BrunoBass

That’s brilliant, thanks so much. One last thing, it sounds like the low end is preserved well when the overdrive is engaged on the Fender (from what I can tell from YouTube demonstrations I’ve seen) - is that the case?

I was just about to order one of these when I saw the Fender Downtown Express, now I’m undecided. The TC wins in as much as it has Aux in / Headphone out, but the Fender’s overdrive sounds better to me. But then the TC will have more overdrive options available in their Tone Prints. Has anyone tried both of these? What did you prefer?

That’s my kinda cowbell...

Absolutely. It’s difficult to buy a bad bass these days. I have a J&D Jazz Bass from DV247 that cost £105. I have quite happily gigged it.

The prices aren’t dissimilar to Harley Benton’s beginner stuff today!

I tend to agree. I don’t like the look of it either.

To an extent. Some are more crowd pleasing than others.

Possibly, if I was getting them on eBay or such like, but as I said I bought these and the previous set in store - I very much doubt PMT or GuitarGuitar sell fake stuff.

Exactly this ⬆️

I bought these in store at GuitarGuitar in Birmingham, and the set before at PMT in Birmingham, I doubt they’re fake.

Yes. The addition of new songs keeps things interesting but there are some songs that we’ve played at every gig and rehearsal since I joined the band four years ago. We tend not to rehearse those (I could probably play them in my sleep) but even gigging them I’m counting down the seconds til they’re done. But they’re crowd pleasers, so we’ve got to play them.

I’ve used Ernie Ball Slinky’s for many years and am perfectly happy with them. A couple of weeks ago I put a new set on to one of my basses, and noticed that after playing my fingertips were covered in a black residue. It washed off easily and I thought nothing more of if. I’d never seen this before. Then I put a new set of Slinky’s on another bass today, and the same residue occurred. It’s no problem for me, especially as it seems to disappear as the strings are played in, I just wondered if anyone has had this? I assume it’s just a residue left over from manufacturing, although a chemistry student friend suggested it could be a reaction between the nickel and my skin. I’m unconvinced.

Great - thank you 👍🏻

We rehearsal every week, three hours on a Thursday night, and have done for the four years I’ve been with the band, holidays etc excepted. i don’t think we need to rehearse with that frequency, given that we gig regularly and that our set is very well drilled. I’m pushing for less frequent rehearsals unless we’re looking at new songs. Our (very local) rehearsal space closed last year and we had to move to another studio about 30 minutes drive away. Given that I do approximately 200 miles a day in my job, the prospect of another hour’s round trip after work is unappealing.

That’s very helpful, thanks for taking the time to respond. I’m solo, no band on this, so if I stick with Eb a harmonica in the key of Ab would be the way to go? Cheers.

Old thread resurrection, but I’m hoping some seasoned harmonica players can shed some light for me, regarding harmonica keys. My knowledge of musical theory is very poor, (as you’re about to find out), but I can just about scrape by. However when it comes to harmonica keys I’m sadly lacking know-how. When I’m not playing bass in my covers band I write and play vaguely Americana influenced acoustic songs. I’ve just written a new song that would really work with a Heart of Gold / The River type harmonica break. The first chord of the song is E major, so the key of the song is E major, right? (please correct me if I’m wrong). That being the case do I need an E Harmonica? Now just to confuse the issue further I always tune my guitar down to Eb, (for vocal range purposes) so the song is actually in Eb, right? (again, please correct me in the likely event that I don’t know my harp from my E-bow). So I actually need a harmonica in the key of Eb? Thanks in advance to anyone willing and knowledgeable enough to unravel all of that!

👍🏻

Very skilful, I enjoyed that.

Save yourself a few quid and get one of those cheep sound effects keyrings off eBay - that’s what Weller used, according to an interview I read with producer Brendan Lynch.

Is anyone familiar with Equitz basses? They’re a new name to me, a sponsored link appeared on my Instagram feed earlier. Their Daverra bass is a beaut, simple and understated. http://equitzguitars.com/daverra.html Very nice!

As others have said, perhaps a break is what you need. I started playing bass in bands in 1991 and continued until about 2003. I never pinpointed why but I just got bored with it, I stopped enjoying it when the hassle started to outweigh the joy. I sold my stuff and never looked back. In the intervening years I concentrated on songwriting, solo acoustic gigs and home recording, which I continue to do to this day. Then, in 2015 I suddenly had an urge to play bass again, find a band and start doing the pubs again. I bought the gear and started back on the bass path. I joined a band and four years later I’m still here, still gigging and thoroughly enjoying myself. It’s good to back.

I found a photo of the backdrop attached in place, suspended from the lighting beam. Works well.

I took my wife to the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in 2007. An all day lineup of pop legends and contemporary stars. And then out came Roger Hodgson, to general ‘who’s this bloke?’ crowd reaction. He went straight into Breakfast in America, and 80,000 people were instantly won over, impressive.

We suspend ours from our lighting beam. The end of the roll that the backdrop is attached to has a pair of loops which fit nicely over the screws on the back of the beam. Pictured is the lighting beam before suspending the backdrop.

I used to use two TC combos, a 1x15 and a 2x10 with a splitter box. Loved it, independent volume and tone.