Muzz

I think it is, like pretty much everything involved with reproducing sound on a larger scale, down to EQ. Even well EQ'd, inears can be isolating unless the often-overlooked stage/room mic is added in, so the sound of the stage can open up the 'closed in' feeling of inears. A good system will allow individual monitor mixes for each person (often on a phone), and you can play with it from there, but if your bass doesn't sound the same in your ears, then it needs EQ-ing to suit. It's similar to when switching from coloured cabs to flatter-response ones - the amp/preamp needs tweaking to compensate for the lack of colouration... Our sub (which as I mentioned above will fill a 150+ room) is a small 12", a simple one-man lift, and less hassle than a bass cab, considering it's for the whole band...

Slightly off the FRFR route, but definitely in the 'easy carry monitoring' area, I've had all my tones coming from my Helix for a few years now, so even when I've used 'proper' backline (not done that for literally years, btw, other than house rigs) the amp's set pretty flat, and the Helix sends direct to the PA and to my monitoring/backline in parallel. If you're using a capable PA (and the modern stuff is very capable, even if it's the band's for a pub gig - two tops and a small 12" sub will kill even in a biggish rooom), then the heavy/FoH lifting will be done by the PA. Sooooo....not FRFR, but I use a small 12 combo (a Rumble, with a 'proper' Eminence in it), cut all the bass out and leave it pretty much flat, put it on a stand that points it at my head, and, what with the PA/sub doing the bottom end, it sounds just fine...combo weighs about 20lbs, the rest is just bits and bobs...

Not since school, but more or less every town has a cricket green/ground and a clubhouse...coincidentally we played for a friend's wedding at a local cricket club Satdy evening, and when we arrived the car park was rammed full because the match was still going...it calmed down later, and there was room for all the guests once the cricket crowd had dispersed...

I used to love it when my Mum came to my gigs, too... 😀

It's a really, really good small venue in the city centre...and yes, it's in the old Deaf Institute* building... * Actually kinda worse than that: it's in the Adult Deaf & Dumb Institute building...

It's always handy to have Eye Of The Tiger ready to go in these circumstances...

Now look what you've done - I've emailed Jon Shuker... 🤪 🙂

For that sort of money I'll be speaking to Jon Shuker about a chambered headless, to be honest (perhaps one of his Superleggeras)...which I may yet do...although I'll have to sell something to do it... 🙁🙂

Close, but no banana: 3.4kg = heavier than the Quantum I have now, unfortunately...I quite like that, tho...those pickups look very like the ones in the BX-1, too

Ohhhh, an ebony board on a black P? I like that... 🙂

Elixirs: all of the zing, very little finger-shredding... 🙂

The first four are all 7lbs or more, but I'll have a look at the Rail (which is even more, erm, challenging than the others...Riverheads are very rare and, I suspect, expensive because of that 'made of Unobtainium' thing... Thanks for the suggestions, tho... 👍 Hmmmm, Sweetwater (as an example) have one of those EHB1000S's at 6lbs 9oz (the Multiscales are all 5s, not for me)...interesting...

Hokay, so I'm in a couple of bands right now, plus doing a weekly Jam Night, and so I'm looking for something small and light to ease the load of three gigs a week (sometimes four) - I started down the road with a Hondo Alien short scale headless*, just to see if I could get on with the whole minimalist body thing, and while that one wasn't a very good bass, it proved a point, so I've moved it on for a Westone Quantum, which is a medium scale headless and a league above in terms of quality (once my local tech Matt Ryan had given it a good fret dress and setup). It's a good size, and easy in terms of logistics, the only issue being it's surprisingly heavy for a medium scale headless at pushing 7lbs 3oz. Soooo (and to get to the point), any suggestions for anything small and headless (not one of those Wing things, mind) that'd come in around/under the 6lbs mark, but would still be a quality bass? I could push the budget towards a grand for the right bass, and as I say a medium scale would be good (I've just got my sweet spot for string tension sorted with D'Addario Balanced Tension strings, which have a .120 E), but I suppose I could have another run around the short scale/tension hoohah if necessary... I've just looked at a Yamaha BX1, which, while undoubtedly a quality bass (and I love a Yamaha), is a 34" scale and weighs more than the Westone...shame, as I rather liked them... * And also for something small and bolt-on to get onto a Ryanair flight for some gigs in Italy, which unfortunately haven't panned out...

