Beer of the Bass

A good weekend for me. On Friday, Jen and the Gents played Lebowski's in Edinburgh. This makes for an easy night, as I live about 200 metres down the same street! It's not a huge place, but it was pretty well filled, and a lot of familiar faces turned out. Enjoyed the other band, Ulysses jones, and I think we'll try and gig together some time in the future. I'm always quite surprised at how far my tiny GK MB200/EA Wizzy 10 rig will go in small venues like this, as I can sling it over my shoulder yet it filled the room just fine. Saturday afternoon we headed out in acoustic mode for some busking to the Christmas shoppers. Then last night I headed down to an open mic night with the acoustic guitarist I play with and my double bass, played a couple of tunes and had a couple of pints. We're trying out some new tunes which use the bow a lot more than our older tunes did, so playing them live is keeping me on my toes.

How are they with the bow? I'm pretty much stuck on my Spiro Mittels, as the pizz sound is damn close to what I hear in my head, but the brightness of the arco sound can be a challenge to control sometimes, especially on the D-string on my bass. If the Bass Centre will sell singles, I might try changing out the D and G for these some time.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1355012020' post='1893050'] I don't think the gypsy jazz sound can be done with a bass guitar. I don't think you can make a bass guitar swing like that. Maybe someone can prove me wrong. [/quote] Yeah, you may be right. I think it's partly that the attack and decay of the note can never be quite the same with bass guitar, but also how the physical resistance and bounce of the strings changes the way you play.

Playing with a bow really reminds me that double bass is a different instrument from bass guitar. That's a side of the instrument which doesn't overlap with bass guitar in the slightest! To the list of worries, add feedback, inadequate monitoring, and trying to play in tune at gigs on an unmarked fingerboard given those two factors...

I'm another exponent of the rubber grolsch washers. If like me you don't like Grolsch, you can just get a pack of washers from a home brew shop.

You seem to think that your opinion should be taken as gospel by everyone else, with no room for any other approach. We're talking about playing music here, there is no definitive right or wrong choice of gear. He could easily put down his £200 on any number of cabs and have a totally viable gigging rig. Yes, there are reasons why a grand's worth of cab might be preferable, but that's beside the point here. Personally, in the OPs situation, I'd go secondhand if at all possible, as if he did want to upgrade later, he wouldn't make as much of a loss selling the cab on.

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1354824705' post='1891013'] Where is the sarcasm in my comment? Do you even know what sarcasm means? I was being straight. I thought Lawrence was spouting nonesence. I thought what he said made no sense. But, to be back on topic. Start with a good quality cab first. Not the other way 'round. There are plenty of low priced amp heads that will sound great with the right cab. [/quote] "Nice one" and "Really." at the end of your posts were the sarcastic comments directed at the OP. I've no interest in a p*ssing contest, but it struck me that you were being unneccesarily condescending (you're doing it again with by asking "Do you even know what sarcasm means?"), and I thought that was a bit off. There's nothing wrong with a bit of civility...

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1354813523' post='1890786'] Good shout. The nonesense that gets spouted on here is surprising. [/quote] OTOH there's not much point in directing sarcasm at someone just for having a budget, and it comes across as sneering. Pointing out workable alternatives within the OPs budget is a lot more helpful than that...

The stuff that comes with the AKG 411 does the job well, but also comes from Thomann. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_klebemasse_f_c_411_416.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_klebemasse_f_c_411_416.htm[/url]

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1354407495' post='1885741'] I think it's worth mentioning that I know people who have actually been invited to go on both X Factor and Britain's Got Talent and are pretty much guaranteed to do pretty well on them. [/quote] What's also interesting is that some of the novelty/eccentric/no-hoper acts you see the judges sneering at in the early rounds are there by invitation too. This happened to the drummer from my band (who also makes some very odd youtube videos). He was approached to appear on BGT, on the understanding that he was there purely to provide a few seconds of footage, not actually as an entrant.

I had a fun one - my old psychedelic folk band (who stopped playing a couple of years ago) got back together to play a friends 70th birthday party in a village hall in Cumbria, up on the moors. We had some troubles with the PA, but it was a fun night, with a proper village hall sort of atmosphere - small kids and old hippies dancing! It's been a couple of years since I've gigged the double bass with a full band rather than just a duo, which reminded me that I ought to do more of that.

