Rosie C

On 25/04/2024 at 21:59, Mottlefeeder said:

The behringer P2 and its rivals are designed to take line level outputs from a mixer, so your bass may not have a strong enough signal to give you enough volume, especially if it is passive.

 

I use a Behringer P2. I run my bass into a Boss TU-3 tuner pedal - the 'output' jack goes to my amp, the 'bypass' jack goes into the P2. I'm not sure what's going on inside but there's a strong enough signal to drive everything. I use it with ACS ambient IEMs which are something like ambient less 17dB.

37 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

what's the instrument you have had longest?

 

If it isn't a bass, what bass have you had longest?

A tenor recorder that I bought in 1999-2000. 

I have only one bass guitar, a Squier/Fender hybrid which I bought in 2020.

Sound advice!

We have a service tonight for the licensing of our new priest. I'm sad to see the old one leave, but change might be good. My back's playing up (again) so bass guitar instead of upright for me (again).

We used "Americana" as it seemed less niche, more accessible, trendier than Bluegrass, Country, etc. Planet Rock say "Americana" when they play Country songs. Rather than an attempt to subdivide it I guess we were using it as a catch all for a range of American music. 

A selection of DMX connectors. Used but in good condition:

• 2x 5 pin male connectors
• 2x 5 pin female connectors
• 1x 3-pin male to 5-pin female adapter
• 1x 5-pin make to 3-pin female adapter
• 1x 5-pin terminator
• 1x 3-pin teminator with bus activity LED

Collect from Chepstow or I can post to the UK at cost.

22 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

Does seem to be growing, which is another great reason to explore!

Although quite simple - root-5 with a run here and there, but I found the bass lines a lot of fun to play. No drummer in our band, so the bass and banjo were the rhythm section. 

I played on upright too, which always adds a bit of theatre. 

1 hour ago, Mykesbass said:

Anybody here playing in such a band? Is there a 'scene' (it looks like there is a bit of one from my Facebook feed)? 

Who are some of the bands out there?

 

I played in a bluegrass band in 2022-23 - mostly bluegrass but some country music too - Johnny Cash, etc. I was surprised that here in South Wales there are a lot of bands playing Americana and it was fairly easy to get bookings and decent audiences. Just a couple of weeks ago we went to see Texas Tick Fever who do a range of Americana styles and the venue was packed.

20 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Definitely! 

 

I've lost track of how many times I've bashed out Three Blind Mice on the Recorder at jam nights. 

I did a gig on recorder last Saturday - through the house PA in a music bar to a pretty good reception. I didn't do three blind mice. I've a try-out next week with a folk dance outfit on treble recorder, so lunchtime 'recorder club' in 1978-9 has actually served me pretty well. 

My upright is sub-£1000, it's a white-painted plywood model. It is probably this one, though I bought it second hand: https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_rockabilly_weiss.htm

I only play it pizz, and use it for bluegrass, jazz and worship music. It has had a pro setup, decent strings & pickup. I had to have a new end pin fitted after the original one self-destructed. I wouldn't pay anymore unless I moved over to classical or wanted to return to bowing. I actually like that it's plywood and not worth much as it's regularly gigged and I don't worry too much about it.

On 17/04/2024 at 10:12, police squad said:

I'm thinking about a bass vi for a bit of fun.

What are the thoughts of the BC  massive.

 

I'd not heard of this creation and it has me confused. Is a regular bass guitar 2 octaves below a regular 6-string, and the VI sits in between?

On 24/04/2024 at 00:17, bubinga5 said:

My sister sent me this... I didnt realise what I was about to hear. Its a wonderful record but good lord that groove at 4,40 mins... that is one of the most satisfying guitar solos (2 part) and groove sections ive ever heard that seems to go on and on, the galloping/ 16th note bass playing, the drumming is just amazing also..... just wow. 

Going back a LOT of years, we always finished our rock DJ set with Freebird. Happy days!

1 hour ago, PaulThePlug said:

UJ type stand fitting - Tom Drum?screwed on thru or welded to the Neck Plate.

I note that @solo4652 doesn't want to alter the bass, but for anyone else who doesn't mind a bit of engineering and modification, this is how I did my EUB. The stand was off-the-shelf and has a lot of adjustment.

5 hours ago, stewblack said:

My tastes were formed in the early seventies and waved goodbye to (most) popular music in the mid 80s. These shows probably reflect this.

It would be great to hear what you've found. 

My favourite is WSM Radio, home of 'Grand Ole Opry'. Live isn't so good with the time zone differences, but there's an on-demand archive on their website https://wsmradio.com

Closer to home, Absolute Country on DAB is always guaranteed to cheer me up when doing cooking, housework, etc.

