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I do enjoy this YouTube series. Here's ep.36 on Roundabout.

If your 5 string has no punch and is difficult to amplify then you need a better 5 string bass and a better amplifier.

We had a somewhat different experience - we played together, off and on, for a year as a blues workshop at Band on the Wall in Mcr which ended with a friends and family gig at the BotW cafe. At the end of that gig we looked at each other and knew we couldn't let it end there. There was so much shared energy and potential, we just had to carry it on as A Real Band 🙂 Two people did drop out, one more joined, but by then we knew exactly how much commitment and ambition was shared. Played our first gigs outside Mcr last weekend, and we're all looking forward - realistically - to building on it.

Need to pull out "Rain Tree Crow" - aka Japan reformed for a new project. Lots of internal politics as a result of Sylvian's control issues - I haven't listened to it for a while. here's your chance.

Here's a cut-out-and-keep guide to tort wot I made.

Hope it was cash up front. I wouldn’t want to see you getting fleeced.

1972 all original Fender Jazz, with the original case, she’s aged beautifully with great looking wear and checking all over, she was Olympic white but is now a gorgeous buttermilk colour with the most beautiful piece of tort I’ve seen, I think my soul was a small price to pay.

This is such a simple truss rod system that i'm wondering why it isn't used in loads of basses ?

That neck i posted is a peavey, so yes, they deffo use it in some basses

Yep - Musima, those were. They made some of the 80s Marlins too. Same type of truss adjuster appears on a fair few low-end Korean & earlyJapanese instruments, along with other eminently sensible but uncommon features such as zero-frets.

When I tried the QSC it wasn’t billed as a standard PA speaker, or actually as an frfr as such - the marketing bumf suggested it was a multi-use cab for a variety of instrument, vocal, live and recorded music applications. As such, the dsp stuff is clearly there for a wider range of applications, for people who are just using one out and about or whatever. I didn’t buy mine based on that at all. I had it set to a default flat eq and a/b’d it with a DXR10 and another. It was flat out better at bass - by a significant margin. It felt better quality and was in special so the price difference was small. I use it as a monitor with DI in from a preamp, and pass through out to the desk. I have used the “bass” setting as a stand-alone - it makes a good backup if my pedal board failed 2 mins before the gig - I’d plug straight in and get on with it. It was always bought as a small footprint easy to cart about live rig when I didn’t need to provide lots of backline heft. I have an EICH t1000 and a vanderkley 2x10 1200w cab for that. In its bag, I can carry it, and a pedalboard and a bass in one trip from car to venue, and take up virtually no space on board at all. I can point it at me directly for monitoring. Sound engineers love the fact they just plug in to it and don’t have to worry about a bass monitor. The rest of the band love it as I take up little room, don’t wash out the sound, and I even angle it towards the drummer to give him a bit more. He loves it too. Our keys player bought one for monitoring such was his enamour.

Second round done. You have to be careful with colour matching and consistency with the tinted danish oil, but otherwise it’s going on well: It’s starting to take on that nice satin sheen naturally, so I think a third round is in order and then a good drying off before some light buffing. I’m really liking the antique/old refinish look of it - sort of “stripped and refinished in the 60s” look..

... or just the two of 'em ...

No punch and difficult to amplify? , I've heard it all now! Lol

This. Playing is good. More playing is better

Paul Simon - Graceland. Possibly cliche, but I love that fretless sound.

Hope your amp was set up correctly. Wouldn't want any clipping...........................

Did your set include I Just Called to say I Love Ewe? Or maybe Shear Heart Attack?

Me, I like this one.

In these situations I always recommend a bit of Stephen Amazing - starts just after 2:00 - and played with a plec!

I think the technical term, given the smoky venues these basses will have been played in, is 'Fagnolia'... 😀

I'm not sure how interested anyone will be in this cab but I'll offer it up for comments and questions in the hope that some of you might find it useful. At the recent South West Bass Bash I demonstrated just about the simplest way to self build a bass cab. I took 42 minutes from the first glue to a working cab, my aim was to demonstrate just how easy building your own cab can be. It was really just built for a demonstration and I didn't expect to use the cab much but it turned out better than I expected, so I thought I'd share the design. This cab is effectively the little brother of the cab I designed on here a couple or years ago, 14kg, 350W, 122dB and costing about£150 to build. You can find the information here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/227904-1x12-cab-design-diary The original cab was a 50l cab based upon the Beyma SM212 driver and designed to produce lot's of deep well controlled bass with a neutral uncoloured response, several people here have built versions of the cab and I've been gigging it for two years. My problem with the original cab has been that in rooms with poor acoustics there has been too much bass and I was tending to dial down the deep bass and boost the upper bass. It sounds great in non resonant rooms and out of doors but has way too much bass if you are shoved into the corner of a low ceilinged room. Since I had promised to demonstrate a cab build anyway I thought I'd squeeze the Beyma into a smaller cab which would reduce it's bass output but give it a 2dB boost in the lower mids/upper bass which I thought would help cut through in difficult spaces. UPDATE It looks like Beyma are about to pull the SM212. Coincidentally I've just been given a Beyma 12CMV2 to try in this cab, it has the same magnet but with a heavier cone, stiffer suspension and a new voice coil. It also has a pressed steel chassis and is considerably cheaper. The good news is that in this cab it actually sounds better. The bass response is basically unchanged, but one of the frequency anomalies of the SM212 has gone and there is a broad boost in output in the upper mids which makes the sound lighter and more detailed. I'm still investigating and haven't tried it at a gig for COVID reasons but I'm happy to recommend this speaker if anyone is thinking of a build. If I get more information I'll put it here. If you do fancy building one yourself then the panels for the cab are 2x 374mmx290mm, 2 450mmx 290mm and 2 450mmx350mm (all 12mm ply) the front baffle is set back 30mm to allow for the grille so internally the cab is 350mmx450mmx236mm. the ports are made of drainpipe/downpipe which is 64mm internal diameter 160mm long You should be able to build it from these dimensions and the video. thanks to WoodinBlack for filming this. I loaned the cab to derreybass who has written a review, many thanks to him too. I'll save a space under for the review and put up some more pics when I get my upload problems sorted. Thanks also to Mrs Scrumpy for lunch which is far too obvious in the video

