Grand Wazoo

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='1176159' date='Mar 25 2011, 04:40 PM']Close examination of the image reveals a Squier logo beneath the strings. If they do release this, then it's just going to fly out the door. Sign me up.[/quote] Moi Aussi, gorgeous! and those basses weigh next to nought.

Welcome, Eltham round the corner from me in Greenwich.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='1174875' date='Mar 24 2011, 04:37 PM']@Grand Wazoo. when i was over on the EBMM forums last year you seemed quite high profile over on there. I didnt realise you were banned. I would never have expect it.[/quote] Don't remind me, I am still losing sleep over it. I've had to take counselling to overcome suicidal tendencies, and worst of all, Ive been forced to take viagra cause I couldn't get it up no more for a few months. [font="Comic Sans MS"][size=4][b]As if! HAHAHA[/b][/size][/font]

No matter how many basses I have taken out on gigs, I never had a breakdown and I only swapped them to give each one a bit of a spotlight, or to use a fretless on certain tunes, other than that I could have done and have done the gig with just the one bass, never broke a string in my life. But what I take chances is on the amp, I can only manage one, and if that goes down, I'd have to continue the gig with my bass straight through the PA for which I always carry a D.I. pedal just in case.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1172996' date='Mar 23 2011, 09:58 AM']Grand Wazoo - are you playing covers or originals? I was going to check your bands web site but you don't seem to have a link to it.[/quote] two bands: both doing covers, the latest is a Santana tribute band still 90% in the making, we don't have bogs, I don't even know how to make a blog tbh, but we have made a few enquiries with pubs and clubs and we've been given a bit of a run around with the paying fees that some of the guys in the band have been unimpressed with.

[quote name='sussexbassman' post='1172775' date='Mar 22 2011, 11:43 PM']Very interesting and useful thread (even if it might be in the wrong place)[/quote] Yeah I realized only too late that I posted it in the wrong section. However my intentions were genuine and I thought this could be an interesting topic, however I am beginning to believe that bands should sign up to some sort of Musician's Union to ensure them a fair fee is always paid and to avoid a bum deal with a venue that won't pay well. Do you get that feeling that gigging is similar to prostitution, anyone?

In a nutshell, I am not aming to make serious money out of it, I do have a day job and this is just a hobby, however travel expenses and more importantly fuel cost which is the biggest issue on everyone's agenda recently, but I am more concerned about ways to repay the drummer and his van, and for the other 2 to get a meal and a drink out of it.

[quote name='silddx' post='1172183' date='Mar 22 2011, 03:15 PM']I still don't know why this is in the Bass Guitars [Just for bass guitar posts] section [/quote] Alright already, I should have posted in an appropriate section. Hopefully a handy moderator will move it somewhere

This is something that has been confusing me for the last few years, getting paid to play! So you've got your average 4 piece band, drummer, singers, guiw@nkist and yourself on bass... you find a venue that will let you play and it's time to agree your fees with the venue owner. Is there an average going rate? Who can you appeal to if you are getting screwed? PRS? (Performance Right Society, not Paul Reed Smith) What's your individual experience?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1169682' date='Mar 20 2011, 04:50 PM']I understand the principles of the fanned fret system and how it does do what its meant to but Im sure GW will be along to explain it better than I ever could but its still a very minor issue for 99.999999999% of the bass playing community from beginners to pro's the world over so I dont see that as anyone being blinkered or anyone waiting to come around to it really. Then coupled to the fact some people like the sound of a particular make and model of bass (you all know what I like ) and everyone has there favourite ones all those would have to be made available in a fanned version. I prefer the sound of a Ray to all Jazz basses from a Fender to GW's Dingwall and all inbetween so I wouldnt swap anyway. See how I have talked myself into the anti fanned fret mob again? Im not at all and happy for whoever to play whatever but a[i] tiny tiny [/i]intonation issue compared to some of the greatest basses in the world for me does not make me feel as though they should be embarrased in its company IMO Like I said before Bernies GB Rumours sounded better overall than the Dingwall to me (and a few others that were there but its not for me to name names) so the intonation issue (If there is a real issue there) would come second to that anyway for me.[/quote] No mate I am sorry but I have grown tired of explaining it to a bunch of pea brain troglodytes and I don't mean you, in fact you are more than welcome to catch up with me in town sometime to demo my basses anytime, time off provided.

