Leaderboard

I returned today, to one of my old, favoured bass places, Promenade Music in Morecambe. Used to go there every few weeks but hadn't been for 2 years. Anyway, Gary's still working there and is a great bloke for loads of friendly, knowledgable chat and a cup of tea. Had a hankering for another 4-stringer and after some discussion, we more or less narrowed it down to 3 basses. A Marleaux Consat Custom 4 (used), a Fender Flea Signature Active Jazz Bass, in Satin Inca Silver and a Musicman Stingray Special, in Chopper Blue. The Marleaux is a superb bass, with a classy, hand made feel and quality woods. The only part that didn't impress me was the pre amp, it just didn't seem to deliver, to my ears. I was a bit dubious about the Flea Jazz but I have to say, I think it is a great bass. I reckon Flea told Fender to take a JB and make as much like a Stingray as they could. And they've done a bloody good job, IMO. Very solid and resonant, really well built and a rather good pickup. The only changes I'd make would be a 3 band EQ, instead of 2 and a slightly wider string spacing at the bridge end. I would have been very happy to bring it home with me but as the title suggests, the winner was the Stingray Special. Now I already have a standard 2014, EBMM Stingray, with a single HB and 3 EQ, that I reckon is great. So why get this as well, other than the usual excuse of permanent GAS? To me, there enough differences between the 2 Stingrays to give enough of a different playing experience. The Special has a slightly different pickup, with Neodymium magnets and an 18 volt pre amp, to deliver even more bassy goodness. The gorgeous, roasted maple neck feels a tad narrower, with slightly more rounding off, of the rosewood fingerboard's edges and lovely stainless steel frets. The tuners are definitely nicer, with a more 3D ergonomic, comfy feel to them and the body is rounded at the neck heel to improve one's upper fret playing experience. Also, overall the bass is a little lighter. So does all this make the Special better than my old Stingray? Probably yes but I do so enjoy my older model, it's not going to be left on it's stand. I really like the Chopper Blue coloured body, with the pearloid white pickguard, black pickup and chrome hardware. This is a pretty bass and definitely feels like it's got all the iconic, classic aspects you have to have in a Stingray. Yet it's subtle improvements feel like a natural evolution, with no revolution needed, thankyou. I'd test driven this beauty through a rig very similar to my own and so am looking forward to the next band rehearsal. Specifications: Model: StingRay Special Size: 13-1/2" wide, 1-5/8" thick, 44-7/8" long (34.3 cm wide, 4.1 cm thick, 114.0 cm long) Body Wood: Select Hardwoods Body Finish: High gloss polyester Bridge: Vintage Music Man® top loaded chrome plated, steel bridge plate with vintage nickel plated steel saddles Scale Length: 34" (86.4 cm) Neck Radius: 11" (27.9 cm) Headstock Size: Only 8-3/4" (22.2 cm) long Frets: 22 - High profile, wide, Stainless Steel Neck Width: 1-5/8" (41.3 mm) at nut 2-1/2" (63.5 mm) at last fret Neck Wood: Select roasted maple neck Fingerboard: Fretted - Rosewood Neck Finish: Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend Neck Colors: Standard – Natural with finished headstock Tuning Machines: Custom Music Man, lightweight with tapered string posts and ergonomic clover design Truss Rod: Adjustable wheel - no component or string removal Neck Attachment: 5 bolts - perfect alignment with no shifting; Sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets Electronic Shielding: black plated aluminum control cover Controls: 3-band active preamp with 18 volts of headroom; vol, treble, mid, bass Pickups: Standard - Single Humbucking with Neodymium magnets.

