gjones

My old drummer was a great guy who had some special skills on the skins but was on the flashy side and liked to showboat a bit which meant that too many times he would take his eye off the ball and forget that his primary role in the band was to keep the beat! Now he's gone and the band have a new drummer we sound so much better.
Not only that but he makes [size=5]me[/size] sound a whole lot better! I no longer have to concentrate on holding down the rhythm so much, while my old drummer hits every cymbal on his drum kit. Now we sound like a seriously syncopated rhythm machine and when the guitarist solos there's a real solid foundation and a great groove to solo over (which is important in a 3 piece band). It also means I can occasionally get a little funky and go off on a tangent or experiment without worrying that the rhythm will disappear if I do. I've played with some good drummers but this guy is the business.

Has any body else had this experience with a new drummer making them sound and play better than they ever have before.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1106833' date='Jan 28 2011, 11:01 PM']Headstock decal is wrong too.[/quote]

Yes, according to 'The Fender Bass Book' the decal on this '69 bass' first appeared in 1995, the serial number will be on the back of the headstock.

[quote name='Doctor J' post='1101932' date='Jan 25 2011, 11:46 AM']The sound engineer shouldn't be viewed as an enemy, he's there to make your band sound as good as possible. There's nothing extra in it for him for you to sound sh*t either.[/quote]

He/she is your best friend! The first thing you should do is ask his/her name and buy him a pint (if it's a decent gig and your band want to impress and you want to sound good). I know a lot of sound guys/gals and the most difficult thing to get sounding good in a crap room is the bass. Get a long lead so you can hear yourself at a distance and ask nicely to have a feed taken from you amp DI and listen out front to the sound. And if you had a good sound remember to compliment him/her after the show (they'll remember you next time).

I used to have an old Orange cab with an 18 inch speaker from around about the same period. You needed a hugely powerfull amp to power it because it was 16 ohms. What impedence is yours?

You need to join another band who already have a set of songs all ready to go, learn their songs, then go and play a whole load of gigs.

Then tell your guitarist to call you when he's learned the set.

Life's too short for faffing about.

[quote name='tom1946' post='1100022' date='Jan 23 2011, 07:55 PM']Thanks for the input guys, I paid £675 for it a while back.
It really is in stunning condition for its age too. Nice to know someone else has one the same age Fingerz, you sound happy with it.
I can't get over how loud the pickups are, more than my MIA Jazz.

I'll take a pic and stick it up tomorrow.[/quote]

I, for one, will be looking forward to checking it out.

Gorgeous bass. Why buy a brand new 70's re-issue for the same price when you can buy this?

And I would if I could.........but I can't.

So have a bump on me.

[list]
[/list]Yes old squiers can be good but always try before you buy. I bought my MIJ silver series jazz bass because I tried a friend's out of curiosity (that was slowly moldering away, neglected, in the corner of his reheasal room) and was pleasantly surprised at how great it sounded and how well it was made. I kept my eye out for one on ebay and paid £250 for it...........which is a bargain for such a great bass.
From what I could find on the internet the silver series squiers were a superior spec product made in Japan from 92 to 94 when most squiers of that era were made in Korea.
My Squier jazz even has the little brass strip from bridge to bridge pickup you get on 62 re-issue style basses which is a nice retro touch.

[attachment=69789:Squier.JPG]

[quote name='dlloyd' post='1097382' date='Jan 21 2011, 12:35 PM']Believe it or not, by the 1970s and Motown's move from Detroit to Los Angeles, he was considered too busy by a lot of producers and had difficulty getting any session work.[/quote]

Too drunk more likely

I think most songwriters (if they're not bassplayers themselves) start off with a new song imagining it with a pretty simple bassline. If the bassplayer is not too chuffed with that, then it's up him/her to come up with a really good alternative idea for the bass part which will enhance and improve it.
Of course not everybody is a bass genius like, for example, James Jamerson who could make a very busy bassline an integral part of a song. I wonder if anybody ever said to James 'Hey James, just keep it simple mate....' His amazing basslines were at the heart of many Motown hits which, probably, when originally written were envisioned with much simpler bass parts.

A wee example of isolated bassline from 'What's Going On ' [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqtELR5GyfI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqtELR5GyfI[/url]

I wonder if James ever played a simple bassline? There must be one out there somewhere?

Jimmy Page (heavy & funky), Robert Cray (bluesy & funky), Curtis Mayfield (soulful & funky).

[quote name='razze06' post='1097146' date='Jan 21 2011, 09:44 AM']There's a good one in edinburgh, on queen street. Unfortunately, they seem to do the reasearch and know how much thin gs are worth.
Often has quite interesting things[/quote]

Yes Duncanson's in Edinburgh. That's where I found my bass when it got stolen and my guitarist's guitar when it got nicked as well.........surprise, surprise .

