Doctor J

How much is people's perception of a genuine, live, energetic rock performance coloured by years of media saturation of miming to pre-recorded, studio quality tracks? I don't have too much of a problem with Blur's performance there. They were a great band in their day and I enjoyed every Blur gig I ever went to. They're giving it a bit of energy there, they're putting on a show, it's a bit much to be expecting a studio quality performance, especially vocally when your lungs have to push the words out as well as throw shapes. Perhaps they were overdoing it a little considering they were trying to energise an audience of biz types sitting at their dinner tables? Put that performance into a sweaty club filled to the brim with people who aren't scared to crumple their tuxedos and it might make a little more sense.

How do you set your eq?

It's worth saying that no matter what you do to your bass settings, your band is going to sound poor until the guitar tone is sorted, because those settings will be interfering with everything. If they can subdue the ego for a little while and use their ears to listen to the band as a whole and how the guitar works in the context of your whole band sound. You need to explain this to them if it's something they're not aware of.

[quote name='WalMan' timestamp='1330135525' post='1553331'] We have a Marshall JCM2000 60W TSL602 set as follows:[list] [*]Clean - Gain 10 : Treble 10 : Middle 3 : Bass 10 [*]Crunch - Gain 7 : Volume 7 [*]Lead - Gain 8 : Volume 9 [*]Crunch/Lead controls Treble 8 : Middle 3 : Bass 10 [/list] [/quote] That's classic rock tone? It's the tone of someone not used to playing with other people. By way of contrast, my last gig was on guitar in Metal band with a very heavy sound and I had my Fryette 60W head set like this Gain 7, Treble 6.5, Mid 7.5, Bass 4.5, Volume 3 and it left [url="http://www.justinmaloney.com/anbwt.zip"]plenty of room for bass[/url] while still being nice and heavy. I frequently got compliments on my tone from proper guitarists, most of whom did the whole boosted low end thing themselves. If your guitarists have eq pedals, get them to try boosting their tone around the 1-2k mark and drastically removing the low end. You'll be amazed at how much everything will clear up. They'll be happier, you'll be happier and your punters will be happier

I think it's a good idea. I see it as something akin to a record shop which only allows its customers put up posters for gigs, not just any passing sh*tehawk looking to spam their goods in as many places as google finds for them. To get something back you must give something first. You could also put ebay, gumtree and the likes into the swear filter, meaning any such links offsite in the FS forum don't work and, in doing so, are pointless. You either encourage people to engage with the site and [i]community[/i] most of all or they leave it alone, but at least it doesn't get used as a dump.

The main problem with Floyds is user ignorance, they're incredibly stable [b]once they've been set up correctly[/b] and, by a comfortable margin, the floating bridge which stays in tune the best (although Steinberger have an incredible system too but I trust we're discussing guitars with headstocks?). Every floating bridge will exhibit the same issue if you try alternate tunings on the fly. The bridge is kept in place by the force of the strings pulling it forward vs the force of the springs pulling it back. Funny, I would count a Bigsby as one of the least stable vibratos I've ever encountered and they're affected by string breakages too, they just get a lot of unjustified credit on account of the look. Plus, have you ever tried to get a string on that tiny post with sweaty hands at a gig? A well set up Floyd will only require minimal tuning tweaks, I'm talking about once at the start of each rehearsal or gig after you take it out of the case, throughout the lifespan of the string set. I found a fulcrum style Kahler to be the easiest to switch between standard and dropped tuning, you'll need to tweak all six strings, which is to be expected, but your top five won't stray too far from pitch and it can be done rather quicky. For my last band I had a Floyd in standard and the Kahler in dropped which also acted as backup for the Floyd, I could tune it to standard in about 20 seconds without too much drama. I can't remember the last time I broke a string though, so it was never required.

Just sing along to him with the lyrics "tuning song, tuning song" in as atonal a singing voice as you can muster, while sternly eyeballing the guitarist. If he doesn't get the message and sort his tuning problems out then get someone else. There's no reason to put up with this kind of crap, neither your band or the punters who paid to hear you should have to put up with it. If it's a problem with the guitar, he needs to get it fixed. If it's a problem with how he strings the guitar or if he's doing something stupid like tuning down to the note, he needs to get fixed. Either way, trying to cover it up is the worst solution, it makes your band look amatuerish and not up to the task of playing a set of music in a professional manner.