Micky and the mices

One of his more well known basses - the Streamer with the Iroquai pattern on - was a 5, when I think of Stuart Zender that's the bass I think of. He also used another 5 string Streamer live quite a bit as well as the 4 string Stage 1 he was pictured with regularly.

Took it to yesterday's gig - first time I have used it with the band. Sounded absolutely amazing and so comfy too. Result indeed!

The Elf is a great little amp but what you don't get is the classic TE tone palette. It's as good as most of it's rival class D and priced to buy.

I`ve not done it - yet. But for me I find my fingers falling over each other on a Jazz neck,I almost find them too easy to play, so prefer the chunkiness of a Precision. The real answer is to become a better player and be equally competent on both but as I prefer a Precision neck at some point I`ll get round to doing this.

Wow. So much guff in one thread.

I don't particularly like 5 string basses, I've never found one that doesn't feel awkward and unwieldy to me. I find the sound pretty unsatisfying too, in the main. No punch, difficult to amplify. In the double bass world the answer is simple - a C extension lets you keep your 4 string and have the low notes when you need them. To be honest, in bass guitar world I don't really come across the need very often. If you're making music for your audience's benefit, they won't notice or care. It's not very often a line just doesn't work on a 4 string. If I really need one, I borrow it. 5 strings are not progress, they're an alternative, and one I don't particularly enjoy. Your view may differ. Doesn't make either of us wrong.

always enjoy going back to thi..... s

Don't get discouraged, building business is not easy. Blue

Arrived Monday but only got a chance to upack today. 1st thing... How the F**ck do they make these for so little money? Some things other people thinking of buying may want to know: No hole under the scratchplate like some others have reported. Can use without plate now. Bridge has changed from the large bulky one to one with Fender dimensions and screw placement. Volume and tone pots work as they should do. Gave It a quick set up and It plays superbly, love the tone with my old flats on too! Mods I'm gonna do: New tuners. (anyone know what are direct replacements?) Amber tint the neck with Nitro. Reshape the headstock. Add own decal. Repaint scratch plate aged cream. Must say I am blown away at the price. Cheers Geoff.

Eric Czar - play from 3:30 - epic.

No thread would be complete without a gratuitous mention of Colin Hodgkinson. I've been listening to this man for 45 yeqrs and I still have no real clue how he does it!

Wow. That's some shift in tone on the finish! I have a 74 Precision in Oly White which has been somewhat abused, but it's gone a milky custard.. Looks flipping' brilliant tho! Well done - and play the heck out of it

Oh that's right , manipulating the thread again 😁

Do you own something which powers those cabs? I wondered if you could use that, which you already own, instead of buying a power amp.

Chet Atkins said to his dad “When I grow up I want to be a musician!” And his dad replied “Sorry, son, but you can’t do both.”

Sorry this is bollocks There are 100,s if not 1000,s of great bass lines since the 80s that were played on an electric bass. Or is it just the greatest basslines you like.? If it's of absolutely no importance to you what other bass players do, why bother commenting. In fact why even take part in the forum

Here's my Aria also from the same era (modified with bridge pickup and the original scratchplate was white). The body is made from Sen I believe.

The best bass players (pro or otherwise) are the guys playing the best bass lines. Who cares what instrument they used. Do what the best pro players do. . . make your own decisions and resist following the herd.

We played Scarisbrick Marina Festival, just outside Southport, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Saturday clashed with the footy and predictably there were only a handful of people there, it felt a bit too quiet, and we drifted toward the end. Better on Sunday - we had a drummer this time, a dep who did pretty well, still only about 30 people but they were bouncing around in their seats and clapping to the faster songs, better atmosphere and we played better. Afterwards an elderly lady came up to me with the sweetest smile, put her hand on my arm and said "Thank you - the bass drives the band, you know." Made my day 🙂

Actually sublime...