jazzyvee

Excellent looking Alembic. I'm a big big big fan of their basses and pre-amps. Yours looks like it has anniversary electronics with two volumes, two filters and two q-switches and stereo/mono output?

My smallest rig I've used live is a PJB Briefcase. It's been perfect for some small restaurant gigs I did about 4 years ago. The rest of the band was, keyboards, sax and drums.

I don't have any problems changing scale lengths between 30.75 and 34 on a gig. As for string tension I use the same gauge on the short scale as on 34" scale strings, 45 - 105 and there isn't anything to worry about. My most recent short scale bass came with 40 -100 strings and I changed them to my regular 45 - 105 on which felt really good but I will go back to the lighter set when the next string change comes around. I like the flexibility on the short scale and thinner strings feel much better to me when playing up the dusty end of the neck too.

I've done that a few times and on one gig this summer soundcheck was fine then after we started playing my monitor feed disappeared as did the keyboard players next to me so I couldn't hardly hear any bass on stage at all.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1480961924' post='3188468'] I usually try to talk to the bass player after a gig, just to say 'well done, wherr are you playing next' etc. I don't tend to ask if they're on BC and I never talk gear unless they do. I've always tried to go up to at least one band member and thank them if I've enjoyed the gig, from long before I ever picked up a bass myself. I was almost put off continuing to do this after a thread on here where several individuals professed to feeling awkward when punters talked to them, or finding it tiresome in one way or another. But eventually I thought 'sod it, life's too short, if I want to compliment someone I will' And hope that deep down inside they actually appreciate it in some way. [/quote] I'm very much like that too if I can I like to commumicate my appreciation for their performance and if they ask what I thought about the sound I do think it's best to be honest to what you hear because I know myself that I would want to know how my bass sounded in the venue.

I went to watch Nearly Dan a few years back at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham and watched the bass player Pete Bacain intently as he was masterfully weaving the bass through those Steely Dan tracks and he looked more serious than I do on stage and I wondered if he would be approachable. But as they came off stage for the interval I said hello and complimented him on his bass playing and that I we had communicated on here and his face opened up witha huge grin and he took me back on the stage to show me his bass and his bass rig. A really nice cool guy even handed me his bass to feel.

You have a point there NickA, I often wondered why so many drivers pull out of side roads in front of me at the last minute or cut me up after overtaking me, I thought these were just bad drivers but from what you say there is some hatred for us. :-( So If I get a double bass in the car they will ease up on me.... :-)

Thanks for posting. I have short scale basses and it was a good read.

NOW THAT IS MY KIND OF MUSIC!!!

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1480684001' post='3186377'] Your a bit buggered if your neck develops a warp or any other problem on a neck through. [/quote] Yeah absolutely. The oldest basses I have are well played 1980 and 1989 neck through alembics and thankfully neither have any neck problems. They both have dual truss rods and are laminate construction. I have though seen on the alembic forum a bass that had the through neck replaced by Alembic. Costly no doubt but not the end of the world. As for the sound I don't think it would make much difference to me if a bass was bolt on or neck through as long as i liked the sound and the neck/body area didn't compromise my playing of it.

No problem at all. I do that often when I have my mesa boogie rig with 2x10 powerhouse set up when preparing for gigs. Other than that I tend to use my PJB Briefcase. The sound is obviously different from a guitar rig but for practice it's fine.

Yes well put, the band temperament and dynamics and personality clashes are another consideration. From my own experience, In the early part of the 2000's I did about 4 years of touring with a well known UK artiste using a local band as his backing band and I was called in to play guitar. At the start it was fine but as time went on things soon started to go astray when the artiste started asking the band for creative input to his music like different styles, different endings solos and stuff like that. Now my taste in music was much more open and varied than the other members of the band and so I had many idea's that could work but the rest of the band resisted virtually everytime and a number of times the artiste overruled them and went with my ideas and as it happened those were the ones that audiences really responded to more positively than their ideas. Anyway the end result was that there developed a barrier between me and mostly two members of the band to the point where things started to happen like removal of my stage monitors from the stage plans that went to venues, sabotaging of my gear and giving me wrong times for load in and leaving times for hotels & travelling when we were touring abroad, complaining to the manager to get me sacked. They even had band only rehearsals with another guitarist behind my back etc. But thankfully the manager and the artiste, liked me, saw through it and refused their requests. It did take the shine off but im not easily ruffled and wasn't gonna let that spoil my fun. Eventually the artiste realised he really didn't like touring and now does PA's for his live work. The point I'm making in a round about way is that when you are a hired hand doing a job, sometimes you will not get on with the whole team you are working with but you have to find a way to do the job you are hired to do regardless of that and try not to be drawn into an heated arguments.

