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[quote name='Sibob' post='1047440' date='Dec 4 2010, 03:44 PM']Oh what happened with that 'production' Shuker prototype? Sure I didn't see it, but forgot to ask about it! Si[/quote] Oh yes! I forgot about that too, what happened?

Big Swifty (Scott Thunes) - Make a Jazz Noise Here - Zappa Dupree's Paradise (Scott Thunes) - Make a Jazz Noise Here - Zappa Echidna's Arf (Tom Fowler) - Roxy & Elsewhere - Zappa Tempus Fugit (Chris Squire) - Drama - Yes Freewill (Geddy Lee) - Permanent Waves - Rush Wan Fi Go Rave (Vivian Weathers) - Forces of Victory - Lynton Kwesi Johnson

[quote name='Clarky' post='1046045' date='Dec 3 2010, 10:00 AM']Says who? [attachment=65601:kev_and_...f_berlin.jpg][/quote] jeesus Clarky, that's totally put me off breakfast. To redress the balance, and to show you can look ace in a powder blue suit ..

[quote name='Doddy' post='1045883' date='Dec 3 2010, 01:11 AM']Long few days. I've just read so many things where people slag Jeff Berlin off based on his image (or lack of),that I'm not quite sure if it's in jest or not.[/quote] I doubt it's in jest, Paul. He looks ridiculous

[quote name='Doddy' post='1045778' date='Dec 2 2010, 10:50 PM']But the way he looks has absolutely no relevance to anything.[/quote] I'm afraid it does. Classic jazzer mistake, that.

Bassassin's your man here, but yes, it happened an awful lot, it always has, right back to the '60s and probably earlier in terms of leccy guitars.

[quote name='Faithless' post='1045230' date='Dec 2 2010, 03:43 PM'][b]Is my playing the case at the moment? [/b] well, here it is, but there are only few clips, so I don't know if you can judge by them.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/user/Faithlessism?feature=mhum"]http://www.youtube.com/user/Faithlessism?feature=mhum[/url] And, Mike, you can dowload those clips as long as you've subscribed, indeed! (I use Realplayer youtube downloader app for Firefox, which is legal as far as I know..)[/quote] No, but I always like to hear the actual playing of those who express very forceful opinion, people like me and you A good few of your vids are banned over here because of YT's stupid policies. I heard your walking bass though. Were you reading that? It was good. Probably need to work on your timing and dynamics a little bit, but it was good. Nice notes. I'm just learning to walk at the moment, I have to improvise it though. I had to improvise some fast walking at a gig last week over a fast chromatic run, C to G, think I got away with it but I would love to have been able to really blow, and hit all the wickid notes in my head. Anyway, thanks mate, appreciate the link. Subscribed.

[quote name='Faithless' post='1045072' date='Dec 2 2010, 01:47 PM']episodes 2 and 3 are now up and running.. [url="http://gwizmon.podbean.com/"]http://gwizmon.podbean.com/[/url] No love for this?[/quote] It wouldn't play for me, so I can't say. I would rather hear you playing. Have you got anything? Youtube clips? Recordings?

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='1045066' date='Dec 2 2010, 01:44 PM']I guess a lot of this depends on time/budget. Do you have the time to be messing around with micing up guitar and bass amps? If you do then great but if you've just been looking for doing a recording on a small budget then really best just stick with what he says. [b]Also the problem a lot of musicians have is that they want "their" sound on the record without any consideration for the sound of the recording as a whole.[/b] You said that in your opinion the sound you have would have complemented the record which is great. But i think what you need to try and do is take yourself out of being the bass player and just put yourself in the situation of someone listening to the album and ask yourself: do you really think it would have made that much of a huge improvement to the sound of the album? Next time if you have the time/budget to facilitate it and you really think it will sound good not just in the sense of a bass player but in the context of the album as a whole then by all means ask the engineer if you can have a good go at properly setting up the bass amp and miking it up and everything. But for now, try not to let it worry you or get on your nerves too much. If you think the album sounds good in terms of just being an outside listener listening to it then really that's all that matters.[/quote] Those sorts of people shouldn't be in the studio in the first place. probably not in the band either

