guyl

I'm afraid that the first thing you will find (with all due respect to merchant) is that double bass players take their instrument far too seriously. Nothing like electric where anyone is actively encouraged to jump in and have a go. You'll be told to spend a fortune on lessons. You'll be told to spend thousands on an instrument. You'll be made to think that you are not worthy of the dark art of Double Bass - and you're unlikely to ever be any good at it! All this is nonsense. A half decent pickup and amp will compensate for your poor technique or rubbish instrument. Upright bass is a wooden box with strings - it isn't really that complicated! Keep your eyes peeled - there are plenty of bargains around and the eastern europeans and chinese are making perfectly good basses that can be picked up for £500. A decent repairman will soon make sure your bass is playable and just a couple of lessons will get you going technique-wise. The big, fat, juicy sound that the bull fiddle makes, means you don't need play lots of notes to get gigging. Get into a band and get thumping out one or two notes per bar - that will be your best lessons. I mean no disrespect to the "serious" bass playing fraternity, but I say "jump in and have a go". You'll love it!

No - Got a Whammy 4 too. There's no way that anyone went to see Doug Wimbish in Manchester early this year and not buy a Whammy the very next day! (and btw it's great!) Never tried a Bass Whammy - Doug didn't like them ........ but even so, we must stand up for all things bass - bugger Digitech's commercial interests!

Sure - a bit heavy on the jazz, but overall a great day! Jeff Berlin was my highlight - his enthusiasm was infectious ..... and his playing wasn't too shabby either! Thanks to the organisers - excellent job! Can't wait until next year!

Thanks for the post - very interesting! How much did it cost you?

[b]What strings are we all using?[/b] - I'm currently on GHS Contact Core Super Steels M2500 sets. They're excellent on the EADG, but I'm not 100% happy on the B and looking for improvement. [/quote] D'addarios - the 130 B sounds very even to me. I'm a fan of the nickel D'addarios because they still sound bright when they're going "off".

I was ready for selling my Streamer 6 (early nineties), because the bass wouldn't punch through a noisy mix. After some brilliant advice from Basschatters, I established that the Barts are great but the electronics are less good. Bought a second hand Aguilar pre-amp and it has just brought the bass to life. Still sounds like it used to ....... but a hundred times better! Whilst I was doing this, I bought a Musicman 5 (I thought would fix all my "punch" probs), but the Warwick sounds so good, the MM hasn't even been out of it's case!

I have a Conklin Sidewinder 7 (featured in Bassist a few years ago). The neck and fingerboard are purpleheart. I'm no expert but if the purpleheart is one of the reasons that the Bass sounds so tight, even and , well ...brilliant, I'd ask for it every time.

+1 to what everyone else says ... but... as soon as your gear lugging mates see you with a hard case, they assume that gives them the right to stack entire PA rigs on top of it or throw it into the band van from 100 yards. My hard case now lives in the loft - I always use a decent well padded softy - that never leaves my sight/shoulder when the van is being packed!

Yeah - what happen to them?

The headrest from my Ford Mondeo soaks up the vibrations and stage shake that makes the cab move. The slight V-shape means the angle can be optimised depending how close you're stood. Car cost £2500 second hand which is a lot to pay for a cab stand, but it also doubles up as gig transport.

Ignore the purists. Take your time and get something cheap. Take a punt on an ebay bass for £250 - £400. If it's rubbish you'll get your money back when you put it back on ebay! As long as it's solid, get someone to set it up nicely (esp the bridge and soundpost), buy new strings (Bob Gollihurs website) and a decent pickup and you'll be well within £800 budget. The pickup will make up for your lousy technique, which will easily be sorted by a couple of lessons (or free advice if you know any upright players). Because upright looks impressive, you can get away with a lot more than EUB or electric. I say go for it .... and good luck!

My fingers go before my brain. So when boozing - I know I'm playing rubbish, but can't do anything about it!

Mentioned it in loads of other posts - sorry if I'm getting dull ..... Recent upgrade of the stock electronics on my Streamer6 to Aguilar 2-eq has totally brought the Bartolini soapbars to life. Can't comment on the EMGs or MECs - but definately worth doing with the Barts! Guy

Wow - you're really spoilt for choice! I just put the 2-band Aguilar preamp into my Warwick Streamer 6 and kept the original Bartolini pickups. Keeps the original Warwick sound ..... but better! And I don't miss the mid-eq! Apart from getting married, it's probably the best thing I ever did! Guy PS - only said that last bit cos the missus walked in!

Sometimes it's unavoidable! Even then, it shouldn't be a barrier between muso and audience. Set it to one side - and step around it whenever you can!

I've got serious (Basschat-fuelled) GAS - have spent a fortune so far this year! The spend that has best motivated/inspired and improved my playing has been watching other gigs and meeting other great bass players. Your gear sounds great already. I suggest blowing £150 on seeing some great gigs and sharing a beer with some inspirational players. And if there's anything left when you've finished - donate it to Basschat!

