EliasMooseblaster

[quote name='achknalligewelt' timestamp='1396960143' post='2419092'] It's all 4/4. But with a very clever drummer, who makes an irregular snare pattern sound like it's not. I think. [/quote] [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1396962204' post='2419128'] Oh, no; it starts off in alternating 4/4 and 3/4, then spurious 4/4s get chucked around (I think..?). [/quote] Both wrong, I'm afraid. Though there are some spurious 4/4s chucked in at key points. Try again!

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1396879069' post='2418260'] I've also never seen music notated in 8/8. It was only a few years ago that I found that 8/8 exists as a time signature. I think that we're so used to syncopated 4/4 beats, that anything that is 8/8 would be written as 4/4 with a high degree of syncopation. Strange however that 3/4 and 6/8 aren't confused in this way. [/quote] 3/4 and 6/8 not so much, but how about 2/4 and 6/8? Things may have changed in the (many) years since I was learning GCSE Music, but my teachers always used to think it more important to learn to distinguish 2 from 6. I learnt to think of a typical 6/8 as a sort of "ONE-two-three, TWO-two-three" rhythm.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1393721077' post='2383808'] Rich sent me a wee update - it's turning out to be a wonderfully deep cherry red - exactly what I was hoping for: [/quote] *throws bucket of cold water over self*

We managed to bury one on our last album: https://cherrywhite.bandcamp.com/track/the-white-whale The chap with the sticks was actually quite good at "hiding" the odd-meter bars on this one. And it does shift back to occasional 4/4. I'd be interested to see who can spot the main time signature!

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1396439766' post='2413588'] I didn't think I'd have to wheel out the big gun but Hypnofrog says DO IT [/quote] GAAAAAAH! Does Hypnofrog think this is £900-worth of bass? http://www.wunjoguitars.com/shop/bass-guitars/gibson-sb-400-bass-1971 I'm actually in two minds the more I look at it. But I've no idea how it sounds...

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1396437954' post='2413543'] DO IT [/quote] DON'T ENCOURAGE ME. I HAVE BILLS TO PAY.

You probably don't want to hear this, but I did walk past a 34" original '70s SG bass in one of the windows along Denmark St a couple of weeks ago. Very few things have given me GAS since I got my Thunderbird, but this was one of them. Probably just as well I didn't go in and ask "just to try it," else I think temptation would have got the better of my credit card. Practically chewing a knuckle off just thinking about it now...

Well bugger me, it's a small world, isn't it? Look forward to meeting you both there, then!

Thanks very much for all your input, chaps - this has been quite an eye-opener! In my case, a suitable daisy-chaining cable came bundled with the Pitchblack - if I'd had to buy a separate cable, I'd probably have said "sod it," and bought a multi-pedal PSU anyway. From a little bit of cursory research, I'm led to believe that various varieties of Tubescreamer don't draw any more than about 20-odd mA (couldn't find a listing for the bass version), so I should be well within the limits of what the Korg can provide. The only thing that worries me now is dannybuoy's comment about his Pitchblack giving up the ghost - I thought those things were supposed to be reliable!

A disappointing turnout - think I timed that one badly as all the students from the nearby college had probably already cleared off for Easter. Not being a student for a few years means I've lost track of these things! But we got a few people through the door so at least I was able to give each band a few quid at the end of the night. A pity there weren't more people as the other two bands were absolutely excellent...and I must admit I thought our set was a pretty good one as well. Hopefully we'll get a few more in for the next one!

'morning. This is a two-part question, though the answer to the second one may depend on the first! Firstly, if I were just looking to power a single pedal, is it worth investing a lot of money in a particularly fancy 9V DC? I've heard advice about paying extra for the multi-point PSUs to eliminate noise, but didn't pay much attention as I've only ever really used one pedal, if I've used one at all, so it was easier just to keep a spare battery on hand. I should probably add that this PSU is likely to be powering a pedal tuner! Secondly, however, I finally got a chance to look through the instructions for the Korg Pitchblack+ that arrived recently...it turns out you can run a cable out from that which will send a 9V supply out to an additional 2-3 pedals. So, in theory, if I had a single PSU for the Korg, I could run power out from that to my TS-9, rather than investing in a lot of additional equipment just to have two pedals on mains power. Speaking as somebody who isn't likely to invest in additional pedals any time soon, are there any obvious drawbacks I might be missing here?

