Huge Hands

My take on this: I think it is best when a bit of both. Obviously up and coming new bands can use their gigs to showcase new un-heard stuff and as a punter there you feel like you are getting a sneak peek of what is to come. However, I remember hearing about David Bowie refusing to do any of his back catalogue in the 90s - I think I would have been an unhappy attendee at those gigs. I think if the famous song is slightly different or done in a new way, great - that is the evolution of the song after months/years on the road. What I would still want is for it to be in the same kind of perspective/genre as the original. My examples of what I would NOT want are: The blues band I used to be in - the guitarist would always want everything played verbatim, including any edit/glitches on the record. He would also get huffy if I did my own thing and funked it up a little. My argument was that you couldn't often hear exactly what the (often double) bassist was doing in a lot of the early recordings, and surely the live band would have added their own thing on the road? I also used to do FOH sound for some 60's and 70s bands in the early 00s - by then the people in the band you would want to see had left to enjoy their solo career/money. You would be left with mates of those that were leff not playing it as well, or you would get a young replacement bass player slapping his way through some 60s pop tunes and totally changing the sound. Not what people want to hear on a 60's nostalgia gig I think.

If they would build anything you wanted, I would get a 5-string slab body 51-P with 19mm spacing and rely on them to make it look reasonably in proportion, not like some of the home builds I have seen with weird headstocks.

Would love to hear more from some of the gospel/NuSoul guys Thaddeus "Terry" Tribbett, Braylon Lacy and Joe Cleveland (I think you've already had Sharay Reed on?).

Funnily enough it was Mrs HH who persuaded me to have the test - she is sick of repeating herself when talking to me. I think I do have hearing issues and I do struggle when I am not facing/on axis with her, but I also think blokey zoning out should be part of the diagnosis!

It might be worth checking with your specialist if you think they are not working for you, you may have the wrong ones, however, you may need to top up the NHS costs to get better ones. I'm sure there are others on here that know a lot more about this than me but recently I did the first step and tried the free Specsavers test as I struggle to focus on someone talking in loud environments, like a pub or restaurant. They said their initial 5 min test showed a likely loss in the high frequencies (no s**t Sherlock!). However, I was told that as I am under 55 I was too young to get free NHS hearing aids (unless I had a serious hearing problem diagnosed) so would likely have to self fund if I wanted them. I was then shown a price list where - "these are the ones that you would get from the NHS, but as you go higher up the price range they are more suited to your type of hearing loss, the NHS ones probably wouldn't be that good for you". I don't know if it was a dodgy salesman (I doubt it as he had "trainee" on his badge and came across as a nerdy teenager who had read all of the training guides back to front) or just the way it is. At one point he did say "You might not even need them, it might just be because you're tired today" which made me laugh. Suffice to say, I decided to leave it for now and struggle on as I am without. Obviously my knowledge of hearing aids is all based on one 20 min appointment in an opticians with a spotty teenager in a shop designed to take your money. I'm sure there is a lot better advice out there!

Hi Phil, I personally would avoid the XLR to jack lead, I just assumed that is how you were doing it. My advice would be to use a DI box or some sort of preamp that turns your instrument level output into a line level input signal for your speaker. I don't know if this is relevant but years ago I had an Ashdown 2x10 and 1x15 stack that I used to run as 15 on the bottom, 10s horizontal on top for bigger gigs. Most of the time I just used the 2x10 (combo) on its own and the sound was great, but with the 1x 15 added I often found the sound would not be right and feel like there was a big "hole" in the sound if I stood in front of my stack. I will defer to @Bill Fitzmaurice's much superior knowledge than mine as I know I have discussed this with him before, but I believe what I was hearing (or not) could have been down to comb filtering effects caused by having mismatched driver sizes. I'm sure he can explain it a lt better than me but thought this might also be a part of why you are having issues with hearing your backline?

How are you connecting your 1 speaker? Are you using an XLR to jack lead? Is the jack lead mono (tip/sleeve) or stereo (tip/ring/sleeve)? I don't know the G4M Sub Zero range but I assume the XLR inputs on your speakers will be set up to expect balanced line level signals. You standard passive bass gives out unbalanced instrument level, so ideally you need a the very least a DI box inbetween the guitar out and the speaker. The acoustic bass preamp I assume has an XLR out or may be managing to balance over a TRS jack?