Yeah, it's true that an actual keyboard would push costs up. I'd imagine my hypothetical basic keyboard monosynth would be more like a couple of hundred quid, which would still be less than the Moogs and the like. I do quite fancy the idea of getting hold of a monotron and fitting it with one of these though; [url="http://www.midi-hardware.com/index.php?section=prod_info&product=MINICV"]http://www.midi-hardware.com/index.php?section=prod_info&product=MINICV[/url]

The monotrons look very cool, but I keep wondering when they're going to extend the line with a proper keyboard monosynth. If they were to make something relatively small and simple and affordable with a couple of octaves of keys (sort of like the 90s Novation Bass station, but MS10 flavoured), I reckon they'd fly off the shelves.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1354188440' post='1883207'] Best reply ever from customer relations at Rotosound: [font=Calibri][size=3][font=Calibri][size=3]"I know nothing about these strings ….. Sorry" [/size][/font][/size][/font] [font=Calibri][size=3][font=Calibri][size=3] [/size][/font][/size][/font] [/quote] Are they actually made by Rotosound? The video says Rotosound in the title, but Danny calls them Elites. Maybe the Rotosound bit is in error...

I'm also curious to hear any news about these. I've gone back to my old Spiro Mittels after experimenting with other strings, as nothing else really makes the sound I want for pizzicato, but mine are pretty old and I'll need a new set at some point. I'm hoping these might be a nice alternative along similar lines. It'd be great if they cost less than Spirocores too, but I don't know if that's likely.

In my first band (in about 1996) I had the first edition Zoom 506. I used it on just a couple of songs and bypassed it the rest of the time. One day I forgot to bring my power adaptor to a rehearsal and went without the Zoom. When we were done, the drummer said to me "Hey, your bass sounded great today, so much better than usual. Did you change something?". I don't think I used it again after that. I hope multi FX have got better since then!

I've also found 45 gauge Chromes are slightly harder work on the left hand than equivalent gauge rounds. I think it's the increased stiffness/reduced compliance rather than just the difference in tension that does it. I got used to it without too much trouble, but I have a double bass influenced left hand techique (things like supporting the pinky with the ring finger where possible) which helps. If you want some lower tension strings with a similar sort of vibe, the D'Addario tapewounds could be worth a shot. They sound a little different from Chromes, but they still do the "slightly livelier flat" thing very well and they feel similar to 40-100 guage rounds in tension.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1353942199' post='1879988'] Whilst I agree with the "they sound like prats, you did the right thing" comment there are a lot of misconceptions in this thread as well. Small guitar amps pushed hard do *not* always sound as good as large guitar amps. Some of my favourite guitar sounds are for large, high power amps, but with the volume turned down to a sensible level. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is nothing inherently wrong with using a 100W marshall for a pub gig, so long as you use it at an appropriate volume. Volume is the problem, not power. Your guitarist could be using a 30W amp and it still be too loud for the occasion. [/quote] I'd broadly agree with this, but the players who prefer a big amp barely ticking over are usually the ones who like to keep the power stage clean, either for a big clean sound, reproducing modellers/effects, or in amps that are based around high gain preamps. They're not usually the same ones who insist that they have to run the volume on 7 to get their sound. Myself, I don't play any louder through a Twin or similar than I do with my little Princeton, but I can appreciate the difference in sound between the two, even with very similarly voiced preamps. I enjoy the smaller amp with a bit of compression and hair to the tone, and it's enough to sit in the mix with my drummer on stage in the venues we play, but some may prefer something that breaks up less.

Personally, I'd walk from a band that worked like that. Full stacks for guitar are a throwback to the days of festival gigs with vocal only PA - in any modern day situation it's just a big willy substitute IMO! I use a 15 watt 1x10" ( a Princeton Reverb copy) for gigging small venues on guitar. This works for me, but I'm not looking for chunky lows or truly clean cleans, and any decent size club will mic it anyway. I can see going up to something like a Fender Twin or a head and 2x12" cab for cleaner or chunkier sounds, but I don't see the need for more than that. Most of the guitarists on my local circuit using bigger amps are either running them on 1 and using pedals for the overdrive or using power brakes and the like, neither of which is particularly satisfying.

Fantastic! Paypal sent. That'll tidy up my tailpiece no end. I've got wobbly bits of velcro at the minute...

A couple of times with heavier gauge strings, I've found the B string sounds indefinitely pitched when first fitted, as the string is too stiff to conform to the break angle over the bridge. Pressing the string down just in front of the bridge a couple of times to put a bend in it at the sadde will help with this. It'd also be worth looking at your pickup heights, as if they're too close, the magnets can affect the string vibration on the lower strings.

Excellent. Let us know if you want paying beforehand, though I guess if your schedule is uncertain you may not. You're definitely owed a pint by a substantial chunk of basschat!

Right now, BC is almost un-navigable from my PC, though it was fine this morning. The sub forum menus are scrambled all over the place, making all the sub-fora very difficult to find. I suspect you're aware of this, but I thought there would be no harm in flagging it.