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[quote name='Clarky' post='971757' date='Sep 29 2010, 02:38 PM']All very helpful gents. So if I were looking for a 'growly, plummy' type sound in a band setting, playing slow/medium-paced blues/ragtime type music (with piano, drums, horns, backing singers, guitar, vocals) which would be your preferred strings, Silver Slaps, Honeys or one of the others mentioned?[/quote] If only it were that easy..... The quest for the 'right' double bass string is long, tortuous, confusing, expensive and often leads you right back to where you started. Strings that sound growly & plummy on my Eminence may sound lifeless on your Aria. Strings that sounded growly & plummy on my Aria might not sound growly & plummy on your Aria because we have differing left and right hand techniques. In short, prepare yourself for a bit of experimentation and expense (if you thought £40 for a set of Elixirs was steep - wait till you see how much a set of typical DB strings will set you back). Anyway, strings to look at: Helicore Hybrids Thomastic superflexibles Pirastro Obligato (v. popular synthetic gut) Corelli TX (these get a lot of love on the Talkbass EUB forum) Innovation Honeys. Essentially you're looking at synthetic gut or orchestral strings. It's probably best to avoid the steel pizz strings (Spriocores) as they're a bit too bright on EUBs even though they sound the dog's doodahs on a proper acoustic bass. My advice would be this: When your bass arrives, play it lots. If the sound works for you, leave well alone if you decide it's too bright then find out what the stock strings are and keep an eye on the 'for sale' section for used sets that will be darker/more flexible/synthetic rather than steel core, etc. Used sets are always a good way of trying different strings, as long as they're not totally dead. I have a used set of Helicore hybrids (very nice on the Aria) and a mixed set of Helicore Hybrids with an orchestral G (stock issue on Eminence basses) that I will be putting up for sale soon. Otherwise, just put a shout out on the DB forum if you're looking for a particular set of strings as there's a chance that one of us has an old set lying around.

South Midlands would work for me, as would Hampshire/ west side of the M25. I'm desperatley trying to avoid spending some money on a real proper DB so I reckon a room full of the buggers should do the trick nicely

[quote name='Clarky' post='971692' date='Sep 29 2010, 01:35 PM']Thx Walbassist. I had a set of Weedwacker nylon strings on my DB a year or so back and found that they persistently went out of tune (they are supposed to take some time settling down but weeks later they were still stretching!) and they had very limited volume/sustain on the E and A strings (just a staccato, thin thud) - as Silver Slaps have no metal content would they potentially have the same issues or does the Kevlar core mean they behave like metal strings, only with lower tension?[/quote] Weedwhackers are essentially fancy bits of clothesline, Silver slaps are a whole different pot of piscines. I've used Helicore orchs and Innovation Honeys on my Aria when I had it. Both had a decent DBesque sound, particularly inn a band mix. The helicores had more sustain and definition, the Honeys had more thump and a touch more growl. Of course, if you're feeling very flush you could try a set of Velvet Garbos - I have a set on my Eminence and they really are rather nice.

I have a heavy duty rubber mute that I don't use any more. This one: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/ultra_kontrabassdaempfer.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/ultra_kontrabassdaempfer.htm[/url] You can have it for the price of postage. Dave

When you get your Aria, put a set of orchestral or, even better, synthetic gut strings (e.g. Obligatos or Honeys) to get a passable double bass sound.

[quote name='walbassist' post='967364' date='Sep 25 2010, 10:05 AM']Now [i]that[/i] is a great idea! Probably best to check with the UK distributor (SMART?) on the UK price before ordering from the US though. I'd be up for one of these too! Update: I've emailed SMART to ask the diameter of the pin and how much they'd cost in the UK.[/quote] I can measure the diameter of mine if SMART don't have one on hand to measure.

[quote name='Beedster' post='967335' date='Sep 25 2010, 09:15 AM']Thanks mate, yes, the Aria tends to spins away as well, hence this thread, I'm going for the full skeleton if Alan can do it, which he thinks he can but needs to have a good look at the instrument before giving a definite yes or no. What a lovely chap he is as well! C[/quote] Get yourself a Steadyfoot endpin as used on the Eminence basses. [url="http://www.gelbass.com/bass/Eminence_parts.html"]Eminence steadyfoot[/url] Totally spin free but you can still move & groove. I honestly don't know why every EUB manufacturer doesn't have these on their basses.

