solo4652

Looking for ideas for a half-decent, busking combo to amplify my cajon when busking. 20w to 30w should suffice, with 4 inputs to accommodate; acoustic guitar, two vocal mics, and my cajon mic. All recommendations gratefully received.

Do these belong here? https://www.facebook.com/rachel.m.lasham/videos/1569887960027440 https://www.facebook.com/rachel.m.lasham/videos/575375983610112

How about this? Does this count as Soul, Funk, Groove? Not sure.... 😁

Thanks for all the replies so far. Pretty unanimous set of suggestions, really.

As lockdown freedom approaches, I've been jamming/auditioning with three local covers bands. One has invited me to join them. I've only played with them twice - audition, plus first full rehearsal. The first full rehearsal was recorded, and I've been listening to our efforts. It's pretty clear to me that the singer isn't especially good. She sounds flat most of the time to me - my partner describes the singer's voice as "unmusical". I thought this when the band sent me their pre-audition recordings, and I thought it at my first jam/audition. The recordings of the first full rehearsal strengthens my view. What to do? Key points: I have a feeling - could well be completely wrong - that the singer and one of the guitarists may be an item. I'm very much the new boy and certainly wouldn't want to upset anybody. "Carry on in quiet desperation is the English way..." I'm keen to get back out there playing with real people again, but not if I'm always inwardly wincing at the singer's voice. What's the best approach here, folks?

Because of a sporting injury to my neck and shoulder, I switched from 34" to short scale a few years ago. Echoing Osiris' point, it's the reduced distance to the first fret that makes the big difference for me, rather than the reduced distance between frets. To try out short scale, I bought a Harley Benton Shorty from Thomann. £63. Bonkers. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbp90bk_shortscale_ebass.htm?sid=419559fd6d8232d3ab920710b6280f0e I've had a few shortscales since then, but the shorty, with some new strings and some Wilkinson pickups for about £30 took a lot of beating - seriously. The Shorty has a P width neck which works for me, and I've struggled to find a good shortscale with a wide neck since. Shortscale + Jazz neck can get a bit cramped. Fishfacefour: Don't know where you're based. I'm in Stockport. If you want to come over and try out my two short scale basses (Lakland Hollowbody, G&L Fallout Tribute) - just let me know

Thank you very much.

I've just joined a covers band, and I need to learn the bass part to Dead Boys by Sam Fender. I have the chord chart, but I can't find any tabs or YouTube videos for the bassline. Anybody out there playing this, please?

I'm feeling much better about the bass now. I put a new set of Status Nylons on it, and they would not stay in tune, let alone intonate. The E string was especially bad. After two days of frustration, I threw them away and replaced them with some Status half-rounds. These have been instantly better, in that they stay in tune (!) Switched from Kustom Hybrid bass head to a GK MB500 too, and that has also helped. The bass pickup is hot, and the "purer" output of the MB500 seems to calm things down a bit. Most probably a keeper - certainly as No.2 bass. Photo of fretboard figuring:

After a slightly bumpy start, we're definitely getting there now. Did a basic set up, now just tweaking to take account of neck and string settling. E string intonation is proving troublesome, but I suspect that's because I'm using cut-down medium scale strings which may not suit the nut grooves. Proper short-scales on order. Played it through my rehearsal rig yesterday - Deep End 1200 hybrid head with a 12" 350w Techamp speaker. Ooof! Huge, rich tones, needing a bit of mids boost from the amp. Of course, virtually impossible to get a clear idea of gig tone with the rig just about ticking over in the dining room. Neck is the probably the widest short-scale I've played but is fairly thin front-to-back, so not too clumsy at all. Would love to play it a full band session, but that's not going to happen any time soon, dammit.

