TheRev

I'm 6' 4"....

...if i stand on something that's 12" tall.

Been to the Thekla loads of times, but I'm none the wiser about start times.

If it was a Friday, then I'd  recommend getting down there early as the bands usually finish by 10/10:30 so the club night can start. On a Tuesday, there wouldn't be a club night after the bands, but the 6pm doors would suggest that the action starts about 7.  They do usually have a running order printed out on the door.

These days it seems like all venues are reluctant to tell you when the bands are on, I suppose they want you in and drinking as early as possible .

I use wolf balls too.

5 hours ago, Cathode_Follower said:

In defence of Presto Nylons - I've been playing pizz using Jazzicato for 3 years now and they work great. Just switched to the Jazzicato Tungsten which have a bit more sustain and growl and couldn't be happier.  Not a slapper myself but a slapping friend of mine bashed out a few notes on it a few days ago and it sounded good to me!

 

I have a set of Jazzicato tungsten which do have better E and A definition, but on my bass the D seemed to have a significantly higher tension than the other strings.

I have Presto nylons on my carved bass, perhaps I should try the Jazzicato E and A with the nylon D and G.

Approach the venues direct - it's one less person to deal with and more money for you. I don't know of any agents putting covers bands in pubs. If you want to do weddings, a better approach might be to get a list of SW wedding planners and send your information to them.

3 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

Don't go and see @TheRev without taking a nice bottle of cider. Poor lad hardly ever gets to drink any ...

 

I've got 120 litres in the cider shed....most of it drinkable.

4 hours ago, Bafflegab said:

That's really good of you, thanks!  I may have to take you up on that offer (if you're sure you can stand my horrible playing haha!)

No problem, just PM me. I'm in most weekday evenings, most weekends I'm out playing.

On 29/09/2019 at 22:32, Bafflegab said:

Haha!  I just forgot to update it.  I’m near Gloucester  

very kind offer, thanks!  If I was nearer I’d definitely take you up on it 

I'm just down the M5 in Bristol if you'd like to try a double bass or an EUB.

I've been on a similar journey.....

I found Spiro Weichs are a bit high tension to do any proper rockabilly slapping and strings designed for slapping (Silver slaps, Presto Nylons) don't have enough definition to work for pizz. 

The only one bass solution is to put some work in and build up some muscles so you can slap the weichs for a whole song without cramping up.  I can now slap well enough for bluegrass but any serious rockabilly is out of the question unless I start doing bench presses or something.

Pickup wise, adding a clicky helps and reduces the amount of effort that you need to put into the slap.

I've played other players basses that are set up for slap and they're a breeze to play slap on, but just not enough definition on the E and sometimes the A string for pizz.

I'm 5' 5" and have no problem playing double bass and my bass is a big 3/4 size.

A few weeks in and another couple gigs and I'm really enjoying these strings. Ignore what I said previously about the tension and bounce being close to Spiro Weich, now that the Perpetuals have mellowed and opened up a bit, they are  noticeably more supple under the right hand.

There is much more bloom to the start of the note, which means they're a bit less punchy than Spiros, but once I got used to that, I really started enjoying them.

So that's it. My 4 year relationship with my Spiro Wiech is over. I might even buy a set to replace the Preston Nylons on my carved bass....

18 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

If a promoter said to me "Would you like us to do terrible sound and lights for the support acts before you come on?" I'd say no, and I'm pretty sure that's the case for 99% of other musicians, so I just wondered where this practise comes from

I honestly think it's mostly that light engineers can't be arsed until the big boys come out to play. Where you have one person doing sound and lights, then he or she is more likely to focus on getting the sound right via the support bands and don;t have time to play with lights, but they make an effort for the main act - because they're the main act.  

I've experienced the 'static lighting that suddenly develops the ability to move for the headline act' on a number of occasions. However I don't think it's necessarily a policy of the venue or the headline act. Sometimes the headline act bring their own lighting guy and a separate sound guy and you as support have one bloke supplied by the venue to do sound and lights, so he doesn't have much time to come up with an off the cuff light show. Other times, you'll have a dedicated lighting engineer for all bands on the bill, who simply can't be arsed to do anything interesting until the headline set.  As a stage manager/sound crew I've worked with lots of lighting engineers and none of them have ever told me stories of being instructed to make the main band look better at the expense of the support acts.   On the handful of occasions where we've played venues where we know the lighting crew, we get a better light show than the headline act.   

