51m0n

Dont lump Sleeper in with Kenickie though, The It Girl is a fantastic album, do yourselves a favour and have another listen

It sucks balls If I want to watch a program about music I tend to look for anything by Howard Goodall, the BBC are far too happy to use a bunch of 'celebrity' presenter types with absolutely no knowledge of the subject at all, who are then paraded as 'experts'. Yes it was lighthearted, but it was and will remain utter sh**e IMO, not just as a result of the bassist bit (what no Bootsty!) but every part was just shockingly narrow minded and limited. BBC and music, my arse!

[quote name='Mark Latimour' post='847207' date='May 25 2010, 09:29 AM']Hmm, my finance is in Paris on her hens weekend that weekend, I may be able to make it. I am not sure how much gear I can bring, but here is waht I have: Ritter Roya "Casa Fronto" 5 String Sadowsky NYC PJ4 MTD 535-21 Mariyln MTD 535-24 Kennedy Custom 6 string with Alembic running gear 2x Accugroove Tri112's 1x Markbass LM2 TCE Polytune FEA Labs Growler Aguilar Octomizer 3Leaf Groove Regulator Subdecay Quasar TCE Nova Comp SFX Micro-RD Big JOhn Granny Puker WMD Geiger Counter Civillian Issue Analogman Chorus w/deep Subdecay Echobox Eventide Pitchfactor Boomerang III Phase Sampler Radial Big City ABY Switcher I probably couldn't bring it all, but could bring a selection perhaps. Mark[/quote] Ooooh, these two:- Aguilar Octomizer 3Leaf Groove Regulator Would be really interesting!

Are his instruments priced according to what the market will bear, or the work that has gone into them? Cheeky I know!

I think its a lot simpler than you are making out. There are IME two types of soundguy. Good and Dreadful. Given the right amount of time a Good sound engineer will do their best to use the PA to amplify a band such that they sound as good as possible in FOH, and all have decent monitor mixes. At least as good as the venue will allow... Given any amount of time a Dreadful sound engineer wont manage that for the team on stage. They may get a great kick sound, or guitar sound or xylophone sound, the vocal may be super, but someone on the team will not. As a result of the pecking order of these things and the true difficulty of making bass sound really good in a live space we often sound like mud. The fear that the guitarist is going to have a million different levels means that the Dreadful sound guy, rather than asking the important questions and pushing on, gets a mini set from each guitarist demoing there new pedals. Only way round this is either have your own (great) sound guy OR do sound yourselves.

wheres that lottery ticket gone..... ..... nope still no good

Not sure if I can make it yet, how flakey is that If I cant then have a tip top time all of you! If I can then I wish to be placed near the very front of the 'to be laughed at' queue please....

Thats a really low budget for mics. If you can source one keep an eye out for a Heil PR20 or PR22 second hand. Fantastic dynamic mic with a very extended top end (up around where a lot of condensors go), they are applicable to a very wide variety of sources for home recording standard stuff.

[quote name='silddx' post='838764' date='May 16 2010, 12:11 PM']No worries mate. It was a great gig, very professionally handled by all concerned, and they had a superb sound engineer and PA. The crowd were lovely and very responsive, only about 50 of them but they were really into it and Krupa had them singing by the end of the set. It was a splendid day out. My first time in Brighton unbelievably, seemed like a great place.[/quote] Fantastic! You'll love Brighton, come down again and spend a day or two down here, its very very groovy baby!

Sorry mate, I couldnt make it this evening, I'd have love to have seen you guys. Hope you had a great time and got a really tip top 'up for it' Brighton crowd! Si

"Black on black and black to be exact...." Never thought I'd find myself quoting The Fat Boys on Basschat

Technique technique technique Smooth out your sound, play softer but use more amp, you will get a phatter sound. HUGE headroom and massive extension into the low end. Try and have a go on a Barefaced BigOne (not the compact, thats not the same sort of thing) or an Epifani UL410 (series 1 preferrably). Or if you have the cash a Bergantino IP112 and the extension cab or an IP310, with the right pre can sound HUGE. It is nto a question of effects. Another point, try to play less, and longer notes, allow the bass to sound big. Lots of staccato notes dont generally sound big, punchy yes, big no. So let those notes sing out more. When you practice really concentrate hard on getting the biggest toneout of your bass, experiment with where you pick, how hard, note duration and really really concentrate. Record yourself often and play back the different experiments to really listen and concentrate on the results.

