Krysbass

From the moment I knew what a bass guitar sounded like, I always wanted to play bass. I've never played guitar, nor have I ever wanted to. Bass isn't "easier than guitar". Whilst bass shares one or two passing similarities to guitar, it's a different instrument, with its own set of playing techniques to be mastered. I saw that prog on BBC on Saturday. Whilst some of it was complimentary to the role of the bassist, much of it relied on typically dumbed down generalisations from people who are totally unqualified to express an opinion. - But then I didn't really expect much more.

My amp's solid state - a Little Giant 1000, but I also take my old and fully operational Superfly 500 to gigs as a backup. I gigged the Superfly without a backup for a couple of years (some would say this was a bit like playing Russian roulette ) but I never had any trouble with it. Still; as has already been said; that doesn't mean something isn't going to go wrong in the future, so I'd rather have the peace of mind that comes from carrying a backup.

I keep my Superfly as a backup amp these days, but I gigged it for about 2 years before putting it into semi-retirement earlier this year. During that time I had several positive comments at gigs about my tone - I used it with a couple of Yamaha 2x10 cabs, stacked vertically. I had a few initial problems with fuses blowing, but Ashdown's tech support steered me through that and the amp's been fine ever since. I use a Little Giant 1000 now with the same cabs - no problems so far.

I had a similar prob with my Superfly when I first got it. Ashdown told me the mains lead that was actually supplied with a 3 amp fuse should actually have been supplied with at least a 5 amp fuse. This solved part of the problem. Then, being a curious b****r at the best of times, I decided to check the time delay fuse on the amp itself, only to find that this was rated at 6 amps! Yes – this is how the amp left the factory. I replaced this fuse with the correct rated T2AL, only for this to blow every time I switched the amp on. Another e-mail to Ashdown followed by some deliberation from them brought the response that my amp was obviously drawing a high current at switch-on and that it would be OK to put a T4AL fuse in the amp. I did this and over 2 years later the amp is still going strong (but I kept all the e-mails, just in case anything went wrong). My Superfly clearly does draw a high current at switch on – all the lights in our rehearsal room go dim for a moment! But in the interests of safety, I’m not suggesting you take the same action as I was advised to do – best wait to see what the guys at Ashdown recommend. By the way – I agree with the advice to remove the amp from its outer case; it does seem to help with cooling. To make it even better, I hooked up a 12v computer cooling fan to a mains transformer and put this on top of the amp to draw the heat out of the vents on the top – this works brilliantly even in the warmest gig venues.

Today's issue of "Playlist" (with The Times) made the following observation; [i]"What about the poor old bassist, charged with the often thankless task of filling out his group's sonic tableaux with some 'bottom end'? Alas, bassists are taken care of in the episode that deals in general terms with 'the other one' - the members who, though not always recognisable, are essential to the chemistry of their group."[/i] Sadly, I fear the role of the bassist may (in typical fashion) find itself being dumbed down and glossed over in this series, but I'll probably watch it anyway, just in case.

Ok I’ll admit at the outset that I’m biased, as I’ve owned a fretted Thunder III since 1985 and it’s still my main gigging bass, largely because I’ve ever found anything affordable to beat it. The relatively low market value of these basses totally ignores the very high quality of build/materials and the substance of what you’re actually getting for your money. More often secondhand prices are governed only by desirability – and that tends to be very closely tied in with certain brand names. Suffice to say you’ve just bought yourself a bargain. This is a quality, Japanese-built bass, from Matsumoku; one of the most respected Japanese manufacturers, put together at a time when Japanese guitar-builders were stopping at nothing to show the world that they could build instruments that were as good if not better than anything from the big name Western manufacturers. Look at the prices of the best new Japanese-built basses nowadays and you’ll get an idea of how much your Thunder III should be worth in today’s money – ie, several times what you’ve just paid for it. Congratulations on your purchase!

