xgsjx

The problem with all the guitar forums that I've been on is that they're overrun by either teenagers who think they know everything or guitar players who think that the amp needs to be on full tilt to get "their" sound. Hopefully Guitarchat resolves things. I personally think guitarchat is too long a name & should be cut down to guitchat.

Yesterday I had a little time to kill in Glasgow whilst waiting on the wife, so I headed to Guitar Guitar to see if they had any fretless bass' in for me to try & joy of joys, they had not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 lined fretless Jazzers & a fretless Stingray too. First bass I tried was the MIA Jazz & what can I say, such a beautiful instrument to play (I still don't like the top horn, but hey, not all basses are perfect). Had it going through an Ashdown ABM 500 combo (which I couldn't fault either). The bass had loads of beef in the low end on either pickup & it's made me want one! Might be some time before I can afford one though. It was just over £1200. Next up I tried the MIM Jazz. At almost £600 this was a very disappointing instrument. The second I held it I could feel the difference in quality. Not just a wee bit, but like the difference from a nice tailored suit to a bin bag. It didn't have any low end beef either, which was a further disappointment. Then I tried the Squire. This outshone the MIM by a long way. I'd be happy with this bass & all I'd need to do is stick a set of flatwounds on it & lower the action a bit. Very impressed considering it's a £300 bass. Then I tried the Creme de la creme, the Jaco Jazz. Even over the quality of the MIA, you can feel the difference. I like the thinner profile (almost as thin as my Ibby) & the notes just sung from this bass. Though I'm not sure I'd spend the extra £500 on this over the MIA. So my winner out of those 4 is the MIA. I'm now toying with the idea of selling all my pedals (& my wife) to get one.

For me it was: 1. Basslines. I played keys for quite a few years before & the guitar 1 year before picking up the bass & my favourite bit of a song is the bassline. 2. I could fire up my drum machine, have the sequencer play the keys & I could play bass along with it. 3. It's just so satisfying to play a good groove & get folk dancing.

[quote name='steve' timestamp='1371253143' post='2111897'] I went one year, can't remember which one. All I know is that Iron Maiden were on, [i]possibly[/i] Skid Row (who I wasn't particularly interested in) and we drove round the campsite surfing on the roof of a hired transit van [/quote] I think that may have been the same year I went. Skid Row, Slayer & the Almighty played in '92.

I've got a SR1000. Bought it new in 1990 & it's been my main gigging bass since then. I've tried quite a few other basses & whereas there was a lot of good ones (including a rather nice Dingwall), the only benefit I could find would be to get either a 5 (or 6) string or get a fretless (or both). If I had spare funds, I'd get another 1000 & get one defretted.

My last band was an acoustic band. Singer played guitar or banjo, other was either mandolin, ukulele or whistle, drummer joined us occasionally & I played my electric ibby through some fx. I used my filter to get a pretty reasonable double bass sound & adding in some dirt during a part of a song can really get things going. Other option would be to get an EUB with the same scale as your bass.

I went in '92. IIRC, it was about £25 a ticket.

Just had time to sit & listen to all the tracks so far. Excellent stuff! Gonna try & get mine done on Monday (maybe sooner if the wife allows!).

[quote name='WalMan' timestamp='1371158093' post='2110769'] Funny how strings suit different people isn't it. I am 99% sure it was DR coated's that I tried a couple of years back in a LBGS deal, and absolutely hated [/quote] Very true. In my rock band days, zingy strings was the way for me & the DR's did it for me. Now I'm more of a funk/electro guy, flats get me the sound I'm after.

If you like zingy coated strings, try DR Strings. Though it seems roundwound strings have doubled in price since I switched to flatwound.

If you're gonna sound any good, you need to start by having some good quality skin on yer fingers!

I was doing a search to get amp/cab/combo advice. I was already a member of Talkbass & Uglybass but hardly visited them as they was both very Yankee & I wasn't much of a forumite. There's something about BC though that makes me want to stay & actually be a member.

Any excuse to show a P/J bass eh!

You could always get a sack trolley.

I've already made over 5000 teenage girls scream. Though not all at once (maybe 20 at a time, tops) & not all screamed in a good way.

I've got a Markbass 2x10 combo. It's the same as having a LMII & an 8Ω 2x10 cab. It's been plenty loud enough for everything I've needed thus far.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1370600847' post='2103210'] [b]Mix L[/b] Thats another odd reverb choice, small hall or chamer, and buckets of it. Reverb is a weird thing, if you can hear it (on a lead vocal) then its too much. If you cant hear it until you turn it off and then realise what you are missing, then you are about right IME. A good reverb is hard to hear until its gone I think. Then you wonder how you lived without it. Also the BV should be a small step behind the lead, to do this a little more reverb, and a little less top end matched to a lightly lower level will do this fiune, but if your lead vocal is swamped in reverb, then there is no behind him to place the BV. Good drums though, if a little loud perhaps? [/quote] That's all taken on board. Having another listen, I was a bit heavy with the reverb on the lead vocal. I maybe should have just put reverb on the backing vocal & left the rest dry? The only things I have to listen to things on at the moment are the iMac's speakers & a set of JVC earphones (which are crap compared to the Senny's that a cat chewed up) & being deaf doesn't help. I'm looking forward to the next one now! I have a reggae(ish) track. I'll try & find the stems, but I'm not sure if I still have them (someone has them on a disc). Here's the song itself... [url="http://www.reverbnation.com/frigorifico/song/1469550-criminal"]http://www.reverbnat...469550-criminal[/url] The song is called Criminal.

A little more & you could pick up a 2nd hand Markbass LMII. Never played a Rick through it though, so maybe worth trying one out first.

I was playing keys & then guitar a few weeks back & one of the guitarists said "you're really good on other instruments, why do you play bass?", to which I replied "because someone needs to make the singer sound good".

It can take a little time to get a decent bunch of players together. I went through a few to get the guys I've got together now (though I'm thinking we need a better singer to join us). It can also be a challenge getting musicians who will play the same stuff as you want to. Though mixing styles can work too.

The cab dimensions are also pretty small in comparison to any standard bass cab designs. So maybe not really suited to getting the best from a bass driver? I'm pretty sure you could get a decent 2nd hand 1x12 cab for £200.

I'd have a look at some of the good 2x12s & 2x15s. They'd be a trade up from a 6x10 or 8x10.

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1370278128' post='2098522'] Haha, I know what you're saying mate! Last months mix challenge has a lot to answer for... Yeehaw. [/quote] I was thinking the same thing when I saw the pic. I think I have an idea! & if I can get one more vote than I got last month, I'll be well chuffed (if I can get one more instrument recorded than I did last month, it would be awesome! ). I finally got a listen to all last months tracks & they are all excellent. I hope to get the time to put in a better effort.

It depends on what sort of sound you want from your bass? If you're after loads of zing & replace the strings every few months, stick with rounds. If you want to get rid of the zings, have a more rounded bassy sound & probably never replace your strings again, get flats. I put TI flats on mine a few years back & haven't looked back since.

I wouldn't say he's better or worse than Mozart, but he's certainly more irritating.