[quote name='lemmywinks' post='837317' date='May 14 2010, 03:53 PM']Or if your amp will fit in a shallow rack! [/quote] What can I say, read the sig

[quote name='cetera' post='837386' date='May 14 2010, 04:52 PM']Honestly, when was the last time you saw a well known player (known for his amazing tone) playing something like a (e.g.) Ritter through a (e.g.) Glockenklang rig?!?[/quote] Vic Wooten with the Flecktones at the Barbican, playing one of his many Foderas, he was going through a Hartke rig though, and where we were sitting it sound utterly rubbish (really). Massive let down. I dont blame the Hartke rig though, it should have sounded fine, certainly not that pants, I imagine it was a combination of where we sitting and possibly a PA guy who didnt know what to do with VW's bass sound, but I dont know. It was an undefined woolly mess though. Stanley Clarke's db sounded amazing at the same gig..... Saw Mama's Gun (they are pretty big in Japan, honest ) at The Latest Musicbar in Brighton, tiny venue, fantastic band live, bassist was a gent, played a Sadowsky Metro (could have been an NYC actually) Jazz through a Glockenklang (Soul I think) head into a Glock 1x15. Sounded fantastic. just huge (but we were less than 6ft from it so it bloody well should have!). Plux and my rigs sounded just as good there a couple of weeks later though (phew!). I never rated Billy Gould's tone actually. Really brittle twangy harsh top end. Love FNM though, brilliant songs! Duff's was OK, nothing to write home about, a good solid rock tone though. Of all the rock output of the 80's Appetite is still in the top three albums of the decade IMO. Again with the brilliant songs (and fantastic rhythm guitar too, Izzy was a genius). Just IMO .

[quote name='pete.young' post='837060' date='May 14 2010, 12:21 PM']Look on the bright side - At least you didn't ask him which compressor pedal would improve the sound of your rig the most ;-)[/quote] DOH! ROFLMAO!

[quote name='Musicman20' post='836969' date='May 14 2010, 10:51 AM']Oh heck, please don't go thinking there is any sense of snobbery/pretense about high end gear. Basically, my advice is use your own ears.[/quote] +1 Also dont go ignoring high end gear on the basis of some kind of reverse snobbery either. Try it all in situ if at all possible, then make a purchasing decision that gives you as close to the timbre you want at the best price for you. If that turns out to be a Peavey combo then brilliant, spend the rest on a really great holiday But dont dismiss the 'best' kit or more expensive stuff without having tried it since you are then not giving yourself all the options. I didnt buy an ae410 because of hype, I researched what should be the very best 4x10 for my needs. It was going to have to be lighter than 4x10s of old (nasty back issues - had to be a neo cab), have a timbre more suited to punch than mega deep bass (ruled out the Epifani UL series), needed to be efficient so as to produce all I would need from a 500w amp, needed to be 4ohm to get the most out of that amp, and needed to sound the best I could find. A big plus would be if it fit in my car (duh!), and the only 410 on the market that met the criteria were the Berg and possibly the smaller Markbass. The Berg sounds far better than the Markbass to my ears. So I got the Berg. Its also the best sounding single cab I've ever heard, although Plux's HT210 HT115 stack sounds as good, but its two cabs, each of which is heavier than the ae410. Also the ae410 is also louder than his stack, which is amazing! It took me a long time to nail it down to an ae410, long enough to have saved up the cash for it when I had finally got to the point of making a decision.

