MartinB

I used to take mine off, thinking it might get in the way. But then a couple of times I forgot - which made me realise that it doesn't make any difference.

I use the B string: - as a thumbrest: all the time - to transpose songs downwards for the singer without needing to re-tune: regularly - to move patterns up the neck to make them easier to play: a fair bit - to play songs that were originally in Eb standard tuning or on a 5-string: sometimes - to play any note below a low D : almost never

Spot on - the line out on a Rumble 100 v3 is post-everything. If you turn up the gain/EQ/master on "your" amp, you'll also be increasing the signal to "his" amp. Since the older Rumbles don't have a gain control, this could cause clipping. You'd have the same situation if you used the effects send from the 100. I don't know if the older Rumbles have the same layout - it may be worth trying your bass into the 25, and the preamp out from the 25 into the input of the 100. An alternative might be to split your bass signal in two (e.g. with an ABY pedal), and send it to both amps separately - that way, you and the drummer get full, independent volume control.

I absolutely adore my GHS Precision Flats, but they are the only flatwounds I've tried.

Contradiction in terms 😉

Mint on white 🤤

There are many reasons to play your own thing, and they're not all bad: Because the whole band has completely rearranged the song in a different style, and truly made it their own. Great! If no-one ever did this, musical history would be stagnant. Because the original part is full of variations and was probably improvised, and you're not in a warts-and-all tribute band. And none of those variations are prominent hooks that people will miss. No problem! The only people who'll notice are other bass players 😉 Because the band has had to rearrange the song to work with the instrumentation that you have, and so you're pretending to be a synthesizer or a piano player's left hand. Or there was no bass part to begin with, so you've made up something that fits the style. Okay! Because, as an amateur, you don't have the ability to play it "right" yet - but you're working on it. Fine! Because you're tone-deaf and you genuinely can't tell that you've got it wrong. Understandable! But perhaps music isn't the right hobby for you 😅 Because you think the original part is boring to play, and your own entertainment is more important to you than the audience's. It depends! Do you have taste and restraint, and have you come up with something that is sympathetic and doesn't trample over the song? Hint: Slap bass is never the correct answer! Because you know it's wrong, but you're too lazy to learn it and "the punters won't know the difference". Questionable! Kinda feels like you're insulting both the audience and the original artist 🤨 Because you've just learned how to slap / tap / sweep pick / etc. and you are determined to shoehorn it in wherever possible. Nope! I think that's why this is such a contentious topic whenever it comes up - folks assume we're all talking about the same thing, and some of them take it personally. I don't think anyone's got a problem with cutting down a long song, or repeating bits of a very short one, or making up an ending for something that fades out on the record. That's just practical.

Gear4music have them for £349, which is £50 more than Kenny's but still a damn sight cheaper than anywhere else

Very cool! I'd be a bit concerned about the breakability of the Timing and Mix controls.

If you want to test the waters before splashing out on a boutique pre-amp, these are some budget options: Behringer MIC100 / MIC200 Art Tube MP

True... the crap ends up stuck to the much larger surface area of your pedalboard instead 🧐

So much 80s songwriting was ruined by naff-sounding production that you're almost certainly doing it a favour by rearranging it!

If you're feeling spendy, a Turbo Tuner Mini is as about as fast and accurate as you're gonna get: https://www.turbo-tuner.com/index.htm

Good to know! I guess the moral of the story is "check the measurements"

I have one of these in Satin Pewter Metallic. It's only got 13 screw holes. Haven't tried an official Fender scratchplate, but a generic 13-hole one needed quite a lot of filing around the neck and pickups, and a couple of screw holes had to be moved slightly. Another fun thing about it is that the bridge J pickup is actually a (shorter) neck pickup, so you can't swap in a standard PJ set without routing 🙄. Still a great bass though!

If everyone already has a Google account, then Google Calendar is probably the first thing to try. Otherwise, Teamup Calendar (https://www.teamup.com/) is great because it doesn't require anyone to create an account - you can just generate a unique link to the shared calendar for each band member.

Can't find a band? Start one! You never know how many drummers/guitarists/etc. are out there in the same position as you - waiting for the right band to come along.

The brownest... Dr. No Turd Fuzz

I use an Arturia Microbrute (dinky analogue synth) for Ain't Nobody. Even if I could get a convincing sound using pedals, it's beyond my abilities to play those octaves cleanly on the bass guitar - they need to be really sharp and staccato. Even agressive noise gating didn't help. If you're playing an interpretation rather than following the original, you've got more options.

It's got miles of headroom, and then a brickwall floor limiter 😉

Can I interest you in some magic beans, Al? 😁

Keeley Bassist. A lot of money for a pedal - and they've gone up by another £50 since I bought mine - but it does its job extremely well, doesn't alter tone, and is dead easy to dial in. I also started using it for general compression (instead of limiting) when I joined a second band. Since I was going to be playing with a pick most of the time, and that's not something I'd done much before, I thought it would help to smooth out my level a bit while I got the hang of it. What I've found since then is that I actually really like the extra punch that the compression gives - the initial attack effectively gets emphasised, because the rest of the note gets de-emphasised.

If I didn't use a limiter when playing live, then every time I got to a bit with slapping/popping the audience would be deafened by massive volume spikes.

A decent office chair. It took years of sitting in front of the PC on a crappy Ikea folding chair for it to occur to me that I should get something with some actual padding... and lumbar support... and adjustable height... etc.

Seems like the Standby switch is labelled backwards, which is why the the "Quick Start Guide" in the box: appears to contradict the "Owner's Manual" on the Ampeg website (https://ampeg.com/pdf/PF-50T_PF-20T_OM.pdf): If the Standby switch has "O" depressed, that means the amp is on standby. Easy enough to tell once the amp is powered, because the light is red - but hard to guess before you switch it on! 😆