NickA

Always a balance between the best bass you can afford and the endless worry of hurting it, and the bass you don't mind breaking and the pain of having to play it 😁. The solution of course is more than one bass!

That waza air seems like the mutts nuts if you want something purely for bass practice through headphones. £330 is a lot, but you don't have to buy the headphones too! Naturally I've been watching eBay for bighead amps: there is still an ha-1 there for under £100, also an HA-2 but the seller pulled it a couple of times and put the buy now price up; it's £288 now, not good. You can get new for £275.

Ended up buying a used Bighead HA-1 off ebay ...which I will modify by smothering the poxy micro-usb port with araldite or sikaflex to stop it dropping off the PCB. The HA-2 is fancier (does more audio standards up to 24-bit 192k) and in a neater package, but at £275 and still with that poxy USB socket is a poor buy. What I very nearly bought was a Focusrite Scarlet Solo which is a total bargain at £70 for the older gen 3 model and £112 for the new gen 4. (reconditioned from focusrite). It's a good quality 24 bit, 192k, USB audio interface that will double as a headphone amp and comes with a load of DAW software. It's only failing is that it has no onboard EQ and no analogue stereo input .... you can only achieve either of those when it's connected to a computer; also no internal battery, but that's easily solved using a USB power bank. I may buy one anyway, just to use as a PC audio interface. Plus point for the HA-1 ... I have a lot of spare parts for it having one that is complete except for the poxy "£$%ing micro-usb socket.

Few years back I noticed a weird Italian "jacoland" bass in Shepherds bush crack converters. I managed to track down the original owner and message him to say I'd found his stolen fancy custom made bass. ...reply: he'd sold it to cash converters cause he needed the cash!

Anyone else just had an desperate need to go try this? 😂 Hardly flexes at all. New bass bar 20years ago. Recent sound post adjustment. The Luther at Tim Tofts was happy with it. Sounds good to me. But it is quite a "stiff" bass. I have the tool to "pop" a new post in ...but daren't try it!!! Guess I'm stuck with it.

I am told ( by the better bass player who sits next to me in orchestra) that if the slots are too deep it will spoil the tone and reduce sustain. But she has a fancy carved bass. I did the same as you ( deep slots for lower action) then filed the bridge down to make the slots shallower ... No huge difference in sound but it looks better and it stopped her telling me it was wrong.😁

What are you clipping it to? I've a little tc electronics unitune clip. Works on electric ( clipped to the amp or the headstock) and on my double bass ( clipped to the bridge). You need to find the bit of EUB that vibrates most. AHH... not a clip on. Just ignore me. I've a TC polytune on my pedal board ( works very well ) just never use it since I got the clip. £18.

Usually a bad idea. If properly fitted there shouldnt be much wood thickness left in the feet. Apart from the difficulty of getting the shape correct, you may end up with feet that are too thin. Easier to deepen the string slots in the top of the bridge then, when you're happy with the action, file the top of the bridge down so it's half a string diameter or so above the bottom of the slots. Note that lowering the bridge will reduce the pressure on the front of the bass and that will alter the sound. Usually makes it quieter and less rich. It may not be critical on a factory built laminate bass... also less critical if you're using a pickup and amp. Also..be careful when removing the bridge, the sound post may fall down, then you have to pay someone to put it back up! I have an adjustable bridge which I crank down for jazz, sacrificing tone for easier action and more fingerboard buzz ( aka mwah), and up for bowing for better tone, more volume and better bow response.

Because he could be so much better! Evident musical talent but limiting technique. Though he probably goes home and rattles off bach cello suites with impeccable technique when he's not being a Tool of course. I have much lesser but slightly similar feelings about Jaco playing a fender😂😂. How does that change your thumb position. I guess you mean that the whole hand moves relative to the thumb, so it's not always behind finger2. OK. But that's still it's basic "return to" position, yes? As for Beethoven 6 ... A saddening thing as I mostly really like Beethoven. The trite and tedious pastoral, not so much (except the opening theme) "The thunderstorm" I've decided is an "effect" so I just make a rumbling noise. ( Note re above postings ...I have a bad cold and probably off my head on night nurse ... But I did delete a personal assesment of tool fans and JC wannabes) 😉

One of my major gripes about electric bass players .. even some quite well known electric bass players: Though in fairness ... my recent battle with Sibelius did involve a lot of cradling the neck and squeezing it in the fabled "bunch of bananas" technique. Mr Chancellor here may have been playing the same note for 30 minutes.

Explain please. My finger spread is limited by my short fat fingers, don't understand why my thumb is limiting it. Think bloopdad means the thumb pad ( the squishy bit opposite the thumb nail) rather than what is called ( I just learned) the "Thenar Eminence".

My thoughts too. I wondered about using cable ties, but getting them in place during a 5 bar rest would have been tough.

Your point being? I'm confused.

Well I love my bass. It sounds how, to me, a double bass should sound. Big, fat, rich and sonorous with lots of sustain. Glad I bought the best I could afford at the time. No big resale value as it's big, it has an Eflat neck and it's a bit beat up. But I'd have to spend a lot of money to get anything I liked as much.