[quote name='Clarky' post='1045074' date='Dec 2 2010, 01:48 PM']We did a (snow-ravaged) gig last night and were asked to load in and soundcheck between 4-6pm even though we were not due onstage until after 10pm. We duly did our early sound-check, which was really painful. At one point, the backing vocalist said "one-two" into the mike for at least 5 minutes while the "sound engineer" fiddled with his knobs. It took so long we only had a chance for a quick run through one song (bear in mind we were having to play along to a tape, as half the band was stuck on the South Coast, so we would have liked to polish things a little more in the s/c) before we were told we had to pack our gear away for the venue to open to joe public. Anyways, the two bands in front of us started late (neithe rof these soundchecked) and we finally got on stage about 10.45pm having done a hell of a lot of hanging around. At this point the sound guy said "I have changed all the settings since the sound check" and we had to go through it all over again with a very bored (and small) audience in front of us. So exactly why did we get to the gig 5 hours early then? Humbug. By the way it was the Proud Gallery in Camden ... oh and the band before us had a DB player who didn't have an amp and asked me immediately before they went on stage if I wouldn't mind him using my preamp/amp for their set [/quote] Proud wasn't too bad when I played there with Kit, but a prima donna girl band took ages sound checking, and were pissed off (and showing it) with the engineer. In all my time, the only sound checks that the venue started on time was at the Dublin Castle, and Revenge in Brighton. And still the other bands were late. It's a joke. I hate tardiness. There are a lot of w***y bands around that think they should be treated like U2 but can't even turn up on time. And venue equipment is woefully out of date, like their engineers usually. I wish everywhere had digital desks and proper sound reinforcement. I prefer playing decent sized festivals. Just a line check and we're away.

Fantastic, fantastic, FANTASTIC!! I am on my first serious embarkation on the journey to reading and understanding theory. These are SO useful, I can't thank you enough Major. Best wishes, Nigel

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='1044859' date='Dec 2 2010, 11:37 AM']Just a quick update to say that I double checked the Register and as Hamster's figures show, 37 of us turned up on the day which was pretty good..Must try to beat that next year!![/quote] That's not bad! Shame there aren't more photos. I forgot my damn camera, normally I'd have loads of pictures to share

I listen to the engineer's POV, and make a decision. If I don't like what I hear, I can be quite forceful in asserting that I will need to do it my way but I am happy to take a feed out and go direct as an additional track, to satisfy the engineer's sense of safety. One engineer wanted me to go direct via a little bit of rack compression, then later, when I wasn't there, reamp it through a vintage Fender Bassman head. Once I had cleaned my sick off the floor, I explained I would be using my POD. He took a direct feed from a split signal through a passive DI box before my bass hit the POD as an additional track anyway, but later said he used the POD sound mostly, although on one song he used the DI track, my tone sounded like Anthony Jackson's or something, it was ok actually, but nothing like me. I've never had any issues though, and so far engineers have concured that my sound is good.

The thing is, funk is NOT a sound. You can be funky on a cardboard box. The OP is after a SOUND. He wants a more trebly sound. Strings may help for a few weeks until they lose their top end, or if his current strings are ancient. If turning the tone and treble all the way up on the bass and amp is not working, it could be a pup height problem, could be where he is playing the strings, could be an electrical fault, could be anything really. I think his best bet is what someone else suggested and take it to a shop and see what it sounds like through another amp, and if it's the same then get the guy in the shop's opinion. Not in Denmark Street of course.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1044058' date='Dec 1 2010, 05:13 PM']TBH The thing I hate most about the current BGM journalistic style is in the "What We Think" section, where seemingly every bass that doesn't follow P or J styling gets a minus and a comment along the lines of "looks may not appeal to everyone". YOU COULD WRITE THAT ABOUT EVERY SINGLE BASS REVIEWED! I'm sure there's just as many people who wouldn't buy a P or J style bass because it looks to 'ordinary' as there are people who wouldn't buy something more unconventional because it looks too 'weird'. It's a totally meaningless comment and needs to be banished from the publication. Rant over...[/quote] The reviews are still crap.

