Beer of the Bass

Don't those TC combos have a mute button? I'd use that during the speaking parts of the sermon.

I spent this afternoon recording a couple of tracks with a friend who's been visiting from the US for a few weeks. I had a look at the studio's choice of house amps and ended up playing through an Ampeg Micro VR and 210AV. I'm rather surprised by how much I enjoyed the sound of this rig, as I'd thought they looked like a bit of a gimmick like those miniature solid-state Marshall stacks. The head has the EQ centres in useful places, as I can turn the mids up without it sounding boxy and the soft clipping when the gain is turned up is nicely done, but I suspect it was the cab which I was really getting into. The interesting thing for me was that while I could hear the low end roll-off that comes from a small sealed cab, it didn't sound like I expected it to from having heard it described. Rather than sounding thin, it came across as pleasantly tight and even and had plenty of lows for the type of sound I go for. The upper mids and highs were cool too, I presume there's some sort of presence peak going on which it turns out I find pleasing. I don't know what the drivers in there are, but I guess they're relatively humble ceramic jobs. I'm not about to dash out and buy one at the minute, but it was educational in figuring out what my low-end requirements really are...

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1411322791' post='2558423'] Couldn't you put thin metal strips, about the height of dimples, along the fingerboard, where the notes are..? That should sort it... [/quote] Hmm, with ideas like that you should be making a beeline for the patents office!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1411322088' post='2558417'] Imagine someone playing the accordion. They can't see what their left hand is doing, can they..? You don't need to look (you shouldn't even [i]want [/i]to look..!); just do it, and listen..! [/quote] If I'm remembering this correctly they do get a couple of buttons with dimples in the top so they have a reference point without looking though!

Yes, some of the threads did get nastily personal and that's a shame. I will point out that there's nothing to stop anyone from following his listings on eBay in order to appreciate his inimitable selling style though, as he's still very much in business! A quick search for "Wide neck guitar" will invariably turn up some of his work...

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1411088180' post='2556430'] Oh no That's a pity... I love that band! But, yeah, when you don't feel like you're "needed" it's not so much fun :-/ I can't believe they just went ahead and played without bass. The bass is so important in so many of your songs! I don't like using deps in bands like Jen and the Gents, or SBK, etc. I feel that using a dep is not representing the band for what it is (no matter how great the dep is!). But in SBK, I (rarely) have someone else playing bass, if it's a gig we consider "important" and we really don't want to miss it. My view is that if it's really that important, all the more reason NOT to use a dep! But it keeps everybody else happy, and as long it's not used to book any regular gigs, I'm ok with that. It's been ok so far. You know my dep... it's Pete, now in NUF He is someone I trust, is known to the band, and he may end up playing a couple of gigs a year perhaps. If your bandmates are worried about your availability, maybe that's an option... although your availability issues are more than reasonable and I'm surprised they didn't understand and support you. Working on new material... I'd get bored if all we did was play the same things over and over, without seeing a progression. I wonder if the fact that you changed drummer first and then guitarist made the band slow down a bit. I know that when we changed drummers in SBK (first in early 2011, then in early 2012) it felt like it took ages for us to move on... As for which gigs to play... I love playing so I say yes to nearly all. Nearly. I'm not interested in playing lots of multiband gigs where you get a 30 min slot, 40 if lucky, that end up eating all your evening and give you little back. We don't always charge, and the amount we charge varies... but we tend to balance it so that we can play for free (or food and drinks and some petrol money) if it's fun and we don't require to bring much equipment and/or it's local, and we want more of a cash incentive if the logistics are more complicated... There are many gigs around Edinburgh that would see you playing to a handful of people for little or no cash (if you play often in a small city, you can't expect your followers to be there at every gig)... I'd rather not do those. Henry's Cellar? No thanks. It can be good if you organise it yourself, but it generally sucks when we join someone else's bill. I think being a bit choosy helps a lot. One thing that helped us a lot was getting regular slots at Whistle Binkies (one of the main music bars in town). WE started being offered 45min slots on a WEdnesday or later a Thursday, then we moved to better slots on better days... You get seen by a lot of people, and I think your band would do well there, but until you have a 2x45min worth of decent material you won't get the decent slots... I don't know, sorry I just rambled... it's late, I'm tired and trying not to think about the referendum I hope it's just a low point and that it gets better. That band would not be the same without your bass! [/quote] We haven't sat down to have "The Conversation" yet and there's only so much I want to do via facebook messages, so I'm not out at this point, just leaning in that direction. What I have done is to make it clear I'm unhappy about the band going out without bass, to be told that the band will continue to do it anyway. The band are playing without bass this Saturday for a gig which is being run by the organiser of a festival in May, in the hope that we get offered a gig at the festival. They haven't told the organiser that it won't be the full lineup which she's seen before. But they'll be playing without any bass to an audience of hippies who want to dance, and I don't see how that's going to make a good impression. Without wanting to big myself up, I have put a lot into building the sound of this band and consider that without me it is not the same band. I don't think I'd be easy to replace without the band sounding very different either (not because I'm that great technically, but I think some of my idiosyncrasies are part of our sound). This band was a bit of a departure for me as prior to us forming I'd spent much more time gigging on double bass than electric and had never done anything as overtly pop as this, so I think my current playing style on electric bass has developed around the band to some extent. But the willingness to gig without any bass suggests that there is a perception that the band equals the singer plus whatever backing musicians are available that day, and that's not what I thought I'd been doing for these past few years. You have some good points about venues - for a while we organised our own monthly night at the Banshee Labyrinth where we booked the bands and there were some satisfying gigs there despite the dinginess of the venue. We haven't tried Whistlebinkies for some reason, though 2 x 45 minute sets is something we can do as we've had quite a few pub gigs that ask for the same.