I've used my Fenderbird in the covers/function band (usually chosen in an eeeny-meeny-miney-mo way just as I'm setting off) for all sorts of stuff from Luther Vandross slappity to pop and rock...I had to hoick it up a notch on the strap for the slappity, tho...but that's more about where I had it slung, at Pete Way-regulation hip-height... 🙂

Having tried/owned most of the top end stuff (Wals, Alembics, yadda yadda), I've never come into contact with a Fodera, so, yeah, one of those - just to see what all the fuss/money is about...as far as vintage goes, I've had enough of them to know they're a crapshoot when it comes to the actual bass; like most mass-produced instruments, there's good ones and bad ones from every year...

Three gigs in two days for the very busy band I'm in - two pubs and an open air festival in between...which was freezing cold, the worst onstage sound I've heard in decades (I was just DI'd, but it wasn't just me - there was one sound guy and just a line check), but apparently out front it sounded (like the other bands did ) OK. Left the house at 3pm, got in at 1:45 this morning, knackered... On the upside (I was at the Physio Friday for a neck injury), the 80s headless bass was nice and light and very easy to play with, and I've got it sounding good now. My gigging rig* is pared down to the lightest, most easily transported kit that still brings all I need, which helps an awful lot. * Helix into Fender Rumble 12 (with 'proper' Eminence 12 in it) on a raised stand for stage monitoring - all the bottom end dialled out - and DI taken straight from the Helix, the PA does the heavy lifting. Easy.

I had a late-70s Jazz come into my possession a while back, I sold it for a daft amount of money (or so I thought at the time; it'd be three times that now), but it was a dreadful instrument; it weighed a ton (over 11lbs), played like a dead lump and sounded like it, too. But it was in very very good condition, had the original ashtrays, case and candy, etc...that one I can only hope is hanging on a wall somewhere as a conversation piece, otherwise someone's getting a bad back and a terrible sound just on principle...

Yes, it's the way I did it...well, without anyone else, really...my point was, though, that going to college to study music can't do any harm; an artist can be an artist from any background...

Let's not forget what Les McQueen said about the whole thing...and that hasn't changed from Day 1...

Having many more younger students studying popular music (as opposed to when I wanted to go to Uni/College to study music, and was told 'Bass? Ummm, no, we don't teach that...perhaps cello? Same number of strings?') and developing their skills can only be a good thing; great musicianship and artistry are not mutually exclusive. There's still a lot of younger musicians out there playing original music (being 'artists' if you like)...you just have to leave the house occasionally: trawling through the internet means trawling through the absolute tsunami of songs uploaded every day (conservatively estimated to be around 50,000 PER DAY*), and yes, a lot of those will be electronically produced, because it's easier to write and record in a largely digital manner in your bedroom, click Upload and move on to the next one than it is to get a band together, rehearse, set up gigs and tours, etc, but the fact remains there's still a vibrant gig scene of new music out there. Live music has an energy that no streaming service can reproduce, and this still has all the appeal it ever did for kids. * With those sort of numbers, how many of the 'greats' might've come and gone unnoticed if they'd started out today?

I go to a lot of small gigs (I've mentioned elsewhere my preference for a band I've never heard of rather than a stadium of well-knowns...and not just for the money reasons), and there's lots and lots of kids out there making music with guitars and basses and real drums. The internet might lend itself to the more electronic ways of making music, but there's still a very vibrant live scene...if you're prepared to go out and attend it...I also know and play with a lot of kids who are doing music degrees, and the majority of them want to get onto a stage and do it live...and they do. And yes, most of them are very, very good players; three or four years in music college will do that...it's very annoying... 🙂

I co-host a weekly jam night, and there's many more younger bassists than older ones; in fact there's only two of us gimmers there regularly, everyone else is under 30... I also go and see a decent amount of small bands (I'd soooo much rather see a band I've never heard of in a small club for a tenner than fork out fifty quid or (much) more go to a horrible-sounding enormodome to watch some bigger names), and the vast majority of bassists there are kids*... * i.e. half my age...which is getting easier and easier to be these days...

It must be true: if you fart at the urinals at 852Hz, someone will always say 'Better out than in'...

Coronated with a Coronado? I'd pay to see that... 🙂