Kiwi

[quote name='lowdown' post='244607' date='Jul 21 2008, 05:30 PM']A couple of Geezers with names that sounded like Sweedish Chefs, Did some sessions for some Scandinavian pop band, Garry[/quote] Ah, that'll be Hounnnnnnnngabounnnngaboingboing and Eeekyweekysmeekyoooshtakooooon who played for Bingabangabongbong.

Noone's mentioned Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards or Mark King and Phil Gould yet.

[quote name='tauzero' post='244453' date='Jul 21 2008, 02:40 PM']Remember you're playing to the audience so have a look at them now and again[/quote] Sarah, the girls in my band always make a point of checking out the boy-totty.

In my experience, Status and Alembic have both had consistent low action across the instruments I've played.

I would still be using my combos if they were made in lighter weight cabs.

[quote name='Huge Hands' post='243571' date='Jul 20 2008, 12:34 AM']I've had it before with a mic'd kit, the PA is throwing out loads of bass and kick drum. On certain frequencies, the bass drum would act as a resonator and via my amp, the acoustics of the stage room and the PA, the whole stage area would resonate.[/quote] I get this as well in small venues. Sometimes the PA is too loud and I end up having to turn my rig up to compete with it. Then the sound guy turns my channel down and I end up just going from my rig without any FOH support. FWIW, I've found boom usually happens around 100Hz, so sucking some bass back using the amp eq (if its parametric) is not necessarily a bad thing so long as you can turn the amp up to compensate for any loss in volume (headroom headroom headroom!!)

[quote name='chris_b' post='241885' date='Jul 17 2008, 04:41 PM']The Blues Bar (Ain't Nothin' But...) makes the Mau Mau look like a football field![/quote] +1 I've never played there but I've seen a few gigs. That stage is almost a joke! Largest stage I've played : Clapham Grand Smallest stage (and also worst gig ever): The Miller pub, London Bridge.

I've been told that Phil gets his basses set up at the Gallery! I think I might have misinterpreted something he said as serious when he was really being a little ironic.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='243354' date='Jul 19 2008, 02:14 PM']well at the end of the day, people must buy them otherwise musicman wouldn't bother making them[/quote] Indeed, caveat emptor.

Nik for what its worth, both my Burmans and my V8 have no problems articulating the B string on my Smith 5. I think Peavey amps tend generally to be fairly coloured and its up to the individual to decide whether that colouring is to their taste or not. As you're already aware I had a pair of GK combos for a long while and I would still be playing them if they hadn't weighed as much as they did. I think the GK stuff is fairly aggressive sounding which, if you have a soft sounding bass like a Smith or a Peavey Grind, can be a good thing. As far as sustain goes, I think it depends on the bass, the venue and how loud your amp is. I could stand with my Pedulla Pentabuzz next to the GK combo and the bass would feedback ever so gently when I played meaning I got oodles of sustain at stage monitoring volumes. I think with valves, you get a little more compression and the transients are less obvious. It might also be that you have a gentle feedback effect with your bass at certain frequencies when the amp is loud enough perhaps?

Knock off or not, the $64,000 question might be - is it any good?

[quote name='bubinga5' post='243618' date='Jul 20 2008, 03:46 AM']Yeah the band thing for sure! but other wise Kiwi do you think dedicated scale practice throughout the fret board is the way to go? By the way i think i may have said this before? are you a New Zealander. Im was born in Hawkes Bay. Hurra for the Kiwis!!! [/quote] I think there's no substitute for playing with a band that stretches and challenges you musically. Scales are maybe useful but they don't let you forget about the instrument and focus on the music. Often on stage I'm tempted to try a few tricks out just to keep the song a little fresh. I'm focussing on the notes and the music, not on whether I'm playing correctly. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn't but thats how it goes. I'm a mainlander, born in UK but grew up in Christchurch

Increasingly I see my sound as a recipe, and I'm the chef. I've heard other people's rigs and thought 'bit woolly' or 'bit boxy' or 'bit harsh' but if it works for them thats cool with me. I like a lot of lower mids with warmth, bark and some snap. The Smith and Musicman basses provide the basic flavour, the amp and cab adds herbs and spices. The Deep Impact and Unibass are more or less a garnish. I'm probably nearly there in terms of the sound, I just wish I had a cab like the EBS that pointed up at my ears on small stages. The room is important but the gear choices you make and positioning affect how well you can adjust to the acoustics. I've found angled cabs reduce the influence of the room and stage because the cones point directly at my ears rather than blast past my ankles using the walls/ceiling and back of stage as reflective surfaces. I also often find myself dealing with the subsonic backwash coming out of the PA.

