wambamalubop

I managed to try the 500 Rumble head and 115 cab yesterday at PMT in Bristol, the store was way huger than I expected. There was something wrong with the cab I think as there was a lot of distortion somewhere, but I got the sense that I didn't like the tone of the thing anyway. It reminded me of the thin anaemic Fender combo I use for practice. Turning up the bass didn't really work, it just had more of the same tone I didn't like.

Thanks, I’ve been in there its a good shop. I called PMT in Bristol because their Newcastle and Manchester branches are showing the full range, I think the 800 stage is quite new hence not in stock yet. Anyhow, they seem worth a look in.

I'd like to audition a range of Fender amplification from the Rumble 500 head + 15 cab to the new Rumble 800 stage. Googling about I couldn't find any/many stores that keep this kind of Bass amplification in stock, the products mainly appear to be drop shipped. I am equidistant to Bristol/Birmingham/Cardiff and often travel up to London so any of those places would do, I'm guessing London is the best bet though. Anyone know of a suitable vendor?

I wonder if someone can recommend a double bass tutor somewhere in the area between the three cities of Bristol/Cardiff/Hereford? Bristol might be the best option as I often go there for various reasons. It would be great if there was someone based near to Hay on Wye where I am, but being realistic I expect Bristol or Cardiff are the likeliest places.

At 6'4 I'll be strumming 'when I'm cleaning windows'.

#metoo

The SO has already told me off for giving it more attention when I walk past than I do her ;-)

Ha, yes, those beams were chewed by horses before this place was rebuilt in the 1990’s, it may have originally been built in the early 1700’s so you are not far off. The bass is brand new though and only born in Czech quite recently.

About a year ago I was looking for a fretless and went through a few basses to get a good one After trying and rejecting a Squier VM modified (didn’t like the non wood fingerboard), an American Pro (didn’t connect with it) I settled on a Sire Marcus Miller 4 string in Alder and rosewood. It’s taken me nigh on a year to get my tone, (my learning not the bass) and I love it. This has got fret markers covered in a varnish/epoxy, so a similar surface to Jaco’s diy fingerboard. The fret marks don’t look as cool as not having them, but this is a fantastic instrument for the money, under £500

My first DB, a Thomann Europe 2TN, its as exciting as when I bought my first car.

@knicknack Where can one hire a DB for £35 a month, seems a great idea. Maybe its Thwaites? £40 a month so maybe the cost went up.

I'm still enjoying Yousician for learning to sight read from notation. Been a long ambition of mine. I left it alone for a few months to learn some Bach pieces from notation the slow way, metronome. Now I'm back and enjoying learning how to read the rests and play in real time. I can now get 90% accurate on the easier numbers without practicing. I don't think I could have got to this in 6 months without the apps instant feedback and assistance. Yousician can't teach someone to be a musician, but to get people going I think it has to be better than Bert Weedon's 'play in a day'. and 'The bass guitar scale manual' which was basically all I had available when I was 17. If you want to sight read (admittedly not an essential skill but for me a personal ambition because of the way it opens up more music) then its a good tool. And I'm learning keyboards too, so crossover from learning the bass stave to both hands on piano. I did try some human teachers over the years but frankly they were not very good and I could only afford 1 hour a week. With Yousician you can have 8 hours tuition a day if you like... within its limits.

Shedding a tear here. Saw him in a little bistro in the US in 1980 with Ralph Towner, just duetting. Magical. Sargasso Sea is a great favourite of mine from the ECM golden era. I'm going to grab that old vinyl and play it right away. He gave us some great gifts.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1503314783' post='3357056'] This is an interesting one, as there are all sorts of Confederate flags. For me they represent the Rock n' Roll Rebel type thing and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I'm not to up on the American Civil war, but I bet it's not as clear cut as slavery/white supremacy/North good, South bad type thing. [/quote] Actually it is completely clean cut. The civil war was fought over slavery because it was the slavery issue that caused the Confederate states to secede from the Union. The matter was settled for some time, but over the decades and particularly through the involvement of the KKK and similar organisations and individuals an attempt has been made to make it *seem* less clear cut as though there were other reasons for the secession of the rebel states. In the 1920's statues of general Lee started to be erected to help create the myth of him as a hero, but after he lost his battles he actually repudiated his views on slavery. Unlike his contemporary fans. A girl I was with at Uni was fascinated by all this 'rebel' confederate stuff and eventually married a white supremacist I think down in Louisiana, he eventually went to prison for murdering a black man. They play for higher stakes in the US than we do in the UK. I do think that you should keep the flag though as you don't have a dog in the fight and neither do I as we are not Nazi's. I see the flag as a symbol, once black people no longer find it offensive we'll know that as a culture we've moved on and solved the underlying problem that this is just a symptom of. And the greatest tool in doing that is MUSIC!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1498483262' post='3324904'] I think Nate Watts is probably fatter than Jerry and a better bassist imo, I'm quite fat but maybe I need to be fatter still to really nail it. [/quote] Hey, we're not 'fat', we're Phattt! Nothing quite like a big of mass behind the bass to really hold down the groove. Proud to be stout!

