urb

I'm in - please add me to the list

[quote name='Colledge' post='969135' date='Sep 27 2010, 09:09 AM']well i have to say, i'm very impressed. They perform exactly how they say, the same sounds but quieter. except for the fact that my bass tone seemed to be alot more clearer and i could pick myself out of the mix alot better than without the plugs in. I did have to take the plugs out for a while at practice though because we where doing a nit of writing and i couldn't really hear what me or anyone else was saying.[/quote] Apologies for banging on about the Elacin ear plugs but the beauty of these ones is the filters work at any volume, so you hear everything, even at really low volumes, so you never need to take them out.

[quote name='arthurhenry' post='968417' date='Sep 26 2010, 02:50 PM']The custom moulded ones are supposed to be renewed every five years. I've had mine for ten.[/quote] I actually lost my first pair but the replacements are a much better fit, they are so comfortable, and they seem to be even more effective as when I put them in at first the sound was so clear I had to check they were working, which they were, perfectly, I just couldn't believe how clear the sound was and how well they fitted.

[quote name='RichardH' post='968249' date='Sep 26 2010, 11:33 AM']Why are the ones JohnnyLager linked to a bad move? Are they defective, or is it more a case of "you can't spend to0 much when it's your hearing at stake"? The website you linked to doesn't show pricing, so can you give an idea of their costs?[/quote] Sorry what I meant as leaving your ear plugs behind was the bad move - not JL's choice of plugs - they look absolutely fine. Re other questions - they take about two to three weeks after moulds taken to arriving via post, and the usual price is around £160 -170 - but they really are worh it - this particular brand is the one many, many pros swear by and having used them for over four years I can vouch for their quality and effectiveness, they are really comfortable as well. Hope that helps - sorry if my previous post was confusing cheers Mike

[quote name='JTUK' post='968173' date='Sep 26 2010, 10:20 AM']Indeed. But what sort of volumes are you playing to blow out your ears like that...and what about the audience..?[/quote] It's not just about how loud you are playing etc, it's also how long, the good thing with the quality custom made plugs is that even at low volumes they don't spoil the clarity of the sound around you, so you can and should use them at rehearsals and or low volume gigs, you never know when your drummer might hit one of 'those' rimshots that can smack you right where it hurts in your inner ear.... and I say all this from experience, my tinnitus was caused by a particularly loud small gig in a tiny bar, with a FUNK band, not some death metal combo - the acoustics in the place bounced the sound all over the place and the drummer (who's a good friend of mine as it happens) just got too loud... the ringing hasn't stopped since, although it's bearly noticable most of the time - I don't want to make it worse.

[quote name='gafbass02' post='963681' date='Sep 21 2010, 07:34 PM']Well the shuttle 9.0 arrived, if it dosnt work out next stop is the iamp micro!! I managed five minutes at bedroom volume into my midget t. At that low volume it needed a fair bit of treble boost and sounded very punchy and flexible. I don't find the switches too extreme at low volumes but we'll see. I do miss separate low and hi mid controls though. Only having a sweepable one sucks a bit cause I can't boost the low mid and cut the high. It's pick and choose! It felt loud so low on the dial although the preamp volume confused me, cause with the gain set low you loose load of volume anyway so it seems a tad redundant. Beautiful build, although goodness knows how I'm gonna get it to sit on top of the midget, on the handle side the handle is too high, and on the top it's too sloppy, and I found my sorbothane feet melted the finish !! Hmm maybe russ Andrews oak cone feet of something. A proper review will happen presently[/quote] I've had a Shuttle 9 since late last year and I have to say for me it's the best amp I've every owned, I've previously owned Nemesis, Epifani, SWR and EBS - while they all have their merits, the GB 9 just nails all the best bits together in one small but perfectly formed package. I think your comments on the lack of separate high and low mid boosts is a fair point but to be honest if you combine your bass' tone controls with your desired settings on the amp, and then use the trebele/high boost switches on the amp you should be able to achieve a great degree of control - I usually set the amp up and then do most of the mid cutting and boosting on the bass, but then I have an active pre. I can get some beautifully punchy tones at most volume levels but I've found - having gigged the amp a fair bit - that it really comes to life at high volume, and the power under that little hood is amazing. Also using the Gain and Tube control to crank the amp will bring out its more beastly qualities, it can sound a bit polite otherwise, but it's so flexible and sounds great with both modern and vintage basses I think it's an absolute winner. I recently checked out a TC RH450 and was mightily impressed, but in spite of all its massive array of tonal possibilities my major problem with this approach is just getting that one, benchmark, tone that you can then do pretty much anything - switching between fingers and slap, lead and low bass tones - all controlled from the bass and your technique rather than always changing things on the amp. For me the fundamental quality of the GB 9 is the winning factor here, having an almost infinite set of digitally enhanced possibilities with the RH450 is great, but you have to know what sound you want otherwise you could be tweaking to infinity and beyond rather than getting stuck in and enjoying the amp in a playing situation.... Everytime I plug into my 9 is just love it - all I need now is 410 to really explore what 900ws feels like M

