bassace

Spot on, bobmartin. I first started playing with dance bands and my double bass, unamplified, cut through very well. A typical band with two trumpets, three or four saxes and perhaps a trombone or two would play without PA, save for a solitary microphone for announcements or a clarinet solo. I never had a problem with drums but the arrival of electronic organs caused me a few problems. The first amplified double bass I saw/heard belonged to Johnnie Hawksworth with the Ted Heath band. He used a contact mic going into a 15" combo made by Teddy Wallace. Crude by today's standards but effective in its day. He was a larger than life character and featured with the band. If you can imagine Holiday for Strings played on the upper register of the double bass, that's your man. His bass, a blonde, never had a cover but was chucked on the back seat on his vast American car. He encouraged me to amplify my bass and I rigged a hifi amp onto a speaker cab that I built myself, starting with a 12" and progressing to an 18". To think that my favoured cab is a 10" these days. I was amused by bob's point that many players with poor intonation gave up when amplification came in. It wasn't just poor intonation, they had got away with playing the wrong notes for a long time until the amp found them out. Known to us as bassfakers. There are still some about.

And there is a very nice looking bass for sale in the DB section, a Michael Poller, for £650. Personally I'd snap that one up.

Musical Chairs Instrument Sales is good. They have a harp classification but I see there's nothing on there at the mo.

My business plan all those years ago went thus:- I'm never going to make money out of my music so settle down to forging a career and play music for enjoyment. Retired from career and still enjoying playing music. I'm comfortable, so in retrospect not a bad business plan. Mind you. Out of our five- piece one became a successful songwriter, Cliff, Hollies, Elvis; singer recorded, including TV sigtunes, her husband went into music and manufactured hifi. So did our drummer who also toured. And the baby joined Dire Straits. Still think I got it right tho'

Interesting that on the 'other' forum there is some current dissatisfaction with the Full Circle, as there seems to be from time to time. Surely the Lifeline is the go-to pickup for the gigging bassist. It picks up from the same part of the bridge as the FC and is wired much more robustly. You need a bridge adjuster, of course. Mine works very well on a plug in, play and forget basis.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1500901206' post='3340928'] And, by a weird coincidence, I shall be playing Fever (complete with key changes) at the Ealing Jazz Festival on Saturday. [/quote] Got to hear it!

Hmm. If you listen to the original version by Peggy Lee you will hear that the bass phrase in each successessive chorus is subtly different from the preceding one. And they raise a semitone each chorus. It seems simple but it's not easy to play. This version sounds how I would probably play it if I was confronted by an open mike singer, ie not very well. Sorry Pete, I'm a bit grumpy this Sunday morning.

You may be interested that I have this amp for sale in the Amps for Sale section. It's one of the very best amps for double bass as it has two channels with phantom power available if you want to run a mic. Also low cut filters incorporated.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1500461979' post='3337938'] Top 40? Wedding /corporate? Party? What's the difference? And what is a Jazz covers band when it is at home? [/quote] We were setting up for a jazz gig and a punter came up and asked the boss what we played. Jazz, said the boss. What kind of jazz? Mainly standards said the boss. Oh, covers, said the punter. Do you know what that bloke just said?, says the boss in disgust. Cue mirth all round.

Just on another matter, I bought a cab from BD a few weeks ago and yesterday got in touch with the USA manufacturers to tell them how pleased I was with it. They asked if they could put my comments on their Facebook page. I agreed if anonymised. So my comments have popped up on BD site today, over my name. They don't miss a trick do they, bless 'em.

F# is just plain bizarre. I can't imagine I'd come across someone wanting to sing in that key. Make 'em do it in F.

Why no double bass?

I'm happy with mine, Pete. It is a bit dark and I always run a high pass filter (FDeck HPF) in the chain.

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1499249896' post='3330238'] As genres go Jazz is no more or less laudable than any other. [/quote] Completely agree. Jazz has been my music for over fifty years and it's what I like to play. But I have never regarded myself as superior or inferior to a guy who plays any other kind of music. I admire the skill of many rock musicians and I certainly enjoy the sounds.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1499178051' post='3329725'] Oh I don't know, you should see the faces on some of the guitarists at my local jam when a singer asks for a song in Eb or F! [/quote] No problem to a jazzer, Moose :-)

I wouldn't have a problem with a singer wanting to go up or down a tone from the written key to suit their vocal range. You even get plenty of instrumentalists wanting a different key and I don't quite understand that.

Yawn yawn yawn.

Tony Bennett at Symphony Hall, Monday. His bass player, Marshall Wood has organised guest tickets for me and a couple of musos.

Yes, it's a live gig. The discipline/sterility of the recording studio doesn't apply. Thought it was a great set.

[quote name='malbass' timestamp='1498513859' post='3325219'] As an aside, the bass is currently flat on its back on the spare bed, much to the consternation of the wife. I've explained about the risk of dropping the soundpost in its current state but she wasn't impressed as her mother is due to stay at the weekend. A few choice words were hear when I suggested there would be enough room for the mother in law to share the bed with it :-) [/quote] Yes, but make sure the bass has the right amount of room. 😀

Such style! Congratulations to you both.