TrevorR

Played in a folk band at college with a viola player about 30 years ago. Had great fun - she doubled (tripled?) on accordion and recorder though not at the same time. Came across some old recordings and stuck them up on Soundcloud the other week... Here ya go if you fancy a listen/laugh!

Oh no, he’s gorn an dun it... ...you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon! LOL! GLWTS, lovely bass!

To be fair, we’ve been through this all before with “Yes West” and ABWH - who also wanted to call themselves “Yes” before m’learned friends got involved. As I recall there was even some legal wrangling over calling the tour “An evening of Yes music plus...” even though that’s just a description of what AWBH delivered live. Cracking gig it was too. As was the 90125 line up live. Yes has always been and I suspect will always be a soap opera. Personally with neither Chris nor Jon my appetite to see “Yes” has waned - and you could probably say the same from the Benoit days onward. On the other hand. If I were going to shell out for one “Yes” gig this year I’d probably plump for ARW for no particularly logical reason other than liking Rick’s playing style more than Geoff’s.

I can heartily recommend the Italia Leathers 4” ones!

One could also say the same of Roger’s post-Roger albums...

Hardly trading a boat anchor for a featherweight though... my SB700 weighs pretty much the same as my Wal! PS Keep the Wal!

I’d better throw away my copies of Yessongs, Going For The One and 90125 then... I never realised they didn’t count as they’re just by some tribute band.

To buy one bass or not to buy one bass is still a choice. ...and don’t call me “Shirley”. (Have you people never watched “Airplane!”?)

Bass Bash? I recall standing there open mouthed at the volume and sheer quality of sound being produced by a Ricky, a TE Elf, a Barefaced 1x10 and a smattering of Chris Squire riffs...

It always amuses me that when this topic comes up folks tend to start discussing it in polarised extremes. It's worth bearing in mind that there is a spectrum of different approaches between... ...and... I think Gary put it very well above. It's about the band demonstrably enjoying being there and connecting in some appropriate way with the audience, wherever on the spectrum that is!

Hmmmm... I think you are taking a small and pretty unrepresentative selection of popular music history. In fact, other than the over-earnest late sixties protoprog noodlers (think the early Floyd or Dead head type happenings) or the shoe-gazing miserablists of the late 80s/90s and so on I can’t think many other eras/genres where your thesis holds true. OK, maybe some pretentious chin-stroking bits of jazz... Most people in most audiences in all genres have gone out to be entertained. Show business is, after all, the business of show - and whether you like it or not, bands are part of the entertainment industry. And anyway, I think you’ve also set up a false dichotomy. It’s never been an either/or. It should always be both. And even those bands like the Genesis, Yes and Floyd type (at stadium or local venue level) who needed to concentrate on stage on their complex musicality tried to add visual interest through lights and other stuff... So a good band can have the chops, a good band can put on a show. A great band who really entertain their audience will tend to have a good balance of both. For me, if I go see a local circuit band I want them to have at least better than average musical ability. However, I also want them to connect with the audience in some sort of meaningful, genre-sympathetic, venue-appropriate manner. BOTH! A rubbish band is still a rubbish band no matter the show. A dull band is still a dull band no matter the chops.

Ah, hadn’t clocked you weren’t Uk based...

£48+£1.50 p+p from GAK... https://www.gak.co.uk/en/mooer-audio-bass-sweeper-dynamic-envelope-filter/79396?gclid=Cj0KCQiAieTUBRCaARIsAHeLDCSQx7ba54mxOHMxf2_YX2C-H35GHYE82hDZvUlMkvwpiC25vk1DSOMaAoK2EALw_wcB £49 post free at Rattle & Drum http://www.rattleanddrum.com/mooer-mbef1-bass-envelope-filter-pedal-sweeper.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAieTUBRCaARIsAHeLDCTp3HY-jpsRcT_0uJ2UwVFLaLx8DBhwWtlGcpCjfjjH4qD2wJAwRUgaAhH9EALw_wcB

I really like my Bass Soul Food. I'm not a big distortion fan and really wanted it for a low level of OD break up - in particularly to add a wee bit of square wave tonality into my Wah pedal for slightly synthy tones. Having listened to a wide range of demos I came down to the BSF as the practical and affordable option. Most complaints I've seen online about it are that it doesn't have enough gain and enough dirt and enough fuzz... Of course for me, that was it's big bonus point. The settings I've settled on are Vol: 12 o'clock, Drive: 1-2 o'clock, Blend: 1-2 o'clock and Treble 12 o'clock. That gives me a not much more than unity gain setting when on. Works very nicely for what I want it for - to be honest I only very rarely use it as an actual OD pedal. I'm pretty sure that a lot of OD/distortion fans would look at me and say "When are you ACTUALLY going to switch the pedal on?" Which is fine as far as I'm concerned. And considering that judging from the specs and demos, my other option for the sound I was looking for would have been trying to find an original Bearfoot BlueBerry Bass Overdrive second hand of from the States at a couple of hundred quid plus import duties... my sub-£100 BSF will do me just nicely! The one thing I REALLY don't understand about the BSF is why they bothered to put a -10db switch on it. It's such a low gain structured pedal I can't really imagine a set of circumstances where, even with level and drive maxed out you'd end up with an unacceptably hot output (that wasn't trimmable by the Vol knob, which - after all - is what it's there for!).

Always enjoyed Kirsty Newton playing with Mitch Benn and the Dirstactions http://www.kirstynewton.com/ And Miranda Sykes slaps a mean doghouse bass with Show Of Hands... http://www.mirandasykes.com/

Used to bump into a bassist called Eilis Phillips on the singer-songwriter circuit round London. She’s as good a bass player as she is tiny... and she’s really rather short! Lol! Then there’s Jo Wadeson who’s played with Thea Gilmore and The Waterboys. Top player. Carrie Melbourne who plays bass and Chapman Stick. Wonder what she’s doing these days. Wonder if Clare Kenny’s doing much playing these days? Always liked her back in the late 80s/early 90s. Has a lovely Aria red back then. Also, if you’re looking for young female players for a bona fide touring band, contact one of the colleges like ACM, BIMM or whatever to see if they have senior students looking for live touring experience.

Oh yeah, Status Quo And Maddy Prior From Steeleye Span... And possibly the ultimate Christmas single... Trying to work out what bass Madame Cholet is playing. Looks nice, though.

There ya go...

This came on the radio once and my wife said, “Is that the song with Cliff Richard and Van... Van... erm Van... ...Halen?” I nearly had a hernia from laughing!!!!

Presumably that's him tinkling on Fluff... ...oh, there's an image I'll never get out of my head...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed. And I was shocked to find out that John Peel didn’t actually play mandolin in Maggie May...

Still counts in my book - and yes, I was entirely aware of the nature of Norman’s “contribution” and then lengths Trevor Horn went to to get a “bass part” he was happy with on Relax... still the sound of Norman plucking a string, even if triggered from a Fairlight. Perhaps I should have placed “on” in inverted commas...

Remembered some more... Huey Lewis playing harmonica for Thin Lizzy Colosseum II/Barbara Thompson’s Paraphernalia (including Gary Moore and Don Airey) with Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber - the Variations album, better known as The Theme from The South Bank Show For that matter the cast on the original studio version of Jesus Christ Superstar including Murray Head, Mike D’Abo, John Gustafson and IAN GILLAN as Jesus!!!!!! And speaking of Eminen there is him sampling the bass playing of Dave Peacock of Chas and Dave fame!

And the piano onCat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken