mangotango

To follow soonest....

Which is now what I have had done. It looks a little bit like the arrangement on the bass under the "W" of "SWB" in the group photo above...but oh my, does it work well. Pictures to follow soon...

Well, while I was getting the excellent Jerome Davies to mend my damaged EUB, I asked him how much to de-fret the bass. He quoted me a decent "all in" price, so it's done. And I'm very happy with both his work and the results, I can't recommend him highly enough.

Just had some work (which has been the subject of threads on BC) done by a quality luthier, Jerome Davies http://www.realmusicservices.co.uk/jdstrings/index.html Good work done, turned round in a sensible time, very reasonable charges for the level of the work; plus he's a good bloke. Most of his work is on Double Bass but he builds and repairs bass guitars too. He's in Cranbrook, Kent - a little bit off the beaten track but well worth seeking out.

Not so early days now, and I have to say, this rig has turned out to be as good as anything I've ever had. I run my Bass Collection SB 4- and 5-string basses through this, and also an Aria SWB-04 upright. For the Aria, I bypass the Gain and go for a clean sound. The sound is warm and full, but I can also get plenty of snap! out of this rig if needed.

Yep...unfortunately. Being one of that kind has always been my downfall

So true. For some reason I always end up sounding like me and not Jaco, no matter how many times I go back to the shop.........

Simple, straightforward, but still soundin' fab.....ready for a gig at Priory Park, Southend-On-Sea. Bass Collection 4- and 5-string SB basses Genz Benz Streamliner 900 amp Genz Benz Neo X212 cab Yamaha wireless Out of sight behind the camera - the pedalboard with Dunlop PSU powering Fender A/B box, Korg Pitchblack tuner, Boss Chorus, Micro POG and MXR Filter pedals.

Sorry, can't. Playing with Derek Nash of Jools Holland's band in the morning..........

Does that mean that you can now get to my gig in the afternoon?

Yep. As I said, it's always been Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue, in disguise. In the same way that Parisienne Walkways has always been Kenny Dorham's Blue Bossa. Moral of the story - If you're a jazz guy named Kenny....and you write a tune with "Blue" in the title....some Irish guy's gonna steal you blind.

My jazz-y quartet plays Moondance. We play it with a four-on-the-floor walking bassline, time kept on the ride cymbal by the drummer, altered chords, melody played by the saxophone...and will generally quote the melody of "Midnight Blue" in my solo (see my previous post), as well as using standard jazz techniques like side-slipping, substitute chords, and the like. Is it jazz? It's certainly close enough for most audiences to whom we play it.

Hey Shonks, long time no see mate, not since Southend Jazz Co-Op days when I was only playing guitar.... Try this guy out, he's top drawer and a good bloke too. http://alexhearn.co.uk/

Ah yes, Moondance...

Exactly the opposite of this. I love most jazz, but can't bear Trad/Dixie. Part of that, I suppose, is due the standard line-up including two instruments I hate to hear - banjo and clarinet. Two things that I can't stand, when you turn up to a "Jazz" night at a venue:- 1) The bloke in a tux, with backing tracks and no musicians, doing Rat Pack material 2) The Brit Trad Jazz band that's given themselves "Dixieland" or "Chicago-style" nicknames ('Kid' Brown, 'Spats' Smith, etc.), all wearing matching stripey waistcoats and straw boaters - and when the drummer hits a one-bar break in a tune, and everyone shouts "ooyah! ooyah!". Time to go........

But with fewer dead bodies than Broadchurch.....most of the time, anyway. Jazz. The only music that matters. To me, at least. Don't get me wrong - I love reggae, soul, funk, blues, rootsy stuff of all varieties, World Music, Celtic....but it's Jazz that is important in my life.

Pitchblack Mini.

I recently acquired a GB 212 nx2 to pair up with a GB Streamliner 900. It's early days yet, but so far I am remarkably pleased with the results.

Have now found a tutor, whom I knew but I didn't realise lived as close to me as he does - in Sunny Walthamstow. So, all good now. Cheers!

I have a Fernandes 5-string. When I got back into bass playing, it was to play with a jazz quartet. So, jazz, then. Leader plays trumpet...which means playing in the flat keys, right? Eb's and Db's. Need a 5-string for those low notes. And a keyboards player too, yeah? Well, I want to get down low out of his way. Need a 5-string for those low notes. I looked on FleaBay, found this Fernandes at a ridiculously sensible price, plus the seller lived not too far away from me. Even if I didn't get on with it, I could resell it without it costing me too much. Seemed worth a punt.....and I won it. Straight away, having that low-end made a huge difference to my sound within the band. It's a more-than-decent instrument, thought TBF it has seen better days. It has a nice low rumble and once there were new strings on it, it had a fair amount of punch. Wasn't comfortable with slapping it, though that may have been (OK, was) cr@p technique on my part back then. Whatever, it meant that I could justify having both basses on the go. But whereas I liked the Fernandes, and still do, I LURVE my Bass Collection SB301 4-string...and so when I saw a BC active 5'er for a good price, I went for it. That has since become my main bass in the quartet, though I still use the 4 string regularly for a jazz workshop band in which I now play. So I can justify both, again. And the Fernandes sits at home doing....not very much at all. A little while back, I posted a thread on here about the prospect of having it de-fretted, to make it more useful as an alternative to the others and thereby bring it back into the fold. Inevitably, the same inertia that @Chris2112 described has set in and I haven't done anything about it yet. In the meantime, @Stingray5 has loaned me a fretless Jazz for me to try out, to scratch that itch. Liking that a lot, so obviously that should have spurred me on with the de-fretting process. It hasn't. Guess I know that I should sell it...but I'm not sure that I really want to do so. I tell myself that it's a good spare to have in the event of anything going wrong with either of the Bass Collection basses. It IS a pretty flimsy excuse, though.

Genz Benz Streamliner 900 head. Genz Benz NX 2-12 cab, courtesy of @Steve1967 (who is a top bloke!) Pretty much any sound I want or need available from this. VERY happy indeed.

Welcome to my world. Living in Hornchurch, kids all grown up now and (just) gone; day job work for a couple of years yet....but not forever!!

Welcome on board! Loads of us Essex-based funky pluckers on here, you should feel right at home.