tauzero

With various bands where we've been in a similar situation, we've taken down and packed up as much as possible, as unobtrusively as possible. Don't recall ever having been in a situation where loading out would have meant we'd have been going through the disco-dancing throng though.

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1441564407' post='2859879'] I find it quite interesting that lots of people think it necessary to take a spare (quality or otherwise) bass to a gig, but very few have said they take a spare amp. I'd be much more worried about an amp breaking than a bass (even one of my cheap, crap ones) [/quote] I take a spare amp. Currently an Ashdown MiBass which lives under the front seat of the car.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1441495527' post='2859349'] Sure, and that's what I wanted to find out - did people feel it was necessary. [/quote] Depends. I've mentioned my three gigging basses, one cheap and two expensive (for sub-Fodera values of "expensive"). One of the two expensive ones is the only 5-string fretless I've found yet that I get on with. So it was necessary for me to spend a bit over a grand on that because I wanted a 5-string fretless that I could stick with, rather than buying one, keeping it for a little while, then selling it because I didn't get on with it.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1441482286' post='2859201'] If only we could incorporate "which bass is best for metal" too, we'd essentially have finished Basschat. [/quote] Don't forget "Why did Paul McCartney play a cheapo Hofner instead of an expensive bass?" and "Why did Paul McCartney play a Wal Mk III and not a cheapo bass?".

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1441372900' post='2858402'] At no point has anyone (including the OP) suggested that we aren't allowed to have opinions or tastes. [/quote] Yes he has. I've quoted it before, I shan't bother quoting it again.

[quote name='Wonky2' timestamp='1441498437' post='2859368'] If it's a short gig, I'll sit on my amp , which I suppose is still acceptable to some degree..... But for full gigs, I need to sit down, I'm yet to find a suitable perch ! A chair is no good, a stool is too hard and can make things worse...... In the rehearsal studio I have been know to play quite comfortably sprawled across a bean bag type thing hahaha but that ain't gonna work at a gig. Any one else have this kind of issue ? [/quote] Yes, but not through spondylosis (both the current and the previous Mrs Zero suffer from that, so I sympathise). After suffering some damage in a motorcycle accident in 2001 (broken ribs, punctured lung, but the main long-term problem was the soft tissue damage), I start finding it painful to stand after some period of time - it used to be about half an hour, it's gradually improved. I use a Kinsman dual-stool like Happy Jack.

Just think of it as a string version of the Highland bagpipes.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1441453559' post='2858998'] Vintage: Proper hefty bass sound with bass played as it should be, as part of a rhythm section. Rugged and manly. Hi-Fi: Widdly-widdly twangy cutlery-drawer-down-the-stairs in your face inappropriate slappy solo nipple-rub for gaylords. [/quote] Vintage: muffled muddy indistinct sound, where not only can you not tell what type of bass is being played, you can't tell what note is being played either. Think "hippopotamus farting underwater" and you're there. Hi-fi: Unforgivingly distinct sound, where every single wrong note and string noise is amplified a thousandfold. Useful for discovering exactly how inaccurate a tab is.

[quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1441560629' post='2859839'] I didn't think a bid could be retracted? [/quote] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/How-When-Why-To-Retract-a-Bid-Dont-Ask-the-Seller-/10000000001673381/g.html"]http://www.ebay.co.u...01673381/g.html[/url] I think it used to be simpler but it looks as if it's now been tightened up sufficiently to mean it would make it more difficult to do this - at least more than once with the same user ID.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1441376494' post='2858454'] I wasn't familiar with a strumstick. It's a bit limiting being in one key, unless you do the harmonica thing and buy 12 of them. When If first saw them, I assumed that they would be a three string guitar tuned to a power chord. They are (generally) tuned to a power chord, but they don't have a full set of chromatic frets. Surely a three string guitar would be similarly easy to play, but more flexible. [/quote] They're pretty much the same as Appalachian dulcimers, except that Appalachian dulcimers are played from above (cf. guitar vs. lap steel). It's not so much a power chord as a melody string and two drones. With my old ceilidh band, the dulcimer player had two, one in D and one in G, and the melodeon player's melodeons were in D and G, so that was handy.

