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lownote

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Everything posted by lownote

  1. lownote
    Strings look well ropey. I'd stick flatwounds on it. But whatever, I'd change them, leave the rest as is. People spend fousands trying to faux that look.
  2. lownote
    I have a ticket but don't know if I can be arsed. British Rail want me to take a bus for half the 2 1/2 hour journey, and it doesn't look as good as last year when Scott wheeled in loadsa stars like Henrik Linder and Rich Brown. Try as I might I can't see much more than Cody and John Pattitucci, who is obv a god but is he worth 2 1/2 hours on a BR bus? Think I'll just chuck the ticket unless someone can persuade me I've turned over two pages at once on the programme.
  3. lownote
    I have stood under this where it resides on the wall in Camden. Staff at the shop had to ask me to put my trousers back on.
  4. lownote
    Squier is OK, but you should deffo look at the Sire jazz. 2nd hand they compete on price and are a whole other kettle of fish.
  5. lownote
    So true. So very true. Or... those who can, do; those can't, teach. That's me - not you. Just to be clear.
  6. lownote
    Setting the intonation on an unlined fretless is easy enough, I have found. But if your dots are in the wrong place it can throw you. Here's my experience: 1/ Measure back half your scale length from the inside face of the nut. E.g. 17 inches on a 34 inch scale bass. Mark the fingerboard with a pencil. 2/ With a good tuner, check this point offers the same harmonic/ open note as the fretted note on the E string. Use a sharp but not cutting edge to 'finger' the notes precisely - fingers are too squishy 3/ Discover your pencil mark is at least a centimetre away from the 12th fret marker side dots. 4/ With the tuner check the positioning of all the side dots and confirm only the 12th is out. 5/ Assume you've done it wrong. 6/ Take the bass to Martin at London's Bass Gallery. 7/ Get told that a/ no actually, you were right all along and b/ the side dots are often put in the wrong place on cheaper basses. 8/ Pay Martin a very reasonable sum to drill out and hide the old dots and put lovely new ones in the right place. PS It's funny how quickly muscle memory kicks in. I've been playing some while compensating for the wrong position of the 12th marker, and now have difficulty playing on the new correct markers.
  7. lownote
    Unless you need big noise these are the mutts IMHO. GLWTS. There's a successful Norwich blues jam that manages with the 60w version. Great sound.
  8. lownote
    Um, FWIW, the side dots on my Revelation start the fingerboard pretty much on the fret positions and range more and more wildly from there until at the 12th fret they're a squished centimeter out, depending on how you rock your finger. So I'm going to vote for the first option. Not because I think that's right but because as I start my journey off-piste I find I am increasingly relying on my ear. YMMV. EDIT: Now solved this with Bass Gallery's help. See separate post "Dodgy Dots.." in Technical Clicky here
  9. lownote
    I could no disagree more. This would have been very useful to me as beginner. But this seems to be descending into an argument which you have to win. So I'm out.
  10. lownote
    Fair point.
  11. lownote
    I think we differ on the word beginner. To me a beginner is someone who’s new to bass and just wants to get the basics down. That was me for a year. By the time I’d settled on a genre I’d also found out enough about basses to be discriminating about sounds and makes.
  12. lownote
    You're right about cheap/not cheap being personal. Personally I'd call under £200 new cheap, £2-500 intermediate and anything else, serious. Secondhand is different. But I beg to differ on needing to know the type of music. Mostly we're recommending brands with several models. The Revelation range will cover you from acoustic semi, through J and P bass, fretted and fretless and on to Musicman-esque sound, all within a similar price range. Squier and Sire also cover several basses.
  13. lownote
    Revelation range. £199 new. I've had 40 basses up and down the price range, from a Harley Benton to higher end single cut Ibanez and Fenders. My Revelation fretless P bass is my favourite to date. Nicely made, great sound and nothing money. I wouldn't reach over a Revelation for a Squier, although the latter is OK. One of London's high end shops, the Camden Bass Gallery, recommends and sells them. I rest my case m'lud. Next up would be a Sire.