Another two gigs this week. Its been hell at work so the opportunity to escape the borderline psychopathic client was very welcome. As I left the office Friday lunchtime he was trying to call me from Dubai over some work that they (yet again) asked for at short notice for Sunday. I had set up cover for me as I had told everyone I wasn't going to be around on Friday afternoon. So we will see what the aftermath is going to be like on Monday. Everyone seems to be running away from this project at high speed. I expected this guy was either trying to bully me to "work 110% over the weekend if necessary" (which I'm already working as it is, only its not for him) or trying emotional blackmail (the I'm-relying-on-you-Steve-don't-let-me-down bit). Anyways. Friday's gig was at the Trafalgar pub in Greenwich. Steve Turner from Kylie's Fever band was depping with us again on keys and its always a pleasure to gig with him. The event was a wedding with a very young crowd, I'd say 80% were in their twenties. Lots of fun, some very creative and over enthusiastic dancing etc but it was all a bit of a laugh. We had a very early load in at 1:30pm followed by 2 hours to set up and we were on at 8:15 for 9pm. We've NEVER done a gig with speeches that finished on time. Apparently the bride had already seen us play at one of our first gigs for a friend of hers! The food was a tab at the bar and I indulged myself in the house special - a whitebait dinner. (Although UK whitebait is another name for sprats, in NZ whitebait is basically elvers which are much, much smaller and easier to eat). Last nights gig was at Ansty Hall near Coventry and again Steve T was filling in. Nice modern venue, easy load in and park up close to the stage, helpful staff and a black tie theme. So we got the tuxes out! Only when I got mine out I realised I'd left my shirt studs back at home!!! Cue: search for gaffa tape which (horrors) didn't work very well! (At last, something that gaffa tape won't stick to!) So I went to hotel reception and they found me a few safety pins which more or less did the trick. The food was a hog roast which was OK but more of a snack than anything. The crowd were in their 30's and 40's and the bar was pay as you go, so noone was really out to get trollied (although there was one memorable exception - a short, plump, fake tanned, rough looking lady with a blonde crew cut in her late 40's who had looked determined to push the boat out all evening. Her husband, who also had a matching platinum blonde hair cut and fake tan ended up helping her to walk back to their room, she was nearly paralytic at the end of the night!) All in all we played three sets of 45 min and the dance floor never really got filled until the last set. Generally, we were well recieved but they were a bit tepid compared to other crowds.

[quote name='fede162162' post='242918' date='Jul 18 2008, 05:22 PM']Hi guys! i have 2 cabs. one is a self made 1x15 with eminence delta speaker and tw. i like its sound more than my mark bass club 210. i need a cab with a more detailed sound, with more mid highs. the mark bass is a great cab, but it is a boooomy cab, i want a "crunchy" cab, like my 1x15 suggestions? i was looking for ebs, but i find only 4 ohm 2x10 cabs. have somebody tried the swr 4x8?[/quote] I tried an SWR Basic 350 and a 4x8 cab a loooooooooong time ago. Classic SWR sound - great with jazz basses and a nice amount of fullness and midrange. But I couldn't tell you how much of that was due to the head and how much due to the cab.

its just a question of experience and technique being at such a level that you are no longer conscious of the player-instrument divide and just treat the instrument as if its part of you. It helps to play the same instrument for a while to get completely comfortable on it, and to relax while playing if you want to get nimble. Rest of the way is just putting the hours in with a band.

[quote name='BassManKev' post='243343' date='Jul 19 2008, 01:52 PM']dude you could say the same with any manufacturer who have custom options, look at warwick, fender etc etc certainly not just a Musicman thing[/quote] Yes I could, and in the past I have. Musicman have produced more limited edition models in the last 5 years than any other manufacturer I know of so its more of a Musicman thing than any other brand as far as I'm concerned. Usually the only thing distinguishing a limited edition from a standard bass was the paint colour, although thats changed a little with some recent models.

or goth?

I think £2200 is a crazy price for a stingray, no matter what kind of fancy wood is slapped on the front of it. That redwood wouldn't have cost much BTW. Apart from the binding, you'll just be getting a bog standard stingray for your money. You might as well take a secondhand natural stingray, have a luthier slap on a redwood front and a binding plus a respray for £3-400? I know that won't make it a limited edition but for goodness sakes how many limited editions are needed before people get limited-edition-fatigue and see through the hype? Maybe sooner than I think, the depreciation on limited edition instruments is pretty heavy. I do like quilted redwood though, but with the binding, it looks a bit too 'country and western' for me.

[quote name='Shockwave' post='239716' date='Jul 15 2008, 02:10 AM']See the only 5 string P that should be allowed is one thats not "classic" One of the most gorgeous basses.[/quote] Blimey, even I like it. That and the Roscoe Beck model are what I think a modern Fender should look like.

your main point of concern should probably be to check if there are any brass bridge bolt anchor ferrules inserted in the body and check whether any of the screw holes in the badass are likely to line up with them. Digging those suckers out will be a very difficult job.