Hmmmm, Phil Kubicki might be making a call shortly

[size=4][font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Q:What kind of bass player are you?[/font][/size] A: An unemployed one

Great colour, really goes well with the maple.

Yow! Lovely bass. Incredible price, too. Well done. Now clean it up and take some proper pics

[quote name='TraceAmp' timestamp='1326971157' post='1504394'] My new one: [/quote]Beautiful!

[quote name='Protium' timestamp='1327956098' post='1519534'] I like what you're doing here. We've all been there, pushed for time at the end of the set, the sound guy tapping his watch, the bar waiting to cash up. Four songs left on the set list, which do you play? Genius solution: Everyone plays one song each. At the same time. IBTL [/quote] Well played

Excellent. People are [i]always[/i] asking me to do solo bass stuff at parties. Now I'll have something to play, which is great, because nothing gets the party started like songs tapped on an unaccompanied bass.

Keep an eye on the u-box, get it second hand from Japan for a whole lot less [url="http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/"]http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/[/url] Enter 'Fender jb75' as your keywords and it should show you what they have of that model http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/u_box/e/eubox.php?word=2&or8=31&or8=32&key=fender+jb75&value5=&select5=down&sort=&print=40&T=gazo

Bit late, but mint green. Go on.

The only video I'm aware of of me playing the false one. I'm not going to be modest about it, I have great hair. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlGC15rgix0[/media]

I thought this kind of thing wasn't a secret? If you want consistent quality, try a different manufacturer, everybody knows that. It's funny when you see ads for Fender from the 80's on, no matter what year there's often a line about "this is the year they got their quality in order" Forget about the badge and buy a good bass instead.

[quote name='KiOgon' timestamp='1327580241' post='1513596'] From the trivial amount of 'work' you describe having to do it, sounds to me like you got let off light! I expect to do at least that to any bass bought secondhand. [/quote] Same here. First thing I usually do with any purchase is strip it down, clean, rebuild and setup the way I like it. I find quite a lot of instruments are set up shockingly poorly and what one guy thinks is great is unplayable to others.

"Have you got any tom mounting arms in your car?" - A genuine question from a drummer at a gig 60 miles outside away from home.

It's their version of a JC120, so it's pretty swish if you want it to be, but the distortion channel is where it really shines. I have the 2x12 combo, the only reason I stopped gigging it was because it's about 40kg Lots of cheaper valve amps have a nasty, fizzy high end once you crank the gain up, as do many cheaper solid states, but this one has a really tasty crunch to it. Many is the sound engineer who ate humble pie once they heard it

A little off tangent but he should have a look for an Ampeg VH-140C head. It's solid state, but it's one of the finest distortion channels you'll ever encounter and would be well under budget while being louder than a jet engine if needs be. Of course, solid-state isn't in fashion these days, but if he sees one around he should let his ears decide. It's the kind of amp that shuts the mouths of valve snobs. Other than that, the 6505 is everywhere, it's a great sound but everyone is starting to sound the same. The Dark Terror sounds great but might not have the volume for a full on live Metal band, he should try to borrow one to see if it will cut it in terms of volume. Tone-wise they're rather nice.

If a Squier does the business for you then go for it. I found the gap in class between a Sadowsky and a Squier to go deeper than the pickups though.

[quote name='Jimmyp28' timestamp='1327500530' post='1512382'] Still though I have not heard one reason for why these high end basses cost a lot more and we are not talking just a few weeks of saving. I know people have a problem with how I feel about this (look at the last few pages ha ha) but the point was to hear how and why these prices can be justified and am still [b]thinking[/b] that they cant. Every post has said about there over heads are high or they are that the skill these luthiers have warrant this price, or have questioned my beliefs or ideas, but still no reason to explain to some degree rationally why there basses cost so much more. [/quote] You see, nobody can address this for you because you [b]think[/b] they're wildly overpriced, but don't have a clue what they actually cost to make. Until you find out what they cost, you have no idea what the retail price should be and, therefore, are making a claim which is entirely groundless.

[quote name='Jimmyp28' timestamp='1327495890' post='1512227'] but that depends on what you call a reasonable profit margin really [/quote] And you've already said you don't have a clue what the individual profit margin is, which is why your crusade is so baffling. Get some facts first, then this might make a bit more sense. I suspect Mr. Kipling of keeping thebest cakes for himself, but I can't prove it, so I let it lie.