TrevorR

I've seen quite a few "fave bass line" type threads on here. However, I've not spotted anything just focusing on amazing recorded bass tones. And what I mean by that is that irrespective of how good/complex/funky/simple/rubbish the bassline the simple sound of each note sends shivers down your spine. So often the bass is a fine sounding thud or dommmmmm and the interest is in the playing style. However, sometimes the tone is to die for! Here are a few examples where I think the sheer sound of the bass is worth the cost of entry no matter what notes were played... Takin' It To The Streets - Doobie Bros, Tiran Porter. The bass sound on this track is sublime. From those first single and double notes right through. Round and hollow and woody with a great clank in the background all at once. Porter's funky playing is just the icing on the cake... Is this pretty much the ultimate bass sound, discuss... http://youtu.be/foEba5RQlOE Heat Of The Moment - Asia, John Whetton. In the breakdown section about 1 minute 45 seconds in he plays some simple hits and the bass tone is pure classic rock. http://youtu.be/cpxsMyoXUZQ Only Time Will Tell - Asia, JW The following track on that album has a pretty great bass tone too. Mostly just eighth notes on the root but the bass sounds lovely. http://youtu.be/_FqMJALd16I Black Moon - Emerson Lake and Palmer, Greg Lake Lake used a Mk 1 Wal Custom bass on this album. Once Keith has finished his widdley intro after about 50 seconds Lake and Palmer come in with a crushing rhythm based around simple double bass/bass drum hits. Promo video prop notwithstanding, Lake's Wal sounds absolutely immense, growly and aggressive. Mmmmmmm... http://youtu.be/Z16byMOSbqQ Love Is The Drug - Roxy Music, John Gustafson I love the aggressive punch in Gustafson's bass sound. Plus it's a killer bass line. JG was such a great player and always had a great bass sound. Punchy in a lo fi 70s way. This is a hand built P bass with overwound pickups built for JG by Ian Waller in his pre-Wal basses day. http://youtu.be/OtCVLtcfLi4 Wherever I Lay My Hat - Paul Young, Pino Palladino Of course... And I could have chosen any of Paul Young's big 80s hits. Come Back And Stay or Every Time You Go Away would have sufficed just as well to showcase Palladino's wonderful fretless tone. However, this one provides a whole intro and verse where the bass is particularly showcased. Even the OTT chorus and 80s production values don't detract from the sound but, rather, make it all the more charming. http://youtu.be/UefQPKl-6qw Finally... Tempus Fugit - Yes, Chris Squire Drama probably isn't the most well regarded Yes album but this "Yessles" project provides some real treats. Squire's tone on this track is immense from the initial bass stabs through the crazy riffage. The clanky sound shines even through the effects layered on top. Great bass sound, great bass playing. http://youtu.be/vzxZzIiO84Y

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1443001638' post='2871254'] U2 fans are eagerly awaiting a reissue of the single Vertigo featuring the late Dizzy Gillespie!! [/quote] ...the only U2 single actually produced by Alfred Hitchcock

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1443792003' post='2877750'] Does Stevie Wonder......."What does Robert Plant??" [/quote] But whatever Robert Plants, Roger Waters!

Fantastic blog Silvia. Great photos. And it answered a bit of brain fade that's been bothering me ever since. Had a lovely chat with Rumblefish and Mybass but couldn't for the life of me remember where I knew Pete from... Of course, seen him playing several times with the great Buddy Whittington. And playing his nice hand made basses too... D'oh!

Well, as a relative noob I guess I can take this opportunity to change my avatar to a remarkably ugly headstock (apparently, so I'm told...).

That P bass does sound great but... I'm going to say it... If only he'd brought a Wal on tour even if just for one song. :-( PS I like that album too.

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1443984951' post='2879244'] If you post that in every thread and you'll kill the site , back off [/quote] Yeah, we'll all 5 string players are just idiots, aren't they. And posers. And got more money than sense clearly. 4 strings is how the good Lord meant bass to be and anyone who disagrees is just plain wrong, end of. Period. Innit! And don't get me started on 6 strings. And fretless basses. And tobacco sunburst. And... And... And... There you go, consider that as little bit of yang to counterbalance the yin of reasonableness posted by HazBeen. Normal service has been resumed! ;-)

Thing is, in my own mind when I imagine myself doing a bass solo that is exactly what it ends up sounding like. Which I guess is nature's way of telling me never to do a bass solo...

