kjb

I'm after a looper, there's so much choice though. This is on that I've been thinking about, and I saw this [url="http://steve.anthropiccollective.org/archives/2007/07/my_first_restau.html"]http://steve.anthropiccollective.org/archi...rst_restau.html[/url] I suppose if it's good enough for Steve Lawson. I don't have a massive budget, I just bought a new amp last week, and I have a new bass on the way, so the Akai looks like a bargain. What are the pros and cons of this over all of the other makes.

Never heard of him ?. Neither had I until the other week. Here's a link to his website [url="http://www.jeffdoddonbass.com/index.html"]http://www.jeffdoddonbass.com/index.html[/url] His new album is called 'Falling awake'. This album features some excellent fretless and piccolo acoustic playing, and has Yves Carbonne, Michael Manring and Jeff Schmidt as guests.

They look OK don't they. I'm after one, or going to be in the near future. As far as I know, 3/4 size ones are more generally played in jazz and pop etc, the 4/4 are usually orchestral.

[quote name='Mikey D' post='31759' date='Jul 14 2007, 02:04 PM']I'm gutted I didn't know about this sooner. Anybody got an update on what he talked about and played?[/quote] You really missed something special..........sorry to rub it in. A lot of the talk was about starting playing jazz, and soloing etc. AJ really got going, when Mike Stern was asked by Steve Lawson, about how he finds time to do other things outside of music like pay the bills. He basically said that mundane stuff like that should always take second place to being an artist, because that's what we are artists, and that is so important...etc, etc. He was fantastic to watch though, nothing he did was cliched at all, he played deeply, from the heart at all times, no licks....very inspiring. His sound was great, the action on his bass looked to be really high, he was really 'digging in' when he played. He plays sitting down because he suffers from really bad arthritus in his feet, he also had a wrist support on when he arrived in the building. I was told yesterday that he was once fired by Al Jarrau because he was unable to play standing up and dance......... crazy or what.

I was there, fantastic wasn't it, what a fabulous, deep musician.

That going to be nice isn't it, I bet you can't wait until collection day. It's a bit similar to mine. I was in last week, and it now has the fingerboard attached, and has had the frets put in. Martin reckons there's another couple of months until it's going to be ready. I need to decide on the electronics, I'm seriously considering going passive, after seeing Anthony Jackson yesterday afternoon.

I would say the one with Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd, Trio Live at the Blue note in Tokyo.

I know of 2 left handers who play right handed, Mark King and Steve Lawson. My old teacher Terry Gregory is left handed and plays like Jimmy Haslip, ie upside down.

If you like the Michel Petrucciani album, then check this out [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/If-Fahir-Atakoglu/dp/B0009JVTQQ/ref=sr_1_8/026-1123226-7622841?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1184282440&sr=8-8"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/If-Fahir-Atakoglu/...2440&sr=8-8[/url] It's in a similar sort of style to Petrucciani, and also features some nice sax playing on a couple of tracks, the drummer is great as well. Once again we have AJ playing bass, and he really is in top form on this album, another one thats been a permanent feature on my ipod for a few months.

Erm..... yeah sorry. There seems to be a lack of modern Anthony Jackson stuff around, I'd love to get a DVD with him on. Have you heard the Hiromi album 'Brain', he plays on 3 tracks on that. Again it's not just really excellent bass playing, it's also beautiful music.

This album has been on my ipod for months, I just don't get tired of it, in fact I've listened to it all the way through twice today while travelling. Beautiful music, and fantastic playing. Anthony Jackson sound on here is just perfect.

[quote name='BassBod' post='30491' date='Jul 11 2007, 11:14 PM']Check out his amp set up - AJ has a reputation for using really high end expensive heavy stuff. I wonder what he uses when travelling to the UK? I can't imagine many promoters finding a Krell power amp......?? BB[/quote] Yeah, that's something I was planning to do, apart from his playing it's his sound that I like.

A 10 string...excellent. I'm thinking of experimenting with a 7, probably one of those Bill Dickens basses. Your bass looks fantastic.

Here at the ICMP, I'm really looking forward to this. [url="http://www.icmp.uk.com/news/anthony-jackson--mike-stern-masterclass.aspx"]http://www.icmp.uk.com/news/anthony-jackso...asterclass.aspx[/url] He's been a favourite player of mine for ages, and invented my choice of instrument back in the 70's. Here's a nice clip of him with Michel Petrucciani and Steve Gadd [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8Ch5lU5dw"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8Ch5lU5dw[/url] A true inovator, and a fantastic musician, where would we be without people like him.

[quote name='artisan' post='30328' date='Jul 11 2007, 04:10 PM']agreed. its a good job there's a propper bass player there too [/quote] 'Proper' is relative to your point of view. The bass guitar is only about 50 years old, who knows what it will evolve into, with so young an instrument we should surely be looking forward to the future of it, and embracing it's expanding role, not living in the past. The electric guitar started of as an acoustic with gut strings, and what about the modern keyboard, look at all of its predecessers.

