bassjim

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1407496934' post='2521122'] They really need to re-think these. They are more often than not installed in a stupid place, badly calibrated and the microphones in them seem to respond to certain frequencies over others. the best way I saw of one being used was that it was hooked up to the lights only. Amp/PA power came from elsewhere... So if you hit the red for 2 seconds or more the lights went out on stage, the music continued, and the band quickly got the message that they needed to turn down a bit (as they were in darkness). The ents manager there understood the stupidity of the thing, but said they had to keep the volume reasonable, so this was his compromise. This way, the message was clear, but it didn't kill the vibe dead if a rogue snare drum tripped it. Not sure it was 100% legal, but certainly a more sane approach! [/quote]This has got to be the answer! Maybe a 20 strikes and you're out kinda rule.

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1409312662' post='2538538'] I don't have any issues with venues having a limiter system but I have a major problem with venues that have a stupidly sensitive limiter bit still sell their venue to brides and grooms when they know they want a live band. These places then blame the band when the limiter trips. If you want to do function work then limiters are something you either deal with or don't do the gig. The first conversation we have with perspective customers involves a chat about whether there's a limiter and if so how sensitive it is. If we think we can't put on a decent show within the limits then we decline the work. Most times it can be done but it's rarely as much fun but that's why weddings etc pay reasonably well. [/quote] +1 !! the venues just want the money!

From personal experience : In the right circumstances its the best. In the wrong circumstances its a big big problem. It may have been the stage you were playing on or just the right environment that allowed the bass to be heard and felt the way you like it. It might have been the case that the same sound, or just as good a sound, might have been got using a good 4 x 10, a pair of 2 x 10 or something of similar power handling to the 8x10. If its only every now and then you need it you could hire it?

I have a friend who was/is a big Cure fan and also a bassist. I remember him telling me that they did use a double bass and the guy that played it drew fret positions on the neck with chalk or something like that? Might be absolute tosh but for some reason I stored this data in my useless information folder so it might be true....

always standing up with the strap on. sounds a bit dodgy that.....but yes always practice as if its how you are going to play live because all your hand and arm mussels get used to the position. If you sit down more often than not then that becomes the comfort zone. At the gig there are plenty of distractions for all players no matter how experienced so you dont want to add more in.

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1469213271' post='3096770'] Just out of curiosity, do any of you guys actually make a living playing slap & nothing but? [/quote] For a brief period during the late 80s I could have genuinely said yes to this

fankyou..

Dear all..... due to my impressive frame I can only ever seem to find straps that are too small or too long. Adjustable straps end up adjusting themselves so I dont like these. Other makes like "status" are great. Really comfortable.... except the holes for the strap locks/ strap buttons in the removable adjustable bit are always just in the wrong place for me. I end up twisting it round and round till its about right which kinda defeats the purpose of getting a comfortable strap. My questions are: What methods have you successfully employed to make a new button hole in the leather? Also I saw Billy Sheehan going on about some material like a car seat belt because it wont stretch like leather will. Any one done this and how did you get the button hole for the strap lock done without it becoming a time bomb of a mess? And discuss............

always....contract stating how, when, who, where,start ,finish,amount payable. payment up front at the venue if its cash before any gear leaves any cars.If not cash then whole amount in bank and cleared prior. all agreed up front and in advance. 95% of folks are just great, fantastic lovley people about to start out on a man made hell of children, mortgages and divorce and you can trust them 100%. what you cant do is second guess who the other 5% are. Excuses in the past have been: best man has got your cash but he left ages ago because of (insert excuse here). "I couldnt find a cash point so can we do this tommorrow, I mean its our wedding day so come on!" " We decided last minute to get a DJ". (cancellation fee topic ahoy) "we have a DJ now that we really like so can you split the money with him?" In fact there is a whole topic in epic excuses for not paying on the day right there!

