BrunoBass

That's beautiful. My dad played in a band in Stafford circa 1963-64 and had one of these. He ordered it from Hofner in Germany via his local music shop - 40 guineas including a hard case. God I wish he'd kept it!

I don't know how I missed this thread until now - those Embassy's look great I think. Definitely interested in trying one out when they become available.

I wondered if they were identical instruments from the same factory, just different colours and brand names for different outlets.

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1488387966' post='3248541'] That Jazz Bass now weighs a whole lot less [/quote] That's good to know. I keep hearing about the weight of the HB Jazz so if the J&D version is significantly lighter that could be the clincher for me. Can anyone who owns the J&D Jazz tell me if the headstock decal is under lacquer or screen printed (it's looks like it's under lacquer)? If I get one I'd like to remove the decal, as it looks pants in my opinion, and leave the headstock plain.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1493595693' post='3289364'] Was it Mercury Rev? [/quote] Might have been Six By Seven.

I'm in a major Manic Street Preachers phase at the moment. I seem to do this every now and then, rediscover a band that I love but haven't listened to in a while and hammer the **** out of them for a few months. Anyway, I watched the Manic's film Escape From History on Sky Arts earlier this week and have listened to nothing else since. I've loved them since the first album and I've got the entire back catalogue at my fingertips. Why James Dean Bradfield isn't given more credit is beyond me. Incredible power and range to his voice, amazing guitarist, and the enviable ability to contort some pretty oblique prose into structured lyrics and strong melodies. I'm a big fan.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1493553853' post='3289062'] we had a really poor turnout last night as well, due in part to the boxing methinks [/quote] Something in that I think. I wasn't gigging last night but I did turn out to see Led Zep tribute band Zeppelin 3 (who were excellent by the way) and the crowd was surprisingly small. Once we got to about 11pm though town suddenly livened up.

I know at least two incredibly talented musicians (one bass player, one guitarist) who have no desire whatsoever to be in a band. They're happy to just post videos of their playing to YouTube, where 'success' is measured in likes and comments. Changing times I know, and whatever makes you happy etc, but I can't help thinking that playing with other people would help them progress further as musicians. Barring some highly unlikely cultural shift I think my generation will probably be the last that wants to be in a band. I think that's a pity, but I'm baseing that on my experiences and opinion of what I think is good. The younger generations will have different priorities and ideas about what they consider worthwhile.

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1493298277' post='3287252'] All said and done though, great fun. Hope you enjoy it. [/quote] Thank you, it was our first practise as a three piece tonight and I certainly did:) We played through the set list from our last gig, 30 songs or so, and there were only two that clearly aren't going to work in this format. The rest however all sounded great. There will be the inevitable tweaking required here and there but on the whole it sounded really good and it was great to have all that space. If anything it sounds bigger. Any vague thoughts we may have had about recruiting a replacement have been forgotten. Very happy.

I used to play my old Squier frequently, then since getting 'better' basses it's been stored away. Then when we did a couple of gigs in potentially rowdy pubs recently I decided to use the £200 bass instead of the £1000 bass. I'd forgotten what a great instrument it is!

Hopefully I'll have finished paying for all mine before I snuff it.

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1493048464' post='3285178'] As in 'Broken Land'? They were from around my neck of the woods. I sometimes gig with their former lead guitarist/songwriter. D [/quote] That's a great song.

There's a lot to be said for bands breaking up after a short time, while they're still at the top of their game, before they have a chance to become a parody of themselves. As someone else pointed out earlier in the thread, The Doors, Hendrix etc did a lot in a short time. The Beatles' recording career only lasted seven years. I find it staggering that Paul Weller broke up The Jam aged just 23 years old.

I just got tickets for Jason Isbell in October at the Birmingham Symphony Hall. He's an amazing songwriter, one of my favourites, and I've been out of the country the last couple of times he's been over so I've missed him. Tift Merritt opening too, should be good.

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1492986835' post='3284697'] If I were a landlord I'd have the equivalent of a 'swear jar'. Any band coming to play at my venue would be fined for playing certain songs on the 'banned list' ha ha! Starting with Sweet Child O' Mine, Living On A Prayer and definitely Sex On Fire, which is a dreadful song [/quote] We avoid all of those like the plague, although we were asked to play Sex On Fire for a function we were booked for. We were going to play it at the end of the set, knowing full well the schedule would probably over-run and we'd be cut short before we played it. It was, and we didn't 😉

We play rock covers, but it's all modern (i.e. pretty much 90s/2000s onwards). Nothing against older stuff, there are just plenty of other bands playing it. We play a lot of crowdpleasers (Green Day / Foo Fighters etc) but we also slip in the odd, lesser known song from say Queens Of The Stone Age or Black Keys, or something current like Catfish and the Bottlemen or Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. Not particularly well known, but recognisable enough for the audience to react. We regularly get repeat bookings, there isn't another band doing what we do locally.

So it's our first practise as a three piece this coming week. I've been paying close attention to bass players in single-guitar rock bands (even more than usual) for some pointers on what works. I've previously eq'd so that the mids are strong enough to cut through the two humbucker equipped guitarists we've had until now. But with more space to fill it seems like cutting the mids a bit for a more scooped tone is worth experimenting with. Should be fun.

A problem we often encounter is pub gigs in the summer. If it's a nice evening you're playing to an empty bar because everyone is out in the beer garden. Some of our local pubs make provision for this by having outdoor playing areas, but then you're praying it doesn't rain... That said, we played at a rock pub in Northampton in January on a freezing cold mid week winters night, and most of the small crowd present spent the night huddled together in the outdoor smoking area. Can't win!

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1492796159' post='3283338'] [/quote] 😆

Back in my teens in the mid Eighties I was a big fan of Hull band The Red Guitars; their bass player Louise Howard used a fretless Stingray for much of their output and it sounded amazing. I suspect I'm in the minority here but I really dislike that 'mwah' thing... I've never played a fretless but I've considered buying a cheap one to see what it's all about. There'll be no 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' covers though.

Quality.... http://youtu.be/dj1Nf850Lys Awesome bassline by Norman Watt-Roy too.

There is a rich tradition of Morris dancing in my local area, Banbury, particularly in the village of Adderbuty, on the southern outskirts of Banbury, and in the market town of Brackley (my birthplace) a few miles to the east. A lot of the summer festivals around town feature Morris dancing and at Christmas, wassailing. I'm glad that such traditions survive, although I have little knowledge or interest in Morris dancing. I have more appreciation of it as an adult, that those passionate about it keep the ancient songs and dances alive. As a teenager however, the annual Adderbury Day Of Dance was just an excuse to get uproariously drunk and try to cop off with one of the farm girls. Happy days...

I've quite enjoyed Valerie June on tonight's show, so far. Top marks to her bass player for toting that lovely old Ampeg AEB-1.

Some of Rolo Tomassi's work might be of interest to you.

I really like the TV format of having bands doing a short set instead of one song in a circle, like Later... Obviously OGWT and The Tube had this format, but also Channel 4's short lived The White Room from the mid 90s (anyone remember that?) which was a great show. It allows a band to get into the groove a lot more than doing one song and stopping again, which results in a much better performance I think.