Yes, I would - I've been doing that for the past 2 years with the rock covers band I'm with and to be honest I'm fairly indifferent about most of the songs in our set lists! My band mostly covers modern rock, which I can take or leave and there are even 6 songs in our set lists that I hadn't heard before joining this band. But it's actually a good discipline to have to learn songs that aren't ones you would choose to learn if left to your own devices - I can only say that my playing has improved massively as a result of this. But I'd still rather be playing classic rock standards, no matter how boring this may seem

[quote name='The Funk' post='786862' date='Mar 26 2010, 12:45 PM']If you're not organised, your life will fall apart. Your vocalist's life, however, is all worked out for him.[/quote] Absolutely! - he strikes me as one of those lucky (and very annoying) individuals that has never had to truly take responsibility for anything - I've a feeling the rest of his life is destined to go the same way.

[quote name='JTUK' post='786221' date='Mar 25 2010, 07:32 PM']But then, you mentioned the age thing and I assume he is about that sort of age as well...? Well, he isn't going to change and he can't grow out of it so you have done the best thing which is give him one last chance. I still think he will stuff up sooner or later, so if you have someone else in mind, prep them and maybe get them in instead. Of course, everyone has bigger priorities and sometimese they do have to come first but you should be getting the message about the level of commit each member has... I'd be thinking this line-up has run its course, though..and any more time gotten out of it is a bonus.[/quote] To be honest, only 3 of us are in our 40's; the vocalist and drummer are both in their mid-20's and for the 13 months this line-up has been together, the mix of ages has worked well. But what I don't get is that our vocalist is unmarried and he works for his dad’s company, so I would imagine he has a relatively easy ride in his work life. I’m married, with 2 young sons and my work is extremely demanding, based some 25 miles from home – so I have a lot more things to juggle in my life to allow me to fit in my commitments to the band. But I rarely struggle to do this (it’s entirely down to planning and being organised), so I fail to understand why our vocalist has so many problems. The vocalist clearly enjoys what he does when he's on stage, but when he's doing whatever he does with the rest of his life he seems to totally switch off from what's going on with the band. For a few months, we've even had an intranet site that we can all access, to double-check gig dates among other things - so he's really got no excuse. As of today, we're adding all the upcoming gig dates to all our band e-mails in attempt to keep him up to speed. If this guy goes, I'm not sure I'd want to pursue this project any further anyway - I'd probably draw a line under it and look for something new (though there's probably not much call for 48 yo bassists in Cheshire - or anywhere else for that matter! ) I think I'll see how the gig goes tomorrow night and then ask for a band meeting to talk about what's been going on - we clearly can't go on like this.

Thanks for all the advice - it's good to get a wider perspective on things like this. We've had an exchange of e-mails with him spelling out that if he screws up another gig then that's it - I just hope that after assuring us he'll be at the gig on Saturday, he doesn't choose that one to screw up again! Still; if that happens, none of us need to feel bad when we tell him it's over. One of the reasons I'm still gigging at 48 is to escape the stresses of my day job, and most of the time that works really well, but this guy is now making my work seem like a breeze in comparison.

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='785735' date='Mar 25 2010, 12:46 PM']Line up a replacement first. [/quote] That's why he wasn't shown the door after the first incident - with gigs booked there's inevitably never quite enough time to fire him then get someone else lined up. Maybe we'd better take your advice - before we let anyone else down. In the meantime, the rest of us have agreed to repeat a list of all our upcoming gig dates ate the foot of every single e-mail we send, in the hope that this helps him get with the plot.

[quote name='woodyratm' post='785724' date='Mar 25 2010, 12:36 PM']I agree.[/quote] Got to admit that the 2 x guitarists and myself only agreed last night that he's now had 2 strikes - one more and he's out!