Lee Sklar's bassline on Stratus Deceptively simple but locking into that groove defeats me and might until for ever... You can scroll to 2:52 if drum solos are not your thing, though these are some of the most interesting and creative ones to my thinking. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aw2rM0w-pc"]https://www.youtube....h?v=5aw2rM0w-pc[/url] He seems like a lovely human being in this interview. http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/03/07/stories-behind-the-songs-leland-sklar/ "[color=#000000][font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]As I recall, Billy was originally going to do it with Stanley Clarke. I think when they got together there was just too much blowing and not enough hunkering down. So Billy called me and asked if I’d like to come to New York to do an album. We did it at Electric Ladyland. I flew in on a Sunday, we worked all day Monday and Tuesday, and I flew home Wednesday and it was done. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]Those two days were so intense. It was almost like an out of body experience. I couldn’t even hear myself because I had a little Univox amp and it was set up right in front of Billy’s kit, which is basically like sitting with a bunny in front of a freight train. It was like you almost didn’t even know what you did until you went and listened to a playback. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]There was nothing really written out. I think once we started playing that, I got into that bass line and just sat there. I think that was part of the appeal to Billy, was the fact that I was just holding it down and I wasn’t starting to go off of it and blow. You have to get into this headspace [to play the line.] Billy has a unique quality that when he fills, he rushes like there’s no tomorrow, but he always is there for the downbeat. So you’re trying to hold this bass line down and he’s just flourishing all over it, then he’s there at the downbeat. You can’t go with his fill, otherwise you’re lost when you come back in. I was in a zone. It takes about a bar and a half to lock in. We’re kind of riding a little bit until it really hunkers down, and that to me is the charm of this record. It’s tight but it’s really loose. [/size][/font][/color] [color=#000000][font=open-sans, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]It’s a song that took on it’s on life. Then Massive Attack lifted it and used it. I’ve had people come up to me when we’re playing it and say, “Oh, you guys are doing that Massive Attack tune,” and I have to say, “No, it’s kind of the other way around.”[/size][/font][/color]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1485638753' post='3225564'] BARGAIN (compared to the €70,000 starting price for these [url="http://sauvageguitars.com/opm3.html"]http://sauvageguitars.com/opm3.html[/url]) [/quote] Pickups made from finest quality Highland butter shortbread

[quote name='wambamalubop' timestamp='1484591278' post='3216612'] I just talked to a vendor and they thought that the MIA Jazz I bought in 2000 would sell for as much as £850 if I sold it privately which is £150 more than I paid for it. I don't think that it would sway my decision in buying a guitar, but its nice to know that if you had to you have an asset that you can cash in later. Its a free bass if you think about it. [/quote]

I have to say it took a lot of effort to send that bass back, I suspect there is a lot of variation in these and you probably got a better one than mine. Part of me wants to order another one just in case I got this wrong and there is one that I could use. I read that Thomann will stop using Rosewood for the fretboards because of US CITES requirements, so maybe its time to get one of these while they are still with the real rosewood as they are going to replace it with baked maple. I can only play one guitar at once, or my order would be in by now.,

HB seem to create outstanding value for money. I just sent back a JB-40, the fretless one. A more beautiful thing is hard to behold. Playable and a really good mwah to it. The only problem is there was absolutely bugger all sustain on the G string once it was touching the fingerboard. Had it professionally set up, fiddled with strings, bridge, pick up height all to no avail, the G string failed to sing. I've spent the whole 30 days of the Thomann time limit trying to figure out how to make it good enough to keep as I really, really liked the way it looked and sounded in the bits where it worked. So I sent it back and I'm now substantially poorer for ordering a Fender fretless as the HB realised that my life was empty and meaningless without a fretless bass in it. I think these are fantastic instruments for beginners, but probably a disappointment to people used to even a decent Squier let alone a full fat product.

Short version. I once played the bass. I stopped and I started again. Greetings from Herefordshire!