You can buy the Yamaha frame separatley IIRC, but you'd have to be prepared to fiddle with it a bit to attach it to the Aria. Alan's extension just bolted straight on.

I raise my cabs for my double bass gigs - keeping them on the floor is a passport to feedback city. I use a keyboard X stand, £45 from Thomann.

I got Alan from Bassix to make me an extended shoulder for my Aria - it worked much better than the bent bit of wire that comes with the Aria. Might be worth emailing him to se if he'll make another?

Hmm. I've ticked the 'I generally have trouble with feedback' box because if I'm with the blues band and space in stage is limited forcing me to stand in front of my amp, then Barbara is going to squeal like a piggy. BUT, If I have enough room to stand behind & to one side of my cabs, then it's much less of a problem and I can be heard above the harp player's fender Bassman (which is no mean feat...). I'll be rooted to the spot but at least I can be heard. No problems with feedback with the jazz/soul band unless we're playing a function in which case the above applies.

The Realist is great but is more prone to feedback than the Full Circle. If you've got low volume on stage, go Realist, if you're fighting against a drummer on stage then go Full Circle. The Realist is also a piece of p1$$ to fit wheras the Full Circle will need an adjustable bridge.

[quote name='JoshJ' post='959362' date='Sep 17 2010, 12:46 PM']I just got my first double bass a couple of weeks ago and I feel like I should give it a name... Since the make is Antoni, I am tempted just to call it Anthony, but I think it should be a girls name really as "playing with Anthony" sounds a bit homo ([i]edit: Not that there's anything wrong with being homo, it's just not the look I'm going for [/i]), especially since my crotch occasionally gets fairly close to his waist when playing. I thought about "Antoinette" but that's too frilly and makes me sound like a French Duke. ([i]edit 2: Not that there's anything wrong with being a French Duke...[/i]) My girlfriend's grandma calls my bass Bazooka, which I quite like but it's still not very feminine. Another idea we had was to call it BamBam, since our cat is called Pebbles, but I'm a grown up and that's a pretty stupid name... Any ideas? Has anyone else named their bass, and if so, what's it called? Include pics if you think it's necessary.[/quote] If you want to go with a Flintstones theme, then your bass is definitley a Wilma.

Barbara. No idea why I've called her Barbara as I'm not of the habit of naming inaminate objects but as soon as I saw her I knew her name was Barbara.

Wishing Well by Free. There are threee pubs on my road that have covers bands on Saturday nights. On more than one occasion I've walked past and heard Wishing Well being played in all of them.

I started playing bass at 16 and now, at 38, I sometimes have the same thoughts as the OP: What would it have been like if any of the bands I've been in had made it? I've done the trundling up and down the M4 to gigs in London but I've never done the full tour experience and wonder if I missed out..... Everyone I know who has done the whole touring/making it big thing says no. The singer in my band toured with Magnum and ELO in the eighties and although he loves playing music, would never repeat the experience. My drummer spent years in bands in Liverpool (he's bessie mates with the guitarist from the Las) trying to 'make it big' -nothing came of any of his bands and he's much happier playing regular pub gigs for regular money. He's recently left a successful festival circuit band cos he's fed up getting wasted in a tent every weekend over the summer. My best mate was a pro drummer for 15 years in various stoner rock bands and although they had some success (big in Belgium etc) he jacked it in a year ago because he was fed up of living out of transit vans, never making any money and having bands fall apart through lack of record company support/band member commitment. He's now started a joinery business and is looking for a tidy function band to satisfy the playing urge. Loads of great local bands have headed off to London, hailed as 'the next big thing to come out of Bristol' and 99% have come back a year later with their tails between their legs and end up working on the door of local venues that they would have packed and rocked to the rafters when they were still in Bristol. The only person I know who has astually 'made it' is Neil Hannon/Divine Comedy. I went to school/borrowed PA/shared amps with him in the late 80s. They were pretty big in the Britpop scene - TOTP, Glastonbury etc and still get airplay on Radio 2 and 6. The bassist and one of the guitarists were in my class at school and AFIK, the guitarist now has a regular job and the bassist was last seen working as a sound engineer in Camden and looks like he may have partied a bit too hard over the years. I'm going to a 20yr school reunion in a few weeks and I think the bassist is going - I'll ask him what it was like to have 'made it' Sorry, I'm rambling a bit, but the point is this: I've played 6 gigs this month and got paid for all of them. I make around £2k a year from music and use it to keep me in strings, amps & basses. I really like the guys I play with, have regular dep requests and only play stuff that I like. I'm a better player (and person) than I have ever been and look forward to playing jazz or Muse covers when I'm 76, if I make it that far! All my gigs are local so If I want to do the rock star thing after a gig and get loaded, I can and then go home to my rather nice apartment paid for by my day job at the University which I got because I did a couple of degrees instead to trying to make it with a band. OK, it's not very 'rock' but I think I've 'made it' in music in my own way. Dave

