Huggy and the Bears

[quote name='Jobiebass' post='224258' date='Jun 22 2008, 04:44 PM']Quick question, Whats the best battery out there for the money and where is the best place to get them from for say a ten pack. heard diff batteries are diff sizes, im right in saying Duracell work fine in Musicman basses right?[/quote] Duracell are the best fit in a Musicman. They are a consistant fit and are nice and snug. Other batteries I've used on occasion have needed a bit of insulation tape on them to prevent movement. I change a standard Duracell battery in my Stingray about once per month and have never had reliability problems. Simon.

[quote name='ahpook' post='224915' date='Jun 23 2008, 12:08 PM']nowt galvanises a band into getting ready to gig than an impeding gig* book it for a months time, and then practise the set till then. you're not a band until you've played a gig ! [size=1]other than dipping them in hot zinc that is[/size][/quote] You must do a gig. I'm lucky in that I have balls of steel and am brave in terms of just going for it so we do lots of scary gigs with often a scratch band (and I'm a rubbish bass player!). Basically once you are on stage 'the force' takes over and everything works out well. Practicing to get things 100% is a bit like trying to fix everything on your car before you take it for the MOT test. The MOT tester mite still find something you missed anyway, so you may as well just send it for MOT and then at least you will get an accurate list of thing to fix. A gig will reassure you in some areas, and identify weak areas. Nobody dies! Ye haaaaaaa!

[quote name='Huggy and the Bears' post='220687' date='Jun 17 2008, 03:51 PM']Yep, i have to be really carefull about touching metal! I have never put my (talent??) to a positive use but this could be a cool new way of utilising my talent! I might get a couple of components and experiment with them. This could be a new line in organic ageing of guitars. I reckon we could set up a business from it! What d'ya reckon? [/quote] New Elixers fitted. lets see how long they last, applying all of the techniques I have gleened from the gurus!

[quote name='E_MaN' post='222074' date='Jun 19 2008, 12:50 PM']Not spending enough time in figuring out bass lines that I want to play that don't have a a tab...I do it but just not enough.[/quote] I tend not to play open strings apart from E. My hand spans a long way and as I'm self taught, it was just easier to fret everything so I could transpose to other keys easily to suit others in the band. It works for me!

John Lee Hooker and The Police for me. Not had an early nite yet!

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='221403' date='Jun 18 2008, 02:40 PM']I am pretty serious about getting some high end gear. At first I thought this may be GAS but now seems a genuine pursuit. Currently I have ashdown 300mag and 4 x 10 cab. My reasoning is to get the 2x10 markbass combo. I have a few options here. Full PA support sometimes, monitoring options and to use my 4x10 8 ohm as an extension cab for bigger pub gigs. Eventually I could ditch the ashdown 4 x 10 and get a high end 15, 2x10 or even a 12??? I could keep the mag head as a spare. I would like to know if anyone has worked with similar combinations. Is the £800 - £900 upgrade going to be fantastically different from what I all ready have. I like the idea of the flexibility the combo gives. I would usually only go down the seperates road. I have dabbled with the combo at low volume and been impressed. What is it like low down and dirty with its balls out. Can it cope on its own with a normal pub gig. I play a marcus jazz if that helps. cheers guys ...[/quote] I had an Ashdown EVOii 575 with a 1 x 15 and a 2 x 10 which was ok but I wanted a more compact rig and the ability to produce a modern sound when I felt like it. I was using my p bass with the Ashdown rig. I tried allsorts of stuff (borrowed from the shop) and had other bass players round with their gear so I could directly compare with my own stuff. I elected to go for a Markbass head and an Aguilar 2 x 12. initially I had a Little markii but swapped in for an LMK. I'd highly recommend this set up. Hope it helps.

[quote name='bassicinstinct' post='221132' date='Jun 18 2008, 09:24 AM']Agreed.[/quote] I have been through similar sensations before and it is usually the fact that I have slightly strained my hand in some way. last time it was dioing a bit of DIY. I could not feel anything in normal operation, but playing was unbearable and led to getting cramp also mid song. Basically get to the quacks, and continue to play but don't push it. When i have these spells i just back off a bit with playing, and play things further up the neck so that my wrist is at a better angle. Life is not over!

[quote name='Jase' post='220627' date='Jun 17 2008, 02:45 PM']Are you serious about corrosive sweat????? I'd love my machine heads done and my control plate on my jazz basses [/quote] Yep, i have to be really carefull about touching metal! I have never put my (talent??) to a positive use but this could be a cool new way of utilising my talent! I might get a couple of components and experiment with them. This could be a new line in organic ageing of guitars. I reckon we could set up a business from it! What d'ya reckon?

