Greg Edwards69

I'm in the bring something different but able to cover similar ground camp. I also stick to one bass all night for consistency. Switching basses that have a different feel mid set throws me. I'll happily play any of my basses for an entire gig, but I just like the comfort of consistency. I realise this is a plus point for having a duplicate bass as a backup, but for the gigs I do, it's really a non-issue if the worst happened. I'd switch bass and get one with it, even if it takes several songs to adjust. I've only once had a bass fail on me, but it was my own fault, as I knew the jack socket was playing up before I left home and wasn't able to fix it in time - I should have just played the backup instead. These days I take more time to maintain my instruments, and sometimes, if I'm feeling brave and it's a local gig, I won't even take a backup. (being a local gig or not makes absolutely no sense, I know. But in my own way, I feel less anxious about an instrument failure if I'm close to home). I've whittled my collection down to 3 basses. The Attitude LTD2, Squier 50s P and a G&L Tribute JB2. I tend to favour either the Attitude (rock ) or JB2 (pub/party) depending on the gig, and bring the Squier 50s P as the backup (although I did several entire gigs with the 50s P when I first got it). Whilst the basses are different, I tend to favour the neck pickup on the JB2, which brings all three basses into classic P bass territory - just different flavours of it. So I'd happily be able to play any bass for any gig TBH. Regarding the Squier 50s P. It's a great little bass for the money. It's as simple as a bass gets, lovely neck and lightweight. The tone is brighter than a traditional P bass, but that can be cured with the tone control, different strings, or outboard eq/effects. The only thing I will say is if you're used to resting your thumb on the pickup, it doesn't quite work as the pickup isn't as wide/long as a standard P or J pickup. (I only rest my thumb on the pickup when I play the E string, otherwise, I rest on the string below the one I'm playing - semi-floating thumb). I ended up getting a bespoke thumbrocker thumb rest made that has much improved the feel. FWIW, I did put flat on it for a while and it sounded great, but felt too far removed from my other basses. I might it again through to give me a different flavour.

That's the second tome I've seen something like this today. I saw the Blackstar Carry-on Bass earlier and it definitely makes sense as gig-backup-that-won't-likely-get-played option. I was considering a Steinberger Spirit for this function, but this could be a better option (not to mention cheaper).

If it were me and I had to create the samples you’ve shared, I’d dive straight into illustrator and use a notation font for the various symbols such as the free google font “Noto Music”. The glyphs palette will let you choose which symbols you require. Then just copy, paste and manipulate as necessary. https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Music It won’t be a quick process. You’re creating art, not just sheet music.

Not too shabby on Saturday. Was a bit of a last minute booking a couple of weeks ago. We were meant to be playing in a different local pub, but it was double booked to due to a change of management, so they found us a slot in another local - better for me, as it was a 5 minute drive from my home, but not as big a venue. The place was rammed when we arrived. Great! But then it was a bit of squeeze of us to fit in our designated space - just enough room for the drum kit in the performance area. I eventually ended up right in front of the drums with roughly 2 square feet to stand in. The two singers had to stand between and in front of the PA speakers, so we was plagued with low end feedback numerous times. Unfortunately there was a pool table in front of us off to one side that wasn't possible for it to be moved, which meant valuable dance floor space was being taken up (not to mention one of the singers nearly the butt end of cue in his face at one point). Me and one of the other singers (dep again*) have been getting over heavy colds since the last gig a couple of weeks ago (or possibly covid, according to the positive test I did). Her voice held out better than mine. I was so congested I could feel the air trying to escape from my ears! Vocalzones and a hip flask full of single malt got me through the night, even though I was ready for bed after the first set. One of the guitarists who doubles on keyboards was on crutches after a foot operation about 10 days ago. This was semi-planned for, so we just had to load in his gear, help him set up and he wedged himself into a corner on a stool and pretty much stayed there all night. Fortunately, he had prepared by figuring out how to control his helix over midi via bandhelper. I think I might explore the same solution. I could potentially tuck my helix away somewhere if I don't need to changes sounds during a song. Overall, we had a good night. The pub is one of those ones that people go to on the way to somewhere else. But we brought a small crowd with us for the night and it stayed busy the whole evening with people singing and dancing most of the evening. *Oh, and we had the same dep singer from 2 weeks ago in place of our usual lady singer who's been hit by a nasty flu virus for a few weeks. This young lady (young enough to be one of our daughters) did a sterling job, and sung the balls off of "All I want for christmas" and "Proud Mary". I really wish at least one of these was filmed. She even got a group of people chanting her name at one point after blasting out 'You've got the love'. Videos on our facebook page. Redonizm. Yeah, it's the usual overplayed cheesy nonsense, but if people dance to it, we'll continue to play it.

