Huge Hands

I spoke to a guy at work who has had a go with the Harley Benton P-bass kit from Thomann. He's a g****rist normally, so this would only be a bedroom bass for him, but he said he was really pleased with it. He painted his and everything. I've not seen it to pass judgement, but I've had a couple of HB basses and bits of kit pass through my hands and they have always been pretty good for the money.

"Oil" be amazed if it sells at that price....

Not sure if someone has beaten me to posting this, but never again will I complain about being too long in a band! It also says a lot about those who say they're too small to play double bass! What an achievement, condolences go out to her family and friends. [url="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/record-holding-musician-collapses-stage-dies-87-151533648.html"]https://uk.news.yaho...-151533648.html[/url]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1462980938' post='3047539'] You mean he's Yngwie, then (yes you can look him up if need be) [/quote] Although not my genre of music at all, I have heard of Mr Malmsteen. (I did still look him up though!). It's not actually the guitarist in our case!

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1462976199' post='3047470'] You've got John McLaughlin in the band? [/quote] I'm ashamed to say I had to look up who that was. The Wikipedia page states: [b][i][color=#252525][font=sans-serif] His style has been described as one that incorporates aggressive speed, technical precision, and harmonic sophistication.[/font][/color][/i][/b] [color=#252525][font=sans-serif]I think our guy only manages the first of those three....[/font][/color]

I had an email from a band colleague this week regarding our latest member (I won't mention the instrument in case they work out who I am), but the reason for wanting them to be relieved of duty was that we need to find someone who is good, rather than someone "...[b][i]who thinks there aren’t enough notes in any scale and that they all need to be played as fast as possible in no special order..."[/i][/b] Classic!

[quote name='BassInMyFace' timestamp='1462964083' post='3047290'] I have had issues from time to time with the bridge shifting away from optimal position, perhaps this has caused the pickups to get reduced signal? Look at the bass face-on and if the bridge is perfectly central it may have been knocked and therefore the feet arent flush onto pickup pads. [/quote] [quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1462964477' post='3047296'] The amp needs to have a 1 MegOhm input otherwise the pickup doesn't work efficiently. Some amps I've owned do have 1Meg inputs, but others have been 500K and the difference is massive. I used to use a Fishman Platinum Bass preamp to solve those issues. Worked very well indeed. They've been discontinued so you'll have to look used. But they still shift at about £75 [/quote] These are both great bits of advice, thanks. In most cases I've noted it, I can usually just ramp up some gain somewhere. On the little combo I use in that venue, it just doesn't seem to be able to get enough out of it, even though I get loads with my guitar. I'll look at the bridge thing when I get a chance. It would be good to keep this thread open as I'm loving mine apart from this, it would be great to hear people's experiences of these instruments!

Another former drummer here. Another thing to look at might be your setup of the drums themselves. Make sure your kit is as comfortable as can be for you. I know this might sound obvious, but I once tried to join a band where the drummer had his snare really low and his toms really high. His cymbals were even higher. Watching him go from each was like watching a Mr Motivator stretch workout. His timing was all over the shop. I managed to persuade him to try a setup I would use (as little movement as possible) and he played much better....but then said he didn't like it and put everything back the way they were! You can't help them all I suppose.....(EDIT - and I decided not to join the band..)

Fellow NS Design owners! Does anyone have issues with the output from these straight into an amp? I am guessing these are really high impedance pickups on these as they're passive? I usually use mine with a Tonebone BassBone so that I have individual gain control to balance it with my guitar. but I notice there is a fair bit of difference between the gain settings on the two channels, whether I use a passive or active guitar. I also note that the piezo switch on my BB doesn't seem to do anything to the level. I regularly do a gig where I use the venue's little amp which doesn't have an impedance switch or Hi-Lo input. I struggle to get any volume out of it, and because the stage is so small, there isn't room for my pedalboard (or guitar so no switching required). I don't really want to destroy my neat pedalboard for this one gig, so my questions are: 1) Does this sound normal for an NXT, or do you think I may have a fault? I've had the plate off and can't find any loose wires or bad connections. 2) If normal, can anyone recommend a cheap and cheerful pocket pre-amp that will drop the impedance/get the level up? I forked out a huge wad on the BB for larger gigs, so don't really want to spend that sort of money - I was thinking the £20-£50 range!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1462882434' post='3046556'] If you still wanted to use him but weren't prepared to help, then expect to cover the expenses of one of his mates who will do nothing all night apart from when gear needs to be shifted or packed up. [/quote] I think this ^^ says it all....

