Bassman68

Probably because FOH & stage sound guys haven’t got the time to sort out individual mixes for IEM’s on the band turn-arounds? I imagine soundcheck times are very limited?

Just going on experience…

Pedal board & IEM’s for me… Backline gets lost on large stages, unless you’re just going to stand in front of your speaker cab & who wants to do that on a big stage? The minute you step ‘off axis’ the sound will change or worse, maybe get quieter? If you’re doing moderate/big stages, you’ll get wedges provided anyway.. So that leaves room in the van then?……

All my Fender/Musicman Basses have Schaller strap locks and my Warwicks all have Dunlop strap locks with the sunken/flush female connection..

I can’t stand still when I play, I ‘Dad dance’ on the spot in front of my mic & if I’m not required to sing, I prowl around often interacting with our string section of Violin & Cello…Who are often doing the same! It’s quite distracting when our Cellist strides over, she’s nearly 6’ in her heel’s 😃 You have to be careful of our violinist otherwise you could be poked with a bow! I can’t stand watching bands who ‘Shoe-gaze’ their way through a performance? Give the audience something to watch..

I played a venue over the weekend where the FOH speakers had everything under 400hz rolled off, due to complaints from punters who are sat at dinner tables nearest the stage, saying the bands are too loud! Even the speakers suspended from the ceiling, halfway down the dance floor have this HPF? To combat the lack of bottom end, there were subs set under the stage to provide some ‘oomph’ without projecting out to the crowd… I have no idea what it sounded like at the back of the venue,overall, but as we run a silent stage with no backline, Through my IEM’s my bass felt pretty good (similar I imagine to the effect of using a backbeat?) during soundcheck. Our sound engineer demonstrated the subs on their own & it was a pretty woolly sound, from out front…disappearing completely the further back, down the venue as you moved. We just endured the night… The punters seemed to enjoy themselves… There were no complaints about the sound…

I’ve been playing a silent stage with my Tribute band for 12 months now. It took a while to get used to, but so much of it is down to a good monitor mix in your ears… I basically upgraded through a couple of sets of In-ears, ME electronics to CCA to UE6’s. I use the pre-amp sims from my pedalboard (Boss gt6B) straight to the desk, sometimes a Line6 Basspod pro. Your Eich on its own, should have a good enough D.I without having to spend money on another pre-amp, but the Sansamp will do a good job, alternatively something like a Behringer BDI21 will let you ‘dip your toe in the water’ for not a lot of money? Might I also suggest a pedal tuner (I know you said you don’t use pedals) to mute everything on occasions? The best things about the silent stage (apart from your ears not ringing after the gig) is the ease of set-up & pack-down, No lugging bass rigs back to the car, & more room on stage (very handy at pub gigs?)..

Hi guys So I’m getting GAS for Maple board,Block in-lays & dare I say it….Sunburst finish! I don’t want to spend a fortune on a Fender, but I see mixed reviews on the weight of these basses. Can anyone give me an honest opinion on these Squires or suggest alternatives? Budget up to £500 I realise that’s getting up to S/H Mexican player prices as well as Sire V7’s but would I be better off just up-grading hardware on the Squier? Thanks in advance

Similar to the above two posts. A tribute band that plays nationally with occasional overseas gigs, mostly weekly theatre work with the odd festival, An 80’s Synth pop band (one of the keyboard players with the tribute band is also in this, so we get to work out gigs around our main gig schedule). A 70’s/80’s Rock covers band, We generally only play Charity fundraiser’s a few times a year…. I balance this with family life but have a very supportive Wife & daughter….

I Can’t comment on KZ as I personally haven’t used them, but I do have a pair of CCA C12’s & am very impressed with the sound quality & separation of drivers. A vocalist friend uses KZ’s & is equally impressed with the sound quality? The build looks very similar between these brands.. It took a while to find comfortable buds for these IEM’s & unfortunately I suffered from a couple of ear infections, constantly pushing the buds further in to my ear canal to get better bass response.. So in the end, I bit the bullet & bought a set of Custom moulds from CustomIEMco, going for UE6’s. These have taken a little while to get used to, as they are such a tight fit, but the sound reproduction quality is fantastic but my CCA’s still come a close second (especially if I don’t need to wear them too long or am moving around too much?).

