Beer of the Bass

Has he used a photo of the moon to illustrate the concept of one month? I want some of what this guy is on!

I enjoy Pegg's sound and playing in the current lineup. It's not the sound I would go for myself, but I like the way he's really not trying to sound like he did "back in the day". I reckon there has always been an element of instrumental flash to Fairport, and Pegg was always in on it, like when he doubles the melody on the fiddle sets. I went to see Dave Swarbrick last night (playing with Martin Carthy), and he's still a right old showoff too, but in the nicest possible way!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1347790968' post='1804912'] Because hardly anyone uses them. Lets face it the only bassists in the UK who use flats are either Basschat regulars or those who bought their bass in the 50s or 60s and are still using the strings that came with it! [/quote] I disagree, they were moderately popular as fretless strings when I started playing in the early/mid 90s (pre-internet for most people), but I wouldn't have thought of putting them on a fretted bass at the time. I sought them out as I was playing fretless bass guitar as a skint teenagers double bass substitute and I thought they might get me a bit closer to that sound. In retrospect, I'm not sure they did, but a flatwound strung bass guitar is a fun sound in its own right. I'm sure they must be more expensive to make, as they have a whole extra polishing step in the process. The smaller demand can't help with the price, either. Still, they're cheap compared with even the cheapest double bass strings!

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347616376' post='1803020'] You suggested that musicians choosing to play for free or being asked to pay for free is an alarming trend. I'm merely suggesting that this is the sort of thing that can happen in a free world and that we'd actually be worse off if it couldn't happen. I'm sorry my clumsy builders analogy didn't make sense. [/quote] Fair enough. My own thoughts on the matter are not so much "This must be stopped, we must Legislate!" but rather more "Hmm, I don't like where this seems to be leading". I think a bit of a criticism is to be expected with a move like Ms Palmers, and I'm interested to see how it plays out.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1347614610' post='1803002'] I wonder if, in the whole vastness of cyberspace, there's a little corner somewhere with a 'BuilderChat' forum where professional builders bleat on about DIYers? Do we really want to live in a world where absolutely everything we do is regulated, licenced and prescribed or do we want to libe in a world where people are pretty much free to do whatever they want and try new things? [/quote] I'm not sure I can make any sense of what you're trying to say here. Who's calling for anything to be "regulated, licensed and prescribed"? Who is trying to restrict freedoms? Ms Palmer is free to do what she's doing, musicians are free to apply for the gig or not, and anyone is free to discuss their reservations about the idea. Come to think of it, in the absence of any contract agreement, the musicians doing the gig are also free to ignore the score and play atonal nonsense until the soundman turns them down and security bundle them off the stage! I wonder if this will happen at any of the gigs?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1347607100' post='1802909'] Hmmmm. I've been to a lot of jams that fit that description. Some of them have been highly entertaining, if only for the "wrong reasons". [/quote] Where it differs from a jam night is that the musicians are being selected for ability from video demos and it's a reading gig, so very different from just turning up and joining in. These are ticketed gigs in medium capacity venues which are expected to sell out, so somebody somewhere is making money. If she was going round playing free gigs, Hawkwind style, I'd think it was a cool idea. We're all free not to apply, so as a one-off it doesn't bother me too much, but if the practice was to catch on, it would be bad news for a lot of working musicians.

Here's what she's asking; [url="http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20120821/"]http://www.amandapalmer.net/blog/20120821/[/url]

The phenomenon of musicians being asked to play for free has been much discussed on here. Check out this alarming new variation on the theme: [url="http://www.prefixmag.com/news/amanda-palmer-cant-afford-to-pay-her-backup-band/69017/"]http://www.prefixmag.com/news/amanda-palmer-cant-afford-to-pay-her-backup-band/69017/[/url] I feel like it would be acceptable if the gigs were for a non-profit project and didn't charge for admission, but that's not the case here. I find the sense of entitlement a bit grating - she's a fairly successful touring artist, and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to budget for hiring musicians. If anything, it smacks of a publicity stunt, but I feel like it sets a dangerous precedent.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1347544299' post='1802214'] First things first; how do I measure a gap that narow? [/quote] I use thin Dunlop picks as a rough guide to the size of the gap. They go down to 0.5mm, have the thickness written on them, and only cost a few pence. Either that or eyeball it against a ruler marked in mm as above.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1347467086' post='1801272'] Cubase 7 has been released ? Garry [/quote] Oops, that was a typo. It's Cubase LE6 I have a copy of!

