Leaderboard

This irrational dislike of Markbass based on the look is not shared by most bass players, 99% of bands and 100% of audiences.

Manchester...erm, mid-80s... Our drummer (in an originals-with-the-odd-cover 80s Rock Band) was about to become a Dad, and had reluctantly decided he'd have to shelve the rehearsals and gigging for a good while, so he'd stepped down, and we were on the urgent look-out for a replacement. As a thoroughly nice chap, and knowing we had gigs booked we needed to fulfil, he had even left his kit at the rehearsal rooms for new drummers to use, in part or whole, for the auditions. We organised a Sunday afternoon, with an hour slot for each drummer we'd contacted, and it started unremarkably, but then, second to last, was the standout. And not in a good way. He turned up in a six-wheel Transit, immediately earning about a thousand bonus points, but it became terribly clear that all this thing held was his kit...and there was little room for anything else. After refusing to use of any of the already-set-up kit, he began ferrying kit in. And more kit. And more kit. After ten minutes of watching boxes piling up, and with his end of the rehearsal room beginning to look like the dockside of the Queen Mary before a round the world jaunt, we volunteered to help, and then we all spent the next 45 minutes setting up a furry tigerskin-covered double-kick kit, with six raised toms, three floor toms, eight rototoms and so many cymbals we couldn't see him any more. As he tightened up the third china cymbal, I said "No gong, then?", and he froze, looking concerned. "I didn't bring it...should I have done?" I assured him it wouldn't count against him, and eventually, with about five minutes left of his allotted hour, he was ready. The singist had been forced to nip outside to intercept the last auditionee, apologise and ask him to bear with and go for a pint in the local for twenty minutes, and then our hero launched into the first intro, to a then-bog-standard Bon Jovi tune we'd decided would make a good starter audition song. Now, in 35 years of bands, I've never played in a freeform jazz ensemble, and I certainly hadn't back then, so I was unfamiliar with the five-count intro, and the thirteen-bar drum fill*, but this chap was clearly a master. We couldn't possibly fault him for brio, enthusiasm, and certainly energy...it was his counting which left quite a lot to be desired**. In addition, having taken so long to set up his mahoooosive kit, he was determined to hit every single drum and cymbal as often as he could, with scant regard for the song, or indeed the befuddlement he was creating amongst his prospective fellow band-members. I shall leave to your imagination the meal he made of the drawn-out ending, suffice to say Richard Wagner, had he been hanging around the rehearsal rooms (unlikely) and not dead for about a century (for once, fortunate), would probably have shaken his head and said something unflattering about bombast. In German. He finished by standing, his arms aloft and his eyes shining. Had that thing Usain Bolt does (not the running, the archery-arms thing) been around, he would have been doing that. We shuffled our feet, unable to maintain eye contact with him or each other, for fear of collapsing into hysterics. Eventually the singer thanked him for his time, and we all heaved-to loading his van again, while the singer went to buy the other auditionee another pint. He didn't get the job. * I'm probably doing an enormous disservice to freeform jazz ensembles around the globe here, so apologies if so, but I'm at a loss as to where else to place it musically. Perhaps amongst those gangs of glassy-eyed, saffron-robed enthusiasts one encounters on the city streets, each banging a drum in a random manner with a blissful expression and no regard for hard-pressed shoppers... ** I note that 'dyscalcula' is the numerical equivalent of dyselxia, and apparently A Real Medical Thing. It may have been that he was a secret sufferer; that would explain an awful lot. Edit: I've just spotted that I've spelt 'dyslexia' wrong in the footnote above. Oh, the irony...

We're called The Cheeze We play 60s & 70 pop, rock and prog mainly Every Christmas we have a band curry where we discuss what to rename the band. Every year after a load of silly and non-PC suggestions washed down with several pints, we come to the conclusion that we are too well established to change. However it is a name that is remembered. We also get a fair bit of "they can't possibility advertise that they play cheesey music, so they must be good" effect

The best advice I've heard on auditions was from Juan Alderete and it's something that seemed obvious to me, but apparently not obvious to a lot of people who've tried out for bands I've been in: If there is a recording of the song - album, demo, live tape, youtube, whatever - learn the part as it was recorded by the old guy, irrespective of what the band say about your artistic freedom. You can change it later if you get the job and you're more likely to get the job if everyone is hearing what they recognise as being right.

