shizznit

We played our gig at The Claude, Cardiff last night. A place that we play regularly and usually the punters are quite well behaved in there. But, due to it being Black Friday (or Mad Friday) most of the pub were already wasted when we got there at 6.30pm. That set the tone tone for the rest of the evening. Two massive fights broke out whilst we were playing. One at the back of the pub which no-one really noticed, but a huge fight broke out by the entrance (which is close to the stage) between 4 of the door men and a bunch of lads trying to force their way through. No thanks to my singer, he directed everyones attention in the pub to the mini riot happening and piled out as quickly possible to have a gander....which then developed into a street brawl outside for about 20mins. We have a gig on Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day...all at rugby clubs!! Should be interesting to see how much more claret will be spilt over those three evenings!

[quote name='BassPimp66' timestamp='1355816073' post='1902976'] Sonnus have come up with a GBP 200 wah pedal ... I bet you want to buy it ! [/quote] Ummmm...nah. I'll pass!

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1355693276' post='1901501'] [size=4][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][b]Sonuus B2M Bass Midi Interface.[/b][/font][/size] [/quote] I had one of these for 1 day and sold it the next. Total waste of money. The thing just doesn't accurately track the notes you are playing and loses signal on notes below G2 (if you are lucky), which kinda misses the point of playing a bass. The person I sold it to thought so too, but he sold it after 3 days! Quite an achievement.

The only bass I have ever had that experience with is my Lakland 55-02. Basses typically don't live long with me before I get bored and move onto something else, but this bass has been a blessing to me since I bought it 9yrs ago. It was bought as a back up and quickly became my #1. I wasn't looking for my dream bass at the time as I thought I had already had it...an Overwater Progress III. When I played it at the shop I obviously liked how it sounded and played otherwise I wouldn't have bought it, but it wasn't until I spent plenty of time with it at home when I realised how dynamic and flexible it was. I have used it for funk, gospel, metal, folk, hip-hop...you name it! I can always find the answer I need. I had a collection of 6 basses when I bought the Lakland. All have gone except the 55-02, which speaks volume to me. At the risk of sounding corny, I have a strong bond with that bass.

I have had a couple of basses with brass nuts and I do notice a difference. There is a little more zing when playing an open note and balances quite nicely between the fretted notes. I have always considered with a brass nut the string resonance transfers to the neck in the same as the saddles/bridge does to the body. Well, in my world it makes sense otherwise bridges would be made of plastic. The zero fret on my old MTD 535 gave a similar result, but I really struggled to get a usable low action on that bass. Dunno if it was because of the zero fret or not.

My guitar player had a similar conversation with a punter at a gig a few months ago criticising our drummer and how laid back his playing style was. He said that he knew of a drummer that could replace him because he felt that we needed more 'rock' muscle. Our drummer is perfect for what we do (soul and funk). His playing style really suits and we are lucky in that sense, so don't want John Bonham behind us. My guitar player is a polite lad and pit forward his debate as to why we don't want to play with a rock drummer and perfectly happy with our current set up, but this lad wouldn't have it. Tired of the conversation, J walked away from him and this lad then went to one of our singers and went through the same conversation. We played the second set with both my singer and guitarist wound up by the half time team talk from that idiot. But, what really narked me was the conversation I had with J in the car on the way back home. The whole incident casted doubt in his mind and asked for my opinion. I quashed any doubts about our drummer immediately and told him to let it go over his head. Our drummer has been playing for us for 5yrs and I really enjoy being in the rhythm section with him. I think he is a belting drummer and is integral to the dynamic between all of the musicians in that band. If we felt he wasn't right for us he would have seen the door a long time ago. It really annoyed me that an over opinionated nobody caused such disharmony that evening.

I prefer going passive when I am recording. I prefer to put down the natural tone of the bass and worry about the sweetness of the EQ later. If the bass sounds great straight of the bat and I dont have to waste unnecessary time on the amp or preamp then I know that my job will be easier in the mix down. It's easier to add than it is to take away once the bass tone is down. I find that when I record active the cut and boosted EQ coming from the bass can sometimes be a bitch to control once you start using compressors, high and low pass filters etc... at the mix down. I play active live all the time. I leave the amp more or less flat (depending on acoustics and stage position) and I will tweak the EQ from my bass to get the tone I want. It gives me full control over my tone without having to turn my back at the audience to tweak the amp. My live tone is totally different to my recording tone. I like a nice rounded tone in the studio and a dynamic hi-if tone on stage. Switching from active to passive and vice versa seems to do the trick for me. All my basses are able to use both circuits at a flick of a switch, so in any situation I have the best of both worlds.

I find myself playing slap bass on my hip every now and then if I am listening to my iPod. Drives my girlfriend insane. I do look like a pleb to be fair.

He's not charging for shipping though! Bless him.

If you are not planning on spending the evening in your nuclear fallout bunker eating cold spaghetti hoops out of a tin and sipping on a cup of tea made from your recycled water... Nation Stack - Soul/Funk The Claude Albany Rd, Cardiff 8.30pm So, who else is playing a gig on the 21st December 2012?

I have my usual festive lull next week, so I might take some time to put something together for this months competition. This could be a good time killer and have some fun at the same time.

Sweet band you got there urb! Much appreciation for the envelope filter!

