Clarky

[quote name='Twigman' post='973869' date='Oct 1 2010, 01:00 PM']Most originals bands give up before they get the opportunity to experience this - I'd agree. .....but what if they hadn't given up?[/quote] We've been going for two years but we're a minority interest (originals punk) and we've never had a crowd bigger than 100 (of which perhaps 30-40 to see us, the remainder the other bands). Last year has been a disaster with crowd sizes falling sharply (recession, I'm sure, especially on weekday nights) and its been tough to get any joy out of it. We played a gig a few months back where we ended up as the entire crowd (the three of us and Mrs Clarky) for the headlining band, a reasonably well known punk act from the '70s. If you play to 1,000 diehard fans you are a lucky sod. Like WoT says, you are DEFINITELY in the minority

I have played for over 2 years in an originals punk band (the songs are very good IMHO). There's a limit, however, to the number of times you can play to a handful of people without thinking about the more instant gratification you get from seeing a crowd loving the music because they are familiar with it. If you're not doing it for a living its supposed to be about having fun isn't it? Playing late on a Monday night in a Camden bar to around 10 people (4 of whom are from the last band on the line-up) knowing your alarm goes off at 5.30am isn't always my idea of fun!

Not exactly funky either but I'm quite partial to Don't Take me Alive

Completely agree with the above but in my OP I was making the point that with my current rig I was getting feedback even with the gain almost completely off and the master very low - barely even loud enough to compete with an acoustic guitar, let alone a relatively gentle drummer! Hopefully the Fishman will sort this

[quote name='fatback' post='973648' date='Oct 1 2010, 10:07 AM']By Monday your BG is gonna feel like a ukelele [/quote] ... and as for your knob ... Sorry to lower the tone but its Friday (its 5 o'clock and its Crackerjack!)

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='971720' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:55 PM']On a fully carved bass I had once I had to wedge a foam rugby ball between the tailpiece and the body, putting pressure on the top table to stop it from vibrating too much.[/quote] Blimey, Gareth, the things you DBers carry in your gigbags - now I am expecting a glut of foam rubgy balls for sale on BC!

We can start the exclusive BassChat punk rocker with a double bass club!

Wow - I was expecting one-sentence answers! Thats really above and beyond the call of duty, Rev! Many, many thanks for going to all that effort. I will certainly take your advice on board. I still haven't heard back from the Aria's current owner what strings are on it - given cost considerations I hope its one of those sets you mentioned. What ever happens I don't think I will ever get near the Velvet strings you mentioned (from a quick internet search, £270 a set, good grief)

All very helpful gents. So if I were looking for a 'growly, plummy' type sound in a band setting, playing slow/medium-paced blues/ragtime type music (with piano, drums, horns, backing singers, guitar, vocals) which would be your preferred strings, Silver Slaps, Honeys or one of the others mentioned?

[quote name='walbassist' post='971677' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:20 PM']Low tension Innovation Silver Slaps transformed both my playing and the sounds coming from my Aria - for the better in both instances! The fact I can't use the mag pickup with them (no metal content) is far outweighed by the benefits.[/quote] Thx Walbassist. I had a set of Weedwacker nylon strings on my DB a year or so back and found that they persistently went out of tune (they are supposed to take some time settling down but weeks later they were still stretching!) and they had very limited volume/sustain on the E and A strings (just a staccato, thin thud) - as Silver Slaps have no metal content would they potentially have the same issues or does the Kevlar core mean they behave like metal strings, only with lower tension?

[quote name='TheRev' post='971534' date='Sep 29 2010, 11:28 AM']When you get your Aria, put a set of orchestral or, even better, synthetic gut strings (e.g. Obligatos or Honeys) to get a passable double bass sound.[/quote] Thanks for the tip - I will check first which strings it is currently wearing

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='971391' date='Sep 29 2010, 08:40 AM']Hey Clarky - Dampen the afterlength of your strings between the bridge and tailpiece. (I know, this has become my mantra of late). You'd be surprised how much feedback is generated there - those strings just keep ringing, and set the tailpiece ringing - which is all good in a purely acoustic setting (like an orchestra, but who uses them there anymore? ) I was playing electric bass in a big band on Monday night, along with another bass player on upright. He was having hell with low feedback and couldn't EQ it out on his Acoustic Image Clarus+. I reached down and muted his strings and tailpiece and all was good.[/quote] Thanks Gareth. What do you mute with - a polishing cloth or similar? And thinking on, I have the pick-up jack affixed to the tail piece - does that have any impact on feedback (probably not, I guess, but worth asking)?

Due to unanimous thumbs up from DBers, I have ordered a Platinum from Thomann which has them at a good price (<£140). Will post my experiences once its arrived

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='971314' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:45 AM']How about buying a cheap ply DB and leaving it at your rehearsal space? I suppose depending on where you rehearse there's potential for passing numpties to mess with it though.[/quote] Thanks, good idea but problem is we may have more than one rehearsal space (Ealing, Camden). In fact I was offered a decent priced EUB late last night and I am going to take this one (another Aria) so problem sorted.

Thanks Chris but its somewhat more than I was looking to spend (walbassist last had it FS at £800 and even though he is accepting offers I wouldn't want to insult a fellow BC'er!) I was thinking a few hundred quid. Anything in that range or am I thinking the impossible?

Was thinking of picking up a cheap EUB for week-day band practices as I clearly can't bring a DB to work on the tube! I briefly owned a Stagg but didn't really think it sounded like a DB. So are there any cheap-ish EUBs out there that sound vaguely authentic? I presume more expensive models, like Aria and Steinbergers will, but what about things like Palatino's (which come up cheaply s/h) or the cheapie Chinese things on eBay etc? Thanks in advance, Clarky

[quote name='fatback' post='970702' date='Sep 28 2010, 02:20 PM']Hey, congrats on getting that gig. I'm jealous. Great band [/quote] Thanks! Just got to learn 12 songs in 3 weeks