Lozz196

First off sorry to hear this, as someone who has suffered from depression in the past I`d suggest talking about it with your GP. What suits one may not suit the other and they would have a better insight to which would be better for you. You may end up resenting your bass playing as a result of a forced schedule. That said flip to the coin, if you have a schedule once you start you may immerse yourself into it and it could ease your state of mind.

Throw in a few bananas and I`m sure we can negotiate further............

Good recommendation, the post 2012 MIMs are really good basses. Our very own Oopsdabassist lent me a MIM Standard Jazz for a while, it was very good, one of those that I really should have bought when I had the opportunity.

And having met me Russ, you know I`m much more like Bagpuss in character than a threateny-thing.

Yeah, Gibbons with Gibsons, has a certain ring to it.

I think it sounds great, I`d love to see a band doing all those songs.

We sell a good few CDs at gigs, and a good few on-line. It`s one of those things where if you put the effort in by gigging wherever you can, you increase both the crowds that have seen you, and your on-line presence. I know a good few bands that moan that they don`t shift gear, but they only play within 20 miles of home, and the same venues all the time. No matter how good their material - and in some cases it`s really good - without generating an audience the sales are unlikely to gather or continue. Also re selling times - BigRedX is spot on about immediately after you've played, and having someone to do this for you, but another great time to sell is at the very end of the night. Don`t pack up early after your set and go home, many people wait to see how many beer-tokens they have left at the end of the night to make their purchase - if you`re already on the motorway you lose out on those sales.

I`m not sure about this as a whole, but I do know that having worked with great musicians/great song-writers who had those as their only redeeming features, I wouldn`t choose to work with similar again. I`m not sure if I have any stage presence, aside from - not my words I should add - looking scary and staring the audience out. Which in fact means that with my middle-aged eyesight I`m just looking at the audience to see if they`re enjoying it. Wearing appropriate clothing for genre, and not looking at the floor, even if you don`t leap about like a deranged gibbon conveys a better stage presence than looking like a bunch of guys who don`t even know each other, and won`t make eye contact with the audience. If the people on stage look together, look like a band, and connect with the audience even if they don`t say a thing, well already their stage presence has taken a step up.

Cheers Dave, I`ll give that a go this eve.

Being a bit of a technical useless person, how does it work, going into the FX return? Do you have to use two leads, send & return, or just the one?

Nice one, having recently picked up a Squier Affinity Precision I`ve been amazed at the quality and playability for a "budget" instrument. OK, I`m changing the pots as the ones in there are 500s, a bit fizzy for me, but that`s a cheap change, and I`ll have a decent bass as a backup. I`m sure your son will be very pleased with the above.

I`ve found that too, on both of my ABM amps. But then I do have a Sansamp Para Driver set with some gain, so maybe in my case it`s having two lots of compression going, which I`m not sure is helpful.

Having recently picked up a Squier Affinity Precision from our very own Grangur, I`ve been pretty amazed at the quality and playability for a so-called budget instrument. Am changing the electrics to a Ki0gon loom, as the pots in there are 500s and too fizzy for me, but other than that, def worth checking out the Affinity range, especially if not intended to be the main instrument.

Spot on. A venue my old covers band used to play had a change of landlord/landlady, and decided that £300 was far too much to be paying to bands, so reduced it to £120. Instead of bands worth £300 that brought in 150 paying customers they got bands that weren`t probably worth £120, bringing in 20 paying customers. Didn`t take the brewery long to realise, and now the new landlord, a musician himself, has bands almost every night and it`s back to its best as a music venue again.

Post 2012 Mex Fender - stick a Ki0gon loom in if you want better electrics, should still come to under £500.

The real difference is that the mids on the Para Driver are sweepable, from something like 170Hz to 3kHz whereas on the V2 Bass Driver there are just the two frequencies. The V2 also sounded less scooped overall to me when I had one briefly, much more "chunky" sounding imo.

I like the Bass Driver, but found that on its own the mid-scoop wasn`t right for me. In conjunction with another pedal such as the Aguilar Tonehammer it was great, as with everything set flat it really beefed the TH up. So on a quest for a one-pedal solution I happened across the Tech 21 Para Driver, which is a great pedal - sweepable adjustable mids being the great factor on this one. It sounds very much like the Bass Driver in tone, not quite so full-on, but so much more versatile. I love the Para Driver.

Not sure from a playing point of view but have heard one being used by a bassist in a pretty big band at The Rebellion Festival and the sound was great, very clear and cut through the mix really well.

I just wonder if he`d be so revered if the bass didn`t have such a warm rounded presence in the songs.I take the point that the engineers cleaned it up but if it had gone a lot more cleaner and defined would it have suited the music style as much.

I thought it was quite interesting, but the difference in "sharper" tones could just be those notes were played on the D&G strings. I don`t know enough about their individual styles to seperate them but certainly the lower stuff sounds very Jameson, not sure that I could say that the higher stuff wasn`t him/was Kaye.

I think Marshalls bass gear suffered as a result of their guitar ear being so good, almost a "well they can`t be any good for bass can they, they`re a guitar amp maker" sort of thing. I`ve had a few Marshall bass amps, and one set-up in particular, the DBS7400 with VBC412 cab was a great set-up. Cab weighed a ton but I still look fondly back to that half-stack with a smile.

Contact Eden and ask for their opinion would be mys suggestion. The theory is swapping cones is hit & miss, it can work, or it can really foul up, as there`s a lot of science involved in matching cones to cab size. That said, sometimes in theory it might not have worked, but to the ears it has, so that`s another annoying factor in the way, so get Edens advice - think as Marshall now own them it may be they who field such enquiries.

Yep, always amuses me, the quest for completely clean bass sounds, yet one of the most revered bassists of all had a really warm, gainy, driven sound. Each to their own, but I`d rather have a sound that sounds great in the song than great on its own (though I must admit I do like the above, but accept it`s probably not to everyones taste).

I find a Jazz neck slightly easier to play, but just not keen on the sound a Jazz makes when I play it. Re this I think that the dimensions of the Precision neck influence the way I play, which may account for my style being a confirmed Precision player, and account for why I then don`t like the sound I make on a Jazz that much. Plus a lot of Jazzes are too thin, depth-wise. I prefer a chunky deep neck.

Where was that Russ, looks a decent venue, shame the bassist couldn`t bring a proper set-up though (runs for cover).