thisnameistaken

I suppose those frequencies could potentially be added by bass boost on your amp EQ, even if you don't have a slider that low if it's a low-Q control it could still boost lower frequencies. But if you've already filtered everything below 40hz by say 12 or 24dB then it would need to be an extreme bass boost at (eg. 80hz) to bring it back anywhere near pre-filter levels. So yeah if it was me I'd stick it before the amp, given that you've got a pedalboard on the go already and thus somewhere convenient to put it.

[quote name='daz' post='774490' date='Mar 14 2010, 05:58 PM']ps: i feel a real idiot having to ask this, but when people say [i]leave[/i] the tone control all the way up, they do mean up as in clockwise and to the treble end of the spectrum ? The same direction as turning the Volume control up?[/quote] Yes. When someone says set something "flat" they're generally talking about a control that can cut or boost centred at a certain frequency (like the bass/mid/treble knobs on an active bass, or the EQ on a bass amp), and the middle position does nothing - that's "flat". On a passive bass like a Fender which has a control labeled "tone" but no battery, what that knob actually does is remove the treble content of your signal as you turn it down (it never "adds" treble or bass, it just removes treble and gives a similar effect). With the knob full up you're getting the whole signal from the pickup, so full up for a passive tone knob is the "flat" setting. It's always best to start from "flat" because over-EQing your sound generally causes problems, either in terms of what your amp/speakers can realistically deal with without distorting, or sonic problems in terms of where your bass sound sits in the band mix, or even the way your bass sound interacts with the room you're playing in. Much better to identify the parts of the frequency spectrum you want to hear more of (and/or the ones you don't) and adjust your EQ to achieve that. Oh and they always say it's better to cut than boost - so rather than giving it +6dB on a frequency you really like, consider cutting by 6dB around that frequency, same result just a different approach. I think this advice is something to do with making sure you don't distort the preamp but I don't know exactly why. But it's probably sound advice and something you should bear in mind. FWIW after 20 years of playing and god knows how many different basses and amps, I'm currently gigging a Jazz bass with a passive tone knob and an amp with just a passive 3-knob tone stack on the front of it. Fair play to the geezers with the rack-mounted 24-band graphic EQs and so on but they either desire a very specific sound and have amazing ears, or they have a compulsion to buy expensive gear they don't really know how to use. You don't necessarily need all that.

Start with all the EQ knobs in the middle, all the push switches out, the suboctave knob off, tone controls on your bass centred if it's active, if it's passive bass leave the tone all the way up for now. Try turning one of the EQ knobs down and see how it sounds, then turn it up and see how that sounds, then back to centre. Now do that with each of the other knobs. Then try (with the EQ flat still) the "shape" knob (with the shape switch on) and the other switches, see how they sound. Then you should be able to decide which frequencies are causing the horrible muddy sound you hate.

[quote name='guyl' post='774472' date='Mar 14 2010, 05:38 PM']And what are kids throwing into canals and rivers for fun these days?[/quote] Kittens.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='774457' date='Mar 14 2010, 05:18 PM']It'll only devalue the cab if you're expecting to sell it, and if that's the case then obviously it still isn't the right cab for you.[/quote] So sell it and buy something taller. Job done.

I don't use any top end so it's not an issue. Maybe taking something to tilt your cab back on to would be more convenient? I think Markbass do some folding wedge thing.

[quote name='Duarte' post='741294' date='Feb 10 2010, 06:41 PM']Bedouin Soundclash - when the night feels my song. Fantastic song and band, but awfully out of tune harmonies at the end...it's cringe worthy. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlsBPH8O7q8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlsBPH8O7q8[/url] at 2:57ish[/quote] Heh. Their records sound like the demos our guitarist sends us from his little digital multi. Never really paid them any attention before, they're good.

[quote name='Malc62' post='741371' date='Feb 10 2010, 07:41 PM']The best/worst ever has to be Simon Le Bon's terrible high note on "A View To A Kill" at Live Aid. Check YouTube.[/quote] Did Simon Le Bon sing anything in tune? Credit to him he must've had some nerve.

TBH I think the MXR Blowtorch is generally a safe bet. All those tone options mean you can usually be heard regardless of what your guitarist(s) do with their sound. Downside is 18v power of course, but it's worth the hassle if you use distortion a lot.

I've got a bunch of George L's but that's mostly because I've got a Boss LS-2 and the jacks on that make routing all the cables a pain with normal plugs. Get cheap patch cables if they'll work for you - if you've got your pedals set up on a board then it's not like you'll be plugging/unplugging them often, they should be reliable enough.

I had to sit in with a space-rock band once because their previous bassist (also called Kev) had died from huffing too much nitrous at a party the weekend before. Very weird scene. They offered me the gig full-time but I didn't want to be the next dead bass-playing Kev they knew.

Maybe link to some distorted bass sounds you like, might get you more accurate suggestions.

I was in a large (10-piece) touring funk band in the mid '90s, but that was in the USA and they will turn out in droves to see good live music, so it was easy to keep a large band on the go. I think the problem over here is once you start adding brass - assuming you're going the function/wedding route or pub covers and money-making is your priority - you're going to end up with a band that can't support itself or can't compete on price with other bands. And if you're doing covers you'll either need brass, keys and percussion... or the dreaded backing tapes. I suppose if you had a couple of versatile brass players who could also play keys and percussion, and a singing guitarist, bassist and drummer then you could potentially cover a lot of ground with a 5-piece band, but you would still run out of instrumentalists if you wanted to do old Stax tunes.

