JoeEvans

I also feel like the EMGs ought to give you respectable output levels, is it worth getting the pickups and wiring checked by someone? I guess I'm wondering if there might be a problem with the volume pot or something ...

One of these now sold, the other one is still available for £75 plus postage (say £20) or pick up from Bristol.

26 minutes ago, solo4652 said:

At this stage, I think she's curious. She's a good trombone player, but a poor keys player. Her husband plays drums, guitar, keys and bass. Being a multi-instrumentalist seems de rigeur in their family. Difficult to tell exactly how serious she is about playing at gigs. I've given her advice about what home-practice combo to buy, and I've offered to do a basic set up on her bass. She asked me for lessons. I declined, saying that she needed to find a professional teacher, not me. I get on well with her, and her husband. 

 

Maybe the best approach is to sit back and see what happens. In the nicest possible way, I'll avaoid giving her playing tip. It might just fizzle out. However, if she (and husband) make serious suggestions of her playing bass at gigs, I'll say No at that point. I don't play any other instrument in the band.

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...

Such a nice bass. I'm giving this a bump in the hopes that someone will buy it, so that it doesn't just sit here tempting me.

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.

Good-looking beast.

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.

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

Leaves white residue in places impossible to reach. If you wash it away you're left with green spots impossible to reach. Looks really odd to my eyes.

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.

19 minutes ago, meterman said:

I know, at first glance it seems daft, but I’m down in the South Of France and although down here they produce their own bubbly in the same manner as the Champagne region (and local vineyards argue about whether their method predates Champagne becoming the more well known fizz) they can’t call it Champagne. But I’ll belt it down anyway. 
 

I’m probably still wrong aren’t I? 😂
 

 

 

 

Sounds pretty good to me...

1 hour ago, meterman said:

Absolutely rat-ärśêd blind drunk on a combination of local champagne and bipolar meds.

 

If there’s any change left over, maybe some more champagne. Or a plectrum or something?

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?