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Arrived today, a Players Series P bass that I bought to modify. I love my precision but being as it is the same colour as my Jazz, I thought a good old fashioned black & maple would be a good bet. Early indications are that it is light, well balanced & easy to play. The same can't be said of the cat!

Just thinking through a post I put on another thread and I thought it may be useful to open the discussion wider. I started playing bass in September, 1980, when, after starting work full time, I bought a black Hondo II Precision copy. I was playing Rock and Heavy Metal at the time but my head was already being turned by other music forms including Prog, Fusion and Jazz. As my playing progressed, like most of us, I was exploring the big names and couldn't get enough of everything. I recall reading bass magazines and hearing all these names and I would always check people out when I could (it was harder in those days as this is pre-internet and finding a recording with a certain player on it was not nearly as easy as it is now). I remember hearing names of the funk greats; Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, Bootsy Collins, Rocco Prestia and, much later, Victor Wooten etc. I also recall everyone getting excited about the tapping guys like Billy Sheehan, Stu Hamm, Jerry Peek and, later, Michael Manring. Both of these areas got a little attention for a while and I learned some slap playing (remember that Thumb Basics things with Jonas Hellborg) and tapping (I recall playing Jeff Berlin's Motherlode and a couple of things off Hamm's 'Radio Free Albemuth'. I recall a couple of years ago learning about double thumbing so I could 'do' it. Despite these forays, I never really used them because, fundamentally, despite 'enjoying' the challenge of applying the techniques, I never actually liked the music that is played using these techniques. I listen to Run For Cover by David Sanborn and LOVE that bass line but I cannot listen to the whole song. Same with Good Times by Chic; 'great' bass line but the much is a big fat nothing. I just find funk ultimately unsatisfying and hatefully repetitive. Two handed stuff is the same. Impressive as a technical exercise but, ultimately, pattern based, repetitive and not particularly nice to listen to. In modern bass playing, there is increasingly too much 'technique' for one person to be able to do it all at a satisfying level and, whilst I can (or, at least, could) slap and tap, I don't, for no other reason than I find that I don't like any music that uses those techniques. My pick playing, for instance, is very good although I never use it live but the other two have been consciously left to wither. Lots of great music out there to play, why bother playing stuff you don't like. Consequently, I don't need these techniques. Thoughts, anyone?

Hi everyone, As some of you will know, our family experienced a tragic event last year and we've all been trying to come to terms with things and move on in our own ways. One goal I set for myself was to try and do some charity work that involved children and, if possible, music. I'm therefore very excited to announce that I've been formally appointed today as Marketing Lead at the lovely Soundabout charity based near Oxford! Soundabout helps people with severe or profound disabilities and to communicate through music-based interaction - learning with instruments, drums, rhythmic patterns, sensory perception etc. Many of their participants are 'non-vocal' and the way they've learnt to interact with their families and peers through music is just fabulous to experience. They work with schools in engaging with disabled children, adults through weekly workshops, multi-age inclusive choirs and all sorts of different music & sound based workshops. I might even take a bass along and see if I can help to get some people dancing and enjoying that low-end rumble In 2020 they are launching new initiatives to work with pre-school children and young adults who've just finished school / college to help them through the, extremely tough, transition into adulthood. They really do fabulous work and get great reviews from participants and their family members. After the sad events of last year I really wanted something new to make me, and others who really deserve it, smile a little more. I'll try and post the odd update from time to time and let people know if there are any musical events that might be interesting. I can get more information about them as well if anyone might ever want to help with fundraising through music or any other type of event. If anyone wants to like or follow them on social media it would definitely be much appreciated - they don't bombard people with messages and some of the videos of people engaging with them are so heartwarming if ever you want to raise a smile https://www.facebook.com/SoundaboutUK/ https://twitter.com/SoundaboutUK https://www.instagram.com/soundabout.uk/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/22319968/

I tried learning that one too....I only got half way there 😎

Blocked.

Success!!! Will be in the post later today @walshy

As a retired marketing guy and Mesa fan, here's my tuppence-worth. There's an old marketing adage that says the 'right' price for any product is the highest price each market will pay for it. While that may at first sound glib, there's a lot in there when you start digging. I once went to a marketing seminar presented by the UK Marketing Director of BMW cars. His opening remark was: "People often tell me my cars are expensive. That's not true - they are EXTREMELY expensive!" Needless to say, he delivered these remarks with a self-satisfied smile and a wink. Everybody in the audience got it. So, the only question that Mesa need to ask themselves is: Is our UK pricing policy reducing our sales to an unacceptably low level? If the answer is 'no', they've got it right. If the answer is 'yes', they've got it wrong.

