BigRedX

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1478682405' post='3170803'] Band Membership 101 - Never join a band with a keyboard player unless he has lost his left arm in a tragic industrial accident. [/quote] I know that the quote is partly in jest, but there is nothing wrong with allowing the keyboards hold down the bottom end as it allows you to play something more interesting. Of course if you don't know what to do with that new-found freedom then I'm afraid that you only have yourself to blame.

Stereo is one of those things that sounds fantastic in headphones and much less so in situations where you can't control the listener position in relation to the sound sources. Live, unless the majority of your sound is coming through the PA, stereo is pretty much useless from an audience PoV, and even then only a small proportion of those in the middle of the room will get anything approaching the full effect. Also bear in mind that stereo effects or active panning in the bass end of the spectrum can make your recordings impossible to cut to vinyl, were you to want to release your music in this format.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1478602572' post='3170145'] Theres no money above the 5th fret! [/quote] What a pathetically horrible quote. Whoever came up with that idiotic saying doesn't deserve to call themselves a musician.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1478602753' post='3170146'] I've taken some Brexit posts out here. We've had the debate and it is over. Anymore and I'll lock the topic. [/quote] Without wanting to stir too much, if this is the Basschat consensus then you are probably going to have to lock and delete every new thread concerning price rises for gear made outside of the UK, as whether you like it or not it is entirely down to the B.. word situation.

I use all the frets on all the strings. It's what they are there for.

Don't forget that what a lot of players call "tension" is actually down to the compliance (or stiffness) of the string and has nothing to do with the actual tension but is affected by the materials and construction of the string which can be quantified (although AFAIK no manufacturer does) and factors on the actual bass itself such as the break angles over the saddles and nut as well as the amount of dead string between the nut and machine head post and the bridge saddle and the bridge anchor point.

IIRC from my physics lessons a long. long time ago, the pickup is simply a device that produces an electrical current in the coil in response to an iron-rich object moving through the magnetic field. All that happens as you "dig in" is that the current is larger and therefore the signal is louder, but the pickup itself can't clip or produce clipping. You won't get clipping until the signal reaches the first bit of active circuitry that doesn't sufficient headroom for the increased signal volume, whether that's a pre-amp in the bass, the input circuitry of your amp, or something in the signal chain in-between like an effect.

[quote name='ribbetingfrog' timestamp='1478465607' post='3169256'] It's definitely easier to get decent folk to learn to play better than it is to get talented idiots to become better people. [/quote] I'd agree with this, but as you've felt the need to ask the question here, then you are probably not really convinced that this is the band for you, so you might be better off looking elsewhere.

You don't even have to go to all that bother. Just use the "code" BB tags.

[quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1478260473' post='3167945'] Thanks for all the replies. I've updated my profile for location (Nottingham). I'm not too bothered about a heavy-ish head, it's more the thought of lugging big cabs up flights of stairs. I figured probably spending a few hundred on a head, use the cabs in the practice room for now (they are OK - definitely a big improvement on what I put up with in the late 80s) then get a cab as soon as I need it for gigging, probably early next year. I see a lot of those Mark Bass amps for sale but I have no idea about them and I've never heard one used in anger. I must admit that I'd never considered a 12" speaker - nobody used them for bass in the 80s, it was all 15 or 10. Again, I'd need to hear one at volume. [/quote] IMO the size of the speaker cone is largely irrelevant these days. I wouldn't even bother with it as specification when choosing a cab. Go instead for the sound and how portable you need it to be.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1478255113' post='3167872'] we're in desperate need of a Nirvana right now [/quote] [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1478255160' post='3167873'] I couldn't agree more... it's definitely time to get out the sweeping brush. [/quote] I would say that we need something more like Punk rather than Nirvana. By the time that Nirvana became popular the music scene was already far too fractured for them to have very much influence outside of the rock genre. It was still perfectly possible to be making new and popular music without it having anything to do with Nirvana and "grunge". For someone like myself, listening to and creating mostly dance music influence by the various variations on House Music, Nirvana were barely a blip on my radar.

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1478221518' post='3167730'] Unless you're talking about the original Boroadcaster/Tele, Leo pinched it off Bigsby & just simplified it a bit [/quote] And Bigsby nicked the design off CF Martin who in turn had borrowed it from numerous German luthiers, most notably Johann Georg Stauffer who was building guitars in the early 1800s. It's hardly a new design.

[quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1478252800' post='3167834'] Yes, it's a lot easier forming bands or playing with other people you have got to know on the musical scene. There comes a point when being 50 plus years old is not looked at as being cool For youngish bands who are full of enthusiasm. [/quote] Not at all my experience. I haven't previously known any of the musicians in any of the bands I've been in over the last 15 years. And that has been the case with nearly every other band I've joined since forming my first one with friends from school in the mid 70s. And I haven't been finding my age a problem either. IME musicians who are still playing in bands in their 40 and beyond tend to be a lot more focused on exactly what they want musically and from the rest of the band. And the Terrortones have all been in their 20s, apart from the original drummer and guitarist who were in their 30s. I'm finding that in my mid 50s I am once again as free from responsibilities as I was in my early 20s and can really concentrate on doing the things that I want to do rather than what I have to do.

Take a couple of days out to go to Bass Direct in Warwick and The Gallery in London, where you can try out lots of new bass amplification. I would suggest looking at amps with valves in the pre-amp section.

As I've said before I really do think that you had to be there to really appreciate what a change the Beatles made. I wasn't since I didn't discover popular music until 1971 by which time they were over a year gone, and to an 11 year old discovering glam rock, pretty much irrelevant. Also, based on my musical tastes, I suspect that had I been born 10 years earlier, I would have most likely been a Stones fan...

As far as I can recall, the last time I failed an audition was when I was 16 and was woefully underprepared with regard to my technical ability, my gear and my knowledge of how bands worked. TBH since then a good proportion of the bands I've been in were ones that I had formed so more often than not I've been the one doing the auditioning rather than the other way around. There was one time when I really wanted a place in a band but didn't even make it as far as the audition. Back in the early 80s there were several excellent bands here in Nottingham playing post-punk electronic music and one in particular that I was a massive fan of. In fact I was probably a bit obsessed. I even went as far as learning all the baselines to their songs, in the vain hope that one day there might possibly be the chance for me to become their bass player. Unfortunately for me, when that day did actually arrive, I wasn't even asked, and a friend of the singer got the job. However, I took my revenge by nicking their keyboard player for my synth-pop band... And contrary to what the OP says, I've found as I've got older passing auditions has most definitely got easier, as I am now a much better player from a technical PoV, and have a far more impressive musical resumé.

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1478206111' post='3167616'] Fascinating Rhythm by Bassomatic? [/quote] Bassomatic is essentially William Orbit, so hardly a one-hit-wonder.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1478201467' post='3167560'] great song with possibly the most badly played guitar solo in the history of the universe, starts at about 1:20. [/quote] Right up there with The Bonzo's "Canyons Of Your Mind" and "Steven Does" by The Swell Maps for awfulness!

[quote name='ash' timestamp='1478198978' post='3167518'] Ah 'the Dalek's handbag' as it was fondly nicknamed ... utterly useless without its foot pedal and controller of course. [/quote] It's not utterly useless without the synth unit, but it is reduced to being just a weirdly shaped J-style bass. Which of course isn't really worth anything like £600.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1478181668' post='3167338'] It increases the audience. Unfortunately (watch XFactor) a large proportion of people are not open to new music and have to listen to a tune several times before it grows on them. On the radio new tunes are introduced alongside well known ones. If you play only unknown originals you limit your audience to a very narrow set of listeners. [/quote] Does it really? IME the audiences for originals and covers bands tend to be quite different. Certainly from my perspective when I go and see originals bands it's because I like the songs that they write, and I find that when they play a cover it distracts from the rest of the set and not in a good way. I've also found that to do a cover well and to get it to fit in with the style of the rest of the songs that you have written takes as much effort if not more than writing a new song from scratch. I certainly know what I would rather be expending my energy on.

[quote name='burno70' timestamp='1478104367' post='3166796'] Thanks mate. But we'd all like to here the click track - and be in time with a master clock and the other equipment synced to this. This is were I'm stuck. [/quote] IME that's best left to the drummer. Unless you are after a metronomic Kraftwerk-esque feel to all your songs. A good drummer can play around the click and the rest of the band play to the drummer. Also as others have said unless you need to manipulate the sequenced parts live, or you intend to run other things such as effects changes for the live instruments or lights off the sequencer, you are much better off for the sake of reliability using a pre-recorded track. Put the click track in one channel and the music you want the audience to hear in the other.

IMO any modern bass that can't handle high tension strings is obviously faulty and should be returned to the shop for a refund as "unfit for purpose".

It entirely depends on the rights holders for the song, which will include the publishers as well as the writers and any other interested parties depending on what has been signed by the artists in question. In general there are three possible responses: 1. Nothing 2. Your video will be covered in YouTube ads which benefit the rights holders (as above) 3. Your video will be removed It is almost impossible to tell which of these responses your cover will elicit, except by looking to see what has happened to other covers of the same song. If you can't find any expect it to be option 3.

Only the drummer needs to hear the click. The rest of the band play to the drummer as before. The only changes you might need to make are during the sections with no live drums your drummer may need to click the rest of the band through so that they stay in time with the programmed backing.

Do you have a live drummer?