Rob, of course not. Go for it. Glad you enjoyed it and sad not to see you there!

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1443786636' post='2877677'] Videos of TrevorR's Wal talk are now up - 4 parts. Apologies for the iffy sound and the shaking in some places - the acoustics of the large room and my position in the audience weren't always helpful. Part 1: [url="https://youtu.be/Cot2EN0JrS0"]https://youtu.be/Cot2EN0JrS0[/url] Part 2: [url="https://youtu.be/HpBzB-6IEnY"]https://youtu.be/HpBzB-6IEnY[/url] Part 3: [url="https://youtu.be/wZelMUtYF4A"]https://youtu.be/wZelMUtYF4A[/url] Part 4: [url="https://youtu.be/qq4yNlIk6co"]https://youtu.be/qq4yNlIk6co[/url] I am writing the customary blog with photos, these vids and Trevor's visual presentation. [/quote] Thanks for posting those Sylvia (...erm, I think... ). Looking forward to reading your photo blog of the day.

It's kinda the muso equivalent of the "Baby on board" sign, isn't it? "Oh, well I WAS thinking of crashing into your car just for the fun of it. However, now I know that there is a young child in there I'll go and find someone else to randomly crash into for fun..."

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1443746961' post='2877436'] Paul, My compressor (EBS) is second to last in my chain. You think I should move it more towards the front of the chain ,like after my chromatic tuner? Blue [/quote] Remember, what a compressor does is make the loud bits quieter and the quiet bits louder. Put it late in the chain and it will make any background hiss much more pronounced. Gainy pedals like Od and distortion tend to be noisy so any hiss from those pedals will be amplified by the compressor if it's after them in the chain.

Hmmm, yes, I can see how the existing broad spectrum hearing loss from the industrial noise would make it doubly difficult for the non playing time while using the ear plugs.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1443743483' post='2877427'] If I put them in 20 minutes before we started playing I wouldn't be able to hear what anybody was saying to me, but I will try it, maybe it's because I already suffer hearing loss but if I use both ear plugs the feeling of detachment completely ruins the atmosphere of playing live. I'm not saying they're not working for some people but they do create problems and this should be taken into consideration before paying over £100 for them. Having said that I don't regret getting them now because my tinnitus is a lot better since I started using them in my ear with tinnitus [/quote] Well, that's quite true, you do come over a slightly mutt n Jeff for those 20 mins but it's a compromise to assist how things feel when you do start playing. The other thing I wonder too is whether there's a bit of that "I practice sitting down so when I stand up to play everything feels a bit funny" going on with feelings of detachment when you start using plugs. The more you use them and battle through the initial odd feelings the sooner that sound becomes the norm and you stop feeling detached. Putting the plugs I nearly helps with this too. Anyway, that's how it worked out for me, others may find different. And, yes, Chris B's last comment sounds spot on to me too...

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1434484379' post='2800120'] had the filters changed in my ACS's to pro 10's and they still cut our to much treble, (I do have bad hearing loss around the 4K - 6K Hz range), on the last gig I had an ACS in my left ear, next to the drummer and the ear with tinitus, and generic ACS in my other ear, seemed to work quite well, but knowing what I know now I'm not sure I'd have spent £125 on them TBH [/quote] Have you tried putting your plugs in about 15 or 20 minutes BEFORE you start playing. I found that often helps as it gives the brain some time to get used to the changed set of frequencies it's getting and re-normalise your hearing for having the plugs in. Lessens the psychological effect of wearing the plugs and means that your ears aren't adjusting while you are playing but beforehand.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1443700304' post='2876972'] Wow.. how does it sound? [/quote] Heavy, man. Heavy!

Hmm, yeah, I karn't quite work out who it was either... That singer seems a bit Fishy though....

