dmccombe7

I quite enjoy that kind of acoustic / "folk" style music. I auditioned for a Celtic folk band once. Its the only audition i've ever failed but i wasn't really sure and probably didnt put enough effort into it. Oddly enough they approached me a year later when the guy they picked left. I said no and that i wasn't too impressed with the girls in the band saying to me that the guy in before me was perfect for the band. Kind of put a damper on it right away. LOL Dave

What kind of music are you palying ? Dave

Have to say Skerryvore did ok with the island scene. Bit of Scottish Trad rock going on there. I think it all stems from that other trad rock foot-stomping band from Scotland Runrig but they are probably the exceptions to the rule. Capercaillie another great trad rock band. I know what you mean about the local scene in Oban or even Highlands for that matter. Inverness probably an exception there too. You'll just have to travel down to the big City. How unlucky am i that our first gig in 18mths with the Glam band is the night they shut off all the streets in Glasgow for the COP thing. Dave

Think there are always songs in a set i dont particulary enjoy or even like but its got to be a balance between what the band likes and what an audience might enjoy. My background has always been rock and prog. Its what i listen to and what i've played most over the years in covers bands. My current band is a 70's Glam covers band and it turns out i really love playing those songs from the 72-76 era. I was recently asked to join a 70's classic punk band and having never really listened to punk much i was sceptical about it but said i would give it a go. Turns out i really enjoy playing them as well and several of the songs are simply good ol' pop rock songs. Seems i just love songs from the 70's 😂 I've been in covers bands where i didn't think the songs would suit the band or audience but i played them anyways but didn't stay long in those kind of bands. Audience needs to enjoy what the band are doing or it could turn out to be a poor gig for everyone including the band. If the songs dont get an audience moving, applauding or appreciative in some way then the gigs a flop for me. Dave

Log-arithmetically 😂

Couple of mine that i still really like. WAL is gone tho.

I'm a big fan of wood finish basses like Alembics. Love a nice rich coloured wood. They dont fit with the style of music i play tho. Dave

I try not to press too hard as i have a nerve end problem on my index finger that feels like someone pushing a needle into my finger if i press overly hard too often. I'm trying to balance playing light with my left hand while digging in. Its an odd thing but when i used to dig in with my right hand i automatically press the strings harder with my left hand. Dave

That just sounds painful. What plonker actually thought of that........ Dave

My Warwick Thumb NT has individual adjusting screws below the strings. Its an early 89 one. Must admit i like the Sandberg zero fret idea. Dave

That's a measurement i never check or adjust as i've never known what is correct. My Sandberg has a zero fret so i'm guessing a nut could be adjusted down to approx a fret height. Would that be right enough. ? Dave

'm hoping you measured your own

Being an engineer i tend to measure things but i have adjusted basses to a point i'm happy with and then i just have to measure it. (its sad but i have no choice 😂) With regards the neck relief my quick way of setting it is when changing the strings i look down the neck without strings and adjust neck to be perfectly straight. When strings are added it draws the neck slightly concave. That would be my approx guide and from there i would then tweak it till i'm happy.................and then measure it cause i'm a sad auld git On hindsight i seem to have different methods of going about it probably dependant on how much time i have available to fine tweak things. Dave

Just bought my first P bass in about 40yrs and loving it. (2nd hand) I've set the neck to be very slightly concave and string height down from quite high when i bought it to 2mm. It sounds fine at home and will be taking to rehearsal on Sun where i will try it with a bit more aggression and tweak the height appropriately. When i get a bass i normally start at 2.5mm string height and slowly tweak it down to where it sounds ok with no fret buzz and no bottoming out when playing above 12th fret. As a comparison my Jazz was down approx 1.7mm and it was great at home. When i gigged it i found it was overly buzzing and raised that to 2mm and gigged again and it was fine. My Sandberg VM4 is very low at 1.5mm and has quite a straight neck. I dont tend to play this bass as hard as my Fenders (i cant explain why not......i dont really know) Dave

So far i've not had to use it as only just started gigging on Sat night and load in was easy and level. At rehearsals i travel with drummer who has a large flightcase that we just stack gear on top but again studio is on the flat. Fully booked from end this month thru to December so might get a chance for those gigs. I have used it in my garage tho and it works pretty good to move bags of sand around my garage during a tidy up LOL Its quite sturdy and easy to unfold and refold. I still need to get some rubber mat to put on bottom metal parts as they will rub on bottom of my cabs if i dont and could damage the covering. (i'd actually forgot all about the mat.) Dave

Our last gig was a support slot opening for them because our singer and guitarist know them pretty well which was in March just before covid hit. I thought they had packed it in unless young Jay has reformed with new members. Peter was the singer/guitaris from what i remember and he was around the 55-60 area i think. LOL Young Jay is an amazing guitarist and a nice young lad too. Dave

Altho i bought the P bass it was too short notice to my first gig in 18mths and first gig with this new band after learning songs in 3-4 weeks. I stuck with my old trusty Geddy Jazz and Mesa Mpulse and Subway 210/115 cabs. I thought it sounded pretty good from audience side but on stage was a bit boomy and for some reason i was hearing the low end drop out when digging in but the vid clips from phones it sounds fine with a nice warm low end. Not the best quality clip but the sound came thru ok with headphones. video-1633892512.MP4.mp4

Think one of my mates was involved in that. Young Jay from Status Quoing. Think he's still in his teens or there about. Our band played a support for them a couple of times when we started out. Dave

Someone sent me a Phone clip of our support slot for Skababs last night. My debut gig after 3 weeks learning the songs. Not the best quality but gives a reasonable idea of what it was about Dave video-1633892512.MP4.mp4

You cant ask for much more than that. Success. 👍 Dave

Yep i've done that on occasion altho its usually at rehearsals wherei lose focus on the song because i'm thinking more about my EQ. Dave

So nice. Really enjoyed this. Great overall sound. Bass tone is gorgeous. Nice one. Dave

Hard to tell with the drums as the PA had no onstage monitoring apart from vocals. Drums were thru the PA but i was behind the PA line. With the boom on stage it was hard to hear the drums properly plus drummer was using other bands kit which was a tiny bass drum. I was using compression to start but switched it off to see if it helped. It didnt make a lot of difference. I was rehearsing with my other Glam band today and using my VM4 and even when digging in it still sounded great. Had an amazing tone today with an EBS HD360 into Ampeg 810. The VM4 just nailed everything. Might be that the VM4 gets used for both bands. I'll try the P bass i bought at a rehearsal to see how that sounds. I'm comfortable with 40-100's and have used them since i started 40+ yrs ago apart from when i bought my Thumb bass which came with 35-95 Elites and i liked them. Everything else has been more or less 40-100's. Could pick up height be an issue ? Dave

Using fingerstyle. Its not so bad with tone backed off but i like that click from the high end EQ. I'll take to rehearsals next week and experiment a bit with it to see if playing lighter helps. Something i did think of this morning is whether a slightly heavier gauge of string might reduce the movement of the strings across the pole pieces. What do you think. I'm using D'addario nickels 40-100. Could take it up to med gauge 45-105 see if it helps. Dave

That might have been the issue altho i'm not sure how to sort that other than not digging in so hard. Digging in with a punk band just seemed to come very naturally to me. Dave