uk_lefty

Ernie ball flats on my fretless, on my second set since 2004 I think... Steve Harris Sig. Flats on my P bass. Tension is so high I was in tears winding the strings on waiting for the neck to snap in my face, but bedded in they give a bit more and there is HUGE HUGE tone! My P bass gets through the mix and lets you know there's bass going on no matter what other noise there is around. The P bass may well get some lower tension flats next time though...

Thanks for all the advice. I turned up and was just myself... After one easy song to settle in we were picking random ones off their set list that they hadn't played for ages, not just the easy ones they'd knocked through for other auditionees. On bits of songs where I want to play fills/ faff about I absolutely did because I was comfortable playing with them and I thought f*** it, that is the only way I know how to play. Anyhows, good bunch of guys and we all got on well, decent players and quality singer. I got the handshake and the welcome at the end of the night, I'm one chuffed bass player. Ta again, I was having some quandaries in the days beforehand. Key seemed to be not to overthink it and just 'be prepared'.

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1461239534' post='3032754'] i find the Andy Cairns bass they have a little odd, he played guitar, maybe its just me [/quote] They had me at Lloyd Grossman's guitar.

Tricky one. Having organised bands for a bar I worked in as a student years back we always got a bit icky over money. Some bands demanded a thousand pounds (in 2003) to play in our cellar with max capacity of a hundred if lucky, but were unwilling to do any promo like putting up posters (told them to sell their own tickets or jog on). Some acoustic acts wanted a hundred quid to play like crap with inaudible equipment to their crowd of unemployed vagrants crowding round ten to a half pint of coke... One night I wasn't working and a trio couldn't make it so the lead singer came on his own, did a great set, and my colleague decided to only pay him a third of the fee "because there's only one of you"! He never came back. It's so hard for a pub to make money I don't blame a landlord for passing a pot around, but he should have told you up front "don't worry lads, we will pass the pot around and I'll make it up to *whatever amount* if it's not enough. If it's more, you keep it". All in all, I've had far worse acts of dickery inflicted on me in this biz, but if everyone is honest up front people can make their choices without these kind of quandaries. Maybe air your grievance with said landlord and see his side of it? It may be a misunderstanding, hopefully, or you can make him be clearer in future, and you retain a venue you enjoy playing

Some good points there... I'm told there is an amp but mine will be in the car just in case it's a fartbox in the room. I'm assuming no audience as its in a rehearsal space but who knows? From email interactions I expect we will get on well. The previous bassist played as per the record almost, good tone and nothing flash, including nothing flash from the recorded versions... Will be interesting

I'm off to "audition" for a band tomorrow night. They're established but their bass player has left for whatever reason. They're typical pub rock covers fare but very good at it and have gigs booked this summer. Before I realised it would be a revolving door of bassists I made sure I could play to at least a passable standard 25 of the 30 songs on their set list - luckily I had played most before or enjoyed the song but had not ever played it. Now I'm getting a half hour slot to jam with them tomorrow night. How do you reckon I should approach it? Wear the clothes I am wearing all day? Wear what I would be comfortable in at a gig? Or wear what they wear for gigs? Take my P bass which will do most of the songs or P and J? Leave the headless at home even though it suits one or two songs? Use my effects like flange? Or stick to compression and maybe overdrive so they're hearing my playing more than the effects? The songs are very simple riff based with some room for flourishes... Do I "show off", play as minimal as possible, or just hint at a few fills here and there? Any advice welcome

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1418778172' post='2633372'] I have two J basses. One strung with rounds and one with flats. I like to switch between depending on the feel I have in my head for a tune.They both get outings to rehearsals. I prefer rounds on my P bass with the tone rolled back. [/quote] I'm going to show this to the wife next time she asks why there's a new guitar in the house! I had flats on my jazz a while back as an experiment and to reduce fingertip blisters. I loved the old school "hollow" sound it gave. And kept flats on it for about a year. My jazz now has very light stainless steel rounds (pyramid funk ss, enjoying them a lot!) And it brings out different nuances in the bass and makes me approach playing it differently. The jazz is just a very versatile bass, and for me strings are more important than pickups and tonewoods etc. They're the first point of contact for the tone

Has anyone ever heard of Fender Mexican series basses from late 90's or early 00's with active electronics in left handed? Just seen one advertised second hand, never come across one before. I like my MIM Jazz but this has turned my head... If it's genuine and good quality.

Lovely job! Black P bass with maple is a great combo

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1458215349' post='3005623'] As the OP already knows they divide opinion I'm afraid I'm going to have to say I've never seen one played in a pub where the operator of it didn't look a total douche bag! Sorry if that's too honest, lol. [/quote] Got to admit of my four basses even my pointy five string fretless Kramer has more "street cred". Nothing is cooler than a white Fender p either. I am not sure this one will ever be used on stage unless I'm standing behind a wire mesh screen

Being left handed my choice is very limited I'm sad to say. I would much prefer a "bodied" headless bass but unless I find a hohner Jack or steinberger spirit at the right time and right price this is the closest I'll get. My band do all hate it without having seen or heard it.