It's pretty much what I was looking for; a short scale passive 4-string, pickup arrangement closer to a Stingray than a P, with a nut width closer to a P than a J. I've had G&L's (USA and Tributes) before, and have always liked them, apart from the over-complex controls on some of the active models. Bass was very well packed in a box inside a box. Came with a small set of Allen keys for neck and saddle adjustment, and D'Addario roundwound strings which were immediately replaced by my favourite nylons. The strings I had here were all medium scale to suit through-body stringing on my previous short scale bass (Squier Vista), and needed to be cut down a fair bit to fit the Fallout. I'd say short scale strings would be fine for the Fallout. I'll need to buy some proper length strings for it. Initial impression was a little disappointing, to be honest. Fret buzz was so bad it was virtually unplayable. I saw that the bridge saddles were all over the place - two had one screw all the way in and the other all the way out. The other two saddles were sitting on the bridge plate. I sorted that out and put a tad more relief into the neck. Now the bass started to sing and play. The MFD pickup is well-known and suits this bass well, I reckon. The pickup is powerful without being too barky or aggressive. Roll off the tone, and you're not far off P sounds. Differences between the three settings are fairly subtle, and only one is truly humbucking. I'm settling on the middle position - no idea what it is. Tone control works well with a good range of adjustment - better than plenty of other basses I've tried. With a wide, rough-finish leather strap, I'm not getting any neck-dive. On luggage scales, bass weighs 4.2 Kgs. The finish on the rear of the neck is not as good as my previous G&L's, and this has been the main disappointment for me. It feels rather unfinished, and not especially smooth. I may decide to wire-wool it and then use some oil. The quality of the finish on the body is absolutely fine. Maple fingerboard has a few natural stains in it, but feels smooth enough. I've not discovered any sharp frets yet. Setting the intonation has been a challenge. That's most probably because the new nylon strings are stretching quite a bit, and my clip-on tuner is not agreeing with my output jack tuner! Overall; My feeling is that this will be an excellent back-up to my No.1 bass which is a Lakland Skyline Hollowbody. And that's what I've been looking for. Because of the woeful (i.e. non-existent) setup on arrival and my liking for floppy, stretchy strings, it's taken me two days to get the bass to a playable state. Maybe that's to be expected for a brand new instrument that's travelled a long way. The quality of the neck finish (I think Ed Friedland mentions this in his short video) could be better and does not match the finish of other G&L Tributes I've had. Overall, I'd say the bass is worth the money because of the unusual mix of nut-width, scale length, pickup position, and for its MFD pickup. Waffling now. I'll shut up.

Today's (18th January) text from DHL: "DHL Express delivery from Andertons delivered TODAY before the end of the day" That's a day earlier than DHL originally said. Today's lockdown project of making a pasta drying rack will just have to wait.

Just received this text from DHL; "Your DHL Express shipment with waybill number 8280254640 from ANDERTONS MUSIC COMPANY is on its way. We will require a signature at the time of delivery. The current estimated delivery is Tue Jan 19 2021 before End of Day."

Will have to make do with this for now. "I wouldn't be able to tell this from my US version...."

Diary entry today reads; "New bass delivery?!", so I checked the last email I received from Andertons on 6th January (that's this year, not last year...) "We are writing to notify you that our supplier has recently informed us of a delay to the G&L Tribute Fallout Short Scale Bass CAR MP PRL (Stockcode TIEFLB-111R03M30) you ordered. Based on this new information, we are now expecting to receive our delivery to our warehouse around: 15/01. Please note that arrival dates are always subject to change."

Lucky man!

Yes - I was pretty surprised at the total. Trouble is, I can only remember between 20 and 30 at any one time without notes, so I still need them to gig. Some of the more surprising songs I uncovered; Creep - The Muppets Kiss - Prince, with note to self: "No problem playing this - there is no bass on the original..." A song by Celine Dion.... Most mangled/annotated notes, suggesting most used were; Dakota, Valerie, Long train runnin', Tainted Love, Superstition, Sex on Fire, Bohemian like you, and Don't look back in Anger. Band with most songs: Beatles with 6, Morcheeba with 6.

Started playing bass 10 years ago, and have been in and out of covers bands for the past 8 years. My initial guess at the number of songs I've played is - errrm - 250. Well, it's taken me all afternoon, and the total is 519. Blimey.