[quote name='PaulKing' timestamp='1395758583' post='2405869'] It wouldn't be out of any of your leagueses I promise you. But panic over, I think the very talented Jamie Lawrence is gonna stand in. [/quote] Just on the off-chance that Mr Lawrence isn't available, I'd be up for it - must be a couple of years since I last played at Ain't Nothin' But!

Just a quick bump to say we have further info on the Troubadour gig! We're sharing the bill with Vera Black, Erin Mortimer and Dani Molino (still waiting to hear about running order). The venue is selling tickets at http://www.participant.co.uk/sessions_erin_mortimer_cherry_white_09042014 if any West London BC'ers are interested. (And if you're more ardently South-East than West London, things are looking good for this Wednesday down in New Cross!)

For a band that's got such a massive back catalogue, would you do better to focus on a particular era of Hawkwind? Personally I've never really got into most of the Calvert-era stuff (well, maybe throw in [i]High Rise [/i]and [i]Spirit of the Age[/i]) but then I've always thought their best stuff was from the début album through to [i]Warriors at the Edge of Time.[/i] If you could recreate some of the wonderful soundscapes off the first album I'd really be impressed - though that may not be a particularly crowd-pleasing set!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1395314779' post='2400952'] Jeez, what an insane morning I've had! I just have to share.... I went to the works canteen this morning and bought a cup of tea - like I do every morning - and there were TWO tea bags in it. I can only think the lassie who works there picked two up by accident, instead of one. [/quote] You plonker, that was your cue to pass the briefcase to her under the counter and then tell the cleaner that "Red Squirrel has opened the giraffe enclosure."

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1395247412' post='2400204'] I once bought a double quarter pounder with cheese but the whole sandwich only weighed half a pound. There was definitely cheese and a bun, they can't have weighed nothing [/quote] Do you honestly mean to say you went and weighed your burger before eating it?

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1395237446' post='2400043'] The renaissance of Fender basses is a far more recent phenomena than you might think, although they have of course been a residual presence regardless of whatever the trend in basses and never completely went away. [/quote] That reminds me - and goes back to my point about f***ing hipsters a little - but has anyone else encountered a curious level of contempt for Stratocasters? Now, I realise they have quite a particular sound, which is not to everyone's taste. But in the last few years, I have encountered a handful of people, usually with some combination of silly haircuts/naff facial hair/cardigans/tight jeans/gratuitous misuse of the word 'ironic', who regard Strat-toting guitarists with the same level of disgust normally reserved for convicted child molesters. The most memorable example was a gig for which my blues trio's guitarist borrowed my cheap SG copy, as his Strat was in for a service. Some chap from the audience approached him and waxed lyrical about how good his playing was...until our guitarist said he normally played a Strat, and then received a look as if he'd just revealed that he was Jimmy Saville in disguise.

When we were still playing the Camden toilet circuit on a semi-regular basis, you could bet your bottom dollar that if the other bands looked like f***ing hipsters, their bassist would be going onstage with a Fender P or J. (Not that I have anything against them; I have lusted after a US Precision for most of my bass-playing life!) It's always nice to buck the trend and whip out my SG or, more recently, my T-bird. They certainly turn heads. Didn't actually see that much variation in basses around those gigs, now I think about it. Too many f***ing hipsters, I suspect.

A bit of a shot in the dark, Clarky, but how do you think the Queen's Ravens would feel about sharing a bill with a band like Cherry White? Only, I'm working on a night up in Cambridge on 17th May and am looking for at least one more band. Since I'd already got local band Bouquet of Dead Crows on board, I thought it'd be nice to have a female-vocalist theme connecting the bands (not to mention a corvid connection with two of them...) We're at http://cherrywhite.bandcamp.com/ and BoDC can be heard at http://bouquetofdeadcrows.bandcamp.com/album/together-we-fall-2 - I realise there's a pretty big gap between us all stylistically, but I'd been thinking we could always step it up from folk-flamenco-pop to hard rock via blues-rock...just a thought!

