Krysbass

Watched it on I-player and I agree with the comments made about the lack of footage on Pino. OK - I accept that, great as he is, Pino is never going to get the same attention on camera as Daltrey or Townshend, but even the drummer and the other guitarist were on camera more often than Pino!? Also - (perhaps I missed it); but when Pete Townshend introduced the band, was Pino mentioned?

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1430124329' post='2758069'] nice one, exactly my thoughts which one did you go for? the gloss or matt? and need to see pictures [/quote] I went for the gloss black stain version - absolutely beautiful finish on it that attracts favourable comments from the guitarists in my band every time they set eyes on it(praise indeed!) Will post photos of it on BC as soon as I can, but first need to get my head around the technicalities of how to do that. By the way - before buying it I was dubious about the lack of a mid-boost on most Spector basses, as on my Ibanez the mid-boost is so useful in making sure the bass cuts through when there's too much sonic mush from the guitars and drums. I really needn't have worried, as this Spector ReBop DLX has a naturally mid-rich tone - especially when favouring the bridge pickup slightly. I now have GAS for a ReBop DLX 4-stringer, but maybe it's just as well that I can't find a new one on sale at a similarly discounted price anywhere.

I always take a spare amp to gigs - both my amps are lightweight class D, so it's minimum hassle to do this and well worth the peace of mind. I also carry spare strings, 9v battery, a selection of internal fuses and mains-plug fuses, nylon cable ties and a few other small bits and pieces that may be useful for an emergency repair. However - I've rarely bothered taking a spare bass to a gig - largely because most venues I play are too small for there to be anywhere where I could safely leave this bass.

I jumped at the amazingly low price for the ReBop on Thomann a few weeks ago and haven't regretted it - saved around £250 on the cheapest UK price for this bass! But I have a sneaking feeling that Spector are discontinuing the ReBop 5 DLX; as their website now only shows the MM version? By the way - my ReBop appears to be fitted with EMG DC active pickups rather than the HZ passive pickups listed in the spec for this bass. Anyway - this is my first 5-string after 30+ years as a dedicated 4-stringer (or so I thought). My most played 4-string bass is an Ibanez SR600 - noted for its incredibly slim neck, but I have had no problems adjusting to the neck on the ReBop - in fact I'm playing a full gig with it tonight. Perhaps it is a little neck-heavy - but I've played basses that have a lot worse neck-dive than this (my Westone Thunder III for example) and it's easily managed by using a suede-backed strap.

[quote name='darkandrew' timestamp='1428248403' post='2739559'] The aforementioned Euro 5LX also has an extended 35" scale which helps tighten up the "b" string. It really is one of the most playable basses I've ever owned. [/quote] The Spector ReBop 5-string I just bought (mentioned in my earlier post on this thread) is also a 35" scale - the B string has good tension, an impressive growl in the tone and good sustain. Having been a 4-string devotee for the past 30+ years, it's the only 5-string I've ever played but I think this bass has a lot to do with how I'm enjoying making the transition to 5-string. Picking up on some of the earlier comments about good 5-string songs - I must confess to playing along to some undemanding Pink Floyd stuff such as "The Wall", "Run Like Hell", "Sorrow" and "Keep Talking" - just enjoying hearing those low notes without having to down-tune. Simple pleasures!

Neil Murray (original Whitesnake bassist) - definitely deserves more recognition than he seems to get.

I bought a small active monitor from Thomann last year as B stock. As it turned out, the monitor had a problem as the sound kept cutting out - so Thomann took it back and gave me a re-fund without any problem. I then bought the "A" stock version of the same item. Sending stuff back to Thomann (if necessary) is easy and at no cost if the item is faulty.

I've played bass since the early 80s but only got round to buying my first 5-string a couple of weeks ago - a Spector ReBop. My main reason for switching was that I'd been getting increasingly frustrated at the growing number of songs I wanted to play which went below E and my band already play a couple of songs that will benefit from the extra depth. As I play in a covers band, mostly playing pubs (many of which are small) taking multiple basses to a gig so that I have a down-tuned bass available when needed is not practical as there's usually no room "on stage". Neither is re-tuning between songs, as we keep the gaps between songs to a bare minimum. So I've been getting to grips with the 5-string for a couple of weeks. During that time I've made a point of only playing the 5-string, to help build muscle-memory. The most difficult thing to overcome has been accidentally plucking the B string instead of the E - but I'm getting beyond that now. My routine for mastering the 5-sting has been to practice the full repertoire of my band at home and identify the songs within that that need special attention. The Spector Rebop is incredibly comfortable to play and this has definitely helped the transition too. So no regrets buying a 5-string yet - I just think the time had come for me where I couldn't put it off any longer.

