uk_lefty

Our drummer this weekend said he was at a middle aged party and the playlist was basically our set list. It's no bad thing, middle aged people can pay bands for their fiftieth, cricket club dinner, etc. Young people stream music for free and face in to the highest cost of living and worst job markets in modern times. I know which market I want to appeal to!

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1502143016' post='3349634'] You bury your kids..? [/quote] hahahahahaha

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1502149763' post='3349656'] It's all about attitude. Every gig I play I make sure I have a blast. It's about having fun and not taking yourself or your band to seriously. We're not that important. Blue [/quote] Couldn't agree more!! All we are is dust in the wind, after all.

I had a Brice Six string years back and didn't get on with it. They're very cheap and you can get some interesting designs but I found them lacking in almost every respect. The body was far too thick and heavy, the neck was not easy to get around and the overall quality of components was not up to standard. The issues with the body meant it wasn't a candidate for upgrades. I would personally avoid these, though in the years that have passed (ten maybe?) I would hope they have improved somewhat. It hasn't put me off six strings but I would definitely want a good trial with one before buying, considering I am not used to six strings.

Amazing what people try to get away with. Years back I used to book the band's for a pub I worked in. Booked a threepiece one night but I wasn't on shift. Two of the guys couldn't play but the main man was a very highly regarded solo act so he took on the gig solo and did fantastic, brought his following too. Bharat manager for the night cut the fee from a hundred quid to thirty because "a hundred for three people, just one guy is thirty". I didn't enjoy handling the phone calls on that one!! Last month played a party for a guy who tried to knock fifty quid off the agreed fee because we were getting "exposure". Exposure for a long established band by playing a private party in an area where 80% of our bookings are... A private party where half the guests were from another country... Unbelievable. Some written log of what was agreed is essential, whether a formal contract or not.

Steve Harris signature pickups. Im not a maiden fan and don't play that kind of music with my band but this pickup, especially with flatwounds (and the signature flatwounds) gives a huge full sound with loads of clarity and presence. It's not old school thump but it is punchy, it's not bright and zingy but it gets your treble out, it's an all-rounder but the main characteristics for me are the sheer power, presence and clarity through this pickup.

Have often thought of it, the wife has even suggested it, but I wouldn't know where to start! Fretted or fretless, or fretless with a brass slap plate... Can't even get past that never mind four or five strings

20-30 for me though (actual age in human years 33) I know my hearing has had a battering, but good to do this in front of the wife to deny there is an issue at all.

[quote name='Delberthot' timestamp='1501780831' post='3347342'] I thought that was Cher back in 1998? [/quote] Or Buble since he started being forced through the radio making me want to rip off my own ears?

Interesting test case... How do you prove that chain of causation without access to medical records? Can you prove it? He definitely has some need a psychiatric help, comes across as having some serious inferiority issues IMO.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1501619755' post='3346030'] ([i]Cos I bought most of it is not an acceptable answer BTW[/i]) [/quote] But that is exactly why I don't have trace gear!! Only sold cos of weight, I have a bad back from sporting abuse years ago. Given a choice of an ideal it would be trace sound all day long but I can't deal with the weight. A lot of our gigs are parties and festivals where parking is not remotely near the stage so carrying lightweight cabs makes life easier and less stressful. I also find it easier to change out amps than basses in the search for perfect sound. Partly cos my basses are all lefty so harder to buy and sell, but I have no emotional attachment to amps and pedals the way I do a bass. I may acquire a trace head to go with my ashdown lightweight cabs in future but I do worry about reliability, putting a twenty plus years old amp head in to my set up seems like introducing the most likely point of failure. While I love trace sound I found my small gk backline combo excellent and loved my old but cumbersome Hartke kickback, at the moment ashdown RM series seems to be giving what I need, it's up to me to introduce compression etc to get close to that trace punch. There's a lot of good quality choice about with amps now and the second hand market offers great value.

[quote name='CliveT' timestamp='1501576101' post='3345553'] Thanks. So you're not using any compression, just adding a bit of the enhance for top end. I can see the sense in that if you don't want to compress at all [/quote] Yes, I use the amps built in compressor for my fretted basses but would switch this off and engage the "enhance" when playing fretless. As well as eq tinkering.

