JoeEvans

Yes - I think keep it friendly and supportive re her journey into playing bass, but firm, polite and definite about her not playing bass in a band which already has a bassist ...

I play both those instruments and I'd say if you've got a double bass, the accordionist is freed up from having to carry the bass with their left hand and they can do looser, freer chords, maybe with a less bassy reed setting. Or come to that, since it's a midi accordion, use a piano sound on the left hand. Either way, let the bassist play the basslines and don't clutter up the bottom end.

Ah, the internet. When you're gagging for an argument and you really don't care what it's about...

This is a very heart-warming thread.

Thanks for this guys, it's just something I haven't really considered before. As I say, the bass in question (Ibanez Axstar) has an especially skinny neck and it seems to move more per tweak of the truss rod than other basses I've fiddled with, and to be more sensitive to changes in string type than other basses as well.

Do strings of the same gauge but different makes and types have much difference in string tension? I'm trying to get the truss rod right but the neck moved more than I expected when I changed the strings. It's a very skinny neck, mind...

That makes me feel a bit seasick.

I absolutely love my Beyerdynamic DT 990s.

For me, Jaco Pastorious is an incredible musician but I don't really like him as a bass player. His tone is too trebly and gutless, and he plays too many notes - it's like he's continuously trying to climb out of the space where the bass should be, and he leaves an empty hole behind him. I don't think I'm the only bass player that likes bassy bassists - people who sit in the centre of the tune behind and underneath everyone else, holding it all together; drive the rhythm along; provide a rock solid platform for everyone else to do their thing; and whose sound is big, solid, low-down and powerful.

Yes - you don't want to get it on anywhere you can't get it off.

Brasso is the stuff you want.

Carbon fibre is very good at that price range, I think. I would probably just get one close to the top of your price range from Thomann without worrying about the brand.

My fretless bass has clearly visible wear from round wound strings (from a previous owner, I use flats on it). You can actually see the marks of the windings.

I'd do that double bass style with a shift, either as Fishfacefour suggests, or 1 (shift) 4 - 1, 1 - 2 (shift) 1.

I think I'd try another valve preamp. I currently use an ART Tube MP with my double bass and it makes it sound just slightly better - warmer and more muscular. So possibly there's another preamp out there that would do the same but more so.

Sounds pretty good to me...

I don't like to be pedantic about such a beautiful plan, but surely if you're in the Champagne region, all champagne is local, and if you're not, none of it is?

Following various experiments I came to the conclusion that the best DB sound for me came from the right mic then as little as possible on the way to a good active PA speaker, or just straight into the venue PA. I'm not sure if bass-specific amps and cabs are the right thing for DB.

The trouble is, if we can have Danny Thompson (and we certainly should) then surely we also need Charles Mingus and that just opens a whole different can of expensive 42" worms...

Also, "All comparison is odious." - Don Quixote

Robbie Shakespeare? Bootsy Collins?

I really don't like the idea of relic'd basses, in principle. But I do like battered old instruments. So I think I could only buy a bass that had been relic'd if it had been done well enough and lightly enough that I could kind of kid myself that it was natural ageing... Also don't like five strings, pointy headstocks and classic Fender sunbursts.

I'm mostly playing double bass at the moment. I bought a Prodipe Lanen mic a while back and that, into an ART Tube preamp then straight into the desk, sounds utterly delicious, live or recorded. The sound and the simplicity of it has made me think a lot more about an amp free arrangement for electric bass now.