bassace

I’ve done a few gigs in my time - maybe a few thousand even - and have mostly used my best bass, even in pubs. As I’ve previously said I’d hate my gravestone to say ‘he had a better bass at home’. The main exception has been outdoor gigs when I’ve always taken a laminate, just in case it rains or the sun is too strong. I’ve found the bass to be a resilient instrument, the main weakness in my experience being the tail wire. I’ve had three go over the years, once while I was playing, with dramatic results, and the other two while tuning up before the gig. My advice is if you find that your tail wire is solid, like a piece of welding rod, replace it as soon as with a length of multi- strand rigging cable. I’ve never taken any back up bass with me, just a set of strings, duplicate leads and a spare amp top.

Heard of ‘cutting’?

Oh, that is worrying. I hope he’s OK, he did a great job of work on my Bryant.

We obviously need another DB Bash. But where?

Thumb for show, nut for dough.

Must be the curse of Symphony Hall. I went to see Tony Bennett a couple of years ago and he sang the same song twice. Otherwise great though.

Could it be a dry joint in a valve base? It happened to me with a home built preamp - there weren’t too many bass specific in those days. I was working behind a very highly regarded female sax player - OK, it was Kathy Stobart - who turned round to me in frustration and asked ‘What do you think you’re playing, a Geiger counter?’

That’s a beautiful tune. I’ve been playing it with soloists, vocalists and within quartets for over fifty years. It’s a staple of jazzers and any group should be able to play it if called. it was written by Jimmy Van Heusen. Born Chester Babcock he changed his name after seeing a shirt advert. He was a prolific composer of great standards and a keen flyer with his own plane. He did test pilot duties for Lockheed in WW2. His tunes moved the American songbook repertoire along a bit from the output of George Gershwin, Cole Porter et al whose tunes sound a bit pedestrian in comparison. Check out JvH’s extensive output on Wiki. Also Harry Warren’s while you’re about it.

I suppose to win a competition you’ve got to have good chops on display. But unless he joins a supergroup like MMW he’ll be earning his money by playing in a somewhat more pedestrian role. As I’ve said before, ‘Thumb for show, nut for dough’.

It was. Considering the size of the rig the bass guitar sounded rather weedy. He probably got the gig because he was the drummer’s brother. Ewan a worthy winner and a fine young db soloist. I hope that he would be effective within a rhythm section as well. Liked the sax player too. Quite a mature talent at a young age.

The drummer’s Russian again. Typical.

Ears. Ears. Ears.

Sadly I’m out of range now, and an octaver won’t bring me closer. I’ll miss this friendly well organised event. Hope some DBs turn up, though.

Oi!

The crescendo is the journey, not the destination.

I’ve always found notes easy to find. But not necessarily the right ones.

Haven’t you guys heard of Red Mitchell?

Thanks for the replies, guys. On balance I won’t bother to splash out on valves without someone’s positive experience. I have good memories of the warmth of the sound that I got from a pair of KT88s but that was over fifty years ago with rubbishy strings and a vastly inferior double bass. BTW, I don’t consider there is necessarily a gold standard in the amp/cab combination. It very much depends on the signal from the strings and bass. The Clarus is OK but my amp of choice over the past four years has been a Puma500 coupled to a Genzler 2-10 array, or a Wizzy10 if the stage is carpeted. But it’s all personal choice.

There’s a bit of discussion going on under Amps and Cabs concerning valve amps. Mainly among bass guitarists, but I wondered whether there’s any experience/enthusiasm coming from the DB community. I first started out with valves and remember the disappointment in sound quality when I moved over to the convenience and compactness of class D. There are a few tasty valve jobs starting to appear and I’d be interested to know if there’s anyone with valve/db experience.

I started out on trombone although I wasn’t massively good. I did play with Acker once tho’. We had another trombone player who was a lot better so I was given an ultimatum- get a bass or else. And the rest is geography.

Alongside Butch Miles in the Count Basie band.

Needed to be said.

Very interesting. Where does Ray Pohlman come in all this. He’s credited alongside CK on a lot of stuff she did including Righteous Bros and Beach Boys to name but a few. Anyone?

Hmm.