Deep Thought

An ex once yelled at me 'You love your bass more than me!' Guilty as charged.

It's a thing I intend to get myself soon-a decent mike. I currently sing through a Peavey thing owned by our lead singer, but I plan on getting myself something decent(ish), especially after I had a go on hers a while ago (an expensive Shure wireless job) and was amazed at the difference. I've heard the Sennheisers are pretty good too.

How many of you are happy with tthe stuff you're playing, and how many are doing it because it's the only gig you can get? Do you feel that you should play the stuff you love or nothing, or is it a case of you'll play anything as long as you're playing? Here's my situation-after 15 years of not playing I got a band together with some folks at work and we're gigging fairly sporadically at present, but working on getting sorted so we're doing it more regularly. We play mainly covers, some classic rock, some modern chart stuff, and a bit of blues/r'n'b, some of it written by me. Some of the stuff we play is by bands I don't really like, but I find I enjoy playing it. I do draw the line at some stuff however, and I'm probably the one in the band most likely to flatly refuse to play something. I have mates who if they heard the stuff I'm playing would be scathing in the extreme-I was brought up on punk and a lot of guys I know still haven't got away from that ethos, and would be disgusted if they knew I was playing stuff by Pink. Personally I say stuff 'em, it's so nice to be playing again in a band that's going down well on the whole, that I couldn't give a stuff what they think. One said to me in an Email that he 'couldn't do crowd-pleasing' ie. he played what the hell he liked and if people didn't like it that was their look-out. I'd very much like to be in a blues/r'n'b band playing stuff I really like all the time, but that's just not a practical proposition at present, so I'll stick with the covers, because the alternative is not playing at all. What do you guys feel about this? Whatever it takes, or maintain your artistic integrity at all costs? This isn't a request for advice BTW, I'm quite happy with my current situation, but I'm curious as to how others view this kind of thing.

I'd be inclined to get something a bit bigger at the outset if your budget can stretch-I got back into playing 18 months ago, and started with an Ashdown MAG 300watt 4x10, which has been fine. If you're practising you don't have to have it fully turned up, and 300watts will be plenty for most small to medium venues, if the PA option isn't available. The ability to take an extension cab is also a distinct advantage. I also wish I'd gone head/cab in the beginning rather than combo, which I am still in the process of rectifying. Keep an eye on the For Sale pages here, where you can get some damn good kit at very decent prices from (generally) trustworthy folks.

My Precision is my gig bass, my Ibanez GSR500 is my back-up gig bass, and my old Westone is the one propped up by the sofa so I can grab it and play whilst I'm watching TV. I'd like to get something to replace the Ibanez at some stage-most likely one of the Japanese 70's reissue P's. And I'm still wondering about fretless, so I might pick up a cheap one just to give it a go.

I had one of the Ibanez AGB200's. Beautiful thing to look at, but it's 30" scale, and I just couldn't get on with it. Couldn't stop the frets buzzing on the E string no matter what I did. It lasted about 3 weeks-all I wanted to do was play my Precision, so back to the shop it went.

I sing lead vocals on several of the songs in our set-we've got a female lead vocalist, but I've managed to poke my oar in and do a few, either on songs I particularly wanted to do, or stuff I've written, or stuff that works better with my voice than hers. I do my best to do a good job to both. Some bass lines I can sing over, some take more work, and some I just can't manage. Sometimes, though, I find it easier to sing over busier bass lines than sparser ones-timing is often harder on songs with less going on. I think it does impress people if you can sing over a fairly complex bass line. It is fair to say though, that the listening public judge you far more on the vocals than the bass playing.

Saw him when he was Bo Diddley's bass player when he toured the UK back in the 80's. Fantastic. One of the best gigs I ever went to. My daughter is also a big Blues Brothers fan-she calls it 'Blue Film!'

Just got a set of barely-used Rotosounds from Andy via the 'Recycled items' section. Outstanding chap! Great strings, wouldn't accept anything for postage-he's all right with me!

Looky here:- [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17317&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=17317&hl=[/url]

Huge improvement! Wish they'd do that as standard-I don't like the white either.

I knew this thread would be about this bass before I opened it! I was looking at that one last night. Nice innit? There's another black/maple 70's P on there that caught my eye as well. They had a black/maple 70's fretless P in Manson's in Exeter a few months back-they wanted £1300 for that as well.

Pm sent.

Chelsea Dagger-Fratellis Couldn't possibly not include a Stranglers song and Peaches has been done, so 'Tank' The Cure-Charlotte Sometimes Moloko-The Time is Now

Oh I'm not doing too badly then, my record so far is 11,242. Still to crack 10,000 with the left hand though. I've seen the bloke on YouTube doing 20,000+. I think I'm a long way off that. Now folks mention it, I've never had much trouble with wrist strength in the right hand-can't think why. Still the Powerball is helping with the left.

You're not wrong there Finn, although I've only had mine a few days so I'm not up to competition yet! I've just managed to start it without the string, so I'm quite pleased with myself.

Congrats-I have a similar deal with Acme cardboard boxes and Twango rubber bands.

I just picked up one of these off Amazon:- [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=amb_link_55510065_1?ie=UTF8&node=397989011&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=special-product-offers-1&pf_rd_r=0XXW1JEEYB97WMS6P1YD&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=175165791&pf_rd_i=B000MLPGZG"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=amb_link_555...rd_i=B000MLPGZG[/url] A chap brought one along to a party on New Years Eve, and me and my mates spent all evening trying to get over 10,000 revs. It's basically a hand-held gyroscope. It's pretty addictive and is damn good exercise for your hands, fingers and forearm muscles. It's reckoned to be good for musicians. Our drummer is dying to get one after trying mine-he 's just got the go-ahead to go back to drumming after coming off his motorbike in January and seriously knackering his left forearm, and I told him to get one as it would be great exercise for his forearm tendons-now he's tried it he agrees. Anyone else got one? Have you found it good for your playing?

Cannot imagine not using it.

Legend has it that the sound he got early on was due to playing through a guitar cab with a torn speaker! How true that is I don't know. I've seen him using Ampeg, Trace, and he's currently using Ashdown stuff. I don't think he uses much in the way of effects. Of course he's now using his own signature Shuker bass, which takes the best bits of his 60's and 70's P-basses and combines them in one. Don't believe any of his basses were modded, although he says his 70's P had an overwound pickup. I've read an interview somewhere where he spoke a bit about his kit, but can't put my finger on it now.

Another vote here for the Ibanez SR-I had a 500 which was a lovely bass, very light and comfortable, great sound, and if you like a thin neck then this should suit you. It's a lot of bass for the money. I only got rid of mine because I DO get on with P-bass necks so I traded my Ibanez in for one! Good luck!

Just bought a set of Elite strings off him-great price, good to deal with, took ages due to my Paypal issues but very tolerant thereof. Splendid fellow, recommended to all.

Bah! There's always loads of really nice stuff for sale when I haven't got a pot to p*ss in!