peteb

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372405861' post='2125264'] I wasn't going to get involved in this anymore, but following on from peteb's post, my band played a biker rally earlier this month. I wasn't there to see the bands that played in the afternoon, but of the 5 bands who played the evening session not one was using a Fender bass! I had my Gus with the Reverend as a spare, the other bands sported basses by Gibson, Ibanez and Warwick (2). In fact looking back over the last 2 months of gigs that we've played where we've shared the stage with 15 other bands, only one of them had a Fender style bass, and I think that was a copy. [/quote] Different genre of music, different fashions!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1372376776' post='2125167'] With respect, I would dispute that... audiences couldn't care less and don't know a Fender from a hole in the ground. In fact, they don't even know (or care) what the difference is between a guitar and a bass guitar. Either they like the band or they don't. That is all. [/quote] With respect, you are wrong, DEPENDING on the audience. Some people here underestimate the level of geekiness of many fans! Many in the blues audience (and the same applies to most rock sub-genres) can certainly recognise a Fender bass, even if they won't understand the difference between a P and a jazz. Same applies to blues band leaders! [quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1372403441' post='2125225'] But band leaders and stylsits and image consultants think they do know best. I didn't get into a band a couple of years ago because o didn't play a Fender! [/quote] Exactly... I may actually get a sunburst P bass at some poin if I can find a reasonably light one at the right price! ! Of course, it will have a Bartolini, new bridge and an active circuit within a month! Not my ideal bass, but if it helps me get better gigs...

Vistaprint are pretty cheap if you use one of their templates, decent quality and quick delivery. However, they will email you daily for ever after...!

FWIW, I recently worked at quite a big blues festival organised by a friend of mine. Inspired by the last ‘Why would anyone play anything else but a Fender’ thread, I did a bit of gearstalking and made a mental note of what basses were being used. Out of 20 bands or so I saw playing on the main stages, 70% were (apparently) US Fenders, 10% were Fender type basses and 20% of bassists used different makes (two playing Warwicks, one Spectre and a Cort, but surprisingly no Stingrays). The guy playing for the biggest act used a Lakland Jazz and the bass player for other main headliner played a Squier Jazz. Of the Fenders, there were 2 or 3 P basses, one old telecaster bass and the rest were jazz basses. Three quarters of the Fender type designs were sunbursts! So what does this tell us, apart from the most popular bass for blues rock bands playing at a national blues festival is a sunburst Fender jazz bass with a rosewood neck and a tort scratchplate? Does it mean that a Fender Jazz is the ‘best bass for blues’? Actually, I think that most people just feel more comfortable seeing people playing ‘traditional’ types of music (not just blues) on a more traditional type of instrument. If you think about it, when grunge was big in the 90s most of the bass players around used more modern (or at least different) basses. Then Britpop came along, retro was in and the price of 70s Fenders went thru the roof! When I play blues gigs I usually take my Fender Jazz, even though it is not my best bass. Band leaders and audiences just seem to like that ‘Fender made in USA’ is written on the headstock. Bear in mind that my Fender J has an active circuit & different pick-ups and doesn’t sound like a typical Fender, so it seems to be more about the image than the tone! When I do rock gigs, I generally take the Warwick…

[quote name='MisterFingers' timestamp='1372196175' post='2122847'] Thanks for that Pete - that's the kind of insight that i need. I spent an hour today in a local shop trying out 5 different Jazzers - 2 Sandberg California Tm's, a Fender US Standard, Deluxe and a Select - just to get some idea of the rival players. How did you find the Jabba's extra 4mm width compared to your Fender Jazz? That's probably my main concern TBH. [/quote] Personally I prefer it to the traditional Fender jazz neck, but then I again I started out on 70s Fender P basses and had been mainly playing Warwicks in the years before I got the two jazz basses. When I bought the Mayones, I did try out a Sandberg and a Clover in the shop but much preferred the Jabba. I also have a Fender Am Std Jazz (also made active and pimped out a bit like the Mayones) that I quite often take out on gigs. The Fender is a decent bass but I would say that the Jabba is put together better, lighter and has a nicer feel….