[quote name='Zach' post='1169626' date='Mar 20 2011, 04:06 PM']That's an issue with the fret wire being in the completely wrong place then, which is pretty suprising, since fret spacing is a simple exponential decrease. Changing the frets to be fanned wouldn't solve this problem. Mind you, I just tune by ear so might just not be noticing.[/quote] Yeah and with people wearing blinkers

[quote name='pietruszka' post='1169508' date='Mar 20 2011, 02:14 PM']Haha!! No worries, Im not in the slightest bit offended. This is of course my opinion. I would love to try one, but if the tension and tuning of each individual string was soo much of an issue then surely every bass manufacturer out there would be making them like this. That's my point. I agree with the theory behind making them like this, it makes perfect sense, but has anyone ever noticed? I very much doubt it. Again this is the point I'm putting forward. I'v never felt that my 'normal' fretted basses ever had a individual note tuning problem to warrant getting a bass like the one mentioned in the OP to solve minute differences. Again just my thoughts. Dan[/quote] Well yes that is the part I was too tired to explain, I had a Bongo 5 strings they have 24 frets and built by Ernie Ball Music Man, these basses are supposed to be some of the best basses built by MM. Anyway I could adjust / tune the saddles so that the harmonic at the 12th fret would match exactly the fretted note at the 12th fret as well as the open string,... you with me so far? Well I couldn't help but noticing that fretting a note on the 15th fret will sound very sharp even after having sorted the intonation, the neck relief etc etc, I then connected the bass to a Peterson strobo tuner and it showed just how badly out of tune all the other notes on the fretboard are. I then tried that same test with a Stingray a Big Al and a 25th Anniversary MM, and all the other 5 strings basses I used to own plus a couple of Squier and a Fender CIJ all had that more or less the same issue, I decided to live with it. However I could tell when laying tracks through my headphones that some notes compared to keyboards, which always have perfect pitch, that they always sounded a bit sharp or out of tune. As I've said I just decided to live with it and forget about it, I had read on some magazine or web about the principles of fanned frets but never in my mind I had expected those to be within my reach, as I had never seen one in a shop. Those are not the kind of basses that would be convenient to order sight unseen having had no experience whatsoever with them, then one day out of the blue I went to the Gallery Bass Merchant in Camden to try a Mark Bass compressor, I said to the man can I try a bass please with this pedal and all of a sudden I realised he had two Dingwalls in the store and I said, actually... if you don't mind can I try the compressor with one of those and it was the ABZ 5 strings which I currently owned, I also borrowed a tuner with the intention to verify the claims of the fanned fret system of more accurate pitch across the fingerboard, but soon as I plugged it in it was an incredible revelation, I was at that point where I suggested earlier that you should be, that I was actually trying it, and with my very own eyes and ears I could tell immediately even without the tuner plugged in that this bass was an incredible step forward compared to anything I have played in the last 30+ years. The tuner confirmed a very accurate pitch and even on higher frets the tuning is rendered as accurate as you would expect. There were other things I was scared of before trying this bass mainly I was afraid that actually playing fanned fret would present a problem to my tried and tested technique on parallel fret and that I wouldn't be able to feel comfortable and at ease with such a drastic change, so yeah I did have that reservation but I must admit it was really easy to adjust, and the only 2 places I had to relocate in my brain was the fretting of the lower strings (B and E) at 1st and 2nd frets which are obviously higher in position than they appear on the G string, but even that with a little time ironed itself and within less than 20 minutes I was perfectly at home, like learning to ride a different bike or something. It can be done and once you "got it" it's a breeze and some say even more natural to the way in which our fingers span out. The ABZ 5 had also some very nice features like the thinnest neck and the lowest action without fret buzz that I had ever come across in my life, which made the playing and fretting even more natural and effortless, the moral of the story is that, there and then I called Alex to one side and flashed the cash, I said I am taking this bass home with me, so please give me a nice price and he did. His price was very competitive, I must say I also tried the made in China Combustion that they had but while it still sounded good it didn't feel as easy to play as the ABZ did and it was a lyme green colour which I disliked and the extra £200 for the price of the ABZ I found to be more than justified. Of course once I took this Dingwall home, it became my main bass and all the other Ernie Ball MM's 5 strings became embarrassing to own in comparison, recently Ernie Ball are fitting "compensated nuts" to their guitars and basses but the whole concept is flawed and utter bollox, in that they only make a minimum degree of positive difference to the open string only, the minute you fret a note the compensated nut is out of the equation, to me the EBMM's just didn't match the quality and ease of playing of a Dingwall to the point in which I decided that owning them was only burning pound £ value by the minute, and so without batting an eyelid I quickly flogged the lot (4 of them) and put the money towards 2 more Ding's, an active / passive ABII and a Super J 5. I am done now until something better is presented to me worthy of a change. In conclusion: to answer your question as to why more companies do not adopt a similar system, the answer is probably because the majority of people are too conservative to explore unchartered territories and that it will take time for the fanned fret system to be adopted by more companies and be more widely accepted. I say, give it another 5 to 10 years and I am sure you'll see more of these appearing on the scene

