Leaderboard

This just turned up this morning... oh my god its incredible. Can't wait to get home and plug it in!! Check out the gloss fingerboard

I took up bass to see what a bass does and to learn what it adds to music. I cannot think of a single song that made me think, I will have to learn to play bass. I discovered that I love playing bass but to get the best out of it, I took on a music theory course and this led me to learn to play chords on a piano. The bass re-ignited my love of and interest in playing my six strings.... I might be slightly against the grain here by suggesting that the bass is not a lead instrument. It is much more important than that. Drums and bass provide the foundation for the song, for the music being played by the band. I hear music as the total sound created by the band and not the individual members contributions to the sound. On balance if the song requires simple root notes, then I play root notes. Boring? Possibly but the overall sound is what matters, my ego has to be put aside in favour of the song.

Been lucky enough to never have anything truly terrible, but three that stick out: Pub cover band going through a few lineup changes for a variety of reasons. During guitar auditions one guy arrived in triple denim with a guitar worth more than my car and a strap with so much brass on it looked like it was pinched from the wall of a country pub. Widdled badly away to himself regardless of the song, and decided to sit AC/DC out because (quote) "it wouldn't sound right with two guitars". During drum auditions for the same band a chap turned up who was friendly enough but struggled for time and just didn't have the chops - seemed like he was super rusty rather than just bad but we wanted to gig so didn't want to wait a year for him to get up to scratch, but... He was planning our futures the second he walked in, most of which seemed to centre around renaming the band Oi Oi Saveloy..?.. profit. He was genuinely nice though, hope he sorted something. Finally, a drummer audition in the current originals band. A week or so of talking between BL and drummer on joinmyband sorting out mp3s and organising a date. When the audition rolls round the drummer arrives, sets up his cymbals, then tells us he didn't have time to learn anything. Annoying, but the drumming is weird timing and technical so we give him the benefit of the doubt and ask what songs he knows so we can jam along if we know it and hear him play. "I don't really know any covers". In a last-ditch effort to salvage anything of the evening, we suggest putting on a simple enough song that he should be able to muddle through to some extent (it was something like buck rogers by feeder) - "yeah I don't really play anything I don't know." We then try to figure out why he even bothered answering the ad as we watch him awkwardly pack away his cymbals and leave, having not played a thing. Even more awkwardly, 2 days later he served me and my girlfriend in a shop in town and pretended he didn't know me after I said hello. People are odd.

The last couple of years before retiring I squeezed a double pedal under my desk, with a bass drum trigger pad. I would spend the working day doing stuff (in fact, very little, being the IT Boss, so delegating what little needed doing, as all had already been done...), whilst pedalling away with rudiments, basically much like snare exercises. It lasted for over a year before the Director asked me, politely, to desist, as he felt it gave the wrong signals to some of the staff. I was getting quite good at double paradiddles, flams and the like, but complied for the sake of peace. It's a pity that the relative expertise developed in this way has not, as yet, evolved into a workable addition to my playing with the full kit. Occasional 'blast beats' (the climatic ending to RATM's Killing In The Name Of', for instance, and some moderate success adding triplet 'patters' to Buckley's 'Grace'), but not really at ease for much else. Old dog, new tricks, I suppose...

Yes, that'll be me then. I'm not currently with them, apart from a one off this weekend at Tunes in the dunes, the wonderful luke Palmer has been the bassist for the last few years, and yes he plays a squire....very well. I also played a squire for most of my time with them, an extremely playable red CV precision which had a great relic job done by Al Knight, I later installed a darkstar copy pickup called a nu-sonic made by a guy in Brighton, stuck on some TI flats, left them on for four years, and there you have it...... I later had a copy made by Al, in white with a matching headstock. The amp was indeed a GB streamliner 900 through a barefaced super fifteen, with the FOH signal split through a REDDI and a Sansamp VTDI. The Squire will be at home this weekend though as I'll be using a recently acquired JMJ mustang..... what a killer bass ! Anyway, I have to say, it's very nice to get a mention on these hallowed pages. Cheers John Lee-Man, we should get together for a bass pint, i'm in Notts, as I think a few others here are. A pub based bass bash if you will.

