lastnotleast

A bit of news for you Notting Hillbillies, I started playing bass in August of this year having played keys, guitar, drums and trumpet for 45 years prior. My post to "sub for your absent bass player" in the local Craigs List, intended to recoup my meager investment, yeilded a call from a modern country rock band. We just did a weekend in Nashville starting at Tootsie's and finishing at Honky Tonk Central. I consider myself unusually fortunate. I am the dapper geezer on the right.

Are they not available in Europe? Acoustic was purchased by Guitar Center which is a national retail chain here in the states. I believe they are made (as many things are these days) in China. As a young drummer, my bass player used an Acoustic 360 making me perhaps a bit too comfortable with the brand. However, having paid only $300.00 US for a B200H (200W@4ohms) head and (2) B115 (250W) cabintes, I have absolutely no complaints.

My understanding is that it delays the low frequencies to align them in real time with high frequencies so as to arrive at the speaker/ear at the same time. I stumbled across an offhand reference to it in a discussion about something otherwise unrelated. Having never heard of it before, I began to investigate. As indicated, the reviews were highly polarized but, for $40.00 US, it was worth a try. Now I am a true believer. My Acoustic B200H has a DI out but using the DI-100 sends the corrected signal out to the board. I believe it is best used through the effects loop.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1354883135' post='1891555'] All strap locks should be quick release. That's the point. I use Jim Dunlops. Some use Grolsch washers. Beware that Schallers use slightly thinner screws which on some basses can work loose. [/quote] Used Schallers for a very, very long time on my Epi/Strat with no failure. Couldn't use them on my Ibanez EgoDyne EB300 without some wood filler because the screws were too skinny to bite and hold. Put them on my Yamaha BBN5 and they work just ducky.

I have always used D'Addario strings on my guitars and have just replaced the strings on both my 4 & 5 string basses with D'Addario EXL 160. They have never once disappointed me.

Searched but did not find any threads or posts about the BBE Sonic Maximizer. I use a DI-100 I found used on eBay for $40.00. The discussions I've seen seem split right down the middle with folks like me who swear by it and thoise who view it as a hoax. My thinking is that the naysayers (typical of many such things) do not understand how nor believe that it works.

The Yamaha was $100.00 on craigslist and I love it! I just today restrung it with D'Addario EXL160-5 and tweaked the intonation. Ready for anything now. BassTractor, the Acoustic rig does me well and only cost $300.00. I keep one cab at our practice house and one at home having to only tote the head but use both cabs on the gig (4 ohms). I know 10's are all the rage these days and, someday, I may add a 2x10 or 4x10 cabinet but, for now, I like the fullness of the sound with 15's. The horns are off as I do not slap my bass only pizzacato.

Thank you all, we're off to a great start. Correct my history if I am mistaken but the Scots-Irish is not quite the same as Scottish. My Scottish ancestors were sent to Ireland in an attempt to quel rebellion but wound up getting booted from Ireland so they moved here and settled in the Appalachians (read: Hillbillies). They brought with them the finest distellery craft and a penchant for pugilism. The English, German and Dutch neighbors would call on them when there was trouble but sent them packing as soon as it was over. Fear not, there is a fair amount of English and Irish in my genes as well. Teo of my children had red hair.

Having dallied a bit with a bass forum here in the States, I found it lacking in proper manners and appreciation for The Queen's English. Here's hoping for a better class of musicians (is that an oxymoron?). I have played keys, guitar, drums, trumpet in bands over the years but, recently, acquired a bass rig mostly out of the frustration from not being able to find a competent bass player. I played double bass in the high school orchestra and jazz band so have some experience with proper technique. Over the years I would borrow my bass players' bass to learn such things as the bass lines on Donald Fagen's solo album [i]NightFly[/i]. My kit is a Yamaha BBN5, an Ibanez ErgoDyne EB300, an Acoustic B200H with (2) B115 cabs. The only effect I use is a BBE DI-100 (Sonic Maximizer). I play in a pretty good modern country band (rock 'n' roll with a pedal steel guitar) which recently did a weekend in Nashville. This genre is somewhat new to me but have played drums then, later, guitar & keys in country rock bands in the late '70's & early 80's. My last band was jazz/R&B (mostly guitar) but hung it up in '95 to raise (5) children and persue a business opportunity. If you detect a slight Brummie accent it's because I have a very dear friend who lives in Birmingham. I am descended from Scots-Irish but don't hold that against me. Cheers