NickA

My last set of strings cost £130. But that was 13 years ago. £10 a year is much less than I spend on guitar strings. As for getting good Arco .. on ANY strings .. use horse hair not synthetic. Use LOTS of rosin. Push hard enough to get the spring vibrating then ease off a bit. The closer to the bridge you bow, the louder and richer the sound, but the harder it is to get the sound out. Start at the bottom edge of the finger board. Take care to bow exactly across the strings, if you scrape the bow diagonally or rock it back and forth in an arc, you won't get it to sound. Those harmonics are always an issue, takes practice and care to get the bassy fundamental out. Enjoy.

The Roland microcube is remarkably good for the size, weight and price. Lots of different sounds and some of them quite good. SO nearly bought one a number of times. Rumbles are very light for the power and size but having only lifted, not played, can't really comment. The ash down equivalents aren't bad either ( so long as the awful octave halver is OFF). my sub 20lbs pjb flightcase is a lot better in terms of sound quality and giggability tho - pretty much a proper full sized amp in a tiny light box. Depends very much on what yr budget is and how anal you are about that "hi fi" sound quality ( me = doubtless too much ;-) l

Where did you find a three string bass?? Thought they'd all been converted decades ago. My own German bass was allegedly built as a three but has been a four for at least 60 years. You could convert to normal machines?

Bloke who sits next to me at orchestra has a k&m, bike saddle style seat in memory foam = very comfy. Adjustable foot rest = useful. I have one of these [url="https://www.bassbags.co.uk/product/double-bass-stool-with-back-rest/."]https://www.bassbags...ith-back-rest/.[/url] Whick is ok and was much cheaper, but was actually designed for playing keyboards ... Seat padding bit soft, foot rest bit high, never use the back rest. Sturdy tho. K&m if you can afford it.

My gp12 combo (15" 300W) of the same age is up for 300 and unsold, so 200 is high for a gp7 head with no cab. They are extraordinarily loud and clear for the given wattage and very tweakable, plus I suspect the heads aren't done justice by the cabs. Not very fashionable but a lot of bang for the bucks..

Just bought Mark's PJB Flightcase ... all the info I wanted quickly supplied and a cheerful handover at a place of mutual convenience. And the amp is pretty much "as new". Only regret (maybe) is that tea-drinker got the PB300 before I noticed it, as I'll bet that is in mint condition too ;¬)

[quote name='petebassist' timestamp='1485524449' post='3224624'] johnnigel Hi, I'd be very interested to hear how you get on over at Thwaites or Caswells. [/quote] Tim Toft in Stone? I like them better than Turners. Their bass mender is very good indeed and all their instruments are well restored and set up in a nice room where you can try a few. Range from old ones to brand new "European Finished" ones. Not a HUGE stock like Thwaites have these days but a nice range.

Low action, high tension strings ... a nice bass also .. a lot is in the right finger action .. none of my orchestral bass friends make a nice pizzicato sound because they pull their fingers straight across the string and generally too close to the end of the finger board ... makes a satisfying PLONK that suits those symphonic drops of bassiness. For jazzy growl it helps to play higher up the fingerboard and to sort of slide your finger diagonally across the string using the side of the finger not the tip. Danny thompson has it, Eddie Gomez has it in spades; I THINK its the same thing Jaco Pastorious does on a fretless electric. Pickups usually destroy it but I found I can get close using my realist sound clip .. and a decent soft sounding amp with a bit of an EQ smile ..... oh the endless pursuit of a particular sound :¬).

Still waiting for photos JacksonBass :¬) guess you're too busy practicing.

I did wonder ;¬) ... as a result I've learned lots about romberg bevels, string height recommendations and scoop - I'd no idea they were different for Jazz and Classical. I guess I have a "jazz scoop" but it works fine for classical (at my level, anyway). Trying out basses in shops tho, I often notice that some just don't pizz very well, which I'd always put down plainly to string height and string type. Live and learn.