[quote name='ead' post='1044635' date='Dec 2 2010, 08:26 AM']Not at all; you have misinterpreted what I meant to say, or more likely I didn't phrase it well enough. I did insert a smiley in the attempt to imply some humour, and as per my subsequent post I wouln't criticise what I don't know about. People at different levels experience things in different ways. Taking you example of artwork (although a lot of the thread appears to be more about content) I know bog all about it and occasionally notice things that I think look effective and those that merely raise an eyebrow. i.e. to the untrained eye it is less important, although as it's clearly your area of expertise you are deeply frustrated by it. I suspect that the market for this type of publication is relatively small in circulation terms, so that a range of publications from those aimed at numpties and beginners (like me) to pros (like a number of you) may be impractical. I certainly get frustrated that sometimes reviews will refer to a particular feature of a guitar but there is no image to illustrate the point, and I have written to the magazine to ask them to see if they can improve on this. I've also requested more reviews of equipment I can afford even though I do enjoy drooling over some of the top end basses. If you scan through the thread a lot of the posts would appear to follow the great British tradition of moaning about things without offering a contructive alternative. If everybody that has criticsed the publication here has made the same comments in the same terms to the editor then fair enough, I'll shut up and go away. But I would bet a decent wedge that this will not have been the case. Anyway, I enjoy reading (most of) it and if it brings more people into the bass community, then that's a great result. Good luck to them.[/quote] I don't think I misinterpreted anything, and nor did BRX. As far as this thread goes, there has been much constructive criticism and involvement from some of the contributors. The magazine has improved somewhat, but not enough. Some have been rather upset and said BGM is better than nothing, and to shut up if you can't do any better yourself, and such like. My response is always the same, that BGM should not be beyond criticism from people simply because those people aren't, can't, or won't provide a better alternative. All we are concerned with is QUALITY content and production. There are significant improvements to be made. The magazine staff seem to care a lot, however the publishers in their f***ing fairy towers seem to be more concerned with the success of their horribly dull superstar w*** band, Swans in Flight.

Heh Heh! Here we go again

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1043869' date='Dec 1 2010, 02:55 PM']I'm assuming by this you mean don't knock it unless you can do better? Well I earn my living doing Artwork (that's the bit that comes between the graphic design and printing) and from my perspective the standard of the Artwork on BGM is piss-poor. If the people responsible were working for me they'd either be bloody good at their jobs by now in which case there would be almost no posts here about missing ends of articles, spelling, typographical errors, bad photography/photo-retouching, or they'd be collecting their P45s. And before you ask, yes I have offered my services, but not heard anything at all, which means that I'm either too expensive (quality unfortunately doesn't come cheap), or the publishers just don't care. We moan and complain here because we care. We've love BGM to be a serious quality publication and not a contender for specialist publication on "Have I got News For You".[/quote] Well said, BRX, exactly what I meant. I'm also from an art and graphic design background and have worked professionally as a graphic designer. I've done some copywriting and proofing, been an interface usability consultant, web and intranet strategy consultant, photographic technician, and various other jobs involved in maximising user experiences with information and entertainment interfaces. I'm bloody glad I gave all that up and I'm happy to be a qualified safety adviser now Almost all my jobs have had peoples experiences with information at the heart of them, and as the end result. That's one of my passions. Unfortunately, a lot of musicians working on magazines don't have that as their passion, the music is their passion and they sometimes have a little skill and experience in putting across information which appeals to a wide audience. Even as they criticise the equipment they are reviewing as having poor quality control or build, or components, they neglect their own. No-one can deny QC at BGM is poor. Some of the copy is poor, along with some poor page layout, photography, accuracy of information, completeness of information, accuracy of the lesson transcriptions, etc. It's not all bad, but the same stupid mistakes are still there and there is a distinct lack of commitment to product quality from the publishers. They have made improvements, Mike Flynn being the most obvious, but much of it is still less than compelling reading for the amateur or professional bassist. I sense very little representation of the bass community in there. No ATTITUDE.