Guys, I think you are (at least in part) misunderstanding some differences between how commerce is done the UK and commerce is done in the US, including HOW pricing is presented. 1. In the UK, your prices INCLUDE 20% VAT, in the US, our prices do NOT INCLUDE state sales tax (our version of your VAT), which runs between 9-10% average. 2. Importing into the UK costs roughly an additional 10-12% on top of this VAT for things like transportation, licensing, bonding, insurance, registration, and safety/EMC inspections and certificates. 3. There are some additional costs for warehousing, distribution and servicing/support which are generally covered by the importer of record, but of course this is a real cost as well. So, as an example let's take an amp that is advertised for sells for and sells for $1000 in the US and calculate what the real differences are... To the US consumer, this amp will cost approx. 1000 x 1.1 (sales tax) = 1100 USD which is the out the door cost to a US consumer To the UK consumer, that same 1267 GBP amp which has the VAT included Now, to look at why the amp is more expensive, we need to have the import costs of ~10% subtracted out because that's an ADDED COST of bringing a product into the UK, so now that's about 1140 GBP which would otherwise be the out the door cost to the UK consumer after the added taxes and fees levied by your government of our product. We do not have a choice in paying these added costs, which get passed onto the consumer in the end just like for all taxes. That said, all of the taxes paid by importers and yourselves go to cover things that do greatly benefit you, things like your extensive public transportation system, health care and retirement programs. You might be shocked to learn that many of us Yanks pay on average ~$1500-$2000 USD/MONTH for the same healthcare that you receive as part of your government services. While comparing prices might seem like you are getting the short end of the stick, it's nowhere near that simple... the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence/pond. In fact, it's debatable that the stick is equally short on both ends Hope this helps.

So after hours of exposing my quandary to she who has scales beneath her skin, she has taken pity and give the royal go ahead to take a punt on a Sire V3. I’ve asked Andertons if they could send me their lightest, doubt they will but thought I’d ask. If it’s too heavy I’ll simply send it back. Should be here next week...went for the wine coloured mahogany one😉-fingers crossed 🤞

I think things are dismissed because they are of limited use to the individual not because they are of no value. I completely agree with you that people are entitled to use music for whatever purpose they choose and good luck to them. I am perfectly well aware that I am so far up my own derrière that I am sure I can see daylight. My point is entirely moot.

I fancied a bit of a change scratchplate wise and rather than splash out £40 or so on a custom p/g, I thought I'd give 'making' one myself by placing a thin tort one behind the existing clear one. I'm very pleased with the result and it only cost me £12.50. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XPP9ZJ3/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_3p_dp_1 It's sticky backed so could also fit over the top of an opaque one.

Used £500 as a deposit and buy a Sandberg Superlight TT5 or TM5 Proper 5 string and under 8lb!

The issue is capacity for me. A Rolls Royce has it's power described as adequate. Then wafts along. Same with technique for me, to continue the car analogy I want to sound like a Ferrari doing 100mph when playing something complex rather the 1 litre Shitreon I own doing 60.... I read an anecdote about Al Jackson Jr, the session drummer, warming up for a gig with blazing chops, then for the entire gig cruising away laying down 2 and 4. Extreme chops are always going to be a niche market, but they just might enhance small musical highlights in with panache whilst playing more regular material.

I completely agree. Whilst there is a 'groove' in everything, playing in a 'Groove' (capital G) in the sense that it is used in Funk music generally means playing between one and two bars of music again and again and again or, in other pieces, the same phrase but with a changing root note. I can see why this might work in these genres but, for me, it's just a bit merrrr? I could play one note throughout Ravel's 'Bolero' and enjoy every second of it but a two chord vamp under some cheesy dance music? Not my bag..

This is something that dawned on me midway through my second year at uni, studying bass of all things. It suddenly occurred to me following a tutorial with my composition tutor, that what I was being asked to do, ie all the technical stuff, the slapping, grooving etc, really hadn’t much attraction for me. It was something she had noticed, I think I’d tried to ignore it. I’m actually just writing a piece for my blog site about it. Funk and groove mean nothing to me, I’m really not interested in them. I see bass as an instrument, a very beautiful instrument, to be played however you want to play it. If that means ignoring tradition, then so be it.