So I got the chance to play a headless Hohner. The Mrs told me to treat myself as I liked the tone and she knows I love Mark King and anything 80s so she said go for it. I wanted a day or two to think about it and on my actual birthday found one in better condition with the fitted hard case going much cheaper on eBay. I bought it saving 100 quid and getting an immaculate condition fitted hard case too. As I have neither a headless nor an active bass of the three I already had the purchase is justified and at a price I can turn a small profit if I need to move it on. The tone is nice and full with far more bottom than I would expect and its amazingly comfortable though weirdly the neck feels two frets longer than most. I need to re string it and clean a little but it's in good nick. I don't yet see how it would fit with any of my previous bands on stage but for recording and lugging around for jams it would be perfect. Far better sound than I had expected. Does it have a future as a collector's item? I have no idea. I get the impression the hohners aren't as collectible but the active electronics makes them stand out from the steinberger spirits. They are a very marmite bass, my band are already bullying me over it! Here's a link to some pics: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B46HIatpzhWyRXpNQUpXYmJfMzA/view?usp=docslist_api

Crappy headstocks on fender copies Ramps That's about it. There's a time and a place for most looks on a bass.

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1457365920' post='2997804'] Hohner b2a - it's nicely competent, and it's small enough to hide in the car for lunchtime practice but it's just not floating my boat [/quote] Ouch!! I just bought one yesterday! My band mates are going to kill me but I played one recently and liked the tone but need to see how it works with the band.

Hi everyone... It's unlikely to be the nut as I had a bone nut made and installed by a top quality luthier and I use light gauge strings on my jazz. The bass loses its tuning more during hotter weather, really let me down on a gig a few years back. I've been sure it was the tuners, partly because they were fitted by a previous owner so I don't know their origins or how well they've been treated, but also because they can sometimes feel quite loose. There's a screw at the top, hard to describe, that I could tighten I guess... Ideally I want to replace with more authentic looking tuners but if these are duff then it means I can't honestly sell them on, which would be a shame.

Hi! One of my basses has upgraded Schaller tuners, it's a jazz bass and these are almost typical fender type... Problem is they often slip out of tune. A bit annoying. Is this simply a case of tightening the screws? Or are they dead?

[quote name='therealting' timestamp='1457271055' post='2996873'] I don't get, and have never gotten, the fuss about Warwicks. I know some people love them, but TO ME they're ugly, heavy, feel terrible, don't sound good... and you pay a considerable amount of money for the very dubious privilege of owning one. [/quote] I had a streamer LX, most beautiful bass I've owned. Gorgeous maple body, Wenge neck, active Pj, the works, gold plated hardware, bell brass frets... A very high spec bass. In my hands it just sounded plain and ordinary no matter what. I went to a music shop and used an MIM Jazz for a noodle and though it felt cheap and plastic-like compared to my Warwick I could coax out the sounds I wanted. I always regret selling the Warwick but then remember it was nothing more than pretty, to me at least

Buy a zoom BFX-708 second hand, they're going for about 20 quid which is a bargain

[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1456616094' post='2990888'] Just sat having a play, this bridge cover looks the business. Not sure yet though https://instagram.com/p/BCTuz-vOQYn/ [/quote] Either fully dressed or naked, nothing looks right in between!

Literally no idea how to put a picture up here. I've done it before but it involved chicken blood and a full moon