  14. lownote
    A little while back I bought a cheap Resolution P fretless 4 string bass to convert to BEAD tuning. Which I did, filing the nut slots out for the wider strings. I tried it but I didn't like the sound, so I put the usual EADG flat wounds back on, even though they were loose in the nut since I'd filed the slots out. When I played the bass I got a great sound, a muffled thud more like a DB than a fretless. Best sound - for me - ever, and one I've been looking for since taking up bass 9 years ago. Although I loved the sound I felt guilty at having a nut with over-wide slots so this weekend I replaced the old nut with a new one filed to the correct widths for the strings. Result: Unhappiness. Yes the bass was much clearer. But there was mwah and altogether too much clarity, even with the flats, which I didn't like. So I put the old nut with the oversized slots back in. Result: Happiness. Muffled double bass sound with just the right amount of edge for my ear. And virtually no mwah - although that MAY because the original nut had slot heights of 1/2 mm across the border; with the new nut I'd gone right down to the board on two strings. Who'd have thought, ay? If you want a DB sound, it helps to let your strings slap a little in the nut, apparently. And don't file the slots too low. Great when you stumble across serendipity.
  15. lownote
    I have a Revelation PB unlined fretless which is the favourite of all my 40+ basses down 10 years. The OE pups are Alan Entwhistle PBXNs. Which sound great, and with flats sound so like a DB but so much better. But no one ever got a bad attack of GAS by leaving it at that. So from personal experience, if you've fiddled with different pups for a P bass with flats and found a stand out pickup you liked - what was it? I've had Toneriders in the past and liked them on a P bass, but I've read the Custom shop Fender 62 at 110 £ is nice, as also is the Nordstrand. Maybe there's others I've not come across. Thoughts?
  16. lownote
    Depends if you like the sound or not but flats are by far the cheapest. Some people get 10 years plus out of them, which if they cost you £30 is £3 a year
  17. lownote
    +1 . I play mostly blues. Sometimes with a 4, but when I need some abuse a 5 or a 6. Just means I can use a low E and D for maximum impact.
  18. lownote
    I know nothing about DB and like it even less. But if its any help I do know a DB player. She approached a guitar drums duo she liked and propositioned them, admitting she knew sweet FA about bass but was keen to learn. She started DEAD simple - just playing root notes. Then as she grew in experience she slowly added other notes. This is was years ago and now both she and the band are well regarded in the region and well en-gigged. I still hate DB, but hope this anecdote helps in some way.
  19. lownote
    Want to make your cheap sax sound like a serious horn? Jody Jazz mouthpieces are cool for blues and jazz. Free blowing and made well. Used but virtually unmarked. Comes with box, ligature, little bag and cap. Cost £160 new. Will consider offers. Postage £5
  20. lownote
    Want to make your cheap sax sound like a serious horn? Saxophone mouthpiece Jody Jazz 6* Jody Jazz Jet mouthpieces are great for smooth jazz and blues. Free blowing and made well. Virtually unused. Comes with box, ligature, little bag and cap. Postage £5
  21. lownote
    Want to make your cheap sax sound like a serious horn? Jody Jazz mouthpieces are the mutts for blues and jazz. Free blowing and made well. 5* opening is great for beginners/ intermediate players. Virtually unused. Comes with box, ligature, little bag and cap. Now 85 quid Postage £5
  22. lownote
    Yamaha ALTO SAX with case - YAS 25 - used in excellent condition, great sound! Condition is Used. Recently checked over by a pro sax tech who said the pads and everything else were fine. Case in very good condition apart from one small tear in the covering (fixed). Only selling because I've gone over to tenor. Reputed to be better made than later models at the same price point. Stand available separately along with a range of accessories. Collection preferred but will post.
  23. lownote
    Our music local is in the middle of nowhere in East Anglia and attracts top regional bands to play every second Sunday evening. The pub pays £250 and bands travel from Norwich or even as far as London (100 miles away). How that makes sense I don't know but they keep coming, and most of these bands are more or less pro. Neither does it make sense from the pub's point of view. My missis and I have often been 1/5 of the audience. And because of drinking and driving the average gross take on each punter must be quite low. And that's gross take, not the profit the pub makes on each pint. Yet the publican insists she makes a viable profit off the music. How that makes sense I don't know. If someone with inside knowledge of the economics of this could spill the beans I'd love to know.
  24. lownote
    There is something wonderful about the phrase ' resting my nuts on the hi-hats'. could be your autobiog title.
  25. lownote
    Not totally music, but close. One of these two is me, the other the late John Peel. Things got confusing at one point when we worked on the same radio station. It got confusing again when I walked into pubs after JP's death and you could see people's brows beetling as they tried to work out why I wasn't dead.
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