redstriper

drugs it is then....................

We played the earliest and shortest gig ever on Saturday. Drove an hour and a half to the International Eistedffod in Llangollen - got there at 10.00 am. Got on stage at 11.00 am, played 30 seconds of soundcheck and the whole stage was shut down for the day because the sound was interferring with the choirs in the main pavillion, so we drove home in time for lunch. They phoned the other 6 bands booked for the day and cancelled them - shame we were on first or I could have stayed in bed. Mad thing is that the council provided the marquee, stage, PA, backline etc. and paid all the bands at considerable cost. Ah well - rock & roll...................

Sometimes when I play, (at a gig, practise or recording session) I find myself in 'the zone' where everything I play sounds and feels great - I'm at one with my bass and so into the music, it feels marvelous. If the other musicians are also into it, then magic can occur and it's the best feeling this side of sex - and if the crowd picks up on it at a gig, then it can be very special indeed. Other times, I feel the opposite - nothing works, the bass feels wrong and I just can't get into the groove. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this phenomenon and how you deal with it - is there an easy way to get into the groove, or do you just wait for the groove to get into you?

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='889749' date='Jul 8 2010, 06:21 PM']The electronics in a GB are custom built and have an EQ and signal output that you would not believe - it is very hot indeed. Compare this with the passive pick ups in a 35 year old bass and you get chalk and cheese![/quote] Sorry, I'm thick but I still don't see the problem - can't you just turn the gain up on your amp to compensate?

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='889213' date='Jul 8 2010, 08:10 AM']There is also a huge difference in the output from the two basses which does cause a problem or two as well.[/quote] How so?

Markbass LM11 does it for me after trying quite a few, it's very clean, warm and deep and it fits in a laptop case. I use one or two 15" cabs depending on the venue and sometimes just use the amp as a DI box if there's a big PA with good monitors. I don't like the markbass cabs so much and I'm not keen on combos cos they limit flexibility. LM11s or similar models often come up on here for about £350 which is what I paid - I wouldn't buy new if you can avoid it. I got my cabs here too and fitted Eminence 3015LF woofers in them - they are the business for dub and weigh almost nothing.

I know it's boring, but I recommend you read the manual I have an alesis multimix firewire and it needs to be connected to a computer running recording software to do what you're talking about. Mine came with a free version of cubase, but it doesn't have the ipod slot. I'm guessing the ipod slot is so you can mix down to stereo, but I don't think an ipod is capable of multitrack recording.

Kala/Ashbory comparisons: Kala U-bass is 20" scale, while the Ashbory is 18". Kala uses a passive piezo pup without tone controls, while the Ash needs a 9v battery and has bass and treble tone controls. Kala is available fretted or fretless, while the Ash is fretless only. Kala comes with polyurethane strings which do not need talc - a little silicone spray, (cheap from builders merchants) is enough to remove the stickiness. The original Ashbory strings do need talc and are prone to random breakage, to the point that I almost gave up on mine until finding the Kala type (roadtoad pahoehoe) strings which I now use on my Ashbory because they are more stable and much stronger. Both mini basses are similar soundwise, (think big bottom) and quite addictive to play once you get used to them and the weight and size are simply marvelous.

[quote name='funkle' post='878286' date='Jun 26 2010, 05:27 PM']I don't think of the knobs on the Jazz as volumes, really more 3 tone knobs...[/quote] I absolutely agree and I only realised this fact recently after 30 years of having the volumes either full on or off - doh !

[quote name='solo4652' post='876658' date='Jun 24 2010, 05:40 PM']I have one of these which I don't use: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/planet_waves_50dare000_gitarrengurt.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/planet_waves_50da...itarrengurt.htm[/url] It's not new and it does have 1 or 2 marks on it, but you're welcome to have it for the cost of postage. PM me if you're interested. Steve[/quote] Hi Steve, If no one else wants it, I would certainly appreciate it. I currently use 2 straps to get a similar result. Cheers, Steve.

We'll be on Greenwich market all day today, in Stoke Newington tonight and driving back to Wales early tomorrow morning. Might also be travelling by train from euston to bangor on sat 3rd July if that's any good? Steve.

It depends what sound and feel you want. Rounds are necessary for the Jaco sound, flats are warmer with less zing and mwaah. I find flats more forgiving than rounds and also softer on the fingers, plus I gave up trying to play/sound like Jaco years ago. My favourites are TI jazz flats - easy to play with more mwaah than many other flats. My friend plays like Jaco and uses rounds which sound great when he plays, but awful when I try. My ability would have to improve dramatically before I'd put rounds on my fretless. Edit to say I agree with Gwilym - my mate's been using rounds on his RW jazz board since the 80s and there's no sign of wear, but I'm not sure about phenolic or plastic boards.

