The Funk

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='222099' date='Jun 19 2008, 01:10 PM']Sorry mate, I really disagree with you on this one. I find if you make the effort to be friendly to other bands, generally you enjoy the gig more.[/quote] I'll always be courteous and polite but I'll never for one second assume that just because I'm getting on with someone from another band they're not going to do something to f*** it all up. If they do run over or act like twats, there's no reason not to be blunt about it. It's not just the other bands that are likely to work against you. Everyone else is likely to work against you, including the stage manager, the door staff and the sound engineer. Noone does their job properly and everyone talks out of their arse. Part of gigging life is learning how to deal with all the BS and overcome it. My way is to expect everyone else to be a total d!ck: unprofessional, unhelpful, discourteous, impolite, with no sense of punctuality. I always act the opposite way at gigs. On the other hand I know if I lend someone from another band something, they will either damage it, complain about it not being right or forget to return it at the end of the night. And if I offer to do sound for their soundcheck to get things rolling 'cos the soundman's an hour late, I know I'll hear nothing but whingeing and complaining. You can chat away with them and compliment them during the gig and after their set only to turn around at the end of the night and see them bitching to the promoter about your band. This is what musicians are like. They are selfish c*nts. They are your enemy. Sure, there are some exceptions. But so what?

Treat all other bands as the enemy. It's the only way. If they do anything at all to earn your respect, then that's great - but it's not going to happen. Other than that, just stay professional. But don't be shy about bitching to promoters / stage managers / sound engineers on your return visit to venues if they dick you around or let the other bands dick you around.

There's about £1000 worth of difference between a Streamer and a Streamer Std.

You know, we should ask Youngatheart how his stack sounds with the 1x15 on top of the 2x10 and then to compare it to the cabs stacked the other way around. When I had a 2x10 and a 1x15, I found the 1x15 dominated the 2x10 slightly even though it was less sensitive. Later I tried running the 2x10 full-range and just the lows to the 1x15. It sounded good at low volumes but at gigging volumes the 1x15 would distort. Once I learned about the limitations of traditional bass cabs I found a solution elsewhere.

[quote name='stevie' post='221376' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:47 PM']I certainly think a midrange driver is of more value than a tweeter for bass.[/quote] Agreed. [quote name='stevie' post='221376' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:47 PM']I'm not arguing against positioning a 2 x 12 or a 2 x 10 vertically, by the way. On the contrary, your experience is perfectly valid and there are sound technical reasons why it should be so. What I don't agree with is the blanket statement that the only, or best, way of arranging the speakers in a bass rig is in a column. But there has already been some backtracking on that assertion.[/quote] I don't see any backtracking. What would be cool is two columns of 2x10s cross-firing. Ooh yeah!

Miroslav Vitous is a great bassist, when he's at home (in the Czech Republic I believe) or anywhere else. Wasn't he in Weather Report before Alphonso Johnson and Jaco? I'm the main composer in my band. On several of our songs I wrote the drum groove, the bass part, the guitar part, the keyboard part, the lyrics, the vocal melody, the changes and the arrangement. Does that count? On the rest of the songs I'm a co-writer, which doesn't count. I think every bassist should have a go at it. For a lot of funk bands, bassists probably are the main composer or co-writer. Just come up with the main groove/riff, the other groove/riff, a bridge and a vocal line.

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='221064' date='Jun 18 2008, 01:54 AM']Their most ingenious invention was to use two mics side by side, wired reverse-polarity. They'd sing into only one, but any foldback was equally received by both, where the reverse polarilty cancelled out the signal, allowing outragous levels with no feedback.[/quote] Brilliant! So when I see old footage of The Stones using two mics, that's why? I feel I should point out that neither Bill nor Alex nor anyone else is describing the fantastic amplifier circuits of classic Fender or Marshall amps as flawed, just the cabs. And if anyone thinks vintage Fender bass cabs or Marshall bass cabs are good, please show me someone (not Lemmy) who still uses them. The reason the Ampeg Fliptop and Ampeg SVT were the classic bass amps of the '50s, '60s and '70s is that they were actually designed for bass - and not merely a slightly adapted guitar amp. I also fail to see why the mind boggles at the idea that bass cabs should perform more like PA cabs than guitar cabs. Guitars sound good through unfaithful speakers with a huge amount of character. For some people, bass guitars sound good through an even cab, which reproduces the sound of the bass and the amp as faithfully as possible. For other people though, a large part of 'their sound' comes from their cab. For those people an even response cab won't be desirable. Good dispersion is always desirable.

