Staggering on

I have had a blonde Engelhardt ES9 ("Marilyn") for three years and much as I liked the lovely look of the bass that thin Kay/Engelhardt neck was starting to bother me and I was finding the full size neck on my Yamaha SLB 200 to be much easier to play. So...last weekend I made a one day 779km trip to Stand Up Guy Bass in Toronto to try out a blonde '70's Czech laminate bass. After some discussion we worked out a deal and he took my bass in part trade and put new Obligatos on the Czech bass and set it up the way I wanted it and "Peaches" came home with me. I have a silly thing about blonde basses and it seems most people know me not as "that old guy who plays bass" but as "that guy with the blonde bass" so I wanted to find a blonde. I need a ply bass due to the weather here and because it gets hauled around a lot and I hope this will be just what I need. So far I'm loving the sound and feel and it works well with the KNA DB1 pickup, no preamp, direct to the amp and since I always need an amp in my bands I'm happy. I had Zyex strings on my other bass and have them on the EUB so this is my first time with Obligatos and I'm liking the feel and response, I play pizz in my bands and only use the bow at home. The bass has aged to a butterscotch colour like most blonde basses and has a few marks but that's OK, it's 50 years old. I've included a photo of the endpin, it is a prototype made by John Hay, a luthier in Michigan and uses more modern technology than most endpins. Some of you will recognize a quality bicycle post clamp that holds the carbon fibre pin. It is adjustable and clamps all around the pin rather than at one spot and is very easy to operate and has worked well so far. He sent these to some of his luthier friends to try out and Paul at Stand Up Guy Bass had several and I got one on my new bass, I believe he plans to produce them in larger quantities in the future. It's not a beautiful bass and it's a long way from high end quality but I think "Peaches" will be the working bass I need.

That sounds like a good idea and I will be watching for it to see how you get on with the NXT. (My bass history is like yours, 30 years EB then a Stagg about six years ago, then a Yamaha SLB200 and finally DB and I'm loving it.)

Good to see this thread revived, I love hearing about gigs and it makes me pumped about getting out gigging again soon. My two bands started rehearsing a couple of weeks ago but we have no gigs booked yet, things here are still basically shut down in terms of music venues and unfortunately I live in a rural area with only a few venues nearby. Restaurants and pubs are now open but with limits on the number of people allowed in, same with patios...fingers crossed for some work soon!

It's great to see this thread come alive again, finally some positive news after all this time. 😊 It is still very quiet on the music scene here, both the bands I am in are having their first rehearsals this week since March 2020 and we are hoping for gigs but have nothing booked yet.

Our little jazz quartet got together tonight for the first time since our last gig on February 27 2020. We have no gigs booked yet, all of last year was cancelled and things are slowly opening up here with limited numbers both indoors and outside. The rehearsal was fun, good to be back playing music with other people again. 😊

A bit of an odd story, but after 20 years of marriage and a son my wife and I split in 1996( yeah, we're old) but she had always supported my musical things and came to some gigs, in fact we met at a gig I was playing. Around 2008 we met a few times for coffee and she helped me through the disastrous relationship I was in and we have become good fiends and partners of a sort. She lives 80km from me but spends a few days here every week or two, we travel together and just came home from a weekend visit to our son and his wife. In the last few years she has come to many gigs and always helps with the gear and gives advice re sound and set up and is a huge support for me. After years of guitar and EB playing I saw an ad in 2015 for an EUB some 300km away and she literally said "get into the car and go buy it" and I picked her up, made the trip and bought my first EUB which started me down the slippery slope. When I saw a better EUB a year or two later she said the same thing and I made and even longer trip to get that. By 2018 we had travelled to England twice and I had been a BC member for three years and I saw a double bass bash scheduled for 2018. Of course she said I should go and we made another trip to England. The organizers couldn't decide on a date for the bash and finally asked me when I was going to be in England and set a date based on that, I was thrilled. Then I was picked up by a BC member and had a wonderful day playing and talking about double basses and EUBs and meeting BC members. Two months after we got back to Canada I saw an ad for a DB and once again it was "get into the car and get it, NOW" and after a 13 hour round trip I came home with my beautiful blonde DB "Marilyn". She loves it and has made a bib for it and encourages me and supports me all the way and even likes listening to me practice, at least for a while. I joined BC after I got the first EUB so she is/was behind all my adventures in upright bass and loves BC almost as much as I do. I don't know where our relationship will go but it's been great for almost 15 years and I would not be where I am in terms of basses and bass playing without her and BC, I am very lucky.

