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Norris

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Everything posted by Norris

  1. We've been asked to 'turn down an octave or two' in the past, and have used it as an in-band joke ever since
  2. Cheap digital tuners a few decades ago would have saved me from "The bass I never should have sold"[sup]TM[/sup] I allowed the guitard to convince me it was my bass that was going out of tune half an hour into every gig - not his guitar that spent the rest of the week tucked behind the sofa snuggled up next to the radiator!
  3. [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1317561628' post='1391765'] They're all outside havin' a fag. [/quote] It takes 2 or 3 power chords to drag them back in
  4. I have a day job, play in a pub covers band, and [b]would [/b]turn down if asked. Do I have integrity? - I've lost track of the criteria (Tongue firmly in cheek!) "it’s like fire and ice, and I feel my role in the band is to be kind of the middle of that, kind of like lukewarm water."
  5. [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1317204610' post='1387913'] Has no one ever told you? You CAN'T turn down a guitarist - their amps are permanently welded to '11'. [/quote] Yeah - I thought the title meant volume too! Audition is the way forward, then you can tell him he's got the wrong brand of fuzz pedal or something - make something up. Make sure you tell him you've got lots of guitarists auditioning
  6. I have a modern one that I bought from Clarky (hasn't every bass guitar on the planet passed through his hands at one time or another?!). It took a little getting used to, but I find it a sheer pleasure to play. The tone from the humbuckers is great - and can be a lot more varied than usual comments would suggest ('One trick pony' is often mentioned) It's not too heavy. The neck is thin and fast. I don't know if I've got a particularly good one, but the clarity/tone/sustain is fantastic anywhere on the neck - even at the dusty end. I don't know if I can say much that amnesia hasn't said already. The 3-point bridge is rather weird and sits quite high off the body, but I've never had a problem with it. I've never suffered from neck dive, as the modern t-birds have the strap button on the neck heel - which can make the bass roll forward slightly, but again it's something you get used to. And yes, it does smell good too. The best bit - it looks darn good and you don't see many other bass players gigging with them
  7. The thing is that if there are too many complaints from neighbours, and noise levels regularly exceed those set by DoE, the pub can have it's license revoked. That means that NO bands get to play there. Bands are employed to provide entertainment, not to stroke their own egos. You do have a duty to do as the manager asks. If that involves turning down to ludicrously low volume, then so be it. It's your choice if you decide to take another booking in future, but while you're there on the night you keep the manager and the customers happy... and get paid at the end of the night. I do have some issues with people who move in next door to a pub and then complain when it gets a bit noisy. If you live near a venue it's only to be expected that there will be some noise. I live near a social club that regularly has the back door open while music is being played, smokers who holler at the top of their voices all night, and customers who seem to like spending 20 minutes shouting goodbye and revving car engines & doing donuts in the car park. I wouldn't dream of complaining though - I knew the club was there when I moved in. Unfortunately, not all people are quite as tolerant as me.
  8. I have an old Aria which is active. It has an active/passive switch, but you still don't get any sound out of it once the batteries have died. Even if you bypass the active circuitry, the output is very thin and weedy. Nowadays, it's passive all the way for me...
  9. [quote name='charic' post='1373507' date='Sep 14 2011, 06:27 PM'][attachment=89447:IMAG0176.jpg][/quote] I like your stack in the background. What size speaker is that?
  10. If you're not doing it for the money, you should be doing it for the enjoyment. If you're not enjoying it, don't do it.
  11. How many fingers have you got? If you have two un-injured fingers you can play bass You have my sympathies. I once crushed the tip of my main plucking finger. I was packing the gear in the van at the end of the night, having consumed one or two glasses of pop during the evening. I managed to mangle my finger against a PA cab while loading my heavy cast aluminium Traynor head. It resulted in several hours at the infirmary, 5 stitches to pull the mess back into something resembling a fingertip, and a tetanus injection. It didn't half smart It took several months until I could play with it without pain. On the up-side, the scar tissue means my fingertip never goes soft even if I haven't played for a few weeks
  12. [quote name='Low End Bee' post='1340400' date='Aug 15 2011, 10:37 AM']3 is the magic number....[/quote] ^ This
  13. I'd played various other instruments before picking up the bass, so could read music. I've never had help/lessons with bass playing - as you'd probably tell if you looked at my technique You never stop learning though and 25 years on I feel I'm much better than I used to be, but not as good as I [i]could [/i]be...
