Bassman68

Ok, I’ll play…

Started off in 1983/4 with a black SQ Precision, my first gigging bass.

Added a Jazz bridge pick-up & eventually stripped it & refinished it, even defretted it…Played lovely as a fretless but I bought a Stingray fretless & moved on the Squier.

2012 needed a Jazz bass for the function band I was with…The two guitarists had purple Strats, the closest I could find was a Burgundy mist Squier infinity that I had to import from the US as it wasn’t a European listed colour at the time?
2021 saw me with a hankering for a P-bass again, but I wanted a white one with a maple board…The Squier affinity PJ fitted the bill perfectly..
2022 The call for Sunburst & blocks was strong….The VM 70’s answered 😄

You’ve got PM

I have three Squiers that are my main touring instruments.. 

A 10yr old Infinity Jazz in Burgundy mist (Betsy style?) that I imported (It didn’t seem to be a colour available in Europe at the time? And the colour was important at the time for the band I was in?), An Infinity Precision (PJ) in white (I wanted a maple fb, black dots showed up better on dim stages) & a CV70’s Jazz in Sunburst (love the look).

All have been tweaked with different bridges, looms, pick-ups etc. but I regard them as my working tools.

They’re out & about 60-70 gigs a year, either travelling with me in my car, in the crew van or flown & have never let me down.

I use the Squiers as opposed to anything more expensive due to worrying less if they get knocked or damaged on the road, Most excesses for insurance would cover the price of replacements?

I don’t care what it says on the headstock ( although the bm jazz has got a Fender decal? ) They all sound like the basses they are? Let’s face it, as long as it’s a good piece of wood that’s stable & holds tuning & action, you can upgrade most of the parts to make it a better instrument without paying through the nose for the Fender prestige? 

Dagnabbit! 😢😄

I use Gator pro go gigbags, both a double & single depending on the gig & how many basses I need.

Within these I have spare sets of strings, Strap, Ipad, IEM’s,Guitar transmitter & a small ‘take-away portion’ size tupperware that contains tools,alan keys,batteries etc.

I also use a Pelicase style wheel-along case in the 1510 size which contains 2 guitar stands, 2 5m leads, Ipad bracket, drink holder for mic-stand, 3 power supplies & my Pedaltrain nano+ in its bag.

I like to keep things compact…

I gather this is the twin volume version?

1 hour ago, TeresaFR said:

How good is the drive, tuner and comp on the Microbass 3?

In order…

I like the overdrive, it’ll go from subtle to fuzz but don’t expect ‘Darkglass’…

The tuner just works, registers a low B on my 5 strings, I like the mute facility between sets..

The compressor isn’t overpowering, nothing complicated (just one control) but it evens things out, even on my passive J-basses..It’s not noisy, the way certain comp pedals can be?
 

l like the EBS tone, so much so I’m looking to sell what’s left of my existing backline to get a Magni 2x10 combo to handle gigs that require an amp.

The heart of my sound these days is an EBS Microbass3 in various guises, but as my needs are simple I don’t require much in the way of effects for my main gig..

With it’s eq & drive,compression & tuner, that’s me sorted for most of the time.

D.I ‘d out to the desk & back through IEM’s…

Not so much choice as “what I’ve got left”…

Having scaled down back-line as I don’t get to use it much in my current gigging situation 

Both my Jazz’s have kiOgon looms with blend,volume & tone.

I much prefer the single volume & can still get the sweet spot mixes 60:40 etc.

To my ears, there seems to be less volume drop when 50:50 mix too?

22 hours ago, Delberthot said:

Whenever I've played passive jazz basses I've always had both pickups and tone full on and boosted the mids on my EQ. It's my favourite jazz bass sound

Exactly the same…

My regular gig is with Jazz basses & my go-to tone is always both pickups full,

I then sweep the mids, during soundcheck, on my EBS Microbass3 to find the sweet-spot in the particular venue, We don’t use backline so I find it helps with my IEM mix?

I leave the rest to the sound guys, what comes out front is down to them….

It’ll be the colour of the screws next?

Chrome screws are brighter sounding than Black ones? 😂😂

I have two Sennheiser EW100 radio systems.

