EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1469180439' post='3096326'] I stopped worrying about Brontosaurus when they accidentally changed the name to Apatosaurus. [/quote] I fear you may have dismissed your fears prematurely... http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brontosaurus-is-back1/ Discreet and I will be hiding in our Brontosaurus Bunker until this all blows over.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1469198475' post='3096578'] We're defining cover band not what a cover is. Blue [/quote] Ah, but this semantic hair-spitting is one of the essential details of the argument! For in order to determine what defines "a cover band," we must return to first principles regarding our determination of what is, or is not, "a cover." Once we have concluded this section of the debate, we shall move on post-haste to discussing a philosophically rigorous definition of "a band."

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1469174273' post='3096264'] I had to look that up. Though I know what 'brontophobia' is - fear of thunder. As in brontosaurus (thunder lizard). [/quote] I, for one, live in constant fear of brontosauruses.

[quote name='4stringslow' timestamp='1469045715' post='3095408'] Perhaps we should take a climb back up the taxonomic tree and start at the type of music being played, regardless of the style genre. Thus original or non-original - surely that's a non-contentious starting point? [/quote] *rolls up sleeves* Have we ordered the taxa incorrectly? Historically (and from what I've seen today) jazz bands give little thought as to whether they want to focus on "covers" or self-penned material; a set will often comprise their interpretations of various standards and other tunes, maybe along with a couple of pieces written by the band members. I have encountered jazz bands who mostly focus on writing their own pieces, just like I've encountered some who are happy to just take tunes out of the Real Book and haul those into new territory, but nobody seems to be too worried about whether they're an "originals" band or not. (Ditto orchestras - I know a lot of them will crowbar a modern composer's piece into the first half before they play what you actually paid to hear, but it's not often written by the feller waving his stick around at the front.) The distinction does seem to be a bit more endemic to rock/pop music, and then I wonder...has the distinction been reinforced artificially by pub landlords who want to eliminate the risk that the band they're booking will play a 2-hour doom-sludge-improv set?

I suppose the real question is whether you want to try and sand out the marks where he's engraved the note names into the fingerboard...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1468934456' post='3094438'] What about nudity, donkeys and hemp..? [/quote] Dammit, I just sold my donkey and moved over to lightweight Shetland ponies with neodymium horseshoes. Can I still use those?

Well, it's certainly closer to playing a guitar than all this "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" stuff that the kids are into these days. Limited, sure, but a nice idea - and it's reassuring that he seems to have a sense of humour about the whole thing!

[quote name='pintspiller' timestamp='1468895338' post='3094132'] Bass Centre Bass Collection have a Frankenstein model. In pink. Which is weird, as I don't think he performed it in that colour. Haven't tried it though. [/quote] I believe the original body might have been finished in sunburst (could be wrong), but he had it resprayed in "salmon" - perhaps unsurprisingly, given it was supposedly assembled from a collection of smashed bass parts. [quote name='pintspiller' timestamp='1468895472' post='3094133'] [url="http://www.basscentre.com/british-bass-masters/the-bass-centre-frankenstein-bass.html"]http://www.basscentr...stein-bass.html[/url] [/quote] I think I've seen these on another thread, though the reaction from others was a little lukewarm overall...anybody know whether they're much cop compared to a similarly-priced Precision copy?

If your guitarists [i]really [/i]have it in for you, they'll put their guitar in an alternative tuning - perhaps an open chord, or a DADGAD, or similar. Then when you ask for the chords, they'll reply, "Well, I'm playing E, D, A, B in the verses..." "OK." "...but I'm in open G." "Ah." "Oh, and I've got the capo on II because it was a bit low for my voice..." "GAAAAH."

