Twigman

I play in a 5 piece band: Drums Guitar Bass Keyboard Vocal - who also plays Sax and Percussion..... Many venues seem to only support 4 monitor mixes. Generally the keyboards are DI'd so he gets a wedge and a mix. Vocals always need a wedge and a mix Drummers always need a wedge and a mix or they'd hear nothing above the banging and crashing. The guitarist always seems to get the remaining wedge and mix... and I generally end up without my own mix on the wedge - sometimes I'll get a wedge but often with someone else's mix in it. Why do us bass players have to put up with not having our own wedge mix? Why do we come last in the pecking order? Why do so many venues not cater for 5 piece bands properly? At least there's plenty of excuse mileage there...... This rant was brought on by the stage plan for our forthcoming gig in Thessaloniki.......

Played at the Pop Corn club in Marghera Venice Saturday night. We were awful First off drum kit missing 2 cymbal stands Hired D50 keyboard had faulty keys so required another 5 octave keyboard to be found and midi'd up. Bass head was a feeble thin sounding solid state into a 1x15 when had asked for valve into 4x10..... No dressing room.... When we eventually went on the monitor mix was nothing like the soundcheck monitor mix. The distorted channel on the guitar amp seemed to be 5 times louder than the clean channel and both seemed twice as loud as at the soundcheck. As a result the guitarist could only hear himself. The snare mic seemed to have problems throughout (tech jumping on stage fiddling with it all the time). As a result we played like sh*te. The punters and promoter seemed to enjoy it though. And we did get paid. And then we got delayed on the plane home. Only good bit of weekend was drinking a Venetian pub dry of Johnny Walker red label on Friday night.

[quote name='Rayman' timestamp='1328026071' post='1520506'] Ok well I'll come in from a different angle to what most people will say on here......... I've been playing bass for 30 years on and off (big time off halfway through that 30 years), but I don't know any theory. At all. I don't know what notes I'm playing at any point at all, apart from E A D G, the standard open string tuning. I picked up a bass because I heard Tina Weymouth, JJ Burnel and Colin Moulding....and because I loved the sound so much, I wanted to have a go myself. I've never been one for learning someone else's basslines note for note (unless it was for a tribute band and it was expected of me), and I can do that no problem, but it's not "FUN". It's not [i]creative[/i]. A lot of people will advise learning basic theory, etc etc, and they're wise words, honestly, but ask yourself.....[i]WHY[/i] do you want to play music on a bass guitar? To be technically great in a few years time? Or because you love music and want to have [i]fun[/i]? For me it was the later. I learnt to play, by playing along to my favourite music, with my bass, making up basslines that sounded good to me, and I had fun doing it. So I'm still doing it all these years later because I still enjoy it, and I learn everything by ear, and by listening carefully to what the music needs, NOT what amazing techniques I can throw in there. Theory is probably a good idea to be honest, long term, but don't forget to have fun too, otherwise there's really no point. Just my opinion, many will shoot me down, but whatever. [/quote] +1 are you me by another name?

I thought £31 for my fave set of EBGroup3 flats from stringsdirect was good value until I saw you guys getting sets of flats for £20 Do you guys play 3 string basses or what?

As you pull into the North terminal Long Stay Car Park at Gatwick..."Err, lads, I think I left my passport at home"

[url="http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bhardware_ashtrays.htm"]http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/bhardware_ashtrays.htm[/url]

This fella is a diamond...I was floundering around trying to find a Boss CE-2B pedal and this chap volunteered to make me a 'replica' at a very reasonable price and he came through. Good lightweight but very solid aluminium construction with the advantage over the original of a flashing LED (in sync with the rate knob) rather than a static on/off. Superb comms and service. Thanks

A gig to me is generally an expenses paid weekend away with my mates in some historic European city. :-) Next Venice 4th Feb.

