Happy Jack

There's a band who sacked me where the main website contains nothing but photos and videos taken by Silvie (Bluejay) containing me playing the bass. Doesn't worry me at all, I just think it's a bit sad. There's no money involved to get excited about, which takes any possible heat out of the situation.

01. Hamster - 02. Silverfoxnik - BC Rich Eagle, Squier P Bass, Ander Vanderend JB5, Eden Traveller WT400 amp & Genz 2x12 cab 03. Steve Browning - some Precisions, Boogie M-Pulse 600 and Boogie Subway 15 cabs, Mesa Walkabout 15. 04. obbm - 2 x Spector Short scales. 05. Pawel G - Squier JV Precision and maybe others 06. Stingray5 - MusicMan and Tune basses; Trace Elliot and/or Eden amplification; Boss GT-6B. 07. Markstuk - Dingwall Z3, Lakland BG 5, BF Big Twin, Thunderfunk TF750a. 08. Cetera - Spector NS2, Spector Euro, Hamer Impact, Wal fretless, one or two more to be decided, big Pedalboard (!), GK800RB, GenzBenz Neox 212T 09. Johnthebassist - '69 Jazz Bass, GenzBenz Shuttle 9, Barefaced S12T, gang of smelly pedals 10.Timmo 11. Barneyg42 12.Walman - FPPR Status S1 - well it wouldn't be a SEBB without Barney's old bass now mine, however this year for the first time it won't have a for sale sticker on it 13.Rumblefish- Reverend Rumblefish,Wal Bass,Mesa M600,Berg CN212. 14. Happy Jack } .........................} with a love that'll see you through (and Paul the Drums, of course) 15. Bluejay........} 16. bassace - double bass, Felix Preamp, Puma 500 amp and Genzler 10-2 cab. 17. ChunkyMunky - Zon Sonus Custom 5, Yamaha BB425x, Genz Benz Shuttle 12.0 etc.. 18. MacDaddy [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]- a couple of custom Shuker's, and a Snapdragon folding bass[/font][/color] 19. louisthebass 20. TrevorR - 2 Wals, an Aria SB700, a Markbass LMII and 2x10 plus some pedals... 21. jhk - yamaha TRB6P, MM stingray 5 fretless, GB Spitfire Fiver, Eden cabs plus Eden wt600 and EBS 22. Seer73 - 2 or 3 lefty basses + amp of some sort - TBD as having GAS issues at the minute 23 - Thestick - Wal , Ken smith , Jeff finch, Aguilar amp 24 - Chris_b 25 - Pete.Young - Yamaha BBNE2, Duesenberg Star, pimped Bass Collection SB465, LMII, EBS Neo 2x12 26 -Grangur - BF One10 and Warwicks Streamer SS1 4-string, Streamer LX 4 Fretless, Jazzman FNA 5 , Corvette 4, Corvette Bubinga 5 27. Captain Rumble - Vanderklay MNT212, Thunderfunk, Xotic jazz 28. Graham - Lakland DJ5, G&L SB2, EBS HD350, EBS Neo 2x12 29. Mangotango - Fernandes Gravity 5x, Dean Pace,TC Electronics BG250-112 30. Andyjr1515 - Kert's Camphor Single Cut, Pete's Piccolo Bass, Pete's EB-3 ish custom builds 31. Wolverinebass 32. Merton - some ACGs, possibly a Status J and maybe a One10 if it's of any interest (I've not seen one on the list!) 33. smaz [?]M 34. Kebabkid - Sire Marcus Miller V7, Zoom B3 (possibly a pedalboard with Xotic, Keeley, Way Huge etc) 35. Discreet

What strings do you prefer? What style of music do you (mainly) play? Are you a pedal-tastic player, or strictly bass --> amp?

Those Muse blokes are quite handy. Did they ever amount to anything?

I recently joined a well-established 3-piece covers band who play 60/70 gigs a year for decent money, certainly a money-oriented venture. After a couple of rehearsals, I found myself chatting with the drummer and asked him how long he'd been playing with the guitarist/singer. 40 years. I immediately told him that, if I'd known that earlier, I'd never have applied to the band. My first two gigs with them were on a Friday and Saturday, both old-school social clubs. The two of them were like an old married couple, with everything running at the very bottom of a well worn groove. Nothing at all could be changed, the equipment all had to go exactly as it always was, every note I played had to be exactly as instructed. They sacked me on the Sunday morning. Bullet dodged. Scouting out a new band? Start by finding out whether you're going to be the permanent new boy / spare prick at a wedding.

Based on my one brief experience of Nashville, I'd say that's true BUT you need to give some context. The Strip in Nashville has easily the highest concentration of music venues that I've ever seen. In three blocks, and on one side of the street, we were well into double figures by the time I stopped counting! Most of the artistes were solo or duet acts, but there were plenty of full bands too. And the general level of competence was simply awesome.

