Leaderboard

Hi, I am an Australian who has been living in Thailand/ SE Asia for the past 10 years. Happy to find this site as I like to keep up-to-date with chat and gear I have been a bass enthusiast for 40+ years and still play for 4-6 hours per week 'Karaoke style' (I no longer have the desire to drag impressive cabinets and gear to play in beer filled ashtrays). I have a studio set up with all the gear and big screen to play with live concert recordings so no one asks me to play obligato or tell me I'm out of tune! Interested in all styles of music but have a penchant for 70's rock and gear If I can provide any info on Thailand you most welcome to ask - picture of Daughter in the studio

Why is it that modern tort pickguards just look crap, you can buy a beautifully crafted Fender Custom Shop vintage reissue which is lovingly crafted in the image of the original bass, to the finest detail, and then they slap on the crappest piece of pretend tort as a pickguard. Let’s be honest, this stuff looks nothing like the original, vintage tort is beautiful, everyone is slightly different with shimmering patterns, deep reds and swirly things, modern tort is pretty crap and does not look nice. Spitfire torts which are rediculouy expensive are about the best your are going to get, they are pretty good, but again just do not stack up to the originals. Surely it cannot be that hard? Am I wrong? Is the tort pickguard an art form lost to time???

Hi, My band Velcro Pelmet is back in action this Saturday at The Union Jack in Southwark, easily reached from Waterloo and London Bridge. We'll be doing our selection of originals and standards from the jazz/rock/fusion genre. Hope to see you there! Check out the facebook event at https://www.facebook.com/events/873628712813575/ for more details. Kick off around 8pm. Our last gig featured some of our own material plus familiar tunes from the likes of Herbie Hanpink torpedo, Zappa, Miles Davis, Mahavishnu, Pat Metheny, Weather Report, Billy Cobham, Jaco's big band. You can hear what we sound like at https://velcropelmet.com/music but watch out for the autoplay! Tony

Now now now chaps. Before jumping to conspiracy theories you might try finding some facts. Been chatting to Stu by PM and to be honest if you want to label him as anything you can accuse him of being a “lucky bu£&er”. I know that every time I walk by a junk shop or go to a car boot sale I imagine I’m going to come home with a 59 Les Paul that I paid the princely sum of £100 for. And if I did I’d probably wonder if I’d just unwittingly done a shonky deal, because I’m pretty sure I’m not that lucky! Once in a while someone is... and the worst you can accuse them of being is a “lucky bu£&er” and you can hardly blame them for being a bit bewildered!

This brings a whole new dimension to scratch'n'sniff ...

/thread

Exactly my point. Blue

I was a Stones fan but still had all the Beatles albums, singles and EP's. As a musician you had to, they were the source of most new ideas at the time. The Beatles started as a live Rock and Roll act, went through being a backing band and came out the other end as the biggest original band in the world. No one's ever likely to like all their output (even they didn't), as it stretches from I Saw Her Standing There to I Am The Walrus, through Yellow Submarine (!), but they constantly changed what was possible with every new song and record they put out. Lennon and McCartney were musical giants. Very few bands have survived to the first album with two such original talents on board. They had to fight each other for their space in the band and certainly weren't interested in giving George Harrison a fair crack. He got his token song on each album and as he said he was writing songs but not bringing them to the band. He did manage to write one of their most famous songs. As Frank Sinatra said, "Something is the best song Lennon and McCartney ever wrote!" Forget the inaccuracy, that's some complement. While Lennon and McCartney were busy re writing the rule book for popular music Ringo was redefining what was possible for a drummer to play. Earl Palmer changed the drum world in 1949 by starting the 2 and 4 snare drum pattern. Now you can't imagine music without that simple beat, but 2 and 4 didn't cut it in so many of the Beatles songs that Ringo had to come up with something that did and in so doing opened the door to creative drum patterns that have spread into every drummers repertoire. Neal Peart, Buddy Rich and Jon Bonham are all great drummers, they brought something to the table but they didn't change the world of drumming. Ringo did and for that he needs recognition. There might be "better" drummers but Earl Palmer and Ringo Starr are the two most influential drummers in the last 70 years.

Yeah, plus 2 look cooler than 1, and now I can turn it up to 11 - tweedy One10 ordered!!!

