jazzyvee

I don't know much about TM Stevens but the side story about him having medical problems and insufficient medical insurance is not uncommon stateside. Victor Bailey and Chuck Rainey spring to mind of two who had quite similar stories a few years ago and there were online fund raising activities to assist them. Sad really that a country like the USA can't implement something like the NHS ( even with all it's faults). But back to the bass it seems strange to mention TM with his medical conditions to get a sale but not indicate whether any of the proceeds are going to help him personally. If they were going back to him then that in itself may make the sale more attractive to a potential buyer who could easily afford to buy it. That said I doubt the amount it would sell for would make a big dent in the cost of USA medical treatment. Sad news about TM though.

Here is the latest incarnation of my big bass rig. BB2 and Dubster 2, Alembic Preamps and Crown XLS1502 in bridge mode. Had it out on a reggae gig last weekend. 🙂

Similar situation to me, I've only gigged with a non alembic bass once since I bought mine in 2002 and that ranges from big festivals like boomtown and bestival, isle of wight festivals and a local pub with a handful of punters. I've played a bit of Jazz fusion Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea etc stuff and they work great for that too as well as reggae.

I caught the gig at the Jam House this week and as a big fan of Gil Scott Heron & Brian’s collaborations it was great to see him. I’ve now seen them both live. Anyway Yolanda was on bass and she is great. She captured the vibe both tonally and with her note choices and fills so with that and the fender rhodes it was back to that authentic 70’s vibe. She was playing a fender jazz bass 5 string and usually when i hear bass players on these basses playing notes on the low B string they generally sound disconnected from the other strings but this wasn’t the case this time. She uses the B string a lot rather than just to drop a low note here and there, and even when she was digging in or doing a bit of slapping on it everything was consistent in tone, weight and volume. Could be a compressor in the signal path or just good technique on her part or both but whatever it was, it was a pleasure. I look forward to catching her gigging with her own band at some point. A superb musician

I have had my walkabout as my main bass amp since about 2003 and had powerhouse cabs to go with it. It’s a great head and i have never found it to be underpowered even though i never have the input gain over the 12 o’clock position to avoid the edgy sound. I now have two barefaced cabs BT2 & BB2 to use with it now and as well as being louder there seems to be more fullness . I tried the D800 and the plus version and i much preferred the walkabout.

Here is a review of alembic I just found on line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWWXQEiAtUM&app=desktop

We are on the same hymn sheet here. About 2yrs ago I was invited to be the bass player in the house band for a weekly open mic event in a pub. At the time there was two guitarists, keys, drummer and me. The two guitarists took care of the singing. Anyway after the first gig I said to them it's far too loud and if it stayed that way I would not be there much longer. But got no support for that. So from then on I used my 20db custom ear plugs which kept things at a decent level. However over the past year the volume has gone up mainly due to the people who come to play guitar and set their volume far too loud then tell me to turn up. I always refuse and suggest they turn the guitars down. Falls on deaf ears and mumblings about having to have a particular volume to get their sound. The thing is the punters complained to the management and to the band leader who took very little notice because the complainers were not musicians. Eventually they started complaining to me as they could see I had ear plugs in, I talked to the band about it but again nothing changed. So I decided enough was enough and left giving the reasons that the volume was too high. They got in another bass player to replace me and I was told that it was even louder than before because now the bassie was turning up to be heard over the guitars...…. you can see where this is going. A few weeks after I left the manager sacked the band and has now got a new band in there. I still have friends who go to those sessions there to listen and get told it is even louder than we were and the audience numbers are dwindling with less people getting up to the mic. In my experience, jazz and folk gigs are usually at a volume where I don't need ear plugs.

I drove mine XLS1502 directly from my bass recently without a pre-amp and it worked a treat. A great option if you want the completely clean unadulterated sound from your bass. I can't imagine doing it on a gig though but it's good to know that if my pre-amp ever went down I could carry on the gig using the power amp. The fact my bass runs at 36v (+/-18vdc) might have something to do with it.

Yes I agree i had one of those QSC PLX2402 amps and sold it due to it being too heavy in my 6u rack with the rest of my gear. The weight meant it didnt get used much so i recently replaced it with a crown Xls1502 which is also a good amp but to my ears the qsc wins hands down seems to have more power in the low end and more density in the sound overall. Maybe i should have kept it and bulked up at the gym🤔😂. But we live and learn and now i use the crown in my big rig and have a smaller 3u shallow rack with a Synq 1k0 1U class D amp in with a F1-x preamp for travelling light to gigs with a backline provided as the heads usually are raspy. I generally use one cab on gigs but where there are two i use one on each side of the power amp in the mode where one input drives both channels. My pre amp has a crossover so i could bi amp but not at the moment.