[quote name='ianrunci' post='836933' date='May 14 2010, 10:09 AM']Ok I'll concede, you know what sound I like better than I do , your amp sounds better than mine at doing my sound, and your equipment is much more reliable. And your gear makes you a much better player I better start saving............... [/quote] Lol! Brilliant! I dont think I actually said that mate. What I was trying to convey was that YOU could well find that if YOU actually tried some of the boutique gear out in a direct A/B comparison with YOUR current gear, YOU would in all likelihood prefer how it sounded, how it delivered YOUR sound etc. That it would then help make YOU a better player than you are, or at least help YOU play to the very best of YOUR ability, and even get YOU to be a better player in the long run. I have no where stated that my gear sounds better to you than yours does, or that I'm a better player than you because of my gear. I could not care less whether or not my gear sounds more like you want to than yours does, or if I am or am not a 'better' player you, it is not a race after all. I will bet significant money (clearly, I dont like adding up the total cost of my kit, it gives me heebie jeebies!) that my gear sounds better to ME than yours does, that it has made ME a better player than I was, that it helps ME to perform better on a gig than any previous gear has. I maintain that the aftersales service is very likely to be better (not always I grant you), with certain boutique manufacturers though, they are reknowned for having way better aftersales than any 'normal' manufacturer. And that the reliability will be at least as good. Lastly, unless YOU have taken your kit somewhere with a wide selection of the current top of the crop of quality gear, where there is an on hand expert in listening to what you are looking for to help you make some educated choices for you to compare, then you are talking from the perspective of one who hasnt in all likelihood tried the best suited boutique kit anyway. So how would you know? And all the above IMO... I find it staggering that you would suggest that everyone has been kidding themselves when trying to find the best kit to deliver the tone they want to for all these years. What everyone?? We should instead all have stuck with a Peavey 300w 115 combo and got on with it, because nothing could possibly sound better in any meaningful way. Thats clearly nonsense...

[quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']I think the point being missed here is that not everyone wants the same bass sound. It's no good having Mark Bass gear or Aguilar stuff if you want a big rock valve sound with a bit of overdrive. Its no good using a vintage Hofner violin bass through an SVT to get a mark king slap sound.[/quote] I'd disagree with this. No one is assuming that everyone wants the same bass sound at all here. First off, if you want that 'classic' big rock sound you are looking for big lead sled rigs into fridges, and vintage ones at that, which is it's own boutique market. Markbass do a very credible all valve head/sealed cabinet rig as well though, have you ever heard it?? Bergantino do a range (the NV range) of sealed cabs, the NV610 is considered better, louder, smaller and lighter than the ubiquitous Ampeg fridge. The entire NV range is staggeringly good with big valve heads, its designed specifically to do vintage tones with modern technology. Have you ever heard an Aguilar DB 750 or 751? Into a modern 'vintage' cab(s)? I'd bet my left nut that into an NV215 and NV610 or NV412 it would deliver just about the most immensely beautiful rock tone of all time, or there abouts. Certainly as good as any vintage Ampeg rig, only 4 times louder.... Are Matamp boutique? There are enough boutique manufacturers to cover anything your little heart desires tonewise. You seem to assume that boutique only means hifi, or clean. Some boutique stuff is just like that, plenty isnt. [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']If people want to buy expensive gear then its no different than people buying BMW's or Mercs. I am more of a Toyota man as I like cheap insurance.[/quote] Well I didnt really get your analogy. Mainly because (if you've ever been to Germany you'll know this) Mercs are just German taxis, BMWs are just German salesman's cars. If you want to improve your analogy then compare your Toyota to an Aston, Rolls or Bentley at least! The aftersales service on a Rolls is a little different to that on a Toyota I'm led to believe. When was the last time you had an issue with your car, phoned the dealer and talked to the boss of the company and designer of the vehicle in person? [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']As far as sound goes, I get the same bass sound out of anything that I plug into generally. It wouldn't matter if it was 200 quid or two grand I would still dial in the the same sound.[/quote] With all due respect I disagree. You may go for the same kind of sound, but a really top notch amp/cab configuration will deliver it 'better' than a cheap rig in almost all case. The cab is particularly critical in this regard IME. [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']It's impossible to say which would sound better because only you know the sound your looking for. To say "my rig is 2 grand and sounds better than yours" is obviously ridiculous[/quote] No its not. The price isnt necessarily the key, but you will be bale to A/B two rigs and state almost always which delivers the goods better. Have you never tried this? If not take your own rig and visit Mark at BassDirect. Warning, take your credit card.... [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']Build quality will probably be higher although if we are making comparisons with Cars, i doubt Mercs and BMW's engines are more reliable than a Toyota or a Nissan.[/quote] Possibly, but then I would doubt any cab you are thinking of would be more reliable than mine, and the above mentioned aftersales would cover me far longer than you I'm afraid. [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']High price doesn't always equate to better quality as you often find with watches, clothes, shoes etc sometimes your paying for the name.[/quote] Well it does with small boutique bass equiptment (Berg, Thunderfunk etc). Really! Read more in depth reviews of thius kit, the ones where thye take it apart and show you the guts, nothing compares to really boutique kit for attention to detail. That does translate to the final sound as well. [quote name='ianrunci' post='836270' date='May 13 2010, 03:36 PM']If you have the money and like the idea of owning something expensive then why not buy it but it won't make you play any better that's for sure, and you will probably get the same sound out of something a third of the price[/quote] Yes it will. It most definitely makes you play better. Two reasons:- It produce a far more accurate representation of what you are doing, therefore you have to tidy up your playing or the audience WILL hear all the dross that you used to get away with (IME esp with the AE410!). You will get more visceral joy from the sound it makes (because it really is noticeably that much more satisfying) and therefore that translates into your performance for the audience (again IME with my own fairly boutique rig). Sorry...

