TPJ

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1332421756' post='1588047'] I've got to be honest,but I don't particularly like the Stagg electric upright....mainly because of the sound. I'd prefer to look for a proper upright.....you can get a decent enough model for under £500.... A friend of mine has a beautiful $12,000 Juzek,but prefers the feel and tone of his $500 Chinese bass. Electric uprights are great but unless you are willing to spend quite a lot of money,they are no substitue for an acoustic bass. It is not uncommon for players of electric upright to not be able to last for one tune on an acoustic,due to the physical differences. [/quote] Not sure I'm with you on this. If you play an upright with the same action and setup as the EUB then chances are you'd be fine. Getting proper instruction would very much help in this regard. I think fumps has already suggested that he has a small house so the Stagg is probably a better option...for now

I've got a Hurley off Ebay. I was hoping to pass it around so people could try it on their basses and we can get an overall view to it's usability. I'll post it to you to try if you like. You may need to sand down the wing gaps a little for it to fit. PM me if you want to try it.

[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1332158128' post='1583965']i just love playing mine too,the poor old BG just sits & collects dust now. [/quote] Whilst pretty much all of my gigs are on DB, I still practice electric more than DB. I suppose that accounts for my somewhat dubious intonation

If that's the model with the mag pup and the piezo then it may be more expensive. The NXT only has the piezo pickup if memory serves correctly. What sort of music will you be playing? Will you need the mag pup?

I'd like to make it. The 7th is out for me but with any luck another date will work.

Where are you playing?

Have fun Neil. Give the drummer chop sticks and tell him he has to make do playing with them

Is this the one? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jktmj5W5FIw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jktmj5W5FIw[/url]

I learned soprano when I worked on ships. I wanted something to write melodies with and I had all day to do nothing so I focused on learning sax. It's a fun instrument. Bill Evans and Wayne Shorter were tones I was aiming for, that rich boxy tone. Makes your face feel funny for a while when first learning.

[quote name='BassInMyFace' timestamp='1331631686' post='1576016'] Drums, gypsy guitar, keys, 2 vocalists and a big old array of synths and samplers. It's the electro stuff that causes the problems, with electro beats and samples you need a big prominent bass sound to keep up. And yes in all fairness electric bass is probably the logical choice buuuuuut, it's electro swing and getting the db to swing and bring up the old time time sound really adds to the character we are trying to get. Old meets new if you see what I mean. For this reason I'm seeing the mag pickup as a perfect solution, it will reproduce some of the character of the db (hopefully enough to differentiate it from the EB) but have the power, punch and reliability of EB. Only problem is string choice, ideally I want nylon low tension to thump and click but so far can only really find the Presto nylon wound/ jazzicato that has a metal core suitable for mag pickups. There goes another 100 beans........ [/quote] Sounds like a fun gig. You could try bumping Spiros. That would give you the metal content and low tension. I think slobluesine may do this.

I totally agree with you bluejay, if you started playing lefty then that's how you play. I guess I was lucky (?) that I was told to play righty when I started. It would be nuts to expect anyone to change preference once they've been playing for a while. I did see one chap years ago that could play his electric bass righty and lefty. He would play a song then flip the bass over and play the next song opposite... I'd give my left arm to be that ambidextrous

I'm a lefty and when I first picked up a DB in high school, I did so lefty. My teacher promptly said "oh no,no no..." and made me play righty. Best thing that happened really. All the dexterity of my left hand is there for the fingerboard now instead of plucking and bowing. It's been an age old question in my head why rightys don't play lefty and leftys don't play righty.

Depends on how "close" you mean with sounding like an upright. A lot of that sound has to do with technique, strings, setup etc... Both those choices can sound nice, people have good results with the Staggs as well. Also, if you're new to upright instruments, find a DB teacher and get some lessons about left and right hand technique when your first learning. It will make learning easier and keep you from getting injuries in the early stages. Most of all, have fun

[quote name='Mr Bassman' timestamp='1330627493' post='1560743'] Sod it then, let's all go to Canterbury, we could all stay at Beedsters [/quote] ROAD TRIP!!!

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1330595076' post='1559829'] I have this irrational fear of low tension strings. I have convinced myself that the best way to build up technique is to deal with the more demanding action of a bass with higher tension strings. I have this idea that, if I go for really light strings, I will have the r/h technique of a big girly wuss and sound like a lightweight. [/quote] Maybe it's the action that needs looking at. The Velvets are lower tension than Spiros, but you can nearly slip a piece of toast under my strings. That firms things up a bit for sure and offers more tension.

I bought Mike's Tone Trunk. Great to deal with, excellent coms and nice quick transaction with no fuss at all. Thanks again.

Research is the key. Read threads on this site and on talkbass, doublebasschat, Gollihur's etc... You can get a feel for what you think might work for your bass, budget and tone. I read so much that I knew Spiros in any form were out for me, totally not the sound I was after. My budget dictated that expensive guts were out. With my cheap bass I assumed the table was thicker and heavy tension strings would choke it (which it does). So, I tried Honeys to start, Evah Weichs next thinking they were lower tension than they are on my bass, and am now running Velvet Animas after reading that they offer lower tension that is even across all strings. A used set came up here. I'll go back to Honeys when the Velvets wear out. All these decisions were from reading the entire interweb about double basses and strings. Hours and hours were lost But, 2 out of 3 choices were good ones.