lownote

It's always good to know who's getting what heads, cabs and basses together for a particular sound. Here's my twopennyworth. My current quest is for a faux upright sound but with a certain clarity. So, bassy but not boomy, easy on the highs but not thuddy. I 'spose a photographic analogy would be exposing for the highlights but retaining detail in the shadows *. So first I went for fretless basses - Vintage 940FL PJ, and a Revelation P bass, with flats. Then I got me a Phil Jones Cab 47 - 4x7" drivers. My reasoning is that's the combined trouser flapping surface area of a 15" driver with the instant response and crispness of the smaller driver. After dallying with an Elf head which though nice I couldn't get to my liking (too hot and middy for me), I almost as an afterthought hooked up my old Ashdown 300 Evo 2 head. Result: happiness, just the clear chocolaty low end smooth sound I wanted. OK, the big head looks stupid sat on the tiny cab but not bad a sound at all. Head now down to Heybridge for a service with @Ashdown Engineering then looking forward to getting it back. * My descriptions of wine are equally pretentious.

Find one that does MB! The only people I found were in Sheffield, and cost more than another 2nd hand head.

No it's not, I've had that too. It's not in the mind, different strings on different basses can sound very different, IMHE. Stands to reasons that they would, with different wood, electrics, 'n all. I think it depends on how much you listen to the nuances of your bass though, especially high up. If you mean feel different then I'm not so sure, but in general I find big differences between brands. Not sure if I'd get through a blind test though...

I have wasted too much money on personal tutors, with uniformly rubbish results. Never again. Not saying they don't work for some, but not me.

David Sanborn sessions #4. Some geezer called Terrace Martin. He's from another planet but I like the planet. Awesome.

BTW thanks. Thinking about your issue has helped me solve my problem. I just duplicated precisely my MB EQ settings on my Elf and I've got my sound back. With a fretless P bass: Bass 11 o'clock, Mids 7-8, Treble 11.

Several points here. One: after 20 years with one rig you will need lots of time with anything new for it not to seem alien; two: MB does seem to be a little bit of a Marmite brand, you either think its dull or gorgeously warm, three, it will work differently with different basses. I'd hazard a guess that a mid-oriented bass, especially active, won't be MB's choice of bed partner; 4, you've got a MB 15 with a 2x10. I didn't buy the only MB 15 I ever tried for dullness, but loved the 10 and 12 drivers I've tried or owned; six, sometimes the EQ setting you want isn't intuitive. I was really struggling for a sound I liked on my LM2. Then I accidentally brushed against the knobs one day and voila! the perfect sound for me: bass 12 o'clock, mids 10 o'clock, treble 9 o'clock, with the VLE & VPF at 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock. I've gone from several years with Markbass to a Phil Jones Cab 47 and a Trace Elf and having the reverse of your problem

Revelation. Excellent quality, plays great, starts from under £200. Go Bass Galllery website to check it out.

You do have to realise as I did that buying a Sire puts an end to GAS for ever. Because you realise actually you need never buy another bass. And that's acutely discombobulating.

It'll be like that after you'd played it a few times anyway. Unless it's actually banged up I'd go for it. They're still amazing value. Although I did once buy a 5 string V7 in similar almost new nick from a prison officer in Herts for £200. Lucky I guess.

Ah, now, you're talking! Bear in mind much of the bass of Paul Simon is by Baikithi Kumalo. Who plays unlined fretless bass. Which is not quite as hard as it sounds. Which would put you in a tiny very cool percentage of bassists, and can be acquired for just £199 new. The Revelation RPB-65 IMHO matches the Squier for build quality. And may be bought from Bass Gallery, the hippest bass store in London. There you go. Case solved. Next... [PS Revelation also do basses with stabilisers, or frets as they're called, if you still mean to go down that road. But if you can afford it, I would agree the Sire is the best all round solution]

Oops, true!

You can only take window shopping so far IMHO. Your shortlisted basses don't have much clear water between them, so I would now go and get hands on if you haven't alrerady done so. Things like weight, sonic flexibility, wood, and sheer personallity only come through when you have them in your hands. I have bought many basses without trying them first. Sometimes the ones I really fancied felt dead in my hands, other times the most unlikely candidate will become your ''go to' bass. And even within one range you can get good uns and dead uns and you won't know which yours is unless you give it a try before buying. I grant if you're new to bass you won't be alert to the small differences, but even so you can get a fair idea of what loves you back and what doesn' t .

Need a runner m8?

I've had over forty basses, ranging from a £600 Ibanez single cut to a £25 cheapo Aria P bass clone. My two go to basess were the Revelation (posted above) £150, and a Peavey Grind 5, £225. I had a MiM Fender P which cost me £300 which came pretty close and likely would have been my go to if I'd kept it long enough.

I'm an expert on being a novice! . It doesn't take long to get the hang of making a noise. And learning the various things to push to make notes isn't that much harder. The biggest problem is its much more complicated than bass and it helps massively to have a very good memory. What I mean is, in bass, you learn a pattern and all you have to do is shift it around for different chords/ keys. So say you're playing a 12 bar blues in E on bass, using mostly dominant 7ths. You play the dom 7th pattern on E, shift the same pattern over to start on A, then you do the same to start on B. Don't have to think about nowt if you know your arpeggios patterns. On sax you need to learn all the notes for E, A, and B chords/ blue scales with no patterns to help you! Plus it’s a transposing instrument so you're not working in E, A and B, which the band is, but C#, F# and G# [alto, tenor's different] !! But if you can remember stuff and like the sound, go for it... a lot of bassists do.

Been doing sax about a two-year now, although I first had a stab 20 years ago. How things have changed. Then a beginner sax was around £1000. Now I just bought a Chinese Eastar alto off Amazon for £250, complete with stand, mouthpiece, swabs, reeds and case. And what's more it's totally playable - albeit better with a decent mouthpiece.