Boodang

Not traditional covers band in what way?!

Funny you should say this…. have been in a very generic ‘jukebox’ covers band, good musicians, very competent, ok gigs. Accidentally (long story) have formed a Hendrix tribute (not an easy thing to do until you meet the right guitarist!) and the gigs have come pouring in.

John East is great if you want an active preamp on your bass, but not necessarily if you want passive. Vintage ‘vitamin’ caps not really his thing.

PS give serious consideration to a series/parallel switch as this adds versatility (every jazz bass should have one!). Coupled with a stacked vol/tone vol/tone configuration (why have one tone control when you can have two) and you'll have the widest tonal palette for something that is still passive.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282279109716?itmmeta=01HX2FW2Q5WEDWZKBYT0S543NP&hash=item41b9256454:g:dLUAAOSw2fpaqBNo Starr Guitars. Got mine with a parallel/series switch.

At the expense of the dyslexic! Only joking… well, mostly. But you’re right and we should get back to the business of the thread and talk about gigs.

Oh no… now we’re going to have the comma police as well!!! Next thing you know there’ll be an exclamation mark police!!!!!!!

Unless of course @Dad3353 is saying people shouldn’t be lazy by using apostrophes and type in full instead?! Perhaps Dad could clarify this and the reasons for his obsession… but only if he does it in a dedicated thread to the apostrophe police or we’re never hear about people’s gigs again.

Id not really thought of it like that before but youre right, it is a form of bullying. Im very dyslexic and couldnt agree more. Plus, has to be said @Dad3353 now quite tedious and doesnt contribute anything to the discussion (unless it’s a discussion on grammar)…. a bit like this post really! Basschatters have never been very good at sticking to the subject and this doesnt help.

I changed my mind about Bonham’s playing as a result of having to learn some of his parts and thus you end up doing a lot of research to get it right. Not because of the technicality in playing his rhythms, as you say jazz drummers are the masters and a breed apart, but because I began to realise how many zep songs you can identify just from the drums. As for great drummers, one of the top me is Papa Jo Jones. He was an early proponent of the hi hat and bringing the drums forward as something other than just a basic timekeeper. Also, I use his ‘trick’ of having a floor tom to the left of the hi hat as I find this is a great way of making more interesting fill patterns.

I use three pedals; TC Electronic Spectracomp with the Captain East toneprint (it has a 30% blend). Aguilar Octamizer with a minimum amount of octave blended in. TC Electronic HoF with a small hall reverb toneprint with slight chorus added.

Two gigs this weekend, full on plugged in at the Canadian club and an acoustic half improvised at our Brit club by way of a farewell to our female vocalists who leave post soon. It was interesting to compare the two gigs back to back. Lots of energy at the first gig, plenty of people up and dancing, the acoustic gig was a very chilled vibe but there were moments where we had lots of people dancing and because it was low volume the families stayed and had a good time too. Interesting in a couple of respects. Firstly a lot of feedback to say we should do more unplugged and a whole demographic that prefer it to us in full blast mode and secondly a whole bunch of numbers we do better acoustically. A result of which is we might start doing an acoustic set at the start of our gigs and do some more acoustic nights as apart from anything else it’s a lot easier to set up.

If you can find one a SWR Baby Blue head (they did produce the head as a separate item to the combo, although the 2 x 8 combo is great). Pre switch mode psu and pre who ever took over swr and trashed it. Tube pre amp and DI plus a semi parametric eq. Great recording pre amp and has their aural enhancer control. Plus 180 watts if you need it.

Any bass with a bolt on neck… what a cack handed way to join two pieces of wood.

Would an EUB be an answer? I’ve always had one on stage and used to play in a Hendrix tribute with one exclusively (it was an interesting fit!). An NS Design on a tripod means I play standing up or on a bar stool with a back rest. There’s no genre I can’t play with it and as it’s vaguely upright-ish no one bats an eyelid in terms of you sitting down, and it doesn’t have to sound like an upright so good for pop/funk. Also it’s the instrument I’ve had the most people come up to me after a gig to ask what the hell it is!

There are some tri band toneprints for the spectracomp.

A bit random…. but if you want to sort out your compression properly get a tri band compressor. You can get some fancy rack units but also the tc electronic spectracomp does some toneprints that’ll probably cover your needs for less $.

Graphtech variable ratio tuners.

We do a whole set of Boston punk numbers and this would be perfect!!

Spaghetti monster on a pizza?!

Ppps if you do a gig sitting down and someone notices you then you’ve done more than playing standing up where no one blinks twice. Good or bad at least someone has paid attention to the bass player!

PPS to put it in perspective, we have a backing vocalist who does one number as main vocals. I bumped into someone who said ‘are you in the BVs band’. I said yes, he’s in my band and I play bass. They couldn’t recognise anyone behind the mics! Let alone how you’re standing or sitting. I seriously wouldn’t worry about and get on with the real job of playing and not what your posterior is doing.

PS if you want to make it interesting I have a great idea with which I’ve never had the balls to implement… get a motorised wheelchair, play the gig from it but give the remote control for it to the audience and see where you end up!

I remember seeing Sky play a gig, Herbie Flowers played the whole thing from a bar stool. So inspired I’ve done the same ever since. Only exception is when I play EUB because I just have to stand there. Firmly of the opinion the audience can lump it but equally when you talk to the punters they don’t see beyond the vocalists mic and don’t even realise you’re there!!

I’ve always hated country music with an absolute vengeance. Then I was in America and went into a bar playing live country music and my jaw was on the floor… what musicianship! Not that this helps you but total respect.