peteb

But Miles had a very definite stage presence that people wanted to buy into. That's kinda the point...! I'm not so sure about that. If Rossi had a deeply profound knowledge of advanced musical theory, would be have able to write such convincing barroom boogie ditties, or would they have come across as contrived??

A strange but noble body of men...!

I should point out that we're not talking vaudeville here and you don't have to be a Steven Tyler or Bruce Forsyth or whatever. You just have to be able to communicate with your audience to the point that makes them want to listen to your music...

I'm not disagreeing with your first point at all. BUT, if you can't do it on a gig (or session or whatever) then you can't do it at all and stagecraft is the ability to hold an audience. Once you get on a stage you are in showbusiness (like it or not) and if you can't engage with an audience then it doesn't matter how much musical knowledge you have, you shouldn't be on that stage...

I'm not trying to say that it is an 'either/or' process, just that people will get different levels of formal (or informal) training and then use what talent they have to make of it what they will. For lots of people I know, someone showed them a scale and a few chords then they just listened to their favourite records over and over again (continually lifting and replacing the needle) until they managed to play something like the original. As they got better then they were able to copy the record exactly, but they still probably learnt more in their earlier attempts to get it nearly right! If they are any good then they will soon pick up what simple harmony is, the intervals that make up a chord, the relationships of chords, etc. For example, I had worked out what modes were long before I found out that they were actually called ‘modes’, yet alone the names of them (some of which I still forget)! The only way that 'creativity' can actually be hampered by absorption of knowledge is if a musician does not learn how to apply what they been taught and if they have not developed their ear alongside their training. I’m sure that you have seen guys on a bandstand that have sailed through music college, but are routed to the spot on a gig staring at a non-existent score – no feel, no groove, no performance skills. But of course, that is not to say that applies to everybody who has had formal musical training – far from it…!

I think that it’s a lot to do with how you learn the instrument in your formative years. A good player who has learnt from listening to their favourite records and then going on to playing loads of gigs with lots of different musicians, will develop a pretty good ear. They will also pick up quite a lot of music theory along the way without being taught formally, but they will mainly rely on feel and listening skills. A good player who has been taught will hopefully listen to a wide variety of artists, play lots of gigs and develop a level of ‘feel’ that can’t be taught in a book. However, there are plenty of guys who have been through music school who could easily play in a pit and read a theatre gig, but could hardly get through a blues gig playing 12 bars. Then again, there are loads of decent self-taught players who could play a blistering blues set but wouldn’t have a clue if you put a score in front of them. Probably the best (and certainly the most successful) bass player that I know, taught himself to play from listening to records and playing loads of gigs. He has developed an amazingly good ear – absolutely awesome. After he had been a pro for a bit, he learnt to read so that he could pick up more work. To me, that’s the ideal way of doing it, but he was developing in what might perhaps be seen as more of a ‘golden age’ (in terms of gigs being available) and I’m not so sure that people starting out these days can do that so easily.

Well yes, IF there is a demand for their basses and there are players who are prepared to pay their prices

I’m not sure that is what Gianni is actually saying (he can correct me if I am wrong of course)! I think that he is asking why what is essentially a Fender copy with an undeniably ugly headstock so expensive? Of course, the same can be said for many top-end fender style basses (Sadowsky for a start). I can’t comment really about AG basses, as although I have seen a couple (that looked to be a high quality build), I’ve never actually played one. I d think that you have to be careful when you talk about ‘Fender Shaped Objects’. The electric bass guitar has been around for 65 years or so and although there have been many different designs in that time but, like it or not, for many the reference for what a bass should look and sound like is either a Fender Precision or Jazz (and to a much lesser extent a MM Stingray). This includes many band leaders, recording engineers, other musicians, plenty of bass players and even many punters. Therefore, there is a demand for something that looks and basically sounds like a Fender, but with certain improvements. Hence Sadowsky initially going into business to meet the demand in New York for a hot-rodded jazz bass and Lakland for players in Chicago who wanted something that covered both the sounds of a jazz bass and a stingray. Of course, we could all play Harvey Bentons (or whatever they’re called), but where’s the fun in that??

It was just a point of information - I'm as confused as you are...

I believe that the 14th amendment was introduced to protect the rights of former slaves in the southern states following the civil war.

