Huge Hands

I joined a band about 14 years ago, just as they were losing the drummer. They found a new guy, and me and him hit it off pretty quickly. Unfortunately, when they decided they wanted to sack him, I was guilty by association and booted out at the same time. I got us both into another band that lasted a good 10 years after that. I think it might have also been my refusal to play my 4 string Squier in favour of my new shiny 5 string Cort C5. It just didn't "fit their image" - that and me being a 6'3 ginger fat bloke looked odd with the rest of the "cool dudes" on the band photos. I'm not bitter after all these years...much....

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1493857586' post='3291394'] Excellent. If nothing else, this reminds me that I need more Ben Folds Five in my life. [/quote] +1 - I'm going to dig out my BFF live DVD tonight methinks.....

Glad I saw this - I have been toying with the idea of one of those 5 string Tele Bachs for a while. I have to say the QC on the example bass images on their website had already put me off pulling the trigger....

What he said does sound like rubbish, but I'm guessing if he had 6 bands to do on one desk, there wouldn't be much turn around time between bands, and he was probably trying to keep it all as familiar as possible, especially if your DI was unknown to him and he was worried about wildly differing gain structure. Some might call that lazy, I'd call it him trying a bit of "band psychology" to make his life easier on an undoubtedly stressy night for him....

I don't get all the people against this show. As others have said, it is one of the few ways to see live music on TV. I am happy to sit through loads of bands I don't like, because out of it all may be one gem that I haven't heard before and discover something new. This has happened loads of times over the years with this show. All the time I'm thinking that, someone else out there will have loved a band I didn't, and hated what I'm loving. To me, that is the beauty of it. I don't see why people would want to get rid of it. If the music is all rubbish, then maybe that is a reflection of what is out there at the moment? FWIW, I personally, I don't really like JH and his squawking voice trying to scream over the studio noise, and I am not a big fan of his big band and his constant attempts to sit in with bands on his shows. However, if it was my show, I would probably use my clout to sit in where I could too!

[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1493122301' post='3285754'] I always think this is their starting point to see how many customers continue to push. [/quote] ^^ This. In my experience, it is not in their interest to pay out, so they will deliberately push back, delay and frustrate to see if you give up before it goes too far. I assume they get lots of claims every day, so they're probably quite good at this!

I enjoy my NS Design NXT5. I like the fact that it is by default on a stand, so I can walk off and not have to worry about laying it down somewhere, but the stand is still light enough to allow you to swing the bass back and forwards a bit when you're getting excited. Mine was about £1K new, so I'd have thought a second hand one on here will get you well under budget. You may even get the more expensive CR5 - I think I saw one on here recently for just over £1K. I have said on here before that it may not sound like a DB when you're stood right next to it playing it, but if you later hear it on a recording, it does a fair approximation. I also find the dots on the fretboard helpful (I'm sure others would see that as sacrilege! The only down side for me is transport - it comes in a gig bag which comes with what looks like a shoulder strap, but it can't actually deal with it being carried in this way for too long. Mine snapped where it is stitched to the bag and dumped the bass on the floor chipping the headstock - the best I got out of the distributor was another bag which is just as weak. There is a flight case option, but that looks really heavy and expensive. Short trips are ok, but I used to commute all over London on trains/tube with mine, hence the easy damage. Just transporting it in the car, normally carrying it with just the side handle, it should be more than fine.

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1491562989' post='3273968'] Beware the hairy pussy!! [/quote] A life lesson for us all......

[quote name='Tonteee' timestamp='1491561147' post='3273944'] I use Millennium's blatant copy of the RockNRoller RMH1. [/quote] Wow, I just checked that out on the Thomann site, and they are definitely blatant copies! I'm surprised they get away with that, especially as they are a dealer for the original. I bought a legit RMH1 from Thomann a couple of years ago. My only two issues with it are that one of the simple brace bars has snapped off at the back (but it doesn't seem to affect its strength) and the handle is a little too short for me when fully extended (I'm 6'3" so you have to stoop a bit to pull it). It's not a massive hindrance though, and mine has always been great.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1489315029' post='3255891'] The Sire basses have a passive mode. Just leave the actives switched out and you've got a passive 5 string Jazz. [/quote] This is how I use mine 95% of the time.

I find the opposite to the OP. The current Mrs HH comes to pretty much all of my gigs across 2-3 bands and most people think she's mad. They ask her why she would attend them all. I remember that at the very first gig she came to when we'd just started dating, I ended up with two hot young ladies coming over and asking me about bass playing after the last set. I would add at this point, that this NEVER normally happens to me. Although in my youth I thought joining bands would get me regular attention from ladies/sex, it hasn't been the case at all for me in just under 30 years of gigging! It was bad timing being our first gig together, and the look that my lady was giving me while talking to them gave new meaning to the words "death stare". Since then, she started coming to all of the gigs. I believe that she has now grown to fully trust me and it isn't about keeping tabs on me any more, but more about finding ways to spend nights out/sharing experiences together, even if not in the most conventional "couple" sense. However, although no one has said anything directly, I have sensed some unease from my main band, almost like they think she is some sort of "Yoko Ono". As others have said, I love seeing her there, but there is always that unease from me that she is safe, and not being hassled or kicked around by a busy crowd. We do a lot of 2am finish gigs in London, so she is good to have as a companion on the 1hr+ drive home to help me stay awake!

