Oomo

Noticed they also have the Fender American Vintage II 1966 Jazz Bass for lefties too (as well the the American pro II). No idea about how it differs though to be honest.

2 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

There are tricks you can use to squeeze extra volume out though. Filter the deepest bass with an HPF, https://www.talkbass.com/wiki/high-pass-and-low-pass-filters/, use a compressor/limiter to protect the speaker against any peaks or just turn down the bass on the eq.

Always a good idea I think - I've definitely noticed a difference doing that even on the PBJ I use. My basic signal chain is tuner->Empress compressor->preamp->Broughton HPF/LPF, and pretty happy with it overall.

On 05/12/2022 at 23:44, Dad3353 said:

 

There's no money now in 'roll out the barrel' joanna-playing in pubs, either, or tap-dancing. The Wheel of Life has turned, and with turn further. It's not that I rejoice in any of it (I earned very little when I was playing professionally, which is why I had a day job and career...), it's only a factor of modern life, that's all. Farm labourers used to be everywhere, then tractors became a 'thing', and the jobs went. Not much call for miners now, either. I used to help out on a milk round, and baker's delivery; papers were delivered to the door by kids  bearing huge satchels of morning press. If any of that exists still, somewhere, it's now rare. One adapts (or not...) and Life goes on.

Reminds me of talking to an older traditional Irish musician I met some years ago.

He talked about how when he was young, there was no recorded music in the small village he lived in, so most people there played something . Musicians were welcome in every pub, and anytime there was a party or event (like the end of harvest season), all the music would be provided by local musicians playing live.

He's still in the same village now, and says that music at pubs and parties is now pretty much all just played from CDs/streaming etc. He thinks it's a bit of a shame, but was fairly zen about it, and figured that what people really want is to listen to music and dance and sing (which he says hasn't changed over the years), but when it comes down to it, they don't care so much where the music comes from (live vs. recorded vs. CD vs. streaming etc.) as long as they can still socialise and dance.

2 hours ago, Owno said:

Edit: I just noticed that you use a PJB combo right now. Why don't get yourself a Bass Cub 120 or  a Phil Jones Brief Case combo if you like the sound you get from your current amp? There is  always the possibility of adding extension cabinets to those combos, right?

I'd considered that, but wasn't sure it'd be enough of a step up from the PJB combo I've already got compared to some of the other options. I mostly use the PJB double four for convenience, its sound is great, but not something I'm particularly attached to or aiming for (I'm definitely going more for convenience that any particular tone, since this is just for practice/jamming rather than gigging).

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Both the Barefaced 1x10 and the GR Bass Aero 1x10 look like they have the right combination of sound/volume/portability.

Will do some more research on each of those... So far the GR seems to be lighter, but the BF seems to get more positive reviews from people, but that's just what I found after ~5mins of googling

34 minutes ago, Woodwind said:

I'm sure you'll get a fair few recommendations for a barefaced one10 and a micro head like a Trace Elliot Elf.

 

Undoubtedly this will be a step up in volume and air moved over the double 4, but it will be a more coloured sound (which may or may not be to your liking).

 

I may be inclined to go for a bigger cabinet with a sound more akin to the double 4 and find a way to wheel it around, a folding trolley for example. You're future proofing yourself with this in a way that perhaps a one10 wouldn't. Again, open to debate.

Thanks, will take a look at those too.

I hadn't actually considered going down the trolley route for transport, I'll have a think on that too (double 4 has always been stashed nicely in a rucksack or held with one arm).

I've been using a PJB double 4 for when I've been trekking across London to play with a friend. The journey takes about 1h, and involves a mix of trains/tube (or bus occasionally).

So far it's been perfect, and easy enough to carry along with my bass.

There's a chance we'll be joined by a drummer/guitar soon, so expect the PJB will no longer cut it. Question is whether there's anything more powerful that also has at least a reasonable chance of being transportable using public transport?

Not so worried about cost if there's something fantastic out there, and willing to compromise on sound quality for convenience/portability - just needs to be loud enough to not get drowned out by other instruments (drummer/guitar aren't crazy loud or anything).

Another contributing factor I've noticed is that checking out gear is something I can do when I can't play.

E.g. travelling to/from work, checking forums during lunch breaks, watching review videos while cooking, etc.

If I had more time I'd be far too busy playing/practicing to worry about acquiring more gear (at least that's what I keep telling myself ).

There's also something to be said for learning more from a greater variety of tools/basses/equipment etc.

E.g. learning how different pickup combinations sound, how different neck profiles feel, how amps respond to active/passive basses, learning how different effects work, learning how compressors respond, etc.

I've always learnt something new from each piece of gear I've used, so even if I've sold it afterwards, I always feel I've gained something.

Now I'm really regretting not picking up one of those lefty ACGs that were up for sale a while back...

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

Some of the US brands also has a very distinctive core tone, if you want a Sadowsky sound you probably need a Sadowsky. If you want the Ken Smith thing, buy a Ken smith etc...

That's a really great point. If someone mentions some of those US builders, I can instantly picture a tone and look for the basses.

For a lot of UK makers, some have distinctive looks, but I can't really say what any of them sound like without video/audio clips.

Ah, how could I forget Wal...for some reason I keep thinking they're based in the US...