[quote name='MB1' post='28789' date='Jul 8 2007, 09:08 PM']MB1. I kinda get the feeling its no good having a transparent wallet if you wish to go amp transparent?. I agree with the mark king statement i have a kingbass and use ashdown amplification and i cant get it to sound anywhere near as thin as mr kings.[/quote] Do you want it to, would you want it to.

Give them a ring later in the week, I can't remember what price I was told they'd be.

The Gallery in Camden are getting some Incase bags in, they should arrive end of next week, if anyones interested.

I ended up buying an Epifani UL502. It sounds just what I was after, I get the sound that I wanted from it, and it is though not completely flat sounding, not very far off. Here is a link to the same item from Wood and tronics, [url="http://www.woodandtronics.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=34&category_id=7a3f13da875f813925dcb70c64a23247&category=amplification_epifaniamplifiers&"]http://www.woodandtronics.com/?page=shop/f...amplifiers&[/url] That's roughly £1000, add on to that price the cost of shipping, and all the hastle if anything should go wrong. Here's a link to the same thing from the Groove shoppe in New York, [url="http://www.thegrooveshoppe.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=8&sort=&sort_direction=&page=2"]http://www.thegrooveshoppe.com/xcart/manuf...ion=&page=2[/url] I have dealt with these, and can highly recommend them, that price is about £800, add on the cost of shipping and import duty/VAT. Both of these are more than I paid from the Gallery, I also got an Epifani gigbag, just to make it easier to carry home on the train.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='28123' date='Jul 6 2007, 10:32 PM']I bought my Focus from Bob Gollihur ([url="http://www.urbbob.com"]www.urbbob.com[/url]). I saved myself an absolute fortune (literally hundreds and hundreds of quid - UK retailers were taking the p***, frankly). The support from AI is great. I don't regret buying from overseas.[/quote] Yeah, I did think about ordering from abroad, but there's always the problem if anything does go wrong, of shipping it back etc. And I have been given a good price by Alex, so by the time you add on shipping and the dreaded taxes I wouldn't really be much better off. Thanks for the link though.

[quote name='Dragonlord' post='28095' date='Jul 6 2007, 09:14 PM']Most are good suggestions (except aguilar! at least not the DB750 and AG500). I'd probably mainly look at the AI and EA stuff for transparent. However, I can't recommend buying at the Gallery - it's great that there's a store that carries these brands in London, but the stuff there is waaaay overpriced. I mean easily up to +50% with a quick look, which at 1000 GBP for example is a LOT of money. I would recommend ordering from Germany or Italy instead.[/quote] The problem with ordering from abroad was highlighted by this thread here [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=889"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=889[/url] If anything goes wrong with whatever I buy, I just take it back to the Gallery. And the price that's advertised isn't necessarily the price that you pay.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='27742' date='Jul 6 2007, 08:12 AM']I think your best bet is the AI Focus. MarkBass heads definitely have some preshape built-in and Epifani heads are SO expensive! I know a bassist in London who plays a Wal fretless through one with a UL112, and before the UL112 arrived he borrowed one of my Acmes - I got to try out both and was very impressed. Personally I remain sceptical about the Focus having the power it claims but I'm sure it has more than enough power to push a UL310 to its limits. Alex[/quote] From reading other threads here and on Talkbass you seem to be a bit of an expert on this sort of thing. How do you think the AI focus compares to your Avalon U5, and to Epi heads. Cheers

Hi I use a Sei 6 string bass which has an Aguilar OBP3 preamp fitted to it. After 20 years of playing, using virtually every amp possible, I've come to the conclusion that the sound of my bass sounds fantastic just amplified, without being messed about with. Most amps are 'voiced', so even when set flat, the sound they produce isn't. If an amp has only a 3 band EQ section, then cutting the mids is affecting quite a chunk of your sound, and the resulting sound from your speakers is nothing like the true character of your bass. I played through a crappy, abused Behringer amp and cab on Tuesday night at a rehearsal studio, plugged into the input it sounded awful, however plugged into the effects return input, thereby avoiding the preamp it sounded great, I just used the pre on my bass to vary my tones. This is something that I've been doing for sometime, try it next time you use an unfamiliar amp. Look at Mark Kings amps, you'll see graphic eq sliders flying everywhere, the mids are cut by a massive amount, pretty much everyone agrees that his live sound is crap. It shouldn't be though with the gear that he uses, the Status Kingbass has a fantastic preamp fitted to it, doesn't he like the sound of it ?, because he's not hearing the Kingbass real sound with the amps set like they are. These are obviously just my opinions, everyone is different. I'm off to the Gallery tomorrow, they have all three amps that I'm interested in, the Epi 502, and AI focus and Clarus, so I'll be able to try each one, I'm taking my bass with me.

Hi Thanks for all of your replies. Yeah, one of the things that appeals to me with both heads, over the seperate pre/power amp is the lightness, they both have a class D power amp stage. I'm hopefully going to pop into the Gallery on Saturday to try both, I've emailed Alex to check on the stock situation.