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1468931047' post='3094397'] Thanks everyone, all great advice. Its a venue that's been doing weddings for two years. The whole thing is in a marquee and the site is actually a working farm. The Pa is new though and as a result of a noise complaint from the only neighbour just over half a mile away. It seems they had a dj earlier this year who was a bit of a tool and just wouldn't turn down. We are actually going to be the first band to play there following them getting the Pa installed this week. I totally understand the noise issue and would be devastated if we caused them a noise complaint. My main concern is that the farmer running the venue knows nothing about good live sound and the bride , groom and band were only informed yesterday of the new rules. I'm going to go in ears for the night and the rest in the band will sort themselves out monitor wise. Luckily we have a behringer x-air 18 so there's six aux outs and each member can do their own mix from phones. That way I don't have to worry about doing a monitor mix for everyone. We have explained everything to the bride and groom and they are taking up any complaints with the venue. Im sure we'll be fine as all the band are pros except me and the singer so they'll all cope. [/quote] i would advise if.....you have not used in ears as a band before you try it all out first so you can suss out pitt falls. If you find on the night "nothing in the manual about this problem..." From personal experience BTW on a seperate gig. Was told this would all be great as everyone does it nowadays. Good job I brought my "stone age back line" along!

See advert....apply to advert....band advertising replies and gives a speech about how very very good they are....last bass player has left due to "illness"....learn some songs but really learn em good to impress....turn up at audition....in reality band is sh*t. Nice people but just people that happen to own instruments. Really ought to try something different like....golf.

i usually tune to D and Eb. best method for me is very quickly by ear pluck open D (or fret Eb on A string for Eb), pluck open E and turn the tuning peg as close as possible first time. Then quickly mute via foot pedal/tuner pedal (this one) and tweak as nessacary. By going with your ears first you will be very close if not spot on. Use same method to get back up to normal tuning. Not bad to practice by ear anyhow. what doesnt kill you ect...

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1468869185' post='3093945'] I wouldn't cancel, more down to not wanting to add stress to the bridal party than to secure my paycheck. I would, however pass this on to the bride and groom so they are aware before hand that there are venue imposed noise restrictions. Also, your point about where the 95db is measured is a good one and one I'd be asking the venue as it should bring some clarity. [/quote] yep defo tell the clients. i did a wedding in Kingston Upon Thames where the venue insisted they supply PA . They also supplied an electronic drum kit and maplins in ear monitors. At sound check no one in the band could hear themselves or each other as the sound man didnt have a clue. The in ears were so useless. They fell out of your ears if you so much as blinked. No monitors. The only way to hear vocals was to walk out onto the dance floor as the pa speakers were up in the ceiling and pointing down. Thats just great if you are a drummer or keyboard player. To add to the misery the venue was on an island surrounded by water (Thames!) and you had to use their ferry system to get any equipment over to it. Fortunatley the guitarist and myself brought our backline so we at least were able to use it and promise to keep it down. Just as well because without it this would have been even worse than it ended up being. I was depping and so was half the band. It was all over the place due to not being able to hear each other. The bride was devastated. The groom was angry. The venue having already taken their money didnt give a sh*t and neither did the agency that set up the gig for the same reasons. We had already been paid top whack and we were not responsible for it. The sound guy told me the problem had been caused by multiple complaints from neighbours but the venue needs the bands to make it work. The venue doesnt tell the clients because most likley they wouldn't book in the first place. Tell your clents whats not in your power up front and that its going to be difficult to play your best if you cant hear yourself ........but happy to comply. You dont take any responsibility however for the results

