julietgreen

Got my cab delivered on Wed, just in time for a rehearsal that afternoon. I pushed it through its paces a bit in my living room. It coped well at the bottom end for what it is, though I thought I detected a slight 'zing' of vibration with the lowest notes. This was with my cheapo Retrovibe, so it's most likely the guitar not the cab. The little Columbus fretless sounded better. I haven't tried the De Armond (in my profile picture) yet. I found the EQ on the Trace was good with some of the lower middle taken down and a bit of a boost to the bass and the treble. (Fairly standard, really). It was very, very nice at the rehearsal - really round and clear at low volume. I'm particularly impressed with the full sound at the top end of the bass but I coudn't detect any difference with tweaking the tweeter dial on the cab. I may need to discover how this works properly. The cab is lighter than the amp and I carried both round to the car myself. The Trace sits on the top when the cab is landscape orientation, but the feet of the amp are just in the wrong place to sit on it securely when it's upright. I might move them so that it slots in neatly.

Do you tend to use it 'portrait' or 'landscape' standing on the ground? What did you find you needed to tweak in the EQ?

I will let you know!

I'm looking forward to it. It's not aesthetically unpleasing to look at either, though that shouldn't matter!

That's encouraging. I'm extremely hopeful it'll be better than what I'm putting up with at the moment and also less risk of pulling muscles/putting my back out.

It's the GP7sm. 250. Not that heavy in its box and I don't struggle to carry it because it's quite small. It'll stick out a bit if I put the cab on its side though!

OK so on reflection and research, I've decided to give the Markbass Traveler 102P a try with my Trace head. I've gone ahead and ordered one and I'll let you know how I get on.

I also took the plunge a few months ago and played bass at the local jam. Almost immediately I got picked up by a new jazz band and also asked to dep on numerous occasions. I downloaded fakebook pro for a few pence, although ireal is even better. I recommend it. Then all you need to do is take the tablet/ipad to the jam and pretty much all the standards are on there, in any key they call! Fun isn't it?

I'm thinking along these lines now. What else do I have to spend my money on anyway? I'm not into soft furnishings.

Ah, funny you should say that. I'm just looking at the Markbass stuff now. And thank you for the advice. An easy lift is idea. It's amazing how many cabs/speakers are made that have non ergonomic designs so that we risk breaking wrists or dislocating thumbs.

As I said in the ampless thread, I'm not happy with my rig. Today I tried it out and the cab was rattling. It's not a problem I can sort out now and I'm going to have to go out for this evening's gig with a medium sized Laney which doesn't do justice to the bottom end. I dislike and can't get rid of the mid/high buzz it gives. I have asked if I can try going through one of the kb player's powered speakers, which is something I do in rehearsals and the sound at that volume is quite sweet. I don't know what it'll be like for the gig volume though. So I may be looking to get a new set up. I'm female and not a weight-lifter. That's a limitation! I don't want something enormous, but conversely I don't want a buzzy little speaker either. It needs to sound sweet for jazz and pop vocal accompaniment, e.g. that smooth, round sound, no distortion. What do people think? What do you use if you're in a similar group?

Well I'm kind of fed up with my bass rig set ups. The one I was using is now rattling and the two medium combos don't give me a round sound at the bottom end. As I'm playing jazz these days and not rock, I'm thinking of dispensing with them altogether. I seem to get a sweeter sound from the PA! I'm going to ask for suggestions. in another thread.

It's always worth casting the net wide. You don't have to keep what you catch.

Thanks for the replies, folks. To summarise: if you want to and it sounds right?

What are thoughts on voicing such things as 6ths and 13ths when playing jazz on the bass? Should we be putting them into the bassline when accompanying?

Yes. I'm thoroughly enjoying the feel of the fretless. I like the sound of the one I have as well. It'll be good for jazz.

I think this is probably key.

Thanks Marc. That was a useful response.

My first bass 'chair' was through MySpace! 😂 Somebody just approached me because I had the VW background and he was a VW lover! Later I got asked to be in a band when I complained on facebook that I wanted to play bass again and one of my contacts picked it up. But this last time, I had to force myself to go to the local jazz jam and sit in. Then I got a couple of offers. So it takes some networking. I did have a couple of genuine contacts through JMB but they were outside my rehearsal radius (which I've kept quite tight).

Today I played on the upright bass for a bit - early days on this for me - just plonking through some of the chord notes and trying to maintain the 'correct' technique. Just now, I'm probably going to do a bit of fretless for jazz practice and then tonight go to rehearsal with my standard fretted 4-string because I'm not confident enough to use the fretless. Do you think switching like this is OK or is it going to give me brain damage/ruin all technique?

Since the demise of my regular slot in the rock band, I've been dabbling in a bit of mainstream jazz and latin stuff - trying to get a handle on walking bass but not finding anyone to give it a go with me. Actually, I did, but after saying they wanted me to play with them, they then wrote back and said they had no drummer so it was a no go. Hmmm. Anyway I went along to play bass at the local jazz jam. Very low key, low stakes stuff. Turns out that night there was nobody else on bass, so I had to cover the whole evening straight from the chord charts. On the strength of that I got asked to be the 'house band' the following month, do a dep on a gig last Sunday, to be the bass at the next jam and to join a jazz band as bassist. Shows you can fool a lot of the people some of the time. To be fair, I know the repertoire inside out - but as a listener, or a saxophonist. I'm less secure with all the walking bass patterns - I'm sure the low riders in the audience are cringing. But the drummer at the dep gig said how much he enjoyed playing with me - so there's that. I think the point of this is that I got over the imposter syndrome for a moment and made myself just do it.

I did subscribe to the 'never wear the band T-shirt during a gig' school of thought. This was particularly true when I was in the rock band - we had a wicked design but it was never worn 'on stage'. I've relaxed that view a little lately, under slightly different circumstances. I play sax in a horn section. The trombone player made us all bespoke T-shirts with the band logo + cartoon character with instrument. I'm prepared to wear that on stage if the rest of the horns are. But then I'm also prepared to do 'dance moves' under similar conditions!

Ignore the treble part and play the changes from the chord names? I have a similar problem in that I learned to read bass clef and can play it with my left hand on the piano. I know the bass notes on the bass - but I can't sight read from bass clef to bass! Yet, perhaps. Sight reading for me (and perhaps others) is a decoding process that seems to bypass conscious thought. (I mainly do it for sax) I have to think about it for the bass and by then it's too late.

It's when you realise that some people don't play - have never played - and you're not one of them!

Yep. You live and learn eh?