Krysbass

Attending gigs as a member of the audience with today's typically expensive ticket prices; I never cease to be amazed at the many people who spend most of the performance either talking among themselves or making repeated trips to the bar; clearly intent on getting themselves bladdered on overpriced beer in plastic "glasses" and missing much of the performance as a result. It's absolutely beyond my understanding, as I generally wouldn't want to miss a moment of the gig; but each to their own I guess.

I recently faced this dilemma with the completely original, 9.5/10 condition Westone Thunder III I've owned from new in 1985. I love this bass, but for a few reasons hadn't played it for nearly 8 years. Yet I couldn't bring myself to sell it; both due to the attachment I have to it and because the second hand market would be unlikely to pay much more than the £350 it cost new. With the bass worth so little; I realised that keeping it original served no useful purpose, so replaced the electronics with a Bartolini system - P and J type pickups and a 3-band EQ. I have also fitted lightweight Gotoh tuners to improve the balance. I now have a great sounding and looking, very playable bass that I will be gigging with again in my mostly 80s band. I'm not saying that what I've done is right in every situation, but in this case it seemed better to me than letting the bass remain as an unplayed museum piece.

And worse still when the keyboardist has two amps pointing at his head plus he wants to go thru the pa - and therefore the floor monitors too, but he then can't grasp why the rest of us are saying we're struggling to hear what we are playing.

Played bass since 1982 but never played guitar or had the urge to. In my early teens I briefly tried saxophone then settled on clarinet; learned to read music and played in the school junior orchestra, but gave it up after a couple of years. It was much later, aged 19 that I took up bass and never looked back. But I've long since forgotten how to read music and never felt the need to re-learn. I don't use tab either so only play by ear, but find that I can memorise melodies and improvise pretty well. But above all; I still derive an incredible amount of enjoyment from playing bass on my own terms.

Thats one hilariously ironic comment; given that the bass seems to be so very low in the mix on the few Kiss records I've heard. Crazy Nights is a prime example. The lack of bass just left me wondering what all the fuss was about.

I've been using earplugs for all rehearsals and gigs for the last 10 years. In that time I've been astonished at how many other musicians I've crossed paths with resolutely refuse to wear ear plugs or take any other precautions to protect their hearing. On a couple of occasions their attitude has even been that ear-plugs are not "rock and roll" or "macho"!?!? Since my current band is one that I started with my son; we've both been at pains to talk to the 3 other band members on several occasions about the wisdom of wearing ear protection and sharing useful information, but as Stan Laurel once said; "you can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead" .

So on the above definitions of semi-pro vs. Hobbyist/weekend warrior; last year I reckon I just edged into being semi-pro. But unless the gig outlook for 2018 improves massively; this year i'll almost certainly be a hobbyist / weekend warrior.

It sounds pathetic now, but in the absence of t'internet back in the 80s; Top of the Pops was often the instigator of some severe bouts of GAS. It was a rare opportunity to check out what gear people were using - Jaydee, Aria Pro and Ibanez basses being personal favourites.

Perhaps, but sadly a complete non-starter for me; since to learn said basslines would involve also having to endure Morrissey's voice. In short; a step way too far.

Even in terms of money spent on all the gear I've owned over the 35+ years I've played bass; I doubt if this is much more than about £5k. But the replacement cost of the gear I still own now is another matter as a lot of it is no longer made and would surely cost me much more than I paid for it to replace wit similar spec/quality.

There are so many things I visually or for engineering reasons couldn't live with on so many of the world's most iconic and popular basses that I can quickly reduce my choice to just one or two contenders when choosing a new bass. But that doesn't mean I have exotic tastes - in fact it's the opposite. But as in all things; the beauty of any bass is in the eye of the beholder and there are things that I love, such as plenty of real wood on show that others loathe with equal passion.

Forgive me if this appears disrespectful ( I don't mean it to be) or if I'm missing something obvious; but rather than having someone sign the song lyrics, wouldn't it have been easier and more visible to all hearing-impaired people throughout the venue to just display the lyrics on a video screen?

Simple Minds - New Gold Dream - Derek Forbes.

Still using the Ashdown Superfly 500 I bought new in 2008 and the Ashdown Little Giant 1000 bought new in 2010 for all rehearsals and gigs. I bring both amps to gigs so i always have a backup. But I treat them kindly and neither amp has let me down yet (touching some wood). I can't say fairer than that.

To the OP; well done - and pleased it seems to be working out for you. I had to do the same about 3 years back and it was hard to move on from a project I had started and put so much time and effort into. But 1 year into a new project now that's going well, so no regrets.

Been in the same situation a couple of years ago. When we soundchecked, the landlord must have realised his mistake as he was straight away telling us we were too loud. Problem was; our drummer in that band only had one level of playing - deafening; so it fell on the rest of us to turn the volume rigt down, but with the drums still so loud; I was struggling to hear myself all night and couldn't wait for the gig to end. We were literally a few feet from where people were tucking into their fish & chips or whatever. That landlord has since moved on from that venue and I have moved on from that band. Played the same venue a few weeks ago with new landlord and current band and it went fine........