Bad move dude - [url="http://www.hearingprotection.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=141&Itemid=278"]these are the ones I use and they are absolutely the mutts nuts...[/url] They are a bit pricing but the quality of the filters is simply amazing, all the clarity and quality of 'natural' sound - without any of the ear-f***ing frequencies - a very sound investment indeed. M

[quote name='Chris2112' post='961253' date='Sep 19 2010, 03:30 PM']It's right up the street of my Alembic, which has the classic ingredient of an ebony fingerboard to help get those mids singing through. I just go and solo the bridge pickup and pluck hard with short, stacatto movements of the right hand. Backing off some of the bass and treble from the EQ can also help. Roundwounds are also a good way forward.[/quote] Sounds cool Chris, but you can get beautiful long notes by plucking at the end of the fingerboard as well, Gary Willis is an absolute master at this, his melodic playing really sings, same fir Jaco and Mr Giblin too. M

[quote name='ikay' post='961114' date='Sep 19 2010, 12:43 PM']Urb, that playing is just beautiful, what's the bass?[/quote] Thanks mate - it's my custom fretless five string made by this guy in Brighton called Jeff Chapman - he's a great luthier - he also makes classical and electric guitars - this one is based on a Tobias classic owned by Franc O'Shea (he's the head of bass at BIM in Brighton but I met him when I moved there 10 years ago) - it's a really awesome bass, the tone is just delicious... it needs a little T:C as I think the circuit is either dusty or wearing out - it's an EMG pre with EMG pups. And the most unique thing of all is African mahogany that makes up the body and neck of the bass is from a single piece Jeff found when the school he worked out were chucking out a load of old shelves during a renovation - he spotted this piece, shave a bit off the top to see what it was and he thought 'that's a prime chunk of mahogany' - it's very lightweight and plays like a dream... M

[quote name='ikay' post='961070' date='Sep 19 2010, 12:03 PM']John Giblin played bass on Babooshka and the Annie Lennox one. Some more info about the basses and techniques he uses can be found here [url="http://bashkov2.narod.ru/giblin.htm"]http://bashkov2.narod.ru/giblin.htm[/url] (about half way down). Jaco's fretless tone is obtained with roundwound strings, using the bridge pickup exclusively and plucking the strings right above it. I'm sure a huge amount of the tone comes from his fingers as well. I'm a zillion light years (perhaps further) from being a Jaco but find I can get something close on my jazz by using the bridge pup and backing off the tone a bit to soften the top end a tad and thicken up the fundamental. I find it difficult to get a solid tone when plucking down near the bridge so I guess this helps to compensate for weak fingers and lousy technique![/quote] +1 to all of that - my fretless has a thick slab of ebony for the fingerboard - and that plus round wounds and soloed bridge pup and you get this sort of tone: M

(in my bass case it's just my amp.... which is a Genz Benz Shuttle 9.0) - doh sorry - I didn't see the full OP heading - I usually just take one lead, music stand, music, kettle lead, speakon cable, and one or two effects pedals (which I usually end of NOT using).

[quote name='ickleben' post='950937' date='Sep 9 2010, 07:01 PM']Sounds pretty damn sweet to me.. [/quote] Thanks dude - I'm really into Ableton now, just trying to get my head around all the possibilities - but I also like the one-take all the way through approach to recording - it's both scary and exciting!

[url="http://bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4988838.stm"]http://bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4988838.stm[/url] still doesn't come close to this though... maybe Fenders will in another 250 years though

I'm getting the vibe Ps and Js are the consensus choice - but hey I have one of those awful J copies - and yes it's crap... no idea why I got it....

I don't want to get into any political debate here - just want to share a stunning song performed brilliantly by LC - they play their collective asses off - (I love the way Vernon gets a hug from Corey during his solo) and Doug is just ace as well: and if you're around tomorrow night Vern and Corey are joing Felix Pastorius, The Roots, Last Poets and David Murray at the Barbican for a mega afro funk jazz rap extravaganza... [url="http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=10807"]http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=10807[/url] Just thought you'd like to know about this stuff Cheers Mike

[quote name='risingson' post='951754' date='Sep 10 2010, 12:58 PM']Agreed it's overplaying, the notes are all there and nothings particularly 'wrong' about it but I think he's missed the point quite a bit considering the original bass line Nick Fyffe put down was a lot more grounded.[/quote] Agreed - the guy's got talent but he's 'saying' way too much - and rushing (in a metronomic sense) as well - but he can obviously play - I can guarantee he'd be asked to tone it down in a band setting - let alone with Jamiroquai...

