Muzz

PM'd about those pups mate...I'll have 'em.

I was particularly impressed by Bevery Knight's bassist playing the lines on a keyboard, with an entirely redundant bass slung round his neck*. I'd have thought he could've saved some back strain with a simple t-shirt that said "I might be playing the bass line on a keyboard, but I can play a real bass, honest". I could be reading this all wrong, however, and it could be the first emergence of a new craze in very heavy and unweildy wood-and-metal jewellery... * Even BigRedX wouldn't object to a Fender being used like that, I'd hazard. Although it'd have to be a light one...

[quote name='Jakester' post='1243928' date='May 25 2011, 09:41 AM']I think this should be qualified - a well set up, playable and great sounding instrument will make you want to play more than an unplayable dog that sounds crap and requires gymnastic finger contortions.[/quote] True, but where in the quote you're quoting did it say that 'a well set up, playable and great sounding instrument' means an expensive instrument? Sometimes, it's got very little to do with money. Clearly the OP isn't putting his Ric in this category, as it isn't making him want to play it. I agree completely about amps, but 'bang for buck' in basses is much more prevalent down the bottom end of the (especially secondhand) market - look at what you can get a secondhand Warwick for these days - you may not like the brand for any number of reasons, but the build quality is fantastic.

[quote name='Musicman20' post='1236861' date='May 19 2011, 12:51 PM']I dont understand why Markbass is so much cheaper in the USA, when the come from Italy?! Surely the UK should be able to sell them a little cheaper.[/quote] In my experience, the only difference between the US and UK models is the little 110/240 jumper inside...OK, it was a bum-clenching moment plugging a US LMIII in and switching it on for the first time, but it worked just fine. And cost nearly half the price.

Well, amp-wise, I've been GAS-free for a year or so now with the RH450/1515L, and I haven't played a bass in a long time which made me think "Ooooh, gotta have that". Still idly contemplating a YOB bass, but that's pie-in-the-sky, 64-Precision-with-a-maple-board stuff, i.e. lottery win time. Since I realised that I'm never gonna get one bass to do everything I want, I'm more than happy with my Franken-Ps and Fortress. Haven't touched the Ray or the Jazz in a while, might get round to moving them on, but prices at the moment suggest I'll be better holding onto them for a while yet. That said, I've a couple of project builds I'm dying to finish, with a wenge/ebony Warmoth neck and a pair of Thumpers... On a slightly unrelated topic, it's been a year since I had to sell my motorbike, and it's the first year in 29 I haven't had one, so I'm very very surprised that I don't miss it at all.

[quote name='Clarky' post='1236879' date='May 19 2011, 01:09 PM'][url="http://www.normansrareguitars.com/fender-1964-precision-bass.html"]http://www.normansrareguitars.com/fender-1...ision-bass.html[/url] [/quote] Y'see, for a bloke with 25+ years in the IT industry, sometimes my grasp of the technology is just...cack. How did I miss that one? The phrase 'very rare maple' might be an indicator, though. At $12500, mind, it'll be staying in the States with Norman. In Tarzana, Ca. If ever there was a made-up placename, that's it.

OK, so I've long had GAS for a Year Of Birth bass, and it'd be a Precision, but it'd really need to be a maple board. From 1964. Does such a puppy exist? Any Fender experts out there care to elucidate? Ta, Muzz

Bumping this one from page 4 already(!)

Never played with him, and given the less-than-stellar intro from the singer (who admitted he's had to take what he can get drummer-wise at short notice), I'm approaching this whole gig from the perspective that I'm not gonna get much help from the stool at the back* - hence the query: I really don't want to have to busk this one if the drummer's not on song. * 'Stool at the back' - new slang for drummer?

[quote name='chrisd24' post='1235396' date='May 18 2011, 11:04 AM']Same here.[/quote] Yeah, that's kinda the issue, though - it just doesn't sound good at all. Am I just going to have to roll all the tone off, play near the neck and glare at the drummer the whole time?

[quote name='chrisd24' post='1235359' date='May 18 2011, 10:42 AM']I play this in an Irish band I'm in,what key are you doing it in?[/quote] For authenticity's sake, it's D-B-G, as per the PS I Love You soundtrack, and Gerard Butler's definitive version.

Yep, I'd echo the above about horses for courses - the first time I tried TC stuff, I didn't like it at all, but that turned out to be the cabs - I'm much more old-school than hi-fi, and I'd tried the full 'Rebel Stack'. I've now got a RH450 with a Schroeder 1515L, and it's fantastic. Only timing issues (calendar-wise for availability, not my own personal timing - tho that's bad enough ) stopped me from buying a Barefaced cab, I'd still love to hear my RH450 through a Super Twelve.

OK, a desperate plea - you may (or may well not, and why should you?) have seen a response I made to a relevant thread about dep gigs (the one where the singer's asked me at short notice and then says "Oh, and it's a dep drummer, too, and he's not very good." , but I've got a dep gig on Saturday, and one of the 24-song list I'm stuffing into my head is Galway Girl, and I'm buggered if I can come up with an even vaguely convincing bass line for this. There isn't even any tab stuff out there, which is normally the last resort. I know, I know, it should be straightforward root and fifth stuff, and all the others on the list I've got my head around fine, but this one's a real mental blank for me. So, humour me, be gentle, and any help on this fricking song would be very gratefully received. There's only so much I'm going to be able to blame on the drummer... Cheers, Muzz

The simple answer is 'a lot less then they're worth'! It's been done in another thread, but Warwicks are for whatever reason about as hip as disco at the moment, and so prices are very low. It's a buyers market. I picked up a really really nice early Fortress on here (there's a thread if you search) for £400, and it's a belter. The $$ and Thumb go for more, again, the Search tool is your friend. If you're looking for a bass for rock, I think the Fortresses are ideal, the P/J pickup combination certainly helps, and the earlier ones have a fantastic (and small, beware if you like P-necks) all-wenge neck and the JAN1. The action on mine can be taken down to the lowest I've ever encountered without any issues, and the bass itself is the easiest to play I've owned. It's a keeper. I'm contemplating fitting Wizard pups to it, to give it a more trad sound, but that's all I'd change about it. PS 80s Yamahas? I've got a BB3000A whcih I've had from new in 87. Niiiice...

