borntohang

One of the things I find interesting about the VT Bass and other Character series is how little adjustment you have tend to have to make to the EQ controls; most of the drastic change in sound comes out of just altering the Character control and I rarely tweak the three band more than a few notches each way to account for room sound. Got some big gigs coming up this summer and we're probably going to have to move to in-ears, so I'm looking forward to seeing how well it works!

I was never a big fan of the BDDI, but the VTDI has totally revolutionised my playing and I've not bothered taking an amp to shows since I bought one. I just run straight into whatever is onstage - it's only backfired once when I was given an old Carlsboro which appeared incapable of reproducing bass frequencies, but I just cranked the mids and pretended I was Lemmy for the evening... I've had so much fun with it that I'm starting to get curious about picking up a second BDDI/VTDI and running them in parallel to front of house for dual gnarly/vintage sounds.

Same scale but Bronco is 19 frets and Jaguar is 20, alas, or I'd be putting together a rosewood Bronco with a matching headstock sharpish. It's just a case of moving the bridge position but it's more naffing around than I'm game for when I'm perfectly happy with the Jaguar as it is.

I've not played the Broncos much but I've been incredibly happy with the little Jaguar SS - I bought it because it was the cheapest and lightest bass in the store and I wanted something to throw around, but I've had a lot of use out of it these last two years! Had it in all kinds of tuning and wiring setups too; at the moment it's got one volume knob for the P pickup, an on/off for the J, and a master tone which seems to work quite nicely. I brought it to a studio session strung up ADGC as an alternative "baritone" sound, but my friend ended up playing it and eventually picking one up to replace his 70s Musicmaster which was getting a bit fragile for touring work. Not gonna pretend it's a pro-level bass, but they're passable out of the box and make great basic mod platforms. With any luck mine will see some very big stages this summer. I really wish they did the Mustang or Bronco with a rosewood neck but they're different scales so can't even swap a JSS neck onto them.

Farting and covered in kebab remnants, usually... Jokes aside I've just about mastered the art of catnapping sat upright in the van on the way home, so if a real bed is involved I can be asleep before I even hit the pillow. Any real 'buzz' after shows is solely due to beer or caffeine these days, sadly!

Oh yeah, I've been in the business long enough to default to 'nod and smile politely' mode unless it's written on paper. He was a breath of fresh air really. I didn't think they made them like that any more: shaved head, rat moustache, camelhair coat, loads of gold rings. A proper old school showbiz bastard...

Again, sounds good to me. I had an audition with a band last week and afterwards the manager came to see me and did a bit of a pep talk thing: "What do you want, kid? You want to be famous? Because these guys are going to make it. Biggest band in the world next year." "flip no, who wants to be famous? It's hard work and it sucks and you have to talk to journalists all the time. I want to be RICH!"

I can see how megastars like Adele have to put a 'no contact' clause up. First couple of times people want to chat to you it's fine - but after the fifteenth person wanting you to ring their mum and do a verse of Chasing Pavements down the phone you're probably pretty tired of it so you say no, and then they get upset because you were OK with the previous fourteen people asking you for it and go tell everyone you're a beach. Eventually you figure you may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb and institute the "no speaky unless spoken to" ban so they'll leave you alone. Then you go slowly mad through isolation, build a theme park in your back garden, invite a bunch of pre-teens for sleepovers, and your nose falls off. It's a weird business.

As a member of a band who also wear ridiculous costumes I'm with Rammstein on this one. I always think of it as a bit like wearing a tuxedo - it feels great when you put it on in your room, and it'll feel great again when you're at the event, but you tend to feel a bit of tit wearing it on the bus there.

I changed one but only because I snapped the tuner stalk off - it's so light it gets chucked around a lot! There's actually a mod developed in that thread using cheap rare earth magnets to improve the output of the J pickup, which is apparently a vast difference and only costs a few quid.

Not to invoke damned names or anything, but there's an excellent and huge thread over at TB regarding the Jaguar SS. I believe it's actually onto it's third incarnation because of post limits. The most common mods are a heavier bridge to add a bit more sustain, an upgraded J pickup as the stock one is regarded as pretty weak, and lighter tuners to prevent neckdive. Personally I've done a lot of work to my JSS - not all of it useful. I changed the bridge out for a Wilkinson hi-mass ,which is a nice quality bridge but I can't say I noticed a huge amount of difference. I got another Wilkinson J pickup to replace the stock and that did make a difference. Great sounding pickup for not a lot of money. The stock P is generally well regarded and I really like it so haven't touched that. I've also done a lot of wiring mods which are mostly for my own amusement, although not as many as some of the posters in that thread (I think it's AltGrendel who turned his into an active true stereo monster...). The easiest mod with the biggest difference, as with any short-scale bass, is to put some higher gauge strings on. I've been using .105's and it vastly improved the response, sound, and feel across the board. They're neat little basses and I've used mine for all kinds of stuff. Get a lot of comments about how surprised people are when I get up with this toy-looking thing and then this roar comes out. Originally I just wanted a cheap bass that wouldn't aggravate my tendonitis like a full-scale but I've come to really appreciate it. I have a friend who is a serious session player and ended up picking one up to replace his vintage Musicmaster that had got too fragile for the road, so there's at least one pro out there using them too.