[quote name='chris_b' post='220319' date='Jun 17 2008, 12:28 AM']Sorry but this is my point. Your 2x10 WILL sound great on your 1x15; don't be put off by people telling you that you will have a problem because you won't. Thousands of bass players successfully use this set up. You're playing Bonjovi and Brian Adams, check out their videos. You'll see mainly 4x12 stacks. If they're not worried about bloody comb filtering you shouldn't be either. This is rock and roll not a science lesson!![/quote] I'm pretty sure the bassist in Bon Jovi and the one for Bryan Adams DI in the studio and on stage. They may use the 4x12 stacks for monitoring (if any of them are actually hooked up to anything). I will say that charic and chris have a point that when it comes to live work where you're going through a PA and good monitors, dispersion from your cabs and their frequency response don't matter so much 'cos they're mainly for show. The rest of your band will hear you through monitors - not from your amp - and the audience will hear you from the PA speakers. Chris and various others are also right that if something sounds great then science won't disprove that. I will never go back to using standard bass cabs again though. They can't match the low end depth and mid-range clarity of 3-way cabs - and that is what I want from my cabs.

There are three people whose opinions I would always take seriously when it comes to speaker cabs and they are Alex, Bill (BFM) and Andy (Acme Sounds). Bill and Andy seem to agree about the fact that the basic cabinet technology for bass amps hasn't changed much since the first bass cabs (and that they employ the same design as guitar cabs), and that there is a basic problem with the design. They have different approaches to solving the problem but they both agree that the best way to reproduce a bass guitar signal is with a 3-way cabinet design (ie. woofer for the low end, mid-range driver for the mid-range, and a tweeter for the high end). Most bass amps don't have a mid-range driver or a tweeter. The woofers in most amps are used in such a way that they produce a distorted sound for the mid-range at the expense of low end. In some cabs this can sound pleasing to the ear (eg. Ampeg Fliptop on the Motown/Stax stuff or the huge Marshall stacks on the Cream/Lemmy stuff). But for those cabs there is a definite 'sweet spot', above G on the E-string and below the 12th fret. These days you might want to play below G on the E-string or high up on a C-string. The situation for guitar is different because the "poor" cabinet design and speaker distortion are the key to a great electric guitar sound. The other problem with most bass cabs is to do with dispersion. Low frequencies are omni-directional, which means it doesn't really matter which way a subwoofer is facing - it'll reach all parts of the room fairly evenly. But higher frequencies are highly directional, meaning that the apparent volume you hear will vary massively depending on where you are standing in relation to the speakers. I don't know about you guys but these are convincing reasons for me to do things differently. That's why I only use Acme cabs now - and if I wasn't so impatient, I'd look at getting a BFM Omni 10.5 or two. I now have deep lows, a very clear mid-range and smooth highs. I'm grateful for all the advice I received on here to help me make my choices. I once tried stacking my old 1x15 on top of my 2x10. It didn't sound as good that way. I didn't know why. It just sounded crap. Obviously using your ears is important. Understanding why something doesn't sound great can help get you out of trouble - or spare you those problems in the first place.

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='220166' date='Jun 16 2008, 07:52 PM']I prefer to play right by the bridge, not over the neck like that![/quote] That made me chuckle.

Oh dear. Give a bassist enough money to make a record and a music video and look what happens! That's what I would do too. Totally sad but awesome at the same time.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' post='219957' date='Jun 16 2008, 03:58 PM']Looks like Kharma may have struck.....(a message today off Fergie's myspace messageboard) Hi Guys, Sorry to hear about the traffic accident and hope that Fergie's injuries aren't too serious. Here's hoping for good news when he sees the specialist tomorrow. All the Best! Cheers, John (UK) maybe jojobass should contact them and offer to dep......![/quote] Ah, come on. That's a bit harsh. His email wasn't worthy of a car accident and physical injuries. He's just a bit of an idiot, nothing more than that.

