EliasMooseblaster

Well, it's a new rig, rather than a new amp, really. After upgrading to a bigger and more menacing head, I decided to hang on to my Ashdown LB30 and set up a more luxurious / self-indulgent home practice rig. After a bit of scouting around, Merton very kindly pointed me in the direction of SiFi2112's 1x10 Cab For Sale thread. The two have finally been united for the first time tonight: [attachment=188006:LB30_2.jpg] I got a bit of a surprise when I first turned it on - those 30 valve watts definitely seem a lot louder than the 30W SS amp I was practising through previously! I could see this being an ideal setup for acoustic gigs. The cab is a DIY job with an Eminence driver mounted in a nicely lightweight enclosure. The clarity of the speaker is superb, and it really compliments the Ashdown head nicely. Perhaps if I can get myself organised at a more sociable hour this week, I'll try and record a little audio demo. In any case I'm really pleased - the cat, however, remains a little suspicious of the new arrival... [attachment=188007:LB30_JM.jpg]

[quote name='lou24d53' timestamp='1427813259' post='2734539'] [i]If accepted you please make sure:- You do NOT play any show in Glasgow at least 4 weeks either side of date above. You do NOT have any members under the age of 18 years old. (Unless show is over 14s) You pick your tickets up within 5 days of being notified that they are ready for collection. You arrange backline share with the other bands on the bill as backline including drum kit will not be provided. The show will not be confirmed until these stipulations are agreed and all above questions have been answered.[/i] So basically there is a ticket sale split of 30% to the band and 70% to the venue, we are not allowed to play any gigs in Glasgow for two months - a month either side of the date - and we are expected to provide full backline agreed between all bands on the bill...erm, where do I sign??! [/quote] Wow. Yeah, that's basically got all the hallmarks of a "pay to play" gig (which, incidentally, the MU is dead against; see http://www.worknotplay.co.uk/). The clause about not playing the same area within a certain timeframe I'd normally argue was common sense, but normally it's two weeks, or "not in the same month" - four weeks either side of that date seems to be extracting the micturate somewhat!

[quote name='DaytonaRik' timestamp='1427812251' post='2734528'] We're turning gigs away in the Derby area as our drummer can't commit to more than the current workload which is a real shame! [/quote] Interesting...are these gigs generally well attended? We (Cherry White) played Derby at the beginning of February and the singer from Thunderous Jones, who invited us up for the gig, told us that they hardly bother to play around Derby because nobody seems to bother coming out for live music! It was the first time we'd played Derby, so we knew very little about the local scene, and took his word for it - but it sounds like your experience is a bit different from his.

[quote name='alittlebitrobot' timestamp='1427710920' post='2733211'] I wonder how low he's willing to go. [/quote] Bottom F, according to the listing... [/coat]

It's certainly no [i]Single Ladies,[/i] is it? Long as you liked the song - that's the important bit, after all!

Update: we now have a studio version of the song finalised, with our proper singer! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJXxa8v7jzo

[quote name='dub_junkie' timestamp='1427370782' post='2729413'] One of two gigging bands I play with. This was filmed at the Celtic Connections festival,Danny Kyle stage at the Glasgow Royal Concert hall at the end of January this year. I'm using the USA Ovation Elite bass I bought off Scooby on here a while back. [/quote] Lovely stuff - is that chap to your left playing some kind of electric mandolin? Thought I'd put up a more recent offering myself: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSYpwVPg0IQ[/media]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1427388079' post='2729799'] "I play my Rickenbacker sitting down with my music stand in front of me..." [/quote] Good god man, it's not enough just to [i]say[/i] it; you have to start on the subject in which you question how anybody in their right mind can play their Rickenbacker standing up and without a music stand in front of them. If in doubt, question the parentage of anybody who says otherwise ([i]especially[/i] those who play with a music stand behind them).

