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Mark is an exceptional chap. His shop is so good that even at 147 miles from me, his is the shop I prefer to go to. Big warning though, take your credit card and be prepared to come out a couple of hours later with a bemused grin a superb new toy and some explaining to do Its totally expected for me that Mark should go the exact same extra mile service-wise for someone looking for a gigbag as much as he does for someone looking to spend big bucks on a new bass or rig. His after sales service is exemplary too.

Brilliant mate, now the fun (read: hard work) really starts

Top stuff matey!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='570021' date='Aug 15 2009, 04:04 PM']I don't think the fact that the cabs have different drivers is important when comparing them. A speaker cab either does the job you need or it doesn't. We need to stop looking at the numbers in the specs and use our ears instead. The more speakers I try I find that the actual size and number of drivers in a cab is becoming less and less relevant. What matters is: 1. Do you like the tone? 2. Is it loud enough? 3. Is the weight manageable? 4. Do they fit in your chosen mode of transport? 5. Can you afford it? That's what's important.[/quote] This is such a wonderfully erudite and condensed gem, is there any way to sticky that post in the amps section or just pop it in the wiki? I dont think anyone with real experience on the forum could really argue with it. It blows a load of myths out of the water, and is probably the best advice you could give for someone looking to buy.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='581591' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:37 PM']Similar story with me actually.[/quote] errr are you pulling my chain again BBC???

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='581576' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:29 PM']Music theory has moved from beign a way of explaining the sounds that are made to becoming a set of instructions on how to make the sounds. Using music theory to develop compositions could be seen as derivative. In reality it works both ways. The road from total tehnical musical knowledge to total intuitive technical ignorance is a continuum not two absolutes. Same with total reader (can't play without a score) and total improviser (free player) - most people are a bit of both.[/quote] This is an interesting point. For all my not be a sight reader, I've lost count of the number of bands I've been in, in a writing process, where I am by far the most advanced with theory, and have used pure theory to help come up with a nice chord sequence/bass-line/melody/rhythm, especially for getting from a section A to section B little joiny uppy bit without sounding too contrived. I like to think I know just enough theory to be useful in this way. I'd like to know more - particularly more complex harmony stuff, but it does start to make my head spin when I read about it. I think it really needs someone there showing you examples of how this stuff works. Maybe we could sort something out like that at a bass bash?

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='581547' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:12 PM']How does that work, then? I'm genuinely interested, cos I've been able to read notation since I was 6, so anything else is pretty alien to me.[/quote] Its all thoroughly mathematical though, you just learn the intervalic pattern of different scales (tone, tone, half tone, tone, tone, tone, half tone, being major). The expand your knowledge by getting a really good grasp of the scalar intervals that make up different types of chord (minor third, major third, minor third stacked for a minor 7th say ) Then learning all the diatonic harmony from there. (I ii iii IV V vi viio etc) Then you can easily go down the modal theory route by use of intervals, even easier since you are oconstantly comaring to major or minor scales (Dorian is minor witha major 6th for instance, lydian is major with an augmented 4th) You can cover all sorts of theory without naming a single note in effect. Thats how I got through college without even realising it. Applying it to bass is easy since the tuning is in stright fourths.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='581538' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:06 PM']I would like to point out that you can have a good grasp of theory but not be able to read standard notation! Alex[/quote] Thought I already said that?? Now you're repeating me. Maybe... Or not?

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='581534' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:03 PM']I think I was referring to the 'I'd rather be playing with my xbox' comment as much as the not reading one. You can be great without reading. Obviously. I just reckon you could be greater if you did and that you would get there quicker. Is McCartney great? He's popular but are they the same thing? Is Jilly Cooper a great author? Is Pam Ayres a great poet? Discuss. [b]PS - if anyone here is considering taking me seriously, please don't.[/b][/quote] Errr did any of us ever give the impression that we took a man dangling carrots seriously, ever???

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='581507' date='Aug 26 2009, 03:39 PM']Then you will always be a lightweight. Your funeral.[/quote] Oh dear, he we go again with the 'you cant be a great player if you dont read' argument. Close the thread right now and save everyone the time and effort......

[quote name='alexclaber' post='581248' date='Aug 26 2009, 12:27 PM']We're currently revamping our band because it's just getting too complicated musically - my brain is certainly so worn out from everything during the day that I just want to rock out on bass and not worry about singing lead at the same time as playing syncopated basslines with the odd time signature weirdness thrown in. Tonight I am digging out the fuzz and stepping away from the mic (not that I could sing right now after a failed attempt at flight on Sunday ended on my face...) Anyone know any singists that they'd like us to take off their hands? However, even if you're allergic to theory, I do think basic chords and their constituent arpeggios are worth the antihistamines. Alex[/quote] Tell you what, you sing, and I'll do the bassy bits for you