[quote name='Jase' post='220615' date='Jun 17 2008, 02:36 PM']The hotter, the sweatier, the better for me....I love being in a hot steaming sweaty gig, what I hate is our singer likes to use a fan and if I go anywhere near it it dries my hands out completley which is really annoying. If I had corrosive sweat I'd sweat all over my basses and get 'em all mojo'd in no time....bottle it and sell it as relic sweat![/quote] Hey i can mojo anything overnight! thats the coolest suggestion I've ever had. Send me your gear guys and I'll have it relicked in no time! I'll throw in a set of string for free!

[quote name='Merton' post='220582' date='Jun 17 2008, 01:57 PM']Yup Unless I'm playing my Grooves, in which case it's 9V. And my new bass (see build diary) is gonna be passive. Erm. That makes my arsenal a bit of a mixed bag.[/quote] I have a passive P, and passive Jazz and an active Stingray. In their own way i think they are the best at what they do and for me it depends how I feel. A bit like - do I want to drive my new sports car or my classic sports car or the hatchback today. There isn't one size-fits-all - Oh yeah there is, It's called a Stingray!

[quote name='sam88' post='220302' date='Jun 16 2008, 11:38 PM']i dont get sweaty hands but i sweat like a mother in all other bodily regions when i play, even when its nothing challenging. just a dirty biatch i guess. and the dirt very much keeps the funk! i leave strings as long as possible to get that tone.[/quote] Some old boy told me to boil my strings and re-use them. I tried a modern day version by sticking them in the dishwasher (yep I removed them from my bass first!) but whilst it removed the dirt, it didnt fix the corrosion. The comment (above) about the acid attack of the metal is what my problem is I think because over the yeras even my CD collection has deteriorated through corrosion from where I have handled them on the edges. I guess that string manufacturers don't wan't to find a solution as I must be their best customer!

[quote name='kennyrodg' post='220313' date='Jun 17 2008, 12:13 AM']Thats pretty cool,i can see us having a use for one. heres a video of a pitch corrector.you have to wait till half way through to see the results but its very impressive to say the least. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk0Ug8VMaqY&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk0Ug8VMaqY...feature=related[/url] there's mention of the hiss or noise on one of the youtube vids,its the demo one thats split into Pt1 and Pt2 edit,its here somewhere [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6RchEst7U&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS6RchEst7U...feature=related[/url][/quote] Great shout - good tips here. The pedal is cool as and bang-for-buck is worth the slight hiss.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='219958' date='Jun 16 2008, 03:59 PM']Dry hands don't filth up the strings so quick , and stop your fingers getting sore. so.. have a towel hanging from your mic stand and use it wear sporty wrist bands wear less clothing when you play to keep your body temp down Bit of prevention for you to go with the cures that others have offered.[/quote] Hmmm, getting a few good tips here. I have been using the same beer towel to wipe my strings for a couple of years now so maybe it needs substituting for a clean one from the next gig! Nice to know I'm not the only one with sewaty hands. Just for the record, not that I'm developing a complex, but the rest of me is not sweaty!!!

[quote name='peted' post='219911' date='Jun 16 2008, 03:03 PM']I have very sweaty hands, especially bad during summer gigs and under stage lights. I carry a cloth in my gig bag which I use to rub down my strings after practices and shows. I have found that my strings will last for months if I take the time to give them a quick buffing after play. Well recommended, and much cheaper than constant restringing [/quote] I see, I do give them a quick wipe but I guess it's not enough. I'll try a more rigorours cleaning. Cheers.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='219915' date='Jun 16 2008, 03:05 PM']Sorry, it's commonly known as a noise gate. It's a device that will silence a it's output after the input of the gate drops below a specified threshold. So if you have 60 dB of background noise, and you set the gate to shut off at anywhere below 61dB, then there will be no noise out of the unit until the input reaches 61dB. I use a BOSS NS-2 but some people think they're crap. I would have thought the Digitech had a gate built in, like the zoom units.[/quote] I see. I'll have a read of the book and see what it says. if not, ill see about getting a gate. i assume it just goes in line somewhere?

[quote name='artisan' post='219909' date='Jun 16 2008, 03:00 PM']i might sound daft but how about a good precision bass,i have 2 of 'em & in a band situation i find them much punchier than my jazz bass. proper kick ass tone really drives the music on. btw i just happen to have one in the for sale section [/quote] I went through a similar thing. i went from a Jazz, to another Jazz, to a P Bass (which I could have slept with it was that good) but borrowed a Stingray to play with and it does it all. I had an Ashdown setup EVOii 2x10 and 1x15 which was great for rock stuff ith the P bass but was a bit of a one-trick-pony. I bought the Stingray (3 band eq) I went onto a 2x12 Aguilar cab and a Markbass LMK head which I believe is a common combination with the Stingray. I jest not, it will do anything you want! It will out Jazz my jazz and out p my p! It's a great all rounder and if you can get the right amp combo you will never change again (In my opinion).