One racked up & the other on my pedal board…

Three transmitters too, one for each bass I take with me (normally 2) & one spare..

I’ve used a Sennheiser ew300 system for 20+ years with no problems, apart from replacing the occasional transmitter arial & lead?

To Joel, the OP on this subject, you haven’t come here to make any friends have you? 😂

I totally get where you’re coming from, but surely it’s down to a lot of personal choice & circumstances?
Not everyone has the finances or playing opportunities to warrant playing without backline on a regular basis..

For the last couple of years, my main gig requires that I don’t play with backline, so I have adjusted to the IEM route very quickly. It took me nearly a year & several different sets of IEM’s to find the best that work for me, both financially & comfortably (custom moulds).

The set up involves our own personal mixes via mic stand mounted tablets & took a few gigs to arrive at a mix that works for me..

We play theatres, concert halls, small arenas as well as open air festivals etc. & the convenience of not having to use an amp makes the whole process so much easier.

Certain club venues offer monitoring via wedges but I still bring my own IEM system so that I can hear myself at a volume that isn’t compromised with everything else.

One thing this has taught me is that people get a bit too precious over their tone? 
Once you have sent your DI signal to FoH, the signal is eq’d to the PA & mix, so 9 times out of 10 the audience hears the Sound-mans interpretation of the band mix, So you end up asking yourself 

“Do the audience really care that you’re playing a P-bass with flats, through an Aggie 750 into a Berg 2x12 (or whatever) this week over the Darkglass through the Barefaced that you could’ve brought?”
That’s without the option of all those alternatives you could send him via your Helix?

I still play pubs & clubs with other bands, & in those circumstances, still require to bring my own backline & I enjoy it all, up-to a point….Usually that’s when packing up at the end of the night & driving home with my ears ringing because the guitarist was a bit too loud or I was standing next to the drummers ride & crash cymbals when he decided to ‘go-for-it’ with one of his fancy fill…

In these circumstances I wear earplugs but feel they are just a compromise to protect what’s left of my hearing?
 

So at the end of the day, Good for you OP…I’m glad you have the opportunity like myself, to have a lovely mix & wander around with that same mix, without crossing the stage & wondering why you can’t hear the bass so well?
Do you miss that ‘thump’ in your back when you hit an open E or B even? Flapping your trousers with the air being shifted from you backline at full tilt (yes there’s Backbeats to get some of that back)….I do on occasions,

but the guy out front trying to mix the sound is probably knocking a couple of db of 180hz & below out of the mix to compensate for the bleed over into the other mics that’s ruining his mix?
Whilst that analogy might not matter down the ‘Dog & duck’ or wherever, the audience that went to see that Rock band on Saturday night are wondering why the encore had so much feedback & squealing when Dave the guitarist decided to crank his amp up for his solo at the end of the night? All the rest of the band are turning round to adjust their amps because they can’t hear themselves & ‘Amp wars’ has started…The Singer has threatened to leave because he’s got no voice left & wants to sack ‘Dave’ ‘cos “He’s too loud”, The drummer doesn’t care because he just hits even harder if necessary? And the band stop getting booked at the ‘D&D’ because neighbours that bought the house next door to a ‘live music’ venue, have started to complain?

Sound familiar at all?

I own & regularly use both the Gator pro single & double gig bags, I wouldn’t fly with them though….

I think the main issue would be the bulk of the double gigbag, firstly getting it onboard without being asked to gate check it,

then the issue of resting it in the footwell of the seat? Depending on who you fly with, you will struggle to set a gator pro double at a comfortable rake against the seat, & it being far too big to rest in the seat itself, that without the minimal leg room most charter flights have these days, with anything loaded in the front pocket of the gigbag.
(I’m 6’4” & like an emergency exit seat if possible on any flight over 4 hours..)

Whenever I fly with a bass these days, I just take one & that goes in an SKB Bass safe (with suitable extra clothes as padding inside the case) I have no issues with checking the case into the hold.

My first radio system was a Nady back in the late 80’s (think it was the blue channel, whatever that was?)

