Gareth Hughes

Headstock looks like a Godlyke.

Folks - just found this on the Huffington Post - our favourite cross-dressing Korean bass player is making headlines in the US. Check it out: [url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/whitman-twitter-fail-beco_n_768205.html"]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/w...o_n_768205.html[/url] I gotta say - I love this guy. I'm digging his playing and his sound a lot. Check out a band he plays with called 'Oriental Express' - some really good tunes on their Myspace page. A little too smooth IMO, but I like the blend of Korean traditional instruments with modern Western-influenced 'lite jazz' sounds. Who knew?

Thanks for that Jake. It's a great song indeed - but I wince when I hear the chorus. Someone is out of tune on the 'Lovvvvviingg youuuuu' bit. Can hear it rolling around my head now. And that's going to be there all day, isn't it?

[quote name='endorka' post='990827' date='Oct 17 2010, 01:59 AM']I tried it on a gig tonight and have come to the same conclusions. I was using the wee mixer box so could blend the pickup and mic myself - it was possible to get some of the mic into the mix along with the pickup without feedback, but unfortunately the mic seemed to be picking up quite a bit of the other instruments, so I took it out the mix and used only the pickup. I'll give the mic a bash next time I record - can you remember how you oriented it on the instrument? Jennifer[/quote] Hey Jennifer - I had the mic head positioned so that it was looking towards the G side F-hole, but not directly over it. It was close to the notch in the F, at about a 45 degree angle pointing in. Any closer or above the F-hole and it sounded like the mic was in a wind tunnel (which I guess it is, so to speak). Also had some joy (for recording more than live) with the mic pointing straight up towards the tuning pegs, parallel to the front table, but you have to be careful muttering abuse about your band mates - the mic can be more sensitive than you want

I had a Golden Bullet a few years back, and while I liked the sound of it to record with I could NEVER use it live. I had countless soundmen tell me to turn the mic of within minutes of soundchecking because it was giving them feedback through the main PA before they could get a usable volume from it or my pickup. Ah well.

There's pro's and con's with what you're doing. Like a guitarist friend of mine says about instruments/pedals/amps and all their variables: "A man with many sheep has a problem with many sheep" I've found that, with upright bass especially, there's a lot to be said for getting one good sound (or one good pickup/amp combination) and learning how to use that in a multitude of scenarios, rather than having a multitude of gear and trying to figure out which one is right for each scenario. Having said that - it can also be a benefit to having several options, especially live. There's been many a night on boomy stages where I wish I still had my old Fishman BP-100 - a pickup that has very little natural lowend IME. But like Bilbo says - get the sound from your hands first and then figure out which pickup/mic/amp does the best job in reproducing that sound in your opinion. As for your question - you might get phasing issues and you might not. That would be the only problem I'd foresee trying to use two or more at once. One advantage you have with having several options is using the best characteristics from each to make a composite sound - kind of like the huge robot at the end of TRANSFORMERS 2. So you could use the underfoot and the magnetic pickups for the solid low sound, the bridge K&K for the mid definition and the mic to add some air. EQ out all the high's from the underfoot/magnetic pickups, all the lows and highs from the K&K and all the low's from the mic. It might work. And it might sound like dung. Either way - think of your bass now like being like a MusicMan Big Al bass, with it's bridge, middle and neck pickups and all the series/parallel kerfuffle. Options a plenty.

Elites Flatwound strings are, in my opinion, very high tension with a dull sound. They only come in one gauge which you either like or don't. I didn't like them at all but they may work for you. I was a lot happier with D'Addario Chromes in a lighter gauge (40-95, 45-105). Groundwound strings start from a roundwound string, which is then ground flat, as opposed to flatwounds, which have a flat material to begin with.

Bummer to hear that Clarky - I know you were looking forward to that. Even if you had more experience and stamina on the upright, I'd still say to do the gig on electric or dep it if possible. Let it heal and you'll get your first upright gig soon enough!!!

Aren't double basses like electrics - don't they come in tune when you buy them?

Fair play. Looking forward to hearing this - I remember you coming home, well chuffed with the tone you got.

Good luck Farmer61 - and remember that it need not be as boring as it seems. Like yourself, I began learning to read music years after I learned to play the instrument so I found it INCREDIBLY frustrating to mentally fumble my way through patterns that my hands already knew how to play. But the flipside to that is that you already have an advantage in that your hands know the notes on the board - now you just have to sync up your eyes to the notes on the paper. Reading rhythms - that's another thing altogether!!!! There's plenty of great charts to be found online of tunes you'll know and probably like - so it doesn't all have to be 'Three Blind Mice' in different keys. Lot's of great Aretha Franklin stuff that isn't to hard on the eye but definitely gets you moving along. Enjoy!!!

I went for the Hammers - which Wizard stats are loud, dark and dirty - because they were going into a bass with a maple body, ebony cap, and maple neck with an ebony fretboard, so it needed some taming in the high end. Here's a link with some sound-clips. The first set of clips, with flatwounds, were recorded with Bartolini's. The roundwound clips were recorded with the Wizards. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=53343&hl=ernie"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=53343&hl=ernie[/url]

I'd give Wizards a go. I got a set for a Jazz bass a few months ago, and plan on getting a single J to add to my P bass. A great product, and great customer service.

+1 on the Powerball. I started using one a few years ago and they're great at getting the blood flowing through your forearm. Like warming up on the upright for ten minutes without annoying anyone - well, in a different way then.

Good luck Clarky - and bring an electric with you just in case!!! Might seem like an extreme thing to say, but if you're hands decide they've had enough you might be thankful you have a plank sitting beside you with it's tooth-pick neck inviting velvety comfort.

Clarky - just take the bass in a gig bag and put it in the overhead. I've done this at least a hundred times and maybe only once had to put it in the hold, in which case I insisted I walk it to the foot of the plane and pick it up there on arrival. Playing ball with this request usually works and I'm allowed to carry it all the way to the steps of the plane. When I get there I'm somehow forgotten what I was supposed to do and then just put it in the overhead, unless some over-zealous cabin crew dictates otherwise. When I check in I try to carry the bass behind me, bottom of case on the ground, so it's out of sight from the check in person. If they spot it and say it needs to be checked into the hold I proceed with the above. Always worked and never had a damaged bass yet.

Oooo oooo oooo - WANT ONE!!!!!!!!! Of the 12/2x8 variety, that is.

Sold a pedal to Shep - trusted sending it to him before I received payment and the good man did not let me down. Fair play Shep.

Oh darn it - now I want a three way cab with a mid-driver!!!!! I was so GAS-free for so long!!!

I had one and liked it a lot. Had to send it back tho as the connections became faulty and the output dropped considerably. In fairness to Jason Flores, who makes them, he refunded $100 out of my $160 which I thought was fair as I think it was at least a year after I had the pickup that I had a fault with it. He had offered to replace the pickup entirely, then touring and life got in the way so I agreed to a refund. I now have a Schaller but didn't have them both at the same time to A/B them. If memory serves well I don't recall there being a big difference in tone or volume. A good pickup for sure tho. Plus it has the advantage of not needing to be screwed into place, therefore transferable.