gjones

I was asked to play in a country band and even though I really wasn't into country, the female singer was exceptional which made all the difference, so I decided to join. I'm still with them and enjoying it, 6 years later, even though I still don't listen to country unless it's to learn a new song. But then I'm also in a blues band and I never listen to blues. I was, until recently, in a heavy rock band and.......well you guessed it.

I do believe we met at a Sunshine Delay gig about 10 years ago. I recall you were waiting for a US G&L L-2000 to be delivered and were very excited (I think you may have been playing a Tribute on that day). I'm glad you've now got over your obsession with G&Ls I actually ended up buying a G&L L-2500 Tribute and they are great basses.

I've had 3 Ashdowns over the years. An EB150 combo, a MiBass 550 and an ABM EVO III (twice). The sound I have in my head, when I think of the tone I want, is the sound of my bass through an Ashdown. I sold my ABM EVO III to buy something small, silver and light but could never really get the sound I was looking for. A couple of years ago I saw an ABM EVO III head going for a song on Ebay, so I bought it. It sounds fantastic even though it's about 15 years old. I tend to think that the old the jokes about Ashdowns sounding woolly, had more to do with the cabs than the heads. I put mine through My Barefaced Compact, or my Super Compact and it's definitely not woolly. I still own a few little silver, lightweight heads, just in case the ABM starts to feel it's age halfway through a gig (which it never has so far).

Supposedly you can get 50% off if you pay in 14 days. So £30 between 4 ain't so bad.

Playing there in September with The Dana Dixon band which will be the first time for a while. I'm going to have to pay the ULEZ charge unfortunately but it will be spread amongst the band.

I suppose it's different strokes for different folks. On my John East J retro, I max the low mid on the sweepable mid control and at most gigs I don't touch the hi or bass controls. This gives me the best sound live, with a deep but defined tone.

That's what I did and it's working fine now. I just make sure I use angled jacks from now on.

Rehab by Amy Winehouse. Firstly, because it's a rubbish song on a brilliant album and really doesn't belong in the same company as the other tracks and secondly, because she really should have taken her father's advice and gone to rehab.

I think my problem started when I didn't use an angled jack. When I sat down and played the straight jack would catch on the seat. The Fender Jack inputs are difficult to find and expensive compared to the Switchcraft ones. Here's an interesting topic on the problem with the Fender stereo jacks I found on Talkbass. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/active-jacks-simple-vs-complicated-why.1120994/

What type of fender do you have. The same thing happened to my Precision Elite. The black jack input is a stereo one for active basses. I had to buy a new one which cost me £26 from a seller in France. Supposedly the Switchcraft stereo jack inputs are more robust and easier to fix if they go wrong.

The Snark is accurate, bright and cheap but does have a tendency for it's neck to snap off, so be gentle with it.

The drummer in my main band basically listens to me and follows what I play. He's also up for suggestions I make to improve the groove. Other drummers I've played with were not so open to suggestions - they're no longer with the band.

I own a Barefaced Super Compact which I pair with a GK MB 800. That one cab can keep up with a very loud drummer. I have a friend who I saw trying to keep up with a loudish drummer and a very loud guitarist with his TH 500 and SL12 but was drowned out. I've noticed he takes both his SL112 cabs to his gigs now just to make sure he can be heard. The Super Compact can take a lot of power without complaining. Of course you may not need that level of volume with the bands you play with. Saying that, I now own a Markbass CMD 121P which can go even louder that the Barefaced and the GK MB 800, if needed. So the Super Compact may be on the market soon.

None of the above. I tie them in a loose knot Never had a lead fail on me in decades.

You said that you were plugging the line out into the DI and then sending that to the desk. When I've used a DI box in the past I plugged my bass into the DI box, a guitar lead from the DI box goes to the input jack on your amp and then an XLR lead goes from the DI box to the desk. That bypasses the amp completely and a clean signal then goes to the mixing desk. If there's a problem with a noisy line out, on your amp, that should solve the problem.

If the onstage sound is good, the band's performance is good, the energy is there and the crowd are enjoying it, then I'm happy.

It's rare that any band I play with choose songs with basslines I can't handle but a rock band that I played with over the last couple of years insisted on picking a couple of Richie Kotzen songs (bloody drummer's suggestion). The basslines were b*ggers but the guitarists eventually decided it was too difficult for them to play convincingly and it was dropped. Lucky me.

Yes, I bought what I thought was a white Stratocaster (looked white in the shop). Then got it home and it was Sonic Blue. 😂

I put a set into a Geddy Lee and they were very dark sounding. In the end I thought they were a bit too dark and ended up selling them.

It's interesting that every year, when I watch the videos of bands at Glastonbury, the sound is usually pretty awful. I assume it's because there is only a limited amount of BBC sound engineers that are any good at mixing live bands and there's a lot of live acts to record. What I find is that when I go back and listen again a couple of weeks later, the sound is much better. I suspect that the Beeb initially just records the live feeds (like a rough mix) and at a later date a qualified sound engineer remixes the sound track of the video to make it sound better.

Nerves are good, it means you care. But remember the old saying 'fail to prepare.....prepare to fail'.

Thanks for the heads up. I'd never heard of Billy Valentine, now I can't stop listening to him.

Hmmmm....if somebody had stolen the amp, they would have run off with the box as well. They wouldn't steal the amp, reseal the package and place it back where it came from, ensuring the courier wouldn't notice it had been tampered with, so that could be delivered to Thomann. I think it's been a human error at Thomann. I'm sure they get many, many returns every day that need to be processed and mistakes will inevitably happen.

I agree. Been a long time finger player but recently played with a rock band for a while. A lot of the basslines just didn't sound right with fingers so swapped to pick and it made a big difference. I now chop and change with the other bands I play with. It's good to be versatile.