jazzyvee

I had some Custom moulds made at the bass show in London this year. They were really good but If you do any singing, smiling or talking on stage it is worth asking for an open mouth mould to be made as they fit a bit more snugly. The ones I had done leaked sound in round the sides of the insert if I smiled or laughed on stage. Something aways happens to make me smile. The Custom IEM company have been great in organising for me to have a fresh open mouth mould taken. Hopefully all will be well this time. Oh as for the off the shelf one's, I used those previously and for guitar i found they were fine but for bass playing it didn't give me enough balance in the frequency spread for me to hear my pitch properly or manage my volume with the band. The soft foamy 3M Yellow type are only a last resort if I forget mine. I use them more for listening to live gigs that are a bit too loud. Jazzyvee

Last year I bought a new Atlas Shark Bass from the Northern Guitar Show at Aintree, that was hand made in Thailand. It came with the Artec SE3 electronics and like you say it sounds ok. Jazzyvee

A few years back I bought a Peavey Micro bass amp to use for practice at home and these quiet rehearsals in front rooms, and I loved the way it sounded with my bass. It also sounded great with my strat and yamaha electro-acoustic guitars so it went out on small low volume gigs and sounded perfectly fine. I even used it a few times mic'd up at big venues when we travelled without a back line and no-one ever complained about the sound. Having good monitors meant the amp didn't need to be up loud. Jazzyvee

Thanks It's the bass I use the most for live gigs over the past couple of years.

[font=Helvetica][size=3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4MOVvDJxBSU#t=1010[/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3] And about vintage instruments.[/size][/font][font=Helvetica][size=3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=4MOVvDJxBSU#t=1323[/size][/font] Jazzyvee

I usually start by learning the most difficult section of the piece and once that is done the rest tends to come into place much easier. If I can't technically play a section of the track then learning the rest is pointless. I do all my learning by ear as my score reading is very rudimentary although I'm working on that. Jazzyvee

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I'm gigging with Musical Youth tomorrow at the Caribbean Festival in Victoria Square, Birmingham city centre.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]We haven't been told what time we are on stage yet but have to be back stage for 18:00 so I don't imagine it will be too long after that when we hit the stage. I think we have a 40 minute spot.[/font][/color] https://www.facebook.com/events/397271023747166/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming&suggestsessionid=008df727261ac3908bdc400d29403f46 http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/12-things-see-birmingham-caribbean-7209457 Jazzyvee

Thanks for the links I've just downloaded a shed load of them as I've decided to bite the bullet and learn to read music.

[quote name='Roxy' timestamp='1401728865' post='2466269'] thanks for the advice. Did you start slapping on the 4 string first? If so, how long long did it take you to convert. Sorry for the questions but which 5 string do you prefer to slap on? As I'm an oldie now (and I dont want this to sound lazy) but don't feel I've got the time to spend ages to slog away slowly on a 5 . I was a passable slapper 10 years ago on 4 string playing the easier Mark King/ Marcus Miller licks. Cheers [/quote] I must emphasise that although I can slap a bass, It is not the major part of what I do as a bass player and so I don't do the kind of mark king style stuff or the mad stuff that was going on around the bass in the 80's. I think the only thing I play that falls into that category is Marcus Miller's version of What Is Hip?. I started learning tracks that require slap on a 4 string because that was the bass that I had. I don't use 4 string bass a lot these days and so it's usually on a 5 string bass. I don't have a preference between 4's or 5's so I choose depending on the track and whether it's easier on one bass than another. All my basses have the same string spacing except one 5 string bass and all have different amounts of space between the end of the neck and the neck pickup. Regular slapping is ok on all of them except if I want to do double thumbing for a particular song then i try to avoid sing the narrower string bass. I can do it on that bass but it's more difficult to keep the string noises quiet. Due to the neck pickup positions it also means I use slightly a different version of double thumbing when using each one which is a pain if I forget which bass I'm holding at the time. I would say that whichever bass you use will have it's challenges and you will get used to that one if you persevere. Enjoy the practice btw if you want a real easy time go for a 4 string short scale bass and lighter strings gauges.