30 minutes ago, GBH said:

Mike Walsh at Zoot bass springs to mind. 

Wow, lovely basses, hadn't seen those before!

Just wondering who the top bass builders in the UK are considered too be these days? E.g. the UK equivalents at a similar level to Sadowsky, Alembic, MTD, Fodera etc., i.e. high quality non-mass produced instruments that are much in demand.

Mostly just out of curiosity - it dawned on me that I really don't know much about UK builders at all...

The only names that sprang to mind were ACG up in Scotland, and Wilcock down in London.

As a lefty, was so nice to see someone playing upright bass left handed.

I've always wanted to give it a try, but been a bit put off by the lack of lefty uprights, and the number of people telling me to suck it up and learn right handed.

So the more people get used to seeing left handed uprights the better 😁

Decided to treat myself to a short scale bass about a year ago, so got in touch with https://www.wilcocklondon.com/ to ask if he'd make basses for lefties, and turns out that he did... So after a bit of wait and choosing specs (alder body with sherwood green finish, roasted maple neck with rosewood fretboard), it finally arrived.

Looks and sounds fantastic so far, surprising versatile range of sounds, considering its simplicity (passive, 3-way pickup toggle, tone and volume controls).

https://www.ehx.com/products/superego-plus/

Being able to freeze chords/sounds is really fun, especially for creating backdrops to build more sounds on top of.

23 minutes ago, WinterMute said:

Audient iD44 is excellent, but the Volt 4 by UA is very good as well, as is the Apollo X4 if you want to spend some serious cash...

Thanks, will check those out too.

The Apollo X4 looks great...but looks like it costs more than my bass and amp put together

2 minutes ago, chyc said:

Ah, I see now, they're on the back. Line in technically doesn't need any gain, because it's receiving stuff at a standard line level. Your keyboard may well have a line-out option so you may just get away with the Motu for your needs.

I'm far more used to the simplicity of basses/amps - plug in instrument cable, sound comes out I definitely need to read up on line level outputs, balanced vs. unbalanced, hi/low impedance, etc. etc.

2 minutes ago, chyc said:

That looks to only have two analogue inputs, unless I'm missing something obvious.

Hmm... I was going by the specs page at: https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/specs/

It said it has:

Mic/line/guitar: 2x XLR/TRS "combo jack" mic/line/Hi-Z guitar inputs Independent preamp gain, 48V phantom power and monitor switch for each input

Analog inputs: 2x 1/4" line in

So I thought bass and mic in the front inputs, and keyboard in the back one? Though I mostly have no idea what I'm doing, so just starting my research on this

But there's also no gain control for the inputs on the back... so maybe I need to check again...

9 minutes ago, chyc said:

with that said I can recommend the iD44

Thanks, will check that out also.

On my list to look at was also https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/. It seems to get decent reviews and hopefully cover some of the bases.

4 minutes ago, chyc said:

If it's the SSL2+ rather then the SSL2 then it should have two MIDI I/O sockets at the back.

Good spot, it does indeed. That takes care of midi then

Only thing I'm really missing then is a 3rd audio input for the keyboard output (when not sending midi signals).

I'm a bit lazy when it comes to audio setup, so would be great to have mic/bass/keyboard/etc. plugged into an interface all the time, and be able to record and listen to input via headphones, without having to unplug one and plug in another each time I want to swap between things. Separate gain control for each input is really nice too.

I'm not much of a home recorder, but have been using an SSL2+ for recording bass and a powered mic (it's also useful for skype lessons).

I'd like to also start adding some keyboard/synth to the mix, so would like something a bit like the SSL2+, but which also lets me record from a keyboard, and also have midi inputs.

Some requirements I can think of:

* phantom power for mic

* bass input (obviously...) - I know some have impedance switches for this, but that's beyond my knowledge

* keyboard/other audio input

* midi input

* USB-C connector (mostly connect to a Mac laptop which only has USB-C)

* headphone output (I use the SSL2+'s headphone out for silent practice a lot)

* gain controls for the different inputs

No particular budget in mind, happy to pay more for something quality, but I don't need a top end studio quality interface.

Any ideas/suggestions to look into? I'm pretty clueless when it comes to all this stuff I'm afraid (the SSL2+ was from a friend that wasn't using it, seems great, but only has 2 inputs).

Maybe there's also some other approach that means I don't have to replace the SSL2+?

London feels pretty safe in general, a few areas a bit dodgier than others (like any city), but late night public transport is busy enough that you'll never feel isolated/alone. I know plenty of people that gig regularly and get trains/night buses late at night without any issues.

Plus most thefts seem to be high value items that are easy to shift, laptops, phones, electric bikes etc., big heavy things like basses/amps are much less likely to be a target.

19 minutes ago, nekomatic said:

Derail but… that would be all the iPhones from the 5s (being generous and assuming Jobs’s influence took a year or two to wear off) to the 14? Are you sure?

Well maybe I'm being a bit unfair. I'm just going by some friends that upgrade their iPhone pretty much every single time a new model is available, and they all look pretty much the same to me. I guess they get a bit faster and cameras get better, but I've never seen anything that looked massively different from the previous model.

Though maybe there's not that much innovation left in phones...