Huge Hands

Might be worth mentioning that if you store lots of it in a poorly ventilated room, it starts to stink badly of rubber petrochemicals We had some in our store at work and I spent 10 mins in there - had a massive headache afterwards for hours....

Weirdly, I'm a meat and potatoes J and P man and don't like boutique basses, but there is something about that wood finish that made my trousers wobble....

I have one and mainly use it in passive mode, but I when I got mine, I thought the range between fully cut and fully boosted was massive, so even a slight turn made a huge difference. I seem to remember someone mentioning a mod where you could change some resistors or caps and reduce the range of cut/boost so it was more subtle, but I never felt the need to do this.

I find I rarely use mine in active mode - sometimes I use the advantage of the pre-amp by having a bit of bass dialled in and then use it as a switchable bass boost for effect....

Enjoy Conan - I have the exact same one and love it. I used to have GAS for various basses but mine is sorted thanks to my V7, although I would like a P7 to make a set.....

Are you talking treble, or bass clef? To me, as a bass clef reader, the C that most Concert band music plays (my 3rd fret on the A string) and nearest the middle of the bass clef is pitched (in terms of a tuba and other instruments) as a C two ledger lines below the stave. I assume by saying the 17th fret on the G string, you mean the one in the middle of the treble clef? I am terrible at music theory other than being able to read bass guitar music, I just thought it best to post this question for context as it may be confusing the OP as it probably would me. I would call the C two spaces up in the bass clef as middle C, as that it what it means to me (but I know not theoretically right). I think Jakester is suffering from exactly the same as me - what I was trying to say in my edit was that when reading these notes on the fly you always naturally want to fret in the same place - Bb is 1st fret on the A string, C is the third etc, but once the runs get higher, you get to the G string and then have to slide all the way up the string to get the higher ones. Quite often, the best way is to start higher up the neck but on a lower string (i.e. Bb at 6th fret on E string, C at 8th) which means you can keep your hand much more still and get a lot higher. Sounds obvious and simple, but you need to know the whole neck in terms of what notes are where back to front and I don't - although I'm getting better. This is down to my poor training (mainly self taught) than anything else! Most sting bass parts are written for 4 string DBs and there are very few Electric bass parts that go outside of a 4 string range other than a couple that go for low B string notes. My summation is, you don't need a 5 or 6 string for the job, but if you want one, try one!

Hi Jakester, I play in a concert band too. You'll find a lot of older music (i.e. not the latest pop/movie music arrangements) don't have string or electric bass parts at all and you'll end up having to read tuba parts. These are tricky because they're usually an octave lower than where you're use to reading (i.e.several ledger lines below the stave) and you'll have to transpose up an octave (hence people saying the BG is a transposing instrument). I still find sight reading and transposing quaver and faster runs tricky when it's low G and Fs 4-5 ledger lines below the stave, especially when you're in a key of several flats or sharps! We once had a guest MD who was a bass player and told me just to lift all tuba parts up an octave, but I like to pick and choose as I play a 5 and it is nice to make the band rumble with a low C or D note for effect. I would advise trying a 5 as Chris_B said as some of the more modern arrangements even with bass guitar or electric bass parts tend to throw in the odd low Eb or D. Once you learn the neck more. as he also said - it does give you more options for fingering notes without moving when trying to sight read runs etc. My two other tips are: The string bass parts will have a lot of held notes that are intended for arco playing with a bow on double bass. I do occasionally drag my DB out but am not a "bower" so will try to ring the string as long as I can and re-pluck on the first beat of a bar to try and make it a subconscious pulse and less obvious it's not just a constant note. The tuba parts often have string/electric bass cues in them, but there won't be any tuba cues in the string parts. If you have no tuba, you may be sitting resting whilst everyone is wondering why the bass is missing. I often have to keep an eye on both parts in complex arrangements (we rarely have a tuba) as there may be some nice pedal notes in a quiet bit, or a little tuba solo that is not in your part and it needs covering. I don't know why they don't put the cues in, maybe they think such bands will always have a tuba.... EDIT: I would add it is rare that in my experience I have seen for parts to go dead high in concert band music. There are a lot of pieces that seem to sit more naturally with fingering around the 5th - 9th fret, so playing Ebs and F's on the A string around fret 6 and 9 allows you to easily do runs up to high Eb's and Fs, but it's not often?

