shoulderpet

Hi All

As per the thread title I am after a combo that can do medium size gigs that is not too pricey, am considering the below amps which all look like they would be up to the task, am after suggestions, thanks

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/TC-Electronic-BG250-115-MKII-Bass-Combo-Amp/VJF TC Electronics BG250 115 MK II combo, 250 w 1x15" combo

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/TC-Electronic-BG250-210-Bass-Combo-Amp/VJJ TC Electronics BG250 210  2x10" 250w combo

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Peavey-MAX115-MKII-Bass-Combo-Amplifier/U6S  Peavey MAX 115 MKII 1x15" 300w combo

On 17/03/2019 at 22:33, LeftyP said:

  Paul Mc. was/is a master at finding just the right balance without detracting from the song.

This

No, not overrated at all, not meaning to be rude but it boggles my mind that you dont hear any innovation or imagination, I think maybe you have not heard much Beatles material or just heard the small handful of Beatles songs that appear on radio and tv.

I would suggest the following as great examples of Mccartney's melodic genius with his bass playing, please note this is just a few that come to mind , there are many more examples...   Something, Hey Bulldog, With a little help (from my friends), Rain ,

These are all lines where he could have played it very straight but chose not too, on Something he uses the bass as a melodic instrument and uses a great inventive counterpoint line to really enhance the song and emphasize certain important parts of the song, on Hey bulldog his bass really drives the song creating a great sense of urgency and energy within the song whilst also being very melodic,  on With a little help (from my friends) the guitar work is very sparse and leaves a lot of room for the bass which Mccartney uses to enhance the song with his great melodic bass part which adds melody during the verse and drives the song during the chorus, Rain is another great one where Mccartneys bass really drives the song and brings it too life.

McCartney along with Jamerson really expanded the role of the bass within music and changed the way that people played and thought about bass, people realised that they no longer had to ride the root notes if they didn't want to do that, they realised that you could have the bass feature prominently in music and you didn't have to be buried in the mix.

Hi all

I have a Violin bass copy that I am very fond of,the bass has a Hofner style floatign bridge, however unlike my Hofner I can never quite get the bass intonated and am after suggestions for a bridge with a little more intonation adjustment options to replace the floating bridge currently on there, a tune-o-matic style bridge would be perfect but I cant find one with narrow enough spacing (this bass has 14mm spacing)the bass has a centre block (semi hollow) running the length of the body so drilling holes is not an issue if necessary

3 hours ago, Huge Hands said:

I was really impressed with Jess Glynne's vocal tone

 

Funny that, I found myself hitting the mute button whenever she came on, way too nasal for me and a bit screamy sounding , still different strokes and all that , I agree with you about The Record Company though

The Contemporary (the mid priced version) is good, it has a bound fingerboard and the same pickups as the full price german version but is semi hollow vs fully hollow (the german version) so although it sounds really good it is not quite as woody sounding as the german version, sound is nice and warm and thumpy.

24 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Try spending a few hours with your radio tuned to Absolute Radio (or similar Oldies station) and see how many of the big hits from the past you can successfully busk based simply on the fact that you grew up listening to the song.

If you have a talent for that, then you'll do fine at any jam session.

 

Thats a great idea I will give that a try

Thanks for the replies guys, really helpful

Thanks I will give that a try

Hi All

As a bass player who is generally competent but far from exceptional I am trying to extend my repertoire and was wondering what songs are considered "must know songs" for jam nights ? thank you in advance 

Hi all

Am after some suggestions on fills/flourishes for songs, am a reasonably proficient bass player but when it comes to fills and flourishes I tend to fall back on Root, fifth octave or root, 4th, 5th and sometimes I throw in Root and minor 3rd , I think it is fair to say my ambition outweighs my ability when it comes to fills so am after some suggestions for some tasty fills I can use , thanks in advance

16 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

The EB Cobalts come across as an interesting option. It will probably be them or D'addarios i go for.

Don't want to go for a cheap option string in case it puts me off so a reutable string will be best.

Steve Harris gets a nice twang from his strings right enough even tho i'm not really an Iron Maiden fan i do quite like his bass tone.

Dave

I would give the Cobalts a miss personally, they are designed to sound like a roundwound so dont really give a good representation of flatwound strings, a bit like trying groundwounds to find out what roundwound strings sound like

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Looks fake to me.

His finger/fret positioning in a couple places should be resulting in choked notes, but they sound perfectly fine on the audio. 

Besides it's a video there's no guarantee that it is actually real.