I have used a B-Band Statement for about 6 or 7 years. It has piezos under the bridge wings (that get all the toppiness) and one under the bridge foot (for the bassiness). The outboard pre-amp allows you to find the perfect blend between the two - with a two-channel footswitch that is perfect if you swap between arco and pizz. It wasn't cheap, but if I ever lost it, I would buy another. Up until fairly recently, I would have told you it was amazing! It actually flattered my bass (and poor technique!) with a warm, accurate, plummy-but-clear, deep sound - even with the amp eq set flat. Earlier this year, I messed with the bass - moved the bridge and soundpost and the pickup was uninstalled and reinstalled a few times. Since then I have felt a bit of "nasel honk" creeping in and am now tending to use my parametric eq to iron it out. Reckon it needs some ongoing tweaking to rediscover that "sweet" set-up again! I agree with Bass Bod's suggestion - start with the set up. It all happens through the bridge - is it a really good fit against the bass body and pickup? How about that bass bar and soundpost on the inside? Have you knocked them recently? Also like Bass Bod, I have found speakers and amps make a huge difference. My SWR head with Ampeg cab sounds brilliant with electric bass, but absolutely shocking with upright. I have a Euphonic Audio iAmp head which sounds pretty good to me (with small EA cabs or Markbass cab). You're on a real difficult mission - if you find an upright player that's happy with his amplified sound, be sure to introduce him! Good luck!

Don't worry if you don't gig your 6-fretless - it will be great for ironing on. Just be careful with the fret filler - might make a mess of your iron!

For those of us unlucky enough not to see the masterclass - or who can't get down to London on 13th - what else will Mr Jackson be doing whilst he's here in Blighty?

[quote name='bassbloke' post='8450' date='May 29 2007, 07:16 AM'][url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=627"]OBP-1[/url] There's an Aguilar obp-1 for sale on this board for £40. I reckon you could find a decent enough tech to fit it for the same. £80 to fit a quality 18V preamp in your bass. I reckon that'd solve any oomph problems [/quote] Hi Don't want to labour an old thread, but I was so grateful for all the advice that I just wanted to give you some feedback! Bought the abovementioned Aguilar OBP-1. Wimped out of fitting it myself, so paid someone else to do it. (Turned out to be money well spent, because he managed to extract all the original bits without any butchery.) It certainly sounds different - after half a dozen gigs I'm still getting used to it and finding the best sounds. The bass somehow sounds cleaner - without loosing warmth ...... and louder! (No need to turn the amp anywhere near as loud as before!) Most importantly it has cut through in each live situation - exactly what we set out to achieve! The only feature that is missing (IMHO) is a mid-range eq. The 3-eq aguilar will be on my shopping list soon. (Need to check dimensions first - this 2-eq was a tight fit with the two 9v batteries) Also had a great chat with John East - a lovely and helpful chap. Ended up a bit skint so didn't fork out for his preamp. Definately on the wish list though! Got lots of other great ideas - GAS is going to be bad for new pickups and onboard preamps for a while. Thanks for all your help guys - and I urge you, if you're ever unhappy with your sound - check out the replacement electronics before ebaying the bass! There's a world of great stuff out there - all of it far cheaper than a new bass! Guy PS - reason I'm skint is that I also gave into the GAS and bought a Stingray5 too! (Now that IS loud!)

Don't forget Alain Caron

[quote name='DHA' post='16267' date='Jun 12 2007, 02:50 PM']Hi, I am trying to keep as much as possible to the valve/tube route as this is what poeple know us for. So, unless I see a demand for a valve mixer and EQ then it may not be something I would want to do. But, maybe the idea of having a valve mixer on the front of one of my pre-amps is an option? Why does it have to be a mixer and not a switcher as you will only be playing 1 bass at a time? A 3 or 4 way input switch is much simpler and hence much cheaper. Dave[/quote] Sorry Dave - we're clogging your thread with general "wishlist" stuff. My upright has a piezo pickup (to sound like an upright) and a magnetic pickup (when it starts to get loud). I blend the two on the hoof depending on the circumstances of the gig. My electric is a whole different level of output again. All I really need is a 1U mixer - but as I've never seen one off the shelf that is quite right, may end up get one custom made. Probably something for a new thread. Good luck with your preamp!

[quote name='dood' post='16181' date='Jun 12 2007, 01:00 PM']awww.. i have seen one. but for the life of me cant remember where. maybe a company like Raven labs made a rack mountable box. I have seen 1u 'mixers' too. much like the soundcraft, just in a rack as oppoed to a desktop module.[/quote] If you remember ....... Hang on - an idea ...... Dave - how much to knock together a 1U mixer, with 3 channels in (1/4" jack on the front please), and one channel out into your (unbuilt) preamp or our bass amps? A bit of eq, volume and a mute for each channel would be handy. Oh yeah .... I've a thing for flashing lights so a couple of LEDs too please.

Quote: "Definitely at least two inputs/channels as well. I do use three basses in certain situations (fretted 5, fretless 5 and a 4 for slapping or thumpy retro sounds). In an ideal world it would be nice to cater for three basses somehow but I don't know how feasible this might be." Kiwi Have you ever seen a decent bass head or preamp that has 3 inputs? I use 2 upright and one electric and end up using little soundcraft notepad on top of my rig. Would love to get home quicker by reducing leads etc, but can't find a simple 1U rackmounted mixer (or pre/amp), with jack inputs and basic controls all on the front.

Great player - and a lovely guy!