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[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='463920' date='Apr 16 2009, 01:41 PM']Vitriola![/quote] My all time fav Silverfish track was TFA, tricky to say what that stood for if you dont know, T was for Total, F was for, well you can probably guess, and A was for bunghoolio. The biggest, baddest riff of all time, best 12" record I ever bought and seeing them at the Zap was in the top three gigs of my life. Total class!!!!

Well I dont think I can agree with AM1 on a couple of points. First that youngsters dont know how to practice. My son (14) and his band are all members of the local music service. They have been classically trained since they were about 5 or 6 years old, all of them. Singing, percussion, reading, moving on to instruments of choice in orchestras. Now they all do extra 'rock' stuff in their band too. They are not alone or unusual in this city. I went to a gig a few weeks ago, where his band played in a line up of 7 similar bands. Not one of them sucked, they were all very very good players, with very good musicianship and stage presence. They had good songs, and a great time. There arent enough chances for them to play out yet, but as they get older that will come. Second that there are no killer riffs, well there were that night, and lots of styles too, it was really really encouraging to see. These people were not in any way stuck in a copycat stylistic rut, they were playing music they enjoyed and wanted to play. Oh the average age was about 14 or 15 that night. Thirdly that Commercial music has ever had a decent percentage of decent stuff in it. Commercial pop has always been 99% utter sewage. If you look to commercial outlets that is what you will find. My take on late 80's early 90's is that it was utter rubbish in the charts (and I'm including all the bands you name as high points, and Stock Aitkin blah blah too) I hated it all. If you wanted Janes Addiction, then they werent in the pop charts, or RHCP, or Mr Bungle or FNM, or whatever, beyond one or two songs per album, or couple of years. Rock existed in rock charts even then. It was the time of the death of Indie as a real meaningful title (when Kylie topped the INdie chart I felt sick as a dog!), gone were bands like Alien Sex Fiend, We've Got A Fuzzbox etc and in were a bunch of shoe gazing boring @*(&^$&ers!!!! About the only bands I really liked then were the Silverfish and Bomb Disneyland, oh and Snuff, they kicked arse!!!

Well who is to say how well it should be played given its price? Didnt know we needed to make people sit an exam before they could spend a decent amount of cash on an instrument or they aren't worthy....

[quote name='escholl' post='462798' date='Apr 15 2009, 10:44 AM']I think her point was that all the best gear in the world won't inherently make you a good bassist. If you don't put in the effort and learn to really [i]use[/i] it properly (as others have mentioned) -- then you might as well save your money.[/quote] I got the point that Zoe made, I stand by my response, essentially there are other reasons to love bass gear beyond being able to play through it brilliantly, as long as how you play fulfills you then your playing is good enough. As long as the gear you own fulfills your needs then it is good enough. Is your gear better than it needs to be. Well actually almost everyone on this forum could use cheaper gear and play the same music, but would they get the same enjoyment out of it? In fact almost any punters you play to wont recognise the difference between a £150 bass and a £1500 bass unless you A/B them outside of the mix IME (I've tried this). Even then given similar age strings etc a lot of people dont hear a better and worse, just different. In fact most punters wont tell the diff between a fretted and fretless bass in a mix (unless you do some long slow slides in what you are playing). Really, they aren't set up that way, they aren't listening to the bass first. So its actually about your experience as a player, and maybe the rest of your band, more than the punters, IMO. And given that then your gear is as good as you need it to be when you get as much enjoyment from it as is possible (and possibly legal ). It cant really be too good or too expensive unless you feel it hasn't given you an equivalent increase in the enjoyment you experience when playing. So I guess I should say my gear actually isn't too good for me and where my playing is at, as it gives me a massive amount of enjoyment, and I think I get enough out of it given the level of my playing to appreciate it properly.

[quote name='johnnylager' post='462792' date='Apr 15 2009, 10:40 AM']Good man. I'm just a cab and filter away meself. This week anyway.[/quote] Its an empty feeling, having no GAS......

I'm happy with the tone I get from my hands.... I'm happy with the tone from my basses.... I'm happy with the tone from my rig.... GAS is over for me for now Does that make me a bit weird???

