JTUK

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1432420224' post='2781384'] Great bass player. Can't cope with the band. [/quote] He is great in Muse... depends what he could play outside of that band. Many many bass players ( and other players, come to that ) that find their perfect niche in a successful band may be pretty one dimensional outside it. Maybe they wont care as they have more money than they could ever spend but their skill may not transfer at all... just sayin'

[quote name='VTypeV4' timestamp='1432511338' post='2782252'] My SWR boxes are the lightest cabs I've owned although I 'heavied' them up a little by re-installing the O/E ceramic magnet PAS drivers in place of the Eminence Deltalites they came with. They're still lighter than the Peavey 210 owned by a mate. Winner! To be fair, I borrowed said 210TVX and it was great with my old 400SMX.. To my knowledge, the BW they used for that was the 1502DT variant which was unique to the bass guitar cabs / amps. A lovely driver, I think it was designed to be a little EVM-L / JBL style.. [/quote] I far preferred the PAS drivers in the Goliaths but I couldn't get the PAS units reconed so I put Eminence 2510's in them..and just didn't like the cabs anymore... Altho they say the recone kits are available in the U.S... I couldn't get anyone to do it over here.

I don't know anything about the band but the money clip was good...altho you do wonder how much of it was for the cameras. Not disputing the sum mentioned, but why mention it for public consumption...?

Love the young drummer.... great left hand

[quote name='largo' timestamp='1432018448' post='2777205'] In my gigging experience with 4 & 5-piece Rock/pop covers bands I've never found a 2x10 to be enough. 2x12 are fine. I've tried 15s that claim to sound like 4x10s, 12s that claim to sound like 4x10s and guess what I'm back to using? 4x10 or more like two 2x10s. You can't go wrong with a 4x10 in my opinion. [/quote] Kind of agree. especially as the OP doesn't seem to have a wide experience of cabs. A 410 or 212 will be the cheaper options..second hand, as lightweight in 2x210 and 2x112 tend to carry a premium You might find a 115 satisfies your needs but I'd keep an eye out for SH but not hammered old stuff...depends on your budget

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1432467498' post='2781687'] Most definately! I did say that in my post as well but maybe didn't make it as clear as I should. Frank. [/quote] You did indeed,

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1432411703' post='2781277'] I for one enjoy Bill's posts and he's welcome here as far as I'm concerned. .............. [/quote] I agree, he has good knowledge and is very useful suggesting typical chassis replacement which is indicative of his general knowledge of various speakers gained over the years. Havings said that, VJ's perspective from the top end of the playing scale is a great resource as well. IMO

I'll only do it once.... and there are definitely places I'd target to play, and wouldn't be interested in playing. Most pubs aren't suitable for bands anyway,... so I tend to pick them carefully. For functions and parties, we tell the organiser how much space we'll need, and talk access and load-in etc and if particularly difficult, we'll ask for help to be provided. Admittedly, it is harder to turn down a venue than it is a pub....not least because of the money.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1432195527' post='2778989'] Reggae is easy; play less and never go above the fourth fret. What is interesting is that almost all of the above posts reference difficulties with techniques that are practically useless Fopr instance, I don't slap particularly well and double thumbing is weak. The reason for this is primarily that, whilst the techniques in question undoubtedly turn heads, I DON'T LIKE THE MUSIC THAT IS PLAYED USING THEM AND NEVER PLAY THE MUSIC THAT IS PLAYED USING THEM. So, in short, the techniques are of no real use to me. Hence, I do not practice them, hence, I am not very good at them. When I was a fledgling bass player, I learned lots of the required party pieces that use odd techniques (5G by Jeff Berlin, Schooldays by Stanley Clarke, Motherlode by Berlin, Country Music by Stu Hamm etc). I also learned to play Pat Metheny's 'Are You Going With Me' as a two-handed extravaganza. As I moved on, however, I realised that these techniques are pretty much peripheral to the world of music making. I suspect the above list of 'difficulties' reflects that fact that most of the things we have 'difficulties' with are not bass playing but party tricks. [/quote] Not really.... if I've spent time on them, they'll go in somewhere, sometime. The trick is to know when and where, IMO..

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1432286770' post='2779989'] I think there certainly is now! To be fair, BFM's comment about being as good as "anybody" was a bit inflammatory given the present company... But this is turing into a bit of a willy-waving contest, isn't it? [/quote] Well, BFM did kind of ask for it, posting that... and tbf, VJ's all over youtube so it is kind of out there for all to see, anyway. Obviously, some people get lucky in a professional environment and they might never really have the skill-set to play for anyone else..or certainly not as a polular sideman but you don't get lucky as a 1st call. Another thing... it is always cool to get the drummer liking what you do. That way, if you hit it off, then you can be regarded as a pair and you both recommend each other on the gig as you know you compliment each other, I did a BB King Tribute gig last night and it was good to get nice things said from 3 drummers...

Sad

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1432023867' post='2777268'] Your point is valid, though. In the 80s and 90s, after studying for years and successfully learning things like Jeff Berlin's stuff on Joe Frazier, his intro to Bruford's Five G, Donna Lee, Portrait of Tracy, Teen Town, Achool Days, Stu Hamm's Country etc, I always operated on the belief that everything was learnable given enough time and attention. I still believe that is the case broadly speaking but, over the years, I have met and played (one gig mostly) with some astonishing musicians and I really got a sense that there is a whoie 'nother level that cannot be reached by rote learning but which requires 'insight' as well as 'knowledge' and 'motor skills'. The problem, as I see it, is that, in order to develop this additional insight and to move up to that level, you need total immersion in the genres in question; Jazz in my case but I have no doubt that the same applies to other genres like classical etc. My three hours playing a week isn't going to get me there, [/quote] I do think the limiter is what you hear and how you hear it rather than not having enough time to put into things.. The more proficient you get, the better the touch feel and nuances of your playing you get, but if you can't 'hear' something a certain way..the only way you'll come up with that something is to copy it... Some people have way 'better' ears and that takes them further. So you can take two people who have both put 10,000 hrs in and their playing could be worlds apart.. IMO

Play very clean and if your fretting hand is precise you'll come off the string without it ringing.. Play clean and precise with you right hand and you'll not hit a ringing string... Mute left hand but return your right hand plucking fingers always back on to the string... unless you need/want to leave the string in sustain..

