mcnach

Exactly, try something different and see how it goes. Sometimes you'll find jewels.

That looks very nice!

The band is fun indeed. I am not really a UB40 fan... I mean, I do enjoy listening to a few of their songs but there's a lot others I'd choose to listen first. However, like with so much other music, live is another matter. We've only met twice yet, so it's very early days. The basslines are simple, but there are some really nice ones. I particularly enjoy "Good situation" First time it was just drummer/backing vocals, guitar/lead vocals, sax/backing vocals and myself on bass. Second time, the trumpet player from my main band joined us too, keys player let us down for the second time... Today we'll have no keys, but it looks like we've found the right guy (sax guy, who is the band leader, knows him) who's coming next week... he also does backing vocals, so we should start sounding pretty full. Still looking for a trombone. Nor many around (good ones, anyway... lots of people own a trombone -myself included!- but not many are good enough), and those that are around tend to be busy... We may be getting an alto sax, so our existing sax moves to tenor, and that may fill up the wind/brass section nicely. We will see! The MarkBass pedal with the switchable clean boost and VLE/VPF filters is really useful. Like you, on my LMIII head, I relied a lot on the VLE especially to get the sound I wanted. The EQ section was merely to adjust for stage/room sound, so I generally had it set almost flat, maybe bumbing the low mids a tiny bit, and used the VLE/VPF to get me the sound I wanted. I've never found the treble EQ on any active onboard preamps to be much use except to tame the shrillness of new strings a bit. A passive treble roll-off is much more musical, for my liking, in most situations, and the VLE does that thing very well, which in combination with the VPF might just be the thing.

Thank you! It was an experiment one time I had too many Precisions around, and it worked out pretty well. It is not lacking depth as it is. I'm using some pretty old stainless steel rounds (I've got a set of TI Jazz flats I bought for it but I'm terrible when it comes to changing strings, I never like new strings, of any kind, for a while - except tapes, those are ok from day one), and with the 'neck' pickup alone and the tone almost entirely rolled off it sounds very good. I've been called to join a new project playing UB40 covers and I tried the Sandberg VM4, the Stingray, a Precision and this JJ one, and while they all did the job more than well enough, this JJ has 'something', the right amount of definition and depth, without messing about with controls much. Actually, instead of an additional neck pickup, I might be better off using some kind of EQ pedal to switch between my 'basic' reggae sound and a more dubby one. I have one of those MarkBass SuperBooster pedals with the VLE and VPF filters that might just be the thing, and no extra expense or surgery required. I'm talking myself out of the mudbucker, eh? Thank you all for being my soundboard I think I love the look of those SG basses with the big neck pickups, but hate playing them, and my sanity was clouded here for a minute. Got practice tomorrow with the UB40 band... I'll bring the SuperBooster pedal along and see how it goes.

You know what? My idea about the mudbucker may be a bit narrowminded, and I might be better off just looking for a neck pickup of another kind... and indeed, an MM type can sound really nice indeed.

Hmm, she doesn't drive, but I do rehearse in Rosyth so it might be possible to combine both our "bassinesses"... Thank you for the heads up.

I wouldn't say it's a 'popular' pickup in Reggae (or in any style, actually), but it can sound pretty good for a nice round deep tone. I thought it would be a cool addition to the sounds I get from that JJ bass above. I find it easier to get the right sounds (those I hear in my head when the voices shut up for a minute ) for reggae with passive tone controls. I'll get a decent sound with anything, but an old treble roll-off with the right pickup (needs to still have a good spoonful of low mids) just works better for me. Definitely keeping this one passive.

That's true, some of the prices I've seen are a little crazy.

Then we have very different experiences. Most have been at least decent, if not great (early to mid 80s, late 80s that's another story) My favourite Telecaster happened to be a Japanese Squier, E series, so not one of the "coolest" ones and with a reasonable price tag... it was the best Tele I ever got to play. I sold it, along with most of my toys, during one difficult phase where I needed to raise cash. I still keep an eye out for it. It was pretty distinct due to a couple of deep gouges on the front caused by a guitar stand when both decided to fight out some disagreement. I never saw the stand again

My main band plays originals. We often play in a couple of live music bars in town where some people may come to see a specific band, but mostly they just come because they like the place and they know there will be some decent live music, of all sorts. We do get sometimes the "Wonderwall!!!!!" thing, and after we introduce our next original as Wonderwall for 2-3 times, they get it and stop What we get is a good crowd dancing whether they know the songs or not. I'm not sure if it's just a different crowd here from a typical pub where you just set up in a corner, which may be a factor. Maybe what we get here is people who come to see live music and drink. Whereas in a typical pub, people go to drink and have live music in the background... Does that affect the kind of music they want? I don't know. Maybe it's a choice of songs? Being a covers band opens the door to playing... ANYTHING UNDER THE SUN! Maybe one can avoid the tired cliches if you find other suitable songs that are less well known but have the right elements in it to keep people entertained? Having said that, I was also in a ska/reggae band playing a mix of originals and covers... and sometimes it was hard work because in certain places it seemed that only the superpopular songs got people out dancing like crazy and the minute you played something not in the top40 of ska, you'd lose them. I despise "Monkey Man" with passion... Nobody in the band wanted to play it. Yet... it always worked in small pubs. However, in festivals our own material worked just as well. So maybe it is to do more with the type of venue and the kind of people that go to that venue. Maybe we are stuck with the tired cliches is we want to play those places!