Keep it, you`ve got a Mexican Wall before Trump gets his

So I took a trade I didn’t really want, but it was for a Basschatter who I consider a mate and it was a fair deal and he wanted my bass more than I did so went ahead. He offered a Roger Waters Precision in great nick and all the bits. It sat in my car overnight, such was the way - I’ve got a new daughter who’s been in hospital since she was born on the 4th April. I came home and plugged it in. Christ it’s lovely. So what do I do? I wasn’t selling to raise funds, I don’t “need” it. But the neck is very similar to my old MIM 50’s which I enjoyed...and it plays really well. I thought I liked skinny necks?! The black/Black/Black/chrome thing doesn’t work for me...so it’d have to see a few new bits to stay. The Bitsa I was debating keeping definitely has to go if this stays...

Prob just someone saying what s legend you are

I keep trying to start an INXS tribute band named Stranglew4nk, some right weirdos come to audition

I have a gen 2 2i4 and love it. Working via a Mac and Logic Pro X. No issues at all

^ 'chocolate starfish' - nice one, profanity filter!

I had a band called Not the Hoople once. We did two gigs. We were not a Mott the Hoople tribute, it was a silly joke name because one of the local bars had tribute acts with really lazy names that may as well have been "not Queen" and so on. We were an acoustic duo. We did have a Mott the Hoople fan arrive who thanked us at half time before leaving saying "it's good but not what I was expecting". To be fair, it wasn't even good.

So the moral of this seems to be "Buy but don't sell.." Well, that's what I'm sticking to then!!

I've used Jacks Instrument Services in Manchester for the occasional oddity. He's pretty good imho.

At which point you whip out your smartphone, plug it into the PA in the rehearsal room, play them the original to prove that you're right and they're wrong ... and end up wondering why you didn't get the gig.

My KZ ZS10s arrived this morning They take quite a bit more energy to drive than M6 Pro's but they definitely have more separation and clarity, and sound bloody great, but a replacement for 64Audio, UE, JH, etc they are absolutely not! I was expecting more low end, sub and low mid... However, they were £33!! For spare Generics (for deps, etc) I'll probably stick with carrying some M6's, but for myself, I will happily use the ZS10s until I can afford to get customs done... Has anyone else pulled the trigger yet? Would be interested in your thoughts!

Chrome bridge and knobs. And swap the scratchplate - still for a black one, but with the Black / White / Black construction so you get the outline. Would be perfect then.

Sadowsky are certainly entering a fairly crowded area at that price point, especially if you open that up to what you can get secondhand for that kind of money. The Sadowsky is a very different beast to the American original Fender and I would be as bold as to say that as good as Sandberg are, the Sadowsky name carries a bit more weight and pedigree for a lot of bass players. I would be very surprised if there is a noticeable difference in sound between the Metros and the new Express models. There may be some noticeable differences in fretwork and feel of the neck but I would go out on a limb and say it won’t be worth the approx £700 difference between models. So where is the appeal in the existing Metro range? I guess the same appeal that makes folks buy any variety of expensive instrument, because they have the money and are happy to spend that much. Also there is a certain level of exclusivity attached to it and a certain level of romanticism that the Metros are crafted in small batches by fine craftsmen in japan and not made in some generic factory that churns out models for almost every other guitar and bass company out there. It will be really interesting to see the first lot of real world reviews come in.

Huis Clos - un drame de JP Sartre (Scène: une chambre en enfer. Entrez John et Henry). John: Regarde! Une guitare basse qui intègre des fonctionnalités de marque déposées par Rickenbacker! Où est mon avocat? Je veux menacer quelqu'un! (Henry inspecte la basse) Henry: Est-il possible de fabriquer cette guitare basse mais beaucoup plus bon marché? Et de le fournir dans une couleur que personne ne veut? Avec des potentiomètres qui ne fonctionnent pas parce qu'ils n'ont pas été soudés correctement? Les deux ensemble: L'enfer c'est les autres! Fin

It sounded great thanks, I played it for an hour and am really pleased. I fixed the output jack (just needed the contact bending in a bit). A pleasure to play such a light bass, my dodgy shoulder is very happy. My fingertips are sore though, not used to those 105s! The band liked it too, so once I’ve fine tuned the set up I’ll take it to a gig. Here it is tonight alongside my number one, and the studio’s house amp.