[quote name='pietruszka' post='1169384' date='Mar 20 2011, 12:21 PM']This may spark a bit of annoyance in some people, but!! I think the fanned fret thing is a gimmick, its pointless. If the tonal differences were that noticeable then why doesn't every one make there basses like this? Its never been a problem before so why all of a sudden is it a problem now? How many people listen to a record and think "Hang on, that Eb on the A string is 1.354 Hz out from the Eb on the D string." Still, I'd like to try one! Dan[/quote] I won't even bother getting into this one... but I must say: Dan pointless, gimmick? I coud say the same your post which can be seen as pointless and I mean no haste nor offence to you, but before you can make a statement on something you admittedly haven't tried yet it would be advisable for you to try it first and then have at least some kind of knowledge and first hand experience to be in a justifiable position to make a valid judgement based on your opinion of it. In other words the old saying goes "don't knock it 'til you've tried it"

[quote name='Clarky72' post='1169231' date='Mar 20 2011, 09:51 AM']Does anyone know where I can get hold of a new black scratchplate for one of my rays? Ideally I want a real MusicMan part rather than an after market copy but can't find them anywhere on the interweb.... [/quote] [size=4][u][b][url="http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/category/Pickguards/Musicman,b.html"]Here[/url][/b][/u][/size]

[quote name='jonthebass' post='1168805' date='Mar 19 2011, 08:47 PM']I would recommend The Gallery in Camden.[/quote] I would too but the OP lives in N/Ireland

[quote name='acidbass' post='1168628' date='Mar 19 2011, 06:56 PM']Hey guys, I have a bit of work to do on a couple of my basses over the next month or so. My main axe needs the electrics looked at and possibly rewired, as well as a full set up and possibly a new nut and tuners installed. I also want a Jazz pickup installed in the bridge position of my fretless Precision bass as well as a full setup and perhaps get the board lacquered. Who can do this? Money is no object as long as they treat my babies well and don't mind courier-ing basses to Northern Ireland! Thanks in advance, Danny[/quote] All the jobs you need done they don't exactly require a rocket scientist, any decent guitar tech can handle those, they do those day in day out as part of their average routine, if you were talking about who would be the best luthier to glue together a snapped neck or carry out major restore to a vintage bass then your search for some of the best would be justified. There is a listing on this forum in the sticky section at the top with all the most rated techs and luthiers. Good luck