Wouldn't get too fussed about that slope you mention on the E-side of the finger board (it's called a "romberg bevel" apparently - see here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/70746-the-flat-angled-part-of-the-fingerboard-under-the-e-string/). Mine has one despite its "jazz setup"; never been an issue.. and the action is still 8mm on the E. Looking at album covers - I see Alec Dankworth doesn't have one but John Pattitucci does! Certainly don't avoid buying a bass simply because it has one. High tension strings, incorrect neck angle and too high a bridge, on the other hand, have caused hard work in the past. As the action at the end of the finger board is correct (6 to 8mm), then if the "hard work" is in low positions, then possibly the nut is a bit high (on mine, the gap between strings and board at the nut is less than the thickness of a credit card), if the hard work is in high positions then there could be too much "scoop" (aka "relief") in the fingerboard (on an electric bass you'd just tweak the truss bar, on a db sadly, it has to be planed out, then the finger board angle corrected by insertion of a wedge between the finger board and neck - which is not a job for home!). I was having trouble with thumb positions a while back; I was told the nut could be lower, the scoop reduced and and the finger board angle raised up to the strings to lower the action - but fixed it all by dropping the bridge height (and doing more practice). The bass is bassically a high effort instrument to play - which is why we do "hammer finger" exercises and stuff to strengthen up the muscles that drive the fingers. Half position always hurts IMHO (short fingers and a big bass don't help)! Practice, sadly, is the answer - and getting out of low positions to where the stretches are smaller and the string tension lower helps too. Supposed to be practising myself RIGHT NOW .. back to it!!

I was getting blisters. Talked to Alec Dankworth at a gig; even he gets blisters after his summer holiday (but boy, does he play hard). My blisters were from having the amp turned down too low (or trying to play acoustically) and compensating by plucking too hard. Also, I was overusing my middle finger when the side of the index finger works better. Tip from one Jazz musician was; now and then when playing wipe your playing finger down the side of your nose, it picks up a bit of skin grease and sweat, providing some lubrication!!! (euch, but it's true).

OK. Points took. I don't say setup is unimportant .. far from it; but it won't make a rattly or dull sounding bass into a good one. And a lot of the "set-up" mystique is just a matter of meddling and talking to other bass players (read the thread on changing bridge height) and you can get an adjustable bridge and tweak it anyway. Bridge position, you can start with the "standard" place and move it back and forth a few mm. Sound post admittedly rather hard, but a good bass teacher will help. Nut height - not an issue, if it's too high file the notches down. A warped or dished fingerboard needs to be avoided - but can be planed flat for £150 or so. You [b]can [/b]get decent plywood basses (an Eastman for instance) but for jazz and classical you will soon grow out of them and want to trade up. So I still wouldn't buy. It think what the OP should do is call up one of the bass rental places - Bassbags.co.uk are good at the lower to middle end, Thwaites at the middle to very top end and ask about rental. For £35+ a month they will rent out a new or good as new bass that is perfectly set up. A £1600 Vivente or a £2500 Westbury for instance - you may even (I'm not sure) get a discount if you decide to buy it. They will also advise on what you should have for your ability and body size. In my case (prior to the interweb) I started on a horrid half sized boosey and hawkes plywood horror. Then Trawled round bass dealers and music shops trying things out for months - at each stage deciding I needed to spend more. Finally bought (for £1800 in 1988 - which was all my savings) an old german bass, full size (bad idea) and perfectly set up by a proper luthier (Malcom Healy) but it still buzzed. It was only after it fell over and had to be dismantled (at a cost of £1500 to the insurance people) that the buzzing was fixed and it was only in the last year or so that I finally got the string height right. Now it's great, but still too big - but it's my friend of 28 years, it's worth a small fortune and I'm keeping it. Had I only known then what I know now ... could have got here a lot quicker ;¬) Good luck and don't be put off .. and you are so lucky to have people to play with at an early stage, enjoy.

Well, if anyone DID want to trade back to a Trace .... I have one going for a LOT less than the £800 I paid for it back in 1998!! I actually like the sound of it (with careful tweaking) but it IS too heavy and (playing double bass as well as electric) I'd prefer something transparent and flat frequency response. 12-band EQ and dual band compressors no longer seem as useful as they did 20 years ago. Tried a GK-MB210 and an Ashdown Root Master 500 115 recently (OK when you turn off the AWFUL "sub" function of the ashdown), but they do somehow lack the drive and punch of the Trace. Tweakability aside, I guess, what is nice about the old amps is the imperfections; a slightly distorted (or VERY distorted in the case of valve amps) sound is literally "fatter" (ie contains more frequencies) than a perfect "linear" sound. And the distortion made by valves makes a nice harmony with the actual notes. Not gone BACK to the heavy old days as I have yet to join the modern Class D age at all :¬)