So it has now arrived.... This is [b][u]not[/u][/b] a lightweight combo like a Fender Rumble, I think the shipping weight was 28kg... so its in that region. Having a little plastic top handle for that is a bit rubbish frankly, you need to get two hands on this to carry without knackering your back. Its not just this amp, I had a massive Marshall that had the same issue, Hartke kickback... etc. Looks inviting. I could take it to almost any sort of gig I think without looking out of place. Would be ok for folk/ country and acceptable for rock and metal... good all-rounder, has some character in its appearance and looks comfortingly old-school with the logo and VU meter. Looks small - I did doubt whether I had a 15" speaker at first. A bit of cream piping round the cloth grille looks good. Metal corner protectors, vinyl cover which I prefer over rough carpet. Rubber feet. I've now tickled three basses through this - Fender Jazz, Fender P, fretless 5 string Kramer. The amp articulates each well. I've only played with the EQ and the "Deep" switch, not yet the "Bright". The EQ is ok though the knobs feel a little cheap. I can get the sounds I want which is typically flat EQ with mid slightly cut and bass & treble slightly boosted for the fretted basses and the opposite for the fretless. The EQ has five knobs but two of them are smaller than the three main ones. The amp doesn't provide much of its own character on to the sound as many can do - I wouldn't call it an "ultra-clean" sound in this sense, but I'm not sat here thinking "that's the Ashdown amp sound" - if that makes sense? Some will think that's a good thing, some may not. I'm ok with it. Volume-wise I'm sure this has more than enough output to keep up in band practice when you boost the input volume as well as the output volume. I live in a flat so it won't be pushed on volume until next band practice. At less than half-volume I'm confident in its air-shifting ability. Overdrive - the built in overdrive can be controlled by a footswitch. The overdrive is pretty good and saves pedal space, afterall "overdrive" should be the sound of an over-driven amp so its best coming from the amp rather than a pedal. The overdrive has a rotary knob and can go from un-noticeable to a-bit-too-much with everything in between. I couldn't see whether Ashdown actually make one, but I've bought Thomann's cheapest footswitch for this - which does the job, but surely if its a function of the amp they should just give it with the amp?? Sub-Harmonics - saved me buying a dedicated octaver maybe. Its ok. A bit cheesey. Annoyingly this isn't footswitch-able and I can't see me ever playing a full song with it engaged - why make the overdrive footswitchable but not this? Sounds good in the higher reaches of my fretless and may sound good if I were ever to need to play really heavy stuff. Possibly best combined with the overdrive, otherwise its a bit too much like a cheap multi-effect type sound without much flexibility to change it. Built-in compressor with rotary control and on-off switch - personally I prefer a compressor on the amp than on my pedal board, but I'm not an omni-labs compressor fiend, I like a bit of it and know when I want more or less, that does it for me. I don't like a super-squashed sound so this is sufficient to me. Post-EQ DI - this would be useful with a pre/ post switch. Not used it yet, hope it works when I need it. Extension cab? There is the usual speaker input for the in-built combo speaker in the back and a spare socket next to it... can I load on another cab? I have no idea. If I can, what impedance? etc. Another 15" cab underneath would be formidable and they do one in this range for just over a hundred quid. There's a built-in fan which is noisy. Ideally I'd like this to be more quiet. Might really p!ss me off during the week because we don't play very loud and we record all our jams, I don't want to hear the fan on the amp through any quiet bits. I've not yet put my pedal board up in to it, would be interesting to see how it handles the envelope filter and flanger combo I use, and then over-driven. I expect it will be ok. Overall I'm so far happy. £250 delivered within a few days from Germany, for a brand new 300 watt amp. I usually buy secondhand amps due to the horrendous cost new, but this is a safe buy and I so far feel its good value. It is not the quality of my Trace Rig that I sold but I didn't expect it to be. For pub gigs, rehearsals and quiet home playing it will fit the bill and only time will tell if its going to keep going for years or not. I have never been attracted to Ashdowns but I think I've just used some that have been abused in hired band rooms, rather than getting my hands on something that's either new or been looked after properly. If you only have £250 to spend on an amp and you want new then this is a good use of money.

I often play things wrong. My first ever gig with my first ever (and best ever) band I played the "All Along the Watchtower" section of our showpiece Hendrix medley on the wrong string. I was too busy trying to look like a moody Entwistle and temper my fills... I knew something was wrong but wasn't sure how to correct it. I was gutted and stormed off after we finished. Nobody else cared, not even the self-obsessed singer-lead-guitar-lyricist, they thought we nailed the whole thing and we all got loads of compliments on our individual and group performance... However, playing in a "oh its just 12 bar blues in b-flat..." type group where the guitarist would go off and play random blues stuff and expect me to just follow from very vague instruction and never having heard the song before people have said to me "errr... the bass didn't quite fit the rest of the song" So I guess some you can just "style-out" if they're minor slips but sometimes there's no hiding place!

So after selling my beloved and all powerful trace rig I needed a new amp. Was seriously considering new: hartke kickback 12, gk mb 112, ashdown toneman. Then a fender rumble 500 came up on gumtree in my price range. I contact the seller, arrange the meet, and he doesn't show and doesn't answer his phone. I had a hartke kickback 15 and loved the sound but couldn't bring myself to buy the new 12 and being out of stock at thomann helped my decision. I fancied the gk but the powered extension cabs cost the same as the amp almost so that put me off although again, I have had gk amps before and they're excellent. I went for the toneman largely down to cost, but also all the features I want are there. I have never been a fan of the abused and tired ashdown s I have used in rehearsal rooms but I understand they have been mistreated. As soon as this arrives I'll put out a review. 250 quid for 300 watts, footswitch overdrive, 15" speaker, seems a good deal.

I have the caline and its doing a decent job. I'm running a tuner, hartke bass attack, micro q tron, boss flanger, boss limiter enhancer and a zoom 506 off it right now, all holding up well. Good value for money. Not sure how it would handle a more exotic set up but there's room for more pedals should I want to add them on. I'd say go for it.

Flanger on its own is ok, nothing special... But after an envelope filter its the dogs.