mangotango

That's easy for you to say...........

That's fair enough; it took me ages after I moved down to my current location before I had any grasp of the detailed geography of London. Which is often the case with big cities, especially Capitals. The locals think that everyone should know the smallest details; the visitors wouldn't have a clue of anything beyond the tourist landmarks. I wish I could write in Swahili; now that would be a talking point!!

Peut-être, à l’avenir, il me faut écrire en Français?

Ah, that's all down to perspective. I always find it harder work to get to get to Wembley than it should be; I much preferred the Excel (15 minutes drive away from Chateau Mango) for distance, but it IS a bit characterless as venues go. I didn't mind Earls Court, especially (as others have said) when the Knitting And Crochet Show was there. Sharing a lift with the Ladies Who Knit was always comedic gold; I once made the comment in the lift (after the Knitters had got out) that if you drew the Venn Diagram of the two groups, the ONLY point where the circles would touch would be Earls Court itself. Anyway, if the LBGS is moving to end of September, will the Sarf-East bass Bash move correspondingly forward so that we have something to look forward to earlier in the year? (Hoping for a Yes here.....I had to miss the last one as I had bookings for both morning and afternoon).

Certainly agree with that - it's just having the available funds at any given moment......we've all been there, I guess. However, as proof positive of my appreciation of ACG basses, here's a picture from the Sunday of this year's London Bass Guitar show; Alan is the guy on the left, holding his very nice bass and wearing an "It's gonna be a long day" expression; as some muppet next to him prepares to inflict ham-fisted torture on said nice bass. Second photo is the bass upon which I carried out said muppetry. AND it was absolutely wonderful. Comfortable to play, all the sounds that you'd want - what's not to love?

If I weren't Bass Collection'ed up (ridiculously good value)....I'd think about saving up my money for a Sandberg. Or maybe saving up somebody else's money as well and put it all towards having that Mr. Cringean build me a bass. I tried Dingwalls at the last two Bass Guitar Shows and although I realise that it wasn't ever going to be the best conditions for a test...I didn't like anything about them. And when I heard somebody else playing one...I didn't like that, either.

This is what I use. https://www.thomann.de/gb/km_141_mkii.htm I wasn't happy with it at first - because there are, according to the instructions, three screws that you need to tighten to make it Strong and Stable. Unfortunately, the instructions are in German, which I don't speak or read - and I only tightened two. The resultant tumble did my poor bass no good at all. However, since I managed to work out what went wrong, it's been great, so I can only put that down to pilot error on my part. I can even play it on the stand whilst jumping from BG to EUB (Aria SWB-04) and it's stable enough for that.

I use one of these. https://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_aby_footswitch.htm Nice blue light to let you know which channel is working; all pretty reliable thus far. Bass guitar goes via a line out from my wireless into one channel; EUB via Behringer Acoustic Modeller/DI into the other. All out into the Genz-Benz Streamliner. When using the EUB, I switch out the Gain button to take the graunch (technical term!) out of proceedings.

Now, I would buy that version of the bass....

Ah, my first ever decent bass was a 1974 Musicmaster in exactly that colour...loved it so much, but when there was a Jazz bass on offer, being a poverty-stricken student at the time, I traded it in. Nowadays, for the negligible trade-in value, I'd just have kept it.

Not exactly twins at all.....but sisters

Sorry not to have answered this earlier. Regarding acoustic volume, there’s enough to be able to practice without an amp, but without annoying the neighbours. The magnetic pickup gives the “thump”, but adding the piezoelectric gives the "real" DB sound. I use a blend of the two and it sounds fine. Band is doing some recording this weekend , so will try to get a sound sample recorded and then post ASAP.

I've been using Rotosound Swings on all of my bass guitars.....because it was the easy option. However, one of my basses is newly fretless and I'm bothered about fingerboard wear. When I had a fretless all those years ago, I used D'Addario half-rounds and they worked fine. However, in those days I had two basses - a 4 string bass guitar and Double Bass. Choices were pretty easy. Nowadays, there are a lot more options. And I'm struggling to wade through all of the different choices. Please note: I use TI strings on my jazz guitars, and for bass have used Rotosound Trubass, and D'Addario Chromes before, so I have an idea of the quality involved. So could I ask you please for your recommendations for the following:- * Bass Collection SB 5-string active bass, 2 x J p/ups - need a bright, attack-y sound as I slap as well as plucking. Rounds obligatory here. * Fernandes Gravity 5 string passive deftretted bass, 2 x J p/ups - looking for brightness but with upper-middle-y presence and plenty of warmth (no slapping going on here, obviously!). Maybe half-rounds or very bright flats, to avoid chewing up the fingerboard? * Bass Collection SB 4-string passive bass, P/J configuration - rumbly warmth needed here. Again, possibly half-rounds? * Aria SB-04 Electric Upright Bass - mostly played pizzicato but intend to use bow occasionally (when I become good enough!) Quite middle-y sound wanted in order to cut through keys and horns, but versatile enough to sound old school when needed. Not sure what's on there at the moment, to be honest! Ladeez an' gennulmen - start your (search) engines!!

