Gareth Hughes

Loud it is not. Had one and could never cut through anything. My Markbass LMK is far louder at 500w. Go figure. EA say their pots work differently than others, meaning you need to really run them with the knobs at 10 for full volume whereas other brands have all the volume at 3-4 and then little extra after that. Smells like .... to me. Plus I had serious reliability issues with mine that Overwater too were gents with. Having said that, you would be able to sculpt an amazing dub tone with it - but you could also do that with Markbass.

Never fainted but did fall asleep once for a split second, and I was standing up too. It was an insanely hot venue with no air conditioning, back in the smoke-filled bar days. (The fact that I had a new girlfriend and had been spending the wee hours of the night and every single minute of the day with her didn't help either). I did have a minor panic attack onstage earlier this year in Weimar, Germany. Being somewhat claustrophobic and playing in a large but low ceilinged basement venue was not a good mix. That fact eluded me at soundcheck but at night I looked up during the first song and couldn't see my way out. There was no backstage, rather several hundred year old, thick brick walls. The entrance was down a stair case that had now seemingly disappeared. I had to finish the rest of the gig staring at the floor, imagining I was playing some outdoor festival. Honestly has to be one of the most horrible gigs of my life (for non-musical reasons;))

[quote name='lowdown' post='647721' date='Nov 6 2009, 10:16 PM']Where do you keep them,in a jar? I like to have mine on toast. Garry[/quote] I like the cut of your jib sir!! I guess my punctuation isn't as good as my reading.

I bought a great French bow from Ken Smith in the US. Seemed very good value for the money.

Hey Danny - That'd be Trevor Dyer. Good man himself. He actually took over my gig in Simon's band, which is cool as I had originally taken over from him a year or two before. Poor git had to be in Dublin airport for a 6am check-in to Italy with Simon this morning. Do we feel sorry for him........nope. Give us a shout if you're looking any lessons anytime. I'm also got a few show books if you want to copy them - always a good exercise methinks. 'West Side Story' can be a bit of a roast to jump in on. Actually, that brings us back on topic - does anyone have any show books/charts that can be shared for the greater good here? [quote name='acidbass' post='647144' date='Nov 6 2009, 12:26 PM']Gareth - a bit OT, but I had you recommended to me recently by Trevor (whose surname escapes me), the bassist in Simon McBride's band, as we were discussing double bass tutors. Small world eh?[/quote]

I learnt to read from Chuck Rainey's Complete Electric Bass Method, Book 1. It does get predictable when you play through the same examples in all 12 keys, but then that helps as you learn to associate patterns with sounds. Here's a link: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Electric-Bass-Guitar-Player/dp/0825624258/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257509722&sr=8-7"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Electric-...9722&sr=8-7[/url] And +1 to all of the above, especially keeping the eyes of the girls/guys. Ooooooo.........shiny object..... AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - what line was I on!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?

Thanks indeed for the offer. Forgive my geographic ignorance - how close/far is Geneva from Basel or Winterthur?

Hello Pepe, A belated welcome. And an obligatory - your basses are gorgeous, you lucky xxxxxxx - And a lovely country you live in too - I had a few shows there earlier this year, in Winterthur and Basel. It was in March, so still plenty of picturesque snow. I'm back there again in January - glutton for punishment, it'll be FREEZING!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, welcome, and enjoy. gareth

Sometimes the screw on the saddle can move but the saddle doesn't. Loosen everything and yank the saddle itself to where you want it to go.

If all the information is kosher then you're in the right to have been pxxxxd off that you only got to play a short set. My opinion is that everyone's time is valuable and you gave up a night of your time to play this gig. Given that everyone in the other band was cool with your band playing for longer except the leader, it sounds like he was having his diva moment while he could. Honestly, how sad to pull rank like that - especially on a gig where the band/music is not the main attraction and I doubt if most of the punters can even remember that there even was a band playing, let alone their name ?!!?!!?! (rant over)

[quote name='Tee' post='641176' date='Oct 30 2009, 03:08 PM']Thanks, yes i've heard about the internal trimpots. I haven't managed to play with it yet (hopefiully tonight), but i imagine you can accentuate and reduce the two different filters individually with them?[/quote] Yep, you basically move the frequency points that the filter accentuates. So contrary to the factory settings you can get a SERIOUS amount of subby bass from the pedal. But it is at the expense of the overall effect - as one filter goes to the extreme the other filter gets overwhelmed, for want of a better description. Same goes the other way - you can make the pedal sound like you're playing thru a telephone.

Hey Tee - Whilst the BassBalls is a bit of a one trick pony, it CAN learn new tricks!!!!! I had a mod done to mine by the wonderfully talented Bigwan here, so the two filter points are now user selectable. Doing this gives you more control over the low-end of your signal. If you want to try this without the mod, just open up the pedal and have a fiddle with the two trim-pots inside. Mark them tho before you start so you can return to the factory settings. gareth

[quote name='Davemarks' post='640887' date='Oct 30 2009, 11:16 AM'](a lot of GnR songs and Extreme - I remember from my teens - all tuned down a semitone)[/quote] Admit it Dave, you still rock those Extreme records.

I like how the title of this, when you see it on the main page, makes it look like the last person to comment has signed some petition saying 'I've got black nylons on'. And now that person is me Ah well, worth the post.

