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thisnameistaken

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Posts posted by thisnameistaken

    Every child to learn an instrument?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1410377458' post='2548829']Consider the petition's bland affirmation which restates the NPME's anodyne ambition: 'Every child should have the opportunity to play a musical instrument'. Do we ever stop to consider what this might entail and whether the cost is supportable? We do not because we do not really care.[/quote]

    I've been struggling to figure out where the treasury spends its money for years, I certainly don't seem to be getting much value out of taxation. I'm quite content to fund others' medical treatments and education though, and I'd be happy to see - for example - Trident ditched and that money spent on giving school pupils something more useful to do with their time.

    Every child to learn an instrument?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I think you've got to consider the wider benefits of learning to play an instrument, rather than just focusing on how well the student creates music. I saw they're introducing programming to the curriculum too, which non-programmers might think a bit of a niche pursuit, but like music it will benefit students in so many ways, developing analytical and problem-solving skills. Those will be more valuable than the ability to remember collections of facts...

    Album out and Band split.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1410303005' post='2548105']
    You can't beat a 3 piece in my opinion. Who needs a singer if one of you can sing. Better still if all 3 of you can sing.
    [/quote]

    That's what we're doing now, but could really benefit from a keyboard player for the stuff we're doing.

    Stingray quandry

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    A lot of players prefer the 2-band because it's easier to dial in a scooped sound, which to be fair is the sound the Stingray is best known for. I think the 3-band EQ is more useful on fretless models.

    I've only had a 3-band Stingray and I just didn't get on with it physically, so the sound would have had to be irreplaceably amazing to make me hang on to it, which it wasn't.

    Album out and Band split.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    My last full-time band, I quit just before we released an EP we'd been working on for a year. Two years on with another bass player, they split just before they released their debut album.

    I guess it's quite common. To be honest though in my band it seems it was mostly coincidence. I quit not because of the recording but because one of the band members was unbearable, and the whole band eventually gave up not because of recording, but because one of the other guys decided that the same band member was unbearable.

    Me and the other original members are now quite happily making much better music together without the unbearable one. :)

    Buying used strings ?

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted · Edited by thisnameistaken

    I've bought loads of used upright strings here and rarely had an issue with any of them. I did have an issue with a G string once from an expensive and notoriously fragile brand (which are now my favourite brand - bloody typical) but I didn't mention it to the seller because I've bought and sold with him so many times in the past I knew he'd be mortified. :)

    Edit: This was a long time ago, it has come up in conversation since then, so if you're thinking it might be you it isn't you!

    Advice wanted for a gig rig

    in Amps and Cabs

    Posted

    I'm a bit late to the party, but...

    The usual 4x or 8x10 cabs are a bit old hat these days. They're insanely heavy and unwieldy and they aren't very efficient, so you're lugging around a huge piece of equipment for very little benefit. You will come to hate them once your gig schedule gets busy.

    If your budget is over a grand, look at some of the lighter kit (2x12, perhaps + tweeter) offered by brands like Barefaced, Schroeder et al. They might look expensive but they work. They really work! You can carry them in one hand if necessary, they offer a 4ohm load to the amp so they'll give you all the power from a 500w head, and they'll give you all the volume you could ever need from backline gear.

    All this said I do like Hartke gear, I was running an LH500 for years and it was rock solid reliable and sounded great. I swapped it out for a GB Shuttle in the end but only to save weight, and to be honest I still think the Hartke sounded better.

    Mighty Mite necks

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted

    I've got a Jazz with a Mighty Mite body, Moses neck. The body routings were mega tight, had to sand the neck pocket quite a bit to get the neck in, and even had to sand the pickup cavities a bit to get the Fender N3s in. Still, I'd rather have that than the opposite, and it's a lovely body, finish (oly white) is great too.

    Top Tendonitis Tips!

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    A lot of electric bass parts in pop music are really difficult on double bass - doing repeating 1-3-5 patterns in the low positions with a lot of plucked notes per bar is hard work and it will wear you out doing it for 3/4 minutes at a time. That sort of thing doesn't usually sound very good on the DB either IME, so if I was doing your gig I'd try to adjust the parts to make them more appropriate for the instrument while approximating the feel of the original. Certainly I wouldn't play your average disco bass line on DB.

    What settings on the Fishman Bass Platinum EQ do you use?

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    That's quite a mid-heavy sound, quite typical of a piezo pickup and the sort of sound I try to dial out to be honest! So my advice probably won't help much, but I'd say start with the EQ flat, dial out any unwanted boominess with the depth knob, then tweak the EQ to suit, but try to use as little as possible. I usually end up with a little maybe 3db boost of the bass slider, even less on the low mid and everything else flat, but I take the Bass Max off the bass unless I'm doing a loud gig, so the pickup's not always mounted exactly the same and I do have to do a little tweaking when I use it.

    P or J?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by thisnameistaken

    [quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1409650964' post='2541785']is it easy to fit a series/parallel switch? :)[/quote]

    Yeah. To avoid drilling I install a push/pull tone pot with a 2PDT switch attached, and use that. I've done it to two jazzes and it's very straightforward.

    [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/Stealth385/Bass/jazzSPindepvol.png"]http://img.photobuck...zSPindepvol.png[/url]

    FWIW I also use 500k pots and a .1uF tone cap, so it's a very bright sound by default but the tone will roll off tons of high end.

    Top Tendonitis Tips!

    in EUB and Double Bass

    Posted

    That's weird. Bass guitar irritates my wrist tendons (which have been a problem for a few years) but upright doesn't. Have you ever had a lesson on the upright? Might be worth getting a professional to look at your technique because for me at least it's surprisingly easy on my weak, girly wrists. :)

    How does your band rehearse?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We try to get together once a week. I record all the rehearsals using a little Zoom H2, then I listen through the track and slice out any interesting bits and share them as mp3s on Google Drive. Me and the guitarist usually take those little nuggets and flesh them out a bit at home, then we've got song-like things to work on at the next practise.

    We don't always manage to get together every week, but at least that way we've got stuff we all agree is worth working on, and we can do that outside of the studio.

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