If it helps...

I should not come here, too GAS inducing. I have zero Vigiers, but I do have 3 Bogarts which have a very similar "feel", 80's modern, graphite galore, great tight sound etc. I just really dig the shape of the Passions.. want one...

Nothing to do with speed, but the difference in sound is clear. I've seen good bass players switch between pick and fingers between songs, or even mid-song, to get the right tone or attack. I can only play with a pick (right elbow RSI, limited use of my fingers) so I've explored that a bit and it's striking how much difference in sound one can get from different picks. Stone sounds different to wood sounds different to resin. Sharp sounds different to rounded sounds different to blunt. Atm I'm mostly using sharp hardwood with my electric fretted main squeeze, sharp stone with my flat-strung fretless, and blunt resin with my fretted acoustic. And they're rather lovely things...

I usually build through necks and always physically draw the key neck angle points full size, and always using the actual bridge intended to be fitted. I measure the bridge saddle at lowest and highest, mark the neck angle fulcrum, then the fretboard and fret height, the planned action height and set the neck angle to allow some wiggle room either way. As it happens, with the Schaller bridge and my thickness of fretboard and fret-height, the neck will be zero angle: Then I can cut the slot: Once the body demarcation veneer has been added, this will be spot on. Because the angle is zero, then I don't have to allow for the apex that normally the fretboard end has to be sunk into. You can see here above the pencil line on the maple of how thin the neck will be cut to. And finally the components in their respective positions: Tomorrow should see the backs prepared, the neck blank cut to basic plan and side-view profile and then the backs glued to the neck....

I've just completed another bass part ex / sale with Martin from Wales - we had lots of communication both ways throughout the process and have been exchanging a few texts since about the basses we swapped. And it got me thinking as I was writing his feedback and looking at the three pages of feedback I've got....basically (bar one specific example - exception that proves the rule?!) I've had nothing but overwhelmingly positive experiences ( a LOT of them!) with people I've never met. Often involving quite a lot of money / expensive instruments and therefore trust of this unknown person. It's a great community of people who really do give bass players an excellent name. I'm sure other forums for different instruments may be the same (I'm not on any so can't really comment) but this really is a lovely group of people on here and I"m chuffed to call myself a bass player knowing that there's a lot of lovely people out there who also call themselves bassplayers! All good!

Depends on what and where. My 1966 EB2 is too fragile and valuable to gig anyplace I might have the chance. I don't gig my drop-dead-gorgeous GMR single-cut in Manchester because I'd be asking to be hit on the head walking back through the city centre to the train station, and I don't gig her at my local om because it would just look like showing off - it would feel like turning up wearing a silk evening gown. An interesting way of thinking about what my ambition is as a bass player, is to get to the standard where I can play venues where I would actually feel safe gigging either of them.

Just think its maybe a bit risky Paul and many people might take offence at playing it but who knows it might be worth learning one or two and as you say we can ask the crowd before playing them if anyone objects. We coud cheat and say its by the Glitter Band as in effect it was Dave

Oh, how true

That rather assumes they know what was in the bag - it may have been an opportunistic passing scrote that saw the gig bag. The sad option may be they realise too late they will struggle to move it on, and damage it 😞

I suggest you should move the original post straight into the general discussion thread where it should be........;-)

Double traitor 😆

Brilliant stuff.....was wondering if you were going for the full Gibson Tenon Join. Methinks there's more to you than just an amateur bodger Christine ( like Most of us in 'ere! ). Ian 😊

Not really, IMO, though I'd do it in a slightly different order. * What's the local band scene like? Anyone out there that fits your aims, likes? * You see an ad. Does the band have a FB page, web site to check out? * Having made contact: Why is there a vacancy? Is there a lot of personnel turnover? * Who gets the gigs? Is there any sort of plan or do bookings just sort of dribble in on an ad-hoc basis * Lights, sound? Who humps it? (preferably not me) Then I'd ask them * How often do they rehearse? Where? * Who decides on the songs, set-list? * How many of the band are deluded fantasists; crazed, talent-less authoritarians; unreliable flakes; burdened with sick or unreasonable spouses? Then I'd do what I always do and tell them to poke it anyway.