And is he any good at dealing with rust on a Mercedes Vito. I'm happy to supply the body filler.

Nah ... he made a hash of it. #

Get some sleep Bazz, you look tired.

Have you seen my colon:

Better than suppositories, I reckon. I might as well have shoved them up my arse for all the good they did me. Oh no ... wait ...

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1503626526' post='3359808'] Interesting, I reference Milwaukee a lot which is a large city, but I actually live in the suburbs. We never do business in Milwaukee, the clubs and bars don't value live bands and don't pay much. Outside of Milwaukee is where it's at in terms of the better gigs and better pay. Blue [/quote] Strangely enough, something quite similar applies in London too. The combination of crap parking, high booze prices, aggressively anti-noise neighbours, and no space for beer gardens (i.e. smoker's paradise) in Central London means that surprisingly few good music pubs exist within five miles of Charing Cross, and frankly not that many if you push the radius out a few more miles. In my experience you need to be at least out in the suburbs and preferably in the small towns and villages just outside London to get a traditional music pub with a good, lively, interested crowd. It helps that London is so big that each significant suburb is itself a decent-sized city. There are 32 London boroughs and each of the suburban ones (e.g. Harrow, Brent, Hillingdon, etc.) has a population in the region of 250,000.

Now Mark, I've warned you about this sort of thing before. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/2398340057_2470917cf1_zps57056e16.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/2398340057_2470917cf1_zps57056e16.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Just keep him off the lacquer for God's sake ...

You have no soul ...

Damned right! I was BORN rockist mate ...

[quote name='Treb' timestamp='1503571071' post='3359239'] Fender Roscoe Beck bass. IIRC a Bill Lawrence pickup design. [/quote] Yup, good call that. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20SOLD/Fender%20Roscoe%20Beck%20V%202006%20SOLD/DSCF3606.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20SOLD/Fender%20Roscoe%20Beck%20V%202006%20SOLD/DSCF3606.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I've had two of these and they are lovely basses ... just WAY too heavy! I can't think of any others though.

Not sure whether this is tongue in cheek but, just in case you're serious, your only real hope of putting together something like this is to combine (i) a really sh*t-hot band with (ii) a really sh*t-hot agent. I've been playing pub gigs in London with covers bands for years ... they are NOT easy to get, especially if you're based 200 miles away! London is a big place, yes, with lots of venues, yes, but it also has (probably) as many bands as the rest of the country put together. Blue touchpaper lit ... stands well back to admire the fireworks ...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOGDON-BOX-BASS-FAULTY/112533183992?hash=item1a33801df8%3Ag%3AKX4AAOSwGdhZmWqm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOGDON-BOX-BASS-FAULTY/112533183992?hash=item1a33801df8%3Ag%3AKX4AAOSwGdhZmWqm

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1503569816' post='3359225'] Skream! - Skream - 2006 Track: Dutch Flowerz - according to ETjr, all you need to know in slightly over four minutes ..... [media]http://youtu.be/yBv4kWsi4TE[/media] [/quote] If that's all ET jr. needs to know, then he may be asking the wrong questions ...

[quote name='Treb' timestamp='1503507794' post='3358825'] The marketplace [i]is[/i] filled with such basses. On a P and a J bass the strings run between the pole pieces. Same idea executed by Leo years before the Old Smoothie. [/quote] Yes, but each string runs between a PAIR of pole pieces. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/Fender%20Precision%201966%20CURRENT/DSCF4281.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/Fender%20Precision%201966%20CURRENT/DSCF4281.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Where pairs are not being used, then each string passes directly over one of the pole pieces. [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Basses%20CURRENT/Mosrite%20The%20Ventures%201965/NBD_edited%2010_zpsb6zddgng.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Basses%20CURRENT/Mosrite%20The%20Ventures%201965/NBD_edited%2010_zpsb6zddgng.jpg[/IMG][/URL] This Old Smoothie thingy shares five pole pieces between four strings, which is apparently sufficiently radical for Sterling to wax lyrical about it. So why has no one else done the same thing?

I like that a lot, and it has a few design thingies that other manufacturers might want to think about, but those strings would have to go straight away. And despite the fact that I speak no Japanese, that was one of the best and most informative demos I've seen of a new bass. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a reviewer stand up to show you how the bass balances on the strap? I also liked the fact that the reviewer didn't devote most of the playtime to the usual slapfest w***ery that these videos are so prone to. Much of the time, he was actually playing proper basslines that you could actually play in in actual band at an actual gig. Mind you, despite speaking no Japanese I was still able to recognise "original design", "two-piece", "P/J", "bass", "sound check", and a number of other terms.

Dunno, never heard of them. Post a link, why dontcha?