corona Chorus. The onboard settings are ok but the toneprint function lets you upload any other sound you'd want or need and you can even tweak those once they're loaded onto the pedal. Also, if you play guitar too you can use it as a bass chorus or guitar chorus so it's flexible.

Other than loud, how's it? Thinking of going for one of these for my Hofner 189

Jeez why have I heard of Zoot Money??

Lovely!

Not a red head but I have used my WorkingPro 10 at gigs. Love the SWR Sound, such a shame Fender killed the brand.

Hate so say it but no matter what gear I use, and I try to use some diverse stuff, I fundamentally sound like me. Not saying I have a highly cultivated and unique sound, far from it, but the gear seems to only make a small difference. Maybe I'm just not using it right. But those small differences matter to me, even if nobody else, even in the band notices!

Won't that f things up completely? Might see if I can get an extension lead that takes European inputs and has a UK wall plug, could be a good half way option..