DanOwens

Thanks so much for such thorough advice from everyone (even you Thunderbird!!). I might not even pop over on Friday now, it seems the fuel might not be worth it.

Thanks everyone. My other bass is with Sam Wells at the moment and I'm paying £350ish for half of the repairs that this one needs. I'll attend, have a look and see how it goes. BeeroftheBass how did you know it was plywood?

Thanks, Beedster. It's an eBay listing [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112062773911?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT"]HERE[/url] and I'll go on Friday and post images in case any other BCers have opinions or a desire to purchase. It appears to be an antique dealer who probably knows nothing. I might be able to blag him into a silly £100 offer, but if it is firewood the offer might turn out to be generous!

The soundpost is currently taped behind the fingerboard (I think). If I can't see cracks or gaps in seams, are there other structural things I should be aware of? Dan

I'm going to look at a bass at the end of the week and although I understand about what features qualify a bass as better or more expensive (construction, fingerboard etc), I don't know how to tell by looking. The bass is missing strings and a tailpiece so I can't play it and judge its value. I have to do it in sight so how on earth so I figure out if it's ply, solid or hybrid? I've got a good idea on fingerboards and painted, rosewood and ebony identification. What else should I be looking at? When I bought my first car my dad gave me a checklist of what to look at. Is there and equivalent with uprights?

You probably saw my stuff in the Effects For Sale section but I was using that board with my Live DnB band thebrokendoor. I took great inspiration from John Davis too, and you can get some amazing sounds from the OC2>Mammoth>Moog combo. There's a reason the Mammoth is so popular and I was using it after a TU2 and it sounded AMAZING. I was using it as a waveform generator and treating my signal path as a modular synth so I didn't want a traditional fuzz sound, instead I wanted it to be the most Mammoth it could be!

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1469054061' post='3095490'] I've found amp - effects send- passive DI to be the most effective approach, especially for run around gigging. There are some issues (put the DI on top of amp and you may get radiated hum from mains transformer, some house engineers insist you use their Beringer box in front of the amp, because your eq will ruin his mix) but it's as close to simple and foolproof as I've got in years of gigging. I use a Sansamp a lot of the time, but the "Earth lift" doesn't always remove noise. [/quote] Is it a BDDI? I was put off it as I need a clean signal and everyone raves about the dirtiness.

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1468952680' post='3094636'] Most of the time the Sansamps (BDDI and VT) are fine, but sometimes they have both picked up electrical noise (hums or digi stuff). I've found that only a transformer/passive DI works in these situations. [/quote] I suppose it's a perpetual circle: Want a DI thats clean and reliable > get a dry sound > get an amp sim > Too much colour (and perhaps unwanted noise). Start again.

I bought Ash's Eden Cab recently. I met him at his flat and he was very accommodating. The cab was in great condition and he was a lovely host whilst I tried it out. All in all, a great chap!

I'm going to suck it up, relax and smile through gritted teeth. Got 2 gigs booked and I'm going to back out of some rehearsals and count the remaining days.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1468264809' post='3089737'] http://www.orchid-electronics.co.uk/classic_DI.htm Sounds great - just check out the reviews to clarify - and too cheap not to have one anyway. [/quote] This sounds very tempting. Do you own one? What are your experiences?

[quote name='TKenrick' timestamp='1468255990' post='3089624'] As far as plan B goes, I've had good experiences gigging without an amp using the following DIs: Radial Tonebone, Sansamp BDDI, Aguilar Tonehammer and (most recently) the Noble DI. [/quote] What was your favourite and why? There's a few there that I thought were quite dirty and I'm after clean. Can the Sansamp and the Aguilar do clean?

In Wigan I tried to climb up to the stage by placing my foot on a monitor wedge, which promptly flipped over and I fell onto the floor. I was probably only a foot off the ground, fell backwards and I landed on my right arm. It hurt, and caused the band much mirth. Over the next 2 hours it started to swell but I restrung a few guitars (rotating it repeatedly), played the gig, loaded afterwards, drove home and unloaded. I couldn't sleep because of the pain so caught a cab to the hospital... broken elbow. This is me on stage during the gig.

The DI on my Littlemark didn't work at the other gig - I think it hates phantom. I'm a self-sufficient guy so I'd like a plan B if this happens again. I'd like a DI in my spares bag, perhaps with a touch of amp sim but clean enough to appease the soundman. Clean is king, but perhaps not as transparent as a straightforward DI. What do you guys use?

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1468013116' post='3088153'] My thoughts exactly. What on earth is the problem other than the band work a different way? Ok, the drummer thing is another matter altogether but having seen the band and wished to be part of it I can't fathom this thread at all. [/quote] Seeing this band on stage is a different experience to being in the rehearsal room. I'm fine with not getting charts; part of me was excited by being challenged to work differently. I suppose the bit I'm struggling to resolve is the drummer's attitude. Then maybe the drummer's attitude is a more explicit version of everyone's attitude? I'm just guessing.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1467829384' post='3086604'] In fact we started recording rehearsals just that we could get agreed arrangements circulated by mp3, and it became quite amusing replying to him his own protestations that we'd never played it before, followed but us playing it, week after week [/quote] Oh man, they record rehearsals. He sits there, listens to it on his phone, nods that he's got it then plays a completely different beat! The singer stopped him to point it out... Out comes the phone, then the nod, then the same wrong beat!!!

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1467828692' post='3086596'] From this I assume they're a much more convincing band live than in rehearsal ? [/quote] The guy I'm depping is a great vocalist (two lead vocalists in the band), the second guitarist is really inventive and use loads of interesting voicings and suspensions that I rarely see even in jazz, the songs are simple but well thought out.... They have a list of really good qualities that outshine what I assumed was a mediocre drummer. Hearing a guy play a song once and make a mistake can be excused. Hearing him play the same song 5 times and still missing section change, those mistakes make a lot more sense. The kicker is it's originals, doesn't pay and the guy I'm depping for has the band's funds locked away so I'm out of pocket every rehearsal. I'm paying for my own torture!!

I suppose I'm ranting, but... My good friend asked me to dep with his band whilst he was away for the summer. He's a guitarist but plays fretless in the band because he's a singer and they already have 2 guitarists. Its kinda psychedelic folk-rock and I've loved the songs since I first saw them and secretly though "I should be their bass player". I was honoured to be asked. On joining I asked for charts and recordings; I don't need it but it helps. I was met with laughter: "Charts? We're too disorganised for charts" ALARM BELLS! I've done a few rehearsals and one gig and the calibre of musicianship and general organisation is far below what I'm used to, but the kicker is the drummer: - Asks "What does that go like?" each time he's told the song title... of a song he's been playing for months!! - Can't keep time - Band writes songs by jamming. The drummer played one single beat for 3 hours last night and still made mistakes - Can't remember structures or arrangements (stops, pauses etc) So now I'm in this horrible situation of depping for a mate for a band where I feel like I've lost the will to live every time we meet. Is this a common experience, that I've avoided so far? I only have 4 more weeks of it, but MY GOD!! TL;DR Joined a band with a sh*t drummer.

Just put it on after your recommendation. That tone is more fretless than Double Bass, wouldn't you agree?