[quote name='Zoe_BillySheehan' post='462624' date='Apr 15 2009, 12:52 AM']I suppose some people are just lucky when it comes to being able to afford equipment.[/quote] I wish, no I saved up for two years to get my rig, and another year and a half to afford the Roscoe. I dont by anything on credit, I just have an understanding partner, a bank account for bass gear and patience. I've also learned that buying the best you can possibly afford, assuming it 'does it' for you, is definitely not a false economy [quote name='Zoe_BillySheehan' post='462624' date='Apr 15 2009, 12:52 AM']but it really isnt the equipment that makes you a great bassist, although having a bass, set up perfectly, that plays like butter, has gotta help.[/quote] Any instrument really well set up trumps any instrument not set up well. Cost is at that point irrelevant. To be able to play beautifully, first you have to be able to play without fighting the instrument (IMO & IME). I have an old Vester, it was always a lower mid range instrument going by price tag alone. I've invested a lot of time setting it up, the neck is absolutely right for my hands. No one who has played it has ever wanted to give it back, they've all, without fail, felt it played as well as anything else they have ever touched. I wore it out in ten years of playing. Then I started thinking about saving up for a better bass. [quote name='Zoe_BillySheehan' post='462624' date='Apr 15 2009, 12:52 AM']but if your gunna spend £1000 on a bass, and not put time n effort into learning, then whats the point?[/quote] You love the sound, you love the instrument as much as a piece of art as a musical tool, lots of reasons. [quote name='Zoe_BillySheehan' post='462624' date='Apr 15 2009, 12:52 AM']i guess some people just have money to throw around like that! Z x[/quote] I think some of us are a little older and have some spare cash we can save, I dont think anyone throws a ccouple of grand at a bass, and a couple of grand at a rig without a lot of forethought, unless they've won the lottery of course, hate to think what my bass shopping bill would be the day after that happens!!!!

Oh yeah, for sure. But it sounds great, makes me play better than any old rubbish would, and sounds great.....

[quote name='Protium' post='461673' date='Apr 13 2009, 10:44 PM']Suit yourself then, was only a suggestion but obviously hit a nerve! Yes, but in the car market they don't say "Our new car will go [i]about[/i] as fast as your average saloon, MPG [i]comparable[/i] to a 3 cylinder diesel" etc, they have their figures available. People may not be able to see through marketing falsifications but they can't see your specs either. This IMO is an easy way to lose potential customers.[/quote] Yes and the figures they all produce have been shown to be rot very often too (esp mpg figures for instance)

I've played one of those Moon basses, and posted about it here. Its one of the best sounding slap jazz basses I've ever played. Beautiful (if slightly too low ) action too. Someone who wants to play slap like a mofo do themselves a favour and go get themselves a really nice bass to do that on....

Oh Anyone want to donate me a really fab EUB then

GAK is a weird old shop. They will say whatever the customer wants to hear of course, but they do have Laklands in there, and gazillions of Warwicks (some of which are very old and dusty - they dont sell that fast), they have a load of Fender guff in ( sorry but how many variants of a sunburst P or J do you actually need in one shop?), they have loads of Ibanez, some ESP and some really weird and funky new Italian archtops in (really unusual, good on them). Thing is they get this stuff but most of it doesnt float my boat. They say they cant get anything higher end in , but some of the tired old Warwicks are over £1500 - you can get a far more obviously classy bass in the shop for that kind of money. They choose not to. Same with amps - they wont touch high end or esoteric as they fear they wont move them. After all 90% of the people walking in the shop have less than £500 to spend.... In short I dont think bassists are conservative (nothing like the way guitarists are) but the shops are extremely conservative!

Bloody hell thats seriously over doing it! Not only are you possibly oing to knacker your cabs wacking polepieces at volume, but hitting that hard will knacker you hands in the long run too, plus you cant play fast for long if you play that hard... Turn your amp up twice as loud and practice at the same volume. Set your gain knob twice as high, then dont let the overload light come on....

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='458300' date='Apr 9 2009, 12:43 PM']what about the 'dress like a top gear presenter'? A suit jacket worn with jeans and trainers.[/quote] And 'hip' 'cool' bead necklaces if you are really trying to make people think you arent just another sad middle aged overpaid git with whitened teeth (hammond)

I always thought he came across as a really decent fella in interview, but hearing that he phoned you to cheer you up etc is just waaaaaaayy beyond anybody's possible expectation from a guy who must be pretty busy doing his thing. Thats really an incredibly touching story Zoe, I'm not surprised it helped you and made you feel beeter about stuff. Wow, I'm really impressed! What a star bloke.

