Franticsmurf

Yeah - I was trapped on stage once with not so great music playing from the backing tracks 😀. It was a dep role for a mate, who had been going out as a 'guitar/guitar/vocal' trio. One of the guitars didn't turn up and at short notice, with no real prep, I said I'd cover for a couple of gigs. The female singer was good but doing modern dance pop mixed with show tunes, and my mate on the guitar was doing the same old stuff we used to do when were in a band together. The set lurched from 'Treasure' to 'Johnny B Good' to 'Penny Arcade' to 'Sweet Caroline' via 'Eye of the Tiger' and 'Abracadabra'. The audience (social club/bingo crowd) didn't know what to make of it. Nothing I could do except stand at the back and endure. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. 🤣

In the Hulla Band, I love playing the more funky songs although I'm not really a fan of funk music on record. Currently we're playing through 'Land of a Thousand Dances', 'Take Me to the River', 'Stayin' Alive' and 'Your Love'. But then we're also working on more rocky stuff and my particular favourites in that genre at the moment are 'I Fought the Law', Town Like Malice' and 'Get Your Rocks Off'. Last night we were working on 'Suffragette City' and I really enjoyed the bass part. I think that will become a new favourite. The song that I look forward the most, though, is the Sheryl Crow version of 'Sweet Child of Mine' in which I am given free reign to play more melodic bass lines (if you know the song, I'm doing a lot of the little guitar fills).

I've answered 'Anything Else' because in my current band, we tend to be given a certain amount of freedom to play as much as we want - mainly because our gigs are almost all private functions obtained through word of mouth or contacts at previous gigs. We rarely play for less than 2 hours, sometimes around 3 hours and very occasionally 4. There's usually one break which is about 15-20 minutes. In my previous band (where I still occasionally dep so it's current information) we were almost always asked to play 2x45m and unless we were given a strict finish time (working men's clubs usually) we would do 50m and 60m+.

Just had a look. Hmmm. I may be down that way in the next couple of weeks. Thanks. 😀

...and make him stand in front of the riot shield the rest of you will need. 🤣

I was looking at those online and the fact it was fretless put me off. I missed the one on here.

Thanks. Nice set up and as you say, small and light. I've been playing around with the power amp stage of a Peavey Minimax into a pair of TE 2x 10 cabs. In a previous rig incarnation I was using a Laney RB7 so when I got the Digbeth Pre part of the attraction for me was the Tilt function (called 'Enhance' on the RB7) that is great for tuning in to a room.

What an excellent idea - I don't recall reading your plans; are you using a power amp or a bass amp head that you know you can dial a neutral tone into?

+1 for the Ibanez EHB - I have the short scale 4 string and it's comfortable, easy to play and sounds good. I also have a Spirit XZ2 (the headless with a body) and that's very light weight (7.5 lb).

Following on from my previous 'final version' of a pedal board for a rock trio, here's the new 'final version' although there are no guarantees as this has yet to be tested in a live environment. The main change is the removal of the Plethora in favour of individual pedals - no reflection on the Plethora but I find the individual pedals easier to tweak on the go, which is what I will be doing over the next few rehearsals. In comes the compressor, the Mooer Pure Octave, the Nux Univibe and the Joyo Vintage Phase. The centre row provides the core bass tone. The 12 Step is triggering a Korg 05/RW half rack synth module and I have simple string and organ patches set up on that. Signal path is tuner >Octave and across the top, with the Vintage Phase going in to the Bass Clone and across. The H24 feeds into a passive DI box which can connect to an amp or DI to FOH. The electro-acoustic guitar is sounding good with all the pedals off bar the Univibe, which means no need for the guitar pre-amp.

A few years ago the BL suggested 'Christmas Wrapping' as part of our festive set list. I was familiar with the song but had never listened to it with a bassist's ear. I was immediately smitten with the bass part and settled down to learn it. It takes me a while to nail a part as it's played but eventually I got it only to have the song dropped from the list before we'd even rehearsed it. I was gutted, but glad I made the effort. A couple of weeks ago a couple of mates and I had a jam and one of the songs offered up on the night was 'Runaway Baby' (Bruno Marrs). Not a song I was familiar with but what a catchy bassline. Nothing difficult, just great to play.