[quote name='jonnythenotes' timestamp='1427382755' post='2729700'] I am very much aware of the hundred years blues has been about, this is why I mentioned it in the first place, but as long as I am trying to get gigs for a Blues band, I will continue to be greeted by venue owners or agents with the look of someone sucking on a lemon.. [/quote] This possibly alludes to the problem I mentioned above, where a lack of imagination from a number of artists has left people with the impression that "The Blues" is just a one-trick pony of a genre - and if they've sat through enough half-arsed "Blues" bands at their local, you perhaps can't blame them for thinking that. I've run up against it myself on occasion - the following is from a review of Cherry White's first EP: "[color=#333333][font=Georgia,]Blues rock is well-charted territory, and when a band claims it as their own I tend to steel myself for a restatement of the themes that made for gig-going tedium in my teens; at one time only blues bands could get gigs, and their licks? I know them. [/font][/color][b]Cherry White[/b][color=#333333][font=Georgia,] play bluesy material, rather than just twelve-bars, which helps a lot (knowing [/font][/color][i]exactly[/i][color=#333333][font=Georgia,] where the harmony is going tends to undermine narrative tension a tad), and while their approach is hardly a radical departure from the traditions of the genre, they strike pretty much the right balance, bringing enough novelty (and enthusiasm) to proceedings to sound fresh. "[/font][/color] We both know that there is more to Blues than just the few popular variations on the 12- and 8-bar structure, but how many other people know that if they're not already fans of the genre? Country and Folk will have suffered from people assuming similar sets of clichés in all examples of the music, but now they've managed to re-establish themselves as "cool." I can think of plenty of artists who steer clear of these clichés and are proud to fall under the "Blues" umbrella - what else do we need to happen for it to become acceptable again?

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1427359984' post='2729232'] No one mentioned Joanne Shaw Taylor yet. I suspect most of the blues followers are 40 something to sixty something, very few young kids follow it. In this connected world, no one learns to play Key To The Highway anymore from a record when there is so much other stuff around. [/quote] She was one of the first people that came to mind when I read the blog post! A really excellent player, and her last couple of albums have managed to do "blues" (albeit more at the rock end of the spectrum) without re-treading too many 12-bars. The first person who came to mind was Ian Siegal. A guitarist friend got some lessons from him at some guitar camp, and reported that the lessons focused more on the background of the blues, and trying to do something different with its generic form, than on flashy soloing. Apparently they were accompanied by a very interesting rant about Stevie Ray Vaughan and many of his disciples who made the mistake of focusing on the guitar solo rather than the quality of the writing. I had this confirmed in a more polite form when I heard him interviewed on Radio 2, talking about how he'd made an active effort to write songs which didn't fall back on those standard I-IV-V changes. [i]Meat and Potatoes [/i]and [i]Swagger [/i]are both great examples of how to write a clever and inventive blues album and, being a bit more "rootsy" than JST, he's also unlikely to offend the Blues Police.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1427358986' post='2729214'] Nothing wrong with a Daisy Rock in my book. Unashamedly targeted at teenage girls and if this brand gets more girls out there taking up bass then that can only be a good thing [/quote] Indeed, and why limit it just to teenage girls? I remember the daisy-shaped ones hanging in my local music shop years ago, and a mischievous part of me quite likes the butterfly design, and is wondering whether I could pull it off onstage. Ironically enough, I now find myself thinking, [i]hmm, but it's probably short-scale, isn't it? And I do look a bit silly with a short-scale bass on me...[/i]

Took a while...hard for me to place exactly how long, but I can remember coming away from rehearsals with shredded fingertips a good two or three years after I first took up the bass. If I remember rightly, it stopped hurting quite a bit before that. I did find GHS Fast Fret was quite good for reducing the friction between my fingertips and the strings, especially as I would have been sanding off a lot of skin back then!

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1427214100' post='2727320'] Hi all, Just a quick question! Looking for recommendations for an electric/acoustic bass with an upright sound. Been looking at those Kala U-Basses although open to options. Would something like a fretless Hofner do the job? Not really interested in an EUB as such - just trying to get some options Thanks in advance for advice or opinions Danny [/quote] How close are you trying to get? I'm listening back to a track we mixed last weekend, on which I played a fretless bass guitar with flats - I suspect if this was played to an audience, those who didn't play bass might mistake it for an upright. On the other hand, another bass player would probably recognise it after hearing a few tell-tale signs, so I guess it depends how convincing a disguise you need!

[b]"...[color=#333333]apart from this I can only get sound by holding the volume knob, makes playing rather challenging."[/color][/b] [color=#333333]No s@!t, Sherlock?[/color]

[quote name='Thump' timestamp='1426842573' post='2722469'] If its a colour thing , there is always this option and its £400 cheaper too [url="http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/bass_guitars_detail.asp?stock=12050409483749"]http://www.guitargui...=12050409483749[/url] [/quote] Better still, it appears to be running with some kind of "buy 4 strings, get 1 free" deal... [/coat]

Many thanks for all the input, folks. Points duly taken about a lot of time and money being ploughed into a DIY project (and having assembled a Frankenbass recently I know how this can happen!), but in my trawling of BC Marketplace, Google and eBay, the only "cheap" options seem to be SS 1x10 combos - and I already have one of those! I was thinking of buying a pre-built enclosure and simply mounting the speaker in that, then maybe modding it as necessary to replace the jack plate with a speaker cable input. I'm not expecting to end up with anything that will compete with a Mi-10 in terms of tone, as it would really just be for home use. On the other hand, I wouldn't feel any compunction about modding it to buggery if I felt it needed porting or whatever...