My main gigging bass is a white passive Jabba that I got from Mark at Bass Direct. Actually, I wanted an active ‘super jazz’ but like you, I couldn’t really afford the £2k plus for a s/h Sadowsky, Lull, Xotic or whatever. I put in a East J Retro Deluxe and then took it to Jon Shuker who fitted Bartolini pick-ups, a Schaller 2000 bridge, a brass nut and a customised thumb rest. Basically, I got the bass I wanted and saved the best part of a grand! The reason I picked the Jabba is because it is a [b]very[/b] well put together bass, far better than my Fender Jazz. The build quality is fantastic and to be honest, it was very good in its original passive state when I first got it (apart from the rather cheap bridge). I just used it as starting point for my own 'custom bass' and it turned out great! If only it had a quarter-sawn neck and that rigidity that, say an Xotic has, then it would be just about perfect…

Now that is a good idea...

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1371751755' post='2117767'] I don't know who Mark E Smith is but he seems to have the measure of Mumford and Sons. What a sh*t band. [/quote] Have you ever seen Mr Smith's band live?? I am guessing that you would probably MUCH prefer the Mumfords...!!

Great piece of kit - I have the deluxe version fitted on one of my jazzes! In active mode the stacked knobs are (from furthest away from the jack and inner knob first): vol/pan, treble/bass, mid/mid sweep. The switches are active/passive and er... never use that switch but apparently it's for getting a 'passive mix of pickups', which if I remember correctly means you can have a volume control for each p/up rather than the stacked vol/pan control...

'In The Stars Tonight' by Kim Mitchell [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnVO23zoU4Q[/media]

[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1371656135' post='2116689'] Frampton Comes Alive is fretless P if the sleeve art is anything to go by. [/quote] Stanley Sheldon - also played with the great Tommy Bolin, ace bass player...

The Stevie Ray Vaughan one "Caught In The Crossfire" is a good read and the Guy Pratt book is very funny! No one has mentioned "The Dirt" by Mötley Crüe! Very entertaining and will amaze you with the quite awe inspiring dumbness of the protagonists...!

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1371500266' post='2114786'] I'd positively encourage people to give Ped and Kiwi feedback. It's the only way to improve, after all. I do. [/quote] I think that what they are doing is probably the best course of action available. You might see a drop of new ads in the ‘For Sale’ sections (partly because of the insertion fees and partly because of the recession) but as Skank said, every ad that does come in is extra income that wasn’t being received before. £20 is not a bad deal for a continuous listing on a specialist site aimed at your potential buyers when you might be paying nearly as much for a one off advert in other places. However, you will get less feelers or trade offers – hardly the end of the world…

From a personal point of view, £20 is eminently reasonable if you are selling a bass or amp with the added bonus of helping to keep the site ticking over! However… I currently have a reasonably expensive bass to sell but I think that BC is probably not the best place to sell this particular bass given the current market. Never the less, in the past I would have put it up as a feeler to see if anyone here fancies it but I must admit that the £20 fee has put me off doing that! At some point in the next year I will probably be selling a pedal that I’m pretty confident will sell quickly and I have no problem with the £7 one off fee for doing that. I appreciate that the chaps running the site shouldn’t catch a cold for doing so and I have no intention of questioning how they raise advertising revenue or finance. But I do hope that they do not introduce a membership fee as such. If it is a fiver (or even £10) I would pay it without question, but any more will start to make you think! The site will start to lose members and more importantly, will struggle to get new ones. And whoever said that the recession is not a factor is completely wrong. I’m lucky enough to still have a decent job for the next year or so, but after that who knows?? And I am earning considerably less from gigging these days. I sold a Stingray on here a couple of years ago (to one of our esteemed mods as it happens) and I quite fancy getting another one. I have been watching several nice Rays on eBay going for a song, but I haven’t put any serious bids in for them. I am not prepared to carry even a modest amount of extra debt these days whereas a few years ago it would not have bothered me…

Why do they use such low spec bridges / hardware on their standard models, which are such we well built basses??