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1467879099' post='3086855'] Because it's hard enough finding one reliable keyboard player never mind 2 or 3? [/quote] [quote name='charic' timestamp='1467880195' post='3086868'] oi [/quote] Joking aside, it's a fair point in my experience. If I had to cobble a band together at short notice, I wouldn't struggle to find guitarists among my friends and acquaintances; bassists and drummers are a bit more limited but not impossible...keyboard players, I can think of three I could call on for a gig. But then one of those is me, and I probably wouldn't call one of the others 'cause he's a pain in the arse*. *[size=2]So am I, but I can just about bear to work with myself.[/size]

Could it be the rise of funk/fusion type music around the same time? I wonder whether the aspiring bassists of the day went in the other direction and decided they wanted to ape players like Jaco or Mark King instead.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1467739182' post='3085803'] 5th Symphony T-Shirt fail. [url="https://postimg.org/image/ha160xxer/"][/url] [/quote] *facepalm*

I think it's four notes rather than three, but I expect it will instantly evoke pictures of apes breaking bones in front of an unexplained monolith, and that's the opening phrase from [i]Thus Spake Zarathusthra [/i]by Ricard Strauss. Look it up and imagine the monkeys.

[quote name='Freddy Le Cragg' timestamp='1467572356' post='3084639'] Binbag. Or if I'm feeling flush, a Poundland bag for life. [/quote] ^ Perhaps I should add that, back when I barely had two bob to rub together, I did have the zip break on a gig bag about twenty minutes before I had to set off for a gig. Said bag ended up being sutered shut with an old set of strings. But at least that felt more secure than the time I had to encase the bass in bubble wrap and bung it under one arm.

[quote name='GarethFlatlands' timestamp='1467045903' post='3080760'] Tube Screamer - Weak drive and a mid hump I couldn't dial out. EQ didn't seem to do a whole lot either. I assume it works in a band setting or for bluesy stuff but I didn't get on with it as I don't play that kind of stuff. Had a Bad Monkey for a while and kind of liked it on bass but sold it for something a bit more dirty. [/quote] On the other hand, that mid hump was the main motivation for me buying one! But then I bought it as a pedal for soloing - if you're looking for big fat fuzzy basslines, I agree it's not so hot, but if you need the bass to sing clearly over the top of your guitarist and drummer, I found it was just the ticket. Nicely responsive to dynamics as well.

As somebody whose gear is rather more on the heavyweight end, my amp and cab have their own padded covers but are basically carried around by something with an engine! On a more practical note, I have found that despite its enormity, the coffin case for the 'bird allows very little room for storage. As a result I've dedicated a spare laptop bag to carrying pedals and cables.

[quote name='72deluxe' timestamp='1466966084' post='3080101'] [font=trebuchet ms,helvetica,sans-serif]I got the last seated ticket late last afternoon and went along. Rip-off commission, rip-off admin fee, rip-off parking but a good gig![/font] [font=trebuchet ms,helvetica,sans-serif]I really enjoyed it! Blackmore wasn't as fast as he used to be but he still did some great guitar work (sweep picking, great runs) despite being 71. Really really enjoyed it! [/font] [font=trebuchet ms,helvetica,sans-serif]The instrumental section in the middle with the drum solo and keyboard part wasn't popular from what I can tell by online reviews but I really enjoyed it- Jens Johansson was on keyboards and his solo section was really enjoyable.[/font] [font=trebuchet ms,helvetica,sans-serif]No Marshall stacks - Engl everywhere. I will post videos on YouTube if I get a chance[/font] [/quote] Glad to hear it was a good show in the end! A few friends and I initially scrambled to get tickets when we first heard about it but then (like a lot of people on here, I guess) stopped trying when we found out that it was basically going to be "Ritchie Blackmore plus some session musicians" and the last tickets had shot up to £200+! Would have been great to see the man in black, but getting down to Brum from London, Leeds and Leicester on top of the ticket price was a stretch too far for us - but I wouldn't mind seeing those clips if you've still got them.

For all the recent (and probably justified) complaints about the bass sounds coming out of Later With Jools, I've just been catching up on Joanne Shaw Taylor's Sunday set and the bassist's Jazz is sounding pretty good via the iPlayer.

