BassInMyFace

ummmmmmmm i cant really describe how perfectly you have answered my question. thats exactly what im talking about! you sir get 10,000 awesome points.

[quote name='TPJ' timestamp='1344352816' post='1763226'] Use a looper Lay down a quick groove and play over that [/quote] yep, top tip i do looping for personal use but never taken to stage, more hassle and things to go wrong. good thought though, may well explore!!

anyone know of any nice examples (vid/music) of a short (4-8 bars) solo that will get a crowd going. we all know what they say about bass solos but i reckon there must be some good examples out there of the DB ripping it up and getting a great reaction. i have a few opportunities to stretch out and introduce myself to some very enthusiastic audiences but more often than not i do a nice swing or slap passage that builds toward the end only for it to have no real finale if you know what i mean. often end up in a big downwards slide that feels anticlimactic. i know how technical stuff often fails on a musical level but sometimes you need a bit of showmanship to really push an audiences buttons. what technique or flourish can i whip out to get the crowd going? any examples/inspiration would be great.

is it me?

so unfortunately i didnt get a great amount of time to try the honeys. gig season is very busy at mo so could only use them for one at home practise and one acoustic flamenco jam. i apologise for holding them for so long, really couldnt find an oppurtunity to string them up for a week or so. my thoughts after limited play time. a really nice all rounder sound. no real growl but mellow, warm response. unbelievably easy to bow! i am a terrible arco player but was able to bow these straight away, completely effortless. please bear in mind i have never bought strings for arco so have no idea how these compare to others but i couldnt believe how well they sang under the bow. the tension is very playable, medium to low i would say. easy enough to dig in if necessary but nice and stiff for fast passages. acoustic they were of medium volume, have had louder and quieter sets and amplified sounded very smooth. surprisingly, they did drive a magnetic pickup quite well. i know the advertising blurb says no metal content but the chrome winding was enough to get a useable signal through my kent armstrong pup. yes, it was lower signal than steel core strings but only by about a third i would say. on reflection, these are a great all round string. lovely playable feel and a great workaday tone. if you are plugging away on solid steel core cheapy strings, these are a brilliant upgrade that will really help your playing without losing the strong fundamental DB tone. for my preference im looking for a bit more character, darker and thumpier or a bit of growl but really these strings are very impressive and would recommend to anyone who wants a good all rounder. many thanks for opportunity to give them a try!

would love a go on these. thinking i will rely less on the magnetic pup going forwards so time to try some full on slap strings. can i be put on the list please?

[quote name='TheRev' timestamp='1342779495' post='1740753'] [url="http://www.freewebstore.org/index.aspx?pageid=693784&prodid=6836400"]Superior Bassworks dual channel preamp[/url] £38 plus shipping. These guys are very good indeed - I ordered some strings and a pickup from them, all arrived within a week. [/quote] where was this when i forked out £150 for the K&K dual preamp blender???!!! actually i lied, got it for £95 secondhand but still!!

Great work horse bass, sounds great, especially if you're only amplifying, sturdy, reliable and cheap. Can't recommend highly enough as first bass.

[quote name='bob_pickard' timestamp='1341071100' post='1713514'] So I'm getting rid of the weedwackers I bought the other week and I'm going to get myself some Presto Nylons but I don't know what gauge to get? I used to play Thomastik Weichs which are obviously light, the weekwackers are god alone knows. Prestos I should think Light or ultra light? I play mainly 50's RnR, bit of slap, bit of jazz and mainly pizz - what do you think? [/quote] Golihur website definitely says the lights are the way to go. Ultralights only really for the committed slapper, mediums kinda defeat the object. Seems to me that you and me are in a similar string journey, I have the metal core weed whackers on at mo but thinking about an upgrade. Would be interested in how you get on with the presto nylons. Have you considered the jazzicatos? I mostly like the name but reckon the spec sounds pretty good. Btw cheapest price I have found is on thomann.

i agree with your summing up. although my E is getting better defined the longer its been on. (definitely going red, whats that about??!) next time i fancy spending some more money on this crazy moneypit i will try the presto set too, thinking the jazzicato instead of the nylonwounds because they sound like a improvement.

presto-alikes yes. tried the cheaper option first of some of the new steel core weedwhackers from fleabay. they arent too bad and acoustically have quite a nice click, not too harsh. my technique is probably still playing a part but just feel the slap output gets a bit messy both at the low end and with the click. subtle compression might be a solution. just wondered if it was a "convention" or not. [quote name='PaulKing' timestamp='1339410383' post='1687932'] I have done - especially with a very hot pickup. I found the Planet Wing pickup sounded great until I slapped, and I needed to roll loads of compression on in the ProPlat preamp to combat it. It did the trick though. That said, I reverted to underwood pickup, and now the slap is beautifully subtle anyway. But whatever you do, steel strigs are going to give you a prominent slap sound amplified. Milty Hinton got away with it by playing acoustic though microphones I guess. Ah .. you said steel 'core' - are you playing Prestos? [/quote]

ooooo i would love to have a try of these. rumour has it they will drive a magnetic pup? i blend piezo and mag but have struggled to find strings that are slappable. so if they are slappable (not psycho billy, just a bit of click here and there) and mag friendly i would love to try.