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1480367721' post='3183834'] 'Professional' is often used to mean that they play for money (sometimes?) It's not the same as earning enough to live on......... I wish you luck, I hope this works for you. [/quote] Yep, in the early 90's I was hired to play guitar in the band of a UK artiste who was doing well with a few albums released in the USA. The band had been touring there virtually 6 - 8 months per year. I did 3 months in the states with them when they released a new album and took a "unpaid" leave from my day job to do it. I knew the pay would be less than my day job but I wanted the experience so that was my driver. At the end of the tour the USA management company that represented the artiste and the band leader asked me to join the band properly. But they couldn't guarantee me even half of what my salary was at that time and made some good faith "promises" of getting me other work in the states with other touring foreign artistes they represented to make up my money. However I had a mortgage and a good career ahead of me to think about and as much as the romantic notion of being a professional musician was an attraction, practical considerations had to be taken. In the end I didn't take it, and few months after the tour the band had a massive number 1 hit record in the UK and opened for Sting on some dates then they split up. The artiste made some good money from it and is still working and living in the USA but the backing band didn't benefit financially from it at all and now are doing their own individual thing with different bands. I'd say if you can do it and it ticks the right boxes it's a great thing to experience! With the right band and right money I would do that again in a heartbeat but then I'm older, wiser and have less financial constraints now. "Blue" gives good advice, the money is important after all it is the Music Business. If the management get their sums right and you undercut yourself, guess who gets the extra. It is a good idea to join the MU and seek their advice.

I was depping on guitar in Corringham Hall Essex with a band called AllSkas. Bass player was solid.

Yeah hmmm.... the jury is out on this at the moment. I took it out with me on a gig on Thursday night as I'm in the house band for a weekly jam session so it would have a variety of music to deal with. I used it with a Mesa 2x10 powerhouse cab and I have to say whilst it sounded clean and hifi there was no WOW factor.

Hi George, I think you must mean this is one of only two in the UK? I think i've read on the alembic forum there are about 30 in total made so you are in an exclusive club.

Strings still on my bass and sounding great. Still got a good tone and the top end is still nice and crisp.

Via a roundabout route I now have this head and taking it out on my house band jam session tonight to check it out.

I use this quite often to help me price up gigs so I don't lose money and it's free. [url="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gig-fee-calculator-v1.00/id981262493?mt=8"]https://itunes.apple...d981262493?mt=8[/url]

Have you had a look at mesa boogie cabs? There are a couple for sale on the forum here. ( not mine). http://basschat.co.uk/topic/291937-mesa-boogie-600w-rig-will-now-split/page__fromsearch__1 Great cabs I have one of those cabs myself.

[url="http://www.harvest-guitar.com/Bass-Bags/"]http://www.harvest-guitar.com/Bass-Bags/[/url] Not cheap but great quality and well padded and protective. I use mine all the time and rarely use a hard case.

Shame the offer didn't include prosteels.

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1479666336' post='3178287'] Like a few others, I've always stretched new strings after putting them on. Put them on, tune to standard, give them a good stretch, tune up again, stretch again, tune up again. Is it beneficial? Good question. I think it is beneficial, tuning stability is achieved almost immediately, great if you're on the road or in the studio. Does it effect your "tone"? I've never noticed any detrimental effects from doing it, so no. [/quote] I do this whenever changing strings or taking existing ones to clean the bass. I always restring my basses and guitars with the strings under tension. In other words I grab each string near the middle and pull it towards the bridge so that they fit round the tuning peg tightish. Then tune to pitch and pull them up away from the fretboard and retune until it stays in tune. For me it's as much about taking any slack out of the string around the post as stretching so that there is less chance of any string slippage anywhere the first time you start playing. Once i've done that the string pretty much stays in tune. As for tone affects, i've never noticed any problem with tone from stretching strings nor longevity issues.

Neo in the genre name of any form of music means absolutely noting to me musically, it only appears as a way of rebranding existing music to make it seem new and different. I have heard singers describe themselves as neo-classic-soul singers which leaves me no wiser about how they may sound. Hopefully you can let me know what that term means to you to aid my understanding.