A couple more contenders for ya... I know we saw this one earler but now with added whistles, I mean lights... but these are pretty damn sick inducing if you ask me... and Doh! that's mine... ooops!

Not really feeling these fellas either

Awesome bloke - awesome musician - end of.... The thing I like most about him is his willingness to fail in order to try new things out and really push himself all the time - it's the imperfections that make compelling art - even though I know he strives for ridiculously high standards in everything he does. And the other thing I like is that I don't like all of his music - meaning he remains challenging and not happy to be predictable in any way. I'll be getting the new album regardless...

Pretty much every bass that I don't own... But especially these:

[quote name='Veils' post='950758' date='Sep 9 2010, 03:59 PM']It is a bit of a joke what they are charging, but what I would say is that I have only played 1 Fodera and it was head and shoulders above any bass I have ever played. It was beautifully built, tonally superb and responded so well to whatever attack dynamics you could throw at it and I found myself being able to play all my most taxing chops with nil effort whatsoever. Something I've only experienced on one or two of Jon Shuker's basses previously. Would I pay that much for one? Well, if I had the disposable income, I'd have to say yes. And interesting what I read in a previous post about a Sei Singlecut. I played one and found it to be really average. Looked pretty and seemed to be very well put together but incredibly heavy and really dull sounding even through a very expensive rig.[/quote] I'm sure - in fact 100% sure - that if YOU commissioned Martin to make you a Sei to suit your playing style and technical tastes the resulting bass would easily match up to a Fodera - the latter basses can be wonderful but like every other custom maker, are prone to producing basses that aren't always amazing - some are - some aren't. One last word on playing another person's custom instrument is that it's more than likely to go against your own tastes - the whole point of a getting a custom bass is that in principle it should be designed to work for you - so in the hands of someone else may feel horrible - but might be perfect for YOU. You dig? M

Hi folks I'm just getting my head around Abletone Live - a truly amazing bit of software - this track was recorded orginally in Logic but I split into its component parts and reassembled it in Ableton - the intention being to actually start using some of these sounds live with a band - that's what I'm now working towards... Anyhow have a listen to this - I uploaded it as an audio track on to Youtube - best to hight the High Def setting for better quality audio... esentially the solo bass was recorded live, it's my Sei Jazz by the way, in a single take everything else was running in Ableton - hope you dig it - it's a bit noodle tastic but I find it really inspiring and hope this is the start of something new and exciting. Let me know what you think Cheers Mike

[quote name='jakesbass' post='949224' date='Sep 8 2010, 10:40 AM']Sounds a little to me Nig that the only justification you seek is for your own state of understanding. I might also venture that your observations sound more like an argument raging in your head that any convicted position (I could be wrong) despite some quite convicted statements in your posts various. My take on it is that music deftly and beautifully escapes the conditions you're trying to constrain it with, and I would cite the following as evidence. Early classical music was happily defined and along came Bach an arch improvisor, the world of Pop bass (having evolved from one of THE most improvised art forms history had known, Jazz) was plodding along in simple enough form and along came Jamerson... These are just 2 examples in the world of music that defy condition. Further, in every case and example between and there are millions, reside proponents great and small, (sticking to bass now) from a Jaco Pastorius, through a Marcus Miller, an Entwhistle ..................etc............... down to yo and I, All just trying to make the best music we know how. Sometimes that requires a bit of solid 'what I have always played' and sometimes 'a little flare'. What it doesn't (in my experience at least) generally require is a set of strict conditions to make it work (even though they CAN work) which makes for a tough definition... if you see what I mean..... or... Shut up [/quote] Precisely. M

In general I agree - if I'm playing a song - and I mean in a song orientated band then I really only want to do a maximum of one or two embelishments but keep them completely within the context of the music - i.e. MAKE THEM MUSICAL! But if I'm playing with my funk band when I've played the 'head' and we're in to the solo sections then hell I'm improvising all the way - but it's the way I DO that, that counts - so I will focus on GROOVE and not soloing or excessive fills or anything that undermines the overall groove and feel of the tune. Basically it comes down to whether you are playing MUSIC or your BASS........ there is a difference! M