JapanAxe

Unless you don’t. If you play with a fully floating thumb, the side of it rests against the strings below (in pitch) the one you are playing, thus damping them.

I forgot to mention the weight, a svelte 3.77kg or 8lb5oz. The Dire Streets BL has raised no objection, so I will likely be rocking it when I dep with them at Square Chapel, Halifax, on 22nd July.

I was actually joking, or thought I was - that's one very specific set of specifications!

Yes but could you be a bit more specific?

I never thought of standing it up like that - should be quite stable.

Bass Direct are still showing 3 in stock, in Matt Vintage Burst, Matt Metallic Black, and Metallic Aqua Flake.

NBW = New Bass Week, as it is 7 days since I bought it. I've been a Precision devotee for some years now - a good P does 95% of what I want from a bass guitar, so I had ended up with 2 actual Precisions (a '73 and a RI '63) and a Dingwall Super P 5-string. The other 5% is what you get from more than one pickup, and/or a bridge pickup on its own. Jazzes never did it for me though, and I recently started looking in earnest for an alternative. I'm not drawn to active circuits either, which narrows the field considerably. My shortlist included the Dingwall D-Roc. Bass Direct had 4 in stock, which dropped to 3 even as I watched, but then one came up on BassChat so I arranged to check it out and duly purchased it from the gent known on here as @Jimryan. The following day dawned with a serious case of buyer's remorse - had I blown a considerable on something I didn't really like? Then I got it out to play again, and all such thoughts swiftly evaporated. I have spent some time fettling it to suit my own preferences, which involved filing the nut slots, fitting new Elixir extra-long strings (I didn't care for the Paysons it came with), and making adjustments to the truss rod, action, and pickup heights. I spent some time at home getting used to its range of sounds and how it responds to my playing. The major wow happened when I took it on a wedding gig last night - Demeter 800W head into BF Super Twin. Not only did it play effortlessly but it sounded phenomenal in all 4 positions on the selector switch. Those different sounds cover all the main bass pickup 'food groups'. You can get an after-market replacement switch to give you 2 more options, but tbh I think Sheldon has nailed it with the ones he's chosen. The extra tension in the low E (with a scale length of over 36 inches) meant that I could play notes on it that I would normally choose to fret on the A string, with no flub whatsoever. A friend asked me 'Is it as punchy as it looks?' and as I told him, 'punchy' is definitely within its repertoire! The position of the strap attachment points means that it balances perfectly, and the head end is not uncomfortably hard to reach. The only downside is that the bass-side part of the lower bout sticks out where you don't expect it to, resulting in the occasional clash with (a) my cab and (b) parts of me. I've included the second photograph in an attempt to convey how sparkly the finish is - it's as sparkly as a very sparkly thing on World Sparkle Day. More so under stage lighting - we're talking Sparkly Mc Sparkleface here. The eagle-eyed may notice the absence of the black striped vinyl 'scratch plate' - that was removed before I bought the bass, a modification of which I approve 100%. I can barely wait to play this live again - would it look out of place in a Dire Straits tribute?

Some slap bass in the right context sounds great and I wish I could do it better. A bit of a problem for me is that I usually play quite lightly finger-style, and slapping comes out a lot louder, so then I have to think about a limiter to rein it in. First world problems eh? What I don’t care for is the slapping that is often used to demo bass gear. Sadly, much of this sounds to me like a filing cabinet full of scrap metal falling down a fire escape.

Shotgun by George Ezra - it’s just Baby Shark. Dakota by the Sterophonics - ruined by seeing crowds of drunk punters singing it to each other.

This. Not too much milk. I’m usually singing (at least BVs) and a warm drink helps to relax my throat and vocal cords. I almost never drink alcohol on a gig as it kills my concentration, plus I’m usually driving. Drugs? I shared a very weak spliff with a load of my Mum’s friends in 1978, that’s the full extent of my dabbling.

Picked one up used on here and spent some time setting it up to my liking - NBD thread to follow after this Saturday's wedding gig!

Yes. 2x Fender Precisions (original 1973 & RI 1962). 1x Dingwall Super PZ5 (their take on a 5-string Precision).

It’s sometimes referred to as the ‘flow state’, but it’s not drink that’s flowing - in fact intoxication is highly detrimental to my playing.

The best gigs are the ones I barely remember because I’ve been ‘in the moment’.

99% of the time I drive to gigs and rehearsals. Occasionally I travel to a gig in a band van. Even with provided backline, or going direct, I need more stuff than I can comfortably carry in one go. On a handful of occasions I have managed to get to a rehearsal on foot or on my push bike.

No, I wouldn't have described any of the guests as rednecks, just a lot of love in the room ❤️

We started with what they requested, which was Brown Eyed Girl.

Last night was a wedding celebration for about 150 in a massive marquee with a proper stage, out in the wilds of Wiltshire. We were well looked after with a place to change and a meal in the bride’s family’s house, and whatever we wanted to drink. I played my ‘73 Precision (recently fitted with rounds for the first time since I’ve owned it) through my Demeter head and BF Super Twin, and it sounded fantastic as you might expect. I finally got to set up my own IEM mix properly and that’s a game changer. The crowd loved us, in fact the bride and groom barely got in a couple of steps of their first dance before just about everyone piled onto the dance floor. I’m just about recovered now!

Woah! I can’t unsee that now.

Or an ironing board.

I started to teach myself guitar at 17, and quickly realised I wanted to understand the theory too. At around 40 I decided to learn bass too. I was well aware that it was a different instrument which required a different musical approach. Initially I played with a plectrum but after a couple of years I cracked finger style, just by dogged persistence really. For a long while I had used music notation to write down material that I was working out, so I did the same with bass. I was then thrown in the deep end when I started playing with a dance band that used 99% written charts. I’m now a reasonable sight reader! I would say that I’m still learning, particularly when it comes to theory - every so often I stumble across something I didn’t know that I didn’t know - hats off to Adam Neely!

I’ve heard one played with a big band, which can have a huge dynamic range, and it more than kept up.

I think a lot of it is down to the guitarist. Around 20 years ago I played in a couple of covers bands where the guitarist used Line 6 Flextone amps. One guitarist always seemed to make the thing work for him and he sounded great; the other invariably had a thin sound, frequently with an overcooked (and usually completely unnecessary) chorus effect.

I guess we're talking scooping out the mid-range to benefit slappity-poppity shenanigans?

All of the different amp modelling units have their adherents. I was looking at the HX stomp but I dread the option overload that comes with programmable do-everything gadgets.