bassace

You know the small boxes that up market cheese comes in? I keep the wooden sides and they make great shims. Thin card does well for the smaller gaps a la Clarky ( actually gender fail; should it be aux Clarky?)

Go on, HJ; you know you want one.

[quote name='SevenSeas' timestamp='1381844335' post='2244437'] Interesting I did look at the Lifeline, I haven't got an adjustable bridge though. I think I went for the Copperhead as a safe option and I have heard lots of great players using it. Might be an entirely different game when I start gigging with it, I have heard quite a few people mix the sound. So the Realist to your amp and then having another microphone DPA and sending it to front of house. I haven't even looked into microphones yet... expensive and of course one step at a time. [/quote] A pickup to backline and a mic to front of house is the desirable option and you can get very good results with a DPA. Trouble is, I find that very few jazz gigs I do have a FoH option, except most festivals and some prestige stuff. Stables at Wavendon was to die for. So I've concentrated on getting optimum plug and play from my backline. I suspect quite a few rockabilly bands carry their own PA and sound and I've just joined a nice jazz/folk outfit with good sound and an ex-Tull engineer but I bet with the jazzers PA is in the minority.

I'm liking the Lifeline very much. Dead easy to fit (on an adjustable bridge) and good feedback resistance. Having been a lifelong Underwood user I had to get used to the attack on the front of the note - can come out as too much thump if not eq'd properly - and I'm still blending it with an Underwood for the louder gigs. But for the smaller, quieter stuff it's great.

Gigging? I doubt I'll be alive. Seriously though, I'm past 70 now and although I still average three a week I've got to face the possibility of stopping soon. I still play OK and knock up an awesome amount of miles up and down the country but I don't want to be 'the old guy in the band' and certainly wouldn't want to be a 90 year old curiosity.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1381426038' post='2239029'] ...or if you break a finger, eh..? Not an impossible occurrence, either. [/quote] If I broke a finger I would consider it a good enough reason for stopping the gig; a broken string is no excuse for a pro musician to stop. As long as there is a bo**ocks barrier somewhere outside Dover we should all be spared.

But you guys who don't carry spares: what exactly would you do if you did break a string? Not an impossible occurrence.

Yes, a new set of Mittels, a string winder and a 4B pencil. I've had more tail wires than strings break (2-0).

Was she on Andrew Marr this morning? Different bassist tho'.

I find an estate easier for loading a bass plus you can slide the cab/amp/why in easily. Focus estate very good although I have a German these days.

[quote name='ubassman' timestamp='1380740650' post='2229927'] Thats what Excesses in the Policy are designed to do ! [/quote] To a point.

Thing is, what risk(s) are you insuring against. If I take my bass to a gig the most likely event will be damage of some kind and from some source. OK, I know of a bass that had an upright piano fall on it, so a total write off. But £2,000 will easily cover quite a serious amount of damage. Now, digging deeper on this, to a student for example a DB may well be his principal asset and he would do well to cover his instrument for total loss, eg theft, or in a house fire. My house is equal to an awful lot of basses so it makes sense to get that well-covered and in the event of that getting destroyed I might be less concerned at losing a bass. We can go through life insuring everything against every risk - and spend an awful lot of money doing so. Or we could cover ourselves against the biggest risks and take the lesser events on the chin. (Commenting on Rabbie's post - quote missed off, sorry)

That's very brave, Ben. All power to you.

I write as one who's never set eyes on a KK let alone played one but the emphasis on its salsa suitability makes me worry that it may be a bit too thumpy for my taste. I like a bass with a good legato sound and sustain. How have others found this particular aspect?

Musicians Union membership gives me £2,000 non specified insurance. OK, it doesn't cover everything but enough to pay for a DB repair following gig damage (I've claimed once for a split in the table after a sax player knocked my bass over) or my Clarus head getting nicked. Stuff at home is only partially covered but I've always taken the more unlikely risks on the chin.

That's fair enough for your intended use. I made the point in an adjacent topic that a strong E on an amplified bass can have an adverse effect on the sound palette. A case of horses for courses - or basses for places perhaps.

No way is a DB anything like 3M3.

[quote name='TheG' timestamp='1380533325' post='2226545'] Thwaites were fine and down to earth. One thing I noticed with practically all the shops, was when I said "This bass is Great but the E string seems dead", etc nobody really offered any explanation or opinion as to why or what could be done. It didn't really seem like it was a dead string either to me. I could only assume that they purposefully have no opinion as it will sound different with each player????? I don't know! Maybe my finger was dead or something? [/quote] You'll find many basses with a disappointing E but don't be too concerned about this. The bass will most likely amp up very well. A really strong E could amp up too well and you'll have to apply an HPF or eq it out somehow. More important is to find a bass with a strong G that stays well right up to thumb position. Mr Boring alert, I may just tell you an E string story if you tempt me.

That is amazing and will be valued by all of us who have struggled, eg, with Waltz for Debby. Just to go into Mr Boring mode, if I may, a pianist friend of mine wrote to Bill Evans while he was at Scotts and asked for guidance on the chords for WfD which was brand new then and not as familiar to us as it is now. Bill replied with the chords which he had jotted down on a scrap of paper during the interval.

That's just great!

I just clean the strings with industrial alcohol and give the body and neck a dust, but have never polished a bass.

Don't think so, it's a bit downmarket compared to Cornbury which he usually goes to with his chum Mr Clarkson. I queued up with Mr C at the chippy recently: he looked scruffy and miserable. Sorry, this isn't much about basses is it. I'm playing with a gypsy jazz/folk four piece. If we get asked to do 'something Irish' we tarmac the car park in the interval.

I'm just confused. I'm taking my German blonde ply to the Chipping Norton Festival (ChippyJazz) tomorrow.

The EB really came into its own in the mid sixties - because it was there and the DB was difficult to amp with the kit available. The only near-acceptable piece of gear was the Di Armond contact mic and that was pretty mushy. So people were leaving the double bass in droves - a good time to buy in retrospect. The EB couldn't really get close to the sound of the DB and always seemed to be to forward in the mix; just listen to the bass on the previous clip. At that time fusion was starting to make itself heard so the EB fitted in; I remember reading an article that asserted that the EB was probably the most significant instrument to have entered the jazz world over the past few decades. I remember I left the DB behind and played EB for quite a while. It was great to be heard easily. Trouble was I naturally played DB just in front of the beat to be decent but when I played EB it got a bit too much and some of my fellow musos reckoned I was a bit rubbish. So it was a happy day when I went up to Footes and bought my double bass for the second time.