Earbrass

So...thanks to a lucky break on ebay (using BuyItNow just 8 minutes after the auction had started) I now have a MarkBass CMD 121P combo. Mint condition, 6 months old, with a cover. The chap who sold it said he'd used it some medium sized pubs and had never had the volume above the 10 o'clock mark. Judging from these and other remarks I've seen here and elsewhere on the web, and WalMan's excellent review of the similar CMD 121H on this very site (http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5484), I think this will provide enough oomph for my needs. Just under 30lb in weight, and £600 delivered. Result! Just have to hope we ever get a gig now...

3 musicians and a drummer. Chr*st, I hope she never reads this!

Thanks to you all for your help...looks like I'm going to have to revise my 30lb / £600 targets! Thanks also to Darren from Bass Merchant who PM'd me. Have a good weekend folks.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='277961' date='Sep 5 2008, 04:05 PM']What do you use for rehearsals? Alex[/quote] Good question. We've only ever had one (since then I've been recording new bass parts for the band's otherwise already recorded album) - it was some kind of combo - 1x12 I think, but I'm not sure what make or how many watts it produced. I'll pay more attention next time.

For the first time since the early 1980's, I am playing bass again in a rock band. There's talk of gigs (the band have been a gigging outfit in the past, but have been without a regular bass player for a while). Trouble is, at the moment I only have a small practice amp, so it looks like I'm going to have to spend some money on some kind of gigging rig. The band is a 4 piece - vocals, gtr+backing vocals, drums and bass - playing heavyish melodic rock type stuff. The guitarist doesn't have an amp either - our practice room has amps supplied, and they say that in the past they've always got gigs at places with amps already in place (have you guys ever come across this??). The gigs they've had in the past (and think they are most likely to get in the future) seem to have been mostly in London pub venues, with PA supplied. So I'm wondering, from a perspective of zero recent gigging experience, what I'm going to need. I'd like not to exceed around £600 or 30lbs total weight if possible. Options I've been considering include things like: Hartke Kickback 10 combo: 120W, 30lbs, £260 ish new: basic option - if most of the oomph is likely to come from the PA, and the backline is mostly for hearing myself, this might be good option given its ability to act as a monitor in 'kicked-back' mode. Genz-Benz Shuttle 3.0 10T: 175W (350 with extension cab), 18lbs, £600 ish: - similar pros to the Hartke (it has a stand so it can be angled up, apparently), plus even lighter, and I could add an extra cab for more power if required. Lightweight head (Ashdown Little Giant 350??) with Lightweight 1x12 8 ohm cab (Zoot??). 175 Watts / 30lbs approx. / £500-£600. More like a 'proper' bass rig - could add a second 1x12 if needed. But can't angle upwards as easily, so most of the power would be directed at my ankles. Any thoughts? Do you find that for the average gig your amp is primarily a monitor for you, and that the PA is doing most of the work? Do you think a 1x10 combo could cut it in a gig, or am I falling victim to optimistic advertising? Thanks and regards E

Thanks for introducing me to the wonderful world of Brian Fox. He's like the Chuck Norris of bass: "Brian Fox's bum notes can calm hurricanes....but Brian Fox HAS NEVER PLAYED a bum note!"

[quote name='Oscar South' post='273808' date='Aug 31 2008, 04:40 PM']85% of people who say they don't like basses with more than 4 strings are just distasted because they either can't play a 5+ stringer well, or can't afford one. 10% are just saying it to be contrary or because they think it'll earn them 'bass cred'.[/quote] "distasted" ????

It depends so much on what facilities you need and what you are going to use it for. I use a Fostex MR8-MkII, which is super portable, records to CD spec (unlike most of the BOSS products), can be battery powered (bye bye mains hum), and records straight to Compact Flash (no moving parts). It's also cheap (£170/£180??) and very simple to use, though lacking many features (no EQ, internal fx are rubbish, and there's no aux out to use external effects). I use it for recording bass parts for the band I play with - they give me a stereo mix of the track as a WAV file - easy to download to the MR8 over USB. I then record my parts in my own time, copy them back to the laptop via USB, stick 'em on a memory stick, and then they are incorporated into the mix on the band's computer-based system, where proper EQ and FX can be added as required. So, in summary, it's great as a means of capturing sound and turning it into a WAV file, but if you want to process the sound you do it elsewhere - kind of like a digital camera, where you capture your image, then download to Photoshop etc for the fine tuning. Hope this helps. E

... oh yeah, and while we're on the subject of "the selfishness of these twats", I've not infrequently seen on these boards people talking of playing their bass rigs at home and "annoying the neighbours", often followed by a smiley. It's the selfishness of these twats we should be concerned with, and if any of them ever have their gear seized, it serves them right.

