JTUK

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1478532057' post='3169646'] Best at what? What drew you to those brands and not the others? [/quote] I'd have asked the same thing.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1478462500' post='3169223'] Just as well the members of previous bands did not have this same outlook, though. How will 'lesser' players ever improve if they're not given the opportunity, at least, of contact with more experienced folks..? It doesn't always work, I'll grant, but in many cases an experienced player can 'up the game' of his/her colleagues. Every situation is different, of course. [/quote] Agree, that at some point, someone has to give something back but there are some situations that should be avoided. You don't join these bands, but you might help out.

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1478520966' post='3169545'] In my time I've been in many bands with good players I didn't like, including some gifted guitarists who were utter bellends, and a few with a good bunch of blokes who were at best moderate players. I'd rather be with the latter type any day of the week. When performing you can always make up for what you may lack in proficiency with stage presence and being fun. So, if these guys are good to be around stay with them and work with them improving as players [/quote] Yes and no, IMO. Talent..and there are of course, varying levels of this, is something you can't do anything about. They have it or they don't....and even if they could up their game through hard work or diligence, why haven't they done this already..? Talent and being a bell-end doesn't get you anywhere and so they wouldn't get the work. You can have a few little things that need' adjustment' but basically you have to be able to do what you say you will do..or agree to do. Being a total bell-end is a killer So, for me, the music is the key...and then work down from that. Never be in bands with your mates unless they became your mates from a good band, IME. Guys I grew up with are not the guys I play with now. All the top guys around here you can work with..they wouldn't be top guys otherwise. And none of them have an unstoppable ego as they know there is always someone they will come across who is better.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1478524012' post='3169587'] It doesn't work that way over here, your nor going to get a local heavy hitter to attend your gig if your not in their click. Blue [/quote] Yep... but you need to be on the same gigs as them..and then they know you can work at a certain level, how you go about the business and how you work. Sometimes, the playing part is down the list but a certain standard at a certain standard is a given.

If it is a waste of time, it is a waste of time. If you have little regard for them as musicians, then that doesn't change overnight..and therefore it is forever a waste of time. Move on...................... But............... what do you get out of it? If it is something that keeps you playing...because you don't have that driver or motivation elsewhere, then you could convince yourself to stay.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1478352221' post='3168558'] Anyone got a decent close-up of a Sims guard? Is the stuff they use proper tort, or printed? [/quote] Sims shop is near to other sellers of plates ---very near, thankfully, so I was about to see the horrible printed stuff..which was cheap, but looked it as well, I recall him saying he was particuarly happy with his current tort supply but that sourcing good stuff was getting difficult.

The DB series have more mid but this is not unkind from the 'ceramic' chassis'. The speakers are the same units in both, but I found the GS tune very big down low but that swamps the mids in the cab. I loved the GS with new strings and a good band mix but it was a struggle thereafter, for me. The DB had a more usuable tone..more like the TKS units. For me the cut off on the GS is too low and you have to have the tweeter but even so, without new strings, the cross-over seems too far off the tune of the cab.

No... I want to be able to everything I can, on a whim, so that means the basses are set up very similar. Same strings, same sort of action, same response back and I vary things around with my right hand. Some basses I wouldn't even pick up as I know they wouldn't work..

Not a very close tribute band then.... try the originals

Sims.... it helps if you can see an example of the plate but deal with people who can deliver to discerning customers.... Most stuff I see at a cheaper pricepoint is awful... and you can't put that on certain instruments. I'd expect to pay upto £100 for a custom cut tort plate for a Fender

Meteors or Neville Bros... or pick Yellow Moon or something which was a collaboration... but if you are trying to go funky, make sure you can groove and don't do poor man's rock/funk as there is nothing worse..

[quote name='RockfordStone' timestamp='1478260786' post='3167950'] ...... most of the time people ask me if i want to play with them so i don't audition all that much. [/quote] This is the stage to get to.... or you do an audition by a dep date anyway, and if you don't get asked again, assume they didn't like you. But you generally know why you didn't get it... and sometimes it isn't musical anyway.

C

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1461450314' post='3034812'] My 1967 Hofner Verithin, which I bought second hand in 1988. I still gig with it occasionally and, as its coincidentally the same age as me, I'm not selling. [url="https://flic.kr/p/DYgVCu"][/url] [url="https://flic.kr/p/DYgVCu"]My Höfner Verithin Bass by -cybertect-[/url] [/quote] Very funky.... but I'd never use this in a million years... but I know a man who would.

To the OP. Are you kidding...binned it as soon as I could. Only one of my old basses 'may' have stood the test of time..but it was a 4 and I had no concern about selling it. I'd like to still have the '75 Fender Jazz, which was a pile of poo, as people pay silly money for them now... regardless. Would rather I sold it today for shedloads than the pittance it deserved at the time

Funny how neither were anywhere near as prolific when solo.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1478029362' post='3166212'] Agreed, I'm already a full time guy, but no way anywhere near a heavy hitter. I'm not even a hitter. IMO, we only have 2 guys here in Milwaukee that are heavy hitters, Daryl Strummer (Genesis) and Greg Koch. And both of these guys have large stables of bass players they work with exclusively. Blue [/quote] I guess the other thing is what makes you a 'hitter'.... having the gig or having the talent. I agree that one should lead to the other but music is also nothing if not cliquey. For example, who gives out deps..?? and do they give it to a guy that could possibly take the gig? Yes, we can be an insecure lot... and sometimes, with good reason. The very best player around here has done it all... and even though he is out of the game, it is obvious he is on another level... Everyone knows that..except the guys who play the same instrument. and guys who just don't know, full stop.