Could be the camera angle, a lot of the time I fret practically on top of the fret (bad habit I know) but I have no issues with choked notes, I don't think its fake imho 

Daddario tapes are very similar tension to the TI flats, I didn't like Labella tapewounds , they are low tension but i got completely buried in the mix with those, avoid Rotosound as they are probably the highest tension tapewounds

On 06/12/2018 at 15:19, Happy Jack said:

I started in live music by playing at one of the better jams in West London (the Drayton Arms, Ealing, formerly the King's Head, Acton jam). 

Quite literally everybody in the room was a better musician than me, and the great majority (including the guitarists) were better bass players than me.

This pretty much describes me , I don't let it get me down though, im competent enough to get through most situations just not what you would call a great musician

14 minutes ago, discreet said:

What constitutes 'a good rig' could be debated until the cows come home, but I would agree... the best 'tone' or 'sound' or whatever you want to call it that I ever had was through an Ampeg SVT Classic with matching 8X10. Still chasing that sound, really. I'd use a fridge every time, were it not for the practicalities involved in moving the bloody thing from A to B. And back.

Yeah I agree about the practicalities, i'm not a tall person and not well built and the cab was nearly as tall as me

Don't post that often but a rehearsal the other day inspired me to.  On forums people often talk about the differences that different basses provide, different strings etc, I think the most overlooked aspect is the rig being used, had a rehearsal the other day and we used one of the bigger rooms, I was pleased to see an 8x10" Marshall bass stack, I forget the actual bass head but it was something that looked like it had survived a few decades , anyhow plugging in the tone was incredible, big, rich and warm, lots of low end and deep,deep lows without being woofy like a lot of setups I have played through, anyhow point is amps/cabs/combos are often overlooked but have a huge impact on tone.

1 minute ago, The59Sound said:

Have you done a full set-up since you changed strings? I.e. truss rod, saddle heights, intonation etc? 

Yes , have done all that and lowered the pickups slightly to rule out the possibility of the pickups being too close to the string.  I am thinking it is probably a duff string , the chorus effect should not be happening and the G has a lot of excursion (you can actually see it hit the frets when plucked)

Thanks for the replies , I tried a set of extra light Daddario xl nickels as I have heard good things and they are relatively affordable , they sound great however I have some issues with the G , firstly I noticed it has more excursion than the previous strings (TI flats) to the point where it buzzes on some frets, I then noticed it has a chorus effect going on, checked the string wasn't twisted etc , wondering if the excessive string excursion is related to this strange chorus effect?

Hi all
Am after a string recommendation, have switched my bass from flats to rounds recently however whilst I enjoy the added articulation solo i find those frequencies getting lost in a live situation, I have considered slinky flats but have ruled those out as I have read reports of premature fret wear with those strings, I want to try something different from flats.

Extra light gauge (95-40 or 95-35) is an absolute must as my hands don't handle stiff strings too well (arthiritis), if I can lose some string noise when doing slides then that is a bonus but not necessarily a must, the most important thing to me is that the string sounds aggressive and cuts through. I have considered Daddario half rounds but I have heard reports that they are more flat sounding than round sounding so i think they may be too dark.

Thanks

Not faster for me, for me playing with a pick is like trying to swim with wellies I just find it really awkward, shame as I like the sound of a pick

2 hours ago, FinnDave said:

I am not familiar with Peter Hook, but Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead is known for his upper registry bass work - I play in a GD tribute band and, for example, 'Fire on the Mountain' can last for 15 mins without the bass going below the 16th and 14th frets on the G string, except for a passing F# on the 11th fret.

Thanks I will give them a listen

If you are not familiar with Peter hook the below...

Monaco -what do you want from me

Joy division - Love will tear us apart

New order - Sunrise

Hi All
Wondering which bass players play in the upper register like Peter Hook.
Have been learning What do you want from me by Monaco which has a fantastic upper register bassline by Peter Hook and it occurred to me that melodically the upper register opens up a lot of possibilities, after finding out if there are other players that are similar to hooky in there upper register work , thanks

24 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

Maybe you're just not very good? 

Lol thats entirely possible, never claimed to be although I am probably better than I give myself credit for

24 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Sounds about right. I would say most jam nights are more damaging to your enjoyment of music than you'd think.

Yeah I would agree , funny thing is when I have been going for a while (just recently started becoming a little disillusioned by them) and first time I went, I ended up being on last for 1 song which I accepted as it was a busy night and I accepted as it was the first time I had been there, now months on and no longer the new guy it is obvious that I am just not part of the clique so I get the 3 songs and no more unless the place is completely dead.