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1043583' date='Dec 1 2010, 11:40 AM']What's the problem? If someone doesn't like a certain type of music, that's up to them, you can't persuade someone to like something they don't.[/quote] Who is trying to persaude anyone, mate? Someone likes something, someone hates the same thing, viva la difference doesn't get us anywhere does it. It bloody boring, the debate is what is interesting.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1043482' date='Dec 1 2010, 10:40 AM']I thinik it depends what the techniques in question are for. I find some, such as double thumbing and tapping, almost entirely gratuitous and of little intrinsic musical value. I can slap enough to get by but have never really felt the need to develop the technique to the Miller/Wooten level, primarily because, after a momentary 'wow' moment, I find I don't actually [i]like[/i] the music played using this technique. Same with tapping. I got Jeff Berlin's Motherlode and some of Stu Hamms Radio Free Albemuth stuff sorted but never really felt it was anything other than a party trick and consequently stopped developing it. It certainly isn't a 'core competence'. As for plectrums, in terms of my own playing and the music I play, I find that I don't like the sound very much so an not a user (I do play guitar with one so its not that I can't....). Having said that, I love Chris Squire and Steve Swallow who both use icks. But, for me, I work on other things. [b]But arco double bass. Now [i]That's[/i] a sound I can use!!![/b][/quote] That's the only technique and equipment I don't possess that I have some sort of need for. I would love to use a NS Design Bass Cello played arco, running through my POD with lots of effects. Other than that, I can get all the sounds I hear in my head with conventional fingering technique or using a pick. The thing I really need is to be able to get to the notes I hear without thinking about it and having my fingers on either hand f*** it up for me. That's simply more practice.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1043415' date='Dec 1 2010, 09:59 AM']Yeah, god bless the marker pen. It really was only a small area. Even i couldn't see it when the bass was strapped on. Just getting a bit anal i guess [/quote] Anyone who buys DR Coated strings has got to be pretty anal about appearances I know I am, it's very important, we are in the entertainment industry

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1043358' date='Dec 1 2010, 09:23 AM']Yeah, im more annoyed with myself for doing it. Still, a quick dab with a Orange Highlighter sorted it out [/quote] Haha! That's what I do with the Black Beauties, a dab of permanent black marker. Sorry, I don't know why I didn't suggest that to you in my post above, I meant to.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1040712' date='Nov 29 2010, 07:22 AM']What were you drinking last night? It's as straightforward a statement as it's possible to make: I wouldn't choose to listen to either an X Factor song or an Elton John song, they would each hurt my ears and make me homicidal. I don't really care how real someone's musicality is if they're doing Elton John covers. I wouldn't listen to Dead Milkmen do Candle In The Wind either. Would you?[/quote] TNiT I actually think I misread your statement, I thought you were insinuating that Ellie Goulding is an X-Factor wannabe. I apologise and retract my own statement. However, it does not diminish the negative or provocative nature of your post. And I doubt the songs make you homicidal Personally, I can't stand that song either, (or many of Elton's songs for that matter, but he is undeniably a great artist) and Ellie has not done anything to change that for me, I don't think she sang it particularly well either. I can't see the point of her doing it other than as a marketing exercise. The whole notion of pimping songs to topple the X-Factor No1 is risible, stupid, pathetic, and the people signing up for it are exhibiting the exact same sheep-like characteristics as those buying into the X-Factor. It was a good idea last year, although I detest that horrible RATM number, but now the marketing guys have got hold of it.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1038710' date='Nov 27 2010, 12:16 PM']Other than whats already been said about how they test these strings i just wanted to point out that while i was adjusting the truss rod in my HW-one (at the body end) i happened to force the Allen key against the D string, bending the string slightly, and It took the finish off. I now have a small silver patch. Maybe i should have been more careful but it does show that they are a bit delicate.[/quote] Yes, it does warn you about such things on the packet, they are not indestructable or whatever.

I have a 4 string Vette $$, I love it, and I tried cetera's Euro at the weekend. They are VERY different in tone. The preamps are very different too, I was impressed with the Tonepump. I liked both, but they are VERY different. Does that help?