bassace

Not quite Perfect.

We were a seven piece playing a posh gig for some big noise in BT. In the second set there were some guys getting a bit pissed and winding each other up. Suddenly one of them jumped onto the stage and grabbed a mic. The band, all seven of us stopped playing, on the note, and just stared at him. He looked a right prat.

From the posts so far, you can remove two words from the topic title and rename it Billy Bragg.

Yes, bass player excellent. But gone down hill a bit after Little Mix.

Have PM'd

[quote name='TPJ' timestamp='1495826627' post='3306953'] I couldn't get on with the One 10 on DB. Too dark and not enough detail. [/quote] Have to agree, although my One10 works well with my stick and mag pickup. Super Midget is completely different though. Works very well with DB and it's nice and light for a 12".

[quote name='mart3442' timestamp='1495796131' post='3306663'] You'd be pushed to find a seperates setup thats more portable than my Gallien Krueger MB combo....... [/quote] But would you want a GK MB...................? But seriously, that was my sole amp for many years, went all over UK , Europe and flew to Lanzarotte and Gran Canaria. I've still got its flight case. But I think we've moved on a bit since.

These days I prefer separates for DB. My amp of choice is a Puma 500, it gives me the cleanest, clearest sound from the pickup. Clearer, may I say, even than the Clarus. Ok, so it doesn't have a phase reverse and HPF that the Clarus does but that can be sorted with an FDeck HPF on the front. As for cabs, I've gone through a few and alighted upon a Barefaced Super Midget that can handle most of the largest gigs I do. And for the smaller gigs, often with 'difficult' acoustics such as a boomy pub or a sound killing carpet I take advantage of the mids that the 10" Wizzy provides. So a separate set up gives a bit more versatility than a combo it only needs an extra speaker lead and the lift is not so strenuous - have you seen the weight of some of those MarkBass combos? As the question was about combos I'll just add that I've got a Genz 3.0-10 that is quite nice, well made but I don't use it much. Don't get into the idea that a bouble bass will prefer a combo designed for bass guitars. It won't need thunderous lows but rather the clarity in the middle frequencies. It's a different instrument entirely.

[quote name='walbassist' timestamp='1495697392' post='3305879'] I have the new Markbass CMD Super Combo K1 - 1k watts, 3 way speaker system with flat frequency response. Superb. [/quote] With a double bass?

1959, yes I know, it's a long time ago, we were still at school. But after generally noodling around we got a decent band together and for our second gig we were booked to play support to a major British band at Reading Town Hall, capacity 800. This was a big deal to us and there was a big buzz in the school. With a few days to go the promoter told us that the MU told him they wouldn't allow the headline band to play with a non-Union band. We were still at school ffs! So I pulled my savings out of the post office and hurriedly joined the bloody union. I've never forgot those bully boy tactics. I get Public Liabilty Insurance from AMPBand and instrument insurance from Allianz and consider the MU totally irrelevant to what I do these days.

Ouch.

Go to the DB section.

My first gig on double bass was dead easy. Because I wasn't a bass player and I 'borrowed' a double bass from a friend who had one. So I had nothing to prove, nothing to lose. As I remember it was with a skiffle group playing root/fifths on open strings. But by the end of the gig I was hooked and so in the school holidays I worked at the biscuit factory on the cake wrapping line. I spent my 45 quid on a new Czech ply. We called them ply back then, non of this laminated nonsense. That bass travelled on the roof of my ancient car and because there weren't many bass players around I picked up a stependous amount of work. And still doing it sixty years later- three good gigs next week. So what I'm trying to say is if you're new to the double bass enjoy the moment. It's a noble instrument and if you stick at it it'll give you a lot back. Enjoy.

[quote name='Deedee' timestamp='1494269082' post='3294581'] That's sounds like one too many to me, so if you fancy parting company with one........... 😉 [/quote] Unfortunately not, Deedee. Although the second one is nominally a spare it is often pressed into service when I need two channels. I used to lust after a BonaFide but a 500 racked on top of another does the job well enough. I was using a single 500 last night in a 'difficult' room and it dialled in a nice clean sound straightaway. It's the best amp for DB afaic and I'm sure it's a favourite with many BG players.

Got two Puma 500 amps. It's my go to for double bass these days. It's so small that the second one lives under the passenger seat, just in case.

Just listened to Radio 2, Janice Long live from the Cheltenham 'Jazz' Festival playing three hours of pop-sounding-like-jazz. Nice.

Does it have a D or Eb neck?

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1492197557' post='3278687'] If you'd ever seen Jools' big band live, you would know that they can swing like blazes. They are sh*t hot, whatever you might think of their leader. [/quote] Seen them twice, each time completely underwhelmed. There are bands with a third of the musicians that are three times effective. So I suppose JH is to be applauded for keeping so many musicians in gainful employment, and I hear he looks after them well. But it's a great clunking juggernaut with a plodding rhythm section. What's to like?

If you hear his band playing it makes you wonder if he ever 'got' rock. It doesn't swing either.

Louis's putting down of bebop is perhaps relevant because it is well argued that the emergence of that genre put an end to jazz as a popular medium. Put bluntly, people just couldn't dance to this new angular, at times cool, at times frenetic music. I'm not putting bebop down, it's my favourite jazz medium, to listen to and to play. But its unpopularity is the reason I don't get called to play it as much as I'd like and I find myself playing lounge music, Dixieland and Gypsy. They're OK but they're not bebop. Some great YouTubes lately. Thanks guys.

I had three gigs come in this morning. Three!