Beer of the Bass

The only time I've had an SVT and 8x10 as supplied backline, I was playing EUB in a band with lots of acoustic instruments and very, very quiet stage volume. The volume control was in that twitchy zone between silent and barely-on. It's annoying, as there have been plenty of other gigs where I would have been delighted to find that rig as the hired backline, but the one gig where I got one I would have been as well off with a decent 1x12" combo!

Wouldn't it be natural for "Rock Music" as Gene knows it to take a back seat after this long? I mean, Music Hall, Big Band Swing, Rockabilly and any number of other styles aren't in the mainstream any more either.

I did this with my guitar combo a couple of months ago. It was fine immediately afterwards, but about a week later one of the power valves started arcing and I have to wonder whether the bump had loosened something inside the valve and shortened its life. Everything else was fine after I'd replaced the valves though. Just to be cautious I'd give it a close visual inspection for damage and keep an eye on the valves when powering it up so that you can pull the plug quickly if any of the valves are red-plating or arcing.

The finishing and general construction look a little crude on this one, almost amateurish (and I say this as an amateur builder of imperfect instruments myself!). I wonder if this was an early example of his work?

I tried 3M Clear Ears, which look a little like ER20s but cost less. While I think they provide adequate protection, they sound terrible at gig volume and do something to the bass frequencies which almost sounds like distortion. So I really wouldn't recommend them for musicians!

I've found in the last few years that I gravitate towards flats, though nylon tapewounds had their good points too. The clincher for me was when I stuck an old set of rounds back on my bass as an experiment, took it out to a gig and realised that I've actually adjusted my playing style to flats and sounded excessively clanky on the rounds to the point that the band were giving me funny looks. I really missed the more interesting attack/decay envelope of the flats too. I'm not going for a Motown sound either, it can be surprising how much brightness and definition you can get out of a set of flatwounds with the right EQ, albeit with a very different character from rounds; more earthy grunt than metallic clang.

Although technique will be equally as important as setup, I found that Spiro Mittels were not very forgiving if I'd spent a week or two away from practising (due to holidays or being busy on other instruments). If you're able to practice every day they can be great though! Spiro Weichs are a little friendlier in that respect and easier to come back to after a break.

Bass Strings Online have decent prices for LaBella, their shipping isn't inflated and it seems to be the luck of the draw whether your package has import duty applied. I've just had a set of Sadowsky flats from them which reached me without attracting the attention of Customs. (This always seems to lead to multi-page threads about the ethics of tax avoidance, but please, let's not!)

At a wee festival called Doune the Rabbit Hole the weekend before last, with New Urban Frontier. I'm in need of a haircut and I think hairychris has me pipped on the beard front!

On the series-wired Jazz suggestion, I've never found it to sound much like a Precision. It's louder and thicker than two Jazz pickups in parallel, but it still has that characteristic thing going on in the treble that you get from two widely spaced pickups. It can be worth trying though, as it can still be a good sound in it's own right.

I'm glad there's someone doing them over here, it seems daft to ship the driver from Italy to the US to put it into a cab, then ship the whole thing back across the Atlantic again, not to mention the duty both ways! I've seen these mentioned as an alternative to the EA Wizzy 10 a couple of times. If I'm right in remembering that you've had both, how do you find the Crazy 8 in comparison?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1409596151' post='2541349'] This could be a really useful bit of kit for me. Thanks for the heads up. [/quote] [i]Useful? [/i]There are many choice adjectives which could be used to describe this pedal, but I'm not sure that's the first one which would have occurred to me! I wonder how many of them will make it out of Japan?

Picato stainless roundwounds had a surprisingly dull E when I tried a set, though I don't know if they always do or if it was just that set.

Sparkly grille cloth looks great on outdoor stages, anyway!

I guess the difference in response between different basses might be part of it. The Honeys with their firmer feel worked better for my particular pizz style than the new set do. It was mostly the D string which I couldn't get on with, the others had a little more definition and focus to them - this could easily be a quirk of my bass. One synthetic core string I did really like when I used them are the Thomastik Dominants, which are stiffer feeling than any other synthetics and offer a more organic version of that Thomastik growl. But the Dominants have a terrible habit of breaking and after three breakages in six months I decided I couldn't keep using them. So I was almost hoping for a touch of whatever it was I liked about the Dominants in the new strings. I can see the new strings being good for walking jazz and they do bow very nicely. But at the moment Spiro Weich are working well enough for me both pizz and arco that that I feel perhaps I shouldn't mess with that.

