gjones

If your hearing isn't great, dare I say that it might be a good idea to look into hearing aids. A friend of mine, who is a drummer, recently bought a pair. They are so small as to be almost invisible while being worn and he's very pleased with them. My high frequency hearing is pretty dodgy, at 10khz maximum. If my hearing got significantly worse, I wouldn't have a problem getting myself a set.

You'd have to be trusting type of person to buy that for £10,000.

Jazzes are pretty versatile on their own. You can get many different sounds by using the tone controls and switching pickups. Of course you can also add more bass via the EQ on your amp, if need be. My solution was to buy a John East Retro pre amp, which turns your Jazz into an incredibly versatile instrument. I bought mine for about £100 from Basschat and recently I bought Fender style knobs for it from John East's website, so it looks just like a passive Jazz. It has a parametric mid control, which offers a pretty deep low mid frequency. I tend to pick that and turn it to maximum. The bass is boost only so it's best to use it sparingly, unless you want to get into reggae territory. If you DI straight to the desk, the pre amp also allows you to tailor your sound, before it gets to the sound engineer.

My experience of playing in a room with Db meters is, always bring a very, very, very long extension lead. If you know what I mean.

My band was recorded live, for The Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, last June. I'd just bought a Markbass CMD 121 which I took along and I played my MIJ Precision through it. The Sound Engineer didn't use the DI, he just whacked a mic in front of it and got a great sound.

Yes, but If you're playing reggae with the tone turned down, I doubt anyone would hear it.

The original pickups would have been noiseless. Which means you could play the neck or bridge pickup on their own, without any single coil hum. I have an Elite P bass and the best thing about these Elite basses is the Musicman style, truss rod adjuster at the body end of the neck. It makes it very easy to tweak the truss rod to get your preferred action.

I was down in London yesterday and walked right past The Bass Gallery. I'm very proud of myself.

No Jazz Basses.......you'll have to do something about that. Edit: Ooops I see one hiding far right. But it has no frets.......you'll have to do something about that.

I recommend buying secondhand, as you can sell it for what you bought it for, if you latest endeavour is a damp squib. You can get more bang for your buck. Although my advice is never sell your gear, as you never know what's around the corner.

What about Nigel and the Sex Nazis? I think I'll call my next band that. By the way, nobody in the band will be allowed to be called Nigel.

My Jazz is a close as it gets to my perfect bass. I wanted a MIJ Jazz but couldn't find exactly what I wanted, at the right price. So I bought the body, neck, pickups and bridge separately and put it together myself. I also added a John East J-Retro pre amp, which makes it incredibly versatile. I've got more expensive basses, which have pro setups and are easier to play but the sound, action (I sometimes have to play with a pick so the action is not stupidly low) and versatility of this Jazz means when I leave the house for a gig or rehearsal, this is the bass I usually take with me.

It's only a problem if all the bands are gigging regularly. If you're a professional, then most bands you play with will be used to using deps.

He was a professional bass player who was a very articulate and interesting guy who wrote some excellent gear reviews. If I remember there was some issue about a sale. I was sad to see him go. He's still on Talkbass.

Look on the bright side, it could be worse, you could be the bassist in Metallica. I'm playing it on my hi-fi and the sound of the bass is indistinct but the overall mix is not too bad. I tend to record with a P bass, as it does tend to sit well in the mix.

An English band with a Motown vibe. Cameron the bassist channels James Jameson. This is them streaming a live gig and they're amazing.

Peter Jackson said that a lot of the rehearsal soundtrack was recorded in mono, on a portable reel to reel. This meant that the levels of the individual instruments and vocals were all over the place. He had to electronically isolate each instrument and vocal and transfer them to individual tracks, so that the songs they were rehearsing could be mixed and separate EQ added to each track. The sound could then be remixed in stereo. That's why the music sounds so polished on the new film.

I used to own an Ashdown EB150-15 for a few years. I also bought it secondhand, about 15 years ago. It had a great basic sound, with all the EQ knobs at 12 noon. I've owned a lot of different amps since then but still really like that Ashdown sound.

Just grow a Van Dyke beard and wear a beret. Remember to call everybody 'daddio'.

If the gig isn't cancelled, I suspect that the pub will be empty, with just die hard alcoholics and anti vaxxers in attendance. I'm meeting a friend in a pub tonight, which I expect (hope) will be empty too.

Next working day delivery from Barefaced. My first cab, about 9 years ago, took 3 months to deliver.

Just about everyone I know, who is back gigging, seems to have caught covid. I suspect we'll all get it sooner or later.

I played a blues club which had a raised stage, which must have been hollow as it amplified the subsonic frequencies so much, that the drummer couldn't stand it. I reduced the bass on my amp to zero and it still sounded like a whale farting on stage. As soon as you stepped out front, the bass frequencies disappeared and my bass turned into a twangy banjo. Luckily there was also a decent PA at the venue and the sound engineer put me through the PA and added extra bass on the desk.

A couple of months ago, I bought a ticket, plus hotel room and train ticket, to see my favourite band down in London. I suspected we would be back to square one, with some new variant of covid this winter, but bought the ticket all the same. The gig is at the end of January. Will we be surfing the, predicted, tsunami of covid by then? Will it be pulled again, like it was last year? ........probably.

I bought a bass, via Basschat, and the guy I bought it from had fitted 45-100 Elixirs. Up until then I tended to go for standard gauge of 45-105 They sounded great and were very easy to play. So from now on they are my string and gauge of choice.