Check this out with Chuck Rainey. Is your method like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gZC_jSyUmjQ#t=43

I bought the Tascam GB-10 about a year ago and the issues have with it are probably minor but irritating just the same. if you have a track on and you press the [<< button to go back to the beginning of the currently playing track it goes to the beginning of the previous track so you have to press the >>] button to get back to the track you were practicing to which is frustrating. The other thing I would like is a line-in so that you can play along to tracks from your iPod or mp3 player rather than having to fill the memory card from your computer in advance to play along. Finally the screen is not backlit so is not always easy to see what is going on.

I have neck through basses and i find although that design is supposed to be sensitive to temperature changes, it is the 4 string bass that tends to move more so than the others, but only by a minuscule bit and probably because it hangs on the wall whilst the others are always stored in their cases. Usually if the others loose tuning it is due to tuner pegs being knocked when I'm taking them out of the case to play.

Did you manage to find a short scale bass that suited your needs?

Blimey, I followed that thread and it has put me off. Jazzyvee

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1401450674' post='2463750'] It's pure marketing. No-one would bother if there was no profit to be had. [/quote] There are some companies like Alembic that have a policy of not paying endorsees so whilst Stanley Clarke, Mark King, Jimmy Johnson, John Paul Jones etc have alembic signature models they don't get any cash for it. That said, Stanley Clarke was presented with a superb bass for his long standing connection with the company and Mark King was given a couple of their basses some time back I think when Level 42 were taking off in the states. if they offered to create a signature model that would be great even if I wasn't getting paid as I only use their basses. If another company offered me a signature model and expected me to change to their brand then I'd want paying as compensation hahaha Jazzyvee

I find it easier slapping my 5 bass than my 4 string bass. I'm a groove player and don't do this frantic high speed stuff so keeping adjacent strings quiet is not that hard. For me I've learnt to lightly touch the unplayed strings with fingers that are not playing notes. It's just something you need to be conscious of as you are learning and soon it becomes automatic. String spacing is an issue depending on your fingers and thumb and more so if you want to do double thumbing. Jazzyvee

[quote name='Chris Horton' timestamp='1334779489' post='1621266'] I think that i am going to try these covers out for two of my Epifani cab's a UL 210 &amp; UL 410 Would you guy's recommend going for the extra padding ?? I'll keep ya posted [/quote] Hi Chris did you go for the padding and if so what do you think? I'm considering some covers for my Mesa boogie powerhouse cabs and wondering i need padding or the slot for a board to protect the player control area. Jazzyvee

There is another option to humbucker and single coils. I have hum-cancelling pickups which have two pickup coils where only one of the coils is wound around a magnetic core. The other has no magnet so only picks up the environmental noise and not the movement of the strings. This empty coil being reverse wound cancels out any induced noise but does not affect the frequency response that you would expect from a single coil pickup. jazzyvee

Two favourites are Aston "Family Man" Barrett Stanley Clarke. Then in no particular order of ranking: Marcus Miller Victor Bailey Gary Willis Richard Bona Chuck Rainey Nathan East Victor Wooten Ron Carter Stanley and Aston, although completely different players are on an equal par for me in terms of my favourites. The rest I have no particular preference as to who's playing I prefer as it varies from track to track. Jazzyvee

I"m really looking forward to getting a copy of the new album. Jazzyvee

I'm having problems with my Mesa boogie walkabout head and it failed on a recent gig, strange noises out of the DI and the on -stage sound kept disappearing so i daren't take it out again. So I'm looking for something to use instead. I have a backup rack mount pre-amp in a 3u case that I use when travelling light to a gig so I can plug direct into the return socket on a back line amp, but if I can get a decent 1u rack mount power amplifier I could use this instead of the Mesa boogie. The Mesa is [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]300 Watts @ 4 Ohms or 165 @ 8) so something along those iines would fine as long as it will fit [/size][/font]an SKB Shallow 3U "X" Rack case and not be too heavy. Solid state would be my preference as the pre-amp is valve driven. Jazzyvee

Nice band, I'm gonna check out some of their live gigs. Jazzyvee

I came across this today which may be useful for those planning to buy from outside the UK. http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/

[i]I think a high end bass is any bass where they cost more than a fender and someone here thinks they are not worth their brand new price tag. :-)[/i]