My girlfriend plays bass a little. She would like to take some lessons to help her progress... but although I personally know a couple of people that I think would be perfect, she says it can't be someone I know. I tried to teach her some things, and it's ok to teach her how a song goes etc, but the minute we start talking about notes she gets a bit frustrated and defensive and we don't get far. She thinks that with a complete stranger it would be easier for her to get on with it. She is very shy to play in front of people she knows too. That makes it complicated because how do I know who is suitable if it's got to be someone I don't know? We'll have to go by reviews etc, so she asked me if I could ask here. And here I am. Does anyone have any suggestions? She can play only a tiny bit, so I'd say we're looking at pretty much beginner level. Anywhere in Edinburgh works. Central is good. Dalry/Gorgie/Sighthill/Broomhouse better. Portobello best. But anywhere in town works really.

and that's fine if you don't like them , I just don't get the "macho american" thing... in fact they seem to me quite the opposite.

I've been playing a lot of reggae lately. I would use whatever bass, typically the Stingray or a Sandberg VM4 (P/MM)... but I'm coming to love this "JJ" bass for that. It's got a pair of Area J pickups (humbucking) in parallel with each other, with a blend and a passive tone. I've also been enjoying the sounds of a Gibson EB0 type bass I've seen around. Thumpy, but it retains enough definition, and it's a great sound to have too. I am considering getting a Mudbucker to add to this bass. I realise that due to the much larger impedance of the mudbuckers (around 30 Kohm!) blending them with the Jazz pickups would not be straight forward... But I don't even want to do that. I think I would want a shared volume/tone control, and a switch between the mudbucker or the JJ pickups (in whatever state the blend control puts them). That should be easy, right? Or would the mudbuckers prefer a different value for tone caps or tone/control potentiometers?

I have a Richie Sambora signature Stratocaster. Was I a fan? No, but I wanted a white/cream stratocaster with a humbucker at the bridge and a Floyd Rose, and in the 90s there was not much choice as grunge took over and it was uncool to know how to play, and all these Floyd Rose guitars became a relic of the past. The guitar had the right specs, looked good, sounded great. Same with this bass... it's a pretty cool looking Jazz. I don't think you need to be a fan to want one. Same with Flea's Jazz... it's a nice roadworn shell pink Jazz with stacked knobs, regardless of whose signature is on the headstock.

Not my favourite RHCP/Flea song... but it's an interesting one in many ways.

Big fan of Glenn Hughes here. I have the book but haven't read it yet. I'm an 'acquaintance' (not close enough to call friends, but we've been out drinking and chatting etc) with a guitarist who knows him well, and I heard a few sad stories of Glenn. He seems to be doing alright these days, and what a voice!

How many people read Kiedis' book and felt like slapping him at least on ten separate occasions The guy has been very lucky to make it this far.

macho American BS is quite far from how I see them... but if you haven't really spent much time listening to them I can see how they would not necessarily appeal. I didn't like them, for years and years. Then I ended up in a RHCP tribute band and started to pay attention, and my view on them changed entirely. You don't need to like them, of course, but the macho american tag is pretty far off the mark, I think (now, if you were talking about Lynyrd Skynyrd... )

He played bass a lot on his first albums at least.

True to some extent, there's a hype that gets perpetuated in fora like this one by people, most of whom have not really played one and just regurgitate what they have read. However, there's a hype there based on something. Those early Japanese Squier instruments were very decent indeed, in general.

That was my first amplifier!!! And you're right, sounded good and was reliable, and very powerful.

I like the Mosky nano so much that I've got two. They're only about £20-25, very small (like a nano pedal) , and can power 6x 9V at 150mA, a single 9V at 500mA and an additional 12V too. https://www.moskyaudio.com/product/products-3-75.html

I bought a Westfield Jazz for £40 a few years ago... and it is a very nice bass that sounds just right and plays very nicely. It was not the prettiest, with a translucent green finish that allowed one to see badly matched (esthetically) bits of wood, but I played a few gigs with it and I had no complaints about it. I had a J-Retro in it for a while, which cost a lot more than the bass but turned it into a real beast. It's passive now again. I took it back home to my parents so that I have a bass if I want to play. My brother plays guitar and I sometimes join in with his band, so it's good to have a decent bass around. I tried a Precision once and it was similarly pleasant.

It's a little over-engineered, that's all. No need for a wedge.

In fact, I just bought a second one. It's like having one, but with two programmable presets