The '71 is the canine undercarriage. Get the ebony/ebonol neck for it, then you can swap them to your hearts content. The TF is too new, it looks very plasticy in the vids, the sound (to my ears) isnt better than the 71, it is slightly punchier maybe (v hard to tell). Since you dont like J pups, dont have one on your bass, maybe a hybrid MM/P with a blend pot would be better for you (evil arent I ) Bergs make everything sound better - really!

[quote name='escholl' post='457755' date='Apr 8 2009, 07:52 PM']PZM mics tend to only be as good as the room they're in -- and even then, then can pick up too much of that room. Interesting concept, works better for somethings than others though -- usually things like pianos do well, in the right space. For those of you into recording, if you really want to try some interesting drum stuff, try a kick mic and an overhead MS configuration. Stereo AB pair tends to work quite well though, and doesn't pick up too much room. I think this post is wildly off topic to the OP though, my apologies! If you're just looking to get ideas down, something like a zoom H2 would be perfect for you, i think![/quote] Well I'd point out that the OP is talking about sketchpad recordings rather than multitracks, and in that case you are always limited by the room. You can out your H4 in a class room and it'll sound great, but stick it at the bottom of a stairwell and it probably wont. Its not the PZM specifically that causes that - its the fact that you are actually recording the room.... The kick and overhead MS is great, as is a Blumlein config (plenty exotic one that, requires a pair of figure of 8 polar pattern mics, one left to right and one front to back and 3 channels on the desk), I've had amazing results (in a brilliant room) with a U87 18 feet above the kit, compressed to bits. And I mean unbelievable...

[quote name='TimR' post='457955' date='Apr 8 2009, 11:29 PM']What amp do you have. Set all your controls to a neutral position (usually 12 o'clock for the tone controls) then adjust each one to see how the sound is affected in that particular room. Return each one to the neutral before moving to the next one. Then go back and build from scratch. Don't start with everything set as they where when you where at home. Start afresh.[/quote] +1 Set your amp gain and volume up to keep up with the drummer with everything eq wise flat and compression and effects off. Now start to tweak, cut whenever possible rather than boost (really - it does make a diff) Here's the tricky bit, do the same with the guitars (yup flat, and low distortion, cleaner the better, add as little gain as you can get away with and allow the guitarist to play - he'll hate it but the band will actually sound better for it) then its again a case of some judicious cutting (not always easy on guitar amps, sometimes you have so little frequency control that boosting is the only option) - try your best not to boost the bass if you can. I've done this on occasion with the last three bands I've had anything to do with. Invariably the guitarists hate it. However the thing to do is to record the band how they like it, then how you like it, leave it a week and play them the two versions, as double blind as possible, hopefully with non band members listening too. Almost invariably the version you set up will sound clearer, especially if you can carve a little frequency out of the bass and guitars for vox. It doesnt last long, but it can help for a while....

[quote name='bassace' post='457795' date='Apr 8 2009, 08:37 PM']Thanks, OG. Something Clarkson would do, in other words.[/quote] No, he uses a paragraph cos he's a t0553r

[quote name='alexclaber' post='457562' date='Apr 8 2009, 04:26 PM']I recently discovered that this site from my uni band was still up: [url="http://www.spiderplant.net/agentorange/html/recordings/recordings.html"]http://www.spiderplant.net/agentorange/htm...recordings.html[/url] The recordings from Nov '99 were done with two PZMs on the kit (one on the ceiling, one in front of the kick drum), SM58 on guitar amp and SWR GP DI'd for bass, all into a Tascam 424 MkII (double speed cassette 4-track), vocals then overdubbed on Cubase. Not a bad sound at all for low tech/cost! Alex[/quote] Exactamundo!

I cannot believe that no one has mentioned our very own poptart's bassdirect..... Wicked place, great range of kit, just be prepared to leave with uncontrollable GAS or a lighter wallet!

Really just get a Zoom H2 or H4 and figure out where in the room to put it to get the right balance. It will be the quickest solution. Second to that pick up a second hand minidisc recorder and a couple of half decent PZM mics PZMs are tragically underrated for this sort of thing. Properly placed (flat on a wall or ceiling) they will completely outperform something like that found in an H2 or H4 since the surface they are attached to becomes part of the microphone. Also they are suppoesed to be always phase aligned as a result of their design.