pmjos

Get him a standard short scale bass. Get him the best one you cab afford. The worst thing anyone can ever do is get a kid a starter instrument, they just don;t make a nice noise and its the nice noise that they really want.

I think his comments are characteristically arrogant. To describe Jazz as 'Four guys on stage in a club all playing different things and in different tempo's and call it Jazz' What about Four guys standing on stage for four and hour all playing the same chords and call it Oasis. Having said that I do like a fair bit of Oasis early stuff. But I suspect that he would describe anything that isn't Oasis as being something less worthy. I feel the disappointment in the initial thread that someone clearly gifted in his own way would relegate one of the world's great music genre's to a pen an ink cartoon. On the other hand how many of us have seen just what he has described, or worse done it. Everything aside, compared to what he does Weller is Jazz, I mean he uses more that roots, thirds and fifths.

I think you have to be who you are and not what you are. Age is a what not a who.

Well I have a personal strategy. Aging rocker seems to be a disparaging term so I have moved more towards jazz over the past years, got myself a DB. Jazz seems to be delightfully non ageist and predominantly non racist. also......... A friend of mine Reg who is a keyboard player and has toured with the likes of Lenny Kravitz and many others, has a gold disk or two on the wall and happens to be nearly 70. He is white, blind and not only plays the most fantastic keys he can sing the nuts off most youngsters. He has no problems at all getting a gig and is still touring. He's a good benchmark.

Errr,..... Don't use bicarb it is mildly abrasive. Unless of course you want to T cut your bass. Smells come from bacteria or chemical agents. Just give it a damp wipe with mild soapy water, dry it. Get a neuradol type air freshener or febreeze a cloth pit it in a plastic bag which you have made lots of pinholes in. Place that in the case[u] not in contact with the bass[/u]. leave it in the case for a week or two. I had a bass that smelled of old socks and damp clothes just from being in some old guy's wardrobe for 20 years. The smell will go away on its own eventually. Please don't put anything on the finish of the bass. Any oil will go in through cracks in the lacquer and could lift it, anything abrasive will cut the surface.

I have though about this a lot. I have a mix of amps. I have kept my old Trace SMX 2x15 rig and my 1X15 +4x10 Warwick 500W rig. But for lightweight I use either and AER amp 3 or a Greenboy with a class d Head. What I think is that the small amps seem to work very well as a 'point source' that is to say like a low frequency hotspot. Lots of energy and shout but its like its coming from too small a space. My AER has lots of very smart technology in it which seems to overcome that a bit in a medium venue and at 200w ish is outrageously loud and has thunderous bass. The class D is loud but 1x12 just doesn't seem to have the same beef, loud but somehow not thick if that makes sense. It is very, very pure, detailed and musical especially for EUB. However neither have the surface area of 1x15 +4X10 or 2X15 simply to grab the volume of air by the balls and give it a bloody good shake. Its the difference between a hairdryer and the north wind. Now if I have a tiny tiny 1KW amp but to shake the air with enough cone to satisfy my ears that I have to drive it into a stack, there is no point in Class D. If I have to carry a stack I may as well have an amp with a conventional power supply and drive to get better sound. The final twist for me is that now I am driving my sound back through IEMs and via Allen & Heath gear the sound is better than both. In short I am getting a better sound through my modern PA than through any rig I have ever played....... Its all bit of a journey but looking at it all, I will probably stick with a small high quality compact conventional amp for 'stage fill' and use my IEMS. I will always go back to my sweet old rigs when i can justify using them. But if You want lightweight stop kidding yourself, buy a good PA and get good IEMS and ditch the backline altogether.

May I suggest Read Audio. The guy who runs it used to be a top ACS guy, created his own product range and turns custom moulds around in 48 hours. YES 48 hours. I ordered a set of IEMs and separate attenuator plugs - both outstandingly good. AND...If you loose or break then in 4 years he will give you another set half price....

I think that there are instruments that work well as 4,5 or 6 its horses for courses. I play 4,5,6 and EUB the more you play around the more versatile and useful you are as a player. It also depends on the instrument. Play every variant and keep in practice. Who knows when you might need to play either 4 or 5. The only thing I would say is stay on a similar string pitch because that can throw you out.

TC Polytune on the floor , snark on the head

I have a Carl Martin that is very nice........slightly noisy but a lovely thick sound

My Precious.......not as good as Rick's but not many are. Seen here with her ash trays and mutes off. August 60.

Don't forget you can hire a bass or borrow one, or even get a bas player in

TPJ, Graham.... Like I said I have only just got the rig so its too early to make popper comparison. The one I did make was with my AER amp 3 which has a truly massive low end but made fo a smaller environment. This was different, I was in a much larger venue and the sound was big and loud. The cab is not run in yet and so until it is its not a fair test. As for the amp on the wedge, nice rubber feet on the amp hung over the edge. I did put my AER behind it because I was on the back of a riser and was worried it might fall off. No worries stayed put the whole night.

OK, this was the Rig Friday Night.............. Amp: Warwick LWA 1000 The twin channels on the Warwick - invaluable - for me - changeover momentary Volume way more than I will need- 100% clean - no overdrive here Tone very, very transparent - Plug anything in - that's what you get out Character is not something this amp screams at you, it is just really clean, efficient and quiet Tone shaping is a little 'clinical' - absolutely functional completely colourless Compressor is very effective and you don't loose any tone or definition The DI is spot on Build quality seems flawless, solid, well constructed Cab: Tricky Audio Greenboy F112 Wedge style very useful! Build quality very good except for grille. Tricky sending me a new one no arguments Sound very transparent and full but not as deep as my AER amp 3 The cab is very new so I want to let it loosen up a bit first before I give an opinion The full range was really notable when using effects - I had to back some down Overall. A really good option for me as a more powerful compact rig but I have been used to more 'colour' from my other rigs so it will take a while for me to get a real handle on it much like my AER but once I do, I can't see anything doing much better in a compact format.