EliasMooseblaster

Here's an easy thought experiment to identify them: for each individual in the band, imagine a situation in which they fall into a deep river. Is your instinct to throw them a flotation aid, or their gear?

I gather Jackson has got Ian Holm's Bilbo Baggins costume out of storage so that he can do a cameo as Noddy Holder.

1-0-0-1, if I'm being particularly hard on myself.

I did go through a phase of naming them, mostly after characters from anime series or webcomics - any BCers of a certain fandom might understand why I called my 8-string "Vriska," for example. But the joke wore a bit thin, and I stopped bothering. So now the only one which has a name is my longest-serving bass, my kit-built Precision copy. It's named after one of my grandmothers, because it's sturdy and dependable, with a voice that could cut through walls. (Not that the bass in question has an East Midlands accent...)

Can't speak for the Ampegs, but I've never found the LB-30 / CTM-30 lacking in midrange. I did find the Mid-Shift switch particularly useful for shunting the centre frequency into the a "sweet spot." Also, I think I'm right in saying that the EQ is similar to an old-fashioned FVM-style tone stack (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), so by backing off the bass control, I can give the mids and treble more room to "breathe" - at home I'd typically have the bass knob around 8 or 9 o'clock, and the mids and treble at noon. (The high shelf introduced by the Bright switch is also quite useful for definition if you need to keep the volume down!)

I think it's definitely worth a try! Our drummer is very capable of "doing quiet," but he's definitely a rock drummer and his default setting is "loud." It's safe to say the cab upgrade was the biggest change for me: I initially upgraded to a CTM-100 after our guitarist traded up his Blues Junior for a Blackstar Artisan (same wattage, but much fuller-sounding), and the extra wattage helped me to keep up. But after one particular gig I felt like I wasn't getting the best out of the amp, and decided that maybe the cheap 1x15 wasn't cutting the mustard. The shift to a high-quality 2x12* made a vast difference - I almost had to double-check I'd connected the same amp to the cab! And actually, with the 2x12, even the LB-30 can keep up with our drummer and guitarist much more comfortably. *Bergantino CN212, in case you were wondering

Just to add another can of worms to the pan: I think it depends on the tone you want. I've done small indoor gigs with a Little Bastard 30, and I've done outdoor gigs with a CTM-100 where the rest of the band have suggested I might want to turn down a bit! No PA support in either case, but they were being run into a well-voiced 2x12. That said, the tone I go for is all about the mids, and I'm more than happy to let the amp break up. If I were after a cleaner sound and/or thick, chest-rattling low frequencies, I suspect I might need a higher wattage...and/or more speakers.

I found myself in a similar position in the south of England, no less! Back when you still had to buy your train ticket from a person at a desk, I found myself queuing at the station behind a group of three or four Merkins. I forget what they were asking about, but I remember the woman in the booth had a strong Jamaican accent. Now fair enough, I know that it can be a difficult accent to understand if you're not used to it, but she was speaking English. But whereas most of us might have replied to her with, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that" or similar, the chap who was doing the talking simply turned to his travelling companions and said, "I can't understand a word she's saying." Maybe not, mate, but she can certainly understand what you just said...

I asked my French friends whether they could follow the lyrics in this one, and they said no. Don't know if it's his accent quebecois, or the fact he's spitting the words out so quickly, but I'd insist it doesn't detract from the song:

It's a slight deviation from the theme, but Buddy Whittington once turned up at once of the weekly blues jams I used to frequent. For those wondering who the hell I'm talking about, he's a very well-regarded blues guitarist, and first came to prominence playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. I think I'm right in saying that he was still touring with them on this particular evening, and one of the other regular jammers said they'd heard that when the Bluesbreakers had a night off between gigs, he liked to find a jam night in whichever town they were in, and just get up and jam with some strangers. I always felt that the standard at this particular jam was fairly high, but he was a cut above us regulars, and it was quite obvious to everyone in the audience. The difference here was that at least 50% of said audience were musicians themselves, and the rest wouldn't have been there unless they liked to listen to a lot of blues, so everyone knew that this was something out of the ordinary. I can't help but suspect if he'd turned up with a band at the Tickled Trout and Terrier, somebody would have staggered up after a couple of songs and asked him if he knew Wonderwall.

Acacia Strain? Is that something giraffes suffer from?

No wonder people were impressed with your tone - I have a TF fretless myself, and it's an absolutely wonderful instrument!

I'll second this - been using a couple of Ashdown all-valve heads for a few years now and - touch wood - no valves or fuses blown to date! Doesn't stop me worrying, of course, but it's worth it for the tone.

It certainly looks like a nice bass - is it a Tony Franklin, by any chance?

Ironically, I seem to recall that one of the main things that confirmed my decision to buy an Epi EB-3 was a demo video where the reviewer insisted it was terrible for slap!

I forgot to mention it in my earlier post, but that was the main motivation for me. I had a couple of projects on the go that had stagnated, and one day I decided that if I wanted to get out and get playing again, I was going to have to take some bold steps in a different direction. (I'd never been to a proper jam night before, so it felt like a bold step to me at the time, anyway!)

Was he so upset that he cried all the way to the chip shop?

I can sympathise with both of your positions - I am possibly one of the world's worst networkers. That said, I took a chance on a jam one night and it marked the beginning of a whole new phase of my musical life. I realise I was probably fortunate: it was a pretty good jam night, which attracted a lot of pro/semi-pro musicians, and I happened to rock up on a night when one of their more regular bass players was away. But although I got a lot of time up onstage, I hardly spoke to anybody, and I certainly didn't make any lasting connections. The key was to keep going back, and that way I gradually got to know people. Ended up in a multitude of different bands, including the one that's been my main focus since 2011. So you may not have to network too actively to meet some more musicians - there is a great benefit to being a dedicated bass player in a room full of singers and guitarists!

The trouble with this thread is it's started me looking at the BC Marketplace again! There's a lovely-looking Ken Smith going on there coming in sub-£3000, though it would depend on you being interested in a fretless 5! You just know it'd be a cracking instrument, though.

PA "bass bins" are not for disposing of unwanted instruments.

That's a fair point; I'm probably falling into the trap of conflating "what modern bass players want" with "what Gibson enthusiasts want", and they probably don't overlap as much as I'm presuming. That said, I'd be surprised if the 5s didn't sell - they're an increasingly common sight, even in the blues and classic rock idioms with which Gibson mostly seem to be associated - though I realise that it often needs a more nuanced redesign that simply widening the neck a bit and slapping on an extra string!

Hang on - so after the promising steps of upgrading the stock bridge, and adding coil taps to the pickups on the last few years' run of Thunderbirds, Gibson decided the best course of action was to...completely revert to the original spec? And still not a B-string in sight. They're clearly determined that the best way to penetrate a modern market is to shut their eyes and pretends it's still the early '70s...

Who, of course, also designed and built one of my all-time favourite models of bass guitar. (I feel this is the kind of pointless trivia that's worth bringing up on a bass forum...)

Is it me, or is grunge a bit of a tricky one to define? I feel like it covers a spectrum where you have very punk-influenced groups like Mudhoney at one extreme, and heavy-metal-in-disguise groups like Soundgarden at the other. If you're particularly interested in working with fast changes, Mudhoney are probably essential listening - and having briefly played in a band with a similar style, nailing those changes exactly in sync with the guitars while keeping locked in with the drums can be an art in itself! If you're looking for something with a looser feel, Ament, Shepherd and Yamamoto are all excellent suggestions...though if you're going down that route I might suggest another look at Geezer Butler's style as well!

That might be a bit too quiet...