My 1984 Westone Thunder III - bought new in 1985, so owned 32 years. Rarely played now but kept for sentimental reasons and I still love the look of it. No point selling it coz the above reasons outweigh the paltry amount of money its worth.

I've found that its essential to be very detailed in your post on what you are and aren't looking for. A lot of posters on jmb barely write a sentence. When I formed my current band; my post covered the genres we'd be playing, where, when and how often we'd be rehearsing, average number of gigs per month, no divas need apply, experience level, the rule that songs are to be learned at home, so that we are all ready to play them at rehearsals - to name but a few things. The band has come together well and, touch wood; heading into our 2nd year with some great gig bookings.

[quote name='andytoad' timestamp='1507830812' post='3388287'] After reading this thread, I have removed the ugly casing, much happier with a little black box. Could a mini fan be installed inside where the vents are? [/quote] Ive found that the key to keeping these amps cool is getting enough aiflow to the underside of the casing, so it's well worth attaching some rubber feet. My amps have at least 10mm clearance on the underside. The problem with an internal fan, especially if its running all the time; is that it will be pulling dust into the amp, which will mean opening it up and cleaning it out regularly to avoid that being a cause of overheating. Thats why I soldered a 12 volt pc cooling fan to a plug in power supply and just rest this at 45 degrees against the side of the amp casing so that the airflow blows under the casing. Even after running for 3 hours in a very hot venue, the amp tends to be barely hand hot and I've yet to have any reliability issues ( touching wood!)

Back in the 80s there were people claiming synths would replace the electric guitar. They didn't. Similarly; I don't think the bass guitar is in any danger of becoming yesterday's news anytime soon.

I'm still using a Superfly 500 and Little Giant 1000 for all rehearsals and gigs- one is the backup for the other. I spotted early on with both these amps that they run hot, so rigged up a pc cooling fan to a power supply and rest this so that it blows across the underside of the amp casing. Even though the LG1000 has a built in fan; it only seems to kick in when the amp is already far too hot, so the external fan keeps things nice and cool. I did have a problem with my Superfly blowing its internal fuse at switch on, but Ashdown's tech support sent me some slightly uprated fuses with an assurance that this was ok/safe - and the amp has been fine ever since. By the way; my cabs are 4 ohm. Good that Ashdown still seem to be supporting Superfly owners - interested to see how this goes.

I do empathise with the OP to a great degree here. But unfortunately as people we are all different and over the years I have been astonished to learn that certain other members of bands I've been in need a "belt and braces" approach - with constant reminders to keep them mindful of the gig calendar. I've been in too many situations where people let themselves get double-booked and then some poor sod has to deliver the bad news to the venue; potentially tarnishing the band's reputation. So not only do I put gigs on the band's website, but all band members regularly communicate in a WhatsApp group - and I also regularly update and print out a hard copy of our gig calendar and rehearsal schedule and give a copy to each band member. Yes- that is OCD and in an ideal world shouldn't be necessary, but sadly; bitter experience has told me that it is necessary.

I mostly play pub gigs and use two 2x10 cabs stacked "portrait". Not saying this is essential; but there have been one or two pubs Ive played with such small stage areas that Id have struggled to fit a 1x15 cab on stage.

I've been in both situations and definitely prefer being the worst player in a great band. I found that this forced me to raise my game and its a great feeling when you know your playing is constantly improving. Its one of the main reasons i do this. But at the other extreme; I was once in a covers band that I started, but it eventually became obvious that there were deep rooted problems when we were asked to pack up and leave a venue after the first set. My despair soon deepened when one of the guitarists in another band I was in came to one of our gigs and later told me that I was the only half decent member of this band and that I was flogging a dead horse. I had to accept that whilst I was taking the project seriously and putting the work in; the drummer and guitarist were not and had set fairly low standards for themselves. A band is only as good as its weakest member - and that's especially true when its the drummer. I left the band soon after.

After over 30 years of playing 4-strings; I bought a Spector ReBop 5 in 2015. The experience has been a mixed success. In one respect I've found the extra string easier as for some songs I can move to the B string instead of going to the end of the fretboard on the E string. But sadly its taken me 2 years to realise that I made a mistake in choosing the ReBop; as it only has 17mm string spacing at the bridge (very common among 5-strings) and adjusting to it has messed up my right-hand muscle memory. Much of this will be because im a lefty playing right-handed basses; so my right hand has always been the weakest; requiring a lot of work to keep up to speed. The moral of this tale is that much as I love my ReBop; I'm now looking to replace it with a 5-string with 19mm string spacing. An Ibanez BTB is the current favourite. Just something possibly worth considering when choosing a 5-string.