[quote name='silddx' post='836074' date='May 13 2010, 12:37 PM']Dude, I know exactly what you look like 'cos we had a chat at the Bash. So stop being so modest it would be great to see you there man![/quote] Yeah, a fun day that, if I can get there I will, I'd love to see you lot live!

[quote name='silddx' post='836070' date='May 13 2010, 12:29 PM']Excellent! Thanks man [/quote] If I can make it I'll be the fat straight uncomfortable looking old fella

Cool. Revenge being one of the bona fide gay clubs of Brighton, you should have a fantastic crowd!

[quote name='neilb' post='834441' date='May 11 2010, 05:34 PM']This chap seems to have it close...may be of some help. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcU2VQPC7Ag"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcU2VQPC7Ag[/url][/quote] Shocking technique in that video though

[quote name='gjones' post='835122' date='May 12 2010, 10:42 AM']I tend to think that the sound you get has more to do with your speakers than with the amp. I've had dodgy cheapo amps in the past (carlsbro, peavey, solid state marshals) and most of them sounded fine at low volume. Of course at high volume the speakers started to fart and get woolly. I experimented in rehearsal rooms with putting these cheap solid state amps through decent speakers and the difference was immense! The conclusion I came to is you can economise with the amp but try and get the best speakers you can for your money because they WILL make a big difference to your sound.[/quote] +10 bazillion! Assuming you are after clean power then just check out the THD figures of an SS amp. Then check out the THD of any speaker, its massively higher. The better the cab the better the sound, a reasonable amp with the required headroom and eq is all that is needed (and lightness for some, and other features for others, and better components for the rest of us). You can hear the diff of a better amp for sure, but not so much through a crud cab. Far more obvious is the diff between a poor quality cab and a good quality cab.

[quote name='crez5150' post='834493' date='May 11 2010, 06:21 PM']Thats the thing.... many different kinds of funk around.....[/quote] Absolutely! MK is technically extremely impressive, and I can dig that in and of itself, the Level 42 funk jazz thing just never appealed to me as much as rawer dirtier funk. Flea and RHCP at their best are a modern take on a long history of filthy dirty funky grooves (yum!)...

Some of my fave Flea lines in case you have forgotten them or (God forbid) not heard them yet:- The guy is very very funky. Mark King does a different thing for me (at least).