TheRev

Ah, ok. go with pencil lines or little stickers then - they're cheap and removable! Enjoy your eminence - I love mine to bits. Dave

My eminence has side position markers (they're an optional extra), are you buying yours new?

I liked their earlier stuff, before Gary Stringer started using his 'distinctive style' on every song. I used to be in a band with Jack Bessant's cousin. Not a lot of people know that.

This charming man - The Smiths. Everyone bangs on about the genius of Johnny Marr (and rightly so) but Andy Rourke's bass in this track is jaw dropping. In isolation you'd never believe it was the same song. the main riff is almost jazz and the double stops in the bridge section - mmmmmmm. Lovely.

Is there a violin/cello shop anywhere near you? They usually have some sort of rental scheme running and should be able to sort you out with a rental bass. I hired one for £25 per month so it's pretty affordable. If you want to buy your own, you could do a lot worse than [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_33_02.htm"]this[/url]. The bassist in my local jazz collective plays one and it sounds and plays fine. I'm sure it's not up there with an instrument costing £3k ( I'm by no means an expert in these matters) but the Thomann bass is very playable and it sounds like a double bass. You'll also have change from your £1000 for a proper set up and maybe even a nice set of strings. The next step is to find a sympathetic teacher, or even just an experienced player to show you the correct basic left and right hand techniques so that you don't damage yourself and maybe show you a few standard jazz riffs. From there, all you have to do is practice and then get out and play. Easy. Dave

Danny Thompson uses one when he goes on tour and can't take Victoria with him. He calls it Albert.....

Past - Free or Jeff Buckley Present - Elbow or John Butler

But which will sound best on my Eminence EUB. I think the spiros may be too bright so I'm having a bash at the Oblis.

Obligatos or spiros......Obligatos or spiros? Decisions, decisions.

There's still a fair difference between a 36" scale electric bass and a 41" scale 3/4 double bass - it's hardly going to to be a straight transition.

Ow Bis me babber? The Brizzle chapter is growing again.....

Must.... resist..... That's a really lovely looking bass.

Blimey, a SW bass bash! I never thought I'd see the day. I'm up for it. I can bring: Eminence EUB Aria Lite one EUB (could be an interesting point of reference for the Stagg EUB owners out there?) Musicman Sterling Markbass Little Mark II 2x Bill Fitzmaurice Omni 10.5s

If you have the space, don't need to practice quietly and don't mind lugging half a wardrobe around with you, then go straight for the best double bass you can afford (allowing spare cash for a set up, decent pickup and preamp). Yes, amplifying a double bass can be a pain due to the feedback issues and you'll never get the amped sound to faithfully reproduce the acoustic sound without spending an awful lot of money but the feeling of total immersion you get playing an organic, vibrating double bass is second to none which can never be achieved with an EUB, no matter how good it is. What's your budget?

[quote name='tanuki' post='593910' date='Sep 9 2009, 02:48 PM']Thanks Rev, which ones did you see? I did try and go to see Ste's MOU gig that year but it clashed with one of mine, (i think i had 7 with 4 different bacds that year..ulp) I saw some pics though and it looked good to me! This glastonbury thing has been good for the vistics, allthough we have played Glastonbury for a few years now, we allways play on the smaller stages in the green fields etc, as the bands sound changed we found that we couldnt get a gig in 2009 as we were too heavy for the stages we had previously played (that and we left it way too late to apply) No idea which stage yet tho.. im still going to try and get one in Trash City or Arcadia, both areas were really good this year and most of the bands play after dark and after the main stages so there are loads of people passing through there..[/quote] The last one was a while ago - Emily Breeze and John E Vistic at the Louie. My girlfriend says she tried to chat you up at Renato's after the gig How was the Junction last night? we were intending to go but I had to pick up a PA for the weekend/drop posters off etc. Hve the cleaned the place up?

Yep, nothing sticky about them. They're designed from the ground up as 'portable double basses' for touring and the like so they've kept them as double bassy as possible. Playability & feel is close to the real thing and the amplified sound is pretty much exactly what you'd get from a decent ply bass with a decent pickup. They were the only ones that have consistently good things said about them on the Talkbass forums - everything else seems to be either a bit hit and miss playibility-wise or needed modification to make it sound decent (Yamaha; I'm looking at you....).

My 2p.... Athough I agree in principle with the 'go straight to the DB' camp, there are a few things to consider. I bought an Aria EUB acouple of years ago, pretty much on a whim and completely fell in love with all things DB. It changed my attitude and playing style (and got me so many gigs) that I decided that I was going to move on to a proper bass ASAP. However, Once I'd got the cash together and done a bit more research, I chose to stick with the EUB (albeit, a much better quality one than my Aria). My reasons were down to portability and amplification; I live in a small flat up 4 flights of stairs, I have a number of basses and amps and my girlfriend has a lot of shoes and handbags - finding space for a 3/4 size DB as a real issue. Secondly, all of my gigs are amplified and the amount of experimentation that people go through to find the right pickup made it seem logical to go for something that was designed to be amplified in the first place. The EUB I bought is an Eminence, which is very close in feel to a DB and the amplified sound is pretty close too, so for me, EUB is a better option than DB. However, once I can move to a bigger place, or Mrs Rev moves out and takes her shoes and bags with her, I'll be straight on the hunt for a real DB..... ^_^ Thomann do some very nice basses (Thomman badged Strunals I think) for about £800. Spend another £200 or so on setup and strings and you'll have a very nice bass for reasonable money.

Nice one bloke! You deserve it - I've always enjoyed your gigs. Dave

[quote name='iamapirate' post='592985' date='Sep 8 2009, 03:52 PM']not even sure which photo I uploaded... ah, yes. the half-open mouth one. Rev, you look like chris from muse [/quote] Cheers mate! Wish I could play like him.....

These are by no means the best ones. Apparently I pull some major 'jazz' faces but they've yet to be captured for posterity.

Ali Friend and Danny Thompson are the guys who got me playing double bass after 17 years of electric bass. Recently though, I've been really getting into Paul Chambers on Miles Davis' 'Kind of Blue' I can't let a mention of Danny Thompson pass without posting this absolute gem of a recording. His solo gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing up every single time I hear it.

Is the bassist actually Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap?

Everyone else played guitar so I wanted to be different, plus I thought it would be easier to get in a band if I was the only bass player in the village. The first bass players I took notice of were Neil Murray (Whitesnake) Bob Daisley (with Ozzy at the time), Andy Fraser and Jack Bruce but I'd been playing for at least six months before I started to really identify with individual basists.

I do, but I'm in Bristol. I bought mine without trying it beforehand purely based on its reputation on the Talkbass EUB forum and I'm very happy with it. It feels like a double bass and sounds like an amped double bass and it's easy to carry around. The only thing to bear in mind is that, like all acoustic instruments, it's much more susceptible to feedback than solid stick style EUBs.

What colours are the silks (both ends)?