The two pickups have magnets and a coil. The magents can have north on top or south on top. Rotating obviously doesn't affect this. They could be wound clockwise or anti-clockwise, again rotation doesn't affect this. Humbucking 101 in case anyone isn't up to speed: The 'hum cancelling' effect of a humbucker is normally achieved by either reversing the magnets of one pickup and connecting its coil the other way around. This means the two (magnetically induced) signals from the strings will be in-phase and add up, while any electromagnetic fields causing hum in the coils will be out of phase cancel out. As well as often having subtly different windings or pole piece spacings paired pickups (like on a Jazz bass) are normally set up like this to give a humbucking effect. If the pups are mis-wired you won't get any humbucking effect (stand near an amp with a transformer in it and don't play, just wind the pups in and out and see if the hum reduces or increases with both pups on full ) and the sound will be weak. Where it can go pear shaped is when people decide to mod an instrument without realising this and use two identical PUPS (e.g. two bridge pickups). Wired one way these will 'humbuck' but will sound weak, wired the other they will sound stronger together but hum will get worse with both of them dialled. Thinking about it, if the bass has had its pups changed, is it possible this is what has been done?

Also, this should be the forum motto.

Just had a funny thing happen. I paid a deposit for an Industrial Radio MIDIBass at the end of December and the payment has still not cleared into the company’s account nearly two weeks later. I contacted my bank today to find out what was going on and it turns out that the intermediary bank (HSBC US) has held the payment as being suspicious. My reference was IRN-## which is my invoice number. I got asked if the payment was related to Iran and was asked a whole bunch of other security questions and asked for information about what the payment was for etc. Was tempted to say that I normally pay for my arms to rogue states using bitcoin!

Dear bassist friends, today I propose you a bass cover of a New Wave masterpiece. A powerful and majestic bass line in its simplicity! Enjoy!!!

It's down to pattern recognition. Eventually se a rhythm written and you recognise it and play it, rather than having to work it out.

Thanks to you I've just spent fifty minutes down a rabbit hole discovering that a 'Bottom Buddy' is not what you might expect.

Ashdown will fix any of there products, old or new, including Class D. The problem is not if it can be fixed or not, it's getting the circuit diagrams so you can find the fault Most manufacturers won't release them. Add the fact that modern production techniques use surface mount technology and a circuit board swap is easier for them It looks like the older class A/B MarkBass heads can be fixed. My SA450 has been with an amp tech for a few days and it's on a soak test at the moment. Apparently fixed.

There was a time when I wanted to learn everything and be as good as anybody at everything. Then I grew up.😉 Seriously, I didn’t often need to slap, and although I was not bad at it was never going to be Mark King (which would be pointless anyway unless you were in Level 42), so that pretty much fell by the wayside. My fingerstyle (and the slap to be honest), suffered badly when I started having problems with my right arm, although I was always more of an Entwistle than a 16th/32nd note groove machine. I was never interested in tapping, or certainly tapping whole tunes, which on bass I always thought sounded a bit pointless, so never bothered much with that. Thankfully my pick playing was always very good. I did wrestle for long periods with trying to play other people’s styles, but eventually grew to realise that many of them didn’t feel natural and/or I wasn’t great at them. I play best when I’m being me, and the more I accepted that, the happier I became. I remember Dave Gilmour saying something similar. One pivotal moment for me was playing before Martin Turner at a festival. I played the gig and sat and watched his set. I loved what he was doing in the context he was doing it, the band was great and his sound was great, and I suddenly realised that I actually approach things in a not dissimilar way with a not dissimilar sound. I then realised that if I’d been watching me, I’d have liked what I was doing, which for someone who has always been very self critical was something of an eye opener.

Regarding funk, I like long sections that stay on one vamp, but the art is in keeping the music developing at the same time. It's the same as the montuno section in Latin music. If the band don't know how to change things during the section then it does indeed become boring. It's funny, I've often tried to figure out why I like jazz and funk, but never really got on with prog. I think it's the opposite problem. To me, prog tends to change feel/tempo too often and doesn't stay on one groove long enough. Maybe there's a gene that controls one's groove Vs boredom tolerance...

I don't know, some of us have bass instincts 🤣

I wish I could play all the techniques you mention. Sadly I'm a one-trick finger style pony! Old dogs and new tricks springs to mind, but I don't see why any technique shouldn't be utilised where it would sound interesting. Initially, electric instruments met with significant resistance in the Jazz world and electric basses are still generally shunned in Rock and Roll, even though most of the original artists were using electric bass by 1957. The excuse that the original was played on a 4 string bass is regularly trotted out as a reason why someone won't play a 5 string bass! So many musicians love their blinkers! Why pigeon-hole a technique or style of playing or restrict its use to specific genres? If you are good at a technique why not break down barriers and add it (in a tasteful and appropriate way) to your playing. If you are good enough it won't sound out of place.