I upgraded to a Sennheiser uhf system in the 863-865mhz band in the 00’s when I required a radio system again,

It proved reliable, if a little overkill, being rack mounted & I put it in storage several years later…

Moving onto the covid years, I looked into cheap systems (amoon,lekato) for wireless practice at home, but managed to break

both systems within months of purchase…They always felt cheap & nasty & with the amount of wi-fi flying around in the house

with Wife working from home & daughter on-line-schooling, not very reliable?
Then, Post covid, I got a break with a regular touring band…

Everyone had been ‘bigging-up’ Smooth hound systems, So I got one for my pedalboard.

After a few large gigs with lots of IEM systems, I experienced too many let-downs, so opted back to my old Sennheiser system..

With second hand prices falling & careful E-bay viewing/deals, I’ve managed to acquire two more transmitter packs, and another receiver & power supply for back-up, along with some replacement aerials & some custom made leads.

This is what I use now, it doesn’t let me down & I’ve not experienced any interference, even with a couple of other bandmates using UHF systems….All the frequencies are tuneable so no-one interferes with anyone else (This along with the seven channels of IEM’s we have)

It’s ‘Old-school’ but it works for me…

I bought my Crafter 5 string on a whim from the Bass centre when they were still in Wapping around 2000.

Have gigged it occasionally on the odd ‘unplugged’ night & it’s been taken away on a few weekend breaks when the opportunity for a sing-song round the campfire has presented itself?
It just sits in its case mostly, these days….
 

PM’d re the black strap locks 👍

I have a couple of NeoTech’s that I tend to use on my Musicman basses for some reason

5 ComfortStrapp’s that are used on virtually everything else

and a very wide embroidered Warwick strap that works a treat on my Thumb 5..

I think by the very nature of being a double gigbag, you will struggle to find what you’re looking for..unless you sacrifice protection & padding?
I use a Gatorpro dual gigbag when travelling by car, I looked at the Mono but wanted more pockets & storage for Ipads & IEM’s.

Previous to that I used a Warwick Rockbag dual gigbag which, providing they still make them, might fit the bill?
It’s considerably lighter than the Gator, with less padding, but provided enough protection when travelling by car..

It also lasted me 10 years..

Fender were doing a lightweight double bag & the likes of Gear4music do their own proprietary offerings as well?

Looks like a very tidy MK IV AH150 to me?
somewhere around ‘84 (ish?) Think the MK V’s came out in ‘86?

17 hours ago, rushbo said:

It's probably just my dumb bad luck, but every Rickenbacker bass I have ever had in my hands has (IMO) played like a dog. In 1986, I was besotted with REM and with my pockets bursting with about two months wages, I spent nearly a whole day in Musical Exchanges in Brum, trying to convince myself I liked one of the 7-8 Rickys they had in stock. I couldn't. I left with an Ibanez Roadstar 850. The Ricky would have been a better investment, but I doubt I'd have had much fun playing it.

I lusted after a Rickenbacker bass during the mid 80’s, that was until I finally got a chance to play one…

I think the one I tried either had a twisted neck or someone hadn’t got to grips with the twin truss-rods, that and the fact that the strings have very little taper between the nut & bridge (imo) the spacing felt very narrow, coming from Fenders.

Years later, a friend of mine bought a lovely looking ‘Fireglow’ 4003, which I played a couple of times but still couldn’t get on with the narrow strings…

Another bass I always wanted was a Wal custom, but all the ones I tried, I couldn’t get on with the neck shape?
one particular fretless I nearly bought, had almost a ‘Vee’ neck, very uncomfortable in my hands…

One of my Jazz basses (Squier, rosewood board) has tiny side dot markers.

I’ve used luminlay type sticker dots, they used to move slightly if my hands got hot & sticky..

To overcome this I’ve put the smallest of blobs of clear nail varnish over the dots to hold them in place, it hasn’t damaged the fingerboard & does the trick nicely 👍

I’m still waiting until proper Luminlay becomes available again without the shipping prices from Japan?

My UE6 iem’s would rank pretty high,

but my best purchase has probably been my Gator progo X2 double gigbag?

I can fit 2 basses

Sennheiser radio system & iem’s

leads

tool kit

spare strings

iPad & bracket

Microbass3 preamp

virtually everything I need to gig with, apart from stands really?
Makes checking into hotels easy after gigs….Gigbag on back & clothes bag in hand.