What do you mean by a gate?

Well, I have the sweaty-est hands known to man and I go through strings like nobody's business! After a gig, the next day they are corroding and within a week the sound has gone. I've been recently using Elixer (Nano coated doofers) which are supposed to last for ages (£30 a set!) but they are lasting about 3 weeks before they deteriorate. Is this the norm or am I an alien? Any (useful!) suggestions would be great! Also if a string manufacturer would like to experiment on me - bring it on! Si.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='219895' date='Jun 16 2008, 02:43 PM']So is the rythm guitar going through the PA as well? Couldn't you have the guitar sending an line to the digitech that isn't heard? I.e a send before the guitarist's amp? Maybe that explains the hiss? It sounds very interesting. If I had gigs to play, i'd get one![/quote] No, the guitar just feeds a signal to the pedal and does not run through it in terms of sound. Even with the guitar unplugged you get a hiss. It is definitely the pedal but I wondered if anyone had sussed how to cure it. You don't hear it when there is a bit of noise going on people chatting but I know it's there and it's bugging me.

Also, you do get a slight hiss through the PA. Anyone else sorted this yet???

[quote name='tauzero' post='215398' date='Jun 9 2008, 01:11 PM']Experiment, experiment, experiment... We're still in the early days of using ours and Kaz went through each song, working out what harmonies would sound best on each part of the song. Don't go mad with harmonies, set two adjacent patches up with possible harmonies and A-B them. What instrument will be driving it? They're jolly clever about working out the key, even from an arpeggiated guitar, but a bass might not be the optimum source and you can't (IIRC) pre-program the key along with all the other parameters if you're using preset key and not detected key.[/quote] Well I've done a few gigs now and have nailed it (I think!). I'm just using a pre set (3rd up and 3rd down) and that is enough for me. The biggest issue I have had with it though are the pedal locations. Fancy putting the harmony pedal in the middle. I play bass and am the lead singer so I'm kind of busy on stage, I accidentally repeatedly hit the up/down pedals throughout the night which was pretty funny as in the middle of 'Fire' - Jimi Hendrix, the vocals went onto Chipmonk and then Borg!!! Everyone thought it was part of the act but I was playing, singing and screaming at one of the band members to get me back to my setting. She had never seen the pedal before and started dancing the wrong direction on the pedals and I think I finished off on Gospel! You can confuse it so it stays on harmony and can't turn it off - hence the problem. Additionally I hit the tuner pedal once which cut the rhytham guitar (which is going through the VL4) and put the harmony out of key. What a night. I have now had metal covers made and attached to the unit that cover the up/down pedals and then one for the tuner pedal. They are hinged so you can lift them up for pedal access but during world war 3, you can only hit the harmony pedal. The metal covers have also given me a degree of 'feel' with my foot with out looking down. Top tip if ever there was one. Highly recommended as a serious piece of kit. I play on a Sunday night and get quite a few off-duty local muso's come down for a chat and sometimes a jam and all are blown away with it so far

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='219814' date='Jun 16 2008, 01:08 PM']I agree that many covers bands are culturally redundant in the context of pushing musical boundaries. As I've mentioned already, I think function bands help set the mood at an event, they're not culturally [i]irrelevant[/i] at all.[/quote] This is getting interesting. I think that we are all at different stages of evolution in terms of our playing. I got into playing because I was in awe of musicians I had seen (many of them doing covers) which inspired me to play. I play in my band and we do covers mainly because I do not have the ability (yet) to write my own stuff because I am not that far down the evolutionary journy. Doing covers makes live music more accessible to the public in the same way that the people that can't get to go and see the Mona Lisa, can enjoy a print of it from the local picture shop. You could argue that the print has no integrity along with the people that produce it, however, the shop keeper (whilst not an original artist) does his job in the process well along with probably the factory workers who printed the picture. They may be budding artists at some stage of the evolutionary process but don't have the skills to paint an original picture as grand as the Mona Lisa. So, my point is, it took me eight months from first picking up a guitar to performing my first gig with my own band. Looking back it was very ropey, but I was filled with integrity, playing the covers that I had learnt. It would be easy for someone to judge me for my poor performance/lack of integrity on that night, but to me, it was the performance of a lifetime. As my experience increases, so does my ability to play different and original things but I don't think that gives me more integrity - just more experience...