PTB

A much more experienced player showed me the variety of tones available through changing the balance of p/up volumes around 20 years ago when I was starting out. I found that I usually keep one on full and back the other one off to 85%ish. As you roll it back, you'll hear the tone change & find your personal preference. I now use a Sadowsky with a blend pot which makes it easier to change from 100% neck & 85% bridge to the opposite. I do use the neck alone for reggae etc but I don't think I have ever used just the bridge p/up or both on full.

That's very cool - congrats. I have a 4 string JJ one so I know how good this is gonna sound! Is it a metro or a NY?

It does feel like you're the only one sometimes & finding other musos who can play this stuff well is v hard IME. My dear wife is a fiddle player & we had a nice western swing band for a while. We did some Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel plus some jazz swing too. It was the old story of very hard to get gigs but a great reaction when we did them & repeat bookings. Her main foil was a great Tele player - he could do the Albert Lee style but could also do the swing & django too. When he left, it was impossible to find a decent replacement (and we're in South London not Sark!) and it petered out. She's still looking albeit discouraged so pm me if you know any suitable guitarists. Equally let me know if anyone is looking for a fiddle player. Sorry for slight hijacking but I share the OPs frustration.

I found my Reverend 5L while browsing the BassNW Used section about 6 or 7 years ago and I bought it on a whim and had it shipped over. It's got a fat sound and I use it a lot. I've never seen another one in the UK. I have relatives near Banbury so this gives me a great excuse to visit Oxford for a look at the new range soon.

I'll give you lot a vote, you're a great band! I saw a video of you recently - was it T Bone Boogie? I also have the pleasure of playing with Rob Pokorny in my two bands, and Mal deps with us too. It doesn't get much better IMHO. PS - just voted but it says nominations are closed?!

I also use Innovation Silver Slaps. Eurosonic strings are good too for this style IMO. I use a MarkBass CMD121P combo which sounds great and is easy to schlep around.

If I were you, I'd hunt out a used Sadowsky outboard pre amp. That should give the sort of sound you describe at a good price.

Have you tried Peter Tyler? I bought my first Db from him a few years back for that sort of money. He's in Maidenhead so not too far from you and is very knowledgeable & good to deal with. WWW.Tylerbasses.co.uk

On my way home from the show for the best of reasons.....a gig tonight. Overall, I enjoyed it. Had coffee with Mark from Bass Direct & a long chat with Sheldon Dingwall, two of the nicest gents you could wish to meet. Lots of great gear to see. On the downside, those who suggested taking ear plugs were spot on. Also, it seems that slap is alive & well..... I didn't have time to attend any of the worships, masterclasses, etc. Did I miss much?

I've just retired my SR5 for the same reason. I have replaced it with a Dingwall which I found cheap on e-bay & took a chance. It's very light and I'm having no issues with the fanned frets until I go above the octave - which isn't often! If funds allow, I'd recommend you try one. The other option I have is double bass which I find much easier on my neck & back. If that doesn't suit you, an EUB perhaps? Good luck! PTB

Well, its mine now....or will be when my payment clears. Have enjoyed reading the various Dingwall posts & was thinking of trying a Combustion. Let's hope I get on with it!

Long scale XLs fit my 35" Reverend just fine. I once had a 36" Overwater & think I used them on that too but it was many years ago. P T B

I use the little MarkBass 1x12 combo and think it's the business. It's easy to get a great sound - so many amps leave me thinking there's a great sound in there if only I could work out how to tease it out. The Mark works fine flat with 40% of the mid cut filter (VPF) & I only tinker more if the room needs it. It's also light - I can push the bass along with one hand and carry the amp in the other. I would echo the other comments about a pre-amp. This is true for any piezo pick-up and I've experienced the difference on DB and heard the difference it's made to my wife's violin pick-ups. As others have said, you don't need one with lots of knobs, buttons and eq, just something that matches the impedence of the pick-up to the input of your amp. Fishman do several and the simplest one will do this fine. If you haven't got one, I'd wager this will make the biggest improvement to your sound vs a new amp. Good luck!

Add me to the list! Sounds great.

Thanks Tom, great to meet you too, I'm pleased the cab has gone to such a good home! Cheers, Paul

[quote name='guyl' post='737064' date='Feb 6 2010, 12:04 PM']Lot's of ideal "clean sounding" gear around. I'd add Euphonic Audio to your try-out list. Not surprised you fed back with a Markbass rig. My Markbass 4x10 seems to have this problem - ideal for punching a bass guitar through a noisy mix, but emphasises the "wrong" mids for upright. Saying that, if volume is important, it's amazing how damping the strings with a soft cloth through the tailpiece can massively help with this.[/quote] I know the brand has got some stick in this thread but I'd heartily recommend the MarkBass CMD 121P combo for double bass. I never get feedback problems with it. I can vouch for the Aguilar GS112 cab too. Never tried the EA or AI stuff but they seem to have loads of fans. PTB

A new name for the 35" list. I have a Reverend 5L which is 35" scale and semi-solid! I also have a Stingray 5 and love the B string (and all the others). I've had a Modulus Quantum 6 and an Overwater Progress 5 (35" and 36" respectively) but, personally, I prefer the Ray overall to both of them. Anyone else got a Reverend? PTB

[quote name='guyl' post='695085' date='Dec 28 2009, 07:42 PM']I had one, and it was hands down the best DB pickup I have ever seen. I loved it. After about 5 years it started to "go off" - initially starting to become a little middy - then muddy - then feedbacky - then buzzy. Despite trying, I couldn't get any advice off B-Band, or the local music shop where I bought it, or their UK distributer. It's such a pity when it was so awesome, but I didn't fancy replacing a £500 pickup every 5 years - especially when the manufacturer couldn't be bothered showing any interest in their customers. Recently I bought a Full Circle. It isn't as good as the B-band, but it is still excellent.[/quote] Sorry to hear your experience with the company. For the record, I had a problem and e-mailed them via the website and they were very helpful. Not sure how old mine is so hoping for more than 5 yrs! I see from the B-Band website they've withdrawn the Statement and will be releasing a new "improved" version later this year. ptb

I use a B-Band Statement set-up and am very pleased with it. Essentially, it's two pick-ups which connect to small box by an XLR. One pick-up sits under the E side bridge foot (like a Realist) and gives you the woody sound of the body & the other fits in the bridge wings (like an Underwood) and gives you more articulation. The box then lets you set two different blends between the two - one for arco and the other for pizz - and you can footswitch between them. The box does all the impedence matching etc and also contains a balanced D.I. out with ground lift etc. I haven't a great deal of experience with other pick-ups but this set-up gets compliments from bandmates and audience alike and it's very feedback resistant so I'd highly recommend it. I bought it used off someone in the US via TalkBass after reading a good review of it somewhere so I really struck lucky! I've no idea how much they cost new or even if they are readily available in the UK but the B-Band website will no doubt have all the answers. I've never seen another DB with one of these - does anyone else out there have one? Paul