TrevorR

Saw C&D as the culmination to my nephew's stag weekend a couple of years ago and was a cracking gig. Amazed by how tight they were and DP is, as others have attested, a properly good, understated but still inventive player. Chas is no slouch either and we tend to forget that he was right there at the birth of British rock and roll and rock music back in the 60s.

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1482259418' post='3199039'] So my cheap(ish) cable from amazon (£4) has just died on me, all my other leads work. Does anybody know of any cheapish cables that are decent and actually stand the test of time? [/quote] Four quid? No "ish" involved. [quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1482312099' post='3199354'] cheap cables are a bad bad bad idea, especially when a good one doesn't cost so much! Cables by OBMM are a great choice. Similar can be obtained from Award-Session. Good quality cable and Neutrik plugs, in a wide range of sizes and plug configurations. My oldest cables are about 16 years (from Award Session "Cleartone"). They will probably last another 16... not expensive for around £20 or a tiny bit more. [/quote] Could have written that post word for word!

The 700 Andy's bought is passive with a series/parallel switch option (or is it a coil tap? Can never remember). Nothing like an Alembic. Love mine. Great playing and sounding bass.

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1482341663' post='3199759'] Anyway, The answer is that there is no direct answer. Most circuits take advantage of the active circuit to add bass and treble controls, but the whole point of an active bass is to buffer the low level signal from the bass and stop treble loss and noise in the cable. Some don't bother with this - the G&L L2500 is exactly the same tone controls in passive or active... [/quote] [quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1482347424' post='3199825'] Can anyone shed light on active pickup/passive pots ? My recent Peavey RSB has them but I'm stumped for reason. [/quote] See Woodinblack's answer above for the reason. Have watched some YT vids testing different lengths of cable run with and without any active buffer. If they're true on long runs the difference is remarkable.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1482323960' post='3199552'] @ TrevorR; I stand corrected and I apologise for calling you out on another post. Sorry Cheers chaps. [/quote] Had you? I genuinely hadn't noticed. I'd best rush off to the Search function and find out what it was so I can be highly affronted for about ten seconds and then think "well, life's too short to worry about that, we're all friends together here any way" and get back down to the important things in like like geeking out about bass and stuff! But genuinely though, thank you for thinking to apologise (even though I didn't realise I might be due one).

Yes, tremolo is change in volume. Vibrato is change in pitch - think of a fretless player or violinist creating vibrato by rocking their finger back and forward to minutely change the pitch of the note. Or a guitarist doing it by bending the string to create vibrato. So the confusion is further exacerbated by the misnaming of the Strat's "trem"/"tremolo unit" which should ACTUALLY be called a "vib"/"vibrato unit".

I love Aimee Mann's One More Drifter in the Snow. My additions to the playlist would be: That'll Be Christmas by Thea Gilmore http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7qQAE794uvo Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly (or Leigh Nash) http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YIS5lSDO7tU Or John Prine's subime Christmas in Prison http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-Vff5HPhc

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1482181848' post='3198307'] Wooten I never got. A juggler rather than a player and when I hear him in a band context (say Mike Stern), I hear a competent played who, when he solos, well, juggles rather than expresses anything. [/quote] [quote name='PaulGibsonBass' timestamp='1482185627' post='3198349'] Mark King (*flinches at coming onslaught...*) Clearly an incredibly talented musician, but all that rapid percussive stuff doesn't do a thing for me. [/quote] This just about sums it up for me. Clearly a whole load of Wooten-love happening on this page. Oh, and Rudy Sarzo but only because he replaced the best bass player Whiteshake ever had or will have...

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1482095381' post='3197640'] Hey Blue. I have to disagree here, I think [i]different basses have a baked in tone, what you do with that tone comes from the fingers[/i]. [/quote] This ^^^^ Anything else is simply reductive thinking. Any complex system is by nature... well... complex and affected by different elements, albeit that some will have a more dominant effect than others...

Not knowingly tried J Retro but I do love the Audere preamp. One of the few cut/boost circuits where the maximum travel on the controls were still in musical usable tone territory. But never lacking or too tame either.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1481993766' post='3196862'] ...and make... ... (ahem) note correction much easier. [/quote] I think what you were trying to say was "...beautifully expressive vibrato...", Jack

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1481973287' post='3196662'] Ian Waller. Didn't he play bass on the first couple solo Rod Stewart albums? I loved Stewart/ Faces back in the early '70's. Saw the Faces twice. Great live band. Second time had an Asian guy on bass bouncing all over the stage. Rory Gallagher was the opening act. Amasing! [/quote] Think you're thinking of Mick Waller on drums... weren't Ronnie and Ronnie doing bass duties on those early albums? Rod 'n' Rory... that's one heck of a lineup!!!!!!!!