I remember in the 90s my dad recorded a concert from the TV which was Lonnie, Albert Collins and Roy Buchanan at Carnegie Hall. Lonnie looked exactly the same as the photo on your clip (same hat and guitar) so I reckon it was around the time he released this. They played Stop and I used to wear that bit of the tape out (and Albert Collins (wasn't too fussed about the Roy Buchanan bits). It was almost verbatim to this version except for a comedy "over-emphasising every hit" drummer who was fun to watch at the same time!

I don't know why you felt the need to fix something that was already saying that? I was not trying to hate on her, and I'm sure she can play the bass 1000% better than me! There was just something in the feel of her playing in that video that didn't "feel" right to me. Maybe if I was a better musician myself I could explain it more. Some of the runs felt to rushed to me. I'm sure someone will now take huge offence at my microscopically unimportant opinion and create some sort of video with timings and quantising lines, but that is what I felt, and I am allowed to like or dislike something surely?. I did also take the opportunity to search her on Google and found other clips. Others were much better but not my cup of tea, However, ultimately, I am sure she is amazing, and I was just trying to make a cr*p joke about her overplaying on a pop song if in a covers or function band. I guess I should have used emojis! I must admit I have tried to get into Jaco and Victor Wooten before but the soloing videos didn't float my boat. Having said that, they are undoubtedly talented people and I have seen videos of them playing with a band and amazing. My kind of players are Thaddeus Tribbet (a big fan of Jaco I believe), Jamerson, Pino, etc, so I do like a fair bit of soulful jazzy stuff! EDIT - Apologies for derailing the OP's thread....

Ok, just me then!

I know this is probably done to showcase her skills and probably not what she would normally play, but if I was in a band and the bass was played like that over the song I think I would soon be asking them politely to find another band. And that is coming from someone who likes busy/creative bass players. Maybe it is just me. Each to their own of course and not knocking you for liking it yourself.

That stupid "roundabout within 6 roundabouts" or whatever it is was enough for me when I last visited Hemel....

Totally with you, but in interests of transparency, the band on the original JLH recording supposedly was Jamerson and the Funk Brothers moonlighting from Motown. So you could almost say this is a soul record too.....

I'm not claiming to be an expert in any way but I just watched the video and was surprised at the amount of movement in that connector on the board when you pressed the cable. I'm wondering if there are dry joints underneath? It did seem to affect the audio at the other end too, so could be dry joints at both ends?

I work in pro service of electronic equipment and for B2B repairs, that is a normal (if not slightly cheap) charge for a standard first look at something that is not under warranty by a repair house. However, as @warwickhuntsaid, these charges are usually refundable if you go ahead with the repair. I totally get why they do it - after they give their report, 90% of the time people will say - it's not worth it, I'll buy a new one, so they end up working mainly for free if they don't charge up front. The company I work for got rid of their own in-house repair dept as it wasn't worth paying someone to spend all day trying to repair a DVD player that was only worth £30 new. BTW - I'm not having a go at the OP - just explaining why these companies charge. I hope you find a more reasonable tech.

I have never been involved in radio in my life, so am probably talking out my a**e, but I always assumed most radio stations have really limited playlists because it is easier for them when recording PRS/royalty dues if it is always one of a few songs rather than having to constantly look up obscure tracks. For me commercial stations like Magic, Heart, Kiss FM etc are all the worst as it can literally be a couple of hours before the same songs seem to come back around again.

I wish I had known about this when it was released. Although I love it, Lego is extortionate enough without paying someone on ebay 5 times the price for a secondhand one with bits missing.... Having said that, it isn't that realistic - it does seem to be missing all of the bird poo on it.....

