Dood

Yup, I video reviewed loads of Ibbys, but I also just checked on the Ibanez website that states they're still using the same quality strings for their basses as stock. Cort do too.

Otherwise known as D'Addario EXL165 - D'Addario of course being superb strings.

Very likely to be D'addario XL Nickels, standard gauge 45-105!

I did not have a formal teacher when I first began playing bass, (pre-internet) but thankfully due to some sort of "obsession gene" that I have inherited, I have a rather anal attention to detail and need to learn how everything works .. That does mean that I have begged and borrowed countless tapes, VHS videos, books, been to see a gazillion bands, joined in jam sessions, recorded hundreds of times, toured and, well, never not been playing live myself. All I'd strongly recommend along with the myriad of applications, websites and fine video types such as YouTubers who know what they're talking about. I have threatened to start my own ha ha!

Yup, Two and they are both the same. Main bass, backup n' spare. They are capable of a wide enough range of tones that I haven't needed a different instrument yet for these shows.

I hear they have ones where the tempo goes up when they get paid more? There's got to be a joke in there about bands not being paid very much...

There's a version with a couple of mains terminals on the outside especially for those who need a bit of guidance back to the tempo...

I also am not against the idea that if a band is playing to a click "track"; think of it rather than a time keeper but a structure chart that will allow automation of other on stage processes. Light rigs can be automated, effects and solo boosts, patch changes or MIDI CC control. Even just switching off vocal effects at the end of the track so the singer can address the audience without sounding like they're under the sea ha ha! Yes, yes, sure, for those on a budget who don't have redundancy built in, thats leaning towards a single point of failure, but for bigger shows, it's incredible what can be controlled in this way.. which, given the cost in shipping gear on tour, the less kit the better!

It made me smile that after coming off the last tour with Devin, a couple of nights later he was playing local pub gigs again. Legend!

I agree that there is a place for performances like this. In fact, I am currently gigging with a band who have many, many years of experience under their belts and all of the members are reactive and are brilliant at reading the audience. Chopping and changing songs and set, calling out changes on the stage at a moments notice. It's very exciting and it suits the band very well. I love working with them as their communication and connection on stage is like a well oiled wheel!

All the criticisms I've ever seen about playing to click tends to come from people who have pre-conceived ideas about what that "does" to a band and usually have no real experience with working with a click professionally. One small example: If a musician in a band (and I haven't singled out drummers here) is 'responsible' for keeping time to a click and wanders back and forth over the tempo, it will make the music sound clunky as all the musicians will wander too a bit like watching cars speed up and slow down in a long line of traffic. Sounding lifeless is also the result of not spending time working with the backing tracks and click to get the best out of a performance. So, I agree with you Tauzero - bands can sound incredibly powerful and lively to click. Case in point, my new friend Darby Todd uploaded a video of his paying with Devin Townsend with the click included so you can hear exactly what he is doing. Of course Darby is a top-tier session player who is locked with razor sharp timing - but there is no way that you can say that his performance lacks drive, energy, passion and emotion. A quick lesson for playing to click - and I'll see if I can find it, is the little viral short of Carol Kaye demonstrating how she sets up her metronome to be the "2" and "4" of 4/4, treating it like a snare drum part, making it feel more natural to vibe over. Long story short, you can program a click track with different sounds and accents to make it feel more natural and to not get lost in a song structure rather than a mind numbing high pitched click!

Feel free to tag me in any posts, it's absolutely cool - I'd rather be overwhelmed with tagged posts than adverts for whatever the algorithm thinks I should buy next! (Which is never bass gear?? I mean WTF Facebook???)

>>> Subscribe to my YouTube Channel here. <<< ALL VIDEOS BELOW IN MY PLAYLIST HERE (I update this list) Bass Gear Magazine:- https://www.bassgearmag.com/author/dandanveall-com/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@BassGearMagazine @DanVeallBassist on Insta and FaceyB and YouTube. All of the links in this post: You'll also find shortcuts to my socials in the signature on BassChat too and if all that fails, literally google Dan Veall - or have ChatGPT do something cool!

Thank you so much! It would make a difference I am sure if I could get 100 people sharing my videos often, commenting about the gear on them and, even ways I can improve my reviews to make people want to share and get excited about. Then, I am helping myself to improve.

Pretty much the same but everywhere, even here on BassChat in conversations about gear. strangely, given what help it should be, very few brands actually bother to share or use my video reviews to bolster support for their equipment! Maybe I’m too honest! 🫣 - no, generally kit that I’ve reviewed isn’t rubbish and have been very lucky. Though there’s been a couple of items come through that were so bad they couldn’t reliably be reviewed!! So FB bass groups, Discord servers, Twitter, you name it! Even post a link to one of my videos on brand adverts for that item!! I did this the other day and the brand didn’t acknowledge it sadly. Rarely do they.

Just seen this - no, I don't get any thing from watched videos or anything like royalties from releases. What will help I guess, which I am not very good at doing, is to share my videos in order to get my name out there. I'm not sure that many outside BC knows that I've been busting my under crackers for years trying to get useful and informative gear reviews out there - because I sure as sh** know how difficult it is to try out the gear we see in physical magazines.

These are my first reviews with Bass Gear Magazine, who are just awesome to be involved with. I've been given the freedom to create the videos I wanted to be able to, and, as I progress they'll only get better. (For those who don't know, I produce the entire video, compose music, column and tech stuff from my studio here in Blighty) I'm enjoying the learning curve! Soooo, I'd love for these reviews to be read, shared, commented on, talked about, it's a little thing but hopefully it will help me!

My debts are difficult and I am under no illusion, plenty of us are or have been stuffed in one way or another. I'm not about to sit here and do nothing about it though. I'm still a very active self-employed person. There's no time to sit around waiting. So, being as I am trying to pay my own way, I still need a little help:- I've got hundreds of videos, reviews, columns and the like floating around the internet, but I don't personally own all that I've recorded in the last ten years or so. I need to get them aired and shared, get them under the noses of other bassists, brands and distributors. it would really help me reach new brands, do new promotional videos etc etc and in short earn more so I can help myself! (I'm still bewildered why the magazine I used to work with just wouldn't share the very work they were paying me to do!)

Hey everyone, I've been away from BC for a bit figuring stuff out. Well, it's a tough one, an odd feeling. I'm not very good at being centre of attention and as Id said above, feel a bit guilty when I know we're all struggling. At the same time, I don't want Andrew to feel awkward for reaching out to the community either as it's a really thoughtful thing to do. Obviously the back story to my woes is a lengthy one, so the original posts to something that appeared vague probably didn't help. I'm not offended though. In all honesty, I didn't really think anyone would notice or care that much.