gjones

Wellllll.........I walked into a crappy bar in New York where a band were playing. I sat down with a pint and listened to them playing pretty good Jazz Rock. I said to myself, that guitarist is obviously a big fan of Jeff Beck. I later found out that the girl on drums was Kim Thompson (Beyonce's drummer), The bassist was the one and only anthony Jackson, (steely Dan, Madonna, Buddy Rich) and the guitarist was Mike Stern (Miles Davis). They would have probably have gone down like cold sick in the Dog & Duck (can you not play any Oasis?).

I'd check what other bands they are playing with. Nothing worse than having a great drummer in the band who can never commit to gigs because they're too busy with other outfits. Let the other guys down easy, because you may need their services in the future.

If those prices are in £, then I can see why I bought a Yamaha back in 1992, rather than a USA Fender Jazz. It set me back about £400. Edit : The other price lists on that page are in $. So I suspect this one is too. In 1992 you could get, almost, two $ to the £. Which means an American Jazz would have been about £400. I wonder why I didn't buy one?

I dislike seeing lumps and bumps on a new bass. It gives the impression that it hasn't been looked after or that the owner is accident prone. I wouldn't personally buy a bass like that unless it was seriously cheap, because if I needed to sell it at a future date it would be difficult. An older bass will probably have some signs of use and it wouldn't bother me if it looked a bit roadworn.

If it actual had been in a fire and retrieved from the ashes, it could be seen as cool. On the other hand, if somebody just had a go at it with a blowtorch......then nah.

I found out my lovely, shiny, new, Elite Precision, sounds just like my Squier bitsa, once it's DI'd into the sound desk and EQ'd by some random sound engineer. And my old Squier has a nicer neck and is lighter too. You lives and learns I suppose

You need to form your own band. You can do that by advertising for musicians online, or you can do it by putting yourself about (playing in bands and attending open mic nights) and picking up like minded musicians. Or you can do what I did, join a Prog Rock band and turn them into a funk band! I wouldn't recommend it though, as it took four years to wean them off their Genesis fixation and persuade them that Chic and James Brown was the new direction. You're not going to make any friends by turning up to an audition, without learning any of the songs, and saying 'Hey, let's jam!'.

It doesn't show a serial number at all in the photos. Assuming that, if there is one and it actually is a fender, it must be at the body end of the neck , which would mean its a MIJ or CIJ bass. The ones made for export had smaller back plates on the machineheads, and some had the truss access at the headstock. Maybe worth £500. Edit - I do notice the bass player who previously owned this bass, playing a cheapo Precision, on The Lena Lovich tour, with a purposely obscured headstock logo (touring with a decent bass can be a risky thing to do).

My first gig was on the 8th of December 1980, aged 17. It was at my school 'Rock Nite'. My band was called Peach Melba (named after a flavour of yoghurt) and we chose the lead singer, because he was the best looking guy in the school. Unfortunately he was also the worst singer in the school. We got booed off. This is my second gig, at the sister of the guitarist's 21st birthday party. That bass cost me £50 (We were a bit better at this one, we'd been practising). Oh and we'd got a decent singer by then. Yoshi was Japanese and she had a Led Zep obsession.

My Barefaced Compact is the loudest cab, with the lightest weight (27lbs), I've ever owned. I can drown out a loud drummer, pairing it with my GK MB500 amp (I never do, of course, but I could if I wanted to). I also own a Barefaced Super Compact, which is light(23.5 lbs), and sounds excellent, but can't compete, as far as loudness is concerned, with the Compact.

I have a Super Compact and an older style Compact. I played a loud gig with the Super Compact and my GK MB500 amp, and it just about managed the gig with gain and master as high as they could go. My old Compact is definitely a louder cab, with the same amp. So I bought a secondhand GK MB800 and, hopefully, more power will allow me to get significantly more grunt out of the Super Compact. It was either that or buy another Super Compact, which defeats the point of my buying one in the first place (ie downsizing).

Looks like an ABM 500 in an ABM 900 case?

I always tune G,D,A,E. Except on a Wednesday, when I tune E,A,D,G.

One of the reasons I have a John East Pre amp fitted on my Jazzes, is for this very reason. I boost the low mid, significantly, and it means the bass cuts through really well when it's through the FOH PA. It makes it easier for the sound engineer to provide a decent clear bass sound out front, rather than subsonic mush.

The only reason I can see for a 'Best female bassist' list, is to encourage women and girls to take up the instrument.

Is this the one with the semi parametric EQ - i.e. The original model with knobs and sliders. I have one of these and it sounds great. Ashdown discontinued it because bassists couldn't quite understand the controls (we're a simple lot).

In the end, if you are a pro musician, It's down to what the client wants. If they want a P Bass, they get a P Bass. End of story.

Best to check basschat, ebay, facebook instrument market places, etc. You'll then get a decent idea of a fair price. Based on prices I've seen recently, the going price is around £800 to £850.

Just because it's a little confusing for the f*cking bass playing element!

Best: A secondhand G&L Tribute L-2500, was my surprise best bass purchase. It only cost me £360 - definitely a bargain. It's a really well made bass and also has classy looks (a tobacco sunburst paint job). I originally bought it mainly because I thought it was time I owned a 5 string bass, so I looked to buy one on the cheap. I have some very nice pro level basses but when I started playing it, it's quality surprised me. The B string is very clear and audible, not at all flabby or woolly. I love the Swiss Army Knife vibe of this bass. It's active and also has two big humbuckers that can be switched to single coil mode, so you can get a very wide range of sounds from, from Jaco to James Jamerson. Worst: Fender Elite Precision. I didn't get the chance to play it and ordered it unseen new. When I got it I didn't like the neck (too chunky). Pre amp doesn't have a parametric mid control (which it needs) and the controls are not very smooth (bit scratchy/gritty compared to the controls on my John East J retro). It's pretty heavy. We haven't bonded. I think my expectations were too high after seeing the reviews.

Your basses are fine. I would upgrade your amp, as a 100 watt amp does not have enough power to compete with a loud drummer. Something like a Fender Rumble 500 would be perfect. It's light, loud and costs under £500 new.

In my experience, if you don't have a decent bass cab then everything else is irrelevant. I've had some cheapo bass cabs in the past that really couldn't keep up with a loudish drummer. I slowly upgraded to TC Electronics then Ashdown ABM cabs. But it was only when I bought a Barefaced Compact, that I then had a cab with the fidelity and power handling capabilities that allowed me to reproduce the sound that was coming from my bass and amp, to my satisfaction.

Buy a bass in London, when you get down there, do the gig and take it back for a refund the next day. Tell the shop you don't like the colour or it's got too many/too few strings..

Bah humbug. I'm an easy going kind of guy but I can get very irritated when keyboard players go anywhere near the bass end of their keyboard, when I'm playing. Two musicians playing the bassline, is one too many.