Dr.Dave

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='30656' date='Jul 12 2007, 12:02 PM']Must get to another of your gigs Dave - Wayne58's gonna come with me.[/quote] With any luck - my new rig (the rack at least , may be using generic cabs) will be in evidence at the Clarence Park Festival here in Wakefield on Sun 22nd July. We're doing a 40 min slot at 7.45 pm with our ZZ trib band 'Eliminator' All welcome - I'm the one in a ridiculous long beard fighting the Explorer!!!

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='30576' date='Jul 12 2007, 09:32 AM']Hi Russ, I need a new compressor and wondered about buying a half rack unit (Presonus Blue Max) to mount on the right of my rack unit (see above) cos I'm pretty sure it won't reach the fan but are you sure that a half width space is enough not to cause problems?[/quote] If you do get the half rack comp. I'd be very interested to hear how you get on. I've a half space next to my wireless above my tuner and (soon to be) Mark bass amp. Needs filling and a dedicated comp. is something I'd actually find useful. Certainly worth a trip over the hiils to watch you using it.

Bit of a change of direction but when your much sought after and long awaited bit of new kit arrives - do you ever get that strange feeling after you've had it home for 20 mins that you've had it for ages. Always happens to me , wondered if anyone else is the same.

The most reliable amp in the world is the one that hasn't let you down....yet. It's a box of electronic witchcraft - it can go wrong , I promise you. I could give you a list of all the 'name' brand amps that have let me down. Quicker to just say 'all of them'. Hearing what others say is very useful - a forum like this is esp good - re. reliability of any bit of gear. Some gear has a higher build quality than others. The more functions an amp has the more bits there are to go wrong. A bit of sensible common sense maintainance or a service every so often never goes amiss. All of those things may help. But there's no guarantees.

If I can carry a spare of it I will. Remember that if you use a 20ft lead , the 12ft spare in your box is no spare at all. I have a small tool kit too , encourage the other members to get their own. I'm happy to lend mine to anyone but when you're all rushing around setting up chances are they'll forget to return 'that' screwdriver. If you have 2 square inches of space anywhere - put a new PP3 battery in it. My mic stand beer holder might be a gag from time to time but get one. If you don't - I guarantee one day you'll put your drink on your amp , even if only absent mindedly. I like Slaphappy's idea of carrying a DI box in case the amp goes tits up. I'll start doing that - thanks matey. And for Jaco's sake get a pair of decent working gloves. Use them for loading/unloading.

When I finally got through packaging that even the Royal Mail would find it hard to destroy - out popped my FX unit in the original box with the manual and even the unused stickers. Like new. Well happy and a treat to buy from him.

It's 'stockings' - not socks - and I'll be wearing both! That , and 'I thank you' are in our set but we only have 45mins at Clarence and don't know if they'll both make it in. One of them hopefully. There's a bit of the former here - from our debut gig at the Clarence fundraiser last year. [url="http://www.eliminatoruk.net/media.html"]http://www.eliminatoruk.net/media.html[/url]

Having watched you play , Dave - though only the once on the Triumph - you never strike me as 'heavy handed'. I'm not sure how your hands would take to upping the action. You mention how your approach to your basslines has changed with the EUB and I'd have thought any help from the instrument - like a low action - would be a help to you rather than a hinderance. Not sure you give the right impression describing yourself as no more than a bass line player. The lines I've stolen from you are hardly root note wonders!! I'll be coming to see you on the Sun aft at the Clarence Park Fest. If you stick around til early eve we're doing the ZZ trib there , where you'll see a bass player struggle with a dog of an instrument and sticking to root notes!!! Sadly the Explorer is hardly my Shuker or your Warwicks.

I do a fair ammount of it in Dr Blue. I do know that it always has a way of tripping me up if I get overconfident or don't concentrate properly so I have a small stock of 'get out of jail free' riffs to get me back on track. Like Eric Morcambe slapping Ernie Wise's cheek. He did that when he forgot his lines. Same sort of saviour. Have a listen to one of my fave tracks. 'Walk Between The Raindrops' on Donald Fagen's 'Nightfly' album. Bass by Will Lee - heavily processed but the line's wonderful around the jazzy chord changes. Your teacher is right in a sense - I reckon he/she may have neen meaning it's a style that isn't as scary as you may think , that it's generally a Q of linking set patterns together , and you should have a try. Like any technique though , competence and mastery are 2 very different things.

[quote name='Muppet' post='20111' date='Jun 19 2007, 12:22 PM']Hi Clive I prefer Boston straplocks for a few reasons 3. VERY IMPORTANT. They have two nuts on the shaft of the strap part as opposed to one. These act as locknuts. Schallers do not have this and unless you apply threadlock they tend to unscrew themselves over time, whereas the Boston ones do not. cheers Steve[/quote] A tale I've told several times in these parts. Exactly what happened to me , mid-gig in York , dumping my Status on my foot. I was lucky not to break a toe. Since then the Schallers have been in the bin and I have Dunlops fitted to all my basses. Billy Sheean , according to an account I read , had his strap (made from the stuff they stop aircraft from crashing on carrier flight decks with) coachbolted directly to his bass. Bloody good idea.