Duran Duran - I'd never have gone to see them because of the demography of most of their fanbase (it would have been pointless to go to any of their shows back in the day if you wanted to actually hear their music/playing). But I really rate John Taylor as a bassist.

I've got into the habit of always removing my wedding ring and wristwatch when playing my bass - more comfortable and avoids any chance of metal/metal or worse still; metal/wood contact. But I put both back on again at gigs when I'm not actually playing

Here’s an update on my review: First; a few words about the weight…. Curiously, Ibanez don’t list the weights of their basses on their website, so for the record; the SR600 tips the scales at a very lean 3.4kg (7.49 lbs). That’s significantly lighter than most basses and contributes to the overall playing comfort. Since this SR600 has been my main bass for home practice, band rehearsals and gigs for over 4 years, here’s how it has fared…. Firstly, battery-life is excellent. I have yet to have a battery fail, so I just replace it every 12 months or so, regardless. The concern I expressed in my original review about the thinness of the body wood around the control pots has so far proved to be groundless – everything has been fine here. However, there were a couple of minor problems during the 4th year of ownership….. The nylon sealing-washer on one of the tuning heads split and fell off. I couldn’t find a suitable replacement washer anywhere, but could have bought a set of identical, unbranded tuning heads for just £15. In the end, seeing that Ibanez fit Gotoh tuning heads to the SR Prestige and Premium basses, I decided to pay a bit more and upgrade to a set of Gotoh tuning heads – these were a perfect fit, requiring no modification to the headstock. The only other problem was that the nut fell off during a string change – so I glued it back on! On the subject of strings; I wasn’t impressed with the Elixir coated nickel strings originally fitted, as the coating quickly and visibly peeled off and looked awful, although this didn’t seem to affect the tone. Since then I’ve used Elixir stainless steel strings, which have a great tone and don’t seem to suffer from the very obvious peeling problem. The set currently on the bass has been there for over 2 years and counting. All things considered, I’m still delighted with this bass and have absolute faith in it. For me, it isn’t so exotically priced or rare that it would be difficult to replace at short notice if anything terminal happened to it. This means I’m not afraid to take it out of the house! The natural body finish does a good job of hiding the inevitable minor dings, so it still looks fantastic (IMHO), it’s extremely comfortable to play, stays in tune and offers a wide range of tones.

A definite "no" to music stands at gigs. In my view; everyone should have completely memorised the notes, structure (and in the case of the vocalist(s) the lyrics) of every song being gigged.

Congratulations on your purchase - excellent choice! I've been playing an SR600 as my main bass for the past 4 years during which time my playing has progressed as never before. Now thoroughly hooked on Ibanez SR basses and currently GAS-ing for an SR 5-string - possibly an SR605.

I was at the Liverpool Echo Arena gig on November 28th and was also mightily impressed by Herbie's playing - although I could have done with more bass in the mix. This may have just been down to where I was sitting, because on the O2 Arena DVD of the "New Generation" show, the bass is much more articulate.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1417793028' post='2624095'] But sometimes a drummer can be just plain crap and never going to make it, which was the situation I found myself in a couple of times. One was a learner who read charts as he was going and didn't seem very promising. I heard him play a year later and he was worse. Another had been playing badly for 25 years and unlikely to improve at his stage. [/quote] That was definitely the case in the band I just left - the drummer in question had played for decades and learned all sorts of "fancy-pants" stuff that in a solo situation might have sounded impressive, but when it came to basic skills such as keeping tempo and playing for the song he just hadn't got a clue. What made it even more frustrating was that the guitarist was beat-deaf (which I understand is now a proven condition alongside tone-deafness) so he didn't notice that there was any problem with the drums, as he often wasn't playing to the beat anyway! At one point I even wondered if the problem was really some failing on my part, or if I was just being too picky, but my experiences since then with my current band suggest that no - it was definitely the drummer (phew!)