I once got dumped from a band "...because we don't want the drummer any more and you get on with him really well, so we guess you're guilty by association....." I think that was probably a spineless attempt at covering the fact that at 6'3, fat and ginger, I didn't fit their "image".

[quote name='anaxcrosswords' timestamp='1462631948' post='3044551'] I think bands should be a bit more open about where their development is up to. What came across in their ad as a quite experienced project was far closer to startup, and for some songs I appeared better prepared than them. [/quote] I've found this to be quite a common thing with answering "bass player wanted" ads over the years.

I could have written that OP myself about 4 years ago. In my area, there are a lot of concert bands which are like brass bands but have woodwind as well as brass. They often have "String Bass" parts (or Electric Bass for the more modern stuff). I joined mine as a trombone player (mainly to meet new people in my area) but then learned to my dismay that they played in concert pitch (bass clef) not Bb (treble clef) as I had learned in my brass band days. It was just by accident that first night as I was thinking I wouldn't be able to do it that I heard the conductor moaning at the chairman that she hadn't found him an electric bass player. I stuck my hand up and the rest is history. i couldn't read bass clef (not without counting the stave lines) at that point. I still get lost occasionally and still struggle to transpose the tuba parts up an octave quickly in fiddly runs, but it is getting better. Ideally, the string bass parts call for arco (bow) playing on the more classical stuff, but I seem to get away without being able to do it. It is on my list to learn though. I do have a DB, but with this band I tend to use my guitar and make it as tuba sounding as I can, as that is what they are used to. The band have been very patient with me (mainly because their tuba player left and I'm the only option for bass) but I have found it the best way to learn (on the fly). There have been a few embarrassing bum notes along the way, but in a band of around 40 players of varying skill levels, I wasn't the first, and I won't be the last! I wouldn't suggest someone does it with no theory experience at all, but you said you have experience of brass band (I presume treble clef) and percussion reading, so you should already know the basics in terms of notation. I have also been asked to do loads of other stuff off the back of it - dep for other bands, pantomimes, concerts etc and my sight reading is miles ahead of what it was. It might not be the most hip or up to date music you'll ever play (usually depends on the MD), but they are a great place to learn and meet new people. Ours even resurrected it's sideline "Dance Band" last month, so we did our first Glenn Miller style gig last weekend! Hope this helps!

My first was some guitar body with a short scale bass neck project that my brother or dad had sourced from somewhere. No electrics worked and the strings were touching the neck in places. I turned up for my first ever bass lesson and got laughed at. I went to Grott Guitars in Newcastle and ended up with a short scale Fenix which had a white plastic coating feeling body on it. It was brand new but again, not the best idea. My bass teacher must have felt sorry for me and put me in touch with Howard (BassDoc) who had a Squier JV Jazz for sale for about £150. Although I don't use it as a gigging bass anymore (I prefer 5s) - it still has pride of place in my collection and I will never sell it. Today, around 23 years later, the neck is still as straight as the day I bought it from Howard when it was already about 10 years old - and I've never adjusted it. I did tell Howard about this about 2 years ago via PM on here and his typically humorous reply was along the lines of "I'm glad you liked it - if you'd now like to settle the balance on the initial downpayment...." Classic! P.S. I was able to return the Fenix to Grotts under a "if you don't like it return it" policy they said they had, but then conveniently forgot about when I tried to return it. After some arguing, I left with some of my original cash which went towards the Squier.

My then soon to be (but now ex) wife and I had a very similar mail about 9 years ago when she tried to sell a spare wedding dress (she bought two for some reason). When we sent a polite reply saying we didn't think it sounded genuine and we would be withdrawing it from sale, we go no reply but started getting tons of spam (every few mins) to the point we had to close her email account. I did have fun ripping up and binning the dress years later though.....Probably could have bought a new bass if I'd sold it, but was worth it to release some anger.....

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1460502404' post='3026399'] ... i can't say he doesn't remind me of Prince and got his influence from him. [/quote] I seem to remember seeing an interview where he openly spoke about being a major fan of Prince. I'm a big fan of his ex-missus Angie Stone too.

I got a B1Xon mainly to use the pedal as a volume control for dynamics expression, but I find it a bit too "off and on" for me, not really that much range to use effectively. I set up a "straight through" patch so it would just be the volume control on the signal from the bass, but it also felt that the unit was adding compression to the signal where I hadn't added a compression module. I probably need to play with it a bit more before I totally write it off as a bad idea though.

Hi Discreet - I'd be interested to know a ball park figure in what you're paying for this - I showed the link to one of my bands who are a 50's soul and blues outfit and they loved it. However, the first comment was "I bet it is dead expensive" Doesn't have to be exact, just a rough idea!