Count Bassy

Pardon? ........Well someone had to say it.

Never seen him before, and sadly I guess I won't again, but his gig at Wickham Festival last night must count amongst one of the best gigs I've seen in my life. Completely mesmerising. They could have played all night and I wouldn't have got bored. [size=4]Ably assisted by Norman Watt-Roy and Dylan Howe an absolutely stunning hour of music from just three people.[/size] [size=4]As for "Our Norman", I've have seen him a few times with the Blockheads and he never fails to astound me. Surely one of the true masters of the instrument, and playing exactly like I would like to play if only I had any talent. At the risk of opening up another Jaco thread I've got to say that, to me, Norman Watt-Roy is worth 10 Jaco Pastorius's any day of the week.[/size] [size=4]I'm normally one to find something to criticise in any gig (yes it was good, but.......), but there just was no "but" last night.[/size]

Many years ago I was late arriving at a gig (as a melodeon player). Got there just as the band was about to strike up with a stand-in melodeon player. I burst in through the door just in time and John Kirkpatrick stood aside to make room for me. Glory days indeed.

Just to make it clear, I am not questioning Jaco's talent or influence (in certain genres at least), and whether I like what he did or not is inconsequential. It's just the perceived attitude ( and I know that that no-one here has actually said this as such) that he can never be 'bettered' (whatever that means) which leaves me puzzled, and strangely saddened. He may be have been very good and influential, but he was a step on the road of bass playing - not the end of the journey.

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1374222775' post='2146523'] I've played bass for 39 years and had never heard of Chris Wolstenholme prior to this post. "Who's heard of who" may indicate a degree of celebrity, but doesn't say anything about bass playing ability. CB [/quote] Well, I thought whether to include him or not. To be honest I was struggling to think of any bassists that Joe public might know. and was scraping the barrel at that point. As someone mentioned, - No Mark King in the list, so let's take Wolstenholme out and put Mark King in ...... and add Suzi Quattro of course! And I totally agree with your comment on celebrity and talent, but in this "subthread" the discussion was about how many people have heard of Jaco (very few) rather than how good or influential he was.

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1374180274' post='2146261'] I presume that you're the one doing the joking this time? [/quote] No I wasn't. Ask a cross section of joe public to name a bass player and I'm pretty sure he'd be way down the list after, for example, Paul McCartney, Sting, Phil Linnot, Chris Wolstenholme, and probably after John Entwhistle as well. Most people have never heard of him.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1374131155' post='2145508'] Or an SR305 brand new for £299 Plus the 'root beer' finish is pretty darn cool! [/quote] I don't doubt it, but I've not played one of those, so couldn't actually recommend it as such. If its like other [size=4]Ibanezes that I have tried then it too will be an incredible bass for the money.[/size]

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1374176619' post='2146198'] Who? [/quote] You may (or may not) be joking here, but the fact is that Jaco is hardly known outside bass player circles. Far better known bass players out there (not saying better).

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1374167012' post='2146068'] Better than Jaco ? I don't think so... [/quote] I really can't understand this sort of attitude.[size=4]Not just for Jaco, but Shakespeare, Mozart and others as well. Yes they were good at what they did, but the attitude that no can ever be better (which I know is not what you said) seems very negative and backward looking. All budding bassist, playwrights and composers might as well pack up now.[/size] Jaco may have been technically brilliant, but his music (esp. the solo's) do very little for me (in fact bass solos generally leave me bored to tears). There are plenty of bass players I much prefer to listen to, which in my mind makes them "better". Besides Jaco's been dead for 26 years - time to move on.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1374110203' post='2145467'] In the last band I was in , we payed blues , performed by engineers , it kind of lacked spontanaity and dare I say musicality [/quote] I was in a briefly band who were similar. The guitarist was very technically proficient, and had some great sounds, but somehow lacked feel and, as you say, spontaneity. Drummer was very tight timing wise (too rigid really), but lacked flair, and lacked dynamics. My bass teacher calls it "Playing by numbers", which seems to describe it well. Anyway, I was kicked out of that band, although I was thinking of leaving anyway. An occasional band I'm in is totally different. Brilliant guitarist who just knows his way round incredibly well and makes it up as he goes, no two solos ever the same. Inspired drummer, keyboard and sax etc. In this band I am definitely the musical dunce, but much more fun and (I hope) better to listen to. Problem with this band is that the guitarist has been there and done it (ex pro) and doesn't want to do more than a couple of gigs a year (also suffering from some pretty heavy chemical abuse when he was on the road). Yep, some technically proficiency is a requirement, but flair is also required to make something good to listen to.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1374001201' post='2144151'] personally I like to take the neck tension up by pulling the neck back by hand at the same time as adding or removing tension to the truss rod. [/quote] Me too.

