bassace

Owen seems to be a busy boy in the buying/selling world of bass. I've just sold a mic to him. Dead easy transaction, he wanted the mic, did a bank transfer and i posted it off to him, took two days during the posties strike. Simples. Deal with confidence.

Yes, Hmmmm.

I have an ATM 350 clip on for sale in the 'other stuff' section. Great for sending a good double bass sound to front of house. [attachment=34781:019_1_.JPG]

I'd go for max 8mm on the G and the other strings corresponding to the curvature of the fingerboard. Trouble is, in lowering the strings you may get a buzz/rattle of some of them on the fingerboard. So best to take the bass to a luthier and get him to re-shoot the fingerboard and lower the bridge at the same time. However, first make sure that the 'north and south' position of the bridge is centered with the notches in the f-hole. Then, in spite of what others may suggest, go for a nice new set of Spiro Mittels.

[quote name='OldGit' post='629371' date='Oct 18 2009, 11:58 AM']"it" Not fussy then [/quote] As long as it's not [i][/i]too[i][/i] ugly.

[quote name='OldGit' post='629111' date='Oct 17 2009, 10:30 PM']Ha ha, don't forget the sheep jokes mate....[/quote] I've always found that the one drawback in a sheep is that you have to walk round the front to kiss it. Just one of life's annoyances.

It's always difficult to walk away from a band, but it might be the only sensible option. Having met you and, from your posts, knowing your sense of comittment any band would be bloody lucky to have you. Very best of luck for the future.

When I was looking into getting a new bass I exchanged emails with Arnold and Wil who are New Standard. Really nice guys to deal with. Even their ply basses seem a bit expensive to bring over here but there's no denying the fine reputation they enjoy in US. Incidentally Jake, I enjoyed your sig re Winston Churchill. It reminds me of his exchange with Bessie Braddock MP who said 'Mr Churchill, you're drunk!' to which he replied, 'and you, madam, are ugly, but in the morning I will be sober'.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='622383' date='Oct 10 2009, 12:39 PM']Off topic, but did you buy your Professor from Upton directly, Bassace? Every so often I fond myself on their site admiring them [/quote] In short, yes. They are great people to deal with and will tailor their quote to exactly what you want. I ordered my Prof having specified a dark coffee colour, Spiro Mittels and bridge adjusters. On top of the Upton price flying it over will cost about $700. And then you will expect to pay a further 19% for VAT, duty and customs/handling charges this end. For example an Upton Standard Laminated bass, incl adjusters and a good soft cover at present exchange rates will be about £2,300 all up. You can work out any other bass from the Upton site. You can either let Upton do everything so the bass in its freight case is delivered to your door, or as in my case, micromanage things a bit (I used to be an engineer and can't keep away from interfering). In that case I decided Birmingham Airport was convenient to my house and got in touch with the freight handling people there. I then told Upton to despatch the bass to Birmingham and when it arrived I was notified and went to collect it - all very exciting. All you have to do is take the bass out of the box (an electric screwdriver is very useful to open the box, which I left to the guys at the airport) and when you get the bass home take the dummy bridge off and set up the proper bridge exactly to the markers that Upton give you. Then play it.

I'm a complete arse. Jakesbass had one at the Bash yesterday and in all the general kerfuffle I never got to try it. Next time perhaps?

Just got home, a bit knackered. But thanks to all who organised the gig, it was a great day. Jakes workshop was great and did you notice the cunning way I got him involved in mine to save me getting totally upstaged. After Alex's my head hurt a bit but I'm sure I understood most of it, I'll just have to re-read the graphs you see on the pic. If I name names I'm bound to miss someone out so just thanks to Sarah for providing great eats at Life on Mars prices. That means they were very good value, for the hard of hearing. Hope Colin can get the venue for next year because it was just great for our purposes. Just leave my photos out - please! Albert Steptoe lives.

I've managed to stuff two double basses in my motor. I'll take my Upton Professor, which is a largish three quarter and sounds quite bright and steely. Also my new Thomas Martin which is a bit of an opposite - a smallish three quarter and sounds a bit gutty, although both of them have identical strings; Spiro Mittels. I won't have much room for much else so I'm taking an AI Clarus amp and a 10" Wizzy speaker. I see I'm down for a Workshop. This is in order to get a bit of quiet time and to demo the basses. It is not my intention to give a lesson as such but to give as many as want to an introduction to the double bass and have a good go on it. No weedwackers though, I'm afraid.

Headway (Deddington, Oxon) are making interesting pickups but a luthier's precise fit in the bridge is required.

Well done Jennifer.

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='616313' date='Oct 4 2009, 10:41 AM']... anyone here planning on going ? I'm thinking about taking my BSX Allegro (EUB) if there's any interest. Do you think there's there any chance I could get to play an upright strung with gut or fake-gut (e.g. weedwacker) strings while I'm there ? Andy (Ah, just checked, and I noticed two double basses on the gear list )[/quote] I'm taking one of mine so anyone can have a go but it'll have Spiro Mittels on it.

Kingfisher Music at Fleet?

[quote name='Dr Phibes' post='608978' date='Sep 26 2009, 02:32 AM']You might want tocheck this guy out too - [url="http://www.bass-ace.co.uk/bass_lesssons.html"]http://www.bass-ace.co.uk/bass_lesssons.html[/url][/quote] It's not me, honest!

The Count Basie Orchestra from late 50s/early60s, no question. Touring with Mark Knoffler would be fun too.

A very balanced view from jds. He aknowledges that there is not always a perfect solution and he is speaking from experience. [quote name='jdstrings' post='606768' date='Sep 23 2009, 04:00 PM']It is always noticable whether an engineer actually spends any time listening to your sound in the room (many don't seem to at all) so they know what it is they should be hearing back in the control room. I find that the better engineers will actually take time (by listening a foot or so away from the front of the bass) to find where the best spot to place the mic actually is.[/quote] That is a very valid point. I've very seldom come across an engineer who takes time to listen to the instrument acoustically. He is usually in a hurry to get all his mics in position and connected.

But do you think you need Auralex foam? I would have thought that any foam would do; nothing special about Auralex, I think. I'm using offcuts from rubber stable matting one and a half inch thick strips. Works very well.

I did a jazz gig in Birmingham not many years ago with Gerry Freeman (Applejack's drummer and married to Megan) and Mike Burney (ex Wizzard) amongst others. Good gig it was too - great players both.

Also (shock horror!) don't discount a pickup feed to to give a small amount of blend with the mic. If the separation in the studio is not perfect or you are recording 'as-live' tracks with a larger band the pickup, if used sparingly, will tighten up the bass sound very well.

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='600730' date='Sep 16 2009, 09:06 PM']To be honest I've rarely heard any of my pro colleagues referring to the size of their basses in terms of 3/4 or full-size or anything else for that matter. Its either "that's a bloody big bass youv'e got there" or " what a big sound you get from such a small instrument". The Major[/quote] Because it's probably a given that if it's orchestral it's a full size and if it's jazz it's a 3/4 - or am I oversimplifying, Major? But there again, do many musos talk too much about their instrument unless they've just bought it?

A Forum? or, a Frustration of Double Bass players.