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1467036203' post='3080642'] Do you like to boost bass frequencies (either on the amp or active bass onboard eq)? Very often when people complain about being inaudible or their amps crapping out, [b]the culprit turns out to be silly EQ settings[/b] - not saying this is the case in your situation, but before you jump to the conclusion that you need more amp/cab, it might be worth investigating your EQ and FX use. If you are feeding the power section of the amp a lot of very low frequency information it will use your headroom up very quickly. [/quote] ...and not always on the bass amp! Is/are your guitarist(s) clogging up your sonic space by cranking their own bass controls too high?

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1467024765' post='3080499'] that Beach Boys' sound is very obviously a pick isn't it I was arguing that you can get the same sound with either technique, although obviously you could do with some EQ and compression to make a pick sound like fingers [/quote] I know it's a rock example, but look up[i]Animate [/i]by Rush. The driving bassline sounds quite pick-like but is almost certainly Geddy flapping his index finger back and forth. (I'd provide a link but work interweb and youtube links don't mix too well, sorry!)

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1467023851' post='3080488'] Excuse my ignorance but do you have examples of songs? [/quote] I'm reasonably sure it's Kaye playing the higher bass part on the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations.' (To be honest, pick any Beach Boys song from Pet Sounds onwards and there's a good chance she's playing the bassline. With a pick.)

[quote name='bassix' timestamp='1447923723' post='2911445'] I won't be moving too far musically from where I am now in punk, I've checked out what a few guitarists I like play and they seem to all be on Gibsons so I might have to check out the Les Paul and SG copies.. The kits seem to be fantastic value, I have noticed that the soundclips have different styles of music as demonstrations, although you could use any guitar would these indicate the traditional types of music played on them? Also seen this though which seems pretty cheap, any thoughts? [url="https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/electric-guitar-with-amp/1142652408"]https://www.gumtree....-amp/1142652408[/url] [/quote] [quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1466720657' post='3078254'] The Vintage brand with the Wilkinson hardware has a very good rep for the money. They've been around long enough to find second hand aplenty. [/quote] +1 I still own a Vintage VS6, which is their SG copy. Mine's actually old enough that I think it predates the Wilkinson-hardware-as-standard. It was a perfectly decent guitar to begin with, but after popping some Wilkinson pickups in it sounds even better. Not sure what the going rate is for one these days, but I'm fairly sure you could pick one up for less than £200.

[quote name='BluRay' timestamp='1466596317' post='3077059'] I use a CTM 100 in a loud band. It can hold its own at full-on band level, providing things don’t get silly. I’ve done some gigs just with backline and a vocal PA only, and its been fine. The amp isn’t super-clean at those levels tho – you’re into snarlsville (in a good way:). Personally I think it sounds sweeter at lower volumes, but the power-stage (when driven) certainly gives it some clout. It’s probably worth mentioning that the gain stage breaks up early - I have to have the gain set below 1/4 with my basses, else it’s a bit too bitey. Also the EQ is subtle. The push buttons alter the sound quite a bit, but you can’t make really significant changes with the knobs. So things can get a bit slushy if the guitarists don’t/won’t tweak their EQ to accommodate how this amp sounds (I bring an EQ pedal just in case!). The core tone is fantastic. [/quote] +1! The EQ knobs are enough for me to clear up the tone of a Thunderbird, but they don't really offer the same "tone-sculpting" that a lot of modern, solid-state heads offer. (Though if you're playing punk/rock this may be less of an issue!) And it does break up quite early, but then I assume that you're considering valves because you're after that sort of tone! Mine used to do keep up just fine when it was powering a Laney 1 x 15. Now I've upgraded to a Berg 2x12 I feel like I could possibly even drown out our drummer...!

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1465454394' post='3068281'] I played in a band with some mates when I was about 13 and we had a guitarist who when tuning up would get bored half way though and just say "ah well it's close enough for jazz" ... [/quote] Inspired by this little conversation, I present my own offering: https://soundcloud.com/white_elephant/close-enough-for-jazz-basschat-noodle-bar-june16 Fretless Fender Jazz straight into the mixer and then into Audacity with a little compression.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1466506212' post='3076276'] The Queen Is Dead is a smashing album. [/quote] Probably their most consistent album - at least from the ones I've heard - and very accessible. Wasn't it [i]Strangeways [/i]that the band themselves thought was their best?