Thought I'd let you guys know I got the bass yesterday. It's a beauty! I'll record some noodling for you guys to hear how it sounds and I'll do a proper review later. I'll also get in touch with the folks on the Warwick forums to try to establish the actual date of this bass. For now...

[quote name='uptonmark' post='219213' date='Jun 15 2008, 01:53 PM']men in black ....will smith[/quote] Don't you mean [i]Forget Me Nots[/i] by Patrice Rushen?

Hehe, quality.

I sat down and worked out [i]Heart's Desire[/i] by Don Blackman a couple of days ago. My ear's not great so I had to use Audacity. 7 notes in the first second made it very difficult to loop with iTunes. Once I slowed it down on Audacity I realised it wasn't actually that complicated.

It sounds like your technique is heavily influenced by 80s metal guitarists. How about trying something else? Try stealing some of the rhythms that Gene Hoglan & co. knock out on drums. Then look outside of metal, like others have suggested above - and see what you can steal from keyboard players and horn players in jazz and funk.

[quote name='lwtait' post='218420' date='Jun 13 2008, 04:10 PM']my real problem is that i like sort of rocky/punky music[/quote] Try some psychobilly.

[quote name='rodl2005' post='216559' date='Jun 11 2008, 04:14 AM']I personally HATE going thru the PA for my ONSTAGE sound- ie:-thru the monitors- HATE IT!!!!!!! Thats why I've a nice amp & cab.[...]for bigger ones just DI the amp's line out(post pre) into the FOH PA system for out front sound....but for MY OWN sound-onstage- I like to have MY rig![/quote] Your bass rig is better designed for bass guitar than the cheap, sh*tty monitors at most venues. I remember having this conversation once with a sound engineer "Why does the bass sound so sh*t?" "'Cos you're going through cheap, sh*tty monitors" "Is it alright if we cut the bass from the monitors, then?" "No problem"

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='215705' date='Jun 9 2008, 08:53 PM']I wish I had a set of strings for every time I have said the numbers on your amp volume controls are meaningless. The only numbers on my EBS are 0 and 11 (obviously Spinal Tap fans) - thats it. There are lines for reference points but that is all they are and depending on the pre-amp settings most amps can deliver full beans from about 2 on the master.[/quote] It took me far too long to realise that the input gain control allows you to get the strongest, cleanest possible signal from your bass to the amp, while the master output volume control allows you to get the required level from your amp to your speakers. You're completely right that the numbers therefore refer to nothing at all.

[quote name='misrule' post='215575' date='Jun 9 2008, 05:59 PM']And was I right to stand my ground?[/quote] Yes.

[quote name='Oscar South' post='214415' date='Jun 7 2008, 03:26 PM']He does have a lot of gigs and seems to have plenty of evidence of his playing up (though none of it will load for me), so I can't imagine him being too shoddy, his 'best in the world' thing just looks like a play on the Carlsberg beer ads. Maybe he was just trying to help, albeit not very tactfully, some people don't come across well on the net through no fault of their own. If it was some kid with no gigs and no evidence of his ability up then It'd be a different matter, his email does seem a bit dumb and pointless though, it just seems like a vague claim masked as advise that you could fabricate equally convincingly about almost any player.[/quote] Just checked out his myspace page. He's got good tone. Don't think that much of his band - especially the vocals. All his gigs are with the one band. I don't see how the fact that he's not a beginner is relevant. He's rude. He's trying to be helpful, sure, I can see that. He's not trying to be malicious, I can see that too. But he's being so patronising. Check out his blog for some advice on technique: it seems to be that he's been playing a long time and thinks it's his duty to pass on everything he knows. There's a right way and a wrong way.

Sheesh. What a knob. It's not the fact that he's male, just the fact that he's a knob. It's funny how he criticises your right hand technique, saying that as it must be derived from upright bass your playing is not well suited to a trio. Has he never heard of Jack Bruce and Cream then? To call your technique lazy is just plain rude.

You should go for it. I'm going to apply for Steve Bailey's Bass At The Beach next year. It looks awesome!

Right hand, if you're right handed.