[quote name='Rich' post='266051' date='Aug 20 2008, 07:57 AM']OK, so where does it stop? Years ago, near where I used to live there was a dog boarding kennel. Out in the middle of nowhere, only one house anywhere near it. That house was sold, new couple moved in and, yup you guessed it, they complained about the noise. The owner of the kennel had two choices: 1] install complete soundproofing/enclosures which he could not afford, or 2] close. So another business folds, and a few more people on the dole... all because of the selfishness of these twats who knew full well that there was an established kennel nearby when they bought the place. Would you have been 100% on their side too?[/quote] Only if I was sure no dog would suffer as a result. NIMBYism is our most valuable bulwark against ever increasing noise pollution and over-development. Long may its force be felt.

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='266270' date='Aug 20 2008, 01:16 PM']uh.... the B occasionally likes to be awkward and flat? hang on.. how do I do a Bb when I haven't got a Bb on my fretboard???[/quote] It's very tricky.... you have to play a B while simultaneously detuning your string by exactly a semitone

[quote name='Sarah5string' post='266207' date='Aug 20 2008, 12:25 PM']...fair enough... but which bloody ones???[/quote] Hi Sarah, There are a lot to choose from, and all would be good practice, but I would recommend starting with the major scale in all 12 keys - if you can say the note names to yourself as you play them, so much the better. Good for fingering and learning your way round all the notes, and often useful in actual playing. Once you've nailed those, give the melodic and harmonic minors a try. Blues scale(s) are very useful in rock, too. Personally, I think the most important thing for a bass player is to get a grasp of how the keys relate to each other (the "cycle of fifths", knowing which keys are the relative major/minor of others, which are the dominants and subdominants etc.) There's some confusing terminology involved, but the principles are beautifully simple. Hope this helps, and good luck! E

[quote name='jakesbass' post='232659' date='Jul 4 2008, 01:13 PM']I would politely inform them that under those conditions they will not really be getting a live music performance. I find it incredible that people cannot tolerate a single night of celebration without selfish self interested complaint[/quote] But it's not a single night, is it, if it's an "established venue". I'm 100% on the side of the neighbours here - it's the venue who are being selfish, by not caring about their neighbours as long as they are getting their payment. Well done the neighbours for getting the restrictions imposed. More people should complain more often.

[quote name='BOD2' post='251411' date='Jul 30 2008, 03:30 PM']you could look at the [url="http://www.studiospares.com/Mixers-Analogue/Soundcraft-Compact-4-Desktop-Mixer/invt/267570"]Soundcraft Compact-4[/url][/quote] +1 for the Soundcraft Compact 4: 4 channels (2 mono, 2 stereo), 2 mic preamps, even has a DI button on channel 2 for electric bass/guitar. Very flexible routing options (record bus/monitor bus/main bus), 2 headphone outs, small, neat, pretty and quite cheap (mine cost me about £60 new).

Lau - the Live album, currently on track 3 Frank and Flo's - brilliant, even though there's no bass guitar Saw them live at the Slaughtered Lamb last month - best gig I've seen in years.

Thanks everyone - very enlightening!

[quote name='cheddatom' post='130126' date='Jan 29 2008, 04:37 PM']I would say 600Hz is more "mids" than 2.5K. Whether or not either is of more use on bass or not........ I personally like to boost both mentioned frequencies on my amp. When recording, I use the EQ in my DAW. Do you not have this option?[/quote] Hi Tom, I'm using a very simple digital 8 track for recording, which has no EQ (Fostex MR-8 MkII - super portable, runs on batteries if you need - record anywhere with no earth hum! - CD spec straight to Compact Flash). I use this set-up as I move around a bit and wanted something portable. I am a luddite and only use computers for archival / compiling and burning CDs etc. (25 years as a computer programmer - say no more). Thanks to yourself and umph for your comments. In the end I expect I'll go for the Soundcraft cos it looks prettier. I'm so shallow.