[quote name='99mustang' timestamp='1324418485' post='1474117'] I fitted my new Badass II to my Squier the other day, and noticed that the earth wire is just trapped between the underside of the bridge and the body. [attachment=95637:Badass II.jpg] The old bridge had pressed the earth wire into the body making a poor connection. Has anyone any idea how to make a better more permanent connection? Cheers. John. [/quote] Under my bridge is recessed. I taped the recess and surrounding area (still under the bridge) with copper tape, then I screwed a solder tag into the recess and soldered the earth wire to the tag.

I was really proud of my fiesta red Squier JV - P until Squier released the CV.......as now my JV just looks like a knackered CV (albeit with a 4 ply plate and threaded saddles and a JV serial).

I had one of them. Same model but with a white plate rather than the black. It must've weighed around 15lbs and had a really fat neck with chronic neck dive. It cost about £30 in '80 or '81 and was a crock of sh*t. I can't imagine paying £295 for one these days...seller is in cloud cuckooland. Only place for a bass like that was the bonfire.

[quote name='OldG' timestamp='1324043980' post='1470166'] Anything based on a TI (Texas Instruments) chipset is preferable - VIA will do at a push... These are the only 2 worth considering for audio, as far as I know. [/quote] Don't buy VIA - only TI will work with many FW interfaces.

In action: [media]http://youtu.be/l23FvLYIXzo[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOyZ2ZEKkVA[/media]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOyZ2ZEKkVA

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1323974365' post='1469458'] You've read this thread right? [/quote] I read as far as the post I quoted....I've since read on. i think the OP is barking to major in Music(Bass)......I understand why he wants to do it but I think he's totally hat stand.

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1323887951' post='1468341'] I say this all the time, but studying music at University has to be one of the silliest ideas going these days. It's a lovely thing to do if you have no aspirations to own a house or get a job, but in the real world, a music degree is as much use to an employer as as a wad of used toilet paper. You might enjoy indulging your hobby for a couple of years but beyond university and the meagre pickings of the music world you'll not have much to show for the colossal debt you've accrued. [/quote] +1 Do a degree in something that will give you skills to fall back on and pursue session/live work to pay for the degree that employers will be looking for.

Since building my Warmoth my JV feels too wide....a p-bass [i]needs[/i] a Jazz neck...I only discovered this with my Warmoth....do Fender make a Jazz necked P anymore? Late 70s P specials had a Jazz neck as far as I remember but I don't think they make that combo currently

[media]http://youtu.be/l23FvLYIXzo[/media]

JV P - it's got a Squier logo and the pickguard has warped permanently as a result of storing plectrums under it Warmoth P-J brand new that i built last weekend - I drilled for the top horn strap button off the centre line - I measured twice but still got it wrong - the string tree is also about 2mm too close to the G string so the D string could pop out (it did the first time I strung it....looking for a wider string tree atm ;-)

I have only ever taken 1 bass with me to gigs. Most of my gigs are fly aways...you don't get many basses on an Easyjet baggage allowance. I might take 2 to my gig on Sunday, just because this is the first gig I've ever been able to take 2 to! I've never broken a string but as I made my new bass (a Warmoth) anything could go wrong!! - The soldering was an experience but through 2 rehearsals and some noodling at home it hasn't so much as crackled at me so I expect it'll be OK.

bump coz it's this weekend Are you coming Bloggs?

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1323148192' post='1459791'] And that case looks the business too. What is it? [/quote] I had it custom made by ABS cases:- [url="http://www.abscases.co.uk/"]http://www.abscases.co.uk/[/url] I can't tell you how much it would cost as it cost me nothing - it was a little bit of a favour ;-)

[quote name='Johnston' timestamp='1323032704' post='1458551'] I reckon kawasaki green In fact no. I fancy that myself [/quote] did you see my P-J I built this weekend? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/159945-at-last-my-own-build-assembly-diary/page__st__20"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/159945-at-last-my-own-build-assembly-diary/page__st__20[/url]

Played it at rehearsal last night. It sounds awesome. It is easier to play then the Squier 62 P - I put this down to the Jazz neck with the slim taper profile...much easier to wrap my hand round to get busy on the E string. Thinking I'm probably gonna take the stacked pot out and just run 2 volumes as the range of tones available by mixing the 2 PUPs is more than enough for me.