Beer of the Bass

Talking of weird TV miming gigs, here's one some friends of mine got hired for a few months back. Tom, playing bass here, is actually a guitar player who has borrowed the Ric just for the job. The guitarist and keyboard player are old bandmates of mine. I've no idea how they ended up doing this scene, but I'll ask them next time I see them... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIMq5iDs8A"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIMq5iDs8A[/url]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1356956576' post='1915513'] Unless you confine all your playing to the bedroom or the studio, like it or not, image is massively important. Musicians who don't get that are likely to be ditched the moment the serious money comes calling. Of course if you do it just as a hobby with no further ambitions that's fair enough, play what you want - just hope that the rest of your band feels the same way. [/quote] I think much of this is true, as the moment you step on to a stage, in front of a camera etc, your performance is visual as well as sonic. Even those players who give the impression of not being concerned about visuals are making an aesthetic statement, whether intentionally or otherwise. But at the same time, most of my favourite musicians have chosen their instruments based on their own criteria, rather than just following the established conventions for their genre. I'd bet that this is true of the players you admire too. There are situations where I might consider playing a different instrument at the request of a band leader, but I'd really need to be convinced of the vision they had for the band, not just "you need a four string 'cos we're like, rock'n roll an' that". EDIT; your last post appeared while I was writing this, and you've just expressed much the same sentiment as I was trying to get at! I find it hard to make the five string = modern / four string = traditional distinction that a few posters allude to. I play a passive bass with nylon tapewounds and like a fairly retro, valve amp sort of sound, but I also have a B-string. Only a handful of low notes in our set would tell you that I'm not playing a four string Jazz, if you had your eyes closed. There are much more "modern" sounding guys out there on four string Fenders, especially if they've got roundwounds, active circuitry and amps with tweeters.

I'll be at Lebowski's in Edinburgh with Jen and the Gents. Strictly speaking, we're not seeing in the new year as our set finishes around 11. It was packed last time we played there on an ordinary Saturday night, so I think tonight will be interesting, what with the extra thousands of people descending on the city centre for Hogmanay...

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1356785847' post='1913559'] Without referring to the 5-string thing specifically, there is another angle to this. If a guitarist auditioned for a band I was in and they turned up with, for example, I dunno.. one of those flowery Ibanezzzzes with a pointy headstock and a carry-handle, I'd probably pre-judge that person. And I'd probably come to the conclusion that, given the kind of music I'm into, we're probably not going to have a lot of common ground, musically speaking. And the chances are, I'll probably be right. Human nature, innit. [/quote] It's funny though - I jammed with a guitarist in Glasgow for a while, who I knew as an excellent fingerstyle folkie. I went round to his flat one time, to find him playing one of those Steve Vai Ibanezes, though his was the fluoro yellow one with the pink and green pickup covers, rather than the flowery job. Apparently it was a relic from his teenage years, and while he didn't play that style anymore, he'd hung on to it as his only electric guitar as he liked the wide neck and didn't see any compelling reason to change. So they are out there!

I remember hearing this sort of thing as a teenager in the 90s, usually from similarly inexperienced teens trying too hard to sound authoritative! I guess it would have been the influence of Oasis and the like. I've switched to gigging with a 5 string in the past year or so and not had any negative comments, even in the sort of indie venues where skinny jeans and ironic hairstyles abound, so I had thought that this sort of nonsense had been buried, but I stand corrected.

I'd second the advice about finding someone for a few lessons and starting with whichever they use. Personally, this led me to the German bow, and I find I really can't get to grips with French at all.

A keyboard playing friend of mine went from a Mondeo Estate to a Zafira, and she's convinced she could get more in the Mondeo. Admittedly, if you're into your cars, a Mondeo is probably less fun than some of the others listed, but they do the job.

Guzzibass, how do you find the Bigsby/3-saddle tele bridge combination on your bitsa tele? I've got a similar setup on my cheapy Axl, and it seems to retain the tele sound and feel well enough, but I find I need to keep the saddles well lubricated with graphite from a pencil to keep it in tune. The last guitar I had with a roller bridge was a wobbly, rattly nightmare and never actually rolled when using the vibrato, so I guess the tele bridge is a reasonable compromise.

It turns out Santa has brought me a Monotron Duo. It seems fun so far, and my 13 year old stepson has been having fun with it too. I've been annoying the household sitting on the sofa playing the riff from Cars and trying to do Sabbath's Who Are You. I think it'll be a fun noisemaker when combined with my tape echo...

The 1-2-4 fingering (with the 4th finger supported by the 3rd) is from the Simandl method, one of the older standard texts. I was taught to use this fingering when I started playing, and I still do it. IIRC Ray Brown's book was based around this fingering system too, so it definitely has its adherents.

If I had to guess, I'd assume that's home made. The chunky neck pocket and weird taper to the neck are exactly what you get when you work with limited tooling and no experience! I've never seen a factory neck shaped quite like that as it approaches the heel.

If the socket is not holding the pins tightly, you can try re-tensioning the contacts. This link has about the clearest description of the process I can find. [url="http://swartamps.com/tech/socket_retention/"]http://swartamps.com/tech/socket_retention/[/url] I would add a caveat that if you don't know how to discharge the filter capacitors, don't go poking at the valve sockets with any conductive tool, even with the amp turned off. It may still be possible to get a shock from some of the pins on the valve sockets with the amp turned off.

