bassace

Hope the gigs go well. New venues always needed and welcome, so good luck. Too far for me to travel but all news via BC welcome.

I find that very depressing and, I hope, not typical of the jazz scene. I suppose people have to get into jazz somehow but I'm not a great fan of jams anyway.

So if the after length is so important, an by all accounts it is, I wonder why DPA, Fishman, KK, etc recommend hanging mics and jacks off it.

Oh sure, me too. But there's a great story about the London pit musicians who, whenever they do a show by by a, ahem, 'well known living composer' mark up their score with the title of the original tune that the particular passage is cribbed from. I'm told the score is covered in pencil by the time the show ends.

I don't usually do jazz jams - the two most dreaded words in the language - but I played in the house rhythm section of a well-organised one last Sunday. As I walked in I heard someone say 'Oh good, a double bass'. So, go figure.

And it's not only pubs. I was at Oxford town hall in the late fifties - may have been early sixties. It seemed the whole audience started fighting each other. The very few who didn't want to join in got up onto the stage for safety. Humph, for it was he, said his band played much better when there was a fight going on.

I don't think Paloma is a male, and I'm not a fan. But fair play for a well-crafted entertaining set. And in tune.

Saw them live recently and completely agree re Zac. Bloody brilliant and not seeming to use a lot of energy either.

Surgical spirit.

You can adjust the after length by lengthening or shortening the tail wire. I've got a Kolstein adjustable tailpiece on one of my basses which makes it possible to individually adjust each string. It does make a difference but not too sure of the theory. Looking forward to BC enlightenment. And here's another one: there's a theory held by quite a few players that you can get an improvement to the E string sound by swapping over the A and E winders. Something to do with reducing the break angle on the E.

The list is no different from a Channel 4 prog populated by talking heads, failed comedians and game show hosts who haven't a clue what they're talking about. We all have our preferences for all sorts of reasons but my favourites don't have a claim above anyone else's faves.

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1435478009' post='2809041'] In her defence and on the subject of correct intonation, I do think it's the most overrated aspect of music. [/quote] And it doesn't matter if the band speeds up. YES IT DOES!

Not a Paloma fan but fair play for an excellent set. Tight band, well drilled and great musicianship. Max VFM. Andrea didn't disappoint.

I've never heard Motörhead before. I can't believe how bad they were. I must be getting old.

Daughter does indeed seem a sweetheart. Hope her studies go well, she becomes an accomplished player and when that's all achieved she gets her black bass and becomes a rockabilly star!

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1435260267' post='2807137'] Just do it. Jazz elitists will always find something to disagree with. [/quote] No they don't.

There are still a few jazz double bass fakers out there because the relative softness of the bass - especially with muddy amplification - means that their notes can stay hidden. On a BG there's not a lot of hiding and it can actually be more difficult to do a jazz gig well. To be honest I'd prefer the dynamics of a double bass in jazz but if you turned up with your BG I wouldn't see too much of a problem, unless you're playing with a bunch of musical bigots. There's a guy in Oxford called Jezz Cook who is primarily a six string guy but when he plays BG he can play most of the upright guys out of the town.

Many of us have been exposed to amazing DB sounds on recordings where an expensive mic or two are used, there's complete isolation between the instruments and the whole exercise is completed by hours of mixing. And we all try to emulate that sound. We practise on our basses in a small room, all extraneous echoes and resonances dampened by furniture and often rugs as well. And we all try to emulate that sound but louder. We all wish we could get the same tone as Danny Thompson or Ray Brown according to our genre. I've never heard RB live but I've been fortunate enough to have met him. I've never met DT but I've been unfortunate enough to have heard him live - the sound was all boom and jumbled lows. So what I'm trying to say is that playing live can be a right lottery. There is a consensus emerging here that it's possible to get a nearly true bass sound with subtle miking and well placed and eq'd pickups. But when the band is loud and you want a plug and play setup, then the mag will do it. Not long ago I did my monthly gig with keys/rhythm/voc/two saxes. I took my Kolstein travel bass fitted with a Schaller mag. At the end the saxes turned round and said 'great bass tonight' and I'd been playing that gig with them for over 12 years.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1434275929' post='2798169'] Maybe use both - the piezo for very small gigs, then for louder gigs add the magnetic for volume and feedback-free on-stage sound, with a bit of the more natural acoustic tone of the piezo dialled in to the mix out front? [/quote] Makes sense.

Finger trouble, Owen?

Looks like £245.80 at Thomann.

There's not a great appetite for basses in the £5k and upwards range on this forum. Online Musical Chairs might do it, or Thwaites at Watford could sell it on commission perhaps. There are other dealer possibilities of course.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1433935924' post='2795182'] A lot of outstanding Musicians played in his bands, and he treated them very well. The late great Derek Watkins did a stint with the JL Orchestra. Starts with Flugel then tears it up on Trumpet towards the end. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOKZ5zSDaAA [/quote] I was privileged to play with him in his early years

Give it a couple more pages and everyone will get a mention. Nothing changes.

Ho ho. He speaks a lot of sense.