A few weeks ago, I quit a covers band that I started and it was about 80% because of the crap drummer. It was almost as if the more this guy learned, the less he knew as he seemed to be getting worse - to the point that I was getting nervous before gigs because I was afraid of what impossible situations he'd give me. He was substituting his own overly busy rhythms into songs so making the original bass-line no longer fit. His biggest gaffe was dropping in fills but coming back in off the beat. It was very hard to reach the decision to leave this band, mainly because I'd started it, but when I sat back and analysed things there were at least 11 venues that had stopped re-booking us so the band was on its last legs anyway. I couldn't just fire the drummer and replace him, as the guitarist and singer wouldn't have agreed to it. I can only say that since I made the break I've never regretted it and in fact feel liberated. I'm currently with another band where everyone takes responsibility for the standard of their playing and I'm enjoying it so much that that I now recognise that I shouldn't have persevered with the last band for as long as I did.

My 1984 Westone Thunder III lives under the bed. I do occasionally drag it out for a play, but it's in excellent condition and I must confess to being slightly OCD about keeping it that way - so I rarely gig it. I've considered selling it once or twice, but since I've owned it from new and it's not worth much money, holding on to it just seems the right thing to do. Besides; replacing it with a new bass with similar features/quality would cost a small fortune.

As has been said – if you’ve stopped enjoying it and there’s no likelihood of that situation improving, then it’s time to move on. I’ve just left the covers band I started 3 years ago. We averaged a couple of gigs a month but by the end of 2013 I’d noticed that (maybe because I’m my own fiercest critic and push myself quite hard), my own playing was improving but no-one else’s seemed to be. The guitarist had a poor sense of rhythm/timing and the drummer had become a bassist’s nightmare. The more techniques the drummer (thought he had) mastered, the more fancy stuff he would try to drop into songs; invariably half-baked, over-played, at odds with the feel of the song or if played as a fill; resulting in him coming back in off the beat. Another challenge was the drummer’s poor memory – so the more songs we added to our repertoire, the more he seemed to forget. Just to illustrate how bad this was; at several gigs I had to come to his rescue when he sat like a rabbit in the headlights having had a mental block on the simple drum intro to ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin”. Frustration joined my despair when on “Alright Now” he got into the unbreakable habit of replacing the correct drum pattern during the instrumental break (that iconic Andy Fraser bass-line) with something that sounded like it belonged with “Fire Starter” by The Prodigy – in so doing drowning out much of what I was playing and making what little bass could be heard sound wrong. Everyone in the band recognised that we were not getting repeat bookings at the best venues, when some other bands were playing these venues 3-4 times per year. So - since I’d started the band and could see where the problems lay, I tried to put matters right. At the start of 2014 everyone in the band agreed we were each going to spend much more time on home practice, working with the original recordings to improve our knowledge of the songs and collectively raise our game. Roll on several months to a major gig we played on 20th September and it’s still the same old mistakes from the drummer and guitarist. I finally had to accept that these guys have found their level and are unlikely to ever rise above that. So I decided to go through with what I’d been wrestling with for months and resigned from the band next morning – but of fering to cover gig bookings up to New Year’s Eve. On the upside; I feel liberated as I can now devote more of my time to another band I play in, where everyone takes responsibility for their own playing. Yet at the same time I’m gutted that, to preserve my own sanity, I’ve had to walk away from a project that I started and worked very hard at and was paying me around £100 per month gig money. Then again – I did feel bad taking payment for some of our worst performances. Just goes to show that the decision to leave a band is not always clear-cut and can end up bitter/sweet.

Depends how you define "cheap" of course - but I'll happily admit to gigging with a £99 Stagg fusion fretless (albeit fitted with DiMarzio pickups, and carefully set up so it plays/sounds somewhat better than it did out of the box). My main bass is an Ibanez SR600 (about £500 new) and for the small pubs I often play this is about as high as I'd go value-wise, as despite being careful; some of these pubs are so small that I'm hitting the wall with the headstock whilst the edges of the cymbals are denting the body. If I had a bass valued any higher I'd definitely be choosy about what venues I played it in as I'm not a fan of basses that end up looking "roadworn" "relic-d" or otherwise battered.

