Frank Blank

I’m in Southend but I can come to you, I’m never comfortable in a shop to really put a piece of kit through it’s paces, if you’d feel more comfortable at your gaff then it’s no problem, I’d be very happy to help out.

Why not bring your bass over and try it through my QSC K12.2? The only real way to settle this is to try one, surely?

Luckily for me my basses are used in a form of music that’s crying out for the tone of the bass alone, I sometimes think I’d like to try out a Helix just for a gas but I’m actually rather glad I don’t have to use effects in my band. Also I wonder if the reason I struggled for years to get the tone I wanted was simply because I had never heard my basses uncoloured so I had no real fundamental ‘starting’ tone from which to build. If you have never heard your bass amplified without ‘colour’ how can you really effectively alter the tone? I am attracted to the amp and cab sims, like I say, just for the fun of it really but yes, bass -> (colourless FRFR) gives me the pure tone of the instrument, I add a touch of mid, a touch of bass and a little compression on the preamp and I am totally happy. I have played both basses straight into the QSC without the preamp and it still sounds better to me than any dedicated bass amp I’ve ever heard and I’d be perfectly happy to gig plugged directly into the QSC and DI from it directly into the desk.

This is exactly why I use an FRFR setup, it is the tone of the instrument that I want as simply and colourlessly amplified as possible. I play a Rob Allen Mouse with LaBella flats and a Godin A4, both of which have very distinctive acoustic tones that I want to reproduce with as little ‘interference’ (apologies for my lack of tech terms) as possible.

I kind of think of my FRFR set up as ‘separates’ in a sense, the QSC K12.2 as an FRFR ‘cab’ and the preamp as the eq section of a ‘head’. In over thirty years of playing I never found a combo or seperates on which I could dial a tone I really liked, it is entirely possible this is down to my lack of technical knowledge but still, within half an hour of getting the QSC and Fishman preamp set up I had a tone I was completely happy with. It’s so versatile, I can use it as backline or as a monitor live, in fact I haven’t yet found a situation where it was problematic from playing with a noisy five-piece punk band through to my usual acoustic duo. In the end, as with anything, it’s just personal preference. I was always seeking to get the least ‘interfered with’ sound as possible from any amplification, I want the particular sound of the basses I’ve chosen just louder and my FRFR setup gives me that. An FRFR setup is not for everyone and endless technical discussions, as interesting and informative as they are, aren’t (imho) the final reason we settle on an amplification set up, it’s a set of far less tangible factors alongside practical considerations. For me FRFR is flexible and uncoloured and that’s why I like it. As much as I bang on about it I realise it isn’t for everyone, it’s just an option in the raft of possible options that I’m not sure everyone considers.

Mark Sandman from the excellent band Morphine usually played a one or two stringed bass with a slide...

Heft is a subjective term, not something inherent in the equipment (fnar) otherwise there would be a heft pot on amps. Until someone comes up with a definitive answer backed up with physics it's subjective, like me saying my amp has floral notes and fruity undertones, this may be the case for me but be experienced totally differently by someone else.

This is a great opportunity to go for an FRFR setup and join the Rock n Roll killers.

He sure will, as long as it’s dark/black. This is v exciting!

Ooooffftt...

Such awful news, RIP. Obviously...

Bring it...

Same for me Public Image by PiL

Have some 9/8...

Well you if you are at either of the upcoming bass bashes I’ll be there with the Mouse.

It’s just perfect, for me anyway. I never really got on with fretless basses generally, about the closest was actually a fretless Godin A4 that I tried in a shop once but the Mouse is king, by a country mile. Are you thinking about getting one? You are more than welcome to try mine.

A while back I ordered a fretted Godin A4 through my local branch of PMT. It took a while to get here, the container it arrived in was delayed in port due to a customs search apparently. When it did get here I was really pleased with it but then after a few weeks I had my ‘short scale revelation’ due to playing (and subsequently buying) a Taylor GS Mini. Being the classic ‘all or nothing’ type of idiot I immediately set about selling my full scale basses. I sold the Godin to a BC user and continued my search for the pefect fretted short scale acoustic bass having filled the fretless equivalent with the Rob Allen Mouse, which is perfect. Having looked for months and months and found nothing that satisfactorily replaced the Godin I began to regret having ever parted with it so a couple of weeks back I contacted the BCr I’d sold it to just to see how they were getting on with it, turns out they didn’t get on with it and had it up for sale at Bass Direct so I took a trip up there to see if it really was as good as I remembered it... it was, so I bought it. I was very lucky, it was still immaculate, not a mark on it, great. I’ve been playing it for the last 2-3 weeks and although it’s a big change back to long scale it is worth it because imho it is unparalleled as an acoustic bass. However, it appears the bass had not forgiven me for turning my back on it. Yesterday evening I had a lesson with my excellent bass tutor, as I was packing away the Godin I got chatting to the tutor’s next pupil, I then left to drive home. I parked just down the road from Che Blank, slung the gig bag over my shoulder and started walking, suddenly the bag went light and a second later came the sickening rattle of the Godin as it clattered across the pavement. I turned round to see it lying on its back thankfully. I picked it up and shoved it back in the case, got to the house and headed for bed not really wanting to look. I gave it a full inspection this morning and it does have a few dings and scratches on the back of the body but far, far, less than I was expecting, in fact you have to look for them, bl00dy thing is built like a tank. It looks like the strap button on the bottom took the brunt of the impact before it toppled on to its back. Oddly this afternoon I parked in roughly the same spot, I happened to look down as I walked away from the car and there was my TC Electronics clip on tuner lying on the pavement where it had been for the last fourteen hours. Not sure what the point of this post is, anyway, if @Jabba_the_gut‘s bass, wot I luv, ends up a) with me and b) being the perfect short scale fretted bass, I will then push the Godin into a lake and hurl flaming torches at it in the Uphelia style.

Exactly this ^ I play guitar and bass, both acoustic and electric through mine. Never going back to amps.

I forget just how good Bow Wow Wow were, such great musicians, Annabella Lwin, Matthew Ashman (RIP), Dave Barbarossa and the brilliant Leigh Gorman on bass, perhaps the perfect pop band imho...

They are really good, no idea why they aren’t bigger but they rarely seem to play outside of Brighton, amazing live band. Oh, just discovered they have a website at last.

Latest video from the excellent Samsara...

Likewise for me but their performance of Jobseeker on Jools Holland... and this... Made me realise they are excellent. English Tapas is a great album, gets under your skin. Superb band. The documentary Bunch of Kunst is great too.