No the court wont award any money if he gets a sentence which he will do, also he is classed as unemployed so the only thing we can do is take a private prosecution out against him and he will be ordered to pay compensation at a pound a week or something for the next however many years, but that will cost us to do. But he is still paying for the scams he did in 2017, so the amount he would be asked to pay would be miniscule. And it isnt guaranteed he would be made to pay anything to us. Cheers Steve

I went to see it when it was resuscitated revived a few years ago, largely because I'd been corresponding with one of the cast about a TV series I'd written. It was a lovely production and the whole thing worked well, but when I listened to the soundtrack in isolation... nah. All the childhood dislike came back and the CD was quickly promoted to a coaster.

I have 3 of those, the faux headstock types. Indeed well made, but I will stop hijacking this Vigier thread (which are some seriously sexy sounding and looking basses in their own right).

https://www.thomann.de/gb/keith_mcmillen_12_step.htm Good enough for Billy Sheehan...

Agreed. I play for fun, any money earned beyond expenses is a bonus. If I like the people and I like the music than that's it.

Without wanting to start a major derail of this thread there are a lot of assertions here that are at least debatable. One thing however stick out as just being wrong, that rectangular vents give more "woof" and ducts are more hi-fi. Whilst the shape of the ports will change the port resonances and changing that shape will also alter the point at which turbulence sets in the idea that different shaped ports of the same length and cross sectional area will have vastly different sounds isn't something with any evidence or mathematical proof that I've seen. I'm interested in what you mean by Line Array. The first of what we currently consider line array systems appeared in PA systems in the 1990's. A series of identical cabs with the mid and high frequency drivers vertically aligned to control dispersion. The idea of 'line source' has been around a lot longer, single cabs with vertically aligned drivers. The original paper on that was published in the 1950's but the phenomenon was known a long time before that and I remember churches with line source speakers fitted probably back before WW2 plus designs published in old books before Olsen's paper. I can't think of anyone using Line Array for bass, though the Genzler Bass Array cabs look interesting.

Cheers for the shout out, @lowdown I was about to embark on some nauseating self-promotion!

I don't remember a bass in this colour for sale in this condition, so, if you want one this could well be your only opportunity. Atb's stock generally doesn't hang around. I remember Andy Baxter had a metallic gold flake '64 for sale in similar condition a few years ago for £15k, which also seemed expensive, but doesn't now. As with any market, it is only supply and demand that dictates price, nothing else. I'm not sure of the number of truly collector grade 90%+ original pre cbs basses that change hands in the uk each year but I would expect that it is a low number. Fender serial numbers up to 1965 add up to 200,000 for all types of instrument, so the numbers of basses existing in collector condition will still be in the many thousands- plenty of pent-up supply. The cutting edge of the market changing hands each year I would think is a small percentage of the existing stock. It may well be that, when owners reach an age where they want to rid themselves of possessions that increased supply might coincide with a diminished demand from a smaller pool of potential buyers, less interested in music featuring electric bass, causing prices to drop. This change in taste has certainly been the case with many areas of collecting. I think a widening of available information, removing the mystique, has diminished the attraction of some areas of collecting, particularly where it has demonstrated large production numbers. Who knows? one thing I can be certain about. The hour I spent playing my original custom colour 1962 jazz bass earlier this evening was the best hour I spent today.

