bassace

[quote name='fatgoogle' timestamp='1367655996' post='2067932'] Good to know. Some people's reviews made it sound like the holy grail of modern bows. My geography of England's pretty bad but would it be impossible to get from London to Tom martin out in oxford?? First cause he seems like a legend and id love to meet him and second they have the claude marchand bows which ive also heard good things about. [/quote] Tom Martin is a bit north of Banbury at Williamscot. Go out of London on M40 and off at Junction 11. Then a couple of miles north up the A361. Tom is sometimes there but you're more likely to catch son George.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1367602237' post='2067516'] A very aptly timed thread as I've blagged a gig at Cheltenham Jazz Festival next week and I'd never, ever say that I was a jazzer! Glad I'm not the only one who struggles with the brain speed jazz requires or who finds "proper" jazzers intimidating. What I'm learning is that you have to think like a jazzer, if you can't hear it, guessing you're way round a chart just don't work. Back to the wood shed for me, and some proper analysis required! [/quote] You may be in good company because 'tis said that there aren't too many jazzers at the CJF anymore.

Nice eclectic programme. I'd like to see the Felonious Monks! (melodious funk?)

Plus one for John Goldsby.

He coulda done with a lesson. Jake would sort him out.

That's what they did back then; he'd probably never heard of thumb. And note how his left hand technique is far from 'classical'. There's a bit of a debate about when jazz players started to go 'legit' but LaFaro and his generation got a lot of the credit. If I may modestly mention, my technique is very much old school, looks like a train wreck today but is strangely effective.

As well as being a great in-demand jazzer in his time he played the intro to The Drifters' Under the Boardwalk as well as a lot of early Neil Sedaka hits. Quite a guy.

I read some of it and sometimes I post. No more, no less.

Good, order with confidence.

This type of fixing is used on Bassmax, Fishman Full Circle and BP-100 - and others probably. Some players favour afterlength damping to reduce the possibility of feedback but this is across all four strings, not just A and D. By the time the bass sound comes out of the speaker there is a certain amount of degredation anyway so my problems with such clips tend to be practical/ aesthetic rather than acoustic. You either have a straight jack sticking out and prone to damage by some passing musician or you need an angled jack. Plus a possibility of unravelling the silk binding. The Fishmans can be modified to give a straight socket than can be clipped to the underside of the tailpiece - tidy and safe - and so can the Bassmax but the trouble is that the cable is in most cases just a bit too short to make it down to the clip point. Incidentally, I have now developed my clip to handle two pickup jacks; there's a lot of mixing happening out there. PM me is I can help.

Sold an Epi cab to Paul at the weekend. Very easy transaction and totally satisfactory in all respects. A nice guy.

Isn't the bass the easiest instrument in the band to play? So my first gig on bass was before I ever owned one; I borrowed a DB from a mate and went along to the gig. The rest is geography.

Thanks for that, Paul. Good to meet you at South Mimms for handover and chat. Easy transaction with you.

Thanks for the plug Mike. Yes folks, I am now doing a run of the clip that I devised to fit on my basses to give a good fix to the jack socket from the pickup. £6.50 posted. Sorry no photo available right now but if you are not fully satisfied I'll refund the money and you can keep the clip - limited period only, while the clip gets better known. Clarky has one as well.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1364853843' post='2031906'] ............... it's oevre. [/quote] Didn't Ray Orbison record that?

Why is it that the typical procurement manager looks rather, er, well fed?

There are three types off feedback - the high pitched scream, the low foghorn and the feeling that your playing isn't as tight as it should be, ie a general echo in the background. Which one is yours? I used an MB 150 several years ago, still do from time to time, and used to get a loud scream. My solution was to back the treble control off to 9 oclock. Also an outboard preamp with phase switch will help a lot.

Oh, that is so sad. His dad lead the house band at the Majestic Ballroom, Reading, on trumpet and Derek followed in his footsteps as a great player. He was on lead trumpet in a big band I played in during the late sixties. We had an important gig one evening and Derek couldn't do it. So he sent Tony Fisher as a dep.

I played with him twice. Not only a very good musician but he had a very good recall of past gigs and people he had known, some of them fifty years ago. He struck me as someone who had a genuine interest in other people. A nice guy.

I suppose KB players are no different from any other musicians. There are good ones and not so good ones. Re timekeeping, there are so many musicians that rely on the bass and drums to keep time/swing etc whereas I always feel that every man should be his own rhythm section with an inate sense of swing/groove/whatever.

All in good time! With my first DB I didn't know much, but after playing another one I was able to compare and contrast and so my knowledge started to grow and I got a sense of bass perspective.

Rachel The Bryant and Martin, not surprisingly, are two different animals. The Martin doesn't have a lot of sustain and would probably benefit from a new setup. It does, though, have amazing clarity and strength right up the G string. You don't find that on every bass, even some expensive ones. Acoustically it's so-so but when amped with an Underwood it really comes alive. So much so that I've had several compliments on my sound. The finish is disappointingly unimpressive - shame on you George. I use this bass in a loud Dixieland all-star band where I get 50% of my work. My other work is playing in smaller groups, generally playing modern/mainstream jazz. I use the Bryant for this where its subtleties come to the fore. It has a beautiful sustain but was initially difficult to amp. I think the Underwood could have been ill-fitting and I struggled with the sound for quite a while. I've sorted it now and since fitting an Ehrlund to bring out the attack I'm very happy with it. It's a nice little bass and I love it. If the house were to burn down that's the bass I'd save! Hope this helps a bit. Remember, the Martin is their entry level model and I have no doubt that they have some really good ones in the higher price bracket.

Well done Pete. That's the power of the upright. I've never been short of work in (whisper it softly) 50 years. Enjoy!

[quote name='gcordez' timestamp='1361217369' post='1983049'] Got two so far, a Martin Penning Villaume model and an 1880's French bass. Number three is being built as we speak. Another Penning, but a large panormo shape. Gulp. Expensive habit this innit? [/quote] Yes, quality not quantity.