Happy Jack

[quote name='skychaserhigh' timestamp='1390075835' post='2341252'] I'm not that impressed with the lightweight heads , the older heavier amps just sound and feel better to me . [/quote] Agreed, but it's the old thing about[i][b] weighs 10 times as much, doesn't sound 10 times better[/b][/i]. I love my Matamp and I use it at any gig where it's appropriate. Our NYE gig was not an appropriate venue for a 100W all-valve amp so I took the OTB500 instead. Did it sound as good as the Matamp? No. Did it sound good? Yes. Did anyone else notice? No. Am I glad that I have both? Yes. Do I suffer from some sort of bi-polar disorder? Why would you think that ...

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1389994717' post='2340468'] New strings. [/quote] Hmmmmm. IMHO that's debatable, unless you particularly want the sound of zingy new rounds. With flats you're better off leaving well alone. With rounds you may well prefer the sound of a played-in set. My next studio session will be on DB and I certainly won't be putting on new strings for that!

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1390104390' post='2341519'] And there's yet another new interesting looking Harley Benton fretless bass. A U-bass copy, it appears. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_kahuna_clu_bass_fl.htm"]http://www.thomann.d...clu_bass_fl.htm[/url] [/quote] If that's any good, then at £100 it's scarily good VFM and way, WAY cheaper than Kala ...

[quote name='Noisyjon' timestamp='1390165656' post='2342267'] My 2p worth is go for a nice Fender CS bass. A [color=#ff0000][b]good [/b][/color]FCS bass blows a Bravewood away IMO. [/quote] But there's the problem Jon, there are some very average FCS basses out there too. IMHO a good Bravewood is at least as good as a good FCS, and better than a poor FCS. If you're unfortunate enough to end up with a poor Bravewood (yes, I know) then a good FCS will beat it of course. Once you get out of the mass-produced market and into boutique stuff (and I reckon you know this better than me anyway ) it's not down to the name on the headstock or the value on the price tag, it's down to the individual instrument.

Yup - no argument. When I first got my Matamp it was definitely over-gained, it was unusably loud (for pub gigs) and broke up too soon, but that was the AX7s in the preamp. I swopped them out for AT7s. I played the George IV in Chiswick on Friday, very large place on the High Road and we had at least 200 in the pub and 50 of those on the dance floor. I had the volume at about 8 o'clock on the dial - no, that's not a typo. I was plenty loud. Plenty. I run my Matamp through a Barefaced 69er (a 6x10) with no pedals or boost, and I'm playing a passive 5-string P-Bass (a Mike Lull). It's equally loud - but different - through a Compact+Midget stack. If I was playing the Shepherds Bush Empire or the Forum in Kentish Town, then maybe I'd think about getting a 200W valve amp. That ain't gonna happen. I've never yet played a gig that called for more volume than my current rig can turn out, and still retain loads of headroom.

But seeing as this thread has been revived anyway ... [URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Argentina_zps542d94ce.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Sundry/Argentina_zps542d94ce.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1390088421' post='2341438'] And whilst Gear4Music were mentioned, what the hell do they do to their stock? It puts me off ever buying anything off them if they treat stuff that badly. [/quote] If you import instruments by the thousand, and they arrive in cardboard boxes which have been stacked 15 high in containers, it's pretty much inevitable that you'll have a significant number of them damaged in transit. It's not just basses. If you search for, say, cellos you'll find the same thing ... plenty get here from China with the headstock snapped off.

[quote name='thebassist' timestamp='1390128833' post='2341651'] I've had two Jazz Basses and moved them both on very quickly. They were very, very good basses but, and I know this might sound weird, but I always felt a bit fake playing them. I would certainly buy another one but I'd want it 10/10 condition - no ageing. [/quote] This is why I sold my Crinson. Utterly gorgeous bass to play, but it was beautifully relic'd and I don't do relic'd. Despite which, it had "Crinson" on the headstock, which I liked. The Bravewood I had was one of the very few unrelic'd instruments he's made, and it was an absolute cracker, right up there with the best basses I've had. I'd have it still were it not that it said "Fender" on the headstock and I don't do fake.

