Sibob

Funk I get, it's a genre....but not into groove? That seems odd, because surely groove is present in all music?! Punk music without groove is just really crap, out of time medicore punk music for example?! Si

I've never heard Billy Jean sound so good!! Si

My votes would be for a COG 66 or an Xotic BB Bass Pre Simples Si

Interested what the 440 is like. Wish they'd re-issue the bass envelope filter. The mix control made that filter for me, but the volume drop made it unuseable live Si

Bob is equally brilliant and lovely, was teaching at Wooten Woods when I was there. Si

No way, rosewood all the way! Si

That Elwood Absolution for £750 at Bass Direct is a ridiculous bargain! Si

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1472023523' post='3117678'] As i said earlier. I've seen VW gig twice. In the first gig he was accompanied by keys as well as a guitarist and drums, and Victor played bass. Anthony W was there as bass-tech. The music was more jazz-funk and the melody and groove was strong. In the second gig it was drums, guitar, bass and VW on "lead-bass" in an almost continuous bass solo mode. So I prefered the first gig. My opinion. Others may disagree. Like many here, I like a balance in the performance, not too much fast, continuous soloing. [/quote] And this is absolutely fine, no-one is saying that one should like all of his output (or any of it), but for someone to suggest that he is in someway a worse player because his mate is also on the gig, is still silly, especially when it's proven not to be true depending on how Vic chooses to staff his band (as in the first of your examples). The other point that Nick raises above, about how he views the bass guitar is interesting. Fundamentally this is really odd to me. Bass guitar is simply an instrument, the role it plays is determined by the music and the player. I imagine that there are many many instruments that, during their infancy, were simply for accompaniment, and weren't considered solo instruments. But as the players who choose that instrument develop the voice of the instrument, it's invariably going to grow into something more. So again, my expectation of the bass guitar is not to just play the bass line, it's just a tool to make music. Perhaps my expectation of a certain player in a certain musical context is of course to just play the bass line, but that's different to having an expectation of the instrument itself. Remember that soloing is effectively also about developing a melodic and harmonic voice, that knowledge and appreciation is always going to help your bass lines, how your lines effect the harmony and chordal quality of a song etc. Practicing soloing is a great way to stretch the muscle, no-one is saying use it on every gig, or any gig, but it will only ever help you. Si

[quote name='XB26354' timestamp='1471973480' post='3117392'] No it's not. It's called an opinion and I'm just as entitled to mine as you are to yours. Ask your non-musician friends how wonderful victor backed by another bass player is and watch their eyes glaze over. It's rare for good reason and has nothing to do with <insert 2 soloing instruments of the same type here> in a band Also note that I didn't say two bass players together but one backing the other, i.e. one plays bass lines and the other makes a noise, sorry, solos soulfully... [/quote] Again, what instrument they play is irrelevant, if you ask a non-musician "do you think it's strange for one musician to backup another?", they would say "no". What you're suggesting in the way you worded your comment was that Victor is a lesser musician/bassist or diminished in someway because he chooses to play music with his friend who happens to play bass?! It's also worth noting that on that tour Anthony was the swing-guy, meaning he was playing keys, singing, bass, whatever the song needed. So whilst I agree that everyone is more than entitled to an opinion, and to ignore mine, I don't think this is a subjective subject, the idea that all bands MUST have one bass player or one drummer etc. Any given musical situation should be made up of the musicians who want to be there contributing to the conversation. And if someone doesn't agree, then they're missing out on a LOT of good music on a silly principle Si

Wow, wasn't expecting that lol Si

Absolutely, I would never say "Oh you have to like his music", because that's a ridiculous thing to say......but if you can't see past the technique and the constant focus on slap, then you're absolutely not looking hard enough. Perhaps the kind of person to say "oh there's no good rock or punk bands anymore"?! . If nothing else, look at his achievements with education, his mastery of rhythm in general etc. For me, there is absolutely no comparison with Mark King, well, other than they can both slap well. It's also equally ridiculous to say "a bass player who needs a bass player is in trouble" (as mentioned by someone above)......they're musicians first.....they're best friends....what instrument they play is irrelevant, they want to play together. As long as they understand that they need to occupy different sonic space, who cares that they both play bass?! Also, <select super popular guitarist> is rubbish because there's multiple guitarists in their band Si

Virgin has decided that BBC 4 won't load.....so I guess I'll wait for iplayer 😒 Si

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1471900997' post='3116897'] Mrs G and I went to his recent London gig. It was the second time we'd been to see him. This time we had a treat to see Janek Gwizdala on stage with him; both in a dual for the lead role, with Anthony Wellington in the background playing the traditional bass line role. That was all impressive stuff. But quite frankly it was very self-indulgent in our opinion. We left early as we simply felt we'd seen it all before. In the morning I wrote to Anthony Wellington and told him we really enjoyed his playing. Just felt I wanted to let the guy know that while he may have played 2nd fidle it was his playing we liked best. I got a really nice reply from him too. [/quote] But I'd argue that any solo (or certainly 90% of them), are self indulgent. But also, why would that be a bad thing? Essentially you're watching a conversation between two people, what they're saying to each other needs to be fun for them and them only, that's the creative imperative! Now if it was Anythony soloing (which he does a lot) and Victor playing the bass role, presumably it would be Victor you were emailing? Si