WARNING!!!! That girl is not....I repeat NOT!!! A girl. It's big hairy arsed guy.

I didn't spend too much time going through the video but the gist of it seemed to be that you can get every sound you would ever need on one bass.

For a pro session guy that's a probably a very good idea.

Too sensible for me though.

I just picked up a packet of cellulose sponge wipes from tescos (4 per pack) and they make a perfect mute. They're not too spongy or too dense. Cut them into thin strips and they're unobtrusive but very effective and you can vary the amount of mute by packing them tighter or looser under the strings.

I just googled and this guy is selling a specially designed mute on ebay which is pretty effective (as you can hear when you check out the youtube vid) and cheap [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mufler-Bass-Guitar-Mute-Jazz-Sound-/130457789946"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mufler-Bass-Guitar-M...d-/130457789946[/url]

Personally I'd stick with the sponge method because you can experiment with different types until you get the sound you feel is right for you.

But beware! This is a hot topic which some people are a bit 'emotional' about. Here is a thread from back in 2009 which illustates that very point [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=69186&st=0"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=69186&st=0[/url]

I've just discovered DRs but have used rotosounds for years. I think the DRs have the edge but at £28 a set they bloody should have!

Awwww, I think we should stop crucifying the poor kid. He put it up on youtube to look cool and impress his friends at school.

And we then proceed to rip him to shreds!

We're better than that..............aren't we?

Yes I saw that one a while ago on ebay. There's a link on my post to a harmony central review [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=107822&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=107822&hl=[/url]

by the way is this what you're looking for? [url="http://essex.gumtree.com/essex/17/65357417.html"]http://essex.gumtree.com/essex/17/65357417.html[/url]

[quote name='Chernobyl5000' post='1075904' date='Jan 2 2011, 11:40 PM']i shall put a post up in the morning

The MIM Classic Jazz basses are cool, a friend is looking at the geddy lee jazz bass at the moment, he said they have a really skinny neck, do you know much about them?[/quote]

I've had a Geddy Lee for a few years now. With DR Hi Beams on it sounds Jazzier than a very Jazzy thing. MIJ with love and attention to detail like only the Japanese can give to a Fender and if you want a thin neck.......well it has the thinnest neck Fender make.
As far as cost goes, there's been quite a few secondhand ones for sale on basschat for about £500 and some on ebay have recently gone for well under £500.
I also have an early 90's Squier which has a bassier much darker sound than the Geddy which is much brighter (mostly down to the thin maple neck not the pickups) and I really like the contrast.

But you can't have mine.

[quote name='aceuggy' post='1075622' date='Jan 2 2011, 07:17 PM']Ok, just one thing to make clear, I'm not a label snob, not fussed that my bass is a Squier, but interested to know if the HW1 had a Squier label, would it be better than my CV? Would I be trading up or just going sideways?[/quote]

If you're not bothered about the logo then there's two things to take into consideration. The first is the sound - i.e. does the HW 1 sound better/play better than the bass I already have? Second there's the resale value - i.e. will I get what I paid for it if I ever sell it. As far as the sound is concerned you first of all would have to play a HW 1 and make your own mind up about that. As far as resale value is concerned it's always best to buy secondhand if you can because it's a fair bet that if you ever sell it you'll get at least what you paid for it.

I've played both the CV Squier and a brand new American Fender Precision. The build quality of the CV was excellent but the sound quality of the US Fender was surprisingly superior. Maybe all you need to do is change the pickups on the CV to American standards and you'd end up with the best of both worlds - a great sounding bass at a budget price.

Thanks I will

I bet the guy who owned this 'thing' originally, had his whole house covered in pine cladding.

It was very fashionable in the 70's don't you know.

Hmmmmmm, the good thing about acts not being able to make any decent cash any longer from selling CDs, is that they have to go out on the road if they want to make any money. Which means I've been to more gigs in the last couple of years than I have in the preceding 10.

Very few acts will receive the insane amount of money the likes of Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson received from royalty payments any longer. I don't lose any sleep over that, as it was way out of proportion to what they deserved for their labour. But it does concern me that other smaller acts may, these days, find it difficult to make ends meet and pay off advances because their music is being downloaded illegally. Personally if the band/artist is mega like the ones mentioned above then I'll download away! But if the act is less well known or trying to get established I'll always buy the cd or download it from somewhere like amazon.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1072106' date='Dec 29 2010, 08:23 PM']What you don't play can be more important than what you do play.

Space is important.[/quote]

+1

And 'find the groove'. The groove's the indescribable thing the rest of the band (especially the drummer) are looking for in a bassist and it's what makes a band tick. If you've found it...........stick with it.