Or a chrome bridge and knobs. The “all black” look is a bit too rawk for me...

Keep it, but get some black tuners on it

And finally, it lives!! (Minus some knobs, I need to order those...) I set it up well, and I now have a low action and good intonation. It’s very, very light and is obviously quite neck heavy. But the strap I’m using is really grippy so it’s not really a problem. The Wilkinson pickups are a revelation; for twenty quid they’re incredible - all the thud you’d expect and really punchy, but if you turn the mids up on the amp it gets honky, almost Jazz bridge pickup like. I’ll definitely use them again. Brilliant. The only issue is that the output jack is intermittently cutting out, there must be something not connecting properly so it needs sorting before I gig it, but I’m going to give it a go at band rehearsal tonight and see how I get on with it. I’m really pleased with it. There are things I’d do differently next time, but that’s all part of learning isn’t it? I’ve leaned a lot, surprised myself and really enjoyed putting this bass together. I wonder what’s next?

I have 50p riding on this, don't let me down!!

Hi I’ve bought and sold many things on eBay. And if I was uncomfortable with a eBay sale I would just refund him through PayPal the worst he can do is leave negative feedback

I was in a band that never got going on full, sadly. Good singer, very good leader player, we worked well so we auditioned a drummer. A guy turned up and he could talk and talk and talk... Nice enough bloke in that his heart was in the right place, but just not very self aware. He had a billion suggestions for everything, even down to the way the lead player played. Alarm bells should have rung when he talked about how many bands he'd fallen out with, but his reasoning being that if you don't like suggestions you talk about it and agree or compromise, which sounded sensible. His playing was ok but not spectacular. A few errors but ok. He had spent an age faffing about asking for specific weird drum bits from the rehearsal rooms and making a fuss now I think of it. Anyhow, we've all worked out that he's ok, talks too much but we could get used to him... No. Last few songs and he's giving us all orders. Including that at our first gig the drum kit shall be at the front and singer and guitars at the back. We make our excuses and we are trying to get out the door. Oh and he's decided he should lead sing on a few tracks. Then as we are desperate to run away he slams the door shut, lights go off and he gets out his glow in the dark drum sticks. It seems the gig with him at the front of the stage, singing, with us as his backing band, shall also be played in full darkness apart from his sticks. We put it down to excitement and think we will bare with. Then he emails us a thirty song set list that includes Robbie Williams, the Osmond's and other caravan park karaoke classics. We were playing talking heads, etc at the time. Robbie Williams was the final straw for him. Drummers, eh?

If he's paid with Paypal then that's a terrible idea, buyer could say the bass wasn't delivered and the OP has zero proof it was. Ends up with no bass and no money. If you're handing it over personally then refund the Paypal and ask for cash, otherwise get them to leave positive feedback before taking the bass.

Eh? Where did that come from ? I dunno, away with work for a couple of days and all hell breaks loose!

[Sound engineers yacking on a Bass players forum, not a sound engineers forum alert!] Ideally a boundary mic (My preference is a Shure Beta 91a) inside the shell, and a second mic (Audix D6 all the way, it has such a nice punchy smack to it!) on the outside of the front head [/forgiven!]

Got the popcorn out

Sounds like you've already made a decision and I can't say that I blame you. Good luck.

I get the bulk of my stuff from CPC now as I get a frankly embarrassing Farnell staff discount and the quality is fairly good on the cheap stuff. They have a lot of unbranded/generic resistors/caps that are exactly what you'd get off ebay or a bulk seller. Just to add, Banzai in Germany is also a good one to have bookmarked. Their prices can be quite high, but if you're struggling to find something, Banzai probably have it (I just bought a 100k reverse log 9mm pot that I literally couldn't find anywhere else). Postage is a bit steep but it's a fixed price you won't get stung taxes so it's still cheaper than america.

And that's the revelation right there!

Have to say I'm not sure that is the best way. Maybe the band didn't like that line (it could be why the bass player left) and you might find they tell you to play that line all the time and you're then trapped. Must be better to be yourself and get the job (or not) as yourself.