The rock covers band I’m in played at a music pub in Congleton, Cheshire last August. It went well enough that straight away we were offered two more bookings for February and June this year. The landlord there has since also provided references for us to other venues, getting us bookings elsewhere. About 10 days before the February gig (this having been booked with us for 6 months by then) our vocalist e-mailed us all, saying he’d let himself get double-booked and couldn’t do the gig. It later emerged that with it being the Valentines’ day weekend he’d set up a romantic escapade with his girlfriend which he deemed more important than ditching the gig and badly letting down his band-mates and the best venue we play. As a result, we had to go to the landlord of the venue, apologise and find another band to stand in for us, to try and minimise the inconvenience. But we now feel we can’t ask for any more references from that landlord, at least until after the gig in June, when hopefully we’ll have been able to redeem ourselves. Our vocalist apologised to us all for his oversight, promised to “make it up” to us (this has yet to happen) and be more aware of our calendar in future (this has also yet to happen). Roll on to yesterday and we were due to have one of our regular Wednesday rehearsals – this particular one being the last before we play a gig this Saturday. Yesterday morning the vocalist e-mails us all saying something’s come up and he can’t make rehearsal. No reference was made to Saturday’s gig in his e-mail which made me a bit nervous, so we asked if he was still OK for the gig, only for him to admit that he had, in fact, totally forgotten about it, but that fortunately he would be available for it. (Oh, we are so honoured!) Needless to say, if we hadn’t double-checked with him, we’d have been at the venue on Saturday, gear set up and raring to go, but with no vocalist. The venue has a bit of a rep as a rough place so I wouldn’t like to have had to tell the landlord and a pub full of well-oiled punters that the band is going home, because the vocalist has forgotten to turn up! We’re now all pretty p****d off with this guy. He just seems so laid back and easy-going that adhering to any sort of regime or schedule goes against the grain with him. I've come across similar traits (though nowhere as bad as this) in other vocalists I've worked with, so is this sort of attitude typical among those of a vocalist/frontman persuasion – especially since bassists have a reputation for being the most organised member of a band? Personally, I enjoy playing bass so much that every gig and rehearsal date is indelibly etched in my memory – so I can’t begin to understand why someone who claims to enjoy singing isn’t focused in a similar way. Sorry this has become a bit of an essay, but I already feel strangely better having got all that off my chest. As always – comments/views welcome.

I've just turned 48 (going on 21) and gigged only last night with my modern rock covers band. Got to say our music style isn't really my thing, but at least I'm playing and having major fun doing it. There are 5 of us in the band, 3 of whom are over 40 (me and the 2 git-tarrists). The (girl) drummer and vocalist are both in their 20's and it seems to work just fine - we have plenty of gigs booked. I've just added this to illustrate that age issues are only a problem to those with no vision - the music is what's important.

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='774986' date='Mar 15 2010, 10:12 AM']Don't expect too much from yourself-you'll be nervous and you will cock up, be ready for it, don't let it throw you, and realise that things will get better the more gigs you do. It's true that most people willl not notice-I have come offstage disgusted with myself at mistakes I've made, and everyone was completely oblivious. Opinions differ on the alcohol front-as you can see. I personally don't touch a drop before playing, some prefer a drink to relax them. I've done both, and having had a drink I [i]thought[/i] I played better-but I didn't like the idea that I might only have thought I played better because of the drink, and was actually crap! Whatever you do don't overdo it. As everyone else has said-have fun![/quote] +1

About a quarter of my music collection is classical and Classic FM tends to be the radio station I listen to most at home - been to see the Liverpool Phil' a couple of times, but it was seeing/hearing the Philharmonia orchestra do an outdoor "gig" at Warwick Castle a few years back that got me into classical - it was a life-changing experience! Some great bass lines can be found in classical music too - and as said previously; a half-decent hi-fi helps things along nicely.

Well; it's neither of the above - I really prefer ebony but rosewood is a close second

[quote name='Stu-khag' post='754006' date='Feb 22 2010, 04:30 PM']Not often I reccomend behringer but I quite like their small wedge bass amps which are cheap as chips as well. (I'll probably get flamed for reccomending them but hey, its got a cd input, graphic eq etc.)[/quote] I'd also recommend the Behringer BX108. I've owned one for about 8 years, using it regularly for home practice. It's very solidly built - I've never had any problem with it. I compared it side-by side with a Peavey Microbass when I bought it and the Behringer won hands down. It has a good tone, line inputs/outputs and actually looks nice (IMHO) with its retro styling. Retails new from around £60.