I started Mrs Zero singing by taking her to an open mic night. It had been many years since I did one, and the ones I'd done before had been on the folk club circuit (silence while the artiste is playing) so it was a bit different. House band didn't have a bassist so I took to doing that. Had great fun doing it, sometimes being kept busy all night with people wanting a bassist (note: this was an open mic, not a jam night). It wasn't just about music, I made quite a few friends there too, and still keep in touch with them. And in further response to the thread title, I wish I could say that Edwin Starr, who lived just up the road, had come to a local open mic, but AFAIK he didn't. He did turn up to help judge a local Battle of the Bands though.

[quote name='dand666' timestamp='1441201633' post='2856881'] I play on cruise ships normally, but do functions when I'm on land. And as long as people can hear the hook, the chorus, that's all they care about. It seems too many people are hung on getting the right sound, when in all honesty, not a lot of people care. [/quote] I keep pointing out that it's a bass, it sounds like a bass. Last night, I played the first set on a Warwick fretted bass with roundwounds on and the second set on a Sei fretless bass with flatwounds on, because I felt like it (I must be one of those against whom MiltyG rails). I'm pretty sure that the only difference that the audience noticed was that I stopped hitting the lights with the headstock.

Hamburger Concerto by Focus. Didn't have the success of its predecessors Focus 3 and Moving Waves, both of which had very successful singles (Sylvia and Hocus Pocus) - the single from Hamburger Concerto was Harem Scarem which sank without a trace.

I rather like the shape. Not so sure about the scratchplate made of the gripper plate used for stair treads and trailer bottoms.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1441403715' post='2858739'] And it's not even that I'm saying that certain venues require certain gear, as somebody suggested earlier - utter hogwash. Simply that really expensive and boutique instruments simply aren't required in that setting. [/quote] Mine are, because I want to play them. Are you sure you watched that video?

I had a TC RS112 for a while - good little cab, could put out a fair volume and sounded good if a little lacking in bottom end for my taste (using a 5-string but not generally below bottom D). I did find it balanced oddly on the handle - taking the handle off and reversing it so the bar was closer to the speaker (IIRC) balanced it up much better.

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1441369371' post='2858332'] so in the event of a problem you'd send it back to the USA to be fixed? [/quote] No, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place at that price.

I don't think I've ever seen a strumstick on a music video before.

I didn't play for three or four years and completely forgot which end you blow down.

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1441367754' post='2858303'] That's only a valid comparison if you are buying privately from a US dealer. [/quote] I'm comparing buying privately from a US dealer with buying privately from a UK dealer.

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1441272999' post='2857363'] Dude. VAT. Import duty. Come on. [/quote] £500 would be a bit low, but the US price is about £460, plus about 25% VAt and duty is £575, so there's about £150 in price difference once you've accounted for shipping.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1441353126' post='2858117'] With an item that has a BIN, that's a smart strategy. But my initial bid will be for the starting price, simply to remove the BIN and declare an interest. My real bid will be made in the closing seconds of the auction. [/quote] Yes, agreed. Especially as the really unscrupulous seller could shill up an early bid to find out where it maxes out, and then retract the bid which takes it over the bidder's maximum.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1441361225' post='2858219'] A cheap bass may not sound any different but the playability is what counts. I'll select a bass on whether it feels right as well as how it sounds. [/quote] I was just about to say the same thing, seeing as absolutely no-one else has. The most playable (for me) four-string I've ever played is my Warwick JD Thumb. I bought it in 1987 for £900, because it was so good I just had to have it. I had never imagined playing that sort of money for a bass, my battered 70s Fender P had cost me something like £175 and to me back then, £500 would be a stratospheric price let alone £900. Nowadays, I play 5-strings, and gig with one of three basses, two worth a bit over a grand apiece, the other which cost me about £250 and which was my main gigging bass for a few years. Playability has always been a key point. You can (within certain limits) mess around with pickups and electronics, changing the feel of a neck, while not impossible, is a rather different ballgame.

I quite like it, but I'd be worried about it falling to bits: [font=Arial][size=1]"[/size][/font][font="Arial"][size="4"]This stunning instrument w[/size][/font][font=Arial][size=1]ould make the PERFECT Christmas gift and will not last long!"[/size][/font] And don't forget, a bass is for life [1], not just for Christmas. [1] Life, of course, can be terminated by GAS

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1440240004' post='2849263'] Only a fool bids before the last 15 seconds of an eBay auction. [/quote] There can be a tactical reason for it. If there's a BIN on an item and you're not sure whether you want to go for it or not but want to keep your options open, putting in a bid removes the BIN (meaning someone else can't buy it while you're prevaricating) and means the auction has to go to the end. Something of a gamble though.