My homage to Tap lives on my pedal board just to remind me..Things can always be worse?

In my opinion it depends whether you use effects/ signal chain, where you place your compressor? I prefer compression at the start of the signal, to even out playing styles & give me some sustain. If using an Octaver, I like compression before it, to even out the sound & I find I get less glitches, works really well for fretless? Having more control over dynamics from a pedal as opposed to a control knob on an amp, gets my vote.. But then again, for the vast majority of my work, I don’t use backline anyway?

I own both of these brands of straps.. I’ve never noticed the weight saving claims of the Neotech straps, they’re comfy & have a fair amount of ‘give’ in them though.. I think my best summary would be, I have two Neotech & four ComfortStrapps?

I saw him at The Albert hall, many moons ago with Mrs Bassman… A fantastic showman with a varied catalogue & a very underrated guitarist. I couldn’t stop watching the Bass player, as every so often, his foot would move out & he’d start playing a tambourine with his foot!

I thoroughly second this, I’ve done some travelling recently & got a Bass safe on recommendation, very impressed. Just have your bass in a gigbag & put the gigbag in the Bass safe….Plenty of protection & with the rear wheels, a lot less cumbersome to drag through the airport?

Watched this, was quite inspiring for many reasons. Just shows that we should keep on playing for as long as we can, as long as we still enjoy music & can physically still play our instruments? There was a 95 year old drummer, who only retired at 87! Maximum respect to these musicians… I found the program a bit bass light, only featuring one capable lady bassist? Perhaps bassists might feature in the second episode? Looking forward to next week’s episode..

Two pages & no one posted this classic PS pic?

I’d just settle for a time machine, so I could go back to 1986 & buy up all the basses I lusted after at the time at sensible prices (They probably didn’t seem it at the time, but hindsight is a wonderful thing? 😄) Wal custom, could pick these up for £650? Status series II, around the £1200 mark Aria Pro SB 1000, another £600 bass Vigier, around the £800 mark Warwick Streamer, An early cherry wood one about £850 That’d do for starters, don’t even get me on amps 😄

My Squier affinity PJ has become my 2nd favourite ‘working’ child…

Look like Bass centre Elites to me ?

I do hope that’s someone’s finger in the bottom left hand corner? 😄

Looks a lot like Mushroom studios?

It’s an instrument at the end of the day? Immaterial of what it costs to buy or the build quality, it’s there to be played? Does it make a difference.. A quality instrument will play well, but a well set-up bass will play just as well in the right hands.. If it counts at all, I own an Alembic, Status & several German built Warwicks…..I tour with a couple of Squier’s

Remembered a couple more incidents over night.. Being Essex based, I used to play around the bars in Colchester (used to have a large military presence with barracks there) One particularly venue ‘Fagins Den’ used to open late night, with the band playing from about 11 o’clock. This particularly evening, the crowd mostly consisted of Squaddies who by appearance, had just done a ‘hand to hand combat’ course, much alcohol was imbibed & you can guess what’s coming….. After one guy got jabbed in the throat, it all kicked off….Bottles,glasses,bar stools flying. The band played on as we were tucked away in an alcove…. The M.P’s arrived & all I can say is Wow, they don’t hold back?…..The Red caps virtually emptied the venue of anyone with short hair. We packed up shortly after.. Another town, another venue, a different band.. First gig at this place, parking in the High street a distance from the pub. I was carrying my first item of gear(Bass cab) to the entrance, along with the drummer with his kickdrum, when a barstool smashes through the front window… We just glanced at each other, turned round & walked back to our cars…

My old function band were once prevented from leaving the pub gig we’d just played due to a punter getting stabbed in the neck & the exit from the venue car park was a crime scene?