Thanks guys. @therealting, I actually bought this 'cos I couldn't afford an Eminence! I saw Steve Rodby, Pat Metheny's bassist, doing a gig with The Impossible Gentlemen at the pizza Express in Soho, using an Eminence. However, since it's a long time since I played anything remotely double bass-ish, then I wasn't prepared to invest that much in the Eminence and went for this instead at 1/4 of the price. And with the Mag and Piezo pickups, it sounds fine, as mentioned above. It sounds close enough to an upright for the electric jazz group in which I play, and of course, for those who listen with their eyes, it's vertical rather than horizontal so it looks the part..... The work that's been done on this by Jerome has given me back my bass, putting it simplistically. Now it's a viable instrument and I'm looking at our set-list to find the tunes where I can fit it in, rather than putting it away. Lessons ongoing, but really looking forward to it being something that I can take onstage now. Will try to get a sound file of some variety recorded soon, so that you can hear it.

So last Saturday I ended up in Guitar Guitar in Glasgow and tried this:-- https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/180108320570002-1646681--sandberg-california-vm5-virgin-white-mn-blocks-hardcore and now I want one. Don't need all of the hardcore aging, thanks - I can cause my own damage well enough!! However, the sound of this was everything I need from a bass guitar.

Lovin' it to bits, mate. Sorry to let you down....... Will try to add a soundfile at some point.

Bearing in mind the well-known forum saying, "you no pictures, him no happen", I am please finally to attach some photos of the work done for me by Jerome Davies of Cranbrook in Kent. Super job, really lovely wood went into the brace - pictures don't do it justice - and whereas I'm not going to give away his prices, I can tell you that it was remarkably good value for the quality of the work done. The brace is adjustable so I can make it very comfortable as regards playing position, and it helps get the bass in the right position for the hands to relate to the strings. It also gives a physical presence like a DB but without compromising the portability of an EUB. I am very happy indeed with this.

I do get what you are saying, honestly. I had a double bass many years ago, but at the time I didn't have the formal tuition that would have helped me along the way. And now, some 35 years later, I'm trying to make up for lost time by restarting with correct fundamentals. So I really do understand what you're saying about the different physical challenges, etc. I can see also that, say a classical guitar teacher might not feel able to help a guy who turns up at his door with a Strat. And if that's how it had been presented, I'd have been fine with it and moved along. However, if I came across as curmudgeonly on this subject, here's why - there were two specific reactions from prospective teachers that quite simply made me angry. One guy to whom I was introduced at an orchestra performance that I attended was absolutely fine with the prospect of teaching me, quite happily discussing a plan for tuition...right up until I mentioned the electricity involved, and also that it was my intention to play jazz, not orchestral music. His face dropped, his lip curled into a classic condescending sneer. "Oh NO", he said, "I shan't be doing THAT!" And he pretty much turned and walked away. Yeh, thanks mate. The other was a woman of whom I made enquiries over the phone. Again, I got as far as saying "electric upright" and she almost became angry with me, instantly saying "No, no, I can't teach that!" and virtually putting the phone down on me. So those reactions kind of coloured my viewpoint, up until I found my current teacher, whom I met when he was the bass tutor at a jazz course I attended; I was playing bass guitar on that course. He takes the p out of my bass guitars, calling them cricket bats; he wasn't entirely sure about the EUB at first, but accepted it as my "halfway house" once he'd heard it produce a "not too bad for one of those things!" kind of sound. We had a laugh about it, then got on with the lessons. Much as I'd love to have one, I don't have the space at home for a DB; and on a practical basis, the jazz group in which I'm playing mostly bass guitar has sufficient going on with keyboards and also electronics used on the trumpet, that the EUB will fit in well and be easier to amplify while still giving me something of the right sound and feel. Enough for me at the moment anyway.

That sounds like a "get out of jail" card for me at the moment! Since I have already a couple of Bass Collection SB-style instruments - one of their Power or Detroit basses looks like a good move, then.......

Yes, of course they are so entitled. However, speaking only from my personal experience, in at least a couple of cases, it was easy to judge from their sneering reactions that it was exactly a snobbery thing. And I was indeed grateful to them, for one very good reason. I carried on my search and found a teacher who would let me learn on the instrument of my choice, rather than imposing theirs, and who teaches with an open mind. Perfect for me. YMMV.

People who note deficiencies in the way that people use their mother tongue....were they not once called "Teachers" and treated with much respect?

And yet I've encountered several.......grrrrrr.

I have recent and good experience of using Jerome Davies. Not quite in London, actually out in Kent, but worth the journey IMHO. http://www.realmusicservices.co.uk/jdstrings/index.html

This. Exactly this.

This. And then I acquired a Bass Collection SB 301, and found the perfect match for me. Even the 5-string is perfectly manageable. So I got one of those too.