[quote name='happynoj' timestamp='1426531553' post='2719005'] If only his bloody signature wasn't scrawled all over the headstock! Why can't they put them on the back? I love the way this bass looks but I couldn't play it out in case people thought I liked U2. EDIT: And if I was going to have an Adam Clayton sig model, it would this one... [/quote] Gordon Bennett, how many signature basses does this man have to his name?!

[quote name='Mr Thumb' timestamp='1426773972' post='2721794'] I like Wonky2's suggestion's. How about "Councillor Fudge" that always make me laugh, or just pick a name from Roger Mellies Profanisaurus.... "Dutchblindfold", "Darth Vaders Hat Stand", the list is endless. [/quote] Now you mention it, [i]Kojak's Roll-Neck [/i]could be a good name for a band...

Long story short: I'm taking a furtive look into acquiring the parts for a 1x10 cab and cobbling it together myself. After upgrading to a much more powerful head (thanks again, Merton!), my Ashdown Little Bastard 30 is gathering dust. The original plan was to flog it, but I'm starting to think it would be awfully nice to have a valve amp to practice through at home. Only trouble is, the cheapest small cabs I can find are about £200 RRP. Inspired by Bottle's thread on DIY guitar heads (http://basschat.co.uk/topic/257258-diy-valve-amp-kits/page__hl__diy), I did some googling and found a TB thread on DIY cabs: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/low-cost-diy-practice-coffeehouse-tweeterless-110-long.736360/ and began to wonder if I could take a cheaper (and more fun) DIY route. Trouble is, the above is all in American money. I've worked out that I can probably get a Celestion for £40-60, and an enclosure for somewhere in the region of £30. Add an appropriate jack, plate and wire and I might even be able to do it for less than a hundred...unless anybody with any knowledge or experience can warn me that this is a really bad idea!

[quote name='Jonnyboy Rotten' timestamp='1426693137' post='2720894'] Surely that would be a prince albert? [/quote] No, you're thinking of Hole-Punch Willy!

I've been using it for years, but I appreciate that it's not for everyone. In my case - I have relatively dry skin - I like a relatively bright tone - I move around the neck a lot so I've found it good for reducing the friction under my fingertips, and for keeping my rounds sounding a bit brighter for a bit longer. I should add that I've even taken to using on my fretless, which is strung with flats, again for keeping the friction down. Yes, you do have to wipe away the excess, not to mention a lot of fluff, but I find it's a pretty convenient way to quickly spruce up the strings before a gig. That, and most of my basses have a rosewood board (or similar), and I'm in the camp that believes it helps to rub some oil into the wood - my guitar tech friend agrees with me, but warns me that the jury is still out on the matter!

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1426598634' post='2719660'] I'm not sure that I see the problem with Kanye headlining Glastonbury. It's a popular music festival, he's a popular music performer, and surely any festivalgoer looking for something less mainstream won't be at the main stage for much of the festival anyway. [b] Yet I keep seeing petitions urging the Glasto organisers to cancel his slot, as though it was some sort of betrayal of Glastonbury principles. Am I missing something?[/b] [/quote] Jesus, really? I know that some of these online petitions are a good thing, giving a voice to people in difficult situations and all that, but I feel like some people are just taking the p*** now (see the competing "fire/don't fire Jeremy Clarkson" petitions for further evidence of this). Does it really matter that much who plays the headline slot at Glastonbury? I think Beer of the Bass is quite correct - if Kanye's not your thing, there's plenty of other stages to try (and if you can't find anything else you like, why the hell are you at Glastonbury in the first place?)

[quote name='Jenny_Innie' timestamp='1426545726' post='2719282'] He's headlining Glastonbury this year, so he must be very good. [/quote] I'm a little surprised that he didn't storm the organisers' meeting and demand that the slot be given to Beyonce...

It's never *just* a look in the window, is it? Gorgeous bit of kit, that!