there have been some right shithole dives we have played in lately. we are your typical bit more upmarket quality funk soul covers band that if not playing to a nice crowd of normal people in a reasonably nice pub then we are more likely to be playing a function or wedding for top dollar. We tried these dives out recently with the view that A :because its somewhere different, and B: you never know what you might pick up in future bookings. We completely died at both venues. We started off with at best 20 pissed up yobos which whittled down to the bar staff by the end of the night. If the OPs band had rocked up playing the Verve, Oasis ect they would have gone down a storm, got repeat bookings and even had someone piss all over them in the bogs whilst explaining they are the best band they have ever seen ect Both pubs were run by the same football worshiping big screen lovin every other word is fuc...g beer bellied fun time family and so its no suprise that the punters were of the same mentality. Sometimes its not what you are playing, nor how good you are at it but to whom are you playing it to. I did 4 years in a very successful indie rock cover band, traveled abroad with it and on average did 4 gigs a week playing to mainly the oaisis,jam lovin types. Once you get to know your audience its easy to cater for them but in the mean time there are safe bet tunes which although predictable you cant go wrong with. Probably not the sort of thing you cant wait to pick your bass up and play at home though. Nothing more boring than just playing a G for ages if you are not playing along with the band. Also a regular crowd can boost your confidence to the point you dont think you can do any thing wrong. Its when you are away from them in pastures new that the old comfort zone tunes get every thing back on track..........unless you are playing to the wrong crowd in the first place....

That will do it !!

I've recently gone from a pair of EBS112neos back to a EBS 2X10 neo. For most full band gigs I add 1 x ebs112. Small rehearsals ect i take a 112 but for any gigs that where I can use just 1 cab I use as a prefrence the 2x10, PA support or not. I feel you lose too much head room and just about everything else from these small cabs on their own regardless of what the physics book says. On a loud stage with mic'd up kit banging around in the monitors along with everything else ect, a pair of small cabs gets pretty useless pretty quickly. IMO keep the Vanderkley. You can always stack the smaller cab with it when you need more volume ect and for those nice and super low volume rehearsals/gigs you still have the small cab for portability. In an ideal world it would be nice if you could have two of the larger cabs and two of the smaller. Thats all situations sorted! As soon as I see another EBS2x10 at the right price I will have achieved this nirvarna. IME these small light cabs from most manufactures are very good on gigs so long as they are used in pairs and there is no volume war going on. So what I am really saying is keep 1 barefaced if you really like em and send the other one back!!

if its a simple tune like for example: bad girls by donna summer, then its just the same pattern up or down a few frets. im ok with this on the fly. in fact last function gig in a band i dont normally play in i got shouted at by the band leader "DMinor!!!!!" as i usually play it Db with regular band. if its more involved tune than that, which has an involved middle 8, think ; forget you by celo green, im gonna struggle .unless someone is shouting out the chords as i go along its not gonna go well for me. take 5 mins at home without any pressure no problem but not on the fly at a gig. if the capos on and the guitarist cant tell you what key you are now in and what chord is now being played I'm as screwed as the next mere mortal.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1467816417' post='3086499'] Neck width is a matter of personal preference, and how a bass sounds in a shop though an amp has more to do with the amp and room acoustics than anything else. Not great reasons for calling them a load of crap. Fair enough re. the weight though, I can see that being an issue, but you'd have to be deeply unlucky to come across that many unplayably heavy basses. [/quote] (swings handbag around head and stamps) i own a great fender jazz. i know what it sounds like and what it does via a multitude of different amps and rooms. i know the difference between a quality instrument (mine) and an instrument that is not as . considering I'm comparing a fender jazz with a fender jazz i feel my conclusions to be reasonable under the circumstances. could I therfore say BY COMPARISON to my Fender jazz to the fender jazzes in the shops that I tried last week mine is by far superior and make the others all seem like crap even the CS jobs!!!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1467815266' post='3086486'] . Don't get me wrong I'm not too shabby a player really and I need a solid dependable bass but I struggle to see what anything over about an £800 new bass does that would make it more playable really, [/quote] i think there is goal in mind with a typical 60s fender jazz that isnt there on other basses. all things contribute to the end result and they are in the most basic breakdown: weight, neck width and depth, pick ups and how much can you manipulate the bass set up wise to your liking. to achive this you need to pay more for the time and effort involved to produce such a thing and the price tag should reflect that. in other words bass costing x amount should = x quality. sad fact is that in this case it simply didnt......... IMO! i really would like to point out I'm not having a dig at any one who owns any instrument of any kind as for some its like "how dare you insult my child..." for suggesting there is something wrong with their choice of axe. If you own an instrument that works its cool. I own and love my Fender but at the same time feel let down by them. And talking of setting it up in the shop with a lower action : one of the shops (not going to name them.they will know!) came across as "not really into that man" and the other was obviously getting pissed off with "nope not that one, not that one,not that one,maybe if i tried that one? nope that one ect.." so he made me feel like I was really putting him out of his way to the point he made me feel Iike I the customer with the cash to spend was getting anoying. mind you,,it was a music shop so what did i really expect?!?