Let's not forget the Thumper Got one as part of a P/J pair in my FrankenP, and it's sublime. I'm buying another for my Ryder P next...

Got a dep gig for Saturday night with our singer's main 'earning' band - 24 songs, a dozen or so I've never played before/don't know, and a couple I've never heard before. Wouldn't be too much of a hassle, but just had a conversation with the singer which he ended by saying "You'll need to be sharp on these numbers, we can't busk anything on these gigs, they're my main earner. Oh, by the way, we won't have my main drummer, we've got a dep guy in for this too. He's not very good, but he was all I could get..." Marvellous.

+1 on the Schroeder cabs - I have a 1515L which is more than enough for my drummer, and my mate has a 1212L which he uses in a rock covers band (Maiden, Purple, UFO, ACDC, etc) who are a lot louder than ours, and he really rates it - he had a Trace 410 combo before, and he says this (with a LMIII) is louder.

[quote name='Patster1969' post='1229881' date='May 13 2011, 01:06 PM']Like Matt has said already, thanks for everyone's info so far - much appreciated. BTW, does anyone have any experience with any of the Line 6 heads or LD combo series? Really like the functions/sound options that my little 110 has & would be interested if anybody has used the bigger brothers? Also really sorry for the next question but how did you come to that calculation xgsjx? I understood the 350W 8ohm head into 2x10 8ohm being 350W, but where did the 350W 4ohm being 200W come from - apologies if this is a really dense question? Cheers Pat[/quote] When I returned to gigging a few years ago, the first combo I used was a LD300, and it was fine. Lots of sound options, in fact too many for me. It's not the smallest/lightest combo out there (although not too bad for a 1x15"), so I stuck some wheels on it, and it was fine. Plenty loud enough for a 4-piece, really. They're a good buy when they come up (usually around the £200-250 mark), although this is much better - [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROLAND-D-BASS-115-300WATT-/140545648975?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item20b92c694f"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ROLAND-D-BASS-115-30...=item20b92c694f[/url]

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' post='1227039' date='May 11 2011, 05:34 AM']Talking about rooms - I was working at Philips in Eindhoven,Holland last year, and they had aroom for testing speakers. It had a door that was nearly a metre thick and on the inside it had foam-like pyramids attatched to its surface. The walls and ceiling were the same. It had a wire-mesh floor with more foamy-pyramids beneath that. The wierd thing about it was when the door was closed it was like removing one of your five senses(hearing of course), goose-bumps! And when someone spoke there was nearly no volume to it, the sound they made just sort of fell away, even when they were standing only a few feet away. A vey spooky experience. But it does go to show how much of what we hear has already bounced off something else and isn't going straight from the driver and into our ears. It was at the Philips Experimental Campus, Mr. Claber, you'd have loved it in there![/quote] That'd be an anechoic chamber - they've got one of those at Salford Uni. I went round as a precursor to starting a degree in electroacoustics about a zillion years ago. It is, as you say, a surreal experience, and one that fundamentally changed the way I thought about sound transmission, and why I don't stress about cabs and amps (especially for live work) half as much as I do about basses - the amp and cab are so much at the mercy of the room/venue, it's a miracle if I can get the same sound twice.

Lightweight = Lightsound? One of the finest examples (and Lord knows there's been some competition for this over the years) of utter bollocks I've ever read on here.

+1 to all of the above.

Been going to see them on and off (sadly more off than on) since Bingley Hall on the Permanent Waves tour in 79. Deeside in 81, too - what a great idea, stand on an ice rink for a couple of hours. I must have been a real fan to brave probably the worst two live venues in the country at the time... Bit too rich for my blood this time, tho I have an outside shot of a freebie from a mate. My first 'proper' bass was a Jetglo 4001, thanks to Geddy. It was pretty awful, but I didn't realise that for years, because everyone else was so impressed...

FWIW, I tried a lot of the small heads with tubes in when I moved from my LMIII, and although I tried various Shuttles, the LM Tube and The LM Rocker, surprisingly the one which sounded best was the one without the tube in at all - the TC Classic. I moved onto the RH450 for the bells and whistles (which reduced the carry to a single box - if you're chasing every kg, then you'll be wanting to get rid of any other pedals like tuners, compressors and their associated power supplies, etc) while keeping the core sound. I'm amp-GAS free. YMMV, etc, etc, but the point about built-in tuner and (very good) compression is relevant if weight's so critical to you.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1212241' date='Apr 27 2011, 01:06 AM']Whats deterring me is: weight and sound. 8lbs is a little heavier than some other amps that are rated for more watts...[/quote] I think we've reached a new level here - is an 8lb amp which is louder than anyone's ears can cope with too heavy now? Blimey. I can just see us all in Tesco, fainting at the thought of lifting the shopping, standing outside our cars because the door's too heavy to open. God forbid we're ever asked to move the Hoover or put the bins out...