Depends how you try and fret those 5ths undeneath... I always advocate an individual fretting action with a fretting finger rather than barring, for example My current bugger is how to pay a fast triplet run, based around double thumbing..? Do I want thumb, finger 1 finger 2... which is ok speed-wise and smoothness, up to a point, or do I want to hash it, with various hammer ons so whatever two real actions you use, one of the three will be a hammer-on..?? I know all versions will work at speed but I can't say I have any of them off as well as I'd like to be able to use in context

To be a rounded dep, you are going to have to be able to play all sorts... So, you need to know your way round standard blues changes... shuffles, swing etc .. You need all the RnB Blues Bros type numbers, so bone up on Stax, Motown and Atlantic output. You'll need standard 60's from Buddy Holly through to Beatles....and then a few of the rockier numbers that survived..which there are quite a few. Jazz standards...inc the funk jaunts of Herbie Hancock, and then the old stuff like Nightingale, Valentine etc .. Disco, including Chic and all the one hit wonders. 60's 70's 80's 90's rock..and throw in a few modern ones too. If you have all that... you'll have way over a hundred that you can pretty well busk... Do them in a few keys as well, so learn to transpose on the fly... and train your ear so you can get through a song, by hearing the changes without ever having played the song. and then bone-up on your reading as once you have this repetoire, you're going to get reading gigs ...and you need to be able to make sense of a chart. It is all about the guys trusting you to be prepared, so fail to prepare and you're prepared to fail. Most guys wont tolerate a major blow-out simple because a lot of them don't have to..there is always someone else...

But seriously, I've not known my light TH500 to move, tbh, when I use it.

I just use a heavy amp...

My first port of call these days...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1431963120' post='2776652'] Does your need for tone outweigh your need for reasonable price? I'd suggest looking Bergantino, Barefaced and Vanderkley, and there are 2 Baer cabs in the classifieds. These might exceed your budget a little, but are all excellent cabs for tone. Might be worth stretching the budget a little? [/quote] Definitely the Baers...gutted I had already committed elsewhere. I'd PM him and see what he has in mind..??

Hi Matt. excellent, yes, all good here...and you? Great full sound for vox thru the Bins and tops. Singers loved them. Big heavy cabs tho....

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1431951994' post='2776486'] Which I think in most cases would be "practice". I had a couple of top class musician acquaintances over the years and what marked them out was their obsessiveness about [b][i]playing the instrument [/i][/b]rather than on gear[b][i].[/i][/b] [/quote] In the earlier years, I'd agree, but they then also get access to the best ears around and because the ante is raised so much more, they become very attuned and educated in regards to sound. Either they do this... because they can and want to and are able to take it onboard, or they get to pay/work with the best who do it for them. Either way, it gets covered as they aren't much use without it. Nobody hires a bass player with a poor sound..or anyone else for that matter, IMO.

I ran K140 and D140's in a 4560 bin with some tops with bass and the sound was huge... Not the bass sound that you'd be able to use, mind, but good fun at the time.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1431945049' post='2776374'] I just read in a post that experience doesn't equal evidence. We do get some BS posted here, don't we! My AE112 cabs were the best sounding cabs I'd used up to that point. I have switched to a CN212 (one bit of GAS I did suffer from) but not because the AE112's were bad in any way. Those AE cabs were a great sound and I got compliments on many, many gigs and from most of the guys I played with. But apparently none of that counts! [/quote] I always got the most compliments from Bass players from the AE112's. Maybe they didn't think cabs that small could put out the sound they did...and maybe they weren't familiar with the name, but I can vouch for a par of AE's and a Thunderfunk really putting it out there and people commenting on the sound afterwards. I would probably say the CN cabs are an upgrade, all things considered, but not one I would consider worth the money I'd have to spend to do so.

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1431874621' post='2775757'] The way I see it "elite" players are operating under an entirely different set of circumstances to the average amateur small/medium venue player. A top pro playing a concert/recording session/tv studio/whatever gig is going to be close miked and/or DIed with his gear running at tickover levels that only has to be good enough to get a decent sound to a mic a few inches away, he hears himself through monitors, the audience hear him through the desk where the sound has been massaged by an expert sound engineer using top grade signal processing gear. We amateurs on the other hand need our gear to operate at high SPLs, to have good projection and dispersion characteristics, and in most case be the sole source of the sound for our instrument for ourselves, our band mates and the audience. So thats why I value sound/tone/gear advise more from my fellow amateurs more than that from the pros, its why I buy I gear (specifically speakers) design by and for amateur players like me who face varied and demanding acoustic situations. [/quote] ok.............. but I think if you want to sound like the 'pro's' you have to adopt more of what they do, so the considerations they have to contend with, and spent years building on,.should become ours..?? And the other thing is that your fav bass player might have pretty much worked one theme all his career, so in that sense, they are a one trick pony. When you get to 1st call status at a top level, your 'thing' has become pretty much universally well regarded and people hire you be cause of that..