I'm very much with Alex on this. I spent years tweaking and tinkering with my basses. I've had what I always thought were really good results, playability genuinely improved, as did intonation and tone too (action choking the strings and pickup height are the two biggest offenders on the tone fromt for a setup IMO). Then I got the Rscoe, and either the simple nature of my old basses' necks/trussrods or the singularly less than perfect fret trueing on them or whatever meant I could never hope to get an action close to as good as the Roscoe across the entire board. It totally reeducated me as to how good an action can get. Which is nice, since I own it. But now I darent fiddle with it at all

[quote name='Wil' post='581105' date='Aug 26 2009, 10:43 AM']I have absolutely no desire to learn to read dots on a page. However! I was attempting to solo over Jeff Beck's "Cause we ended as lovers" last night and I couldn't help but wish I had a greater understanding of how the chord changes progressed, and how this affected what notes to use. Alas, I'm sure the only way to develop this understanding is learning dratted theory.[/quote] Its worse than that though, you can learn the theory in a purely abstract way until the cows come home, you [b]still[/b] wont be able to play over the changes until you've spent years mastering applying that theory too.... Thats it, I've had it with this muso stuff, I'm going to start a Jam tribute band instead, or maybe Oasis (actually no I draw the line there), join BBC at his much easier game and stop worrying about the fact that I struggle with anything with more than 4 chords in it from now on

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='581232' date='Aug 26 2009, 12:12 PM']Yeah, that's where we struggle. After a dull and tedious day at work, it's difficult to find the motivation to pursue a dull and tedious hobby. It's ok for you Bilbo, in your cushy gravy-train riding public sector job, its all champagne lunches and snorting cocaine out of chorus girls arseholes. You get all the excitement you need during working hours thanks to your huge expense account and running tab with "Madamme JoJo's Happy Endings Massage Parlour". Us grafters have to settle with a pot noodle and a w***.[/quote] I dont know whats more worrying BBC me old mucker, the fact that you find theory tedious, or that you have resorted to getting off over your pot noodles.........

I wish I could read 'properly' - sight read. I can decipher stuff at a bit more than a crawl these days. I dont have the time I once did to work on it, and when I did have the time I was working on other stuff to its detriment. Funnily enough I'm not a pro musician and never have been, and not being able to read dots, or even charts really, or having a wide enough stylistic repertoire are the real reasons I'm not and have never been, if I 'm feeling honest. Anyone reading this thinking about trying to go pro, you must get those things right!! Like Alex I find the rhythms far easier than the pitches, mainly cos when I learnt first time around I wrote out the 142 or so bars of 16th note variations (not including ties) and clapped them over any pulse available for weeks - it got to be good fun (lock me away now!) and you can do it virtually anywhere - funny looks not withstanding. Pitches I find much harder. I have been doing some more work on note recognition on the fretboard, but work/family/diy/breathing etc keep getting in the way. I will plug away, as I do think its an invaluable skill. However it can go too far. When I was at music college, a good number of the less rock/pop instrumentalists were classically based. Especially keyboard players. A couple were superb readers (easily above grade 8), and both of them had a huge look of fear if you took the dots away and said, "lets just play some music". They were, for the first year of college, incapable of playing anything at all without dots, all they could do was read. When they finally broke this it was with a similar sense of achievement and joy as anyone blowing through their first reading gig without a problem. Really! We need to be able to do it all competently, not end up relying on anything as a crutch IMO. Final point you can learn a huge amount of theory without being able to sight read, just read well enough to decipher, or looking at theory from a more mathematical intervalic standpoint. But I think reading can really help tie it all together.

I'd be well interested!

Urghh that much Peavey gear in one room, brings back back-breaking memories!

Every Ashdown product I've heard so far has been garbage IMO. Am I the only one?

I loathe ampeg for the overpriced, poor build quality, intolerably awful sounding rubbish that IMO it is. Figured tops. Yeah they look fab (really I love it) but dont pretend its a better 'tonewood' than something less pretty, it aint, its just bling/chrome, it adds nothing but the sense that the immense investment was worthwhile (look how purdy) and does nothing more for the sound or playability than a less purdy top. Overpricing due to different markets in general makes my blood boil (how is it ok that Markbass are about half the price in the US than in UK??). Fender for their overpricing (the Squire VMJ is value for money mind) and for causing so many people to then think that anything not Fender is therefore not as good! How the hell did they do that (given their QA history!)

Wasnt me, I was out back chasing the bridesmaids....

Thats why he's a tip top session dude tho isnt it. 5 minutes of chit chat, probably a single quick run through, and he nails it like he's been playing it for years. GIT!

Is this it? [url="http://open.spotify.com/album/4mTEOTVnXfaZGKyAFKtjSk"]http://open.spotify.com/album/4mTEOTVnXfaZGKyAFKtjSk[/url] And good luck!!!

From our own Silent Fly's sfx sound labs:- [url="http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/mainpage.asp?page=h1"]http://www.sfxsound.co.uk/mainpage.asp?page=h1[/url] Looks great, I'm very tempted!