I went from EB to a Stagg EUB and then upgraded to a Yamaha SLB200. At most gigs I use my DB but for rehearsals and gigs with very tight quarters I use the Yamaha and it does the job well. I play jazz standards in a quartet and septet and the bands like the EUB and although it doesn't sound exactly like a DB the audience doesn't hear much difference and I get a lot of "what is that thing?" questions. I use a Stagg stand to hold it between sets, secure and easy to use. It is certainly easier to transport than my DB and in most cases I run it direct into our Bose PA and can EQ with the SLB's built in preamp and the Bose. Works for me.

I have one of these and it is great for my bass and as mentioned above it is versatile and is always in my car folded up. It has been used for combo amps, cabs, keyboards and other instruments including horns. Small wheels mean it is best on pavement but I have used mine on gravel, not sure how well it would do crossing a field, but it works on ice and hard packed snow.😊🇨🇦

I like that.😊 I have one and gigged with it for a couple of years before I got my DB that I use at gigs(and will again ...sometime...). Now I use the SLB 200 at rehearsals instead of hauling the DB around and it is great but I don't have quite the same sound as you do. I've been using Zyex lights for the last year or two and they feel good and sound OK but I usually use an amp that is not mine for rehearsals and it sounds much better at home or at gigs through our Bose PA. They are a crazy price but I was in the right place at the right time and got a used one in perfect condition at a great price. If I were looking to replace it ( I'm not) I think I would go for an Eminence , I have played one and liked it. The "body" on the SLB 200 works fine for me but I know some people hate it. I added a 3.5"x5.5" silicone sticky pad on the bass side arm of the body to keep the bass from sliding all over on my clothes, makes a big difference for me. I don't use a pre amp, just the built in one and go directly into the amp or PA. I was surprised how sensitive the pre amp is, it takes a bit of careful fiddling to get a good sound but that's all part of the fun. Do you use any effects or preamps?

So did you get to try it with the ToneDexter pedal before the accident? Good to hear the damage to your bass wasn't more serious.

Lucky you...a new pedal that is actually doing what you want it to do AND gigs to use it at. Well done. 👍 It will be interesting to see (hear) how it works with your Zeller at the next gig.

You are very lucky. Here we have another 3 weeks of lockdown and after that the future looks bleak as we are in a third wave and daily case numbers in Ontario are more than four times higher than in January. No live music anywhere and no rehearsals. Both my bands have horns and vocals and that makes it even more difficult. We will be lucky if we can book any gigs for later this year. ☹️

Any time "I" is used instead of "me" to make a rhyme as in many songs where the line ends with " to you and I" or "for you and I" I tend to tense up and yell "me, you idiot" and have a private little rage. It won't change and some good songs use this ...sigh...🙄

It wouldn't load for me last night about 12 hours ago, won't load now either. The important thing is that BC is working just fine and that is way more important to me.😊

I'll be 75 in May, last gig was a year ago due to Covid shutdown. I've been gigging for about 60 years and the two bands I'm in now are a jazz standards quartet and a seven piece band that plays swing and a set of Dixieland and between the two we do 2-5 gigs a month and two rehearsals a week. I play double bass and switch to tenor banjo for the Dixie. As you have probably guessed most of our audiences are of a certain age(old!) but we do have some younger fans as well. We had some work booked for this year but basically no live music here now at all and no info re when things might open up. At my age I want to play for a good while yet and am very anxious to get back to rehearsing and gigging.

They would help but in any kind of breeze these shelters turn into a combination sail, parachute and umbrella and need serious weight or rigging to stay in place, I've had some "interesting" experiences playing in these things. Never had one completely take off but have had to stop mid song a few times to prevent that from happening, pretty scary with a lot of expensive instruments and gear around. 🙁 OTOH when properly set up they are great.