Its going to be 1972 everywhere in the UK by the time he gets here

I thought this was another 'show us your rig' thread......😇

Basically, doffing one's kecks and flaunting one's trouser trout is something that a tiny minority of male singer / front-men were wont to do back in the late 60's - early '70s. Indeed, among big-name performers I can think only of Mr Mr Pop and Mr Jim Morrison who embraced this approach, though lesser or local luminaries will doubtless have followed suit in homage or in imitation. (As an aside, it should be noted that Mr Fee Waybill of The Tubes was accustomed to wear a fake penis, this peeping coyly from his shorts). We should remember that the 1960's was a decade where going 'sky-clad' was very much a thing among young people, in part because to do so symbolised a rejection of bourgeois values. Nowadays, of course, young radicals never take their clothes off, for fear of triggering other young people. Indeed, it would seem that today's adolescents and young adults consider sexual intercourse to be a hate crime. But I digress. Going butt-nekkid in front of an audience is something that almost never happens these days and in olden times it was pretty much only the singer who did it*. Back then the rest of the band customarily remained fully clothed (though I am open to correction) possibly for aesthetic reasons though - more likely - to accentuate the singer's nudity. Nobody attended a Doors or a Stooges concert in the hope that Ray Manzarek or James Williamson would haul his winkle out and in the event that other band-members had brogged off I would have expected both Mr Pop and The Lizard King to have given them a swift punch up the throat. To be honest, most audiences today would be surprised if the singer took off his clothes but bewildered if the bass player did so. 'Why has the chap with the big guitar dropped his strides?' they'd cry. 'It just doesn't make any sense'. * Apart from the dancer Stacia out of Hawkwind

And finally ready to return: Machine heads refitted and nut lowered ( @Sibob may want to tweak them when he resets it but it is at a level where those tweaks should be pretty minor). Because the nut / nut slot is lower, I've chiselled a dropaway angle behind it to ensure the strings have a clear run to the machine heads: It'll be in Monday's post back to @Sibob . No doubt we'll all find out if it's done the trick or not soon

A few bands ago, in a trio-plus-vocalist, I was teamed with a very good drummer who was also very inventive. We did "Sultans of Swing" - the original, of course, has keys and a second guitar as well as the lead guitar. After we'd rehearsed it a few times, rather than upping things when the first solo came round, the drummer dropped back. I realised what he was doing and followed him, so we were really underplaying below the first solo which suddenly didn't sound empty. The second solo got full tilt boogie which worked well, but probably wouldn't have without that alternative dynamic on the first one. It wouldn't work on a guitar solo using searing distortion, but fitted nicely with the slightly overdriven Knofler tone.

A conflict of interest will occur sometime in the future, it’s what happens when musicians play in more than one band.

Just listening to Lemon Jelly’s excellent album Lost Horizons for the first time in many years, so good. Several tracks are joyous, not an epithet I can attribute to much music I listen to...

I did a few dep gigs for a blues singer a few years ago. He was well into his 50s, short and very overweight. Imagine my horror when halfway through the encore, he appeared from the rear of the stage totally nude. Not a pretty sight, though surprisingly, the ladies in the audience loved it.

You make an excellent point, Mr W. I am sure that various bass players have disrobed before an audience. It's just that advancing years have taken their toll and I can't remember much before last Tuesday.

I've seen the Chilli Peppers during their only a sock phase... I've also played a gig in naught but a codpiece fashioned from a heavy duty rubber glove... But the band that does much more than take the biscuit is Rockbitch. I've never seen a few thousand bikers, patch club members and Hell's Angels look so scared!

Let’s not forget the young lady who used to dance in the buff at old Hawkwind gigs. Her name was Stacia.

I've learned loads of songs over the last six months. I find Ultimate guitar easy because it allows you to quickly change between versions (some songs have eight or more tabs, they can't ALL be right). There are several types, the best are pretty accurate and give an idea of the rhythm. Some just give you little more than a set of riffs and a few are people 'interpretation'. Many have minor mistakes, most have bad fingering choices, and a proportion are just totally wrong. At the moment we are trying to build a setlist of about 40 songs, so lots of playing songs on YouTube and trying to sight read the tab (it can be done and makes me even more convinced I'm dyslexic when it come to the dots!) The worst songs are the really complex ones that don't have a clear bass-melody to stick in your head. For complex ones I find Troy's bass covers on youtube are good: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQPqVw7y59QuPZdQ6QkuXKQ You can slow down 50% and play along to the sub-bass to learn hard bits 🙂 I find there are two separate things to learn, which rarely go at the same speed: learning the technical bits and learning the song, ideally you want to be good enough so that if dropped in at a random point you can join in quickly (i.e. if you get lost playing with others you can recover and make it seem like you put in a jazzy little fill...)

Last year my girlfriend gave me a rather fetching pair of tiger skin pants as a joke present. I play guitar in a glam punk band and wear a tiger skin suit. She dared me to wear them for a gig, not being able to resist a challenge I went for it. I'd also taken to running to keep fit and the thought of my impending exposure made me keep to my exercise regime in order to look my best. At the gig I played most of the set fully clothed and when the singer and I left the stage to change for the encore I stripped to my underpants and walked back on stage to shocked gasps (and some laughter) from the audience. The encore was only two songs but when almost naked it did seem to last an eternity and once I'd smashed my guitar (it's a special one that I can smash and rebuild) I felt very exposed. I can't say I would do it again but it's certainly something I can tell the grandchildren.

