Adrenochrome

Ha ha, I've been playing for (ahem) lotsa years and I've never been able to afford a bass like that. Definitely good enough for a beginner, or probably semi/pro or pro as well.

[quote name='bnt' post='232784' date='Jul 4 2008, 04:15 PM']Don't forget that Steve uses flatwound strings (Rotosound 77), which must be easier on the skin. His signature set is 50-110, fairly heavy, so yeah, I imagine he has some serious finger muscles there. [/quote] No, they're not, they're actually very inflexible and don't work well with much of sweat [they suddenly grip you fingers in a weird way]. As previously pointed out he has a very low action so he doesn't [and doesn't need to] pluck particularly hard. At the end of about 2.5 hours of playing we often play stuff like Run To The Hills as an encore pretty fast. It's no great feat with plenty of practice [or when playing plenty of gigs], staying loose and relaxed is more effective than digging in as those speeds.

1. Their taste in music and dislike of a certain range of frequencies is very interesting but isn't a concern of yours. 2. Very worrying, 54db is pretty quiet. It's going to be difficult to prove that the limiter was triggered by you and not a passing vole breaking wind... 3. Check just how deep the ford is - if it's only a couple of inches deep then no problems.

Isn't the Epi Flying V shortscale? This would mean the neckdive shouldn't be too disastrous. My old Jap copy EB0 has the strap button in an unhelpful place for balance, but the neck is so light that it doesn't matter. [does my early 70s Rose-Morris EB0 count as JapCrap?]

No but some people I know were playing - Gunlaw, who had Kerrie and Helen [bassist] of Resurgence as their backing singers.

I always take a spare for our full gigs [up to 2.5 hrs playing]. It's usually my fretless so I have a different sounding bass for a song like Nothing Else Matters and it's also a spare in case of technical problems. Even when playing a short set at a festival I might take my EB0 copy [smallest, lightest bass I have] as an emergency back-up.

Have a great afternoon everyone! I'm playing FoldFest 2 over in Halifax on Sunday, raising some money for Overgate Hospice which is why I can't attend.

Good point Dr, one of our band members really doesn't need the money, but when they take bookings for the band they always agree an average or above fee. Partly because the rest of us all do need the money to pay for fuel etc, and partly to make sure pubs pay a going rate - and many of the us covers bands do stick up for each other regarding rates of pay etc.

The above advice is all sound. Go see the manager early evening with some kind of demo [even a not-so-polished live demo is okay]. Tell 'em that all your mates/family/colleague will come to the gig. Be clear about when all the band is available as they may want to book anything up to 15 months in advance. Have reliable contact details ready and a MySpace page at the very least. Listen and look interested as Dr.Dave said above. Offer to join in any charity all-dayers for free as these can get you excellent publicity and a foot in the door for a 'proper' gig.

[quote name='Jase' post='225684' date='Jun 24 2008, 10:03 AM']I've also been looking for a short scale bass for my daughter, 7.....think the Daisy Rock may be a little big. I think maybe 25" scale would be suitable, can't find any though.[/quote] Tanglewood do a couple that are very small scale - not sure the exact scale though.

I think 20 is too many takes - you can't br at your best after that manytakes surely?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='221837' date='Jun 19 2008, 12:00 AM']Listening to lots of Pino and Hub at the moment. Huge respect for those guys [/quote] Careful, litening to other people's music will turn you into a brain dead zombie (apparently)

Well I'd rather eat a large donner with all the trimmings than eat at a burger chain. In fact I often do after late gigs...

No, I think my creativity dried up about the time we started having kids and I got more of a management type job meeting clients etc. I was still doing just originals at the time. Playing in a busy covers band has helped my dexterity and consistency but not my creativity.

Fast fret and lots of wiping do it for me.

Last time I heard he had bass and treble on his amp turned right down and mids boosted all the way. Also he was just using the neck pup. I don't know if this is totally accurate. Also when I last saw 'em live his action wasn't [i]that[/i] high and he wasn't hitting the strings [i]that[/i] hard either.

Sheffield Soundcontrol is re-opening as Reverb.

The sound of the band to the audience should be all you're bothered about as long as you have enough volume to hear yourself. I switch off the EQ on my amp and just use it as a stage monitor and use the DI from my amp which is effectively pre-EQ. I think this makes the soundman's job easier. If it's a very muddy sounding venue I might press the bright button that adds a dash of top-end but this is easy for the soundman to deal with as he tends to cut some of my treble anyway.

Of course the other thing you could do is set up your own covers or function band with your personal stamp. There's an art to selecting songs you like playing that also please the audience/landlord/whoever's paying. If you're good enough you'll get reasonable paying gigs even if you are louder/weirder than the average covers band.

[i]Some[/i] compromise is always necessary. I don't think there's much point in having really strong ideals but never getting to play in public. There is something to be said for being able to gig as often as you want, playing to a (usually) appreciative audience, and getting paid for it - even if you are playing someone else's music. With kids to feed it suits me just fine. Having said all that don't feel you have to play music you really don't enjoy. Luckily I get to play a lot of material I enjoy in my covers band.

Yes we play mainstream metal and rock/metal in my covers band, as well as the rock, punk, pop-rock stuff. When I was in original bands I mainly did metal, I was in a band called Final Conclusion who supported bands like Crowbar (before my time unfortunately). The band now continues as Goroka but I think they're vastly underachieving considering the ability they have.

[b]Steve Harris![/b] ...but great shouts for some of my favourite tech bassists (eg Ryknow) and solid bassists (eg Cliff W).

2 reasons for me: 1) I've never been able to afford a 'proper' MIA/CIJ Fender. 2) I really need a quiet bridge pickup and those Fenders in my price range are generally single-coil bridge pups. I have a Hohner jazz bass that I use for practice only. I got it free (used) and it sounds [i]similar[/i] to a real Fender jazz. The frets are really worn and the pups are too noisy for proper gigs/recording which is why it's relegated to living in a practice room.

just a quick one, I'm going camping for a couple of days in a few minutes. Yesterday we played a big charity bash in Barnsley "Sheik Rattle 'n' Roll", organised by our singer Vikki and the Rock Of The North website. It was a WONDERFUL day and it was great to see TONY SOUL 7 in person for the first time. pics and reports will be available on [url="http://www.rockofthenorth.f2s.com"]Rock Of The North[/url] very soon I'm sure.

No, I can't do the 29th June as I'm gigging that afternoon. If the date of the gig or the date of the bash changes to a date when I'm free, then I'll go. I still don't have any tastey gear to show around regardless! ta, Jon