Hah, my dad pulled this one back in the seventies. Folk club with his trad trio and all stand for the anthem at the end; two bars in and the entire place bang their pints down in unison. "Not that one. The other one." I've had three gigs in a row now where I've had strap failures with the buttons stripping out even after a progressively complicated series of repairs: matchstick, wood glue, fill and drill. There's more duct tape on my Jag than finish at this point, but I've finally dowelled and redrilled for massive bolt looking things so hopefully that should sort it.

I'm not a massive drop-tuning fan on bass, although I don't mind it on guitar. At the start of this project the singer decided to tune to Eb standard, but between the increased low end on the guitar and the tonal changes to the bass I was having trouble cutting through. Now I tune G#C#F#B a fourth up just to be awkward; definitely cuts through! I've got a spare bass in Eb for recording and found 115s solved most of the tension issues if not the sound.

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1509452391' post='3398992'] The intention behind this thread wasn't to slag off AC and others but find out if they're genuinely able to play stuff that's more demanding than their day jobs require.. [/quote] I would imagine so. AC still gets paid the same as the rest of the band for banging out his root 8ths, and honestly in his position I wouldn't feel the need to prove anything to anyone. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; the world thinks I am a terrible bass player. Please excuse me while I retire to my mansion and sulk about it, in my swimming pool full of money and supermodels."

[quote name='Mellowman' timestamp='1508511073' post='3392699'] I live about 500 yards from the Robin 2. Done it many times, you booked in there again any time soon? [/quote] Not at the moment but our booking guy seems to be well known there and we enjoyed the last one, so I'm sure we'll be dropping through again at some point.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1508509933' post='3392686'] Love it, great stuff, I will catch you live one day for sure, even if I have to get to Leeds. And of course, 'We Are Not Devo' is the only name a self respecting Devo tribute could use [/quote] I lobbied hard for Oh No! It's Not Devo but was overruled. People have no taste.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1508499322' post='3392597'] It reassures me hugely that a DEVO tribute act not only exists, but thrives. The world can't be all bad after all [/quote] Hah. All I'll say is that I'm glad we aren't doing it for the money, but it definitely beats my other other day job playing in tapas restaurants. I'm amazed at how well it goes down - lots of people turning up in costume and regulars travelling around the country to see us. I think the record is Leeds to London at the moment, bless him. For those who are interested: [url="http://youtu.be/XtX3sGeBrSA"]http://youtu.be/XtX3sGeBrSA[/url]

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1508493753' post='3392530'] Absolutely brilliant. Do you do weddings? [/quote] We've never been asked, but yes we totally would! Think the nearest show we've got planned at the moment is Brighton, we're mostly 'oop north. We're at [url="http://facebook.com/wearenotdevo"]facebook.com/wearenotdevo[/url] either way.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1508488621' post='3392493'] Made my day Would love to see you lot at my local on a Friday night, do you dress up also? [/quote] Pssh 'do we dress up'? This isn't amateur hour, spud.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1507581240' post='3386575'] Would love to play in a BBD act but can't imagine it would pull in many punters? Having said that, a mate of mine a few years back suggested a DEVO tribute act [/quote] Can report from personal experience the DEVO tribute is a better runner than you might expect. On the other hand, we don't need the competition so actually it's a terrible gig and you shouldn't even think about it! The BBD tribute have been advertising for members for about 5 years now - I think it's one guy doing a pet project that he's trying to get off the ground.

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1506890881' post='3381872'] They were 6ers actually, can be seen here: [url="http://www.shukerguitars.co.uk/pwatson.html"]http://www.shukergui...uk/pwatson.html[/url] Si [/quote] Ah man, I've played with that guy before in days gone past. He brought a lot of kit for a small venue and had both of them out onstage IIRC. Regarding low tuned Rics - one thing to remember is the propensity for tail lift with high-tension strings. I assume with the right gauges it wouldn't be an issue, but at the very least I'd be cautious about converting one with the vintage truss-rods.

Play in the Sheffield one at least one a month. Sound system is rudimentary but adequate and the staff are all great; pay is OK but we're only a duo. I'm under the impression they're a franchise so if you're having problems it might depend on how good the manager is at your place.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1496312821' post='3310391'] interesting, thanks! I've heard "comping" a lot in studios, meaning to compile a performance out of several slices of audio, or to compile a "doubled vocal" from two or more takes etc. [/quote] That's the context you'll mostly hear it used in these days, but comping is long-established jazz terminology. I'd actually never connected the dots to 'complementing' before Jaywalker explained it and had just assumed it was a generic word that had been used to describe tasteful accompaniment in a jazz combo. Either that or it was onomatopoeia derived from hack guitarists plugging away at four to a bar jazz chords... comp comp comp comp comp comp comp comp

TMB-30 or Squier Jaguar SS are both really solid for the price. I've been beating the proverbial horse about my SS for months now anyway, but a mate who is a professional session player on the folk scene just picked one up and we got chatting about how good they are, and not just in terms of cheap basses. I've done a few mods but they're seriously great straight out of the box.