[quote name='4ropebottom' timestamp='1355767188' post='1902483'] @Beer - Thanks. #5 was what bass you are playing. I didn't know that GK had an MB200 out. I've been playing the MB150. Thanks for the info. [/quote] My bass is an old German flatback with no name, from around the turn of the 20th century. I had a new adjustable bridge and ebony fingerboard put on a couple of years ago. The MB200 is a tiny class-D head, though I've heard that the EQ centres and general voicing are quite similar to the old MB combos. It's not at all flat sounding with everything at noon, but the controls have enough range to get it how I like it. Weirdly, I actually prefer it to the AI Clarus I used to have, which was very clean and clear sounding, but I found the EQ quite ineffective.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1355764402' post='1902427'] Most of the technical speaker discussions on TalkBass' DB forum suggest that smaller speaker sizes are better at conveying DB tones. The trendy cabs du jour are carrying 6" and 8" speakers while the Audiokinesis Thunderchild 12" also gets loads of good reviews. 15" cabs don't seem to get any support FWIW [/quote] I'm happy with my 1x10" Wizzy myself, but I do find the dichotomy between the bass guitar and double bass sides of Talkbass entertaining. On the bass guitar side, it is accepted as fact that driver size alone does not dictate how the cab will sound, yet on the double bass side, it is equally well accepted that 15"s are inherently unsuitable for double bass. It's hard to see how those two statements can both be correct. I suspect a good modern 1x15", tuned to avoid the boominess of some older designs could actually work very well for double bass.

1. Mostly original acoustic music with a guitarist (about 60:40% pizz/arco). Occasional folk-rock-ish stuff with a full band (mostly pizz). 2. 6, 7, 7.5, 8.5mm 3. Thomastik Spirocore Mittels 4/6. AKG C411 into the house PA for quiet acoustic stuff, Rev Solo II piezo into a GK MB200 and EA Wizzy 10 cab if there's a drummer. Where did number 5 go?

The cap is used as a high pass filter, but it works by allowing treble frequencies to bypass the volume pot so that the pot attenuates those frequencies less. So, it gives an apparent boost to the highs when the volume control is less than maximum. With the pot turned up full, the bright cap will make no difference.

Changing the capacitor will shift the cutoff point, but the cutoff point is not where you think it is. I think the 10M resistor can be more or less ignored in practice, as it's only there to discharge the capacitor and prevent clicks when the switch is engaged. When the bright switch is on, the 10M resistor is going to be in parallel with the lower side of the volume pot (between the wiper and ground), which will always be 1M or less, so 10M in parallel with 1M is not going to change things much. The trouble with trying to calculate the frequency from simple R C formulae is that R is affected both by the impedance of the stage driving it and the setting of the volume control. There's a calculator at [url="http://www.ampbooks.com/home/amplifier-calculators/bright-boost/"]http://www.ampbooks....s/bright-boost/[/url] which can be useful here. From my own experience of changing bright cap values, moving the frequency downwards can actually make things brighter sounding. It might be worth buying several values of cap in the right range and figuring out which one you like best. If you're happy that you can change it cleanly and reversibly, it's about the single cheapest, simplest tweak you can do to a preamp.

I've only got Speakons now, but here's a bump to get things a bit closer to the line.

The 3.9Mohm passive input on Ashdown MAG amps will take most piezo pickups quite happily, and I used to regularly use both my old tiltback MAG 200 112 combo and the MAG 300 115 combo that a local venue had as their house amp without difficulties. They're not the most hi-fi sounding thing out there, but you should be able to get workable results with that amp. It might be worth looking at the type of pickup and how well it is fitted - if it's the bridge wing type, the snugness of the fit is quite critical to getting a decent sound. If it's the type that fits over the top of the bridge with two clips (like the old Fishman BP100 or copies of it), those pretty much always sound awful IMO. I'd suggest identifying your pickup (perhaps post a picture of it) and check the fit of it before you go spending cash on preamps etc.

Personally, I value the presence of the various industry professionals (and a number of informed amateurs and DIYers) on this forum and their input probably saves a lot of people from costly trial and error with their gear. Having said that, participating in a forum called basschat then complaining that all this [i]chat[/i] from all these [i]bassists[/i] is cluttering up the place, as BFM appears to be doing, seems to miss the purpose of the forum somewhat.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' timestamp='1355240743' post='1895819'] If you ignore the replies from all those not actually in the loudspeaker business it's a lot shorter. [/quote] Can't have mere bassists chiming in on a bass forum now, can we?

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1355220922' post='1895435'] Absolutely but it's not the kill, it's the thrill of the chase. I think we sound like we are and that's going to disappoint occasionally ! [/quote] It can also be true that some of the traits musicians regard as flaws in their own playing can just sound like part of its character to listeners. I have some friends whose band is doing fairly well, touring and making records for a label, as well as some fairly interesting collaborations. I was surprised that they still call me in to play bass on the string overdubs when they record, when they know a couple of more professional players who also live closer. I asked them about this and the response was that they specifically wanted me, sounding like I sound. I guess this suits their fairly eccentric, pastoral folk sort of sound better than a classical player with their big rich authoritative tone would.

I identify a third level - "It sounds like me on a bad day. I need to practice more!" This may just be me being overly self critical though. There have been a couple of times where I've heard players and been struck by the presence and character of their sound, rather than just their note choice, and been inspired to try and up my game a bit, though not necessarily to emulate them. I still maintain that this is a normal and healthy part of playing.