An amazing player with a mastery of rhythm that many of us will only dream of attaining. I don't particularly listen to much of his firework/music show playing, as that's just what it is, a display. He knows that and is the first to admit it, but it's part of the job of a musician....tap into what revenue streams present themselves. Love his playing with Bela, it's also nice to hear him in a more 'standard' role like on Indie Arie's 'Summer'. And if you want his more sensitive side, check out his Bass Day '98 (I think) rendition of Arie's Eyes. He's also an incredible educator, watch his Groove Workshop DVD, eye opening and the reason why I then went to one of his Music/Nature camps in Nashville a couple of years ago. So again, I don't really slap much (no call for it generally), I'm not easily impressed by firework playing......but he is a bloody brilliant bass player and human! Si

Yeah I use my VB-2 on bass, but on an extreme setting. It's only really useable in my math-rock instrumental trio.....doesn't go down so well with the wedding bands lol Si

[quote name='Cairobill' timestamp='1471531395' post='3113742'] Yup - I tried a very nice JO skyline years ago that was very high quality. But I played a US DJ4 recently that was just outrageously good. Really, quite ridiculously good [/quote] How did they differ? Just in setup? Si

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1471461225' post='3113252'] Have the Saffire interfaces been discontinued? Shop stock seems heavily discounted at the moment, and the only Focusrite website only shows the Clarett range - which is twice the price of the USB alternative! [/quote] That's odd that you can't see them, they're very much listed on the website here: [url="https://uk.focusrite.com/firewire-audio-interfaces"]https://uk.focusrite...udio-interfaces[/url] The Saffire Pro14, Pro24, Pro24DSP & LS56 are currently discontinued. Pro40 & Pro26 are still current products Si // Focusrite Technical Support

This is why the D'addario tension chart is incredibly helpful. Say you used a particular set of D'addario round wound strings, find their tension on their chart, then match the tension (if that is the deciding factor) to the set of flats you want. If you're more bothered about gauge than tension, this exercise will still be helpful, but simply let you know whether you'll need to set the bass up within your new strings (truss rod etc). For example, I was using Newtone Steel 50-110 strings on my P-bass, now I know these won't be exactly the same tension as D'addario Pro Steel 50-110, but they'll be pretty close I wager. So I picked a Chromes set that matched (or as close as damnit) the tension. I wasn't bothered about gauge, so I ended up with the 45-100 Chromes as a fairly close match. What that meant for me is that I haven't had to setup my '71 P, they don't feel any tighter than the previous rounds I had on, and I'm very happy Si

Literally all you're going to get here is a collection of members suggesting the amp that they use, or at best, what they think sounds good with the cab (obviously completely subjective) Try a few, buy them second hand, sell at no/little loss if you're not keen, and pick the one that sounds best to you. But to stick with convention, I use either a Markbass LMK2 or LMK800 with my Barefaced cabs and they sound great. Now ignore me and go try some amps Si

It certainly is the case that if you use other USB devices, in order to maximise the resource, you'd likely want to keep your audio away from the the USB bus, luckily you have options in that you have both Firewire & Thunderbolt. Whilst I respect the above comment about Firewire over Thunderbolt via an adapter, in our (Focusrite) experience, our Saffire units work perfectly well over Thunderbolt via an adapter. With regards to Thunderbolt Vs Firewire, you will likely always find yourself with lower latency with a Thunderbolt interface as it's essentially capable of operating at PCIe connection speeds, it other words, it's currently the fastest available connection for audio. If I was in your shoes, based on what Mac you have, and that you likely want to stay away from USB, I would look at a Thunderbolt interface. Of course I'd like to recommend our Clarett range, but of course there are other brands available On a slightly different note, if anyone is interested in a slightly easier to digest analogy for USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0 (and why they haven't really been adopted by interface manufacturers yet), I wrote one here: [url="https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/208095469-USB-2-0-vs-USB-3-0"]https://support.focu...-2-0-vs-USB-3-0[/url] Si // Focusrite Technical Support

I found the tension of my Newtone 50-110 roundwounds to be comparable (not exacty the same) as a set of 45-100 D'addario Chromes (which I absolutely love). So not an exact test but gives you a ballpark idea. I don't find the Chromes overly tight at all very playable for me. I've had Rotosounds previously and just felt them to tight. That said I use the lighter guage Chromes I imagine the heavier tension Chromes are pretty tight. Si p.s. Terrible grammer is because I've literally just discovered that the comma key on my keyboard is broken lol