A lot will depend on whether your drummer is heavy-handed. My band mostly plays pubs and I don't go through the pa - I use a 500 or 1000 watt head through two 2x10" cabs. Our drummer hits his kit very hard (insists he cant play any quieter) so I've no choice but to have my rig loud to be able to hear what I'm playing. Besides - our PA system is only 600 watts, so it couldn't handle much bass anyway.

Definitely in my case! I dabbled with playing a couple of instruments when at school, but it was only when I began to listen to music seriously in my mid-teens that I found I was following the bass line more than anything else. I bought my first bass at 19 and still loving the journey at 52! Even now, when I listen to music, most of my attention is on the bass-line and how the bass interacts with everything else. For that reason I detest having to hear music on any device that doesn’t do plenty of bass – eg mobile phones, crappy car stereos, ultra-thin TV’s, supermarket PA systems etc. Having to be away from my bass for any length of time (eg on a family holiday) is as close as I get to experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I know I’ve found my niche with bass guitar.

I ended my one and only foray into the world of original bands because of pay-to-play venues. By the time fuel and exorbitant parking charges in Manchester's Northern Quarter were paid; we were running the band at a hefty loss and I left because of it. A shame - because musically I'd been loving it. Back playing covers now and at least I now know that I've found my niche.

[color=#000000]I’ m [size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]in a couple of covers bands, but in addition to keeping on top of the band songs, my home-practice routine includes playing along to a whole load of other songs on CDs/mp3s. As well as being something I really enjoy doing, I’ve also found that this helps my improvisation skills. [/font][/size] [/color]

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][font=Calibri][color=#000000]I’m 52 and play in 2 bands.[/color][/font][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#000000][font=Calibri]In one band I’m the oldest, but the guitarist & drummer are also 50’s – singer is mid-20’s. In the other band, the lead guitarist is 64 and only the singer (also mid-20’s) is younger than me!! [/font][font=Wingdings][font=Wingdings]J[/font][/font] [/color][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][font=Calibri][color=#000000]I try to keep myself reasonably fit and I don’t touch alcohol at gigs (apart from needing to drive home afterwards I find that even 1 pint takes the edge off my playing) .[/color][/font][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][font=Calibri][color=#000000]It’s all about enjoyment (ok - and some extra cash too). Busting myself up about image or what other people think will count for nothing when my time on this earth is drawing to a close and I wish I’d just gone ahead and done what makes me happy.[/color][/font][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][font=Calibri][color=#000000]My bands both mostly play pubs and I echo one of the earlier comments pointing out that most pub punters these days are mid-30’s plus. [/color][/font][/font] [font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][color=#000000][font=Calibri]And I never cease to be amazed that how many old standard songs that must be on just about every rock compilation album ever made still go down so well with a crowd. [/font][/color][/font][/size]

[size=4][font=Calibri][color=#000000]+1 for the SR600[/color][/font] [font=Calibri][color=#000000]I bought mine new in 2010 and it’s still my main bass - it's comfortable to play for several hours, sounds are versatile and it looks great (IMHO). It’s been gigged extensively and the only thing to have gone wrong with it was that a nylon washer split and fell off one of the machine-heads – so I invested in a set of Gotoh machine heads which were a direct replacement and apart from looking great, seem to have given the bass marginally more sustain. The tuning stability has always been fine - even with the original machine-heads.[/color][/font] [font=Calibri][color=#000000]It’s currently fitted with Elixir stainless steel strings which are only the second set it’s had from new. I had initial misgivings about the Elixirs because of the tendency for the coating to peel off on the nickel versions originally fitted, but this seems much less obvious on the stainless-steel Elixirs.[/color][/font][/size] [size=3][color=#000000][font=Calibri][size=4]I mostly play pub gigs and some of these places are so small that no matter how careful I am I sometimes catch the bass’s body on the edge of the cymbals or smack the headstock into a wall – so I wouldn’t want to use a more expensive bass in these conditions and the natural finish on the SR600 means that any dings are pretty hard to see. [/size] [/font][/color][/size]