My friend Ben was the biggest push I had when I wanted to learn how to play bass. He was a great player and made the instrument sound and look very appealing to me. He introduced me to lots of other genres of music that I have never heard before and made me understand the role of a bassist. After 12 months of learning he immigrated to Saville and gave me (yes...gave me!) me his Trace rig and his lovely Fender J Lornhorn and threatened to take it all back if I wasn't further advanced in my sklls by his judgement or playing in a band in a years time! He was very serious and it was a heck on an incentive to study and play as hard as I could.

You will love it! They have some pretty high profile forum members on there. Sharay Reed, Andrew Gouche, Malcolm Hall, Reggie Young, James Ross, Justin Raines...they all drop in once in a while to offer some advice. I picked up a lot of good stuff on that forum. Also, some of the members have their own very useful YouTube channels. Search for... TheRealGospelChops UriahMusic (also www.uriahsmusic.com) GospelMusicians

I have been a forum member of www.learngospelmusic.com for years and there's a huge community of gospel bass players on there with loads of very useful advice and learning content.

You have a similar rig that I had 16yrs ago (albeit with a AH500X head). It was a belting rig and my first proper pro backline. I always mounted the cabs vertically so that I could hear the 210 a bit more clearly. LOL...I will always remember the guitar player (whom I lived to annoy at any given chance because he was an utter t*t) in the band I was playing for at the time freaking out when I did that because it made his crappy, puny little 40w Marshall Valvestate combo look like a lunch box! Ahhhh...happy times!

The first electro-acoustic I bought was a second hand Ovation Elite 2078LX. Sounded lovely plugged in, but the natural acoustic tone was very wimpy. Just didn't have any balls or warmth when finger picked. The first pro session I did with it was a nightmare. The producer wanted to mic it up and we could not get a decent tone from it. We ended up using an EKO that belonged to the studio. I felt a bit embarrassed. Not long afterwards I traded it in for a Takamine Sante Fe which sounded great plugged or unplugged. But, the main reason why I got shot of it wash because it was a pain the arse to play standing up. I just couldn't get intona comfortable playing position with it and my wrist (frettng hand) was ruined after each gig. I will never go back to playing a bowl backed guitar.

My covers band play Rock With You and if I played it like that I would get a very hard kick in between the legs from each member. That would hurt plenty as we are a 7-piece! I get the whole 'personal interpretation' thing, but there is a line between taste and pap.

Glad Mark will be the MTD for the UK. Been a long time coming and Bass Direct will do the brand proud.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1354622547' post='1888152'] EBS without a doubt - its what Bernie develops the circuit with. HD350 or TD650 or the Reidmar if you want cheaper. See if you can get a proline cab too. [/quote] +1 I bought my first EBS rig via Bernie after testing it with a Spitfire 5. A GB bass through an EBS amp sounds incredible.

DI into the desk is perfectly fine. I haven't recorded with a mic'd up bass rig for years. If I am at someone else's studio that has a great preamp I will go into that. As already mentioned, re-amping is a very common and effective method that works very well with guitar and bass. Something I do all the time at my home studio whereby I can't crank up a mic'd up amp (yes...I am known to the police!). I like the sound of a mic'd up rig, but I find bass cabs to be quite noisy and its a pain in the arse to soundcheck through the desk especially when you start faffing around with mics and axis positioning. Producers barely have enough patience mic'ing up drums, so by the time they get to your bass most on their patience has already been used up! Folks like to record very quickly these days. Digital recording has taken some of the craft out of using a mic, amp and room. Every time I hear "Oh...I have a plugin that can do that!" A little piece of me dies inside!

I learnt how to slap watching Les Claypool. Didn't really know what it was until that point. For about 3-4yrs after then I was so hooked on trying to be a slapping beast as I had a barmy idea that it was a mark of a great bassist. Well, whatever!! After 18yrs I am totally bored of slap. It neither excites me or impresses me anymore. The only time I enjoy playing slap is when I am jamming with my drummer and percussionist when the rest of the band members pop outside for a smoke.

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1354528134' post='1886896'] .... I actually tend to raise it a little before a big gig, because i know i'm gonna be running round and not concetrating on my technique so it limits the chance of fret buzz a bit. [/quote] I sometimes will raise the action for a studio session as some producers hate any type of fret buzz, even if it gets buried in the mix. I let them make that decision and if they want a cleaner sound I will quickly raise the action for them, go again and change it back when I get home.

In my experience I find that there is marginal difference between rosewood and maple boards. Maple might be a tad brighter, but I wouldn't say that there is a significant difference. I like either. Cosmetically, maple looks great...especially birds eye pieces. The only thing I don't like about rosewood boards is that the side dots on the neck can be a bit difficult to see in low light. I prefer using a maple board in a performance situation so that I can see the dots a bit more clearly and I don't have to resort to installing LED's. Great, but there is a draw back with maple boards....they are a pain in the arse to keep clean and age quite quickly. For me the choice is down to feel...not tone. There are many other elements to a bass that contribute to the tone. Some say that some materials bring out the fret tone and string resonance a lot more than others and that could possibly be true, but I don't lose sleep at night about it. The choice of timber for the body, the quality of the electronics, hardware, string type, fret material and build quality is the money maker.