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1167903' date='Mar 19 2011, 03:19 AM']your Jazz is wonderful by the way.. the GAS is all mine.. that really has to sound fantastic... whats it like by the way... ive always been curious... smooth tone, polite, agressive?[/quote] In my views, the Dingwall Super J perfectly covers all of the best aspects you come to expect from a P / J bass. There are two opposite sides to this bass, passive and active. In passive mode, the neck pickup gives me the best Precision sound I have heard so far, very apt to a genuine Fender sound, woolly great for pick sound, and always present in the mix, the other pickup, the j-style one on the bridge has this honky and sparkling attack with an incredible range of harmonics, that I find in other basses are difficult to hear as they just don't ring out as easily as they do on this one. Of course the result of the extended fretboard range and the fan fret syestem gives it that always accurate pitch no matter how low or high you are playing on the fretboard, particualrly the low B is the most defined and consistent I have ever found, even on a Stingray. In conclusion I have appreciated that playing a bass of this level definately enhances your creativity and technique, there are notes that you can now play that before would sound approximate, whereas now they are helping you in complementing your phrases and solid low end definition. The active mode scares me, I mean it. Jeckyll and Hyde, the Glockenklang preamp needs some getting used to to tame it. It's only a two band preamp with a bass and a treble boost, that can dramatically open up your frequency range, I have to be very careful with the bass boost as a little goes a long way and too much of it can be very hard on the speakers. Overall I can consider myself pretty much in bass heaven, with 3 Dingwalls each different in their own category, that work very well for me and have made my life a lot easier also due to their very light weight, the lightest of them is my ABZ 5 which weighs 7.12lbs which is a blessing on long gigs, specially at my age. If you get a chance try one, you will be amazed.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1167587' date='Mar 18 2011, 08:13 PM']Im getting into my 11th year of playing bass..[/quote] First of all congratulation for your 11th year of playing bass! [quote name='bubinga5' post='1167587' date='Mar 18 2011, 08:13 PM']...my SR5 is the bomb..ok its a little flashy but nothing brash.. not expensive but is possibly the best 5 on the planet..[/quote] Stingray are great basses, I have had two for over 12 years, I repeat great basses but not the best 5 strings on the planet, even I believed that up to a certain point in my life... but I don't need to boast about the bass that made me change that perspective, most people already know what I have found to be the ultimate 5 strings bass. (my Avatar is a give-away ) [quote name='bubinga5' post='1167587' date='Mar 18 2011, 08:13 PM']i feel i have enough knowledge to mod a bass that could keep up with any £2000 + instrument.. but lets face it, most can its just personal...[/quote] I agree wholehartedly: you can get any low entry bass provided its not really really dirt cheap that it falls apart, something like a Squire CV makes for a fantastic platform and you can have great fun modding it to your heart content, with whatever part takes your fancy, you can get a new neck, get some sh|t hot pickups, bridge, tuners, you can have one neck fretted and get a spare one fretless, but let me tell you even changing a pickguard to something you like and find to really enhance the look of your bass is the greatest satisfation. You did it your way and the reward is great.

[quote name='woodster' post='1164954' date='Mar 16 2011, 08:37 PM']I wonder if Dave from Aguilar maybe had a tough weekend? I had a long talk with him on saturday morning and he was warm, friendly and happy to go through their range in some detail..... Maybe the weekend slap-a-thon got on his t*its too? [/quote] I agree, the man from Aguilar was a gent to me, he explained all his present and future projects and was calm and polite, but then again by the end of the show I was also cursing the sound of slap bass coming from all corners. Imagine being there 2 days in a row from 10am to 6pm and listen to that racket.

About 6-7 years ago I started teaching my son on a small scale P bass made by a company called Johnson, not only the bass was excellently built it really sound the blx, unfortunately I can't find a link of Johnson small scale basses anymore, they must have faded or rebadged, who knows??

You'll never get a bum note with that.