A number of the Phil Jones amps are dual input. A cheaper option which may be "good enough" could be to use a decent 2 channel mixer in front of the amp to save yourself the cost of a new rig?

I’m thinking of tasking @Jabba_the_gut to build his basses with a tit chamfer, I’m sure it would be a money spinner.

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I don't mind either way though if I was ordering my dream fretless I'd probably have lines at the edges only, Alain Caron style. Overall, my preference is for lines as I like them for a very quick visual reference though I can do without. My first fretless was unlined. A large part of the game for me is the feel of each fretless bass. Even on a lined bass, you'll soon play without even really considering the lines as your innate sense of muscle memory and intonation takes over. Once your hands are 'tuned in', you're ready to motor. I certainly don't subscribe to the stuffy attitude that unlined is superior despite having first learned that way (I even had a lovely unlined fretless Alembic Epic years ago). Gary Willis plays with lines and I've never met an internet critic that could play like he does.

Another reason to play flats ...

So right. When we started out the drummer was in another band. We got a great offer to support a well known band, playing early. But he had a gig with his covers band the same evening. Now we would have been on at 7:30 - 8, his covers band would have started at 9:30. It was a 30min drive between venues. But the other band refused to set everything up, saying they all needed to be there for that, so we didn’t get to do the gig. Now there is the argument that he was in the covers band long before we formed, so in reality it was us diluting the covers band, and not long after he did leave as he couldn’t stay in 2 regular gigging bands full time.

What would be amazing is five toneprints. Any you want, any combination. Swoon.

Hope I love them. Never had one and there’s one incoming! 😆

Also, Lionize - who are protege's of Clutch - have a new album coming out soon with Jean-Paul Gaster on drums. If I could play with any drummer it'd be him - he's such an expressive player, with so much groove

It's a less sophisticated unit than the FI that lets a bassist, who doesn't want to have to spend hours and days deep diving into PC editing, get some very usable sounds quickly. Where the FI wins: overall more capable and more tweak-able synth engine midi enabled ability to provide 99 presets Where the SY-1 wins: flawless tracking all the way down to a low B (and not requiring a staccato / muted style to avoid glitching) immediacy of dials (no need for an app/midi/PC) to access some great synth sounds £175 vs £329 (new) arpeggiator polyphonic straightforward parallel loop capability ability to use an expression pedal smaller footprint So for me it was a no-brainer in going for the SY-1, which I'm loving, and I'm not missing my FI at all. For others, the pros / cons may push them to getting an FI.

I loaned the little vtbass to a mate who has a full ampeg rig, complete with 8x10 fridge. His response was “it rocks!”. I will take that as a vote of approval.

Don’t forget the dressing up in a French maid’s outfit with roller skates...

From what I can see, at £500 it makes you significantly poorer, but marginally taller.

I posted about this in the HX stomp thread, but in case it's of wider interest I thought I'd best make a separate one. I wanted to add some more control options to my Stomp and was looking at controllers like the Morningstar MC6, but couldn't justify the £200 outlay.. so looked into making one myself - and it's turned out to be far easier and cheaper than I expected. Total cost for all the electronics and switches is about £25 -30 depending on how confident you are at slightly fiddly soldering... the extra few quid gets you a pre-soldered microcontroller and an adaptor board with screw terminals, so the only soldering you'd need to do is for the wires to the tags on the footswitches and on the MIDI socket. And then you'll need something to house it in. I made a 3d printed enclosure for mine, but any box you can buy/build/modify will do. If anyone's interested in making something similar for themselves, I'd be happy to share wiring diagrams and the code I used. I'm no electronic engineer or programmer, so no doubt there's plenty of room for improvement, but I've got it to work well enough to do what I need it to, and maybe it'll work for you too? I'm happy to help with tweaking it for slightly different configurations if you'd want a different layout. What it does: You press a footswitch, and it sends a MIDI message. The way I have mine setup is that it either sends a MIDI PC (Program Change) message to change preset patch on my HX stomp, or a MIDI CC (Control Change) message to change any of a number of other settings or parameters. It could potentially send MIDI notes as well if you wanted to use it as a pedal keyboard to play a synth with, I suppose. If you hold a footswitch down, it can send a different MIDI message (I only use this for activating the tuner by holding the tap tempo button so far, but it could be setup for any of the switches) If you press more than one footswitch down at once, it can do something else again depending on which ones you press. Mine is set so that pressing 1+2 or 2+3 switches through different pages / banks of button configurations, and pressing 7 + 8 is a sort of panic mode which resets the HX stomp to preset 1, and resets the controller back to the first page. What it can't do: It's not programmable from the unit. To change the way the buttons are configured you need to tweak the code and then re-upload it. There's probably a more elegant way to deal with this, but it works well enough for me as is - I don't expect to need to reconfigure it very often once I've got it set up. Right - I'm gonna stop there for now.... if no-one's interested then I'm just rambling into the void for nowt. If anyone is interested though, let us know and I can post more details. Or, if you know more than me and can spot where I've gone wrong or what I should have done better - lemme know and I'll try and improve it! Cheers, stoo