[quote name='Bolo' timestamp='1371204417' post='2111115'] This I would credit to the cabs used. Put that head on a different cab and you will have a completely different experience. [/quote]I was using the same cabs

I once borrowed a Hughes and Kettner 600w bass amp and it was not particularly loud, certainly nowhere near as loud as the 350w amp that I had at the time. There is absolutely no consistency in the power ratings claimed by various manufacturers! How you perceive loud is a funny thing anyway – people will happily withstand a fair amount of volume but as soon as something starts to clip or distort where it shouldn’t, it will immediately be perceived as being too loud…

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1371070789' post='2109556'] He was a bit patronising to Tony Levin once, probably not deliberately. Tried to tell him the notes to a difficult fast run on a recording session, but Tony just said play me the run, Al did, Tony heard it, copied it exactly and got a perfect first take. [/quote] Just re-read the passage in Bruford's book and it seems that Levin refused to rehearse the passage with DiMeola in the studio and then made a point of nailing it in one take as he was miffed at Al turning up late for a session for his album and then drinking beer and 'larking around' with the engineer who was his buddy! It seems that punctuality is a big thing with Levin, as it is with Bruford...

To state the obvious - the sound you get coming out of the speakers is shaped by everything on your chain: fingers, pickup, bass, lead, amp, EQ, speakers, etc. Some parts of the chain have more effect than others (the lead does not have much influence for example). The first and most important factor is your fingers / how you strike and the string (and your left hand as Steve says above) as that is unique to you and influences everything further down the chain...

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1371079882' post='2109704'] I reckon he drinks creme de menthe. [/quote] Well if he's drinking creme de menthe, then he might be good for a decent night out...

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1371078230' post='2109687'] Yes an amazing player indeed. I think i've seen him about three times. Twice at Hammersmith and once at the RFH. I take anything with a pinch of salt i hear about musicians etc on forums. You don't know in what context half of the comments were made in so if i've learned anything in life that's to trust my own instinct and judgement about people. I really couldn't care less if a musician is an a***hole or not as long as i like their music and wonder (but not for long) why others are really bothered. They're probably the same people who phone up the council when the yellow lines start to fade outside their local post office. [/quote] I agree - I'm at the gig to watch him play, not go out for a beer with him...!

I have a fair few mates who are sound engineers and the first thing to note is that there is a big difference between the guys who regularly get the decent gigs and some of the muppets who work on the smaller rigs. Unfortunately, Wolverine's experience is not unique and even some of the more capable ones seem to have a bit of a chip on the shoulder towards musicians, especially those in support bands. You don't need to ply engineers with beer and praise to get the best out of them, what you need is to appear to be credible and have a realistic idea of what you want from them! Turning up with the right gear and knowing how to use it helps a lot, as does appreciating what they have to do to get a good sound out front. In return they should help you get a decent onstage sound at a suitable volume to enable you put in a good performance, which after all is why the audience have come to the show!

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1371075578' post='2109647'] I wish that i'd known all this before i paid out a couple of quid to see Al all those years ago. I have decided now only to go and see really nice people who regularly give a percentage of their fee to charity, are kind to animals, don't swear, are not patronising to the audience and give money to starving people worldwide. [/quote] I recently saw a Facebook post from Pat Travers talking about being introduced to Al DiMeola, saying what a 'down to earth' nice guy he was, all be it a nice guy who drank and smoked a lot and whose language would make a marine blush! Now Travers is always said to be a decent chap by those who have met him and he liked DiMeola, so who knows what he's really like... Either way, still a stunning guitar player!

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1371074551' post='2109627'] If you are over 19 and you are trying to emulate people on the TV or whatever then it's not their fault, it's your's. [/quote] +1

I think that this thread might end up following in the wake of the epic Fab 4 thread of a while ago! In answer to the question asked by the OP, I would say no! The Beatles were undoubtedly the biggest and most influential pop group of all, but I don't that their influence extends to all popular music as some have suggested and with the advent of hip hop & R&B dominating the charts, I would suggest that record companies have finally stopped looking for the 'next Beatles'! I suppose that you could say that they unwittingly established the template for every godawful boy band that is pushed by the industry, but it is a bit unfair to blame them for that...