Grassie

Hi everyone. Maybe someone can clear this up for me. I've just taken delivery of a brand new Gallien Kreuger MB210 combo rated at 350w @ 8 ohms or 500w @ 4 ohms. I've tried it out, but for the power rating, it seems a little quiet. The sound is fantastically clear and has a surprising amount of bottom end, there are no buzzes or hisses either. I've noticed a small label on the rear of the unit which says: Full power: 580w average power: 128w. What exactly is the 128w refering to? Is this a 350w amp on it's own, or what? I have to wind the volume knob round to 3 o'clock to get it to "gigging" level, with the gain at 12 o'clock. I am confused....

+1 for Mick Karn. Jeff Ament is pretty cool too, innee?

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1304644' date='Jul 15 2011, 12:31 PM']I forgot to add, to my previous contribution to this thread, that fingerstyle is the only method for Youtube - unless you want swamping by the ill-tongued off-spring of our transatlantic cousins, the utter, utter f***wits. "Nice cover bro but nxt time use yo fingers like a man". [Insert "I wore my fingers out on your mum, so can only use a pick" joke][/quote] Now that has made me laugh!

Started playing in 94 using fingers only. I used to be of the opinion that if you were playing with a pick then you were somehow less of a musician. 17 years later, and I have recently found myself struggling to get a consistent, even tone using my fingers. I had problems last year with pain in my plucking hand whenever I played fingerstyle (mainly constant eighths and sixteenths), and the band I was in was playing more songs which required the use of a pick for that "attack", so I found myself playing more and more with that tricky little bit of plastic. Now I'm finding that I'm rarely playing fingerstyle at all, my overall tone has improved, and I can get more sounds from my bass by picking at different positions across the strings as I ever could playing with my fingers. I use a fairly light gauge pick as I find the flexibility allows me to play up-down strokes quicker and more precisely than using a heavier gauge as I tend to "catch" heavier picks on the strings. There are many players about at the moment who play with a pick, but who get a fingerstyle tone that impress me a lot. Foo Fighters Nate Mendel and Kings Of Leon's Jared Followill are two of them. Watching Nate play recently, I noticed that it looks like he's "stroking" the strings rather than picking them; he plays with such a gentle touch but still gets a monster sound. And I love Jared's tone full stop, that boy can get a little funky with it too (I love that little solo section in the middle of "Charmer"). He doesn't play the obvious and his tone is so warm and rounded for a pick/Thunderbird combination. Picks rule!

Pino Palladino. Michael Manring. Mick Karn. Gary Willis. All these fretless bassists have one thing in common: they play with a great amount of SOUL. Jeff Berlin. This bassist is just an R-SOUL.

My main bass influence is and always will be Mark King. But I can't do what he does for two reasons. 1) I can't physically do it to that level. I'll chuck the odd pop in when needed, but to whack out polyrhythmic lines like Mr. King does so effortlessly and cleanly is just beyond my capabilities. 2) I don't want to. There are a number of people on youtube (you know who you are) who have copied [i]every single [/i]hammer-on, pop, gliss, slap, whatever that gives Mark his very distinctive style. These bedroom/dining room/living room warriors have taken his style and added absolutely nothing of their own to it, even going so far as to use the same guitars, amps, effects, strings as Mark. I'm not jealous of slap players, I'm jealous of players that have the motivation and patience to improve their playing to the point where they have their own voice on the bass guitar and as a result beating off gigs with a sh***y stick. I have to say I'm really enjoying Foo Fighters Nate Mendel's playing at the moment. Very tasteful, but still not playing "obvious" bass lines.

It's not the price, it's the ad. No info whatsoever, mis-spelled "guitar" even though it's spelled properly on the header. Two poor photos. Not really an ad to make you think that you would be dealing with someone who know's what they're talking about eh? No info on any damage or possible inclusion of case. If I was selling my gear, I'd want to put as much info as possible on there so that potential buyers would know what they're getting for their money. Would you try selling a car on ebay like this? FOR SALE CAR FORD FOWCAS You wouldn't buy it either...

Saw this earlier... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/guitar-/270776091414?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f0b834316"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/guitar-/27077609...=item3f0b834316[/url] FFS!!! Not that I'm in the market for one of these, but come on!!!!! Make an effort dude! No-one is going to buy this you div!

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1273723' date='Jun 18 2011, 01:16 PM']Yes. From what I've heard, Dirk left because he wasn't happy with the music that they were making rather than any personal fall outs. When he left, the rest of the band moved in the direction they were trying to pull but he was resisting. Without him pulling the other way, they completely changed music until they were unrecognisable in a very short space of time (apart from Boyd's increasingly annoying warbling which is still recognisable).[/quote] I think that Incubus have become a band that just oozes quality. From what I've heard of the new stuff (the two singles) I can't fault them in any way. They are writing (for want of a better word) mature, elegant, classy rock songs that have an instant appeal. Sure, they're not writing stuff like "Glass" or "Redefine" any more, but why should they? They (and countless others) have done that. There is nothing worse than a band releasing the same, tired old albums again and again for the duration of their career. It bores the f*** out of me. If a band can't do something different after three albums, then they lose me. As for Dirk leaving, well, yes, it certainly had an effect on their music, but not as sudden as everyone seems to think. "Drive" was not typical Incubus at the time, and was the first hint that this band could be more than just a one trick, pubescent-rap-funk-metal band that was rapidly becoming old hat. And this was in 1999, some 4 years and a further album before Dirk quit. Brandon's voice has gotten better and clearer, as evidenced on the "Adolescents" single, and Ben Kenney can groove like a mofo without having to resort to out-dated slap. I love 'em. Nuff said.