Having tried the rest of them it turns out that these are really not the string for me. On my bass, they feel notably softer than 3/4 Spirocore Weich and from memory I think they're much softer feeling than my old Honey set too. It's interesting that several players noted that the G feels slightly stiffer than the other three. I think I like the way the G feels and would prefer it if the other three had more tension to match. For pizz playing, the G is my favourite and the rest are rather too dark for my tastes. The D in particular comes out almost tubby sounding on my bass. I'm sure there are players who could enjoy this sound, but I found myself putting the Spiro Weichs back on rather quickly. The new set are very easy and satisfying sounding to play arco, a much mellower sound than my Weichs, but for me the pizz sound just isn't what I'm after. So I think the answer for me is Spiro Weichs and keeping practicing the arco playing! This does make me appreciate the string trial scheme, as it's great that I could find this out without having to buy a set. Who's next?

These have just arrived with me, and so far I've only tried the G string. My bass is a carved German flat-backed instrument with 41.5" string length which has previously been wearing a 3/4 Spirocore Weich set. I'll change the other three in the next day or two, but the G has made quite a good first impression. Playing pizz, the body of the note is darker sounding than the spiro G but there's a fairly bright woody snap on the attack of the note which can easily be brought out with the right pizz technique. This gives it a little more articulation than I remember from the Honey G when I used those. It starts easily and plays cleanly with the bow, though it's quite a light, airy arco sound on my bass, without the midrange focus of the spiro weichs or the rich darkness of a dedicated arco string. Very usable though. More to follow when I've changed the other three over...

I've had a backup amp save the day three times in the last three or four years. Once was when the valve amp I was using at the time developed a minor fault, one was when a house amp proved to be dead and once when another bassist's head went into protection mode. Although with a half decent PA a DI box may be sufficient backup.

I remember hearing a friend's band explain it to the audience thus; "This is an acoustic set, 'cos we're sitting down!"

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1409058585' post='2535875'] I find it astonishing how clueless some people are with gear... cranking everything up to ten then wondering why it breaks or sounds sh*t. I wonder how these people have managed to get to adulthood without electrocuting themselvs trying to play bass in the bath or something.... [/quote] My pet hates are people turning the volume or bass knobs up to 10 or turning the amp up with a live jack lead plugged in then fumbling around to plug that into the bass. With my guitar amp, I've also caught people flicking the power switch on and off repeatedly because they don't understand that a valve amp doesn't make any noise for half a minute or so. Flicking it on and off like that can cause a valve rectifier to arc and fail catastrophically. I can see why house amps or rehearsal gear are so often completely knackered!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1409057046' post='2535846'] This may help..? [size=4] ( ... or not..!)[/size] [url="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ched"][size=4]'Ched' definition...[/size][/url] [/quote] Hmm, "[i]this word can describe how u feel or can describe how something looks[/i] [i]Aye you see that girl over there, she look ched. Hello how are you doing today, I'm ched[/i]" Whoever wrote this sounds like some sort of modern day Molesworth!

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1408893063' post='2534371'] I personally hope it turns into 'Pop' as in 'popular' - ie, stuff lots of people will listen to - rather than establishment. [/quote] I like this idea, though it's not often that bands have managed it. In some ways it's more of a challenge to squeeze experimental elements into a recognisable pop song than to play them on their own to an audience of six in an arts venue somewhere! I guess the former idea is something close to your heart, judging by some of your music (from Stump onwards)?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1408998615' post='2535439'] Dont you just love a load of pissed up guests telling you how good there mate is and you should let them play! [/quote] I had a long pub gig/jam a couple of weeks ago where the guitarist had discovered that one of the bar staff played bass and wanted to get her up for a tune or two, using my bass. They asked first, she turned out to be a good player (recently graduated from a music degree, so probably better than me!) and I got a welcome break with which to grab a pint from the bar tab. So it [i]can[/i] work in some circumstances!

I've had the older LM250 and currently have an MB200. I think the preamp on the Markbass is a little more versatile, as the MB200 has it's own sound which you'll either like or not - it can be dialled close to flat but you won't have a lot of range left on the EQ beyond that. Also the MB200 lacks a 1/4" line input so might not be the ideal choice for use as a power amp. The small size of the MB200 is attractive, it feels like a physically robust package with those roll bars on the front, and it does sound good, so either could be a valid choice.

Just a guess, but it sounds like it may be putting out DC on the speaker output due to a malfunctioning power module, which is very hard on speakers.