I have played in shelters like this a number of times, some with walls and some with just a roof. The one in the photo below belonged to the venue and would be OK in the rain but all of these shelters are VERY tricky in the wind. In the photo we are on a street that has wind tunnel effect and had a few nervous moments since there was no way to use pegs into the ground to secure the rig. I have seen concrete blocks used to tie them down but in a big wind nothing is completely safe. So would I recommend using one...yes, but be aware of the wind and have it very securely fastened down. This is particularly important on pavement or out in a field such as you may find at a festival. Be aware also that there is great variation in the quality of these shelters, many are very flimsy, it would pay to buy a heavy duty unit. Been there, done that.🙂

My Yamaha SLB 200 is set up like that as are many others as mentioned above. It seems almost everyone has to figure this out after the battery goes dead either because they didn't read the manual or it isn't explained in it, which is kind of odd. This topic has come up frequently on any site that deals with instruments with built in pre amps, especially EUB's. Many separate pre amps have the same set up as do some pedals. At least you have it sorted now and you can have some upright fun. 😊

The Stagg I had came with a bow so I gave it a try and since I was new to the upright bass it sounded pretty bad due to my lack of skill and improper use of rosin but eventually it improved. It is better than some EUB's for bowing and if properly set up and played well it can sound OK. I certainly had fun with it and it got me on the upright path and I upgraded to a Yamaha SLB 200 and then to a DB and I love it. 😊

I'm at 3 on the poll, assuming EB,EUB and DB all count as one but have also gigged and taught guitar and tenor banjo(no sniggering please). I have done some gigs on mandolin but it's not one of my main instruments but it's fun to noodle on. For a number of years I taught music in a high school so I can make noise on most reed and brass instruments but not at gigging level.

I got my first guitar in 1959 as a young teenager and have been playing ever since. Much like Dad it's been on various instruments and from no gigs to full time. The last 30+ years I have been playing bass in a variety of jazz groups from trios to big bands and switched to DB and EUB about six years ago and was gigging with two bands before lockdown. In the last year I have improved a lot and am playing almost every day using sheet music and a huge collection of books I have accumulated, iRealPro, video lessons and playing along with recordings I have or other sources. I have watched a lot more videos(performance and instruction) than before lockdown and always find something to learn from them, great to have a resource like the internet, much better than "the good old days" with just records and books. My reading is much better and I feel more confident in my reading and my ability to actually play what I'm reading. Playing along with recordings (everything from pop, oldies, jazz standards and even big bands) has really improved my ear and I am getting much better at finding the key and chord progression before the song ends, well sometimes.😉 I have also been struggling with the bow on DB. I really miss the gigs and the rehearsals(usually 2 a week) and playing with other musicians and since I retired from my very hectic day job a couple of years ago music has been the main social part of my life until last March. I am a much better player than I was before lockdown and can't wait to get back to gigging, and at almost 75 I hope that happens soon!

I think this old adage came from double bass players, "high for show, low for dough". I have seen this in several places including somewhere on Basschat but can't find it now.

That's why I designed the rack I posted above. My luthier saw it when my bass was in for some work and approved of the design and asked for some photos to show it to some of his customers, I felt good about that.😊 Now if only I had some gigs or rehearsals to go to so I can use it again.☹️

Actually London has about 9,000,000 and Canada is 37,000,000 but as you point out density is the real problem. London's population density is about 5600 per km2 and Canada's is 3.9 per km2 for the whole country. Comparing cities we have 4500 per km2 in Toronto and our highest density is Vancouver at 5300. I live in a very rural area of Northern Ontario where the density is very low and the number of covid cases is small. A major issue here is visitors from the hot spots in the south coming up here. Our current lockdown is based on "STAY HOME" (government's mantra) but it isn't being enforced so we are getting a bit nervous out here in the boonies.🇨🇦

My Yamaha SLB 200 has a 34" fingerboard, nut to bridge is 40 3/4 ".