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1490142961' post='3262674'] If it wasn't for the tuners, i would easily say this is Lakland Skyline quality. [/quote] I've said this before, but even though I agree the tuners do feel a bit cheap when you turn them, I regularly leave mine in a gig bag for a couple of weeks after having moved it in the car from/to a rehearsal and it always amazes me how little I have to tune it (if at all) each time I get it out of the bag, especially compared to most other basses I've owned. In conclusion, there must be something good about them! Enjoy yours. I've had GAS for years to get a higher budget boutique or custom bass, but I'm now GAS free after getting mine....until they release the new Precision version that is.....

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1488960935' post='3253194'] ....I've tried but I find it almost impossible to even hold the most basic conversation whilst playing.... [/quote] I do a lot of BVs and (very) occasional lead vocal. It takes a fair bit of practice, but I can usually get there. I usually struggle the most when the melody is rhythmically different to the bass line. I always remember struggling with singing "Your love keeps lifting me - [i]higher and higher[/i]" BV line over the bassline rhythmn! However, what I really can't do is talk and play. If one of my band colleague asks me something mid song, I end up sounding like a grunting, gurning cave monkey that's had a stroke when I try and reply.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1488360200' post='3248147'] actually what I'm really interested in is in a 5-string version. [/quote] Ditto. I may not be able to contain my urges if such a beast comes into production. I'm sure it will look nice next to my V7 5 string....

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1487679851' post='3241725'] You can just about make out the outboard if you really squint - two Yamaha SPX90 and 3x Behringer MDX2200..... [/quote] Wow, starting to sound like my old live rig from 14+ years ago! Memorieeeess!!! The SPX90's actually bring back horrible memories of me getting hooked on putting tap delay on certain vocal lines for effect to the point that everyone got sick of me! [quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1487679851' post='3241725'] It's funny how it's a different mind set than using the Yamahas.. [/quote] Totally. The thing I always preferred was the greater headroom on the input gains - if you had a sudden surge of sound from something, you were a lot less likely to get a horrible "clack" when you tickled a red light than you were with the Yamahas. We had several 02Rs and a budget Yamaha analogue desk (presumably all with the same analogue pre-amps), and they were all the same. That was the main bit that put me off the 02R. Obviously in studio world, you have more time to go back and deal with something like that! Good luck with your studio!

Totally agree Chris, I've "been there, done that" with a lot of your examples, hence probably being a bit paranoid myself about losing my main regular gig. I am happy to be man enough about it if it does happen, especially if this bloke is more available for them, I would just prefer it didn't. I was just trying to show York5stringer another example of why this might be happening - perhaps their normal bassist is also paranoid about losing his gig, so is trying to free himself up to not allow them to get comfortable with another player?

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1488152349' post='3246406'] ... if the No 1 Bassist was even remotely in the picture they should have said at the outset and I would have factored that in and been fine. [/quote] I don't know your situation at all, but it might be worth thinking of it from the other bassist's point of view. I play regularly in a band, but have issues with availability due to having my son every other weekend (which the band have always known about). However, the band leader is ruthless and will often book gigs on weekends that I can't do, and then threatens me with a dep each time. This then involves me having to spend ages trying to swap weekends with my ex and trying to free myself up. Of course, it never got as far as actually booking anyone to dep (and letting them down) but perhaps this is what is happening here? My own insecurities around the possibility of them gigging with and preferring a dep resulting in me losing my gig were what drove me to always comply, but this year I had to stop it as it was causing too many problems with my ex, and causing me guilt about putting the band before my son. I get depped for the first time in July - not looking forward to it!

I have Labellas on my V7 5 String. If memory serves, they are the 760FSB set. I didn't go "through body" with them as I was worried about string cores snapping (I've had this on another bass) and I love it! It felt like it took a little while for them to settle, but I couldn't be happier. Does everything I want in a bass.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1487767333' post='3242575'] Oo. Controversial. [/quote] I did put "all" originally before I changed it. I love Ms Kaye for other reasons, not Motown.....

I had this with a blues band years ago - I had a rosewood coloured Cort C5 at the time, and they tried to get me to change to a Fender. I took the "f**k them" attitude and stuck with the Cort, but after a short while I got kicked out. I guess if it's not your band, you need to be happy with this being a possible outcome. I was gutted at the time.

Paul McCartney probably got me into bass, but once I realised it was one guy playing most of the Motown hits I was loving, I became a massive fan of James Jamerson.

He was a fantastic drummer, as were many more of JB's stick men. I can remember trying (miserably) to play along to old James Brown grooves when I was learning to play drums as a teenager. Fantastic stuff! RIP Clyde.

The A&H ML5000 was one of the last desks I bought as an in-house tech manager around 14 years ago before I left and moved away from live sound. I bought it as an upgrade to the previous GL series we had. At the time, I felt the functionality you got for the price was second to none. I thought it was a great desk, and loved the VCA control on them instead of using subgroups. I never used one for studio, just live, so having no overlaid return channels was not a problem. To answer the modular question, if I know Allen and Heath, I would have thought that all access would be through the panel underneath. The channels are probably all individual boards, but the faders will be on disconnectable cables and attached to a plate 8 wide. I do remember ours being taken apart as it had an issue on delivery, but it was so long ago, I can't remember for sure how it was set up.