Hi all, I'm going to have to buy a small mixer in the near future for my modest home studio. Main contenders at the mo are the Soundcraft Compact 4 and the Alesis Multimix 6FX. On the whole I trust Soundcraft more when it comes to mixers, but one difference between the two is the midrange EQ - the Alesis mid is 2.5K (peaking), the soundcraft is 600Hz. A few reviews have commented that the Soundcraft's 600Hz is an odd choice and not very useful, but I was wondering which you all thought would be better for bass guitar. Any thoughts (or other comments about these two products) ? Regards E

Back in the mid 90's, I got a lift home from Tilda Swinton. She asked me where would be the best place to buy filing cabinets, and I suggested Exchange and Mart. I've always thought that constituted a kind of bond between us. And I once had a cup of tea and a chat with Mike Leigh during the interval at a play - but didn't realise who it was till afterwards! Oh, and in the mid 80's I used to rent a room from Bernard Hill's ex-missus - he used to come round sometimes. As did Matthew Kelly. Can't think of any others at the mo....

[quote name='cetera' post='58777' date='Sep 11 2007, 04:22 PM']Prob around £400 - £450 I would think...[/quote] I sold mine a few months back on ebay, with gigbag: it fetched about £415, which was only bout £25 less than I paid new (also on ebay) E

Just to add a footnote to this thread...I've seen ads claiming great things for metal resonator basses, like that they have great volume and penetration compared to the standard wooden acoustics. So yesterday, when I was browsing in Denmark Street and saw such a bass in a window I went in and had a go. It was an Ozark, purely acoustic, medium scale, on sale for about £325. Didn't think much of it - tone was nasty, not much volume or bite and it was heavy as hell. Anyone had any good experiences of this kind of bass? E

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='36950' date='Jul 25 2007, 05:42 PM']I've used them both extensively, and they're night and day, IMO. However, the MBII does it so much better, and is far more natural sounding. The SABDDI mid-scoop is always present, no matter how far back you roll the bass & treble knobs. Sure, you can roll back the blend, but that's taking the interesting stuff out of the signal as well (drive, speaker simulation, etc.) The EBS is great for rock and roll, but also... my fretless P sounded indistinct via the SABDDI. Using the EBS it has a whole 'life' about it. SABDDI? Great. EBS MBII? Far better.[/quote] Cheers wateroftyne - I was being a bit slow there - didn't realise the "SABDDI" people had been referring to elsewhere in the thread was in fact...oh well, it's been a long day.

How does this compare to the SansAmp Bass Driver DI? Anyone used both?

I've owned just four basses over a thirty year period. My first was a Kimbara Jazz Bass Copy, bought new sometime in 1977. A beautiful looking Jap copy with natural blonde finish and a great tone, but as I recall, very heavy. I had it defretted at some point, and eventually sold it some time in the mid to late eighties. I was then bassless for many years (my main instrument is piano), until about three years ago when I took a Peavey Milestone III from a Cash Converters for £50 including gigbag. I'd forgotten how much fun playing bass was, and was soon re-converted to the cause. After a year or so, I decided I'd treat myself to a 'proper' bass, and started visiting music shops. It was only after trying a few that I realised how light the Peavey is by comparison - memories of lugging the Kimbara in its solid case came flooding back, and I resolved that any new bass would be no heavier than the Peavey's 8 lbs. Which is how I ended up buying a Fender Aerodyne Jazz, bass #3. I kept the Peavey, as it was convenient to have two basses, one at home and one left at a friend's house where I played regularly. After another year or so of switching from one to the other on a regular basis, and using both for recording projects, I came to the conclusion that there really wasn't much to choose between them in feel or sound, and I realised that I actually slightly preferred the neck on the Peavey, which was also quieter for recording use. I sold the Aerodyne for about £20 less than I'd paid for it, and bought another Peavey Milestone III off ebay for...£50 including gigbag. So I now have 2 identical basses (except for the colour) for a total of £100. I have no plans or desire to buy another (well, maybe an EUB one day, when I've retired and have the time to learn it). Loving them Peaveys! E