FinnDave

Welcome. I don't live anywhere near Leicester, but I play in a band which rehearses in the town centre once a month or so. Might pop into the local bass bash if I am up there at the time.

I didn't know about that, but will be taking advantage of it now I do!

I have several US Standards, but currently prefer my Mexican basses, they feel and sound exactly the way I want my basses to sound.

Or you could benefit from someone else's mistake and buy an almost new Classic 50s Precision second hand

I played there a couple of times last year, very friendly bunch, good place to play.

That's the older pre-evo version. I have one, it's a good amp but not as versatile as my evo.

Looking at the Dark Glass page on this pedal, it's not what I'd call an effects pedal, but a preamp, so perhaps he just felt your sound would benefit from a better preamp. I don't use effects, but do use a Sansamp DI plugged into the FX return of my amp instead of of the built in pre amp. It definitely gives more bite and definition.

I've been playing about 45 years now, never put my bass through any FX and no one has ever suggested that I should. What did he feel was missing from your sound that a pedal would cure?

If the drummer has to carry the kit and a PA round, what is the advantage over a regular kit? I tire very quickly of prima donnas who insist on having "their sound" on stage to the detriment of everyone else's. If any band member can't understand that the overall sound of the band is more important than what they personally sound like, I'd be getting rid of them or walking.

Certainly seemed that way last night, and they were enjoying themselves, not checking to see who was watching them. They were great fun to play for, hope they'll be there next time too!

Yep, two mics out of phase for everything, arranged so the sound you wanted was only picked up by one. Worked perfectly. Bear could be, by all accounts, an arrogant know-it-all, but on the plus side, he DID know it ALL! As Jerry Garcia said 'There's nothing wrong with Bear that a few billion less brain cells wouldn't cure". I've got Bear's biography on my shelf and often dip into it. A truly inspiring man without whom the 60s would have been very, very different.

Just back from a Wirebirds gig in Melksham. Good gig, we were recommended to the venue by someone who had seen us a couple of times in another pub in the town. Decent sized crowd there, with a surprisingly large proportion of Poles, mainly women, who were up and dancing from the first note until the last - they had a great time and as a result, so did we. Paid on the spot, we'd already been booked in for another, all in all a good night. Got home about 2 AM. Played my new MiM Jazz with Chromes and a pick, Sansamp, Rootmaster head and Super Compact. Very solid sound. I had taken my usual Precision as a back up but it stayed in the case. Next up is another Wirebirds gig, next Saturday, closer to home, in Abingdon.

I won't mention it again. It's sat in a drawer with other non-tort guards removed from various Fenders, with one tort guard that hasn't got a bass to enhance there to keep them in order.

Dawn's a bit early, could we manage lunchtime?

Fight talk, Sir, fighting talk!!

It's still better than a plain piece of plastic. I bought a sunburst Jazz recently, got it home and ordered a tort plate before I had the kettle on. Didn't play it until the next day when my lovely tort plate arrived and was on the bass. The white/black/white Fender plate it came with has been hidden from human eyes.

If a tort 'plate clashes with the colour of your bass, then you've bought the wrong colour bass, simple.

Tort for sure. Even poor tort is better than any other option.

Which LaBellas were you using? I recently put a set of 760 FX (extra light) on a Jazz Bass and was surprised at how well they suited it, better than the FS I have been using on other basses.

That's what you get when you give a man like Bear an open cheque book and ask him to design the most perfect PA system possible. Still unsurpassed to this day. (they had two of them, and two crews, who leapfrogged each other from gig to gig).

I started thinking seriously about going DI only after my most recent gig where I used my SansAmp with one output to the power amp section of my Ashdown head and the other to the PA. There would have more room on stage and less gear to carry up and down the external iron stairs in the rain!