I used to worry incessantly about what bass I was using, what rig I had, was it right for the job, were my strings bright enough etc. I came to realise after playing in 3/4 different bands over the past 4 years that, certainly in my case and situation, it doesn’t matter, and no one cares or notices how my bass sounds. I am about the only person who notices the difference in my rig or bass and most band members can’t really hear a huge difference in a live situation. This is also compounded by the fact that I go through a PA and ‘my sound’ can usually only be heard by me on stage, and everyone out front just gets the dry signal from my DI (pre EQ most of the time) which is set up by the engineer, I don’t normally hear it. Dont get me wrong, I will get a comment when there is too much ‘woolly’ bass or treble in a venue, but as long as I sit in a mix and play the right notes, no one cares if I’m using a Squier Precision, 3k Overwater, Aguilar rig or £250 Ashdown combo. For me it has become quite liberating, no one apart from me and few folks on here or other bass players (I don’t meet many to be fair) give a monkeys about my kit. This means I don’t swap my kit very often apart from out of curiosity, and I free up mental space to play and try and retain 3 bands worth of material in my brain.

Hopefully you will have other suggestions from other BCers forthcoming but I may be able to sort you out with a reasonable fee hire of our band's PA (depending on what the needs are) given that I'm in East London. I'll pm you.

So, reading cynically between the lines, if the OP wants to reunite a recently acquired bass with its owner and s/he has sufficiently short memory to have already forgotten where they bought it, s/he either knows it's stolen and has pangs of guilt and wants it gone, knows it's stolen and is using this thread as a way of selling it (I bet s/he's already had a few PMs saying "I'll give you a grand"), is trying to get a Chinese Wal faker into circulation etc etc, the permutations are endless. Having said that, I sincerely hope it is what it seems, it would be quite life affirming to think that someone who recently bought a stolen bass was honest enough to want to find its rightful owner.

The trouble is those tortoises take a long time to grow!

as has been alluded too in another thread 'what makes a good drummer' it's not just how you play but if you get on with your band mates, I think Ringo was the only Beatle not to fall out with anybody, he was the only one they all worked with after the split

But does it look like this? This is from a 1969 Jazz bass.

I haven’t actually had the opportunity to try the D800+, but I have read the same thing about it being a lot more versatile. No surprise there Strangely enough I never got to A/B test the D800 next to the M9. The M9 has, as you say, an awesome creamy sound, which the class D amps don’t get. But in my band setting this doesn’t really come through in more than one or two songs, whereas the benefits of not having the preamps/effects I use anyway (B7K/VMT) on a pedalboard (a lot less noice), made me choose the M900 over the M9. I would happily use either amp, if that what was on offer. The last gig we used the M900 and the TKS W2126 for the band that came after us as well. That bass player uses an D800 and Mesa cabs. He turned down the overdrive on the amp and used his B7K instead. He really liked what he heard and I thought it sounded great too, when I got to be audience instead of up on stage.

Hipshot " A" type.

Hi' i have both brass' & aluminum' go with the aluminum simply because of the weight difference! But' buy with confidence these are stellar pieces of kit!!! & far superior to many other bridges on the market.

I’ve done it. I’ve bought an Avant Garde!

I’ve got the 5h bongo, an SR5 fretless and the 20th anni 5h. The bongo is more aggressive and forward in tone, whilst still sounding like a stingray, it’s a beast live but isn’t as comfortable to play, the G string is a bit close to the edge of the frets and takes a bit of getting used to. Don’t know the 4 string versions, so I can’t comment there with any authority but I’d guess the character is similar. love mine for live, but the 20th Anni has taken over in the studio.

Great looking guitar and bass. A lot of binding and classic good looks. I hate to be an old geezer. But man did those guys look great in suits or what? Blue

To save any further puerile thread derailment I've created...

Here now. Criticising youtubers is one thing, but I won't hear a word said against that duck.

Another stupid craze that that originated in the USA.

Sure - he's not for you. You are in no means in his demographic. You may as well spend your time getting annoyed with TV adverts for CBeebies. As a guitar manufacturer. And also as somebody who has worked with Davie504 - I think you're missing something very important. People like him are VITAL in getting young people interested in playing the bass. Kids (largely) don't care a stinky poo about what famous rock star plays what bass. But what kids DO do is watch a lot of youtube. I have kids coming to my stand at guitar shows *specifically* because of Davie. So what that recent "The Guitar is Dead" article https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.ce7968ff795a didn't take into account was the effect that these youtube players are having on sales. Just my 2 cents. **EDIT haha. love the censorship applied to my post. "stinky poo"

Re. stand, I bodged a stand for my Stag that actually works pretty well. The donor was a tattoo leg/arm rest - took off the pad and it gave me this quick release jobbie. Once it is folded up it (nearly) fits into the bow pocket on the carry bag, too.