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1467812761' post='3086457'] @bassjim hopefully your next bass will be the right one for you! Good luck! [/quote] thanks very much. i will share the experience once done. obvs Im starting to get all worked up about it now and Ive only myself to blame for that! better have a lie down.....seriously though folks I appreciate every word every one has to say on this and any bass related subject. if only this shared information was available to me as a kid. could have saved a bloody fortune on bad choices and spent twice as much on GAS related stuff instead!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1467808922' post='3086407'] Lauren Taneil is actually in the UK right now, she could chop in those toy town Ray 5s while she is here for a UK custom built bass to save her struggling for the rest of the Beyonce world tour! Lol. [/quote] i had one of these (5string) once and stupidly got rid because of a weak G string that I had no idea could have been fixed. this was also a fine example of brilliance. The MM I tried both 4,5 stingray and sterling made me feel like they were taking the piss by comparison. for example the sterlings pick up was all E and A string. ok so you can adjust that but the D and G was so noticbly weak that you would be taking a chance on it. how on earth does any one supply the likes of me (just a regular bass player,nothing special) this kind of drivel and actually expect me to go "wow!!! this is amazing.here is my money!". if its not the products fault because of lack of proper set up then whos' at fault here? perhaps its my fault because i have spent 35 years struggling every day to improve and have become really "picky" as a result. plenty more first timers around where the shops can pull the wool over their eyes. I guess if its just me complaining then good luck to em'. pays their bills so carry on

In reply to this from my learned friend.....(sorry could get the multiquote thing top work!!!) ***** Two thoughts occur here, firstly that if you are very used to playing one bass and one bass only, many if not all other instruments might feel, play or sound less well than does that bass that you are used to. I have never been entirely happy with a bass that I have just bought - and that includes some very high spec instruments - it's always required a combination of changes to those structural factors I need to be different (such as strings, action, PUP height, nut height etc), and of getting used to those factors that I can't change. A perfect bass is often perfect simply because you are used to it. Second if you have struggled to find a bass you like in all of the shops you've been to, what makes you think that you will like a custom built instrument that you by definition cannot play before you buy? The list of folks who've spent shedloads of cash on a custom bass only to find that it doesn't work for them is not short. The list of folks who've spent shedloads of cash on a custom bass only to find that it doesn't work for them is not short. ********* yes and im one of them. in the past ive not really been able to explain to the builder exactly what it is I want. i think i have thought that because of what that bass has been and who uses it it will be great and thats that. i think a lot of unhappy customers are more about not saying exactly what they want, if they really know what that it is, and end up with not quite what they were expecting in terms of playability . like going to a hairdresses because brad pitt goes there and saying "i want the same hair cut" and expecting to turn into a fanny magnet just like that. for me personally its taken years of active this and that plus for some bizzare idea that it has to be a neck through. i have since learnt that for me less is more plus these days I have a better understanding of how to use eq. It could even be that if some of the basses built in the passed came back I might set them up and use the eq differently using what i know now. i digress...... so what i was sharing with you fellow low enders is my personal dissapointment with what has so far been on offer from fender that I as a mere mortal with no access to large amounts of lolly or access to any special fender care ala adam clayton, marcus ect can readily get my hands on. ie in a shop that has a fender deal. in terms of set up......i like my action low and when i have read and commented myself here on basschat on this very subject, i think its fair to say at the very least half of you like a low action. so why then do the shops insist on setting every thing on high? maybe if they set at least half of them up low so the punter can make a better informed decision? perhaps they are worried the necks might snap and then they are stuck with them? either way story is ...basssist goes into a shop to try out some fenders and leaves uninspired and dissapointed even though there was a couple of grand burning a hole in his pocket. Turns to custom builder who understands problem as its apparently not a rare complaint and moves said cash to bank account.

