velvetkevorkian

Is that 5 stars or something untypeable?

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='389003' date='Jan 22 2009, 08:41 PM']In an effort to earn the 2009 'most popular forum member' Oscar.... Most people don't need reading or theory because most music that is played in most venues by most people is actually very basic/simple/repetetive/undemanding (I know; I have played it throughout my career). People can get by because there is nothing to test them. They can use their ears because there is not that much in the way of real harmonic movement that will test these skills to any real exent. The audience reaction rewards this mediocrity; the more sophisticated the music, the more the punters struggle. Not their fault but its a fact. The benefits of reading are obvious; it comes in two types, reading and sight reading. Whilst I can do both, my sight reading is undermined by a lack of real opportunities to do so (it is a muscle that is wasting). But being able to read and write charts allows you to cover all sorts of bases that you might struggle with otherwise. You can communicate ideas reallly easily and interpret those of others with less need for repetitious run throughs and without the logistics problems of endless rehearsals. You can learn more quickly. You can play in more situations without having to 'learn' sets. Its a skill that can open doors if you want it to. Theory is invaluable if you want to move beyond trained monkey status. Doing it is one thing. Knowing what you are doing is another. My theoretical knowledge, despite being better than most, is not what it should be and I am trying hard to address this but, without it, I couldn't play half the gigs I do. I love the sounds of music and want to know what makes things work. Its not just about bass. I want to challange the pianists, saxophone players and guitarists I play with. I want to arrange big bands charts and string quartets; not because they are lucrative but because they are there. Without theory, I would be doing jigsaws without the lid. With theory, I have more potential to create. But that's just me. I am always suspicious of people that advocate ignorance. It jut doesn't compute.[/quote] +approximately 9 million. The main thing I'm working on right now is my reading, so I'd say its quite important to me.

[quote name='Toasted' post='387196' date='Jan 21 2009, 09:52 AM']What about the Jamman? There's ALOT more features there.[/quote] Mainly because I don't need a lot of the features it has. All I want is to be able to record myself and layer tracks on top of it- if I want to record it I'll use my PC. It's also bigger and more expensive. I don't need it for delays because I have a VF1 which does all I need there. The only thing I would really like (that I don't think can be found without spending a lot more money) would be multiple independent loops, but I don't care about being able to save and export them etc. Is that reasonable?

Bump back from page 4- the DL-8 is currently £99 plus £6 shipping from Absolute Music- anyone tried it? Is the Akai Headrush better? Currently leaning towards the Digitech for its smaller size and slightly lower price- any other suggestions?

Its an E string extension- a lot of orchestral players use them to hit notes below E (a necessity in some classical pieces) without having to use a 5 string. Some have mechanical keys which stop each note while some are basically just an extra length of fingerboard with a latch at the nut. They normally go down to a low C. hurrah for posting the same thing at the same time!

I thought most country bands got up in arms if you use anything more exotic than root and fifth? That's a dead easy scale...

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='383536' date='Jan 17 2009, 08:15 PM']1. Bass-specific power amps seem to be well pricey - is this a necessity for a decent tone? Not necessarily. It really depends on the tone you want- I use a Boss VF1 effects unit as a preamp with the effects bypassed, and other people use things like the Avalon U5 (I think) or microphone preamps which is not instrument specific.[/quote] Sorry, I misread the "power amp" here as "preamp". As Mr Hunt said, bass specific power amps aren't necessary.

Because some people (or me, anyway!) don't go looking for specific things in the classifieds, and don't want to have to go through countless sub forums to see one or two new items.

[quote name='deaver' post='383525' date='Jan 17 2009, 07:56 PM']Numpty advice time again Im afraid. I'd like to put together a preamp/poweramp/cab rig but I'm struggling to find coherent advice regarding the power amp/preamp combination. I think I've got the cab concept sorted in my head, however... 1. Bass-specific power amps seem to be well pricey - is this a necessity for a decent tone? 2. How well matched (if at all) do the amps have to be? 3. Can anyone point me towards a good web resource? 4. Can anyone show me any working examples - something that would be feasible at a second hand price of £200-300 All advice/recommendations welcome[/quote] 1. Bass-specific power amps seem to be well pricey - is this a necessity for a decent tone? Not necessarily. It really depends on the tone you want- I use a Boss VF1 effects unit as a preamp with the effects bypassed, and other people use things like the Avalon U5 (I think) or microphone preamps which is not instrument specific. 2. How well matched (if at all) do the amps have to be? If you mean the pre and power amps, not really IMO. All a power amp should do is make your signal louder. 3. Can anyone point me towards a good web resource? Try doing a search here on the amps forum of Talkbass maybe? 4. Can anyone show me any working examples - something that would be feasible at a second hand price of £200-300 Boss Vf1 + BK electronics power amp module +cheap 1x15"= total cost slightly over what you're looking for, but you can probably get a 2nd hand Ebay power amp within budget, especially if you can handle a bit more size and weight.