[quote name='Machines' post='25537' date='Jul 1 2007, 09:48 AM']I keep mine in Iraq.[/quote] What....you've only got an air base? EH!....Eh.....air bass....eh!!!!! I'll get me coat

Anyone had experience of the 'Trad' Precision jobby?? Mine currently sports an SD QP which is a bit too much of a monster , the original 73 pup self destructed and I'm on the look out for something comfortingly vintage sounding

[quote name='Rich' post='24826' date='Jun 29 2007, 12:09 PM']+1. I have one of those, hiding in the shadiest corner of the study. Marvellous things, except when the foam wears through... that grey foam pipe-lagging stuff from B&Q is an excellent replacement though.[/quote] Me too,I have a 5 unit - great bit of kit. One thing , though , is you have to put the stand further away from the wall than you might plan to. If you don't ,the headstock's end up propped against the wall. Tell you something too - there's not much I wouldn't give up to have WaterofTyne's Fender wall !!!!!

[quote name='simon1964' post='25174' date='Jun 29 2007, 11:15 PM']I've only just got round to registering for the new site, so thought I would post my stuff. Nothing spectacular,[/quote] What's not spectacular about that lot? Very useful team I think. My fave has got to be the fretless Precision. Is that an ebony fingerboard on there?? Should you ever think of moving it on I'd be in the group marked 'sorely tempted' !!!

Trip down memory lane. First bass I owned was a Hofner violin bass - bought in 1978 and it was getting on a bit then. Cost me £45 from a secondhand shop in Leeds. I sold it about 2 years later for £75. Nice to see it and I hope you get round to getting it road ready again.

It was the Lion on that fateful night!! We used to play the Crimea regularly - in the end we felt they wanted a heavier band than us so we stopped doing it a couple of years ago. Boot's a regular for both my bands. Quick 'Les' tale. Dozy sod had a pub quiz - got on the mic and said (he sounds like Tommy Cooper for those of you who don't know him) ' Question 1 , sport. What sport is famously associated with Edgbaston.......you cricket fans might know this' Man's a star. Old Git mentioned he took shots of my Status ,which is having a new top put on , at Jon Shuker's. Here's a pic that he took - many thanks matey.

[quote name='OldGit' post='24896' date='Jun 29 2007, 01:46 PM']hey they even stock and appropriately named bass - the Rivertone! [/quote] Which - unless I'm very much mistaken , is the handiwork of the owner , John Robinson. He played it in his band - The Outfit - and I had a quick go on it. Tale from the life of a would be rockstar... I had a 6 string guitar (sort of) stolen and the rock factory got it back for me when a guy tried to sell it on there. Grateful bunny that I was I took them for a beer at a local hostelry after work. Then another beer , then another etc etc. Woke up in the middle of the night , room spinning , couldn't quite work out why someone had moved my window but set off to the traps , pleasure bent. Somebody had moved my lightswitch too. Odd. All of a sudden I've tripped on something in the dark and Neil Peart's doing drum solo. Toms,snare , cymbal crashes...the works. The light goes on and it's John's wife. They'd scraped me up off the pub floor , taken me home ,put me to bed and in the dark I'd wandered out of their flat , into the drum department and fallen into a drum kit!!!

[quote name='ARGH' post='24813' date='Jun 29 2007, 11:52 AM']How do you think I feel,the Calders 150meters from my door. The Nestle Factory and Chemical works have had to be pumped out twice,and Tigers grounds been emptied (Changing rooms are still awash) from 5 feet in the Wheldon road corner (where North and West stand ajoin).[/quote] That must put you within a spit of the Rock Factory - shame the basses are 2 floors up , we might have copped a water damaged bargain or two!!

[quote name='OldGit' post='24794' date='Jun 29 2007, 11:27 AM']Oh and Dr Dave I have a few pics of yoru st@tu$ body if you'd like them .. PM me? OG[/quote] You wonderful , gorgeous man - let me have your babies!!!! PM on the way , though you can post them if you wish. Very grateful mate , cheers.

Arse - I just saw my Status with it's new Shukerised top floating past a kebeb shop in Doncaster high street surrounded by dead kittens and Richard the thirds!!!! We've a gig in Rotherham tomorrow night - be like Kevin Costner in Waterworld I reckon. We're doing the ZZ tribute but will see if we can sneak Quo's 'rain' in without being killed !!! My boat's in South Yorkshire so I went yesterday fearing the worst but the canal and surrounding fields are unaffected. 2 miles away dozens of poor sods are kipping in a sports centre. Our wonderful BBC local news program thinks it's Xmas - no more 'cat stuck in tree' for a while. Silly woman standing in a flooded street in her wellies asked an elderly couple.... 'You've just lost everything you ever worked for and are looking forward to a bleak and insecure future....tell us how you feel about that'. Brilliant. Pulitzer standard reporting.

From your description of what you need I'd go Jazz too. Generalising but - a P makes one good sound. A J makes all the rest except the P. Like having a well stocked tool box. The screwdrivers,pliers,spanners are all useful - but sometimes you just need the hammer.

I have the compact 15. Very solid build and no nasty carpet covering. Issue - always saying this - is that it's rear ported. Any rear ported cab won't suit all gigging situations. As a for instance we had an outdoor jobby yesterday . A fair proportion of your sound can just set off backwards into the ether. I solve it by shoving a handy table on end behind my rig. Not 100% but practical. Of course I'd like to use bigger ,more efficient , front ported cabs but sadly Ashdown don't supply a gorilla to lift them around for me or a free van to transport them. Re the Ashdown good/bad debate. It seems to me it's very similar to the Ashdown ABM/MAG debate. MAG stuff is designed to be cheaper and of course won't have some of the attributes of the more expensive ABM range. Certainly you would look for better build quality in the ABMs. Other than that , like any gear , it's down to opinion and preference. Funny but I feel quite defensive of Ashdown. Never let me down once and, as a gigging player who doesn't always treat his rig as he should, that's issue no.1 for me. I've managed to f*** up Trace,GK,Hartke and Eden cabs , but never an Ashdown.