[quote name='CliveT' timestamp='1501513641' post='3345172'] Out of interest, if you still have the Boss limiter enhancer what settings do you use for fretless? I use this pedal foe exactly the same purpose. [/quote] Quite boringly I use the "enhance" recommended settings in the manual! Does the job so I don't mess with it from there. And I still don't use this pedal for my fretted basses. Since my earlier post I have added a Hartke bass chorus pedal which is great for the fretless and am now using an ashdown amp head and it's octave setting works nicely too, would be better still if I get the octave effect footswitched. Incidentally I also spent about a month without gigs rehearsing with only my fretless and a very old zoom 506 multi effect. In the mix leaving this on the factory A1 effect, which is some kind of quite subtle flanger, it worked with everything! I have an 80s boss flanger on my main board so will experiment with this and the fretless on Thursday night...

Excellent stuff!! Must be so much fun to play

We have thought about writing our own for our covers band to branch out a bit but in all honesty I don't think it fits. We are a band who get people to song along and dance along to old songs they know and love, playing a sad song about a girl who ignored our guitarist when he was thirteen will kill the mood. In an old rock-blues band we chucked in the odd original and got criticised for the songs not sounding original enough! Can't win them all! I'd prefer to play originals with less typical covers so you can retain some audience interest. Saw an incredibly good originals band at a festival last year playing after my band. I can't remember their name, the name of any songs, any stand out lyrics, I just remember they were really good, which isn't so helpful.

[quote name='Osiris' timestamp='1500996600' post='3341621'] My band plays a wide range of covers from 60's top modern day. I tend to play with a relatively flat eq and make any minor adjustments to playing position and occasionally panning between pickups on my basses that have more than one. I also use a bit of low gain drive, usually so low gain that I doubt anyone actually notices anyway! This gives me a good 'one size fits all' sound (with some subtle variation) that works well with everything. Our guitarist and keys players have dedicated sounds for different songs, so I like to keep the bass tone relatively constant behind them, and it seems to work really well across the board. [/quote] Similar to my approach. Find a good core tone and make minor adjustments only when you have to. Guitarists have it easier to replicate tones, whereas if bassists were to try you'd have long breaks between songs as you change to the bass with flatwounds, etc

[quote name='pburrows' timestamp='1500564997' post='3338749'] Cheers Lefty, but buy which one? I'm getting bamboozled by all the different options! [/quote] Whatever you can find on here for sale or on gumtree I guess. I'm not up on the model names I'm afraid I just know I like them!

[quote name='Jakester' timestamp='1500538174' post='3338489'] Not quite the same thing, but I'm sure I've seen a fretless with a single fret right up at the dusty end to give that 'clank' when slapping. [/quote] I've heard of these too. Rather than a fret I thought it was just a metal plate set in at the end of the fingerboard.

Ah ok I jumped to the conclusion you'd knocked up a bitsa yourself.

Nice! Did you get a good deal on the neck?

The sound is the best I've ever had from any amp. I just couldn't handle the weight living in a second floor flat. Mick bought my combo and extension cab, it was an insanely loud rig but you're getting more than just volume, you get a depth of tone and a presence through the mix that's hard to get from other amps that I've used and it fits any musical situation within reason. I often think an old trace head with lightweight cabs might be my solution one day. I say buy one, unless weight will trouble you. You wouldn't lose money on it if you chose to sell on and you'd get to experience it properly.

At the moment we have the wealthiest guy in the band look after the cash, less likely to run off with the odd fifty quid that's owed to someone! Have had trouble in the past with gig fees being paid in to the personal account of one member who then can't remember if we've been paid, or can't access his bank, etc. Just creates bad feeling, far easier if there's a bank account that everyone can access.

[quote name='Bonin-in-the boneyard' timestamp='1499449718' post='3331679'] Vintage Fender https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/pxp170701311996002-698577--fender-telecaster-bass-1973-left-handed-pre-owned-401 [/quote] My absolute dream bass!! Anyone want to lend me two grand to be paid back... Never?

Used the Rootmaster 500 head and two fifteen inch Rootmaster cabs for two gigs this weekend. On a huge outdoor stage and using di it performed admirably, plenty of volume and bottom end. Playing crammed in the corner of a function room with a high ceiling we barely needed any volume at all and didn't di to the PA. This set up is excellent! The cabs give a really pleasing bottom end but definitely don't lose any top, and I have the tweeters off. Want to hold on to this rig for years to come.

Funny thing... No noise at all in last rehearsal. Had two gigs on Saturday both through my own rig. At the first gig there was loads of noise and it was coming through the di out to the PA so in the interests of saving time I agreed with the sound guys to ditch my pedals and play straight to the amp. No tuner or mute but we were playing a quick 45 min set. Also, when going to the active input channel on the amp the di signal went dead, which is odd. A few hours later and I'm setting up my rig for the night gig, no issues whatsoever with pedal noise, used the full lot all night. Absolutely baffled for what the problem could be!!