Don't know if this is any help, but I'm driving from London to Bangor on Friday, if you can get the bass to Stoke Newington before then.

Not sure how relevant this is but I use a 3015LF in a small lightweight cab and it sounds super big in the low end - very deep and perfect for reggae. I add another cab when required, which isn't very often.

[quote name='Rayman' post='860420' date='Jun 7 2010, 10:00 PM']Consider it my quest[/quote] In that case - please check for dead spots too

[quote name='BB2000' post='860406' date='Jun 7 2010, 09:49 PM']I had a US JB2 for a couple on months. It's interesting to see the post above commenting on the powerful pickups, as my experience was the opposite. In terms of output the pickups in mine did not produce the same output as a typical Fender Jazz pickup, but it did seem to have a wider frequency response and a larger dynamic range than a Fender pup. They seemed to be less prone to hum as well. I liked it a lot, but the one I had did suffer from a bad dead spot across three frets on the G string. They are very comfortable to play, and the one I had was the lightest jazz I've ever had, at a shade over 8lb.[/quote] Thanks for that information BB - I don't like the 3 fret deadspots, that's really not acceptable on a high end bass. My old jazz has a dead spot on one fret (E flat on the G) which isn't too bad, but I wouldn't like 3 of the buggers. I don't mind low output pups, in fact I generally prefer them because they are less bright and have less bark and I can always turn the amp gain up to compensate. The wider frequency response is interesting, especially if it extends downwards - I'm not really interested in anything above the norm.

[quote name='Rayman' post='860385' date='Jun 7 2010, 09:36 PM']I'm off to Sounds Great tomorrow then.[/quote] Good work Rayman! If they've got a JB-2 tribute, do me a favour and check it out for me with special attention to the solo neck pup sound with the tone rolled off and all the mids and top cut on the amp (markbass LM2 if pos). Nowt like cheek eh!

I've never tried a G&L at all and look forward to having a go - I'm amazed that nobody on here has a JB-2, it's a modern jazz bass from the inventor after all. Rayman - I think both purpleturtle and sounds great have them in stock and they're in your area if you want to check them out (and report back) - just a thought

[quote name='Rayman' post='860353' date='Jun 7 2010, 09:10 PM']I'm on the verge of picking up a G&L USA L2000, so all that info's been very useful. I understand there are issues with a bit of buzz from the pups on some early models, don't if that's true? Either way, I'm looking forward to trying one out in the next couple of days. In my case the low thump I need for dub stuff is covered with my Precision fitted with flats, so I'm hoping for some bright honk from the L2000.[/quote] I don't know what's in me tea, but I'm seeing triple.......... I've never found a precision with as much low end as my old jazz - they do thump though. BTW - are you getting the L2000 from purpleturtle or sounds great?

So no one on here has a JB-2 ? And hardly anyone has played one - odd considering all the other jazz-alikes and this actually comes from Leo's old firm.

Nathan is from my village and not too shabby on bass - doesn't seem 5 minutes since he was at primary school with my kids And Paul from Drymbago also lurks on here sometimes. But Pino is from darn sarf wales where they speak funny. Oh and then there's Percy...

Thanks again funkgod I respect your love of middle and treble, but they have no place in my world. It's all about deep smooth fundamental bass for me, I don't like slap, zing, honk or bark - think Familyman, Robbie Shakespear, Jah Wobble, King Tubby, Lee Perry or even Jamerson and you can see where I'm coming from. I'm fortunate because I have a bass that does the job perfectly, it's just a bit too heavy and I fancy a new toy! It may be an impossible quest and it's proving harder than I thought it would be - I've tried a lot of basses, even including other 60s jazzes and I haven't found anything with 'my' tone yet. I'm going to London next week to collect an Aria Sinsonido that I bought blind here and I hope to stop at Bass Direct on the way to try the JB-2 along with anything else that takes my eye.

Or how about 3 basses and nothing else.............. [url="http://myspace.com/tacsiband"]Tacsi[/url] [url="http://myspace.com/redstriper"]Redstripe[/url] Or how about 4.................. [url="http://www.myspace.com/hamddena"]Owen[/url] In fact, there's a few more I can think of - maybe we should form a Cymru bass ensemble