TrevorR

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1441951728' post='2863149'] Everything by Kate Bush. [/quote] To quote Not The Nine OClock News... "...you only buy my latest hits, because you like my latex t*ts..."

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1442210755' post='2865085'] I always carry spare heads!! [/quote]

[quote name='jonsmith' timestamp='1442187798' post='2865060'] Reading some of the comments in the thread, some felt that there was no need to strive for good sound in the pub, because the audience wouldn't notice anyway. This seems a little contemptuous to me, but if it's a justification for not taking the gear you believe will deliver the best sound, then to me that reads as not being that fussed about how you sound. If we all do care about our sound, then the original question is answered - we discuss what gear we might use in the pub and take the best equipment we have available because we want to achieve the best sound possible, whatever our budget might be. Of course best might not be most expensive, but there is still a decision being made out of a desire to give the best one can. It was suggested that this wasn't required down the pub. [/quote] For me this is the interesting question which hasn't been addressed in this thread. The implication that different venues warrant/require/deserve different quality of gear. The logical corollary to that is that the Whippet & Snorkel only warrants a Squier, a wedding gig warrants a MIM Fender, a theatre gig warrants a U.S. standard and the Royal Albert Hall warrants a U.S. Custom Shop model. It has been stated as an assertion but there hasn't been any unpacking of the reasoning behind it. For me that type of thinking is wrongheaded and, frankly, irrelevant to my world. Any and all audiences deserve the best performance I can give. For that reason I've never had a problem playing "cheesy" crowd pleasing songs... because they please the crowd and for me that has been at the core of the job of any band I've played in. I personally own 4 electric basses. Two are (I suppose) vintage boutique types, one is the first bass I ever got (and still a cracking bass to play), the other is a Frankenjazz project bass. I play all of them because I love them. They are my basses. They are the ones I play. End of. I don't rank them against each other (although for, say, a 60s theme night I might use the Jazz for purely aesthetic reasons). When I gig I always take two basses, as insurance against a failure (the fact that in 25 years of playing I've only had a ,problem materialise twice - once with a bass, once with an amp - is neither here nor there). The show must go on. The fact that since I then have 2 basses I can swap different basses for different songs is a) a personal indulgence and b ) a personal artistic choice. Sure I can play any song with any of my basses but to my ears A Town Called Malice sounds so right on my Pro bass and Lady Marmalade or Babylon sounds so nice on my MK 1 Custom. Do the audience notice... Consciously almost certainly not but if I give a better performance for a load of indefinable mojo related reasons they will on a subconscious level (and their feet will hopefully notice too).

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1442174806' post='2864931'] I have a hunch that any deficiencies were down to the cabs more than the amps, as a decent old valve 100 watter through modern speakers is a joy to play through IMO. [/quote] Interestingly, when Wal introduced their Mk2 5 string bass they added a low pass filter to the preamp specifically for those players whose speakers couldn't cope with the lower frequencies being produced by the low B string. Such were the average speakers which were more common back then. I suspect, though that the target deficient amps they were thinking of were rather more Laney Linebacker than Ampeg 8x10! :-)

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1442180605' post='2865010'] And also bare in mind, the sound of these shows were mixed to suit the sound of your average 1970's Ferguson mono telly speaker. They didnt know that in the future we would be watching these shows on our state of the art - hi def - nicam -surround sound tellys. [/quote] That was what sprung to mind for me. As others have said, I suspect that the mixing and mastering was more about a sound that pretty low quality 4" oval TV speaker could cope with (and that wasn't deep rounded bass). Again, hence the In Concert approach of a broadcasting some concerns on BBC2 with the soundtrack broadcast on Radio 1 for much higher (mono, AM radio!!!) sound quality.

Looks like someone sneezed while using the band saw. If you buy it, check for blood splatter and fingers stuck under the strings...

Shouldn't do. Most of the feqs being tamed won't really register in the sub range. At worst you might need to tweak your tone settings a smidgen but I think that's not that likely...

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1441706348' post='2860977'] I find that pretty much most, if not all, modern productions leave me cold - they all sound to me like they've been made in either an aircraft hanger (wide and spacious, no feeling), or that everything is squashed together (love Rush, and the album, but step forward 'Clockwork Angels'). Modern drums go puffffttt, and cymbals shhhhhttt, whereas we all know proper cymbals go tssssst! There's science here, chaps! ....and that's before the modern bass tones - no definition. Rant over! [/quote] Funny, I had thought that the mastering on Clockwork Angels was a bit of an improvement over their more recent stuff. But then again, it may just be that after having my ears bludgeoned into submission by Vapour Trails and Snakes & Arrows, a Rush CD that was only badly over mastered was a blessed relief in comparison! And don't get me started on the Rush In Rio CD...

But c'est fini now... :-( ---------------------------------UPDATE------------------------------------- Thanks for all of the interest, guys. While we wish we could give free strings to everyone, there's only a limited amount available. I've sent private messages to the selected testers. If you didn't receive a PM, there's still a chance that you'll be selected if one of the original selections don't respond in time. Looking forward to seeing your reviews (and basses) in action

Hey there Lukas, welcome. Been to Lausanne a few times long ago. Love the place - so placid sitting next to the lake. Have fun and do join in with the discussions - and by the way, there's nothing wrong with your grammar that I can see so far! There are a few church players around - mine does a lot of the Hillsong/Worship Central type stuff too. Cheers. Trevor

I like a Shure Beta 57 over a 58. Used that in a covers band for many years. I'm sure that I read somewhere that it has a slightly warmer tone than a 58 and is considered quite flattering for female vocals (tending to warm them up a bit). That said I can't recall where I read that and it could have been something my fevered mind made up! :-)