[quote name='The Funk' post='772117' date='Mar 11 2010, 09:14 PM']Whoever Curtis Mayfield's bassist was. EDIT: Joseph 'Lucky' Scott?[/quote] I don't know who he was but since I put flats on my Jazz I find I'm always playing his parts during idle time.

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='772162' date='Mar 11 2010, 09:47 PM']like please explain: "I often find the "You're just jealous" riposte a bit simple, but in this case it's hilarious. That performance is literally one of the shittest things I've ever seen."[/quote] It's difficult for me to put into words why it's so bad. I just don't have enough time. Visually you've got two men playing doubleneck guitars, one of them keeps pointing at the other for some reason. Then you've got the bit where the other two dudes come out and start fretting bass notes. It's just... why? Musically it's cheesy too - it's like something you might hear at the end of a Rocky movie, while the press are taking their snaps and he's holding a belt in the air. If that scene was dragged out way too long and the composer died before he'd finished scoring it.

[quote name='tom1946' post='772102' date='Mar 11 2010, 09:04 PM']Our keyboard player says that I am the only person who knows I've made a mistake, he makes the obvious ones thankfully. [/quote] Yeah the other night our front man made such a monumental cock-up that anything the rest of us did was totally inconsequential. Really takes the pressure off when something like that happens. Although if I actually [i]had[/i] fallen over and taken him with me it probably would've outdone him.

[quote name='cd_david' post='771431' date='Mar 11 2010, 11:42 AM']From a front of house point of view there is nothing worse than a band turning up expecting all of their previously undisclosed requirements catered for "we must have 13 separate monitor mixes and 41 DI's" Tell me in advance and i can sort it and have you heard of sub mixing you lazy git.[/quote] We provided a list of tech requirements a month in advance to a venue we played last week. Got there to set up, sound guy miked every drum and soundchecked them all, then told us there were no mics for the brass and they'd be loud enough anyway... We were all "We've got mics and stands with us, shall we go get them? Do you not have enough mics or stands or something?" but no he was just too lazy to set them up. After five minutes of arguing with him he set up two more mics. Then he accused our string machine of causing popping noises, which it doesn't do. Anybody who hadn't already taken a dislike to the guy fell out with him when he started blaming the string machine for stuff - you don't diss the string machine! Oh and when we went on, he was still using the mix from the solo guitarist singer guy who'd been on before, so none of our mics were on. He was too busy looking at Facebook to notice. We asked a member of the audience to poke him and tell him to sort it out.

I've got family in Wallasey, get over there occasionally to visit. Lived in Liverpool for a year (Princes Road, L8) and I'm quite fond of the place.

I always have mine on its side with the angled speaker pointing up. I think it does help me to hear the note - I play with quite a lot of bottom end. Of course what you really want is two of them, with one of them upside-down, so you'd be pointing speakers in three directions.

I haven't seen an orchestra in years, I used to see them quite often when I was shagging a violinist. I agree it's an amazing experience. I don't listen to classical music at home, at all, but live it's mindblowing.

Well if you think it's worth anything then keep it. I went out a gigged a bass tonight that I paid £120 for, it sounded great and played as well as any Fender I've had, and the audience were hugely appreciative so either it sounded ace or they didn't care. What I'm trying to say is if you've already got the bass and a use for the bass and you like it then keep it, but don't expect it to be valued by others.

So we all make mistakes, for a variety of reasons, but some of us here make a living as professionals and - while I'm sure their musical knowledge and potential application is way broader than what most of us can offer - I find myself wondering if they f*** up as often as the rest of us do? It's got to be hard if your work is routinely stuff that you haven't rehearsed or stuff you don't really care about all that much. So my guess is that you make more mistakes in those situations. But then often you'll be playing in a situation where you don't have to look the part or have any of that image burden, so maybe there are less mistakes because there's less to worry about. For the record I think I make at least one obvious mistake per gig. And I'm playing originals, so an obvious mistake has to be fairly obvious! Come on, Pros, how often do you manage a fully clean gig while still being bang on the money musically?

Headline band we played with tonight used my bass rig, they were lovely chaps and I didn't mind a bit. Although I probably would've left earlier if they weren't using my gear but then I would've missed them, and they were actually pretty good, so swings n' roundabouts. I think it's been about 10 years since I last came across a band so unutterably obnoxious that I wouldn't have pissed on them if they were on fire (and indeed on that occasion their singer went on stage with two black eyes). The scene seems to be getting friendlier all the time.

[quote name='Rich' post='769120' date='Mar 9 2010, 12:42 PM']EDIT. Speaking of Boss pedals, why do they use such pathetic little LEDs? Those red 3mm things can be almost impossible to see on a brightly lit stage. I fitted a 5mm one instead, impossible to miss! [/quote] That's a pet hate of mine too. The only Boss pedal I still use a lot is my OC-2 though and the footswitch is crap so I just leave it on*. Thankfully it powers up 'on' so I don't have to stomp 20 times on it to get it to do anything at all. * It's in one side of a blended chain with other switches to bypass it.

[quote name='TheBlueFalcon' post='768758' date='Mar 9 2010, 02:55 AM']Thanks for the link. It was bought 2nd hand. I would imagine it would have been at least a few years old when I got it.[/quote] TBH I'd be surprised if any of them were any good. I came across a bunch of Hondo P basses over the years and none of them were any better than Encore P basses (if anyone here's got an Encore precision they absolutely love then I am sorry!). Even if it is a surprisingly good bass, the name will keep the price way down.