Well, comments on the article said the live sound was not great and that he sounds better on recordings. I've never had the pleasure to hear him live myself, so I don't know. You tube recordings are not the greatest thing, but this appears to be one of his touring basses, so an example of what a really great bass player can do with a plywood bass ( one built to his spec, I believe) And here's his recording bass ( 3 wrong notes, bass solo 2:48 in) A lot of it down to the sound engineer of course, and I'd be very happy to sound like the first one 😂😂. Way off topic. Enough. 😉

I read ( talk bass?) that Stan Clarke tours with a ply bass ( teats them as disposable). But he records with a 100+ yr old carved one. In live performance what notes you play probably counts for more than the sound ..especially if there's a pa between you and stadium! horses for courses. I only have space for one double bass and ploughed all my savings into the German brute some 35 years ago so it has to do everything. Peter and the Wolf for a church full of children today. Mingus session tomorrow.

Well, I guess I am a bit of a "wood snob". but only because carved basses are more responsive and sound better. Or perhaps more accurately, the best sounding basses are carved. I doubt you'd find any laminate basses in a decent orchestra, or being played by a professional jazz bassist. Once you add pickups, amps, let alone effects, it's much less of an issue, and of course there are good laminates and bad carved basses. But I've never found a laminate that comes close to my 150yr old German beast for acoustic sound ( and it's a scruffy workhorse not some super valuable antique ) Good summary: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiUxNOWupaJAxW4Q0EAHYubHW4QFnoECBAQBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoublebasshq.com%2Fgear_posts%2Fbuying-a-double-bass%2F&usg=AOvVaw2M-uFarhkTQhavbs1JuL9c&opi=89978449 Wood snob sadly 👍

I recall somone brought a 60s laminate czech bass to a bass bash one time .. best plywood bass I've played. That was from the Double Bass Rooms priced at £1500. Not sure this one is quite up there what with the visible neck repair, but forsure a dealer would be asking over £1k. Hefty ply made in China Eastmans at BassBags are £1400+

Guess that's not a double bass then! 😂. Tho left hand thumb damping the e string is somewhat unorthodox even on electric! Personally I aspire to thumb behind second finger ( on dB and electric) But that's maybe my cellist upbringing. With all the forward and backward finger extensions cellists use, it's essential to know where your thumb is as that's what defines your "position". Also from a sustain / tenuto / vibrato perspective finger 2 is usually considered the strongest so having your thumb behind it is handy. On a double bass your position is more defined by where your index finger is placed, so thumb is less important .. and I find that my thumb usually ends up between index and middle finger. At the neck, having the joy of an Eflat neck (😁) I have two options, but usually go for first finger on D and thumb behind 2nd finger, but can shift to first finger on Eflat and thumb behind first finger before going for thumb positions. However, if you plan on using (Rabbatt) pivots, you need to know where your thumb is! Exactly where might not be important, but consistency matters.

Eberhardt Weber's sound is not really that of a double bass. Very carefully adjusted EUB sound .. sort of turbo fretless electric; for what he's playing I think his EUB is better than a double bass and as his sound is very processed, it's the electric output that matters rather than the acoustic sound. After all if he wanted an expensive old italian antique I'm sure he could afford one! The NS ones are well up there for making "that" sound ..but also not very double bass like. Not that there is "one" double bass sound. Old and/or good quality fully carved basses have a lot more harmonic over-tones than laminates or heavily built hybrids and the sound of any of them alters with string type and setup. Then again, you get a real double bass, spend £1ks getting one you really like, hours getting the "right" sound by adjusting bridge height and position, type of strings etc ... then put a pickup on it and back to square one!

East German, 1970s or 80s. seems to have suffered major neck trauma at some point, cracked varnish along the base of the neck joint. does that black blob on the heel hide a huge screw perchance. Not a problem if it's solid. Hopefully you'll never find out. I dropped my bass and broke its neck earlier this year. Had to have a new one fitted. The old one proved to have the bit of neck that dovetails into the block, held in place with three large brass screws... which were definitely not from 1890 like the rest of it. NB mines German, external linings 🤞. Strong and protects the edges.

Tonight I played En Saga by Sibelius. Bars and bars and bars ...and bars of the same repeated note ( often F on the E string) I can only play it by clamping my hand around the neck and/or reinforcing my index finger with another on top of it. Technique be damned, sometimes it's just survival. ...and some music is better heard than played. Shan't be sorry if we don't do this one again.

I had never realised he was on hounds of love; I thought is was all Del Palmer... Also a wonderful bass player. But Weber is also on my favourite Kate Bush album, The Dreaming; he's the bass on Houdini. Tho for years I thought it was also him on all the love (that's Del Palmer 😂). I also thought Del Palmer was playing a fretless Wal... annoyingly it seems he gets that sound out of a fender. I digress. Weber, great man. Quote from that tiny venue: "people ask me why it is I tour this time alone with no band; well sometimes I think it is good to play with yourself" ... stifled sniggers from audience, straight face from the man.