bassace

Well, Paul's post says it all really and there's nothing to disagree with there. He mentioned a preamp - this would be an outboard piece of kit that goes a long way to buffering the mismatch of the pickup (high impedance) and the amp (lower impedance). Typically this would be a Fishman Platinum Pro eq and you should look out for one of these on the secondhand forum; they come up from time to time. Your £150 will be well spent there and whatever kit you upgrade to in the future you will always find it useful. The K&K Bassmax is a good wing pickup to start with, not only is it easily removable from the bridge wing, the jack socket can be refitted in seconds. Welcome aboard and good luck.

Photos, photos!

Very impressive, and if that's what floats your boat not at all anal. With four double basses in use and six amp/cabs that gives me 24 combinations. I mark up which I've used at each gig but really there is a sort of pattern to their use based on the gig, the venue and its acoustics. Haven't a clue when I changed strings tho'; the invoices might just give a clue.

If you find a bass, any bass, that gives you a buzz when you play it, you feel that your playing's so much better on that instrument, you get the sound you like and it makes you smile every time you play it - [i]that's[/i] an investment.

[quote name='Oscar South' post='1328713' date='Aug 5 2011, 01:50 PM']What's the difference between a Jazz musician and a Blues musician? A Blues musician plays three chords to a thousand people, a Jazz musician plays a thousand chords to three people.[/quote] Oh dear.

[quote name='NickTann' post='1319911' date='Jul 28 2011, 11:59 PM']I can't find that section...[/quote] Scroll down to:- Basschat Market Place For sale: Double Basses / EUB's & paraphernalia sorry, can't do links.

Interesting. I've never come across that pickup before and as it's specific to a guitar it may not be able to get down to the bass frequencies - or perhaps if you're lucky it may and you'll start a whole new trend. The vid is interesting in pointing up the difference in tone obtained by tightening up the piezo - an object lesson for those who wedge a bass bridge wing slot pickup too tightly. I'd certainly go ahead a give it a go if you already own one. I'd suggest that you blue-tack the pickups to the face of the bridge in various positions until you get a decent sound. As a second chance you could also try fixing the pickups to the front of the bass near the bridge feet. Or you could use the mic foam-wedged in the tail piece or between the bridge feet. BTW, if you're interested I have a brand new Bassmax for sale in the DB for sale section. You'll need a 5mm gap in the E string side bridge wing slot. I'll bump it.

Hope you make a fast recovery, Keith. Did you lecture your dogs on the matter of the hand that feeds them? Happened to me once when I tried to separate my two scrapping hounds. One thought my hand was the other's ear and I really got it. I had a gig that night and went to the doc rather than a long wait in A&E and he reluctantly did the stitching himself. Not the best of jobs but it got me through the (painful) gig. You'll soon heal.

Councils are given a lot of discretion to frame their own local regulations within the law. Parking charges and alcohol free zones come to mind. There are several instances of 'no amplified busking' regulations being in force. Initially I think it was to confine the sound to within the area of the actual performance rather than electric guitars blasting down the High Street. No amplified busking is an easy catch-all definition that doesn't take much skill to draft but unfortunately it includes instruments that need an amp to be heard at all, eg keyboards, singers, flutes and even acoustic guitars and of course all kinds of upright basses. I presume councils have got enough on their minds without having to consider what is or isn't a loud amplified instrument and the difficulties in enforcing a more specific regulation. A while ago I did a jazz gig on the quarter deck of HMS Belfast with sax, trombone, keyboard and bass. We were setting up and some jobsworth came along a said no amplified music in the Pool of London. We explained our predicament and got away with it. Incidentally, for less than the cost of James's public liability insurance he could have taken out a Musicians Union subscription. This would have provided PL insurance plus £2k's worth of instrument insurance in addition to a lot of other benefits. I'm not really a 'union' man but I was glad to be a member when my double bass suffered over £1k of damage two months ago, all covered by MU insurance.

I'd like to come with a double bass - I live near Chipping Norton. I have quite a few gigs in Sept but I'm sure most daytimes are free.

You're learning already! Enjoy your gig.