I'm doing a Stevie Wonder tribute gig with one of the bands I play in at the Eastbourne Pavillion Bandstand on Friday 7th September. The band is headed up by Dennis Seaton (original and current lead singer with Musical Youth). Stevie Wonder Tribute Show with Know Wonder A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than 30 U.S. top ten hits and won 25 Grammy Awards and with a massive song book Stevie Wonder is one of the most successful musicians in the world. ‘Know Wonder’ will take you on a musical journey through Stevie Wonder's musical career, with hits such as ‘Up-Tight’, ‘My Cherie Amour’, Signed, Sealed & Delivered and I Just Called to Say I Love You. Times Doors and bar open at 7:00pm, Show start at 8:00pm Show finishes at approximately 9:30pm Tickets In advance (early bird): Adult: £7.95, Child: £5.95 Full Price: Adult: £9.50, Child: £7.50 10% Discount for Friends of the Bandstand Advance 'Early Bird' discounted tickets are available up to 6pm on the day of the event booked for. available from the Seafront Office, online or over the phone (01323 410611). Licensed Bar and Refreshment Available

The idea behind the alembic bridge is not as much to do with tone but to keep as much of the energy you impart on the string as possible, in the string with less of that energy being dissipated and absorbed into the body of the instrument. Hence the use of a heavy dense brass construction for the nut, tailpiece and the machined brass bridge on some models mounted onto a large heavy brass sustain block. This should help sustain. I think many things about bass design and construction affect how the bass guitar will sound and perform. Some are like the emperor's new clothes, some have extremely marginal effects and some have a big effect many are hard isolate individually and may not even be noticeable in the context of a gig. But a number of items in the right places will most likely be noticeable. Sustain is not the be all and end all of a great bass sound but I'd rather have it and learn to control it rather than have hardly any and try to find a way to get more. Here is a vintage bridge with the block mount. A more modern Chrome plated version

Good to hear you had a good experience on your first outing with your alembic. I was out on two festivals with mine this weekend too. There are some similarities with the series II and the SF-2 but the SF-2 is more featured. Low pass, High Pass and band pass modes and the frequency control goes down I think to 40hz. I've had one for almost as long as I've had an alembic and rarely use it, but when I do it's usually for a heavier bottom end on reggae gigs If I have cabs that can take it. It's a great bit of kit and gives you access to that series bass sound. .There are a few basses that alembic have made with one or two channels of the SF-2 built into the bass.!!!

I think putting the battery behind the headstock is a practical non invasive strategy and I can't imagine how it would be done on the body without getting in the way or requiring mods/routing to hold the battery and cable. It's a very lightweight plastic battery holder and uses those coin sized batteries so is very light. those short scale alembics are noted for nose diving but I haven't noticed any increase in that from the installation. I personally have not had any problems with this type of fret led. The previous version of the Fretfx held two AAA or AA , ( not sure exactly), batteries and had two switchable differing brightness levels. I've had that on one bass I think since about 2007 ish and the plastic that goes over the nut has gone brittle and broken away leaving the wire exposed and sometimes it shorts out on the nut/ I used to put some tape over it but it looks fugly! But the type I have on now is fine.

These were taken in a room in the daytime with curtains closed so subdued light and the battery is about 18 months old.

Yeah it is a sticky backed led strip which is slim. I use my thumb round the neck sometimes to silence open B and E strings when slapping so that extra couple of millimitres are noticeable at first but soon you get used to it and it's not a big part of my playing so they have never been a problem.

Sure thing, I will see if i can get some time today to tale some pics.

I think mine were about £90 each.

For anyone looking for after market side LEDs then I can recommend Fretfx. have them on all my basses that don't have led's installed at manufacture. Other than that Simms do them at far greater cost but I hear good things about his work.

I think I know who that bass player is and if I'm right I have played that bass too. 🙂 LED's are available for all their models and the series II they come as standard all others are optional. I have side LEDs on mine and whilst they are a great asset, after a while you kind of forget they are there, until someone points them out. Front ones are more for show in my view and I personally wouldn't spec them as the cost would be better spent on the sound and other ergonomic preferences on the bass. However if i found a great bass, having front LED's wouldn't stop me buying the bass but i'd keep them turned off.

I prefer analogue however, I don't use effects on bass at all but the guitarist side of me does. I have always preferred the analogue effects. Not because they do their sound changing job better than digital but because the natural tone of the guitar is less compromised when the pedal is on or bypassed/off than with digital. I have found if I plug direct into my amp with nothing in between, that gives me the best sound and is what I do mostly, if I plug into an analogue pedal with it off, then there is sometimes a slight change the tone of my guitar and I guess that is less with a true bypass pedal. However, Digital effects to me seem to remove a lot of the tone out of an instrument especially bottom and lower mids and seem to accentuate the highs and hence sound thin. When I was touring the band leader wanted lots of effects on the guitar as it was Indian/reggae fusion so after trying a few multi effects pedals I settled on a boss unit first and after a day trying it out at home and at rehearsal i hated it and swapped for a Line 6 XT-Pro which was marginally better. Unfortunately both of them stripped the life out of my guitar tone and when I called both companies for advice on why that was I was told that even with everything off the signal still goes through the ADDA converter and if you want to keep your natural tone you need to programme it back in using the EQ settings!!! In the end i got an AB line switcher and only switched in the digital unit when I needed those effects and kept it out of the loop most of the time. I appreciate there may have been a huge improvement in the technology now as the two guitarists in my main band use Boss muiti effects units and swear by them but there is still a big difference between their natural guitar sounds and the sound through the pedal with it off. They are both good players and the pedals are part of their sound and it works for them. If I end up using pedals on bass it will be analogue unless the digital technology has improved massively. Either way I think I would prefer to have some kind of blender so I can always have the dry signal and add as much or as little of the effects to it rather than have the whole bass signal with the effect on. LONG LIVE ANALOGUE!

Bass direct?