[quote name='bassbluestew' post='1161946' date='Mar 14 2011, 04:10 PM']How loud are these little darlings?? Am thinking of trying out the fliptop version soon but not sure it'll be loud enough. S[/quote] I have had my Drophead 30, 1 X 15" Combo (featuring the Little Bastard Head) since Nov 2010 and I have played it on quite a few particular gigs with a "part-time" band I have recently joined, that it's still only a project but soon to become a Carlos Santana tribute band, and we are talking about the late 70's Santana style not the recent one with hip hop singers and sh|t. We don't even have an apt name for it, so... suggestions are welcome The guitar player has some serious licks with just a Gibson SG and an Hayden 30W amp, the whole thing relies on his talented playing / singing, I need my bass sound to be spot on, and so the sound I am aiming to obtain needs to be warm and ballsy with just a little bit of saturation curdling on the top, for which a digital s/state amp just won't do. So this Ashdown Drophead / Little Bastard is just the ticket. But... is it loud? Believe it! I'll explain how this amp works: the amp has 3 voicing switches, from left to right: Mid Shift, Bass Shift and Bright, now these 3 little switches allows you 9 different combinations, and each is enhanced by the relevant knob under it, Mid, Bass and Treble, these 3 tone knobs work interactively with each other, so enhancing one will also affect the other two, making the sound shaping possibilities almost endless, infact everytime I find a particular setting that I like I have to write it down pretty quick otherwise I'll forget it and never find it again, hence I carry around with me little cards like this: With these 9 combinations turning the tone knobs will increase or decrease the volume [b]more than the actual volume knob itself [/b]and that is thanks to the way in which the tubes work, as a result the volume knob acts more like a master volume. The Little Bastard does not have a gain knob but the three tone knobs can be all be considered as 3 individual gain knobs, each dedicated to a particualr frequency, and that my friends is where the beauty of this amp is. Volume is very much subjective to the way the 3 switches are positioned and how much mid, bass and treble is addedd or removed. Every good home should have one.

[quote name='MattM' post='1161899' date='Mar 14 2011, 03:32 PM']GW - did you not get banned from the MM forum for stepping away from the party line?[/quote] Even sillier than that, I posted a video which did not contain a MM bass. It was moderated as "unrelated", when my topic was about music skills and not the instrument. Eventually the post was closed and I complained to the moderator, having lost my rag with them, I went to town with anger and of course by then I was a bad boy to be expelled. That is the truth. Seeing is believing, here. this was my last ever thread that caused all that [b]"Lloyd Cole"[/b][sub] [size=1](& the Commotion for those of you who don't remember who they were)[/size][/b][/sub] [url="http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/46526-i-am-loving-bass-line-no-ernie-ball-music-man-content.html"]http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-...an-content.html[/url]

I've got to say Gareth, from the post below in the EBMM Forum, Mr. Sterling Ball was about as helpful and as understanding with you as...someone offering a carton of fags to a lung cancer sufferer. [url="http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/49019-bad-new-bass-day-3.html#post809816"]http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-...html#post809816[/url] And that is straight from the owner of the company! I wouldn't even buy a pick, or a string from them ever again, and that's a fact! However in all fairness: the issue with the bass weight its something you're gonna have to live with it because, I have bought umpteen EBMM basses (and sold) in the past and if I was to ask for a light weight one, I am sure they'd have told me where to get off. Secondly I know for a fact, and do not believe for one moment that Strings & Things inspects instruments on receipt because my latest Big Al when it arrived at the Bass Gallery in Camdem was still sealed in the original cardboard box from the states with the Ernie Ball company logo written parcel tape which was uncut, Strings and Things relies on EBMM's own pre-delivery check, in fact if EBMM Quality Control cannot spot a flaky chrome neck plate or a fret lifted from it's seat no one else can which is why S&T don't even touch them, they are just distributors they don't have a in-house tech workshop, they will take a bass to a technician if there is a problem, (if you send it back to them) and if they can't solve the issue they will ship it back to Sain Louis Obisbo sealed with a loving kiss! if you can prove the flaky neck plate and a dodgy fret, and remember that you are still coverd by a 7 days return policy, you could by all means get rid of them, get a full refund, and if you still want them re-order and be prepared for another 5 month agonizing wait or..... take the bull by the horn, get S&T to order a new neck plate, have that fret sorted and take them back once you are satisfied that the repair has put all problems right, but again in regards to the weight issue you haven't got a leg to stand on. Harsh but true.

Hi all! Here is another mind boggling, insanely intense [b]15 minutes[/b] video! this time I have a full 3 songs showcase by Gary Willis. I warn you I was holding the camcorder without a tripod just with my hand, then every once in a while I'd get tired and swap hand, which is why the camera is a bit shaky sometimes, but the sound ain't too bad so what the **** and oh boy just look at this man's technique, it's out of this world. Truly!