This. There does seem to be a fellowship of bass players, I've found it in other places and situations too. I think it's something to do with choosing a relatively uncommon and under-appreciated instrument. My older son aspired to be a cathedral organist, but was never quite good enough. But he had encouragement and support from some of the very best organists in the country. it wasn't a competition, it was a community.

I think I sat up and listened when I heard the break at the end of Sweet's 'Rock and Roll Disgrace', the b-side of Ballroom Blitz.

Bought Kev's Limelight - great comms, super easy transaction and all as should be. Top marks for Kev - another 'good guy' on this forum!

I spent all my life without needing a pedal board. At Christmas i got a PT Nano+, and now I’m on my second board this year. This one is pretty much going to stay as it is though. This collection of pedals offers me all i need. I may swap ther Qstrip out for my Zoom 60D at soem point, but only when I’m bored.

I'm 65 and gigging more than ever. I just happened to join the right band with the right infrastructure 7 years ago. Opportunities with bands with consistent bookings are hard to come by regardless of where you live. Blue

Mega (and I mean MEGA) expensive but the BAE 1073 is apparently incredible. http://www.baeaudio.com/products/1073dmp

I seem to be the only one getting this. But I don't need a Ric...

I frequently do a lot of proaudio gear shootouts with my students, the obvious DI comparison amongst many others (I teach audio engineering). My personal conclusion is that the simple and not too expensive BSS DI box is pretty good on an absolute level and unbeaten in it´s pricerange. You´d need to pay x4 the price to get a clear improvement. The above mentioned Bo Hansen DI (it´s a DIY project, not available prebuilt) is better that the BSS, but it depends a lot on the parts used for it. I made eight of them for myself in several versions and each of them cost me app. 100€. If you occasionally need to use the DI for piezo pickups (e.g. double bass PUs, classical guitar, etc.) then the Radial PZ DI is the best option. It offers a 10MOhm input impedance which 5-10x higher than all the other DIs. That makes all the difference for piezo PUs. There´s no better option available in this application. In case you want to chase the last 3% of sound quality, then there are other options. Many people rate the Avalon U5 in this league, but I don´t. On occasions it sounded great, on others it has been beaten by the BSS, Bo Hansen, or a few others in my tests, even by a cheapo passive DOD DI. But it has a few advantages which should be mentioned: It has a preset EQ (if you´re into that - I´m not, I have better options) which may be helpful if you want to track with EQ, it looks expensive since it is expensive which helps half-educated people to nod their head and say "wow, an Avalon DI" while ignoring what they are hearing, it has a line-level output (you won´t need a micpreamp to amplify the signal from mic-level at the DI output to line-level while (the sound of most DIs depend a lot on which micpreamp will amplify their signal). The king and unbeaten DI in my book is the Gyraf G9 tube microphone preamp. Unfortunately it´s stereo, so if you want only one DI then you have another one left over. But since it´s a micpre after all you can use the second channel to mic your bassamp. The micpres are some of the best ever made and cheap compared to other offerings in the same quality range. They beat my Siemens V72 preamps and many others lefthanded all day long. And that´s a statement... http://gyraf.dk/product/g9/

Any MIDI footswitch that will send MIDI note on (and note off) commands and will let you assign separate MIDI note# to each switch will do the job. You'll probably need to study the manuals in detail to find out which ones will and which won't and of those that will which have enough flexibility for your needs. I'd start by having a look at the Roland FC200 and the Behringer FCB1010.

Good call. But they do say that two can live as cheaply as one. To which I would add, IF you both want to end up mentally ill. Have a lovely Sunday, everyone! Hello clouds! Hello sky!

Welcome! Not a name I know, but I'll look out for it now - nice looking bass!

Welcome aboard Ian Don't suppose there's any chance I could "borrow" one for a while?? 😉😉

Hi Ian - welcome 😊

Put down the silver bass Bro. But seriously Ian, nice to see you here. Basschat has a very cool vibe that's all its own.

Good evening, Ian, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

I don't - holding a grudge is an important thing in life