Unlike Wizzard's "I wish it could be Christmas everyday", that is so densely mix a la Phil Spector's wall of sound, that's it's near impossible to hear what the bass guitar is actually doing.

Yep. My band has been going for about 20 years. We've had three of our 4 xmas song in the repertoire for most of that time period. Once you've learned them it really doesn't take much work to dust them off for a pre-xmas gig rehearsal. Regarding weddings and private parties. I think the most we learned that were requested was four or five songs, but it usually is just one or two (it can be challenging to remind clients that you're a cover band and not a jukebox!). Whilst some of those songs are never played ever again, sometimes they surprise you and stay in our regular set for quite some time. Case in point, we were requested to play Sledgehammer a couple of years ago or so, and Dancing on the ceiling earlier this year. Now they're amongst of my favourite songs in the set.

Yes. Every year around Christmas time. We stick Santa hats on and break out the sleigh bells too. we currently do Slade, Wizzard, Mariah Carey and the Pogues/Kirsty McColl. The later goes down really well, largely aided by having both male and female lead singers in the band, and one of the guitars switches to keyboard and had a patch setup with piano, accordion and strings to cover the key parts.

New venue for Redonizm at the Crumpled Horn in Upminster. A little bit a squeeze, so went with a 2 3 1 diamond formation with the two singers up front, me in the middle flanked by the guitarists and drummist at the back. We had to wait for the football to finish, but our usual mix of party music with several obligatory festive songs soon got a number of people up and dancing. We had a dep singer standing in for our usual female singer who did a blinding job. Fitted in incredibly well after only a couple of rehearsals with a superb, controlled voice for only 23 years old. She’ll be helping us out again in couple of weeks time too, so looking forward to that. And she helped pack cables away and carry cases!

Slade, Wizzard, Pogues, and Mariah Carey are all in the set this month. It helps having both male and female lead singers.

I quite like that. It’s certainly an affordable way to dip one’s toes into short scale territory. Id never considered a shell pink bass before, but it looks the prettiest of the bunch.

As a fellow born and bred Canvey Islander for 30 years, I am deeply upset at his passing. A true Canvey icon.

I really hope Nathan comes back. I think he's busy with Level 42 at the moment, so fingers crossed he'll be back at some point. I've noticed this several times in the past, that they haven't completely done their research before recording. I remember the Helix for bass players video they did several years ago - they weren't even sure what some of the amp models were based on. 5 mins with the manual and google would have made it much more informative video.

I used to think the same when I had my Warwick Thumb. Until the day we played an indoor charity festival, with a stage light in the perfect place to blind me just as I started playing the bass intro to Sweet Child O'Mine... a semitone in the wrong place! It's maple boards with black markers all the way now!

Until recently, I had convinced myself that my preference was for chunky bassball bat necks, with wide nuts. I used to play a 5 string Warwick Thumb with a huge neck but found that my hand would occasionally cramp up on when playing repetitive riffs near the nut. I was sure the problem was the narrower spacing at the nut. My Yamaha Attitude has a chunky vintage P profile and feels great. I later got lower end Attitude as a backup (that I stupidly p/exed a Yamaha RBX4/A2 for*) with the same nut width, but I really didn't enjoy playing it as the neck was considerably thinner. That got replaced by my Squier 50s P. It's not a huge neck but has a very comfortable C profile. This got me thinking that maybe my issue wasn't nut width, but profile. I had a hankering for a lightweight Jazz bass and ended up getting my G&L Tribute JB-2. It has a smaller jazz nut width with a sensible C profile. Again, very comfortable to play. In retrospect, I now wonder if the Warwick's neck was too big for me, and combined with terrible ergonomics (tiny body and mile long neck), this was the main cause of the hand cramping, and not the string spacing. *I really wish I had kept this one. Not the prettiest of basses, but in hindsight, I never had an issue with the 40mm nut width and the neck profile was perfect. I also prefer lighter weight basses these days This one really ticked all the boxes.