I know at least one drummer who'd swap snare drums mid-set if he thought he'd get away with it ...

And kudos to him for saying it ...

Or use a Sansamp BDDI as your grit pedal. If your amp should blow, just plug it into the PA. My PA is a 4-channel jobbie (700W per channel, allegedly) and we use only three of those channels. If my amp were to blow, I'd simply run the BDDI into channel #4 and connect that channel to my bass cab.

Where they are doesn't matter as much as where the gigs are ...

If you do more than one set, just play different basses in different sets. I always take two basses to every gig but it's vanishingly rare for one to be needed as "a spare" so I have one strung with flats which I use for all bar the last set (whether that's #2 or #3) and then one strung with rounds which I use for the rather rockier final set. That way I get two different sounds and can justify carting around two basses to every gig.

When you say you're "available for fuctions" ...

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1389829111' post='2338532'] And don't forget Guinness at 30p a pint! [/quote] People always remember how cheap beer (or petrol, or a packet of fags) was, but somehow forget to mention that their weekly wage packet was £13.50 and a packet of Luncheon Vouchers (worth 75p). Well, that's what I was earning in 1974 anyway. And I didn't drink Guinness anyway, my local served some appalling muck called Worthington E, and the one round the corner sold Double Diamond. The closest I could get to a decent pint in those pre-CAMRA days was Courage Directors in the West End. Ah yes, I remember when all this were cloth caps ...

Presumably he's selling it to fund a photography course?

Start walkin' boys ... http://basschat.co.uk/topic/203610-youre-doing-it-wrong-captions/page__view__findpost__p__2025952

[quote name='ubassman' timestamp='1376783171' post='2179183'] CAPTION? [/quote] Angus knew it was only a matter of time before he found the right place to wear that damned condom ...

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1389826429' post='2338489'] Dean Rhapsody 8 string. Lovely bass - I should use it more often. [/quote] Yes, but then you'd need to change your user name ...

So his wife murdered him. Hey - I've had worse ...

[quote name='Hats Off' timestamp='1389796327' post='2337995'] Reviving this old thread, hope this helps ! [/quote] You are Felix Pappalardi and I claim my five drachmas ...

[quote name='CHW' timestamp='1389785958' post='2337802'] I remember going to watch a country band at a function several years ago, the bass player sat there all night playing root-fifth. At the end of the night they did a little intro to all of the players in the band and all of them played a little solo. The bass player then proceeded to show off some serious chops for about 15 seconds before going back to the old Root-Fifth routine. [/quote] Since stumbling across Bill Kirchen last year, I've become a fan of Maurice Cridlin - a classic exponent of that sort of casual chuck-it-in-once-in-the-entire-gig brilliance. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uruKAmkNhtg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uruKAmkNhtg[/url] Also a genuinely lovely guy.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1389778057' post='2337696'] All my bandmates have to say is, 'Oi, Jaco... what the f*ck??' [/quote] Or maybe, "[i]That all went a bit Weather Report, didn't it?[/i]".

But then you get told that you have to play [i][b]2-4-6-8 Motorway[/b][/i] ...

[quote name='timbo1978' timestamp='1389212344' post='2331523'] Wow, apart from the Guinness one I don't really warm up at all. Does it make a big difference? [/quote] It certainly makes a big difference if, like me, you're ... ahem ... no longer as young as you once were, and especially if you have any sort of pre-existing condition. I've suffered occasional lumbar collapses in recent years (not slipped disks or similar, just my lower back deciding to act as if there's a trapped nerve and going into spasm) so I always do 20 minutes of stretches before I even touch the DB if I'm rehearsing or gigging. The stretches have surprisingly little [i][b]obvious [/b][/i]connection with my lumbar region. They tend to be mainly on the shoulder joints, the forearms, and the fingers. The connection with my lumbar region is still there of course ... it's just not obvious unless you do yoga or Pilates or something.