Surely this all comes down to the physics of electronic distortion? This is super oversimplifying the process but... A fuzz pedal puts lots of clipped harmonics and overtones into the signal/sound. Some of these sound pleasant to the ear, some sound unpleasant. Guitar and bass speakers tend to be designed to filter out the less nice frequencies (initially by accident rather than design). That sweetens the sound up. A straight DI (either from a DI box or out of the back of your amp) doesn't do this. You get the bad and the good. Or at least much more of the bad. Put that through a high fidelity system like a PA and you get loads of the nasty right up, in your face! Fizz city! So that is why products like Sansamp and Palmer include speaker simulators in their DI boxes so that you can get a sound more like going through a bass Amp and speaker - and which filter out the less pleasant sounding harmonics and overtones. It's the same reason you barely see electric guitarists going DI, much of their sound is predicated on the taming effect which a guitar amp speaker has on the distorted sound. A DI from a guitar amp would sound horrendously fizzy when using distortion or overdrive. Might be worth investing in a speaker sim. At our church I run straight into the PA and, even without using any distortion I much prefer the sound of a speaker sim preamp. I use a Tech 21 VT Bass DI. Does that explanation make sense?

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1441800968' post='2861862'] Vintage = Low-Fi Modern = Hi-Fi I'm partial to something inbetween. Mid-Fi [/quote] I'm not sure which I prefer and the reasons for that preference... Why-Fi

That's really not my kinda bass. But as not my kinda basses go that's one really really lovely not my kinda bass!!! Hmmmm... Starting to get seriously tempted by this brand!

Anything by Tom Lehrer but Poisoning Pigeons In The Park is a fave. http://youtu.be/yhuMLpdnOjY Also, the Wombles had some great tracks on their albums, often parodying popular styles... I suppose we've got Mike Batt to thank/blame for that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgXrkMi1At8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxwoSg_M_vE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv0_3yYITA4

Lots of good suggestions so far. Can't believe that no one has suggested The Killers' Mr Brightside, though. Never seen a song fill a dance floor like that one. Apologies for suggesting it but Have A Nice Day by the Sereophonics or Travis' Why Does It Always Rain On Me would fit in, and are crowd pleasers too. Also the punters do envoy singing along to Don't Look Back In Anger towards the end of the evening expect blokes with arms around each other's shoulders and beer glasses being waved in the air. Apologies if those are all really populist choices. But there is a reason why popular songs are popular... People like them! :-)

It strikes me that none of the supposed commercial downsides of No 1 will ever actually happen... More gigs with a prettier singer? As a function band you'll get most gigs from your website/promo materials so just make sure that you choose flattering shots. The other gigs will come from word of mouth or people seeing you at a function and giving a kicking performance is what will win those gigs not a comparison against a singer that the potential client has never seen anyway! Go for the better singer and the more pro attitude and then ask No 2 if she might be willing to dep on gigs that No 1 can't make or where you want to go for a bigger, harmony sound. That might suit a serious hobby singer better anyway!

The purchase of my Wal Pro bass was an 18 month price education process... It went on sale at one and a half grand. I eventually bought it for £550! "This bass was picked up second hand in a local guitar shop in 2001 after a haggling session which lasted over a year and a half! When I first saw it in the shop it was priced the same as a brand new "Custom" bass. I made a sensible offer which was rejected. Over the next 18 months I watched as the layer of dust on the bass grew thicker, popping in once a month to have a play on it and repeat my offer. Well, after I had popped in about once every months to offer a sensible price for well over a year the owner eventually relented (after I popped in with a just published magazine article on the model for him to look at which quoted a sensible, at the time, £500 market price. Sadly he wasn't there at the time so is never got to see the look on his face). A phone call back from the shop that afternoon and the handing over of £550 later... and it was finally mine! http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/my-basses-1978-wal-pro-series-bass.html

Not a Bass 8 but not far off... http://youtu.be/Z9qBimkVGg4 And this Egmond history might give some info... Egmond and Rosetti instruments were big in the 60s before "proper" American instruments hadn't really made it to the UK in any numbers... http://www.egmond.se/egmond_se_History.html

I use these. Really bright and they use ordinary batteries not coin types http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mighty-Bright-Blue-Xtraflex-Light/dp/1935009036/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1441787010&sr=8-5&keywords=Mighty+bright+led+light

Or try our these guys. Use them for all my cables. Fantastic quality and reasonably priced... http://www.award-session.com/cleartone_cables.html

These guys will do you a really good quality one at a very reasonable price... http://www.award-session.com/cleartone_cables.html

Or there is the old kiddies drawing book "copy this picture" method. Print out the plan, draw a grid, say 1cm square over it. On a large sheet of paper draw a bigger grid, say 2.5 cm square or what ever is needed for the scale up. On the big grid mark the point in any square where each line crosses the smaller grid on the original plan. Then you can join the dots on the big sheet either freehand or with French Curves.

That's an interesting concept. So are you trying to create a natural chorus effect between you and the guitar player? That could be a risky ploy. I imagine that it's a very fine line between spaceyness and just sounding horribly out of tune. Don't reckon I'd ever be brave enough to try it and would either just live with a straight trio sound or throw a chorus and tremolo pedal in on occasion to add texture...

I think the advice here nails it. Think about mids for definition and punch rather than bass. Angle the cabs/ a cab up at your ears rather than your knees. See if you can find a stage placement for your cabs that you and the drummer can hear but which places the singer less in the firing line. Those were three of the four things which sprang to mind. The other was decoupling your cab from the floor/stage if that is resonating with your low frequencies. An up turned beer crate from the bar to set a cab on should suffice (looks better than a stool or chair).