JapanAxe

Loving this even more today, playing along with some Bowie songs. The sound is so... there. Not tried the Adam - looks very capable, possibly a bit steeper learning curve than the Bassrig.

It’s not clear whether it will track bass frequencies, and if so, what would a female bass sound like?

To my surprise I got a delivery window for today and have spent an hour or so playing with the '64 Black Panel. I love it, it's everything I hoped it would be. Some initial observations - Even the Cab Sim on its own makes a big improvement to the sound into my DAW. (My principal use is for recording.) The EQ is really effective, just like on a good bass amp. The Drive control is great for adding a bit of fur to the sound, just like my Ampeg PF-50T used to fur up when pushed. You can add a fair bit more than you would think - what sounds OTT played solo quickly disappears into the mix, while adding character. All my bass guitars (see sig) keep their own characters, and the sound responds well to their tone and volume controls (all passive fwiw). I have several other Origin gadgets, and I always worry about losing great settings once I have found them. The Bassrig is so intuitive that I can quickly dial in a great sound from wherever I am. The Bright switch is great for extracting the full top end range from your bass without adding excess hiss. (YMMV with an active bass.) This box made me want to play! That is a real win in my book.

Ordered a '64 from Andertons just now, due for delivery Monday. Bring it on!

I know!

You’re all missing the point. Not only do you need a cab to match the head, you need both the 1x15 and the 4x10 that the same manufacturer has thoughtfully made available, so that you can be certain to cover the entire audio spectrum.

Also Cousin Dupree - that is one weird-donkey bridge!

Just for poos and giggles, today I have been playing @Bilbo's excellent transcription of Doctor Wu. God I love Steely Dan!

Bohemian Rhapsody Not learning it by heart, just getting my head and fingers round the tricky bits so that I can read the dots confidently when I play it (as a dep) at next Friday’s party gig. The click track through IEMs will help!

I used to have a bad habit of eating unnecessary food when I got home and staying up late playing computer games. Nowadays I’d rather have a quick cup of tea and head to bed. The thought of eating dubious scran in a motorway services does not appeal, although if it’s a really long drive (say 3 hours) I plan a toilet and coffee stop along the way.

Sort of. Two Precisions and a Super PZ5 (effectively another Precision). I generally take two basses to a gig. I play whichever one suits the gig, the other is emergency only but I will still feel at home if I need to switch to it. But no two of the three are really identical, just similar.

You’re right! They all come in at the right speed, which is frequently different from that of the count. Now that’s hard!

I’ve known a drummer to count in a waltz with ‘1 2 3 4…’ Also never let Joey Ramone count in a song.

Ampeg PF-50T all day. Plenty loud for a pub band, and starts to get nice and ‘furry’ when pushed. I slightly regret selling mine but then I did build my own B15-ish head! The only downside is that the form factor is a bit inconvenient.

Well that was interesting! Guitarist had just arrived when he got a phone call regarding a family emergency. After a while it was still not clear whether he would be able to do the gig so I nipped home and picked up guitar, amp and pedalboard. On the way I called another bassist to see if he could dep, but to no avail. I played the first set on lead guitar (no bass) which I have done before but don’t enjoy because it feels very exposed. Guitarist appeared in the audience during this, so at the break we got him to set up. This he did with no apparent regard for the stage space I would still need. I moved my mic stand back a fair bit which made things tolerable, but he’d also left stuff on the floor which made it more cramped than it needed to be. Given the somewhat pressurised situation I didn’t address this with him, I but I certainly will if (when) it happens next time. Not the most enjoyable night but the club audience seemed to like us and the BL paid me extra for bailing them out.

Nope, thinking of one of these, which looks like an Ampeg SVT450H.

Depped on bass with a rock’n’roll band last night - I normally dep on guitar with them. ’73 P (La Bellas) > Demeter head > BF One 10 Plenty of volume for the pub, and a nice full and warm sound. They were trying out a new dep guitarist, who admitted to being a bit rusty. Hopefully tonight (same lineup) will be better.

Shampeg!

What was the Behringer? Just curious to know.* *By which I mean I might rush out and buy one cheap before word gets out and they are on Reverb at £2k a pop.

Stocks of these seem to have pretty much run out - and they don't even have valves in them!

Best to just ignore it tbh.

I start at the and and work backwards. (The idea came from this very forum iirc.) This means that when you are learning a section, as you come to the end of it you are into familiar territory rather than a part you haven't learned yet. Works for me!

Almost all songs are built up from sections and you’ll have a much easier time learning them if you tackle them that way, like this typical structure: Intro Verse 1 Verse 2 (same as Verse 1) Chorus Verse 3 (same as Verse 1 but repeat last 2 bars) Guitar solo (same as Verse 1) Chorus Chorus (drop last 2 bars) Outro (like intro but slows down at end) This means you only have to learn 3 sections plus a couple of variations. In terms of post-gig analysis, congratulations on being so focused on improvement. Make a written note soon afterwards of whatever the issues were. This will allow you to enjoy your life without obsessing over your perceived ‘failures’ as well as ensuring the valuable information is not lost. Next day, look at your notes and decide first whether each issue was down to you, another band member, or the whole band. Take one of ‘your’ issues and break it down into small actions that you can do to improve. Work on those in your practice time. Raise the other issues at your next band rehearsal but avoid blaming people. If the singer came in early after the guitar solo say ‘Can we run through where the solo goes back into verse.’ Playing in a band is very much a team enterprise and it’s good to be the person who clearly has the band’s interests at heart.

Iceland is real. My Mum’s been there.

Thanks both. I had put this on the back burner until the new financial year - tax deductible!