This website has pictures and details of many of the Hofner models through the years. You might have some luck browsing through and trying to match up the model. [url="http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/contgal1.html"]http://www.vintagehofner.co.uk/contgal1.html[/url]

I've seen someone doing that, but I've never managed to make it work!

[quote name='tinyd' timestamp='1410962013' post='2555068'] That looks good - I'm not clear about how it attaches to the bass though, it. If I understand correctly, you put the bass in its case, slip the collar end of the strap over the neck, then attach the clip to the tailwire - is that it? If so, how do you prevent the collar end from slipping back up the neck towards the scroll? Or does the friction do the job? Sorry for the (possibly stupid) questions, it's just that the straps on my case are all broken and generally crap so this looks like what I need! [/quote] Friction, combined with the noose-like action of the strap and the length adjustment. On mine I added a small loop of cord to slip over the endpin as that seemed a better idea than trying to clip to the tailwire, and I have the length adjusted so the neck part of the strap sits a few inches above the heel. They're not great in place of handles for manoeuvring in and out of cars etc, but excellent for carrying the bass in a vertical position and walking with it.

Whichever bag you go for, this type of strap feels much safer and more confidence inspiring than relying on the ones stitched to the bag. When I'm not using my wheel I can carry the bass behind me with the strap over one shoulder and a lot of the weight across my lower back. It's a lot kinder on the wrists than using the handles on the bag. Mine isn't this brand, but a similar one: [url="http://www.contrabass.co.uk/shoulderstraps.htm"]http://www.contrabass.co.uk/shoulderstraps.htm[/url]

It looks good, even if it's not quite there. Come to think of it, I need to go back and pay some more attention to the fret ends on the neck I finished last month as a couple are lifting! What sort of music will you be playing on this? The BC Rich-esque styling and humbuckers make me think something quite rockish?

I have the bass in front of me with the back towards me me, scroll resting on my right shoulder and right arm around the front of the bass to steady it. I do have to walk with a slightly shortened stride, which I find I adjust to after a while.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1410857271' post='2553819'] This guy was doing it for the wrong reason. And he's got no soul. [/quote] I'd agree about the reason being wrong, and I think that's the issue with bucket lists in general. Bucket lists are all about being seen to do these aspirational activities in order to present yourself as a particular sort of person. That's a recipe for self-centred poser-dom if ever I saw one! I think most of us play music because we can't imagine not playing music, and that's the right reason IMO.

[quote name='UglyDog' timestamp='1410792702' post='2553176'] Do you want luck in changing their minds, or luck in getting a painless divorce from them? [/quote] I want to part on good terms, smooth the transition if they look for a replacement bassist and still be talking to them at the end of the process, since they've been friends since before this band existed.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1410791993' post='2553164'] Good luck! Just out of interest, how do they do gigs without you if none of them drive? [/quote] A lot of our gigs are in places with supplied or shared backline, though it's often pretty ropey. I much prefer to bring my own even if I'm just hopping on the bus with my MB200 and Wizzy 10. Out of town gigs are entirely dependent on me being available to drive.

I've sent a few facebook messages back and forth with the other three of the band now. They have the idea that we must accept gigs wherever possible no matter whether the whole band can make it. Although our few paid gigs make us less than minimum wage and many don't even cover expenses, the singer and guitarist seem quite convinced that this is professionalism. My idea of professionalism for the type of gigs we do is presenting a good quality, consistent sound at every gig and not accepting gigs unless we can do that. As the sole driver in the band, I often end up putting much more work into gigs than the rest of the band and I need each gig to feel worthwhile. The fact that we've been grinding out the same set for more than a year doesn't help with that either. I've asked everybody if we can meet up for a chat. Wish me luck!