Why not, how about a worst quality gig bag contest? I'm sure to win that

For me, it's kind of like learning for learning's sake. I decided to try and nail slapping about two years ago and made a point of practicing it regularly and using online lessons etc. I've got a level where I'm reasonably competent at it - but there's no way I'd be using it in my band (a post rock, proggy thing) but I like learnings and pushing the envelope even though no one but me gets to hear it and it will never be used at any practical level - but I'm fine with that. Tried to do the same with tapping but lost interest.

Reckon there may be a smiley missing from this post ...

Cheers all, have decided to go with the the Fender Mustang and have bought one off a fellow basschatter. I will let you know when it arrives!

How can you try basses out in a shop if you don’t know basic slap technique. And... How can you post a bass video on YouTube if you don’t know some rudimentary tapping. And.... In order to facilitate a guitarist playing a 53 minute “blues” solo, one must have mastered 12 bar blues walking lines (but nothing fancy mind). So as one can see it’s important to know all sorts of stuff. 😉

The Immigrant Song and a few other Zep classics by JPJ after hearing ramble on and remembering what a lovely melodic bass line that is and just found this by the man himself so will be giving this a look/listen later

No, Wem came later. A pair of Vox 4x10 columns and a Selmer P.A.100. Valve of course.

If it's fun to do, do. If not, don't.

That's not true. There's a spring-loaded ball-bearing mechanism that holds the two parts together. And that's what failed within 3 months on the only pair I've owned. On the other hand I have Schaller StrapLocks from the mid 80s that are still functioning perfectly. There is IME more room for user error with the Schaller StrapLocks, but once you have worked out what needs to be done to fit each part securely to the instrument and strap, they work perfectly. In the end it's each to their own. We stick with what we know and what works for us. None of the methods are 100% perfect or fool-proof. Having tried all the different methods, the Schallers work for me. I can appreciate that they are not for everyone.

A solution! I tried my spare head and my 2nd Accugroove with a Palmer pre that has an aux in. It all works perfectly. tcElectronic watts are a lot smaller that EBS watts though...... I'll offer the BG250 free on collection locally as spares or repairs. The tip is next.

A clear legend, I mean, how many other drummers made it on to Record Breakers?

That’s impressive! Good job!

I've always loved anything with Sly and Robbie, I learned a lot about bass playing from playing along to their stuff It's not strictly reggae, but I discovered this recently:

Just to offer an opposing view, I found them too big and chunky. I tried them but switched to those rubber washer thingies which are much less invasive. They undoubtedly do the job for which they are designed though.

Thanks @Reggaebass for resurrecting this thread. Don't know how I manage to ignore this terrific work. I did a kind of similar thing and put a neck plate stamped L200865 (so it matched my birthday) on a assembled fretless P-Bass (with genuine parts of 1964 that I bought over a year, a fake vintage pickguard, a fake aluminium shielding plate, a fake vintage logo, a fake vintage bridge, a fake neck plate, a rewound 1964 pickup and fake vintage screws), that I stupidly traded for a Warwick Thumb 4, clearly notifying on the "invoice" that it was not original at all, but an assembly with fake vintage parts. Sadly I saw it refretted a few months later on eBay with another neck plate for sale as a genuine 1964 Fender Precision Bass. I reported it to eBay, but they let it sell. I sent lots of messages to the seller who didn't give a sh*t...

A pair of WEM 4x12 columns surely?

All the bits to finish mine have finally arrived. Nothing major, mainly replacement screws as the scratchplate ones are really rusty and hardly hold in the holes. A pair of the newer style strap locks, I wasn't happy with the security of the bottom original one, it was kind of tight but the threads were all but stripped so I've plugged and redrilled the holes. I've also got some mirror acrylic to make a pickup bezel, I like the Rickysounds chrome one but it replaces the whole original bezel and it would look too new, I prefer the style of their black one that just fills the cavity but would rather chrome so I'm going to make my own. It should all be finished by the end of the weekend.

I’ve always preferred the Dunlop. I had the screw on thing fall off a Schaller strap lock once. It had been on really tight to begin with, but had loosened over time.

Well, of all the nice things we saw at NAMM and would happily have taken home, this was the one we decided we absolutely could not leave without. It's called CableWrangler and we bought two. They apparently have a UK distributor, probably wholesale, though. That's @Happy Jack on the right with the owners of the company.

Me too, just purchased a Fusion Urban bass gig bag, can’t fault it, superb bit of kit.