yes i must be more specific about what was not good. 1. the necks. all of em felt, by comparison to mine, really thick. I tried a pre CBS 60s bass prior to this down at Bernie Goodfellows place. Lovley guy there called Jim has a collection of pre CBS basses and let me check out all of em. The 60s jazz was fantasic. Played well, had a lowish action but the neck.....so playable. absolute ease. so musical sounding. inspiring. but........... thousands of pounds. well past the 10 grand mark so obviously im not going there. He has a few from the same stable and they all feel as nice to play. Now Fender claim they have made several "reissue" basses based on this model. well so far, based on what i have recently tried in the shops,either the model they have based the reissue on is a donkey or they are using the wrong bass to copy. 2. weight. again by comparison not really close. a lot heavier than the original to the point I can see a shoulder/back problem on its way with a friday night function followed by a saturday night function followed by a sunday afternoon pub gig. this is most weekends for me by the way so I'm going to pick up on this factor quickly. 3. sound. who would use these pickups on their basses as a prefrence? (shop ones) . No punch. kinda dead? remember thats three different shops through three different amps and nothing inspirational at all. remember this is compared to what I have at home. I paid £1250.00 for it btw so this is not a you pay for what you get thing. to be fair there may have been one bass but the guy didnt want to remove the bell plates so i couldnt really play it like that. but even so the neck was still chunky. bit like when you pick up any beginners instrument and the neck is chunky and deep. ok if you have hands like a gorilla but your average hand not so enjoyable

sadly none that I tried (probably about 20 between the three shops) were any where near bloody good. It may just be that by complete fluke I got a good one and made an asumption this was a typical fender. once one has tasted champange one doesnt want cheap wine...... and yes a bold statement but no smoke without fire and all that.... Think what I'm trying to say here is Fender doesnt = crap. I know this because I love mine a whole lot. It really is the dogs. Its just the recent trip out to find a back up has proved very dissapointing. Oh and I tried a few music man basses.....toy town stuff to be frank....god, what have i started??

so.... a recent move up a gear and I now need a back up bass. i have a great fender american deluxe. nothing wrong with it. its a fantastic instrument. its my bestest bass in the whole world ect. I thought, well they all must be as good if not better for the more expensive ones. Ive now been to three well stocked, nice people guitar shops and tried a lot of basses out. compared to mine, they are very dissapointing. its almost like hand finished neck = fred in the neck department gives it a quick one two with a bit of sandpaper= finished by hand. i had it in my head that a machine does most of the work so the consistency would be about the same? ok no two are alike but compared to my own off the shelf fender they are all total sh*t. even the £2500.00 + models. Been on the phone since and ordered a custom build by a well known uk builder to solve my problem. Budget wise its in the same ball park as I would have happily spent on a fender so obviously the way to go from here on. I'm going to get exactly (or as near dammit,possibly even better?) what I'm after and as I know exactly what I want,how i want it, where i want it, plus the builder knows what I mean when I say what i want ect its a no brainer. So there you go mr fender factory. you dont care anymore so from now on nor do I. My money is not going in your account so how do feel about that for the sake of a bit of quality control? Really had no idea the quality had become so dire. One music shop guy said he can sell whats in there all day long to those not so much in the know and his buying budget allows him to fill the wall with fenders but cant justify spending a his budget on one or two great basses that no one can afford. fair enough but a fender from £1500.00 up should be really great already. I know many here have been saying this for years but can now happily eat my hat as I now whole heartedly agree with them!!!