Has anyone heard this version?: [url="http://djearworm.com/in-the-sky-with-diamonds.htm"]http://djearworm.com/in-the-sky-with-diamonds.htm[/url] It's about three tunes down the list. I heard this in a cafe in Germany earlier this year and couldn't believe just how well it worked. Check out some of his other tunes - quality stuff, especially since the artists are giving him the multi-tracks to work with. All good.

As far as I know, pulling the pot to passive will NOT save your battery. The battery starts to drain once the cable is plugged in, effectively turning on the preamp. A practical solution for me in these scenarios is using a Boss TU-2 tuner, which can mute your signal. Turn it on, disconnect the cable. Reverse when necessary. Or use an A/B box and disconnect when you switch to the other instrument. Or use a volume pedal. The cheapest option, if you don't wish to buy any new gear, is to put a fresh battery in before the gig. You'll certainly get more than one four hour gig out of it. Whereabouts you playing in El Nortie?

In response the the post abut playing your own music vs. someone else's. I've done both and I love both. From a business side of things I'd much rather play someone else's music and let them worry about the headache of empty theatre's and plane tickets, etc. Musically tho, I fell into being a sideman/session guy simply because I wanted to play my bass EVERY day and simply couldn't find a band that would do that, so the solution was to play in lots of bands. It helped being blessed with a genuine passion for a wide variety of styles - nothing was really a pain to play, there was always something I could enjoy in it. As for playing bass lines I haven't written - for me it's incredibly satisfying to play through something 'West Side Story' and be a part of that big sound. If you get your kicks that way even 'Copacobana' is great!!! (It's a great read too - pity the horn section, it's a roast for them) I suppose that's an aspect of playing music professionally that surprises me. Sure I started off wanting to be Gene Simmons playing in front of the adoring masses, but that quickly got replaced with actually making music, and making a song sound good. One thing I keep in my head when I'm playing, and it helps on the dodgy gigs, is a quote I read somewhere in Bass Player magazine: 'you should always try to make the music sound better than if someone else was playing it'. In other words, don't just phone in your part.

For the most part I'm self-taught, banging away to records since I was 13. I'm 32 now. I did attend a music course for a few years, at NVQ level. Not a well run course at the time, and the qualification itself hasn't done diddly for me (but that reflects more on me than the course - I'm not the academic type). It did open my ears, and attitude, to what else goes on in this musical world and that's been an invaluable lesson to adapting and surviving as a working musician. It also opened the door to reading, which I pursued in earnest after I left. As for getting my foot in the door - I called around anyone I vaguely knew and let them know I wanted to gig, which in reality meant calling guys I knew playing in wedding/cover bands and theatre jobs rather than original music. My timing was good as I called one guy who's lead singer/bassist was leaving so I was able to step in and learn the gig while the bassist just sang. Through that gig I met a pile of other musicians, as this particular band had a constant stream of deps in all roles. I'm pretty sure I gave my number to every one that passed thru. Then I got the number of a well-respected and established guy I knew needed a dep for the up-coming panto and called him. I can still remember how much I was bricking myself at the phonebox while I called him. Thankfully got his voicemail and he called me back. I auditioned for him and the MD of the show a few days later and got the dep gig, which in reality was only two or three shows at the end of an 80-odd show run. Might have seemed futile then, but I have a good relationship with him to this day. (Actually just borrowed his upright to do an album last week while my new one makes it's way here). Then a drummer from the first cover band recommended me for a well known band here that had reformed, I got that gig and that opened more doors. Same drummer also recommended me to the fixer for the Irish production of 'RENT' and, with it being a ten week run, that's how I ended up in Dublin. The other guys in the band assured me that if I moved down I'd get plenty of work as there weren't too many readers on electric and upright. The guitarist in the band also lived with one of the main fixers in town so that helped out immensely. I could go on about how one gig lead to the other - like how I did a gig on Saturday just past, covering for a guy that I met in Switzerland on a festival about two years ago - the point being that one thing leads to another, it just might not be obvious at the time. So like someone said above - play each gig to your best ability, because you don't know who is in the audience.

That's been my impression too. I've genuinely never been more impressed with an amp than with Markbass. So much so that I have two Markbass heads and want for nothing else. Somehow my 500 watt Markbass heads are FAR louder and clearer than my 600 watt Acoustic Image Focus 2 head and my Euphonic Audio iAmp 800.

[quote name='Spoonman' post='637255' date='Oct 26 2009, 07:53 PM']Thanks guys this is all really useful and encouraging stuff to know. One thing that was on my mind was, does anyone ever go to any jam nights anywhere? Are they worth while? Where are good places to go if they are? Cheers for all the info..[/quote] I don't, but only as there aren't any here. But a great gig is one a friend of mine runs several times a year. About 10-12 singer/songwriters and a house band. Band at one end of the room, singers round the edges, audience in the middle. Fun part is NO PRAC -there's a running order of who sings, and everyone joins in as they feel, so that means figuring out the tune as it happens in front of the audience. Even more fun is trying to figure out how to get 15 or so people, who have never played together before, to end at the same time in a musical fashion. That's where you learn the strength of a good rhythm section.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='637254' date='Oct 26 2009, 07:51 PM']Even if Mika makes him dress up like Two Face. [/quote] Yeah, and he has to play 'Big Girls' too, tho I'll bet it sounds better than the version I play with the wedding band I gig with

I remember Jimmy Sims - he was always really good to me anytime I was in London and dropped in to the Bass Centre, and it's not like he knew me to be doing me any favours. Bought my Micro-Synth and X-Citer from him. Good to hear he's on the Mika gig. Nick Owen's a top bloke too.