[quote name='Paul S' post='752523' date='Feb 21 2010, 09:12 AM']What would be the advantages of a set neck vs bolt on? From what has been sadi it looks like the active ones have a good range if tone available - do they sound good played passively, too? Did the electrics vary from model to model?[/quote] I originally owned a Thunder 1A in natural finish - this has a bolt-on neck, a single "P" type pickup and active/passive switching. I have to say the build quality and finish was every bit as good on the 1A as it was on the Thunder III I upgraded to. But there's definitely more sustain from the thru neck on the Thunder III - I remember being impressed by this when I first got it. As for the active circuitry - it definitely gives more tonal options, but I mostly play the bass passive. on the Thunder III, soloing the bridge pickup and backing off the tone gives a fingerstyle tone that I still haven't grown tired of. Another nice fingerstyle tone is using both pickups, again backing off the tone, but switching the pickups out of phase. Again with the pickups out of phase, but boosting the bass with the active circuit and putting the tone to max treble gives a "gravelly" rock tone that cuts through well - believe it or not, I only just discovered this one fairly recently! Soloing the neck pickup gives a really deep powerful bass - adding to active to this is well; thunderous! The 3 switches below the control knobs on the '84 Thunder III are for series/parellel, phase and active. The active circuit is switched on by plugging a jack into the bass, so the active switch is just a bypass to the active circuit. You should get about 200 hours from a good pair of PP3's for the active circuit - the secret to prolonging battery life is to always unplug the bass when not using it. Hope the above helps. Chris

Here's a 1984 model Thunder III - the same model (albeit in a different colour) to the one Henry Thomas played in the Rockschool series. It's purchase was due to the bout of GAS I suffered after seeing the Rockschool band perform live. [attachment=43182:WTIIIall.JPG][attachment=43183:WTIIIthruneck.JPG][attachment=43184:WTIIIbody.JPG][ attachment=43185:WT3headstock.jpg] This is still the only bass I gig. It's a bit neck-heavy, but it's still a joy to play and is still totally original after nearly 25 years' ownership.

"Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs - the second verse to be exact. It's not a difficult song and we'd been covering it for about 2 years...... My excuse for getting it wrong was that the rhythm guitarist whose gear is right next to mine decided to turn himself up quite a lot, using a prticularly nasty tone too and it upset my groove. Or did it? I went through hell for a couple of gigs after that one, worrying that it would happen again

I removed the outer case on my Superfly too – I haven’t bothered rack-mounting it (defeats the object of owning a compact amp) so I put some self adhesive rubber feet on the underside to lift it up about 10mm. It seems to run cooler than before, but to make sure – especially in the warm environment of most gigs, I’ve connected a small 12 volt PC cooling fan to a mains transformer and just place this on top of the amp, so that the fan pulls the warm air out of the vents on the top – it really makes a big difference. As I can’t justify the expense of buying a backup amp for the few gigs I do, the fan will hopefully prevent any problems due to overheating.

[quote name='gary mac' post='734947' date='Feb 4 2010, 12:31 PM']It's about time that I got around to shielding all the cavities on mine and my daughters VMJ basses. Can anyone recommend a product and supplier. I'm thinking of a brush applied product, rather than foil. Thanks in advance. Gary.[/quote] I used conductive silver paint, sold by Maplin (you can order online) to screen the electronics cavity on a cheap Stagg fretless I was upgrading. I seem to remember it cost about £7 for a small pot, which was just enough to screen 1 bass. I used foil too, to line the inside of the plastic electronics cover on the back of the bass. This combination works perfectly. Hope this helps.

As you may know; the Superfly was discontinued a couple of years back, so if you buy one now it will either be secondhand, or very old stock. I’ve used a Superfly 500 for a couple of years of weekly band practice and monthly gigs and so far mine has escaped the unreliability issues and the worst of the “whistling” problems suffered by many of these amps. But maybe I've been lucky here, so unless you can pick one up in fully working order at a bargain price, (ie; so cheap that you have money left over to replace it if it goes bang) then best steer clear of the Superfly and go for the newer, less complicated Little Giant. I think one of the Superfly's main issues from a reliability viewpoint is that it doesn't have a cooling fan and can get very hot - the Little Giant has a cooling fan built in. There are plenty of threads on Basschat about the Superfly if you need more background info.

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='684360' date='Dec 14 2009, 07:37 PM']Last gig we did I bollocked up most of the first set and had a shocker remembering any songs went outside drunk a Red Bull and played an absolute blinding second set- Next gig I'm going to experiment with a combination of Red Bull Drinks & Red Bull Tablets [/quote] Exactly the same thing happened to me in the first set of our last gig (not all my fault to be fair, but I still have to hold my hands up). I used the same solution too. Only problem was; I got home just after midnight and thanks to the Red Bull was totally wired and couldn't sleep, then had to get up for work at 06:15 - not good. I think I'll just enjoy getting it wrong next time