Ok, so I've just watched the Hootenanny on catch up as I was at a friend's house on NYE and they insisted on not watching TV until the fireworks, then we got the rest of the Madness gig. My observations: It appeared to be a show of two house bands, Jools big band and Rudimental. I preferred the latter, which I am surprised to hear myself say. I really liked the Hot 8 brass ensemble but it sounded like Earl was struggling to fill his Sousaphone with air, the bass seemed to drop/slow at times. I was really impressed with Jess Glynne's vocal tone. Marc Almond reminded me of someone's Dad trying to look cool with a load of hair dye and hoofing it through a karaoke. I still don't like Gilson Lavis' drumming style to the point it bugs me. Why they didn't let Dave Swift play bass but kept Gilson on Chic astounds me. Micky Bubbles is a cliche I shouldn't like, but he does have a great voice and makes it look effortless. I liked the raw energy of The Record Company, and the way they got the crowd going on their second track. I could feel myself switching off whenever it went Boogie Woogie, which this year seemed to be more than ever (every time Jools' band played). I would like to add, before I get shot down in flames, these are only my personal opinions. I don't doubt Gilson Lavis is a much better drummer than I ever hoped to be, but I would have loved to have seen a drummer like Rudimental's get a shot on that gig. I also loved the original Tainted Love by Marc Almond, and I've never attempted to play anything bigger than a trombone, so imagine Sousaphone is quite difficult to play well. I'm sure (and hope) these people are not losing sleep over what I think. In summary, there were a few things I didn't like, but plenty that I did. I hope the show manages to continue in some format, but with less indulgence to Mr Holland's favourite style of music. Having said that, if it was my show, I'd probably use every excuse to play my favourite stuff too...

I watched it assuming it was their attempt at a Spinal Tap or Office thing, and enjoyed it. I thought some of it was a bit odd though - a (I presume) joke where he kept going "don't tell me it's Mum" for ages before saying "it's not your Mum" (cue me laughing) - only for him to go "it's your sister" and mention the untimely death of his sibling. I am still not sure how much of that was real and how much was scripted......probably just how they want it, so good on them.

On my personal level, I have a massive enjoyment of watching R&B/Hip Hop/Nu Soul etc played by real musicians rather than listening to an album based on samples. This is why I love checking out new artists on Tiny Desk, Jools Holland etc. I don't think I would have searched them out/paid to see them otherwise. This is why I love live shows and would hate to lose them fully from mainstream TV. It goes with the argument I used to have with the guitarist in our vintage R&B band who wanted every note played verbatim from the original records - I used to argue that the original musos (probably not the guys who cut the tracks anyway) would have taken them on the road and changed them up over time. Hence wanting to see them further down the line live too.

So the gist I'm getting from this is: We still want a live music show on TV. We don't want Jools or his Boogie Woogie Piano. We are scared of getting someone like Chris Evans/Jo Whiley/Lauren Laverne instead, so is it better the devil.....? That pretty much sums up my own feelings. My concern is those that seem to think a live music show is not required at all. I'm too old to be classed as a "yoof" any more, so what do I know?

Probably dBu or dBV of the line level, not dBSPL in terms of acoustic energy. As someone said, a fancy lighty up thing for your rack....

I thought that too but just looked it up and he'd just turned 20 at Woodstock. Maybe he was 16 or 17 when he joined? Still very young and mega talented though!

My advice would be to try it for a bit. As I have said many times before, although I agree the tuners look cheap, my V7 hardly goes out of tune, even when being transported in a gig bag. I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to get rid of the originals?

When my first wife left home, I thought "Sod you, I'm going to put the double bass back in the dining room", after she had insisted it was relegated to a corner in the hall. Before our (then) 2 year old son came to stay for his first weekend, I leant it into a corner of the dining room and tried banging and knocking it. "That's not going anywhere" I thought... Little did I know he would manage to get behind it and push it. Like a felled tree it tipped forward.. The neck hit the archway into the lounge and the whole thing exploded on its many seams. I was left with a neck and several panels. It was a "cheapy" Gear 4 Music one, but still cost me £400 of my finest kebab tokens at the time. It took a long time to find someone who was able to glue it back together under tension without it exploding again... 7 years later, I still haven't let him forget it 😂