Would it be even more tempting if I mentioned that both Tibbs and Spenner were playing early Wal basses in their Roxy periods too? Story of JG's custom P Bass here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/wal-basses-early-years-over-last-half.html Story of JG's JG series Wal bass here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/jg-bass-special-pt-2-tale-of-two-basses.html Gary Tibbs' JG series Wal bass here... http://walbasshistory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/jg-special-pt-4b-gallery-2-jg-basses.html

Love that song and love that bass line - one of my "desert island basslines". John Gustafson was a really great and really under-rated player. You're right they had some properly good bass players through their ranks, esp in the 70s and 80s. I'm not a fan of Roxy but I love Alan Spenner's playing with them on the albums around Avalon era. LitD was recorded on a unique bass guitar... a hand built/modified P-bass made for Gustafson by Ian Waller a few years before he started building Wal basses full time. The bass had a heavily over wound P-bass pickup that Ian Waller rewound himself by hand. That and Johnny Gus' fingers contributed to that unique sound. Classy player!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1481908141' post='3196232'] You know, not every bass needs to be as chunkilly built as a Fender. Wood is incredibly strong stuff -they even make buildings out of it! [/quote] I know, I know, it's just every time I look at one the same thought bubbles up from the subconscious. Which, I'm sure of course, will have been a good part of the thinking when they first designed the thin neck of the upper horn. And for all that appreciation of tensile strength and shear forces... it still looks like it'll break right off!

OT but...Nah best evs BVs are on AImee Mann's "I Should've Known" where the chorus says, "I should've known" and the BVs say "dot dot dot"!

I tried playing a Star Wars bass a long time ago (and in a guitar shop far, far away). It was really rubbish. But, hey, maybe it was a Rogue One? I'll get me Jedi cloak...

[quote name='SpcMnk' timestamp='1481583932' post='3193549'] I've owned a Buzz for a while and they are truley amazing! However, sold it and now am very, very happy with a La Fey Pangton. It does that JB thing but also a deep dark tone, and a very Chrystal clear sounds as well. Even unplugged it growls. Yeah, the other two.. [/quote] Pedulla Buzz basses do look cool but every time I see one I just think, "Blimey, move a bit too sharply and that upper horn would snap right off!!!"

Well, well, well, just look at what Scott's chatting about this week... http://www.scottsbasslessons.com/bass-tips/how-to-make-your-electric-bass-sound-like-an-upright.html Lots of use of the thumb and playing over the neck and with the side of the finger here... http://youtu.be/iXYmSsTFw30

I had three best albums this year. And none of them in the least bit bass driven. First there's Red Sky July’s "The Truth And The Lie". Great harmony-laden Brit-country sound with lovely vocals from Shelly Poole of Alisha's Attic fame and fab guitar playing by Ally McErlaine from Texas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl6yPQ8EE2I&list=PL1ajfR6LppMks3zYes3pUBmWd55U-HZbt Young Runaway, Hattie Briggs second offering, was a great album too and really shows a young artist growing in confidence and ability. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyYMR-SDYkA Finally I loved Franco-Canadian singer, Francesca Blanchard's, bilingual folk-pop album, Deux Visions. Just blew me away. With every listen it gets better and better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_7vVffjIzM

As others have said, try to part on good terms (and with a proportion of ownership of the recordings if possible). However, if the recordings do go down well, the next time he turns up asking for you to produce a new track for him (and I'll bet he does) present him with your rate card, your standard producer's Ts and Cs, a contract and an invoice for partial up front payment. After all, you're no longer considered a band member, you're a contractor!

If I were you I'd take the photos and email them saying, "Having removed the bridge to assess repair options I have found that the bass has two sets of mounting screw holes for the bridge - one in the correct position and one further back which seems to be that cause of the bridge misplacement. This is clearly not correct and unacceptable I need an new bass guitar. On that basis I will be returning it under the Distance Selling regulations for a full refund. Whether you like other aspects of the bass it is clearly faulty or has been messed with and is therefore not of merchantable quality. You'd be daft to keep a bass you know to be fundamentally faulty whereas if you bought another of the same model you'd probably find it had all the characteristics you like and none of the weird faults.

You're all, clearly mad you lot!!!!!

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1481668944' post='3194256'] Would love a Wal. [/quote] You'll not find a better price! No links to the bass or seller, just thought it looked rather nice!

A leftie Wal just came in at the Bass Gallery in Camden. Only £2.5k too... a snip compared to many other similar Wals! http://thebassgallery.com/index.php/bass/4-string/mk1.html