Having not played an NS design EUB, thanks for that appraisal Sylvia. It's nice to know the pros and the cons, from someone who actually plays one, rather than someone who dislikes them. I quite fancied an NS myself, after buying a Stagg - which was also my first foray into the world of upright... I've heard others say that they don't really sound much like a DB, rather like the Stagg (which sounds more like a big fretless bass IMHO) I've heard sound clips from the Yamaha SLB's and that EUB does sound much more DB-like.... of course, this could be achieved by effects units or sound processing of some sort... Looking at photos of the NS. I think I'd get confused by all those dots too, and I have heard of owners "dabbing" over them with a felt-tip pen (or even model makers black paint!) to help prevent confusion But as Sylvia says, the NS does look quite cool, and the fact that it's designed to be played on the stand could be really useful In terms of an EUB sounding more like a true acoustic DB, the best I've heard was the Emminence. Because it has a small, slim chambered body, a bit of careful EQ'ing and you can get a very DB-like sound. I now have a KK EUB (bought from that nice chap Happy Jack of this forum). In my opinion, the KK sounds more like a Double bass than my old Stagg did, and it looks really cool, and is a fab design, shape & colour too. Though its' main con is that it's still quite heavy, compared to a Stagg. Al Krow, if you're intent on upgrading from the Stagg - take a bit of time, do a bit of research and play as many EUB's as you can Pop along to a basschat meet, or maybe post a few questions and request that you try other BC members basses? We're mostly friendly folk on here I can't see your location (NB. This may have disappeared since the recent forum update, so you might want to add it, so people can see where you are) I'm in South Wales, and would be more than happy for a fellow BC member to come & have a try of my bass(es) Good luck in your search PS. The Stagg is an excellent, and inexpensive introduction to the world of upright bass

No love for George's lyrics then? He really blossomed when the Beatles finally folded. Nobody noticed much in the shadow of what went before but I feel sad knowing we've heard the last of his music. He was damned good at it.

Its musicians making dicks of themselves and prancing around for attention like a bunch of kids with ADD. If you think that's a great way to make a living, great, but I don't. Have you actually seen PewDiePie?? The guy is a gigantic twat sitting in his bedroom and shouting at video games. It's the most retarded thing on earth. These are only good sources of revenue in the same way as Primark and McDonalds are good sources of revenue. It's stupid garbage for the lowest common dominator. I'm not ok with it. (yes I know nobody cares, but I like a rant).

a drummer who can put up with smart arsed bass players who think they have no faults

Just had the chance to try two Passive Bass into the Hartke HD75 . A Tokai Thunderbird , with Humbuckers , and a Fender Jazz NO DISTORTION AT ALL ! Why don`t Hartke put a gain control at the input , to pad the input signal ...........I suppose its down to cost , but they have certainly lost a customer for any future purchases with me .

Mesa Boogie M9 Carbine Darkglass M900 Tecamp Puma 900 Gallien Krueger MB500 Fusion All excellent heads owned in the past 24 months, ranked in order of my preference. GK lacked a bit of umph compared to the others, but with a lower rating its not terribly surprising. The only other amp I owned in that time was an Aguilar TH500 - I was very disappointed in this amp. AB'd it against the GK and Tecamp at the time, felt like the Class D head people love to stereotype; underpowered, real lack of weight in the tone and just generally weaker sounding than the other two. Preamp I found dark and rather hard to get away from its baked in sound, just didn't like it at all.

Why would anyone not use all the tonal variations and fingering possibilities that are available to you?

There is negligible difference in tone between open or fingered note. The reason to avoid open strings is when it comes to transposing: Far easier to transpose a riff/lick/line etc if all notes are fingered.

Well, I've splatted these all over Facebook already here: [url="https://www.facebook.com/pg/DanVeallBassist/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1396330077130536"]@DanVeallBassist Facebook Album[/url] but I figured that many of us here have managed to escape Facebook, (gawd knows I've tried) so here's what I've been up to recently! As I mention in the FB posts and many of you know anyway - I am a massive chameleon 'flip-paint' whore-bag My Shukers are both Purple/Green flips, the 7 string enjoying ten years of looking damn sexy now! Musical Instrument Rehab in Norwich did this paint job for me having already resprayed my Fender Power Jazz Bass Special recently. That's one bass I am constantly asked about in Guitar Interactive Magazine! So, I approached Mark Ball again and asked if he'd be up for something a bit special. I wanted to 'flip' my Ferrari Yellow AB1 3X (XXX) bass. We went with an 'Extreme Edition' which flips Purple, Pink, Green and Blue, though these indoor pictures show a more subtle effect. This Dingwall is already a bit different and is not stock, but more to come on that another time. It does sound FAT! with a capital PH! (lol) Here's the porn: and to think, I was forced to put this bass up for sale....