3 minutes ago, BigAlonBass said:

Try not Giving Up completely. Simply take a break, stick your Gear in a corner, and if something turns up that tickles your fancy, give it a go. You never know.  😉

Sound advice! I got into a rut, sold all but one bass, and my big amps. But kept my favourite jazz bass and a half-decent practice amp. A year on I'm playing regularly again.

12 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I know half a dozen musicians working in schools today. They are teaching drums, guitar and singing and have full books.

 

Some of these kids come along to our jam nights and the standard is good.

 

In West London at least music education and learning musical instruments seems to be prospering.

It's similar at our local high school - great teachers and very good facilities. Very different to my own experience in the 1980s!

18 hours ago, diskwave said:

65 thru 76. Recorder @ Primary school, Fiddle in Middle School orchestra..

Oh, I'd forgotten that. While high school music lessons were a waste of time for me, we played recorder at junior school age 8 or 9. They must have worked as I still play recorder now - though admittedly now I play it through a rack-mount chorus unit and a PA  muhahahahaha!

I use a Boss VE-8, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it. It works really well for acoustic guitar-type instruments with chorus and acoustic enhancement. The looper is useful and it provides phantom power for my condenser mic. The vocal enhance (apparently a compressor and EQ) works well with my voice. 

But the vocal accompaniment are all a bit robotic - although the doubling and octave are better than the others. It draws a fair amount of power - I use it with a 4Ah lithium drill battery which lasts about 24 hours.

Edit: this matches with a couple of reviews I read - that the TC Helicon is better for vocal, the VE-8 better for guitar.

22 minutes ago, nilorius said:

😜 I like tequila, may be You hate it and like coca cola !! How about McDonalds hamburgers - i hate them, but love pizza !! The world is wide !

I'm with you on burgers and pizza! 😉

On 14/04/2024 at 18:10, nilorius said:

The bass model design that You hate with passion. I really don't like 

Gipson sg bass, but it is Gipson - passion.

 

Ah, but that is my favourite shape! I have an SG-shaped mandocello being built right now, and a Hagstrom H8 is top of my list of must-have basses!

Pentangle is my band of choice this week...

16 hours ago, pete.young said:

 

My children's experience of school music lessons was much more positive than many of those detailed here.

 

Although my 1980s music lessons weren't up to much, what I've seen of my local high school's provision is very much better. They have a big band, show choir, practice rooms, recording studio, and help with loan instruments and free instruments lessons for kids who couldn't otherwise afford it.

We did music in the first and second year at school, with a horrible teacher and it was all just classical. In the third year we had to choose either music or art, and I took art. Meanwhile I was playing bass in a high school band. One day I was at school and was given a message to go to see the head of music. He explained he needed a bassist for the end of year musical, that I wasn't good enough (!!) but I was the best he had and would I like 1:1 lessons with him to get up to scratch. The rest is history 😎

1 hour ago, tauzero said:

 

Just cut the headstock off and get some Guyker headless gear. Even better for weight distribution.

We didn't quite go that far, but the next step was to have been cut the headstock down and move the 'A' tuning machine onto the underside, like a MusicMan.

27 minutes ago, solo4652 said:

Loads of interesting stuff here! Today, I made a super-thick pad to go under my already-wide shoulder strap. I thought it would help cushion the weight, but it hasn't Worth a try. I've decided to make a walk up performer stand so I can have no weight at all on my neck and shoulder. @chris_b suggested the Mbrace https://www.imuso.co.uk/itm/mbrace-stage-guitar-stand but it's no longer made. 

 

I'm going to have a go at making something like it. I'll start a new thread. All design inputs and ideas welcome!

I developed neck/back pain playing bass during lockdown - playing all day when I was suddenly home a lot. Initially I bought a Hofner violin bass which was super light. But I yearned for my jazz bass and different straps didn't help. In the end I sat down with my friendly local guitar technician to look at the weight. We identified:

• the steel clover leaf style tuners were really heavy, but could be replaced with alloy/nylon units
• the sexy high-mass bridge really wasn't helping and could be replaced with a bent plate type
• wood could be machined from underneath the fingerboard

We removed around 1.5lbs in weight - with a lot of that coming off the end of the neck so it helped weight distribution. Of course this is just a cheap Squier whose value is more emotional to me than financial. I maybe wouldn't do it to a valuable instrument, but it completely changed this instrument.

13 minutes ago, agedhorse said:

Not getting any sympathy here!  Preparing some racks for another season on the road:

No, no, no... until our band can afford a 7.5 tonne truck with tail lift and staff I'm not even considering anything like that!