I never like the graphic tbh... but the pre shape is a good quick reference if you are unused to them. I'd suggest setting up the pre shape and then switch it out and try and mimic that sound using the sliders. I preferred it when they tried to warm up the fundemental metallicy sound with valves and the Twin was a nice little unit.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1478025894' post='3166156'] I've had whole packs of DRs that were completely f***ed from the outset, bass strings & acoustic guitar strings. I stopped using them because I had so many duff sets, the acoustic strings especially. Absolute garbage considering how much they cost. Went over to Newtone strings for bass & acoustic & haven't had a problem since. [/quote] I changed from DR's as they seemed to slip on the QC front,or rather I had a couple of duff one very quickly. Whereas, upto that point, I'd had no issues for nigh on 20 years or so. And DR's aren't cheap. Generally, tho, that is why I stay off ceap strings..too masny varibles and the point of a new set is that they sound great out the pack. Newtones last me longer, but I find 3 cleans tends to finish them off and thereafter they're in the bin. But, this is acceptable and no worse than other top brands. I find Daddario don't clean up as well for example, IME.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1477989553' post='3165685'] .................. The independents have pioneered lightweight high excursion speakers, the big boys manufacturing in China were bound to catch up with 'me too' products. [/quote] Not sure I'd call Eminence an 'Independent' [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1477989553' post='3165685'] My guess, and I'd [b]love someone to provide me with both cabs to dissect, is that the biggest differences are in the bracing of the cabs[/b], which you'd probably only notice in critical applications and in excursion which you'd only notice if you attempt to drive very high power levels at very low frequencies, and most of us won't so long as we have enough speakers. Two good twelves should have enough for 95% of us. [/quote] Be interested to hear more views on this from Cabinet makers. [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1477989553' post='3165685'] You really need to be careful with these power specs. The limiting factor for power dissipation is how quickly the heat can be removed from the coil. Most of this is transferred via the magnets and tiny neo magnets need lots of fins to compete with ceramic magnets. Most designs also use the air movement around the coil to ventilate heat away but this has its limits too. Ultimately around 350W is the most a 12" speaker can dissipate, whatever the manufacturers claim. Anything much higher is always a peak figure. In any case the real limiting figure is usually excursion, There aren't many speakers I've modelled over the years that aren't excursion limited down to 200W or usually less in the lower octaves somewhere, and all of them will fail if you put 400W of 33Hz through them continuously, not that you ever would. There's no such thing as a 700W continuous 12" speaker. [/quote] Sensible and fair points. I'd be surprised or cynical if anyone claimed any different.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1477943606' post='3165449'] I think what I'm saying is, there's a big difference between "full time guys" and who I would consider "heavy hitters". Bluw [/quote] Subject for another thread and one I'd be interested in. Some full time guys, I don't give too much credence to, tbh. It is just what they do and the path they want to follow. Apart from that, it doesn't amount too much. For example, a more than decent earning function band will support quite a few of these guys full time with a bit of work elsewhere to cover earnings. Heavy hitters to me would be guys out on very creditable tours with big names. But even then... some of them may not be amongst the best of the local guys. And by best of the local guys, I mean guys who are well known through out the county and possibly beyond. So, yes,..it could get quite grey ;lol:

I like to hear what is happening... where the spark and essense is. That can be the drum groove, piano, vocal etc

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1477870794' post='3165011'] Enjoy themselves? perish the thought. They spend half the set looking at each other and wondering if they were first, second or third choice on JT's roster to get in his all star band... [/quote] I'd say these are network/show your face type things...or a catch up/remember me visit. Even the very best run sessions, IME, are not sessions you'd go to religiously as tbh, the standard is varible. This may be because the band leader is limited in the song choice or the guess players are limited in what they can handle, which is why 12 bar is the place to start until you know what they can do. But those very 12 bars are what make people think, not another 12 bar. To have any sort of run at this... the band needs to be interesting to bring people back in week in, week out..and this means typically they have to be 'good'.. The Band leader also needs quite a repetoire himself to stop the same songs being played every week. The very best ones tend to evolve into Jam/jazz nights but the success of them over a period of time is how good the music is. This is a very narrow tightrope as this is the very opposite of the remit they started up with. Once you have progressed to Jazz/jam nights and good players turn up, you also take round the pot.. to pay for the guest musicians that you want to keep coming. It is work first and foremost. If it is also fun, then it stands a reasonable chance it will last. Best bandleaders tend to be horn guys with a pad...or Keys. Worst tend to be 12 bar gtr guys in A as this may shut down so many other musical avenues.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1477924735' post='3165283'] They might be working musicians,but none that has anymore work than I have presently. None of the local heavy hitters that I would want to network with participate in open mic nights. Blue [/quote] The way it works is that a full time guy will want to fill his dates and monday and tues are slow dates, typically. So, he may well run a jam night. He will also share this amongst his mates so they get paid as the house band as well. Sunday evening might a choice althu a round here sunday is a good day to gig as you could have 3 dates that day, 2 paid gigs and a Jam session so racking up £200 in total isn't out of the question on a sunday. This is good money and probably the only time they will beat that in terms of money earned is a sat night function gig or a session. Cover all your bases and earn money on a typical 'bad' earning day means you are under less pressure elsewhere during the week. There aren't many full time guys that can afford to miss this sort of trick, IMO.

Of course it isn't a great payer but who else is paying on those down nights... so it is better than not earning at all, but you have to get good players along as no one is going to listen to it all night if the music isn't good enough. You need a good balance which is why no one gets more than a few numbers altho the better players tend to get more time as the evening still needs to sell as an event week in, week out. If the band-leader of the house band is a booker, then it is also an opportunity to network... I'd expect the ones worth going to around here will be ones where a few gigs are on offer. Otherwise, what is the point of anyone going to them to play?