Nothing physical like that, but I recently came out of a band due mainly to boredom. Hooked up with a guy I used be in a band with years ago, and he asked me if I'd like to do something with him. It could have gone swimmingly had it not been for the fact that we both work shifts for different companies, but on opposing shifts, so when I was on earlies, he was on lates. Generally, shift work is a pain in the arse when the rest of the band work "standard" hours.

Being a child of the 80's I really like stuff like Radio Ga Ga. The memories that song brings are priceless. I particularly enjoy it when a band takes itself out of it's comfort zone and makes an album that the "die-hards" would struggle with (Hot Space notwithstanding). The producton on The Works is pretty groundbreaking, and coming from a band who were renowned for breaking new ground, this shouldn't have been much of a surprise to long time fans. I always like bands to take a risk - when Def Leppard released Slang in 96 the die hards slagged them off something rotten, but I absolutely rate that album as one of their best. When a band realease the same album over and over, I just lose interest after album 3. As for John Deacon - the master of understatement and quite right to retire or whatever he wants to call it. While the other two wring Freddie's legacy for all it's worth, JD keeps his dignity and respect. Love to hear what he thinks now though - BGM should really kiss his arse and get an interview with him.

Not in a band at the moment, but the last band I was in I wouldn't drink because I used to drive myself to gigs. Oh, and the fact that our singer would drink (amongst other stimulants), and proceed to make a complete t*** of himself while singing and throwing shapes like he was playing Wembley Stadium. We were a rock covers band playings pubs. On the Isle of Wight. No need for both of us to look like c***s...

[quote name='Bobby K' post='1212293' date='Apr 27 2011, 08:07 AM']Got some Silvo wadding and it was just the trick Amazing how much crap actually comes off the frets!! [/quote] T-cut does it for me, but make sure you mask the wood on the fretboard properly, t-cut will bleach rosewood.

"Monuments And Melodies" by Incubus. Looking forward to the new album in July.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1226666' date='May 10 2011, 08:07 PM']Some years ago I was doing a private party in a marquee with a funk/soul covers band. We were due to go on at 9.30pm, but it was delayed until 11.30pm. During those two hours I drank copious amounts of a free and extremely potent cocktail called 'Spiny Norman'. By the time we were ready to go on, I was totally hammered. I had to be carried to the stage. I put on my bass and almost fell through the marquee wall. The band kicked in, and I joined them about four bars later, and in totally the wrong key. This continued throughout the set. After the gig a woman came up and congratulated us on a great performance. [/quote] "Spiny Norman" shall be the name of my new band...

[quote name='Gust0o' post='1224976' date='May 9 2011, 12:19 PM'][/quote] Ideal for Cock-Rock...

[quote name='JakeFoordBass' date='May 9 2011, 08:31 PM' post='1225526'] Hands up who's had gigs with reaaallllyyy sh*t drummers??? Guessing quite a common one. Our original drummer was definitely not sh*t, but we did a wedding reception as one of our early gigs, all of us except the drummer arrived at the agreed time and proceeded to set the gear up. 20 minutes before we're due to start, still no drummer. 10 minutes before we're due to start - still no drummer. Managed to get hold of him on his mobile - conversation goes something like this: "Andy, where the f*** are you? We're due to go on any minute!" "Smmurry, I wsss aslllpp" "Pardon?" "Sorry mate, I was asleep and I've just woken up, I'll be there in about 20 minutes." He turns up 30 mins later, takes another 30 minutes to set his kit up, and then halfway through the first set, disappears for a piss..... Great drummer and top bloke though...

Not really as bad as some mentioned on this thread so far but: 1). First gig with a replacement singer, he did well to learn 30+ songs in two weeks, but when it came to the gig he forgot about 70% of the words and arrangements. Then his mum and her boyfriend started playing "tonsil hockey" in front of us as we were playing - that might have put him off a bit... 2). Our last gig together was at the end of last month, an annual event for us called Over The Edge, a motorbike rally here on the Isle of Wight. Imagine if you will around 1000 pissed up bikers in a large marquee. Now this was our 5th year of playing this event, all the punters are of a good nature, well up for some loud, good-time music, and we've never had an incident during those 5 years. Until a rather drunk, large lady either tripped over something or just lost her balance and smashed her head on the front of the stage, knocking her out cold. We were about two thirds of the way through our set when the organiser came on to shut us down until the ambulance arrived for her. We went back on some 30 minutes later to a half full marquee and an atmosphere like she'd died. She didn't and she recovered well, I'm pleased to add. But not the best ending to 6 years of gigging and good times...

Maple...want one...

If it bothers you that much, and is causing you genuine discomfort with itchiness, go to the doc's. You never know - you might get your problem solved quicker that way. I would stay away from talc - that will get in all the nooks and crannies of your bass, and royally f*** it up.

+1 for the Warwick Reds - that's it for me now - can't see the point in buying other brands when these are well priced, last a long time too, a lot of "zing" for your "cha-ching".