Huge Hands

As BigRedX and others have said, IIRC it used the Betamax U-matic loading/head set up but I believe it used what would normally be the video heads to record the audio to give better recording quality. As far as I remember the Betamax video tapes used a standard stereo type head on one edge of the tape to record a continuous length of audio recording (just like a cassette) whereas the video head recorded diagonal stripes of video information alongside it via the large spinning drum. These stripes are what they used for the systems the previous poster was talking about, and what was later minimised into DAT and ADAT. I'm probably wrong -- I'm trying to remember stuff I investigated for a project at University about 20 years ago!.

I bought a Gear 4 Music double bass back in 2004 to try DB as a novice. I thought it was fine and used to argue with some of the "snobs" on here (that I perceived at the time) that were slagging them off and telling you pay for what you get, and to pay more. It cost me £400 new back then which was double the amount I had paid for any of my guitars up to that point! However, my boy managed to knock it over when he was a toddler (thankfully he was ok) but it knocked the back panel off and ripped the neck off the body at its glue joint. After years of trying all manners of glue including Evostick, superglue, horse and rabbit glue, I eventually gave in and gave it to an enthusiastic amateur luthier (he wasn't officially a luthier, but was a master craftsman with woodwind instruments and played DB himself). He said the neck joint was never really strong enough to hold under tension, so had to strengthen it internally with bolts. He also gave it a proper setup, and now "Mavis" as I call her, plays much better than she ever did. However, I was warned by him to be careful with her as he was still worried about the neck joint, so she is not really a gigging bass any more, I tend to use my EUB. In summary, I think the "you get what you pay for" guys were not snobs at all and were right, and it is amazing how much better and easier to play your upright will be if you get it professionally set up, regardless of how much you paid for it. Mine came from the shop "flatpacked" with the bridge off, so my initial attempts at stringing it were hopeless no matter how many Youtube videos I watched - I snapped 2x G strings and you could fly a plane under the strings. The pros will also know about advising you on how much string gap there should be for your setup - based on how you want to play it (bowed, plucked, slapped etc). Anyway, I hope I haven't put you off trying DB - it really is fun once you have a good instrument!

Lets hope they refresh the offering, I've noticed during lockdown there is not much different being uploaded documentary wise and have pretty much watched everything. I get they won't have been making anything new, but they must have a load in their archives?

Surely you could argue the same of Yardbirds with Eric, John Mayall with Eric, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and The Dominoes etc etc.....?

Oh how the mighty have fallen. All of those constantly referring to the "Clapton is God" grafitti in his Mayall days, and then...... I used to be a huge fan as a teenager learning music in the 80s/90s but tastes move on and don't listen to him so much, but it doesn't mean I am any less respectful of his and his music's influence on me as a youngster. After watching the recent documentary I only recently found out he did the guitar soloing on "Be Good To Me As I Am to You" by Aretha Franklin, presumably after one or two takes, so was opened up to his playing again. I think the fact that they included his racist rants and had him talk openly about it perhaps shows that people can learn and change. I know that if heard my own son say language like that, I would try and help him learn from it and improve as a person, not just label him for the rest of his life, but maybe that is just me. Anyway, I am no superfan of his, I just think he is being dismissed way too quickly for his contribution to music, whether you like it or not. I'm sure none of this will bother him in his mansion with gold records all over the wall....

I have not watched the OP's video, but Llarnell is an amazing drummer, whether it is your thing or not. I think the story of him with Snarky Puppy is equally as amazing - they were flying over to Amsterdam (or somewhere similar) to record one of their video sessions (I think it was We Like It Here?) and their usual drummer Robert Seawright hadn't realised his passport had expired. They had it all booked to do so contacted Llarnell who had sat in with them at the odd gig and sent him a demo of the new tracks,. He listened to them on the plane over then did the sessions with all the weird time signatures/stops etc. Pretty amazing in my book.

Maybe. I was a drummer in my teens before turning to bass and never had the money to buy shiny new stuff, so don't know much about the drum market. I gigged that kit on and off for 10 years before I even realised it was that old, so probably didn't treat it as carefully as I should have. I think it is also due to the sound - I was gigging it a lot around the 90s hip hop and Portishead sampling type music, so should have been in demand. I remember a university project I did at the time (I did a recording degree) where the lecturer turned his nose up and went "but that drum sound is really old". I replied "no s**t, that's why I drove a 5hr round trip home to get my vintage kit instead of just using the one in the studio...." Unfortunately ill health means I don't get to play it any more but used to love the dull toms with internal dampers and the bass drum sound. Not one for the rockers methinks!

I note the drum market doesn't appear to follow guitars, I assume because they usually get a lot more abuse. I have a 1965-ish Premier jazz kit slowly rotting away in my loft but every time I've looked into selling it, I always get offered a fair amount for the snare, but the same amount for the whole kit as they usually just want the snare. I've had a few offers over the years which either suggest there is just no real market for them, or they are trying to low ball me and take advantage of my lack of knowledge. P.S. I'm not looking to sell ATM and not trying to circumvent the forum rules on selling, I just thought it was relevant to the conversation.

