TheRev

I use this image as a background for our posters and flyers.




I've given up trying to get a decent picture of the actual band as someone always looks like a goon. This sums up our 'jazzy soul blues' vibe well enough.

I played a new venue (for us) with my blues band last night and it was bloody frustrating. The pub was one of those places where you just can't seem to get a good sound. My bass was muddy with no definition and I just couldn't hear myself in the mix, no matter how much I fiddled with my EQ, moved my cabs around or cranked the volume. The rst of the band were having similar problems which just led to everyone turning up their amps as the set progressed, which really didn't improve things for me.
I found myself digging in really hard, just to get some tone, which on a 3 hour set on double bass left me with very sore fingertips and completely mentally drained.

The punters loved it though - just a shame the crappy acoustics meant I didn't have anywhere near as much fun as they did.

I called my Eminence 'Barbara' when it (note: not 'she') arrived but I've no idea why as none of my other basses have names. Does that make me only half weird?

[quote name='uzzell' post='812808' date='Apr 20 2010, 05:26 PM']I'm having trouble finding any relevant websites on the above artists, any chance of a few links?[/quote]


They were all back in the early/mid 90's so they probably didn't exist on the internet but there's stuff on youtube from the Mighty Ging

Si Johns is a fantastic player and a bloody nice bloke to boot.

It's well worth checking out some of his other bands (Finger, Federation), especially The Mighty Ging - a jazz/breakbeat/rock/hiphop 'supergroup' made up of the coolest musos in Bristol at the time.

Hector - what a great exercise, painful, annoying and yet eventually extremely productive.

I like your style mate, looking forward to more nuggets of DB wisdom from you.

+1 for getting you cab up as high as possible - at ear level if you can.

At the moment I'm having reasonable success with downward firing cabs a la Acoustic Image. I screwed feet onto the front corners of my BFM Omni10 so that it sits about 3cm off the floor 'face down'. Putting it in corner really brings out the bass without feedback and the whole sound is quite nice and omnidirectional. You do need to be careful with hollow stages though, as it can quickly get overpowering.
I'm going to try it with a Gramma pad at some point to see if that adds consistency to the sound.

Dave

If it gets you out there and playing then why not? You may find that there's elements of the blues that you do like, or you can add your stamp to it and make it more funky, jazzy or rocky, depending on your preference.

Like yourself, I'm not a great fan of the blues, it can be formulaic and a bit limiting bass-wise. However, about 8 months ago I was asked to dep for a mate's mate's blues band. I wasn't keen at first but 8 months on and I'm still there, playing 3-4 gigs a month with them. I'm still not into the blues, but the guys in the band are great and I love playing with them, which makes up for a lot. I'm also using my double bass as much as possible so I can 1) Work on my fast playing and slap technique and 2) pull the whole thing in a jazzier direction.

Untimatley, you'll get something out of it if you put something in.

[quote name='Steve Amadeo' post='778591' date='Mar 18 2010, 01:53 PM']Hi,

I just thought I'd record a few bars of nonsense into Garageband using the internal microphone on my Mac, having just put some Innovation Honeys on my Michael Poller Romanian bass... it's not a top quality instrument, I only paid about £900 for it so it's definitely budget compared to some... but, it's reasonably comfortable to play and is a decent workhorse 'til I can afford something better.

I like the strings, I think they'll sound great when played in a bit, but this recording is a fairly good impression of what I'm hearing in the room.

Please excuse all faults, clanks, heavy breathing etc....!

(The text message received in the middle of the recording was John Patitucci. The message read 'HA HA HA HA HA HA....' Cheeky git!)

Hope this might be helpful to someone...

Steve[/quote]


Lovely sound there Steve! How do you get that lovely growl? Low action? Light guage strings? Technique? I tried some Honeys on my Eminence EUB but that were all thump and no growl.

I think this used to be mine - I sold it on Bassworld about 5 years ago.

This is a lovely little amp, nice and light with plenty enough power for small pub gigs.

Have a bump on me.

Dave

This is exactly the sort of thing my main band does.

[url="http://www.myspace.com/redlemonsound"]www.myspace.com/redlemonsound[/url]

Technically, we've a jazzy/bluesy soul vibe as opposed to a full on soul band, but the proper soul numbers we do are:
Georgia
Feelin' good
Change is gonna come
Let's stay together
Baby just cares for me
Higher and higer

Plus some others that I can't remember off the top of my head....

Dave

The 22 is a lovely bass for the money. The bassist in my local jazz collective uses one and it sounds and plays great.

I would have thought that a Midget or two would be a better choice than the compact for double bass. The website says that Alex is working on an cab specifically for acoustic bass - I'm very tempted by one of those at the moment.

I stand corrected re: the bridge....

The couple of Staggs that I've played weren't finished to anything like the same quality as the Aria SWB - rough edges, lumpy paint jobs and a rather hissy sounding preamp. I've lent my Aria to a number of players at gigs when the engineer just couldn't get rid of the hiss. The stagg also has a plastic (or plastic coated bridge) where the Aria has a solid wood bridge.

Having said that, if you strip out the preamp and use a decent outboard pre (like a Fishman platinum) and whack on a decent set of strings, you'd end up with a very decent sounding bass and for less money thn the Aria. The finish would still suck though.....

It seems that most of us are OK with someone 'having a go' as long as they ask nicely. Others (like OTPJ) have a strict 'no chance' policy as their bass is their livelihood - I've used this excuse myself on more than a few occasions, even though I'm not a pro player.

But - what are peoples' feelings about bass bashes? Would you be happy to let anyone at a bash play your bass? At the last south west bas I found myself in a weird place of being surrounded by an abundance of amazing gear but with no idea of who to ask for permission to play it.

I approach it with 9 pints of Smithwick's before shouting at the band for not playing enough rebel songs.

Hagstrom HB4 - relativley cheap and totally retro

I'd buy it and just replace the black guard with a red tortie one - a very droolsome combination IMO.

It certainly looks the business - let us know how it sounds in anger.

I'd be interested to know how these compare to something like the Thomann 2 basses. Anyone out there got one?

Yep, I reckon a contribution is fair.

I'd love to try a set of Velvet Aminas but I'm afraid I'd like them and be forever doomed to forking out £250 for a set of strings....

If I were in your position, I'd buy the Palatino/Harley Benton EUB. Then, find £100 to buy a set of Helicore orchestra (or similar) strings - used strings often come up for sale here so you could get them a lot cheaper if you're prepared to wait.

When you whip off the old strings, remove the bridge and slip a couple of pieces of inner tube under the pickup (see the Talkbass Plaitino modification thread for details). String up with your new, decent quality strings and get pluckin'.

Sorry, no - I haven't got around to recording anything with it yet.

As with a full on DB, technique and string choice make a big difference to the sound. With the stock Helicore hybrids, I can get a nice woody growl, with a set of Innovation Honeys I can get some serious old school thump.

I'd recommend that you use a preamp with the Eminence. On the Eminence website, the blurb says that the Realist pickup can be used without a pre - this is true but I found that it lacked low end. I use a Fishman Platinum which thickens everything up nicely.

[quote name='Mr Bassman' post='734379' date='Feb 3 2010, 07:19 PM']I think it's overpriced for second hand, Thomann have them at £1796 new![/quote]

Fair point - I paid a gnat's under £2000 for mine when the exchange rate was less favourable. Perhaps you could call the Gallery and see what they can do?

Either way, if you have the cash waiting you might as well buy new - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I bought mine direct from SMART distribution - have you checked out their price?