Randomguess.... 400 top, 1000 bottom 🎸

Excellent point. I, being a product of the 60s would have a hard time with youngsters who's funk reference is Bruno Mars. Our band leader is half my age and we play several vintage 60s rock songs. These songs are a part of my history. When I perform them ,I know and feel these songs different from some born 40 years after the song. BTW, I'm a huge Sly Stone fan. If I mentioned the song "Dance To The Music" and the band response was " what's that?" It would be a deal breaker. On the other side of the coin, I wouldn't fit in with youngsters that want to play Ed Sheeran. The point, a significant age difference can be an issue and something we might want to think about. Blue

Yes, but I wouldn’t like to paint it. Welcome, and on behalf of all Essex residents, sorry.

No, no, no ... it's tone perspex.

It is a very nice combination. A tad more than budget quoted, but in some situations buy once is a better option than buy cheap buy twice. Just make sure you like the Markbass sound, if you do, well imo Barefaced pair really well with MB amps.

We have those conversations regularly. It's merely Aguilar's turn.

I’m still saying watch... (obviously joking)

@Happy Jack those anecdotes were brilliant. Can’t wait to read the blog when it comes out! So I thought I should join in with my most embarrassing audition... Staines 2003/4-ish About 15 or so years ago I decided to get back into gigging after a few years off. Did a couple of auditions which went OK but by the end of the session I'd pretty much decided the respective bands weren't for me. Then I saw a card in a local guitar shop looking for a bassist in a new-country covers band. And they were local. Phoned the guy up and he seemed really nice and easy to get on with. He said that their regular player had been whinging for a while about wanting to take his playing more seriously and do some proper session playing up in town and the band was getting in the way of getting proper gigs with pros. So on that basis he'd decided that he was leaving the band. In fact he’d told the whole band so in no uncertain terms after their last gig. I thought, “fair enough” and got the names and keys of a few songs to learn for the rehearsal the following week. It was mostly stuff I had on CD and pretty straightforward to get on top of - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Steve Earle, Eagles, Nanci Griffith... Anyway, on the following Tuesday I set up at the local scout hut and was introduced to the rest of the band. We ran through a few songs and I did a bit of backing vocals with the two girl vocalists and all was going swimmingly. I really liked all the guys, they played really well, I liked the music and we were all getting on like a house on fire. Anyway, after about 40 minutes this figure appears at the door while we’re mid-song, lugging a bass amp and a Fender MM bass and then freezes, looking at me. The band all did a double take, looked at him, looked at me and then looked at the bandleader. There was a quick huddle next to the door after which the bass player set up his amp at the opposite side of the room while shooting me daggers... We broke for a cuppa while more conflabbing happened and the bandleader's wife calmed down the stroppy looking bassist like the veritable “band Mum” while I chatted to the drummer, keys player and other singer. It was at that point I suddenly recognised the guy. About three months before I'd seen him backing a girl singer/piano player at a really good songwriter event a friend ran up in Shepherds Bush. I recalled that both he and her had been right prima donnas: properly unpleasant, up-themselves, sour and stroppy t*ts to all and sundry that night - organisers, crew and other acts. Fair enough, he was a very good player but my friend said afterward that neither him nor her were ever playing there again. I decided that discretion should be the better part of valour. I toddled over to the now very worried looking band leader and volunteered to pack up and toddle off leaving the other bassist to do the rest of the rehearsal... to much protest from the drummer, keyboard player and other backing vocalist (this made me wonder if the bass player was regularly fractious and they were seeing their chance of finally being shot of him evaporating). The poor bandleader just looked really embarrassed but gratefully accepted my offer; so I packed up and went home. He phoned me the next day and invited me round to his place for a chat, to explain and to apologise. Turned out that at the last gig when the bassist had thrown his toys out of the pram, yelled “I quit” at them and stormed off, the entire band had taken him seriously and thought he'd actually left the band. So it was a bit of a shock to them when he turned up at the rehearsal and they learned that he'd not actually meant it. The bandleader felt that he sort of owed it to the guy and so had accepted his apology. As it was he offered me (as a consolation I guess, or maybe as an insurance over the guy's next strop) a place playing rhythm acoustic with the band. Unsurprisingly I felt that might be a tad awkward and I was really looking to get back into bass playing. So regretfully I respectfully declined...

Any excuse to pop a picture of this 1981 SBR-150

Personally I think the amount of power lots of people use for pub gigs these day is ludicrous. Back when I was gigging regularly and going to see lots of live local bands in the late 80's/early 90's nobody used anything over 150 watts for bass & I cannot recall anybody ever being too quiet.