@andruca @neepheid Thanks both for the suggestions. I had thought of some kind of padding similar to the wrist band. Part of the problem is that I have short arms (I'm only 5'7") and the body is quite big, so getting a comfortable playing position is difficult. Even with the rubber cornering, I could see it being uncomfortable and I know that 6 months down the line I'd be wishing I'd returned it. The more I played it the more I realised it wasn't for me - sound wise (it's not as hollow body/acoustic as I wanted) as well as playing position. It is going back and I'll have a rethink about what I actually want. EDIT: For anyone reading this and considering the GB5, it's a lovely bass but I'd certainly recommend trying one as it's different to anything I've played before.

I should add that while the sharp edge is the main reason it's going back, I'm not so enamoured with the piezo sound as I was when I first played it either. I think the body is chambered rather than fully hollow (judging by the weight and lack of unplugged volume). Having played a Hofner violin bass a while back, its definitely not the same kind of sound, and I was looking for something closer to the fully hollow body tone. I have no complaints about the quality of the bass but over the last 24hrs I've realised its not for me.

Yes, I can see how it would be difficult to contour, but it's actually quite sharp with no attempt at rounding the edge. I think the size of the body makes it more noticeable than the semi-acoustic 6 strings I have. In any case, I've struggled with it and I'm currently arranging with Bax to return it.

New Hollow Body Bass Day. I've been after a hollow body bass for the tone and this showed up in the research. A Sire Marcus Miller GB5 - the fretted version. I was impressed in the demo videos I saw/heard - it had the sound I was looking for and it's not bad looking. There was one for sale in Bax at £397 so I jumped in. Ordered on Tuesday, it arrived this afternoon. Shiny black (that won't last after my grubby fingerprints get on it 😀) , great playability straight from the box and almost the sound I was expecting without any dialing in of the amp. My only criticism is that the point on the body where my arm rests is quite sharp - no contour. It means a slight adjustment of the position of my hand to be most comfortable. Not so much of a problem if I'm playing with a pick (which won't be that often on this).

I know it wasn't aimed at me, but I've added relevant photos to my first post. 😀

Alas I must gracefully bow out. A new project called for a couple of new effects (phase and vibe) and I've just handed over a few coins for a Sire BG5 electro-acoustic bass. Pedals due today, bass by the end of the week. Good luck to the rest of you still hanging in there. 😀

I've been using a Zoom B6 for the last year or so with the Hulla band and I think it's great. Its perfect what what I need, which is access to a range of effects during rehearsals that will coalesce into (hopefully) four patches with a couple of options such as chorus and/or phase once the final set list has been decided. But I also play occasionally, either in scratch bands - one-offs and fun gigs - or as a dep in a couple of bands. For the dep duties, it's almost always a straight forward rock set for which I only need a couple of pedals and so I don't use the B6. Recently I've become involved in a scratch band trio made up of mates I've played with before and which is due to play at the end of October. It may evolve into, at the very least, a band that jams regularly although there's a chance that something more may come of it. So being the type of person that likes creating pedal boards and also the type of person that has a selection of pedals to play with, I thought I'd put a board together that would emulate the B6 but with less choice; that choice being focused on the rock and blues end of the spectrum. One key element was to include the Keith McMillen 12 Step keyboard controller, which dictated the width of the board. It really needs a hard surface to sit on to respond properly as it's quite flexible so mounting it on the board seemed like a good idea and would offer some protection as well. I'll be added a few simple keyboard parts to fill out the trio sound. This is the final choice of pedals. Included here is an acoustic guitar pre-amp (top centre) as I may be playing acoustic guitar on one or two numbers and a mini mixer for the . Also in the picture (bottom left) is a Behringer P1 wired monitor so I can wire an in-ears monitor ste up if required, and also so that the board becomes a self contained practice rig. The power block is a Harley Benton unit. This is the under side of the board, which was built from off cuts of plastic interior windowsill strips covered with black gaffa tape. There are various strips of velcro or similar that will hold the cables in place. Looks a bit messy, because it is a bit messy. 😀 I finished off the board this morning. The core sound is provided by the Ampeg pre-amp and the H24 HPF, along with the Hot Wax providing a bit of overdrive where necessary. I couldn't fit the acoustic guitar pre-amp on the board which annoys me a bit, as does the gap beneath the Plethora X3. The latter space is necessary for the USB cables that connect to the 12 Step. I'm already trying to decide what could go in there. Top left is a DI box, top right is the P1 monitor. The X3 is currently proving compressor and phase and may well be swapped out for individual pedals to do the same , which may free up space for the acoustic pre-amp. Hmmm. These 'final version' builds are never final. 😀