I'm surprised you say the bridge is terrible. Sure, it's an inexpensive vintage-style affair and not exactly a hipshot or hi-mass babicz or omega. But I would expect a Wilkinson bridge to be more than adequate.

What system are you using for your FOH PA? I’ve been looking in line array systems - is yours for vocal only or could he handle all the instruments without backline?

This is one of the reasons I decided to buy my G&L Tribute JB2 last year. Jazz bass with a precision shape body. I only found out about it when I was looking for a light, inexpensive bass and found it listed on Bass Direct's lightweight basses page.

Here you go, I think these are the one's installed at the factory Framus & Warwick - Strap Button Set - Black | W-Music Distribution FWIW, I've switched to using rubber washers too. I used to swear by schaller strap locks. The locking mechanism itself is fine, but as with all third party straplock systems, they require removing the original button and screw and replacing them. This action IME weakens the fixing. One on of my basses, I was frequently tightening up one of the strap button screws and had to perform the cocktail stick and superglue trick a couple of times to reinforce it, but it still kept loosening. Since switching back to the original button and screw it's been rock solid. The basses I've bought since I have only used rubber washers and not removed the buttons at all, and they are rock solid as well.

I think I'm getting my descriptive terms mixed up. If I'm understanding the definitions correctly, I think my Jabra Move's are actually closed back, on-ear. However, they still won't offer the isolation of over-ear headphones. I've had the Edifier H850 headphones on my wishlist for ages - they are basically the same product as the PJB headphones for less money. Maybe I'll pick up a pair soon. Good shout on the drum/vocal mic bleed. That didn't occur to me, but it makes sense.

I realise latency is not an issue for listening to recorded music. Not an issue at all. I'm specifically wondering about transparency mode, and if there's any latency with outside noises being processed by the Airpods and fed into your ear. I understand that you can dive into the accessibility settings and adjust the level of transparency too, which would be helpful.

Is that the latency of the transparency mode? I was considering getting a set at some point and using them as digital earplugs. But if the latency is bad, then there's no point.

That make sense. I use a pair of open back, on-ear headphones for quiet practice. Nothing amazing, just a Jabra Move set, but they sound great and dead comfy (I chose them after extensive research for a pair of inexpensive headphones, with bluetooth and optional wired connections, with decent sound and sensible non-hyped bass response - they also don't look ridiculous if I wear them in public). I can imagine that an on ear set could work better in rehearsal, as you get some of the room ambience to hear the drums properly, whilst being comfortable to wear for 4 hours. If I do need additional protection, I could switch to IEM or simply stick some earplugs in underneath the headphones. EDIT: I wonder how well bone conduction headphones would work in this regard?

That’s is the plan, but not until we get a subwoofer. But it didn’t occur to me that it could make rehearsals easier and in many ways, better!

You've gotten me thinking now. Me and the two guitarists use a helix, we always bring individual FRFR speaker to rehearsal. One of them doubles on keys, and the drummer has a little trigger device with a couple of pads that he sometimes puts in a spare channel of my headrush speaker. We could potentially just bring a 12 channel mixer to rehearsal, plug everything into it and rehearse with IEM.

If it's anything like the generic G4M system my band has, it's not great. The problem, according to the IEM bible thread, is the cheap compander in the system. It's fine for a vocal only mix, but if you put the whole band through it, the bass is the first thing to disappear. I end up using one earpiece and an earplug in the other ear. We're in the process of rethinking our IEM setup. I've pretty much given up using my Line 6 wireless, it's often too much hassle for many of the smaller venues we play in. So we're thinking out going wired with behringer P2 units for the musicians, and the current wireless for the 2 singers up front. I'm thinking of making up a loom cable so I can put the P2 on the floor with my Helix, and have a single 'cable' for guitar and headphone extention.