im always thinking of ways to make life easier for the sound man and make my sound more consistent. slapping these new steel core strings is quite harsh and think is causing soundmen some headaches. clipping, distortion etc..... this then affects my normal "clean" tone as he's reduced my signal to combat slap noise. do people use compressors for DB slapping? i never did on electric bass because i felt it made it a bit lifeless, but in my head now, stomping on a cheapy compressor for slap passages makes sense. does this sound like a decent idea?

sorry to do this to you all but a fairly horrible song from x factor reject olly murs. DB sounds alright tho. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EG4olrFjY&ob=av2e"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3EG4olrFjY&ob=av2e[/url]

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1338216101' post='1670921'] I'm very tempted but can't find them on ebay [/quote] Search slap happy weedwackers

ok, rigged up a new set of the steel core weedwhackers today, had a bash at them for a couple hours and impressions are mixed. pros= old school thuddy tone is there in abundance. loads of bass, nice and loud and the click is really nice, not twangy but not muddy. pretty much spot on i would say for that old time sound with lovely slap tone when you fancy it. great response through mag pickup, i was worried there wouldn't be enough metal content to drive the pickup but no concerns at all. i chopped through E string to have a look at construction and its a big thick braided steel rope with about 1mm of the plasticy nylon coating on top. the rest of the strings follow a similar looking ratio of materials. BTW absolute nightmare to snip with pliers as the steel core is very dense! wish i hadnt bothered cos it took ages. cons= cant get much acoustic response from E string. its very quiet and pretty slack. extending the pickup pole piece under the string compensates for amplified volume and have managed to find a decent even-ness of response. sustain on the E is non existent though. (fairly universal for these types of string but was hoping the steel core would go some way to combat this) D and G are actually quite high tension. have tweaked the action and bridge position but cant get them to loosen up. "A" string is perfect tension, nice and loose but not floppy. disappointed that slapping doesnt feel comfortable straight away, need a lot of force to get that D and G to click. anyone got any set-up ideas i might not have thought of to take tension out of those top strings? so in summary, these strings definitely fulfil the "synthetic gut sound through a magnetic pickup" brief. very limited competition out there in this field, presto nylon wounds, (also known as eurosonic) presto jazzicato (interested to hear any reports???) and these. thats about it as far as i can tell!! unfortunately i cant see that you piezo pickup folks will see much benefit of the steel core. on my bass the E is flabby and i have used kevlar/synthetic core gut-a-likes with better success. if anything, the steel gives the D and G too much tension and makes slapping quite hard work. perhaps save £20 and stick with the normal weedwackers if magnetic response is not your concern. im going to soldier on with them and see how they grow on me. as a provisio obviously this is just how they performed on my bass. you may well have a different experience, in fact a guy earlier in the thread reports a good E response. every bass is different i guess!!

Fiat punto, back seats down, double bass, roland cube 100, full set of cymbal stands, cymbals, electronic drum rack, full size keyboard and stand, over night bags for 2. Boom! Its all about tessellation. Therefore anything larger than a punto should be a breeze.

[quote name='PaulKing' timestamp='1337105950' post='1655616'] Presto / eurosonic give a perfectly respectable thunk unless you have v bright lively fingerboard. Can be a bit twangy, but not the clank of steel. Even so, I'm still a piezo guy. On Saturday night I played louder than I am ever likely to in my life. 50k rig to 18,000 people in Hyde park, on gut and presto E/A, through Underwood pick up, markbass 500W backline, drowned out by stage monitors. I even climbed down and ran into audience with no feedback. The sound was gargantuan. Bill Haley slap bass louder than ever before... [/quote] cant say fairer than that!! i do feel i copped out a little by going to the mag pickup. but I've made my bed now and gonna see how it pans out. im optimistic about these steel cores. a bit more of a "thunk" would be a good result.

Fyi I have just ordered a set of the weed wackers as the seller offered money back guarantee.will experiment and report back re their mag pickup performance.

yeah i have a solo set on now. want to get rid of that "clank" and replace with a "clunk" if you know what i mean. the solos are very thin as well, would like a slighter thicker guage to get to grips with if poss.

remarkable lack of info on the presto jazzicato strings [url="http://www.presto-strings.com/doublebass.html"]http://www.presto-strings.com/doublebass.html[/url] the internet has very little to say about them. anyone had any first hand experience? i am looking for a more slap string (synthetic coating)but need it to be metal core for my mag pickup. am dead set on using mag as gigs im doing completely require that reliability and volume. they are £110 compared to some slap happy weedwackers on fleabay for £60. these now have steel cores in all 4 strings so should work on a mag. have asked the seller what performance is like with a mag but no reply yet. im guessing the jazzicatos are gonna be nicer and more "complex" but worth double the price?? failing that, does anyone have any other ideas on mag friendly slap strings?

ummmmmm just been starting to play a bit of flamenco with some mates. think i might give up now.............. pretty epic.