JapanAxe

[quote name='winterfire666' timestamp='1401189013' post='2460894'] for me aguilar hands down over the mark bass, but i would also consider the GK and dont overlook Carvins offerings they are fantastic value for money [/quote] Molan should be along any moment to big up the Carvin range

In 14 years of live bass playing, I have never broken a string, and I have had one amp failure (I then plugged into the PA - sounded shocking, but the bald blokes in cutoffs leaping around to 'Pretty Vacant' and 'Teenage Kicks' didn't seem to care). I generally take just one bass to gigs - two are passive, the other 2 are active with a passive option. Obviously other things can go wrong, so I should probably adopt a 2-bass policy, although (for reasons I can't quite pin down) I am reluctant to do this on pub gigs. Sometimes I just like to swap over for fun, or to see which basses work best on which material, or though which amp. It's only in the last year or so that the possibility of taking a spare amp become a viable option. I always carry spares of all the usual 'consumables', and now that I have a second soldering kit, that's going in a compartment in the boot of my car (along with the 'spare' spares - guitar lead, mic lead, kettle lead, 4-way). Strangely, on skinny-string I almost always take 2 guitars out. Some guitars work so much better on certain songs, but I do try to minimise (if not eliminate) mid-set swapping. I have had guitars fail (selector switch, solder joints, bust strings) at rehearsal, so obviously that could happen on a gig.

[quote name='simon1964' timestamp='1400971858' post='2458801'] I'm sure I will get flamed for this, but I am going to post anyway as I feel the point is important. Do we really have to persist with the use of the phrase "Jap" in the title of this thread. In most of the world the term "Jap" is consider to be extremely offensive and racist - [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap[/url] . Frankly the title of this thread is pretty much the equivalent of calling a thread about products produced in other parts of Asia "Paki-pap" or "Chinky-Cheapos". And before somebody raises the point - no, it's not the equivalent of using "Brit". That is essentially a friendly term that isn't used as an insult. Even so, how would you feel about Talk Bass having a thread called "Brit-Crap"? [/quote] No flames from my direction! A similar point arose a while back on Gretsch-Talk.com (to which I belong) - a UK member referred to a 'Jap' guitar (nearly all the pro-line Gretsches are made in Terada) merely as an abbreviation, but the reference was removed because in the USA (where the majority of G-T users reside) it is considered racially offensive. Would it really be any better to say 'Japanese Crap'? That still links a nationality or ethnicity with a derogatory term. I doubt that anyone contributing to the thread does so out of malice towards Japanese people or the nation of Japan. On your 'Brit' point, a Talk Bass thread called 'Brit Crap' would not bother me in the least. Just to confuse things further, I once got talking to a copper who worked in counter-terrorism, and he told me his colleagues used the term 'BritPaks', simply because that is 2 syllables, as against the 6 of 'British Pakistanis' (referring of course to British citizens with family origins in Pakistan). I don't know what to conclude from all this, but that thread has now been running for nearly 7 years...

TBH that is just a practice amp with ideas above its station!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1400967721' post='2458763'] Well yes, but I didn't want to come over all Michael Gove... Edit: note the order of words carefully before posting a smart-arse reply... [/quote] Yes I read the first bit twice before I noticed the second bit. Momentarily thought I had stumbled upon a 'niche interest' site.

+1 to all this. Some people buy an instrument with upgrades in mind, I just imagine how good it will sound with some Chromes* on. *or substitute the name of your favoured brand.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1400958658' post='2458642'] not much more than your selmer treble n bass, had one myself! [/quote] Maybe, but I ain't gigging the T'n'B!

Before you buy it, just try lifting it. How close to Manson's can you park?

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1400860267' post='2457697'] To raise the point, there are plenty of covers that are far better than the original ever was. CCR do my favourite version of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", much better than the Smokey Robinson one. [/quote] My pop covers band does [i]Grapevine[/i], and we have pretty much followed CCR's version as (1) it's cool, and (2) it works better for our guitar/bass/drums format.

And why is there a hole right through the headstock near the E-string capstan?

Petition signed. Live music needs venues.

As someone who plays guitar in a guitar/bass/drums covers trio, I see it as [u]my[/u] job to make sure there isn't a big hole in the sound when I take a lead break. I use a combination of the following:[list] [*]playing in a lower register than the original [*]double-stops [*]triple-stops (or 'short chords') [*]flat-picking between chord strums [*]favouring the neck pickup [*]compression [*]analog delay [*]light overdrive [*]boosting volume rather than gain [/list] In some songs, the bass player will play a busier part during the lead break, but otherwise all I ask and expect of him is a conventional bass guitar sound. This works well for country and a lot of pop, but as ever YMMV...

Just reading this on my Chinese-made iPad over lunch. In a minute I'll go upstairs and play through my Genz Benz amp (Taiwanese chassis) to tunes on my Chinese made Mac Mini... Etc.

Anyone heard the Bass Scrambler in action?

Oops double post.

I played guitar as the Keef character in a Rolling Stones tribute band for a couple of years. I would say the quality has to be a division higher than for a general covers band because the audience contains a fair proportion of dedicated fans who are picky about how you play the material. I used to listen to loads of live versions of the songs to get a feel for Keef's musical mannerisms and to nail the guitar tones.

Dave bought my fretless. Paid within minutes of doing the deal, made the whole process painless. Cheers!

Fuzz Face type pedals - the pickup(s) sort of become part pf the circuit, and you can use the volume control on the bass to go from crunch to full-on fuzz. With active circuits feature is lost.

^^ This. The further forward you can get your left elbow, the easier it will be to get your fingers where you want them.

A video clip would help. EDIT: I mean, of your playing. We will be gentle with you

A mate of mine gigs his Vintage LP rather than take out his pukka Gibson.