bassace

I had a mic through a Headway into a QSC K10 on a pole at one time. I used it for a couple of gigs and got a superior sound. But I found the cab was a tad on the heavy side, a few more wires to consider and I reverted to a simpler plug and play. But if you want, Rabbie, it's worth a go, only I hear the K8 works quite well and it's lighter.

Why not?

You can take it from me that I'll be coming but everything else is a bit sketchy right now. I have a severe lung infection, my right lung is full of green gunge and breathing isn't easy. I'm glad I made it to the bass Bash last Sat but I'm a bit useless right now. I now realise who Bro Malvis is; I lent him my bass at a gig last year. He is a great guy, full of enthusiasm so do what you can to get behind him.

Good suggestion, Bro. We had one last year so perhaps a spring 2018 DB Bash would chime with the every-two-years fixture. The trick is to find a suitable venue that caters for a good number of attendees. We've had it twice at Derby which suits quite a few but it does tend to exclude North/Scotland and the South. Perhaps somewhere near Bicester or a bit more south might give the southerners a crack. So something to think about. The other thing, I'm not in the best of health right now, since June actually, so my horizons are a bit narrow as is the amount I can help with. Owen was my very capable and enthusiastic co-conspirator last year and it would be great if he could continue with his involvement. It would be nice to stay in the loop a bit; I could always consider a small contribution.

I didn't go last year so it was great to resume this year and catch up with the Basschat community. I lost count of offers to help carry my gear in, just showing what a nice crowd you all are. Thanks to all those who organised and ran this great event.

And let the drummer set up first, don't get in his way while he's doing it. Otherwise they can get very irritable.

Ha! It's only an estimate, and I was out for ten years when I was doing other things, but I've been busy during the past 25 years so I reckon the figure is not far off. The last twenty years are on spreadsheets so I could extrapolate, I suppose. But boasting isn't an attractive characteristic, is it? Just to carry on a bit, I've got a gig tonight with a skiffle revival group. Not quite my thing but it puts me in mind back to 1957 when I was still at school and we did our first skiffle gig. I was on washboard. Happy days.

Your first gig with 30 numbers could be a bit daunting. Is it your first gig only, or the rest of the band as well. If the others have experience you should be able to cruise along on them. Do you know all the keys, if in any doubt a crib sheet on the floor will give you added confidence. But enjoy the gig and those that will inevitably follow. There's something a bit special about playing live. In over fifty years my gig count must be in the low thousands but I still get a great buzz out of the anticipation of a new gig, like tomorrow. Good luck

Little Mix?

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1505546385' post='3372672'] Thanks for putting me right. 'Til now, I had been pronouncing your screen name like I do when I say "Liberace". Heeheehee. [/quote] Versace

If my car reg hadn't said so, I'd never have claimed to be ace. Although I do play bass. Quite often.

Thanks guys. I'd like to keep the tuning standard but just on certain numbers detune to D or Eb. I suppose I could just do down a tone on the winder for the particular tune, taking care to remember where I am.

I'm happy with four string but there are times when I'd like to get down to Eb. Any suggestions? Or perhaps D to avoid the open string.

Actually new cab day first came a couple of months ago, but I'll get to the point. New cab is the Genzler Bass Array 10-2. It consists of a small front ported cab with a 10" neo driver and a vertical array of four 2" neo drivers. I can get the complete range from this cab, in fact I'm using a Puma 500 amp set flat with an FdeckHPF with the lows rolled way down. The clarity and speed from my Bryant have to be heard to be believed, and fellow musos like the sound too. I'm so enthusiastic about this cab that a second one arrived today so for the bigger gigs I can dispense with my 12" cab and stack the two Genzler's. http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Bass_Array_10_2_Genzler_Amplification.html

I know a couple of good players who play 1/2 size. One for gigs convenience and the other who uses the shorter scale to play demon solos. But they both started on 3/4 and had plenty of experience with those. So I would certainly agree with the posts above that 3/4 is the size that a beginner should choose. You can always opt for 1/2 but not until you've found your 3/4 chops.

Keyboard player booked for the gig didn't turn up.

Ordered a cab at 12.30 yesterday and it didn't arrive until 10.00 this morning. Things will have to improve!

Bought a new cab this morning. Mark was busy doing some else's invoice but still had the time to chat about the joys of bass playing. A painless transaction, it'll arrive tomorrow.

The bass has been through a few hands since Kolstein, and it's not feasible to return it to US. But it's no big deal, the 'drop' is actually less than 2mm and I used the 3mm packer to also wind the adjusters down a bit after removing a Lifeline. The point of the post, however, was to demonstrate that bridge feet packers from suitable material,are perfectly feasible as used before me by others. Sorry if this point wasn't fully grasped.

What FinnDave said.

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1504918582' post='3368356'] This isnt really a good idea. If the bridge is correctly fitted then the feet have been hand finished to match the contour of the table for maximum contact. Put wooden shims under there and the sound is compromised, as is the potential stability of the bridge. [/quote] I wouldn't like to disagree with this, in theory anyway. But sometimes you can take a few liberties with the DB. The table of my Kolstein has dropped to the point where I don't want to wind any more thread out of the adjusters. I keep a stock of thin pieces of laminated wood that some types of cheese are sold in. I took a piece approx 3mm, cut it into two to go under the bridge feet, steamed it using a kettle to make it pliable and slipped it under the bridge. It immediately took up the curvature and works perfectly with no loss of tone. Incidentally, before you slacken the strings you can wedge a piece of wood, cut accurately to size, between the underside of the fingerboard overstand and the table. That will maintain pressure on the sondpost and guarantee it'll be kept in place. Put a piece of cloth between the wedge and the table to protect it from scratches. I learnt that little trick from Gearge Martin. I'd post photos but my skills are defeated by BC and I'm in no mood to figure out third party hosting tricks.

And I played with Arthur Brown while he was still at Reading University - Blues Plus Brown, as I recall. He was good even back then.

Being old keeps stuff fresh.

Big flappy orchestra? I thought the great thing was how such a big orchestra was so together and managed to swing. Yes, a small group would probably have been more appropriate and involving but its place would have been at Ronnie's. This, after all, was a Prom performance, a season of orchestral performances. Contrast the Mingus Prom with the big band concert that preceded Stax: two big bands that couldn't swing with trumpet sections on the verge of being out of control. And compère (commere?) Claire Teal outdoing Jules in the forced jollity stakes.

I thought the bass was just about right in the mix, and by eq-ing the kick drum 'down' the BBC sound managed to get rid of the rhythm section mush that I've heard every time when live. So, in spite of my initial scepticism, I thought the band sound turned out well. And Mr Swift, of whom I haven't been the greatest fan, probably due to the aforementioned mush, absolutely nailed it. I tend to agree with the previous posters re the good bad and indifferent 'acts'. And why do they play Green Onions at that speed these days?