chris_b

Joe Jackson played guitar on one number, except he couldn't play guitar. He made one chord shape and stuck coloured tape on the back of the neck where his thumb should go. He just learnt which colours came next. Moral of the story; you do what you have to do for the song.

I have never broken a string or had a bass fail on me in any way, so no, I don't carry a spare bass.

On Wednesday I'm gigging with a "power" Blues/Rock trio. We will be [i]very[/i] loud and I'll be taking 3 Berg 12's, 800 Thunderfunk watts and both volume controls will be set to at least 12 o'clock. I don't know if that will equate to 300-400 watts actual volume through the speakers but but the one thing I do know; Phil, I don't disbelieve your science but 1 112 wouldn't get anywhere close to the volume I'll need. I wouldn't even risk 2 12's at this volume. I know it's mad and I never played this loud when I had my Marshall and Hiwatt stacks in the 70's, but the one thing that I'm trying to do with this rig is be loud enough to keep up with the guitarist, be clearly heard in all parts of the room, keep a good tone in the process and be able to carry the cabs out of the gig at the end of the night. Parts of this rig are also used for gigging with an acoustic guitarist. Modularity is an important option with this gear.

You guys kill me; making up all these rules about when others should do this and then when they shouldn't do that.

There is at least one YouTube video drawing attention to certain similarities between several Led Zep songs and somewhat earlier songs.

I'll play the bass acoustically for as long as it takes to know if I want to plug it in. Most basses I try never get plugged in. Then I'll play something slow and tuneful. A number that's gives me lots of time to hear the qualities of the instrument and the tone of the electrics.

IMO it's neither a failing to use charts or an achievement not to use them. They are regularly used at all levels of professional musical performances. We had a no charts rule with the originals band, but apart from those guys I've not been in a band that has banned charts in the last 30 years. On the other hand, most of the bands I play in don't rehearse so new numbers can go better with charts. If you spend months in a rehearsal studio then maybe you should remember the set. For me they are a reference. Out of anything an audience is going to notice during the gig, charts are the last thing I'd worry about.

Yep, lots of raking but only down strokes. It's the extension of his DB technique. JJ's style has been analysed in the Standing in the Shadows of Motown book and by Bob Babbitt.

No he didn't.

There is nothing totally original in music. There never was. Everything is someone's take on what went before, on what their "heroes/influences" did. I wonder which side of this fence Led Zep were on when they wrote the songs that made their millions . . . . . .

Again, my 2p. You can't just play big or old gear and get a better sound. It takes more than that. You can sound just as bad with "old school" gear as you can with modern gear, and a lot of the "old school" gear guys do not make the most of their sound. Having good ears is better than having good gear. I've heard so many guys with vintage gear, thinking they are the mutts nuts because this what the original guys played, and they usually don't sound half as good as they think they are. IMO old gear is mostly just old gear. Most of the music played in the first 20 years of Rock sounded pretty average, so I don't get any warm feeling when I see old gear. The strength of back then was what the guys played on that gear. As the gear has got better the creativity of musicians has dropped off. But that might be a different thread.

I don't know what gear you're moaning about but if you think all speaker cabs are just boxes with speakers in then you haven't been keeping up.

[quote name='Drax' timestamp='1417820192' post='2624408'] .... Listenting to lines like that you really wonder how / why the 1 finger thing prevailed.... [/quote] It's comforting to realise that even geniuses have their limitations.

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1417781815' post='2623936'] ....not sure it'd be much good, soundwise, compared to a vertical stack.... [/quote] Read the info. These cabs work just as well horizontally as vertically.

If I owned this cab I'd have 2, and I'd be stacking them horizontally. A flat solid surface isn't guaranteed and vertical isn't always a safe option for many of the gigs I do.

My 2p. While I'm glad the OP has found a rig that suits his needs some of us didn't get the choice when we made the switch. For me it was a choice between cutting the weight or give up gigging. Simple as that. I was there when 4x12 stacks were the norm and moving my Ampeg 2x15 cab on my own was never any fun. But I can say that in the last 10 years the gear I've used has been better designed, better built and has sounded whole levels of magnitude better than [i]most[/i] of the stuff that was around back then. The shoot out at the recent bass bash between 3 tube amps and about 5 D class amps didn't change my mind. If my back hadn't given out I'd probably have carried on using my Mesa Boogie rig for a year or two longer but I'm really glad that I own the gear I have now and IMO I'm sounding better than I ever did. For me there's nothing second class about good lightweight gear. So I guess my answer to Spacey is no, even if I could I would never go back.

I knew there was a port involved, I just hoped that it was at the front of the cab. Anywhere else has the potential to cause me problems on some of the postage stamp sized stages and areas I usually get play in these days.

Is that a port on the side? I'll be disappointed if it is.

Ampeg always seemed to maintain the "Ampeg sound" across their cabs and amps so I'd expect there to be no difference.

Oh no. Very sad news.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1417695942' post='2623106'] That's entirely subjective. [/quote] Only a little. There's a big difference between being creative and being original. I can arrange a number and be very creative, but most semi pro Originals bands are not very original. There are exceptions, but what they write is usually derivative and not very well executed. I have played with a few of these guys so I can say that I would much rather listen to and play a well crafted song by a professional writer, and I've played with some of those guys as well.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1417688059' post='2622989'] ....does it make much difference whether it was written by Goffin & King, or by your bandmate?.... [/quote] Yes. You'd be playing much better songs if the writers were Goffin and King. It's hard enough to find semi pro players who are great players. It's almost impossible to find semi pro players who can write decent songs as well.

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1417688992' post='2623003'] ....Likewise, I don't how I'd react if I was sitting in the stalls at the Royal Opera House and heard the announcement that due to the indisposition of Nina Stemme, the role of Isolde in tonight's performance will be sung by Mr Roger Daltrey.... [/quote] But a better comparison would be that you were sitting in the stalls of an am-dram production of Tristan und Isolde and Nina Stemme walked in and asked if she could do an aria. Of course you'd say yes, wouldn't you? I doubt as many would be slagging her off for doing that as are giving RD a bad time here. This thread has a very disappointing edge to it.