  14. [quote name='oldslapper' post='1328007' date='Aug 4 2011, 11:19 PM']Don't worry he'll discover "mr. Pink" within the year and be playing that equally as furiously.....he can always come back to the bass.[/quote] Chortle
  15. I bought a Comfort Strapp from Dave. He posted me the strap on trust, and I sent cash by return. A recommendation from me in a very positive feedback thread.
  16. Alternatively, tie a piece of string to your bridge strap button, then around your foot
  17. [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1308259' date='Jul 18 2011, 07:11 PM']John East has beaten you to it, He does a P Bass preamp that fits in an un modded p bass cavity that has a battery (or capacitor style jobbie) that you charge through the jack socket with a sort of 9v phone charger. He is a clever chap [/quote] Might be a problem if your bass takes 2 batteries, as it might need both 9v & 18v supplies (as my Aria seems to).
  18. My old Aria is active, but even unplugging the lead the batteries would only last about a month. I think the jack socket only switched one of the batteries, so I ended up having to disconnect the other battery at the end of each gig. Of course the batteries gave no warning - 30 seconds of farty noises followed by silence, and no passive mode. Changing the batteries required removing the back plate - three small screws easily lost on a dark stage. Now I'm a battery-free zone. If it's not passive, or doesn't plug into the mains, I don't want it
  19. [quote name='lobematt' post='1303336' date='Jul 14 2011, 11:25 AM']is the strap still available?[/quote] I've been trying to buy it from him, but he's not been on much recently :s
  20. [quote name='wateroftyne' post='1299829' date='Jul 11 2011, 12:42 PM']Also - try dropping the pickups a bit. As you go up the neck, the strings might be getting a little close which will kill the definition.[/quote] Thanks for that one. I generally play the Jazz with both volume controls at about 80% - never flat out, so maybe it's the pup height. [quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1297921' date='Jul 9 2011, 01:45 AM']I've found for me thinner strings give me more useable neck. Too thick and the tone starts falling off after about the 5th fret. YMMV[/quote] I always use Ernie Ball regular slinkys (50-105), so the strings are not exactly fat - and they sound fantastic on my T-bird (which I do have volume at 100% most of the time).
  21. I've been playing in bands since 1985 - summer season at Butlin's Skeggy. Highs Back in the 80's/90's playing in pubs packed so full you could faint and not hit the floor (like my wife did once!). You just don't seem to get pubs that full any more. Playing with Geoff Downes at a festival when his usual bass player went awol (with Jack Daniels?) Being in such a tight band that on several occasions you all do some accent/phrasing you've never done before - at exactly the same moment Lows The point at which I realised that the drummer I had been playing with for 10 years had slowly turned into a complete & utter ar*ehole A wedding night where only the bride & groom turned up Being so skint on a cheque pickup gig that the barstaff had a collection to buy us a pint at the end of it A few fellow musos 'playing the last chord' way too young
  22. [quote name='shemeckfrac' post='1297160' date='Jul 8 2011, 01:13 PM']More details please: Jazz + cash (how much?) Pics ?[/quote] Ditto Edit: Looking at OP's sig - you're not making the same mistake again are you?! - buying something you've already got... [quote name='Robert Mannings signature' post='1297041' date='Jul 8 2011, 12:19 PM'][size=1]Fender Jazz USA STD S-1 Maple[/size][/quote]
  23. I bought a brand new US standard Jazz several years ago, played it constantly and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then more recently I bought my Thunderbird and have played it ever since, the Jazz hardly getting a look in. Several people who come to our gigs have commented on the Thunderbird, saying how great it sounds, especially further up the neck compared to my Jazz. I hadn't really thought about it before, but they were right. The Jazz seems to lack clarity & definition above about the 5th fret, whereas the Thunderbird is a pure tone monster anywhere on the neck. So, is this something that could be corrected, or is it inherent in the bass? Would a new set of pups help? I'm reluctant to change anything on the Jazz, as it's still 'factory' with barely a mark on it. It has had a decent set up, but is otherwise unmodified. It just seems such a shame for it to sit there in the case, but I'm unlikely to choose it over the T-bird at the moment - the T-bird sounds so much better. Should I just stick the Jazz under the bed until it's 'vintage' and worth a packet no matter how it sounds?
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