chris_b

Sorry Ewan, but Roberta's version beats yours hands down.

Sad news. Beautiful voice. She launched the careers of Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller by firing them from her band. She told them they should be running their own bands and being successful in their own right.

. . . . or expect a lot, lot less from the 2 x 8!!

I would be surprised if the bass and amp was anything special. The tone and attack is all the player.

What combo is it?

What is your regular rig? 2 x 8 cabs are fine at home, but I wouldn’t be able to gig with one.

To balance any bass you need a top horn that is long enough to balance the instrument when on the strap.

My problem with "upgrades", "downgrades", "mods" etc, how do I know the knowledge, experience and skill set of the person making these changes? Do they know what they are doing or are they enthusiastic idiots without a clue. . . . but still think they know what they are doing!! My solution is to buy a bass that is exactly what I want in the first place.

i agree. I don't want bass gear that has been altered in any way by an owner. I don't even like internal shots of amps.Why do that? Why take the amp casing apart?

I don't dig in. My days of exuberant overplaying have long gone. I used to take the strings down till they buzzed and then raised them until thy didn't. Then I had a "forensic" set up from the Bass Gallery, where they reduced the action even further. At first I couldn't play the bass, but after working on my technique, that's I prefer all my basses.

Sometimes it's just better to pick a new name. Status Quo was called Traffic until Steve Winwood decided to use that name.

I've bought and sold basses using bank transfers, here and in Europe, pre B***** of course. It is a leap of faith but as I only buy and sell on Basschat and you can get a feel for the situation if you know the person or have seen them around for awhile. I probably wouldn't get into a sale with someone who had only just joined, or had no history. My preferred process is to meet up with cash. I've driven to Birmingham, Brighton and Margate and a few places in between for the right gear.

I've been playing bass since before many here were born, and for a year, just before Covid, I took lessons from a West End player. I told him he probably wasn't going to shift me out of my rut, but could he make it wider. He didn't teach me anything I didn't already know but he taught me how to use it in different ways. That improved my fretboard skills, improved my fluency and made me think differently. . . . took the blinkers off. Anyone who thinks lessons can't teach them anything, or lessons won't improve how they play, is wrong.

There is another bass player with my name in Australia! I discovered her when I was trying to set up my first email address. I think she plays classical and double bass, so our paths have never really crossed.

In the 70's we had a band called Ramrod. I've heard of at least half a dozen other Ramrods. As was mentioned earlier, bands with the same name weren't problem if they were working in different parts of the country.

Too much is being made of bad sounding rooms. 99% of the gigs I do are in venues with a good sound and most of the bad sounding rooms can be managed. So getting a good sound is still the most important thing for bass players. The sound of a bass can be a challenge but with good gear there is very little that can't be resolved. Badly designed cabs are a large part of difficult sounding rooms. Buy properly designed cabs you'll get a better sound right out of the box.

The Delta plane in Toronto was using AI auto pilot to land.

If you are in a band where those are 3 things you have to worry about then your tone and the sound of the band are the least of your problems.

I believe Charlie and Doug had the first Plek machine in the country and were responsible for a lot of the development in the early days.

If this were the case people wouldn't be trying to sound like Cliff Burton and Steve Harris etc. Heavy bands are no different to any other band. Your tone is the most important thing you can get right for you and for the band. All band members making their sound fit into the band mix is the next objective. Sounding good on stage and bad in the room, and vice versa, is a fact of life. . . . occasionally. . . . but if you get that on every gig, there is something wrong with your signal chain.

Sorry but I disagree 100% with that. Having a good balance in the band has nothing to do with each musicians sound. If you don't have a good balance then you have to get one. If you have someone in the band who won't compromise on tone or volume fire them. If you can't fire them drown them out. Once you fix the band issues you'd better not sound bad. So your tone does matter. I know from experience that if you sound good you will play better. IMO every part of the signal chain has an effect on the sound of your bass. It's accumulative, one thing can't make you sound great, but one thing can make you sound bad. If you've made the right decisions and your signal chain is working well, you've got yourself a unicorn rig. Now you just have to combat the room!!

All OK for me Windows 8.1 Luddite

Other normal stuff people can't do. . . . We've been asked to put digital clocks up during University exams. . . . because many students can't read the time from traditional clocks!!! Sounds like something is missing in their education.