stewblack

The room seems the biggest factor in my experience. There is one venue in particular where, if I get a good sound everyone more than 20 feet from the stage complains the bass is too loud too boomy. If I bring different gear, or raise the cabs up, or isolate them, it sounds like a wet lettuce. I have always achieved a great sound with whatever gear I fail with there.

So glad you went for it. They are not 'cheap' basses, they are relatively inexpensive basses. Relative to the competition that is. I never hesitate to gig with a Harley and I've always loved playing with them.

It's the arrangements we've painstakingly worked out over a long time, the subtle interactions between bass and drums and bass and keys, the dynamic shifts and the unusual covers we've chosen. I've nothing against depping, I'm regularly depped in my other bands and I dep in plenty of other bands. But these people insist on paid rehearsal, spending hours going over songs, and yet the bass can be replaced by someone who isn't even a bassist and at a couple of days notice. If you don't see that as them not recognising and respecting the work I've put in then we differ. Of course as I have said, they are right and I am wrong, because the audience doesn't care either

Funnily enough I have the problem of trying not to be always leaving bands. In the past I always ended up talking myself into walking out. I've come to recognise it as a character defect, an instinct for self sabotage which blighted my life. However if people in a band were genuinely behaving outrageously towards me I'd not hang around.

My point was they have zero appreciation of how important the bass player is in the context of the band. This means zero respect for the work I put in. How the gig went is neither here nor there because the audience doesn't give a s4it either. They wouldn't dep any if the other 3. It's not just a standard covers band, you can't learn what I do in a couple of days.

Nice one!

Looks like a fine instrument. I played a G&L at the SW BassBash, and it was instantly lovely. I had been a little put off by the headstock until I saw one in person rather than just photographed. It looks absolutely fine in real life. There's a G&L in Anderton's right now fir 250 which is seriously tempting.

Never 'shimmed' before, I'm not really very handy beyond setting intonation. But the other day I shoved a bit of something flat under the neck of a bass I had put together. I musta gotten lucky because it went from unplayable to perfect. So count me in the shimmer camp if this ever goes to war.

Hi, I have the Bumblebee, and while some pedals do fit beneath the upper level, it's actually just too low for a standard Boss sized pedal. This is the only drawback in an otherwise excellent design

Yep.

Joyo have slipped a bass amp and an effect past me. I must be getting old. The American/British/Californian Sound pedals have been joined by the Oxford Sound. It's orange. Allegedly sounds like Orange amps. Anyone got one? Are all the pedals actually all the same beyond the paint job? Does anyone care?

Ah ha! The plot thins.

I shouldn't worry too much, even the great Bruce Thomas was often told to stay below the 5th fret

Actually, I've been reflecting on this situation and I realise they're right. The audience doesn't care about the bassist either so really it doesn't matter

I know the op has decided on a Trace (and I'll never argue against the green magic) but others will read the thread, so I'm going to throw the Fender Downtown Express into the mix. It has dirt but you don't have to use it. Transformed my 'straight into the PA' sound from unusable to excellent.

Well, it's the day of the gig and no one has contacted me to ask about the PA....

Nice one. The miserable side of me (which is almost certainly covid caused, so please ignore it) wonders how any musician could need this experience to value their bass player. I am reminded of an audition I attended. The band leader said they had run the songs before I got there and were amazed at how much they missed the bass. Amazed! They were a three piece.

Any list of living bass players that fails to include Bruce Thomas is flawed. I demand my money back.

It's not that I think they won't notice any difference, it's the thought that they're prepared to waste all that time and money rehearsing with me in the first place if I'm that unimportant

I guess I didn't ought to complain. I only became a bassist because the incumbent left a band I auditioned for. I was a rhythm guitar player. But it's only bass, you can do that, right?

I've thought for a long time that no one gets us. The time and money we throw at the bass and no one cares, or has a clue what we do or why. I have told the tale of an amp, which, having blown up, produced an horrendous racket, in no way musical. I finished the set with it and no one even noticed. Not band, not audience. I've been rehearsing with a band for a couple of years, we do some complex stuff and interpret covers in our own way, so I grudgingly accepted we'd have to rehearse or the rest of them wouldn't learn the songs properly. I have contacted Covid 19 and am currently out of circulation as a result. So they have got a dep for Saturday's gig. Nothing wrong with that, I depped last weekend. But this is the thing, he's a guitarist faking it, and they think it's fine that he won't know the songs because, well, I guess because it's just bass isn't it. I wouldn't dream of depping any of the other three. Each one is unique, brings a lot of work to each gig, and so much we do is about complimenting one another. But it's only the bass. No one comments on it unless it's to tell me to turn down.

I don't know if all the negative publicity has provoked a change but Hermes seem to provide a more reliable service these days. At least in my area they do. I'll never forget the woman who used to deliver for them, listening to our tale if woe about the parcel which had finally arrived, and saying "I know, we're a bloody nightmare, aren't we?"

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/457588-npd-kokko-phaser/