stewblack

Think I need to keep my eyes open for a Walkabout.

So I bought a Mark Bass set up comprising a head and two cabs. Then, a while later, GAS got the better of me and I couldn't say no to a couple of Barefaced cabs. As Patrick O' Brian would say I was with child to try them out and promptly did so on the evening of the day upon which I'd wrested possession of them from @Happy Jack in the car park at Newbury services. They gave an incredibly detailed account of the instruments I put through them, but I did spend much of the rehearsal fiddling with the controls of the Little Mark Tube to achieve a sound I liked. No problem I thought, new gear takes time to learn. Every set up has its foibles. Last night I gazed along the mountain of amps and cabs I've accumulated over the years, and in a fit of quite astonishing laziness decided I could only be arsed to take the smallest of the BF cabs and a couple of cables and one bass. Once the folly of not taking any amplification had fully dawned on me I trotted back into the house and on nothing more than a whim I grabbed my ageing Behringer BX4500H. This cheap and cheerful head has been with me for yonks usually coming along for the ride as a back up where it has served me honourably. In fact on more than one occasion it has stepped bravely to the fore when far more illustriously named amplifiers have croaked in mid gig. Imagine my utter astonishment when the diminutive Barefaced Midget in combination with this ugly ducking of the bass amp world proceeded to produce the most astoundingly beautiful bass sound with which I have ever been associated. My singer looked up wide eyed from her seat to comment how the bottom end of the sound had passed through her chest in such a way as to make her draw breath, the clarity and smoothness of the upper frequencies had my aged yet nimble fingers dancing up the fretboard and the mid tones boxed their way cleverly through the other instruments there present as they seamlessly and fluently held together the whole in a way I'd not previously experienced. And loud. Boy oh boy. The master pot was barely off the floor and yet I filled the room with a sonic feast both voluble and delicious. The tone knobs were set to neutral, just the shape control engaged and the bass boost button depressed. I was playing a Stingray, the infamously zingy, tingy, teeth on a metal fork quality of which I have tamed by the application of some flatwound strings. It was truly bass heaven. I look froward to trying other combinations of amp and cab before flooding our for sale section with unwanted goodies but honestly I shall be extremely surprised were any of them to match up to what I heard last night. Just goes to show, don't write off a 'cheap' brand from a position of prejudice, and don't assume amp 'A' will be amazing with cabs 'B' or 'C' without trying them first.

Not used them for a while but they used to be excellent. What's happened?

I bought my Maruszczyk bass because the gold body and black scratch plate match the dress code of a band I only very occasionally dep for, but I wanted to impress the lead singer so... (It worked, she liked it, result!)

The UV light on my Trace Elliott gives me a ridiculous amount of pleasure and more than makes up for it weighing the same as a small military vehicle.

Band I just joined play two tunes requiring a low E flat every once in a while. I've been taking a second bass detuned to rehearsal and swapping out. However I've just decided I prefer my back up bass to be tuned the same as my number one in case of emergencies and I don't want to carry three to gigs so the low E flat is no more. It's not been an issue, only a couple of songs after all.

I too suffer an anxiety disorder which has me in knots right now thinking about a gig in 3 weeks time. I know I can do it, I know I'll be properly rehearsed and I have tools from talking therapy sessions to minimise the problem. But I can think myself into a right state if I let my head get in a spin. Interestingly enough I never actually know if I will get nervous or not but when it strikes it paralyses my brain. Songs which I have to start disappear from my head, my hands turn to leaden unresponsive inanimate lumps and I tremble uncontrollably. Other times I can't wait to get on stage. Size of venue or audience is utterly immaterial. But the real oddity is that it's most likely to happen in the soundcheck and not the actual performance.

Thank you so much for this. I have never bothered learning slap but sadly for me I have to for a couple tunes in a new band. Your videos are super helpful, clearly explained and you have an engaging, natural style. Fonts and titles serve their purpose, the actual style of the fonts is entirely irrelevant.

Sounds perfect to me. In fact where are you and the band based?

Noice!

Hi Jack. The Diago is available on Amazon but the site says it's Chinese rather than British. Their mistake?

Thank you, I shall definitely have a look at that too.

Hey Basschatters and fellow GAS victims, let me take this opportunity to tell you that Happy jack is an honourable, knowledgeable, trustworthy and above all damn good decent guy. He just drove no small distance to meet me and pass on a bunch of bass and PA stuff I'd bought from him. You can deal with absolute confidence with Jack, knowing he won't rip you off, the stuff he sells you will be as he describes it, and above all you'll get to meet a fellow bassman of the highest pedigree. Stew ps If you're lucky you might even get to meet his missus! I did

I don't hate anyone I've never met nor got to know personally.

Thank you. Another pedal turned up in the post yesterday so I know the nano won't be big enough!

I ran a live music venue out in the sticks and once a month we hosted a comedy night. Believe me after the first six or seven comedians had run through their ooh-aaar sheep shagging jokes the routines became more than a little wearing.

Ultimately everything we experience is learning. Good and bad, painful and joyful all we can do is take the knowledge we gain forward into new adventures and use that which we learn to benefit others. Edit: try to benefit others.

That is a fantastic response, thank you. Any ideas about flight cases?

I've always had a love hate relationship with pedals. I GAS for them, buy them, trip over them and sell them on. Never really bothered to spend time learning how best to use them. Lately I've been accumulating pedals for the sound requirements of the different bands I'm in and they're cluttering my bits box so I think I need a pedal board. I'd also like it to be in a hard case and I suspect I'll need a decent power supply too. I suppose really I'm asking for recommendations for everything except the pedals. I have two basic boss sized pedals one fatter one and a zoom b1 so I don't need anything enormous but it's probably wise to assume I'll add a couple more. Oh best leads to link them all too. Is that a job for OBBM? Thanks folks.

The spark between musicians is where the magic lives. Playing without it is like being in a loveless marriage.

That's the problem with humour. I often think I'm being really funny only to discover no one is laughing. I guess he's trying to get noticed.