Lookee here: [url="http://www.quinnviolins.com/qv_stringidsearch.shtml"]http://www.quinnviolins.com/qv_stringidsearch.shtml[/url]

[quote name='gcordez' post='954093' date='Sep 12 2010, 09:54 PM']Sorry for the delay in replying, not teasing- honest. The ones i mentioned are mostly Jazz sessions and are on Mondays at the Canteen and the Harbourside (new venue) on alternating Mondays evenings. There is the Albert in Bedminster every weds also. Im usually the house bassist, i used to do the Full Moon session as the bassist before we moved on. There is a Facebook page called 'jam sessions bristol' which spreads the word (im trying to be more organised...). Join that and it should keep you informed. Please do come up and say hello, be nice to meet some basschatters in the flesh. Greg[/quote] Were you the organiser of the Full Moon sessions? I seem to recall that the 'usual' bassist there was also the main bloke behind the night. Mondays are pretty much my only 'night off' during the week what with gigs/rehearsals/teaching commitments etc. Arse.

I bought mine from Thomann. It was only a cheapie £40 one but It's good enough for me to use to work on my intonation.

I don't think that a dedicated acoustic amp will give you anything better than your TC as long as you use a decent pre designed for acoustic instruments. As far as I can see,the only features acoustic amps include over normal bass amps are things like phase reversal and EQ centered around the 'problem' frequencies. Rather than buying another amp, why not get a preamp designed for double bass and use it with the power amp section of your TC? You don't say what cabs you're using, but it's generally better to use 10s or 12s for double bass I use a Fishman Platinum Pro into the Fx return of a Markbass LMII into a BillFitzmaurice Omni10.5 and it's a very clean an manageable sound.

[quote name='nick' post='949596' date='Sep 8 2010, 04:46 PM']I'd be up for attending one or two myself also. There's a site for [url="http://www.open-mic.me.uk/"]Bristol open mic[/url] , but anyone know of the good ones?[/quote] The nights at the Old Duke, Rose of Denmark, Mr Wolfs, Leftbank and The Full moon are all good, anything goes nights. Some of the others tend to be focussed more towards certain types of music like blues or folk. Also, have a look on Facebook for Mark Venus Music in Bristol. Mark hosts a lot of open mic/acoustic sessions around the city.

I used to go to the now defunct Jazz jam session in the Full Moon on Stokes Croft which was a class night but everything else was blues or folk. I'd be up for a jam session as I could do with meeting a few more musos and getting another project going but no blues please - they're all guitarists or harp players and I've already got too many of those in my blues band.... So, what's out there and when's it happening?

Just what I need - an easier way to spend lots of money

Depending on your budget, you could do a lot worse than one of Thomanns own brand basses - the mid range ones are rebadged Strunals IIRC and sound rather nice in my opinion. The [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_22_02.htm"]22[/url] in particular has got a nice woody tone. It's also worth keeping an eye on the basses for sale forum - DBs come up fairly regularly. This might be your best option so you'll be able to try a bass before you buy. Essentially, I wouldn't worry too much about brands or materials if you like the feel and sound of a particular bass - go for it. I wouldn't worry about sounding like Danny Thompson either - someone on here said they actually got to play Danny's bass and they didn't sound one bit like Danny. It's all in the fingers you know....