Yeah, it's not doing anything for me either, and I also love(d) The Who. But they've been a funny one over the last two decades. Every so often there's flickers of hope that Townshend still has it - remember Real Good Looking Boy? And I will admit that I got my hopes up with Endless Wire: sure, it wasn't on par with their '60s and '70s output, but it had its moments. As a lot of critics said at the time, comeback albums usually sound a lot worse. And it beat a lot of the music molesting the charts in 2011(?) into a cocked hat. But then, unfortunately, this comes along and drops into the same bin as Be Lucky. And you wonder how far we are from sinking back into the Kenney Jones era...

You're not the only one! I've just enjoyed watching this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n93c4/synth-britannia

Phil is 100% correct. I think the other thing to stress is that an HPF helps with the headroom of an amp. Also slapping sounds better when used with a compressor. As for the amount of treble available from the cabinet, you will soon get used to it and miss it when you try other cabs. Those with a simple crossover to a piezoelectric tweeter will sound really harsh. That is not to say that Piezo’s sound harsh. It is often the way they are used.

Awesome, great place, reasonable stage, but the onstage sound was perfect, awesome monitors, lighting not so great but that's a matter of preference. Most importantly very cheap local Ale! Enjoy dude it's a cool place

The truth of the matter is that once people start doing other things, it dilutes the original band. Diaries clash and disappointment and dep players get involved. Can't be doing with it.

Yeh - they've usually got the full 'mainstream' BB range on display up to and including the P34/5s. May not have some of the more high end basses in stock (e.g. the NE2). If you give the store a quick call they'll happily confirm what they currently have in.

No, it was a selectable pattern display - very similar to https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1M-2M-3M-4M-5M-QUALITY-RGB-LED-LIGHT-STRIP-ROPE-KIT-5050-MULTI-COLOUR-UK-PLUG/123837841880

I had the hh ic 100 s ,which is pictured above , but I still have a hh vs amp what I use to play my iPad through and it’s still going strong 😁

Actually the best strategy is to do what The Terrortones did. Organise gigs in your home town. Put on reasonably well known bands who are doing a similar style of music to your band and who will play for less than £150, and get your band to open for them. Do this on a regular basis - every 4 to 6 weeks, make it into a decent evening with DJs playing appropriate music between the bands, promote the hell out of it. You'll learn lots from watching the more established bands go about their business (both what's good and what to avoid) and unless your band is dreadfully dull you should start building a decent local following. It also looks good on your band's "CV" for getting decent out of town gigs, when you've got a long list of impressive support gigs.

Just saying....

Surely it's not considered cheating if he gigs in a different area code

Enjoy the space. Playing bass in a 3 piece is one of the greatest things ever. Listen to more Cream / Jack Bruce and you'll get the idea. But also - the guitarist should be writing solos to support the song rather than going off on a thin sounding widdle fest too.

Don't blame others. It's you that is making these choices and picking the wrong bands and musicians. Don't throw your toys out of the pram because these guys aren't serious about their instruments. Selling your gear is not a constructive way to deal with this problem. Search out better musicians who are on the same page.

The answer is complicated, because most of the Thiele/Small specs contribute to the driver sensitivity, as does the enclosure. There's no reason why you'd need a lower sensitivity speaker per se, but by and large what contributes to higher sensitivity also contributes to less low end extension, and vice-versa. For that reason if you see a single driver speaker rated at more than 98dB/1w it probably doesn't go very low. By the same token if a single driver speaker claims to be -3dB at 35Hz it can't have much more than 93dB sensitivity. And lastly, if a small speaker claims both low extension and high sensitivity they are, in a word, lying. It's all summed up by Hoffman's Iron Law.