bassace

It keeps saying 'enter price' -when I have. Not impressed with all the time I've wasted.

It keeps saying 'enter p

As I see it, the double bass has two f-holes facing forward. If there was an advantage in having additional ones at the rear and at the side DB evolution would have got to that place by now. But it hasn't. Just a bit of Friday mischief-making, you understand.

I've got too many as it is, eight at the last count. But the new technology could be a game-changer, perhaps. Of more interest is the Remic mic that is attracting a lot of interest; it slips easily under the tailpiece and there is a studio model and a gigging version which is more feedback resistant. Then there is the Grace Designs Felix, an outboard preamp, blender, sophisticated eq that seems to do everything very well. Pop down to your local corner shop and get the two for a cool £1600.

I played in the Pavilion (?) on the front a few years ago with a Trad Band. Half way through our first set a loud beat combo started up in the adjoining room, separated from us by a thin partition. All very strange, but they didn't trouble us when we were playing, only between tunes.

That's great, particularly that work on the hi hat. I remember when Take Five first came out Brubeck would vamp on the piano under Joe's solo to keep things together. Soon after, Joe would handle the 5/4 rhythm unaided and, of course, today's young (and not so young) drummers handle polyrhythms without any difficulty. Thanks for the post, Dad.

Yes, the Band is well-liked, dead easy to fit but I haven't used one.

I'm not intending to sound patronising but will your first DB be towards the bottom end of the market? If so, good, because I have a ply bass that's a dream to amp. At the other end I have a very nice carved bass that has the most gorgeous acoustic sound but has been a nightmare to get a decent amped sound. I've sorted it now but I've had to go up a few blind alleys before I've achieved a very good sound. So to consider a simple pickup on a basic bass. You couldn't go too wrong with an Underwood. This is by no means an entry pup and could give good results. Two piezo sandwiches fit between the bridge wing slots. You may need to do a bit of work to get the right fit. The Shadow is similar. The KK BassMax fits in a single wing and it is correspondingly cheaper, gives good results and very easy to fit. Then there is the David Gage Realist which is a copper foil that sits under the bridge foot and is again dead easy to fit. It gives a somewhat darker sound than the previous pups but a lot of people enjoy its mellowness. If you have an adjustable bridge you could fit a Gage Lifeline, which I like, or a Fishman Full Circle which many consider the best of them all. Starting out I'd recommend either a BassMax or a Realist for ease of installation and which won't need an outboard preamp initially. I'd like to be in your position again because the first DB is a magical thing and the simplest pickup will give you a satisfactory amped sound. Later, much later, you'll start to get picky and that's where the anguish and expense start to bite. Enjoy your bass.

BassBod mentioned steel strings. A mag pickup needs these, or at least strings with a high proportion of steel in them, to produce an acceptable volume. The attraction of a mag, to me, is that you can plug it straight in to an amp without any other outboard stuff in the chain. My Schaller will give good volume with the strings 10mm above the pickup elements. I have a spare mag here that you could try if you're prepared to find some way of mounting it. If you're interested perhaps you could PM me your address.

When I got my Kolstein Travel bass a few years ago it had an uneven balance across the strings, using a piezo pickup, that I couldn't even out. So I fitted a Schaller mag pickup. You can raise or lower the volume of individual strings and I now have a perfect balance. It plugs straight into any of the heads or combis that I use and I'm very happy with the result. In fact I seem to have more compliments on my sound than my uprights. It's a quick and easy fix.

I'm trying to get hold of Dan by email with an order but haven't had a reply yet. Does anyone have a phone number that they could PM me? I am getting a bit desperate because my well used USA version is starting to get a bit wonky.

I'd get a Merc Sprinter and a guy with a strong back. Then I'd make my choice.

Pictures of Lilly.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1445758698' post='2893830'] once on holiday, I saw a fat Karen Carpenter tribute [/quote] You mean a normal sized person?

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1445285393' post='2890322'] I can confirm, that is a posh venue. So posh we had to load in through the window! [/quote] French doors via the Serpent Gate - if they haven't mislaid the key. How did you get on with the jobsworths?

I've gotta tell you this. Yesterday we played for a posh lunch at the Orangery, Blenheim Palace. It's only a few miles down the road, we were a three piece gtr, drums, bass and playing mainly wallpapery jazz standards. Audience middle aged and generally not very responsive. One number we played was The Night Has a Thousand Eyes -.not Bobby Vee but John Coltrane. And we got a good round of applause. A Coltrane number!

Time was when I did quite a few function deps and all by ear. But stuff has moved on a lot, not necessarily for the better but it's certainly different. And a lot of it doesn't always follow the old rules. So it's not really feasible for me these days. I have a lot of respect for the good function bands. I enjoy a lot of pop and I'm constantly exasperated by jazzers who don't care for the genre and most of the time haven't heard of the artists. While I'm on, can I give a shout for Ben Cummings, a trumpet player who I was with a few years ago in a good Dixie band. We toured all over together, in UK, Germany, Holland and the Canaries. He's now on tour with Caro Emerald and has impeccable jazz chops but can play anything, but anything. Try and catch them sometime.

The table is well put together.

I played a couple of gigs with him in the sixties when he was a student at Reading Uni. We were Blues plus Brown. He had a great voice back then and was a very nice guy.

[quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1444587074' post='2884319'] Same here in Cheltenham. Either folky acoustic guys, endless blues solos or 15 year old starting 'deathcore' bands :-/ [/quote] Brian Jones did OK.

If it's ES it'll be easy for him to screw it in, but if it's BC the whole forum will want to pile in. Sorry 'bout that.