I finally got around to ordering a set of F-its. The fit and finish is very impressive, especially compared to the Duke bass mutes. I haven't tried them in anger yet, but have a couple of gigs next weekend where I can give them a good seeing to.

Bob's service is second to none, highly recommended.

On 27/08/2019 at 11:36, knicknack said:

Would consider a trade involving a not too heavily used set of spirocore weichs, in case anyone has any spare! 

What would you consider 'not too heavily used'?

10 hours ago, PaulKing said:

I'm seduced by that Perpetual thread too, or mainly by the phenomenal buttery tone on Rick Wolff's bass, and 'low tension and flexible' description here .

I'm sure my vintage ply will sound exactly like Rick's with them on. 😁

 

Yeah, my bass doesn't sound like that....

So, they've been on a few days and had time to settle down and so far I'm enjoying them, which is a good sign - usually if new strings aren't working for me they're off the bass within days.

They were a lot brighter than my Spiros when they first went on (though the Spiros were probably a bit dead...), especially the E string, but that seems to have mellowed out now l. I recorded some clips with the Spiros, followed by the Perpetuals ehen I first put them on for comparison. I'll record some  more when I get home from this weekend's gigs to see of there's a noticeable difference. On first impressions, the Perpetuals have a richer, more complex sound, but with a clear fundamental, but, as I mentioned before, my Spiros could be well past their prime.

Tension-wise, they feel pretty similar to the Spiro Weich. There may be a bit more bounce under the right hand, especially on the G, but it's subtle and my perception is probably skewed by the mention of this in the Talkbass thread.... in a blind test I probably wouldn't be able to feel a difference between Spiro Weich and the Perpetuals.

What is noticeable is that the Perpetual G has a much sweeter tone than the Spiro G, especially up around the E and into thumb position. There's none of that twangy,  nasal tone thing going on.

31 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

More money than sense?

 

Funnily enough, I came home on Monday after a weekend of 4 well paid festival gigs and healthy merch sales.  I'm sure it's not unconnected....

Listening to it now, enjoying it so far... They've mellowed a bit with age, which is nice.

Every time I try a new set of strings and then inevitably find myself going back to Spiro weich and I promise myself that I won't be tempted to spend hundreds of pounds on the pointless pursuit of 'something better'.

So why did I allow myself to get sucked into a Talkbass thread on the new Pirastro Perpetuals? 

They should arrive this weekend so I'll have a couple of days to agonise and try to analyse if they're 'better' than Spiros. Why do I keep doing this to myself....  

I've missed this thread. Nice to have you back.

I've played a SLB200 and own an Eminence and use to own an Aria SWB--Lite.

The Yamaha and Eminence both offer the best double bass type feel of the 'stick' electric uprights. 

I bought the Eminence because I thought the acoustic body would produce a more authentic double bass sound than the Yamaha but, in my experience, either sound pretty similar to an amplified double bass.

I have an Eminence - that part should just be a standard 6.35mm (1/4") mono socket like this:

https://cpc.farnell.com/neutrik/nj3fc6c/neutrik-1-4-jack-socket/dp/CN02846

This particular model (Neutrik) is much fatter than the original fitting so the black plastic clips that attach the barrel to the brass plate probably won't fit, but if you measure the diameter of the one you have, you should be able to find a direct replacement easily enough.

That's pretty sickening.  Surely it would have been better to recycle the parts,  donate or give them away rather than just smash them up.

Already? It's only been 13 years.

i hope they haven't rushed it.

Excellent. Like that a lot.

17 hours ago, Jus Lukin said:

Interesting, thanks chaps!

Pizz is definitely the most important for me, as I'd like to use the bass for blues and country stuff, too. I'm not as obsessed with slap as many in the Rockabilly scene are, but I know they'll ask for it, and hey, I gots to pay the bills!

Slap Happy also have a steel-core nylon string- a happy medium, perhaps?

www.slaphappyweedwackers.com

At $60 a set, it's worth a punt. The premium set look interesting - Kevlar core G and D, steel core A and E.