I've ordered some D'Addarios. I'll report back when they arrive...

That looks like an interesting mic system for the price. If you do go for it, please report back on how you get on with it.

I do it on one tune - it's great with the bow, though it loses a little definition when played pizz. Also worth noting, it sends my A string a few cents sharp every time and I have to retune. I'm using Spirocore mediums like yourself.

Red Mitchell used to tune in fifths on double bass, and his playing didn't sound at all limited, so it must be at least possible. He went for CGDA an octave below cello tuning. With your tuning, I presume the .020 E string is a typo, as this would be the E found on the second fret, D string of a standard tuned bass, yet .020 is lighter than a standard G string.

I quite like it!

LaBellas seem like a big investment though - even D'Addario come out a bit cheaper if ordered from the states. Anyone tried the Status tapewounds? Prices are very good, though I don't know if the conventional gauges mean that they'd be floppy.

I'm curious to hear some opinons on tapewound strings, and I know a few BCers will have experimented with them. I'm using Ernie Ball flatwounds at the moment, and I'm finding that flatwounds with the treble boosted slightly give me a sound with just the right amount of growl and edge which sits in the mix nicely, while sounding more "earthy" than roundwounds. I've seen a few posts on another bass forum saying that nylon tapewounds actually have slightly more of this sound than some flatwounds, but still with the interesting percussive attack when played with a pick. So, which ones are worth checking out? It's also worth mentioning that I play 5-string, which I think rules out trying Fender tapewounds, among others.

Stainless steel is just a steel alloy with Chromium in it, so "Chromes" and stainless steel strings are likely to be pretty much the same material. The Ernie Ball flats are nice strings, very similar to D'Addario Chromes, which are at the brighter end of flatwounds.

Yesterday evening I had a try of mixing the same track in Reaper and in Studio One Free to see how I got on with them. Reaper doesn't seem too forbiddingly complicated, but I'm getting some kind of weird aliasing thing going on with bass notes, which isn't there when I play the same files in Studio One. I presume I need to adjust my audio settings. Studio One seems pleasingly straightforward - the only worry is that I would have to be sure I liked the reverb and compression that come with it, since it doesn't use VSTs. I haven't actually installed Cubase LE yet, but I'll give that a try too.

Thanks for the various advice, I think I'll have a play around with both to begin with, since there's no financial commitment if I just want to try Reaper. I've found Steinberg's page on what the limitations of LE actually are, and I suspect that being limited to 16 audio tracks is unlikely to be much of an issue for the things I have in mind. But I'll have a try of both and go with whichever seems more intuitive.

I've recently picked up a Zoom H4N to do some basic recording with, with the intention of capturing my tracks on the Zoom then exporting to my laptop to mix them. It came bundled with Cubase LE 7, which I gather is a "light" version of Cubase. I also have a couple of friends who seem to rate Reaper quite highly, and it's very cheap to buy. I'm unlikely to use it for anything much more complicated than mixing a few tracks of audio and applying a bit of compression and EQ, maybe the odd reverb plug-in. Probably no VSt instruments either, as I don't have a MIDI interface and I'm quite attached to my physical keyboards. Are there any situations where the limitations of Cubase LE might bite me in the bum, that would make Reaper the better option, or should I just stick with LE as I have it already?

I've been very happy with my MB200 so far. I can't comment on loudness since I'm using it with a single 10" which can reach its limit with any >100w amp I've tried, but it seems a very musical sounding amp with the EQ centred at useful places. Although it's inherently slightly scooped, the EQ is more than capable of undoing that. It'll be interesting to try gigging it with my 2x12" some time.

It's an odd idea that manufacturing a cheaper line in-house must be an indicator of Gibson's decline. They've been doing this since the 1930s with the Kalamazoo branded instruments and others, so it's more like business as usual.

Take this with a pinch of salt, as I've no covers band experience, but it seems that some of the best received covers bands I've seen have been the ones who react quickly and include a couple of this months (or even this weeks) hits in their set. It doesn't even seem to matter if the style is totally inappropriate, as forty-something rock dudes doing Lady Gaga or whatever can make for an entertaining night. If Pulp, Ocean Colour Scene, Oasis and the Stone Roses (which could be 10-20 years old depending on song choice) are the more recent stuff in your set, this might be worth a try.