Do it. 😀 My purchase was an act of pure nostalgia but the bass has found its way back into the stable of basses I take out to gigs.

*Edited to add photos* First proper bass I owned was a Hohner 'The Jack' headless back when I started to identify as a bassist rather than guitarist. At the time I was a bit self conscious that regular basses (i.e. long scale with large headstocks) looked a bit silly hung around my 5'7" frame, so headless made sense to me. I soon overcame that and a couple of headed basses came and went. I sold the Hohner during a lull in my playing career but recently purchased a different one from this parish which has recently seen a lot of action in the build up to a couple of gigs I'll be playing in the next few months. The next milestone bass was another headless, my Spirit XZ2. Milestone because it's been with me the longest and will probably be the last bass to go should I have to sell up. It has a drop D bridge and I've fitted a GK3B pickup to drive a Rioland V Bass. Its played or been sat as a back up for probably half the gigs I've played. Next milestone was my Sterling Stingray 34HH. Still the most expensive instrument I've owned (even with the discount my mate got for being in the trade). One of my influences is Tony Levin and that got me interested in the Stingray. It has a range of tones on tap and for the main band I play in that's ideal as the repertoire of songs is many and varied. It's heavy The last one (for now) is my Fender Player Precision. Simply because it was the first Precision style bass I'd played and I was immediately smitten by the sound and the way it fits in with any band I've played with. I was a Precision sceptic until I was persuaded to try one.

Sorry, I misread. Still, the general message is the same. Don't let the personnel make @12stringbassist quit completely.

I can't comment on your personal issues, but things change so don't cancel everything, just enough to give you the break you need for now. You can always cancel more if necessary, but if you have something to look forward to or work towards, that may be something to help you out of the situation you are in. I hope things improve for you soon.

I can't comment on construction/materials, but my house usually has around 60-65% humidity levels (I've just checked now: Hot day, windows open, light breeze through the house = 59%). The house doesn't feel damp and I've often wondered what a 'normal' level is. I have no problems with any of my guitars or electrical gear other than the usual change in tuning as instruments warm up or cool down.

+1 for the B1-Four. It's my go to practice device with a decent pair of headphones, I've gigged with it, sending the signal to FOH or using it for a couple of effects into an amp and on one occasion it provided the drums for a duo I was in when the backing tracks failed. In other words, it will last beyond your novice stage.

I love that Ampeg pre-amp pedal and like you, I've been looking for overdrive and distortion to compliment it (although I'm after more of a Chris Squire drive sound with the option to go a little further). I've got an EHX Hot Wax pedal (originally bought for guitar). It's two independent overdrive/distortions which can also be combined (actually the 'Hot Tubes' and 'Crayon pedals crammed into one box). Works for me with a P Bass, Hohner Jack and Sterling Ray34 HH into FOH. Edit: I have also used a Marshall JMP 1 valve pre-amp rack unit, also originally bought for when I was guitaring. It has programmable patches that can be selected using a midi pedal and also has an FX loop. Rack and midi pedals, with attendant cables, is a bit bulky but I'd still use it for the right gig.