Hi @Phil Mann I just wanted to say that for Christmas I decided to treat myself to a year's SBL subscription as my ear has always been good but my theoretical knowledge to back it up has been rubbish. I can read sheet music for the band I play in but I have tried to learn the theory behind triads, circle of 5ths, modes etc on several occasions over the years and it normally just fries my brain... I decided to go straight for your Functional Theory For Bassists Vol 1 course and although I will need keep reviewing to lock it all in I already feel that your way of teaching has helped me see it a lot easier, I now feel I will get there and am a lot less overwhelmed by it all. I'm also impressed watching a leftie play the correct way around 😁 Thank you - I will keep plugging at this and check out some of your other lessons as I go along. After looking at this thread, it looks like I also need to check out the interviews your YT channel!

Maybe not, but they do sell jeans.....

I'm originally from Birtley, the next town up from Chester-le-Street. My grandparents lived in Chester-le -Street, so often used to cycle between the two to visit. My great-grandfather (who died before I was born) had been a specialist in old geordie dialect/folklore and used to tour the north east in the 1930's - 1950s doing recitals. I believe he even did some local radio. Just before my grandparents died, we found some of his old notes in their house and none of us could understand much of it - amazing how it had all evolved over the centuries. I also remember whilst at University in the Midlands, I took my coursemate (who was a local Derby lad) up home as I was getting some welding done on my van by one of my Dad's mates. My dad's mate was from Seaham/Murton way. He was a bit of a character and hilarious and was cracking jokes all day and I was falling about laughing. As we left, I mentioned to my coursemate that I found it odd he didn't seem to find much of the welder's repertoire funny. He replied "I didn't understand a word of it" - my dad's mate had a heavy Sunderland accent. I translated all the way back to Derby and this time my mate was rolling around in the van like I had been!

In regards to setup, I found my NS Design NXT-5 was shipped to me with a really low action, much more like a bass guitar. I did keep it that way for a long time, until tried to learn to bow on it - the action was way too low for that and it was nigh on impossible to get the bow at an angle where I wasn't playing 2 strings at once. I raised it and found it easier, and also was much easier to do the rockabilly slap thing. However, I hardly play bow (I found out I have a skin allergy to roisin) nor do I play much rockabilly, so ended up going back towards the lower action. In summary, you will probably want to set it to suit your style of play once you get more into it. Enjoy experimenting!

I really wanted to get involved in this conversation as I was born and raised just 5 miles south of Newcastle and spent most of my weekends wandering the town but have just realised I haven't lived there permanently for around 28 years! I have plenty of nostalgia for the area and images of the Tyne bridge still stir huge patriotic and homesick vibes in me, but have no recent knowledge other than what my family briefly tell me. I used to go up there regularly but poor health has kept me away - I am hoping to take a trip up there around Easter as my parents are getting much more frail. Of course I would recommend it. I would just say to Blue that the Geordie accent can be very strong and sometimes sound like a completely foreign language if you're not used to it! If you get the chance, try Greggs' stottie cake (bread) while you are there. It is a revelation and not sure why Greggs never took it across the UK when they expanded.

Quite.... I don't think BigRedX and I would be listening buddies - I am a huge fan of Pino's Soulquarians stuff 😄

That sounds like a pretty eclectic mix to me - surely what you would want, rather than just one genre? My thoughts exactly. I must admit I didn't watch it this year (was in bed by 10pm!) and am no fan of Jools' Boogie Woogie obsession but if this goes, what decent, regular live music TV shows are left, especially on NYE if you don't like the one performer doing a full gig on the other channels? Ok yes, you could modernise the presenter(s) and staging, but ultimately you would still need a few "nerdy indie bands", a "soul chanteuse" or two and some world music? I would prefer to see the usual Later format of all independent bands and have no regular full house band but I can see it is a regular paying gig for Jools and his guys so can see why they do it.

I love Hammond organ but don't have the room or cash justification to buy one (especially as I can't really play one). I have fancied the organ one (YC?) since they were released a few years ago just to mess around and learn on but have never managed to pull the trigger. I would also like the Rhodes one....and now I have seen @Happy Jack's video, I would like the DX7 one..... When I was at college doing Music Tech in the 90's we did a whole term on FM synthesis and the DX7 as they had a couple. I don't remember anyone getting anything decent out of them and nothing like the sounds in that video!