Cheers guys. There are more responses here than I expected, almost too many to respond to individually but there are some good points there. We had a solid couple of years where the gigs were really fun and we seemed to gather a bit of a following. I don't think that we're still at that point, as the gigs are drying up a little (one of the reasons the singer is keen to take every offer) and we're not rehearsing very often. The singer gives the impression that she wants the band to be the main thing in her life, and I don't feel that I'm in a position to do that or that the band is actually ready for that. Had we jumped on it and gigged more widely a year or two back when things seemed to click a little better perhaps we might have been able to take it to that next stage, but we didn't. I do wonder if there's an element of denial over whether we've missed the boat there. I'm about 6-8 years older than the rest of the band and I've watched friends get signed to labels, slog round rubbish venues staying in travelodges or on floors and end up in the same position they started in except distinctly jaded and frazzled round the edges. It seems like the ones who are happier have just continued to do their own idiosyncratic thing on the local scene to whatever niche following is around whilst carrying on with a relatively normal life. So that's the model I want to pursue, and happily that's more or less how my other projects operate. It's difficult as the singer and the guitarist (who are a couple) are people I knew before we put the band together so whatever I do I need to keep it amicable. They got together at about the same time I met my wife and we've spent a lot of time together. I think I might suggest that they look for a new bassist, but agree to play out the remaining gigs we have booked and see how that goes down...

I have been having mixed feelings about one of my bands lately (the first link in my signature) and I'm trying to decide if I may end up leaving when we get together to talk to each other about it. I've played in the band for several years; we've had some really enjoyable gigs and recorded some things I'm quite pleased with. It's an amateur concern, as while some gigs are paid, when all band activities are taken into account we break even or less. I also play in two other projects, one of which gigs very rarely and the other of which can occasionally be busy though it's quite sporadic. When asked about my availability for gigs, I will confirm the earliest offer for a given date without giving priority to any one band, so short notice gigs (less than a fortnight ahead) are sometimes turned down. This summer I've had limited availability as my Father-in-Law had a prolonged period of illness and passed away last month and we've had to travel up and down from Scotland to England a number of times to care for him and my Mother-in-Law and to sort things out after his death. I had to cancel a couple of gigs at short notice the week he died, but what else can you do? The band keep accepting gigs when I have told them I'm not available and playing them without bass, which for our particular lineup isn't going to work very well. I have told the band that I'm uncomfortable with this as I don't feel that going out like that represents us very well and I would prefer to feel like a core part of the band rather than an optional add-on. If anything I would rather they used a dep rather than going out bass-less. Two members of the band have responded to this by saying how disappointed they were in my limited availability recently and that they thought I must be losing interest, and this is when when I've already made my family situation quite clear to them. We have already disagreed a few times recently over which gigs we should accept, as our singer believes we need to say yes to everything in order to "make it". I have no concept of trying to "make it" and just want to play gigs which I enjoy. We haven't worked on any new material in over a year and it appears that my priorities are not the same as the rest of the band. I'm fond of this band, so it's a difficult choice to make. Looking at this description, what do people reckon?

A wee something to cheer up the Bono haters, this was apparently written when Bono had his luggage stolen on his way to do some lobbying. This is the beeped-out version, for forum-friendliness... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jbyuRyNlWI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jbyuRyNlWI[/url]

In a non-fiction vein, I like Tim Bradford's The Groundwater Diaries. It's a sort of travelogue following the lost rivers of London which keeps digressing into ramblings about high-strength lager and the Danish punk scene. For fiction, I'd recommend Magnus Mills' The Restraint of Beasts. It's an extremely dry, deadpan sort of humour in a book which is written in a deceptively simple manner.

I'd agree with Chrizmuzz and suggest getting a set of nickel roundwounds from any of the quality mainstream brands (D'Addario, Ernie Ball, Rotosound etc.). Chances are they'll do the job, but if not then at least you'll have a good reference point when looking for alternatives.

And as any fuzz user will tell you, hard clipping sounds bloody 'orrible into a tweeter! This is why guitar amps never have them. Square wave synth sounds usually have some kind of low-pass or bandpass filter on the output, as an unfiltered square wave is surprisingly unmusical.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1410268983' post='2547660'] I listened to this yesterday, honest... 1. Lágnætti 2. *title track* 3. Rismál 4. Dagmál 5. Miðdegi 6. Nón 7. Miðaftann 8. Náttmál and if you;ve got the Deluxe Version, you can add: 9. Tilberi 10. Til Valhallar 11. *title track* (Elevator Mix) [/quote] Is this the Ikea catalogue?

[quote name='arthurhenry' timestamp='1410215204' post='2547306'] Is it not possible though, that a "limited" player could still play the perfect part for the song(s), perhaps throughout his/her career? In which case; wouldn't we say that they were a great bass player (in the context of their band/songs/genre/whatever)? [/quote] As an example of a fairly limited player turning out to do a fine job I always liked Rose Simpson with the Incredible String Band, who was Mike Heron's girlfriend and only picked up the bass because there was a feeling that she might as well do something useful. Her lines were quite simple, but generally worked nicely and I'd say that getting a session guy in wouldn't have made the music any better. I don't think she played again after this lineup split. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg4VdknBjv4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg4VdknBjv4[/url]