In a controversial move, I'm going to stick up for both Laney and Ashdown! My current rig is an Ashdown LB30 connected to the cab of a Laney HCM120B, and I'm rather pleased with it. I, like many of you, never used to like Ashdowns as I found the overall sound to be too woolly. Until, one day, I cut the bass frequencies a bit, and a lot of clarity and satisfying clank emerged from the fog - and this was from the battered SS stuff in rehearsal rooms, before I'd decided to look for a small valve head. I can see the sound would not be to everyone's ears, but it suits me. Laney and I have a bit of a history - not that Laney know about it - but my first bass amp was a Laney Session 40 Bassman that I bought S/H. When I upgraded, I went for a bigger Laney (the aforementioned HCM120B) because they were more within my budget than a lot of the other options in front of me at the time. And when the head on that one failed - after a good 10 years of abuse, no less - I scored myself a Laney RB8 off ebay. I just find them quite versatile, and the more modern ones seemed to have a relatively bright tone (with the EQ at 12 o'clock) that suited me but, as I say, possibly not everyone! Still, in the spirit of this thread I ought to slag something off, so: Line6. I'm sure it's very useful to have four different channels and numerous exciting effects built in, if you like to completely reshape your tone for every song. Unfortunately, I'm more in the set-a-tone-you-like-and-tweak-if-necessary camp, and I just don't like the standard clean tone. I also find them very unresponsive to dynamics.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1394809459' post='2395487'] Exactly. You never get threads where people say "I'm sick of all this finger-style playing" or "Why do people play with a pick, it sounds horrible". [/quote] Well...maybe not here, but have you looked through the threads on Talkbass lately? I don't like the sound of it, but then I don't listen to a lot of funk and fusion anyway so it's not often there to annoy me. I have heard it in contexts where it actually detracts from the music, though these are usually only in the same places where kicking in some crazy envelope filter, or two-handed hyper-speed tapping, or just dropping your trousers and flaying your genitalia against the strings would have been similarly inappropriate. For example, desperately slapping away underneath a sonic wall of two distorted guitars and straight-eighths drumming just ruins any feel your music might have had. I also wanted to punch the guy at that blues jam who thought it would be ever-so-clever to do a super-fast slap solo in the middle of a slow 12-bar. The kids in guitar shops slapping badly are surely no different from the young metalheads guitarists who are trying to shred their way through some Pantera in a shop where they don't realise no one gives an airborne sh**e. On the other hand, the first time I heard Marcus Miller playing a particularly tasteful solo piece which featured slapping and popping, I began to understand what the fuss was about. It's not really for me, but to each their own.

But...but there is no bass currently in my hands. Does this render The Best Bass an abstract concept? Or is The Best Bass, in actual fact, my computer keyboard?

Jesus H Christ, did he dislike the contouring on the body and decide to iron it out?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1394718033' post='2394358'] If you can check out the state of the loos within 30 seconds of entering the pub, you're likely to be greeted with "[i][b]Oi! You buying a drink or what?[/b][/i]" as you leave them ... [/quote] To which you reply: "Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking for your events manager...I'm used to playing the Camden toilet circuit, you see..." [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1394715423' post='2394309'] What a waste of good tea..! ([i]Shudders[/i]...) Almost as bad as putting in milk..! Thanks for the info, though; I've learnt something today. [/quote] [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1394716600' post='2394327'] Gross! Though I think it would make quite a decent enema liquid. [/quote] Don't knock it 'til you've tried it! Bergamot and high alpha hops complement each other surprisingly well, at least in this case. (Though I'm guessing Dad's not a huge lover of beer in the first place...)

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1394714979' post='2394299'] I'm not going to get far with my 'Earl Grey' scale then, am I..? Teabag or leaf..? Porcelain pot or in the cup..? Slice of lemon or juice from plastic squeezy..? Damned..! [/quote] You'll just have to start booking in Manchester: best of both worlds http://www.marblebeers.com/our-beers/earl-grey-ipa/