If you hadn't excluded Ibanez I would have thoroughly recommended a second hand SR505 or 605, which you'd just about get within your price range..

Val Doneagain

Yep. Sacked once (By E-mail), but I was on the point of resigning anyway, so no great upset. Still wish I'd got in first though. Never really knew why; they said that I wasn't keeping up. Didn't see it that way myself, I think it was more a case of the face not fitting, and it had been clear for some time that something wasn't right, so no great surprise. I think I'd made the mistake of thinking I would be a full band member, but they really wanted a trained monkey to be clone of their previous bass player and just do as I was told. Still, joined another band and got gigging, and as far as know they still haven't.

Actually I quite like the look, and its a 30" scale. Now if only it was a fiver and considerably cheaper.

I agree with most people here. IMO the D'Addarios tend to be a bit too dull sounding and feel very sticky, which I guess is burrs left by the grinding process. Have since gone to the Status Hotwire half rounds; they are a bit brighter in tone and feel nice and smooth. They suit me far better, and are very reasonably priced (£25 for a set of five).

Add it up: PA + Foldback = 7Kw, + a kilowatt or so for back line. A 15 Kw Generator therefore leaves 7Kw for lighting. If LED lighting that's enormous, if traditional less enormous, but still a lot. Of course the PA crew are correct. 40Kw would be ample, but probably way over the top. It all hinges on the lighting, so you need details of that.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1372720056' post='2129229'] I liked #8... I went to see a well-known folk-rocker last year, and I heard him say stuff I'd seen directly quoted in a newspaper review of a London gig a week earlier. IMO, that's going a little far with the choreography, Richard. [/quote] In theory I agree, but on the other hand if you're touring and gigging 3 times a week it must be difficult to stay fresh and spontaneous after 5 weeks.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1372712407' post='2129119'] Book marked incase I ever make the big time About it break one though, the band are throwing around ideas for a medley! [/quote] [size=4]I quite like medleys, well not [/size]medleys[size=4] of whole songs, but I quite like it when there's the odd verse, or even single lines[/size][size=4] of another song thrown in, but the the transition must not be too slick and, as a general rule, the sequence must end back on the original song![/size] OK - I guess what I'm saying is; I like some medleys, but not others.

I bought one (used) to supplement my 505. Really like the natural ash body, and it has the mid frequency switch which the 505 (mine is an older one) doesn't. Absolutely love it, as I do the 505. The 505 has half rounds on it which I put on to try and tame it a bit. The 605 has rounds on and I'm liking it like that, doesn't seem quite as trebley as the 505, which suits me well. I don't find it at all heavy, but then when you're my weight a few extra pounds makes little difference. Superb instrument at a cracking good price.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1372606272' post='2127610'] Just spent an hour doing my P bass only to discover that the foil I bought has non conductive adhesive DOH [/quote] Run some solder over the joints. Since the foil is so thin it heats up quickly, so the soldering is quick and easy. Also just to emphasise the thing about not leaving gaps. It wasn't too critical when you only had to worry about 50Hz hum, but with so many high frequency noise sources these days it's much more critical.

60,000? You could get a new one for less than that.

A very stormy Monday! Also he did the original of "Ain't no Love" I believe. Sad Day. RIP.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1372080687' post='2121299'] I'd go for the Octavia estate. The new version is out soon with a bigger boot. Have you thought of the Suberb estate? That thing is massive inside. If the 159 is anything like the 156 then the boot opening was quite small and an odd shape. The Octavia and the A4 are basically the same car (as is the Passat) and a BMW is a BMW (no indicators, difficulty staying in lanes...) [/quote] I've currently got a Peugeot 807 which is immense (Something like 2900 Litres with the seats out.) However looks like I'll be getting a company car soon and the Skoda Superb looks like a front runner (1865 litres with the seats down) Sounds like a big difference from the 807, but in practice,when loading the PA & gear you very rarely can use the full height of the 807, so the practical difference might not be so much. Anyone got any experience of the Superb.?

I know you're sorted now, but if you built the bass you must have offcuts of the original blank, and some sandpaper, hanging around?