Could you file the saddle slots down?

Interested for more opinions on this, the X3L is high on my (relatively short) GAS list for the new year.

Get a metronome then get a drummer. edit- a real drummer, not a machine.

[quote name='4000' post='378109' date='Jan 12 2009, 07:03 PM']But seriously, all I can say is "may each note I play be a black arrow of death to all those who play False Metal". Or something like that. [/quote] I concur.

Very cunning!

I'd play that. Bring on the Squier £200 version.

Especially since a new set of strings for a cheap Thomann bass would pretty much bring you up to that level anyway...

I aim to get a looper of some description and some small/light/loud cabs so I can actually have a proper rig. The other thing I have an irrational want for is a Pod X3 live; also a second Boss VF1 just so I don't have half an empty rack space. A 5 string EUB would be nice but is prohibitively expensive right now. I could go on but I probably shouldn't...

[quote name='xgsjx' post='368734' date='Jan 2 2009, 07:17 PM']Allow me to be the first with shiny new pedals, I've always wanted to post in here but thought just having one sh!tty Zoom multi pedal wouldn't cut it on here! My GF (sweet thing that she is) got me a Bass MuRF & on New Year's eve I went & got the MF-101 with some Xmas money. I've just went & bought another 9 volt adaptor so I can see if putting anything from the zoom into the MFs could sound good, there's one or two 1/2 decent fx in the zoom if you spend a little time messing & the delay could prove useful. Anyway, without further ado I give you....................... [attachment=18007:SNC16322_2.JPG] I'll get some reviews of all my gear in a few weeks & might try & get some sound clips up for you who is interested in any of this gear (not mine specifically). G[/quote] I like your patch names

[quote name='jakesbass' post='370345' date='Jan 4 2009, 09:02 PM']Watching the videos of Victor Wooten that Urb posted (thanks) something occured to me. If you found yourself with that amount of music flowing from your imagination and had the time the inclination and the facility to execute those ideas would you really say to yourself "well that's not proper bass playing so I'm going to stop it at once"? would you f***, you'd find as many ways to play stuff and be as inventive and creative and pushing to the boundaries of your ability as you possibly could. It's human nature to do so. Victor is a fantastically inventive and able musician and he's humble. He knows whats important in bass playing and will do that when required better than any single individual on this board can. I would not choose to listen to some of the things he plays but that is true of many artists of all types. I think people should really be less critical of excellence and just give credit where credit is due and Victor Wooten and many like him are worthy of plenty of credit. If you don't like it don't listen, but come on, don't be stupid enough to denigrate just because it's not to your taste.[/quote] Amen. Anyone interested in solo bass could do worse than check out [url="http://www.michaeldimin.com/lessons.htm"]Mike Dimin's website.[/url] He has a couple of jazz tunes arranged for solo bass- his arrangement of Autumn Leaves is rather nice, and a good reminder of how much can be done on an old fashioned 4 string.

I actually quite fancy one of their touchstyle models. Way cheaper than getting a Stick!

I've never seen Wooten solo (except on t'internet) but I have seen him with the Flecktones and he was quite frankly a groove monster. I was expecting all out double thumbing carnage but he supported the band wonderfully. I wouldn't judge him solely on the umpteen million performances of Classical Thump on youtube.

The Avatars are meant to be good value for money, but as mentioned above not a lot of people in the UK will have used one as they're not readily available on this side of the Atlantic.

[quote name='Alun' post='365446' date='Dec 29 2008, 01:19 PM']... YMCA in the style of Bach, which seemed like a good idea at the time [/quote] Now that I would like to hear! I have a couple of piano pieces I arranged from an ABRSM Grade 1 piano book, but I've never performed them publicly. I would like to but I need a few more ideas and a lot more practice.