I play bass guitar in a concert band (brass/woodwind) and they are following this constantly with obvious interest. Although everyone wants to be safe, I think they are in consternation about the separation of "professionals" - as if someone being paid would be any less or more likely to transmit the disease? I'm not into the committee rubbish so am only on the fringes of it, so don't fully understand it all anyway. As a covid/ventilator survivor, I'm not in too much of a rush to get back to the dingy rehearsal hall anyway...

I think for "missing root at end of blistering fill" - I would probably be bankrupt alone. I know plenty of 'bone players and those ones are true too! I know what they all do for a day job!

I worked with them as a sound engineer on a one off gig around 2002/2003 with 3 original members. The "mad drummer"(Dave Finnegan) was singing, the ginger drummer that quits in the film was playing drums, and the bass player was playing guitar. I think the same Alembic guy was with them then and I didn't think it sounded right either. My friend worked with them about 5 years before me and it was most of the origInal film band but with the singer Andrew Strong's dad. He said dad was an even better singer than his son.... Dave Finnegan currently tours the UK with his own band doing Commitments stuff as the singer. A former bandmate of mine plays keys with him.

A personal fave of mine is T-Bone Walker's "Going To Funky Town". Some really tasty blues piano fills all the way through.

Happy to be corrected @TrevorR - I always thought they were too similar to be a coincidence, but there you go. I know what you mean by the Soviet anthem too!

I played drums in a church band as a kid and was amazed that there was a song that started with the words "Give Thanks, to a graceful God" which I later found out was a blatant rip off of "Go West" by the Village People. I realised when the Pet Shop Boys released their version of Go West and thought they had nicked it from church til I was put right! Our bass player was a basic root note only basic player but my brother was the piano player and we used to try and mix things up a bit where we could. Unfortunately we were backing a small group of well meaning and passionate but not very good singers (my mother was one of those!) so we couldn't get too experimental. I'm sure other churches are a lot more advanced than we were!

When I used to gig regularly with my NS Design NXT5 EUB, I used to love listening to the "What the f**k is that?" comments from the crowd while setting it up. I was always surprised that I would get a lot of bass players come up at the end and ask about it but would always back away if I asked if they wanted a shot on it as though it was some scary beast that might kill them.

It looks like I was right after all. This is the BBC concert with only Melvin from his usual band (he does allude to people being missing). You can see Melvin guiding the band at some points. The leather jacket is there though! Nothing against Benorce, butI do like some of the licks and fills this guitarist plays on this.

Probably get to see him in action more in this one, but you'll just end up watching James Gadson like me!

I was wrong - the classic leather jacket (and how could I forget tartan trousers sitting cross legged!!) uber coolness was from OGWT with James Gadson and his amazing "pyjama suit".

Found this recent interview with Melvyn but he doesn't get as far as mentioning his time with Bill: https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/melvin-dunlap

That was usually Joseph "Lucky" Scott on Curtis' recordings. Another hero of mine.

I wouldn't dare to count how many times I've listened to that album. There is live UK TV concert footage knocking around of Bill playing (I think where the still in your video is from) with Melvyn sitting looking so cool with his long black leather jacket, playing his early P-bass with his thumb. Most of his band at the time is missing (James Gadson included) but it is worth a watch anyway.

I once advertised a cheap combo cab as "collection only" but then a buyer persuaded me to ship it for him, even though I didn't want to. I had just bought my new smaller cabs, so thought I would hack up the boxes to make a big one. Once I had spent ages doing this and taping them up, all the extra polystyrene padding made the dimensions a size that made shipping more expensive than the cab itself. In the end, the buyer agreed to me packing it just as a cardboard sleeve over the cab to get the dimensions down for cheaper delivery. I seem to remember it was a giant cost difference between a few cm in length/height. However, it meant I had to go out buy a load more gaffa tape and spend a whole night cutting/taping up more boxes. I think he had only offered about £10 over the postage amount for packaging, so I'm pretty sure I ended up making a loss on the postage costs if you totted up all the extra stuff I had to buy and petrol to get it etc. I also accidentally went through the cardboard to the carpet with the Stanley knife which cost me later with my landlord when I moved out... I was massively panicking over the cab getting damaged with such a thin layer of packing. It got there and the buyer contacted me to say it was dead. Luckily it turned out to be that a spade connector had fallen off, but shows the knocks it must have had in transit as I'd never had that happen before. I'm not blaming the buyer as it was my first time doing this so was a learning curve for me, but what I learned was never to do it again!

You called? I would like to point out that I am definitely not the subject tinkerer of this thread. I did defend him earlier in the thread as I thought people being snidey about his level of actual playing went too far as there are all levels of ability in this forum. However, I have no issue with his level of dodgy bodging being highlighted to protect others. Interestingly I would be interested in a guitar with wide spacing as I have tried to play guitar before but struggled due to the size of my banana fingers. I think I'll pass on this gentleman's products though....

Have told this story before, but without a doubt - Paul McCartney. I originally played drums but watching the "I Am The Walrus" bit in Magical Mystery Tour made me realise that Paul looked so much cooler than Ringo (no offence Ringo - I love you too) and without doubt meant I would pull more girls if I played bass. 28 years later, I'm still waiting for the ladies to fall at my feet.....

Welcome back. Hope your band mate/BFF is ok. Sounds horrible.