bassace

They like to hear what the bass is playing, which means not a dull thump but clear mids. And remember, it’s the drums that make them tap their feet but the bass that makes them swing their hips.

And watch this space. As part of my ‘rationalising’ I will probably put my Felix up for sale as soon as I can get round to doing a pic. It’s certainly a great piece of kit but I don’t use two channels these days.

Good spelling, dharling!

A great day and thanks to all who set it up. And much thanks to those who let me make off with their amps to a/b with my double bass. Nice people, all of you!

Permit me to hijack. Has anyone here an opinion re the merits of hi mid/lo mid over a parametric mid? It seems to me that however sophisticated the para, even one with the third variable (bandwidth) is still one mid, whereas lo/hi allow a much more versatile adjustment. This has been bugging me for a while. BTW, I certainly agree that it’s all about the mids.

I had offered to bring a cab stand for the raffle but it is too mangled to be much good to anyone, so it’s the skip. But I will bring a Boss LS-2 Line Selector and a Boss FV-50H volume pedal, new/boxed/unused. Note to organisers, if the raffle is becoming full I’ll be happy to offer these for sale and proceeds added to the raffle fund. See you Saturday!

And keyboard players have their left hands ‘deactivated’.

Since girls bought records.😛

Yes, although I don’t use an Acoustic Image with HPF anymore, I use an outboard usually set for 120-140Hz to bring out the best in the amp. And that’s with a 10” cab.

With the fecking added?

And I’ve been playing bloody So What for 50 years.

A proper musician. RIP

Sorry Jack, but I can’t help showing off. 😀

It’s too damn nice to put on the floor. I stand it on top of my amp when I use it.

Grace Designs Felix, not cheap and sorry about the dark quick pic.

Back to Moondance, and why not? Mickey Bubbles did a great version. The bass was playing over some very funky chords. And that version swung. Not to be confused with Swing, which does anything but swing. Have I confused you? Swing refers to the era populated by Glenn Miller et al when the music must have excited the punters but listened to today sounds rather plodding. A jazz tune that swings moves forward effortlessly with an urgent pulse from the bass propelling the rhythm forward. And the tempo doesn’t need to be over fast for a tune to swing. Try to listen toRay Brown playing with Oscar Peterson on Have you met Miss Jones. Played at a languid tempo that swings like crazy.

13. A combo/cab steel backline stand - bassace

IMHO Moondance can just about be classed as jazz, it’s just played very badly. And, of course, when something gets played to death it ceases to be called jazz (emoji denoting heavy irony). When I was a young buck we had the same argument concerning the classification of a sports car. It started with cars with open tops. Then the Lotus Cortina came along and confused everything. I suspect the jazz definition was dead easy in the 1920s when there was no other form of ‘lively music’ to compete. I did a jazz trio gig the other day and amongst some Monk and Miles we played a version of Sukiyaki, a pop tune from the sixties. So, go figure.

Different planets, drT, different planets.

My Genzler Magellan is a great amp But the knobs make it very difficult to adjust on a gig. Nice and arty but the dot on the front and reference line on the circumference are mostly invisible. You can’t beat chicken heads for backline.

I’m just not hearing this. Orbison’s and the Beatles’ tunes use a piano figure from the blues predating Miles by a decade or three. There are a few books analysing Kind of Blue, I’ve not read most of them but would be very surprised if they attached the KoB connection to these pop tunes.

A lot of the groups had 3 Vox AC30 combos with the vocals doubling through the rhythm amp. And don’t forget the Watkins Copycat sitting on top. Later all sorts of crude home made pa outfits appeared. My dad liberated a whole lot of old ‘music while you work’ speakers from the biscuit factory. Brother gutted the 9”x 4” elliptical drivers and put a whole load into a column, major axis vertically. As you can imagine the distortion was a bit challenging but bro’s finest hour came when the Stones ran Mick Jaggers vocals through them at Reading Town Hall. Jan 1962 I think. As OBBM will no doubt agree, there was neither money or availability around back then. You made a lot of your own kit.

When I was at school jazz was the music and the nascent rock and roll was enjoyed by thickoes and teddy boys - yes , really. And I’ve been playing jazz ever since. Mind you, rock improved and there was a lot of love for it. So I enjoy rock/pop, a lot of it anyway. And a lot of other musical genres. But I enjoy jazz best. I’ll get my beret.

Yes, 18 piece dance bands were becoming uneconomical and smaller aggregations, with amplification, we’re becoming the norm and just as effective. There was the JB7 and at that time The Eric Delaney Band followed the same route. We used to play on the same bill from time to time. They were still using upright bass with an amp and they had Tony Fisher, today one of the very best trumpet session men and Alan Skidmore on Sax. There was also a shy teenager with her first job on vocals; Elaine Mansfield who later became Elkie Brooks.