This is partly the reason that I pulled the trigger on my Handbox when I did. But, even for the bigger manufacturers, will the increased overhead and hassle be worth it for the margin they need to work on, especially when you factor in possible tariffs, etc?? Will the UK market be prepared (or able) to pay a higher price for their products? Of course, it will be even worse for small companies like HB. This will work both ways, which potentially could seriously affect some of my mates who sell services to mainland Europe. But back to the immediate problem, does anyone know where I can get a blue light for my Handbox R-400?

I have just tried to sell an acoustic guitar on Reverb. Fortunately it ended up being bought via a Facebook site instead, but I think that is the way I would have gone if it had sold on Reverb. Funnily enough, the guy who bought it seemed a bit surprised when I suggested cash on delivery - I think he was expecting me to ask for him to send me the money first...

Just to point out that it's not just Handbox - the same will apply to any imported amp (or pretty much any other item)...

A quick question - does anyone know where I can get another blue bulb for my HB R400? This is the bulb that backlights the logo when the amp is in playing mode. The red light that shows that the amp is still warming up is still working, so I just need a suitable blue bulb. Cheers, Pete

Only 10/15 on the guitar one

I got 14/15 - surprised at how many I actually knew rather than guessed. Funnily enough, the one I didn't get was Flea as I don't think that it was a Stingray in the picture (or was it one without a scratchplate) and I didn't think that he had enough tattoos...!

I did once have an East J Retro Deluxe preamp in an active jazz (with Bartolinis) and my experience was somewhat mixed. PROS: Yes, it did sound great The mid-sweep control is great and allows you to easily find the right mid frequency to cut through a mix in a difficult room CONS: There is so much boost and cut across so much frequency range, much of it unusable, which makes it is very easy to get a bad sound I once passed the bass to a very good American pro player who was sitting in with a band I was playing with. The first thing he did was to turn up the bass control, as he would on any other jazz bass and immediately nearly blew my speakers! A friend of mine, who is a well-known luthier, says that he doesn’t generally recommend or use them on his own builds unless specified by the customer, as it is too easy to get a bad sound out of them. He reckons that there are more ‘musical’ preamps around, which I have agree with (for example the EWS Tri-logic). TL;DR – they sound great but be careful out there…

Guy's back with a broken computer and the bass part to The Ballad of Jenny Ledge by Toy Matinee. A shorter video this time, due to his computer screwing up, so not as much chat as normal. Still great though...

I still had issues after I managed to actually install PTF (had to open in Administrator mode, couldn't import mp3s). I ended up uninstalling it and going with Ableton Live 10 Lite instead.

Markbass might not have the 'wow' factor when you listen to them on their own, but they always work well in a live mix and the old Italian built / non Class D amps have plenty of power for their RMS ratings.

As far as the Handbox goes, I've had the same issues with Class D amps as you. I had a Mesa D800 that sounded great in certain situations, but struggled onstage with the heavier stuff (especially when competing against keyboards IME). I eventually sold the D800 and got a Handbox R400, which is great. I did have issues getting used to the EQ section, but once you get your head around that then it is a really nice sounding amp that works well in any live situation that I've come across since getting it.

I'm always amazed at the number of people on Basschat who use flats. I can only think of one guy on the circuit around here who uses flats on one of his basses - everyone else uses rounds! Personally, I use 45-105 nickel hex core roundwounds - DR lo-rider or D'addario XLs (slightly cheaper option). I do sometimes use heavier gauge DR DDT sets for when I have to tune down for certain gigs (although my P bass always stays in concert).

Not sure that is correct. Walter retired his old Strat quite a few years ago, as it was getting too heavy for him and he was paranoid about taking it on the road in case it got nicked. He had a luthier friend build a lightweight replica body of his original strat, which he teamed with the neck from another one of his Fenders. DiMarzio then made him some custom pickups based on those on his original guitar.

Thanks for that - appreciated I did get a response from the Avid YouTube page with the same advice. I still had an issue and was then advised to open PTF in Administrator mode,which seems to have done the trick. All the instructions I got was that I needed iLok to get the licence for PTF. To be fair, that didn't seem to be the problem, more an issue with Windows.

I am trying to install Pro Tools First and have downloaded the programme and set up a licence on iLok, etc. However, when I click on the Pro Tools First icon on my desktop it comes up with the error message "Pro Tools First could not be loaded" / "Import DLL mfc120u.dll cannot be loaded". Any advice on what I should do or what have I missed / done wrong in the set-up? Many thanks...