Most who do this are doing it for fun, for the love of music and the experience and even the regulars (like the York or Burgess Hill folk) tend to do it once every two or three months at most. On that basis (and providing it's not actively disturbing those in the surrounding environment) it's hard to see the harm - and doing it with consideration to others is advisable as with all things in this life. After all I'm sure that no one hosting house gigs is trying to make a living at it or trying to turn their front room into a nightly music venue or business - every one I know who has done it has passed 100% of the ticket price onto the artist and made a loss (if you factor in providing drinks, nibbles or even spag bol for everyone). It's an interesting experience to think about trying, it's not like it's compulsory... it will work for some and won't work for others. If someone thinks it will work (while being considerate to neighbours) it's worth a go. If the situation is such that it won't work (and would annoy the neighbours) it's probably best not to. The volume levels which are being contemplated are an order of magnitude lower than the local oik pumping techno out of his window at 140db so even that kind of comparison is a strain at best... However, if your neighbours bang on the wall or call the environmental health out at activities of a genuinely modest volume then hosting one is proably not for you! Horses for courses, YMMV and all that stuff. If it works you you, if it is hosted with consideration to others etc etc etc it's still a really fun way to experience music.

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1443350319' post='2873978'] I don't think there was a worst. All the gear was top notch and I thought you couldn't get a fag-paper between most of it. [/quote] Yup, what he said... they were all surprisingly good, including the PA cab. And even the 4x5" cab held its own withthe 2x12 and 1x15s in terms of volume, range and poke in the test (albeit that it was from a pretty top maker whose identity should be blindingly obvious just from the configuration).

Here are some examples to give you an idea... Katey Brooks Steve Lawson Amy Wadge Laura Cortese

To be fair, our selection of artists were more of the acoustic, country, folk, singer-songwriter mode than punk or death metal... And actually significantly less noisy than having the music on at a birthday party or watching an action movie on telly. I'd be surprised if any of our neighbours would have even realised that any music was going on if it wasn't for the fact that we'd invited them along! A lot of house gigs don't use any form of PA at all. Think about it. If you were sitting at one end of your living room you'd hardly need a huge rig to hear someone playing piano or guitar and singing over at the other end, would you...? As it was, we did use a small PA at ours but it really wasn't necessary and the volume even from that wasn't exactly high. Certainly no higher than having the hi fi on. So really, it's not an issue. Of course, if you lived in a tiny flat with paper thin walls where you could hear the neighbours breathing next door...

I tried out Rumblefish's Reverend Rumblefish at the Bass Bash. with its Dano-like construction it felt pretty featherlight...

Yeah, absolutely. It's not an arena where you'd stick up "Gig at 21 Acacia Avenue, Cheam on Saturday" on the interweb. For the ones we've done it was all word of mouth so friends were more than welcome to invite their friends and we really encouraged them to reserve and pay for their tickets in advance (to avoid last minute unpaid drop outs who then look at you blankly when you see them later and say, "I covered your unused ticket when I paid the artist, could I have your now £10 please".) Although strictly we worked it on a suggested minimum donation basis we printed out "tickets" for those who had confirmed and paid, partly to make it feel a bit more special but also as a way of sending them our address at that point. Some of the artists did put "House gig in [town]" on their website gig list and then pass me on the details of fans who were interested in coming so I could email/phone them back to confirm. Even so of the 20 or so folks at each gig only at most 3-4 came along that route. Yes, you do have to exercise a degree of caution and common sense about this as much as anything else related to the interweb...

Hmmm 500W just won't be enough... Aaah, this thread had got me reminiscing about the old days when folk used to say "Wot ya need is twice as many watts as yer guitar player's amp and you'll be sorted." (We never knew at the time that such talk was pure tosh). The days when a 500W amp was what they used at Wemberley Stadium and my 200W TE combo with 8ohm 15" speaker was considered to be way more power than any amateur bassist could ever need... How times have changed, eh?

Sorry, I misread the OP rather. Whether the pedal is on or not the gain and level act as input and output gain. However, at about 9 o'clock I wouldn't expect to hear clipping. And increasing drive should increase not decrease it. That does sound like odd behaviour. You might want to complain via eBay and seek a refund/return...