Beer of the Bass

I love it also - would gig it without hesitation!

If it was a ploy to sell the guitar, it didn't work very well. I have the same model Kalamazoo as this and it's a cracker. The end price seems pretty low for one of these...

It depends on the band and the gig, but I definitely do the stage clothes thing. Past crimes against fashion include zebra print, tartan or velvet patchwork trousers, pointy felt, panama, racoon skin and shakespearian style hats, coloured feathers in my ponytail, big green sunglasses, flowery or shiny silver shirts and various waistcoats. Not all at the same time I hasten to add. I like the idea of stage clothes, because when I see something in a shop that I like but think I could never get away with wearing, I'll usually buy it anyway and call it gig wear.

I've just done a little recording for a friend using mine (Jazz bass into DI-EQ, straight to soundcard, with an amp linked up for monitoring). First impressions are that it's clean and quiet, with plenty of gain on tap. I think it's going to be a very useful swiss-army-knife type box to have at hand.

I'd go for the last Jazz pickup cover if you still have it. I fancy trying out the James Jamerson right hand technique, using it as a finger rest. I'll PM you with my address.

It's in "Dudely, West Midlands"! I presume that's where the dudes live...

Alas, the postie came at lunchtime while I was at work. I'll let y'all know how I get on with it once I've picked it up from the depot...

[quote name='fatgoogle' post='581436' date='Aug 26 2009, 02:40 PM']Thanks very much Gareth, is the Sound post easy to see.[/quote]

Hi Fat-G, the soundpost is easy to find - If you look in the G-string side f-hole, it should be wedged straight between the top and back of the bass, close to where the bridge foot sits, but slightly further down. It's a thick dowel, a little like a piece of broom-handle. If it's not there or badly fitted, the top is at risk of sinking or worse. If it's a used bass you're buying from a player, it'll probably be in place, but it's well worth checking...

Cool, I'm glad you're digging the Highway one. I've been impressed by mine so far (I've had it for two weeks). Rehearsed with it last night through my tatty old Carlsbro valve head and 1x15 cab, and it's pretty close to my ideal electric bass sound. I've got flats on mine. I thought about changing the pickguard, but I think I'll leave the original one on. It also looks good without one, but I don't want to be tagged as another Jaco copyist, even if I do nick his lines now and again.

[quote name='teej' post='577984' date='Aug 23 2009, 01:26 AM']oh crap - i just realised, this thread is about stuff we hate and i've just been waxing all fond and positive... errr... well, I'm pissed off that my bass-wheel broke after not even 4 months use! Grrr! (how's that? angry enough?)[/quote]

Do you want to name n'shame the broken bass wheel? I'm curious as to which sort it was and how it broke...

Ok, cool. I'm entirely unworried about a bit of natural wear & tear - check out the back of the double bass in my avatar!

I've recently picked up a nitrocellulose finished Fender Highway One Jazz (which is lovely!). I'm aware that vinyl type plastics can soften and damage lacquer and that I should be careful with guitar stands etc. But is the stuff they make the outer layer of leads out of OK in contact with a nitro finish? I'm in the habit of tucking my lead behind my strap, and don't want to leave a big ugly patch on the finish in this spot. Has anyone had their lacquer eaten by doing this?
I'm probably being a bit pernickety, given that a thin finish like this will wear anyway, but it would be nice if I could avoid big ugly blister marks...

[quote name='Raving_camel' post='574528' date='Aug 19 2009, 06:06 PM']Did anyone here visit Southside music, on Cathcart Road? I really liked how open and friendly that place was and I think that would be a nice idea for a shop. (although..without the dog walking about and the over stocked shop).[/quote]


I'm a bit worried by that word "was". Is Southside music no more ? I used to drop in regularly when I lived in Govanhill - it was a great place and Charlie was a really pleasant guy to deal with.

It's a great idea, if you can get it off the ground.

1) Do you welcome a bass specific shop in Scotland?

- Yes, it'd be especially nice to have bass specialist staff who could actually offer useful opinions on things!

2) What would you like to see in stock?

-All the above comments are good. In addition to that, it would be great if you had a small range of the better entry level double basses (and found a good guy to do the setup on them), as when I started on double bass I found it very difficult to find instruments that were available to try and properly set up. Classical string shops often view double bass as a bit of an afterthought (especially if you're spending less than a couple of grand), and many don't really understand the setup needs of non-classical players. I reckon having them in a nice friendly bass emporium would tempt a few electric bassists over to the double bass.

3) Are you more likely to visit the shop or use our online service

-Since I'm in Edinburgh, I probably wouldn't be nipping in for strings etc, but would certainly make the trip over if there was a specific item I wanted to have a look at. A regularly updated online stock list would be great.

4) Roughly how much do you spend on bass goods in a year

- Variable, but it's typically somewhere in the low hundreds, up to about a grand (when I've bought my main instruments).

5) Is this likely to increase if you had a bass shop you could visit?

-Possibly. Seeing things in the flesh might make some purchases more attractive.

Sunday night bump: still around if anyone's interested...

I've thought about trying one of these for my fretless, but have never quite got round to it. I reckon the simplest way to use it would be to wire it to the ring of a stereo jack (with the magnetics wired to the tip) and use a Y-cable to a separate preamp or input of a multi-channel amp. I've no experience with these particular piezos, but most piezos on various instruments I've used are happy with an input of 1 megaohm or higher, and will get thin and midrange-peaky with any less.
As an example of the sound of bridge piezos, check out Steve Swallow, as he has only piezos on his basses and gets a pretty full range acoustic-ish tone. Some people don't like his high end, but I think that has as much to do with his pick style...

OK, just for some contrast, my double bass (late 19th century no-name flatback) is

4mm, 8.5mm and 8.5mm

at the 3rd, 12th and 17th fret equivalent positions. The strings are Thomastik spirocore mittels, which are fairly high tension with a spiral steel core and flat outer winding. At the end of the fingerboard the heights are 6.5mm on the G, to just under 9mm on the E. I think this is just a little on the high side of medium for steels, but not full-on high by (jazz) double bass standards. Players with gut strings will often go a bit higher...

Home made walnut thing, Dunlop 45-105 nickel roundwounds;
2mm, 3.5mm, 4mm.
Medium (was quite a bit higher until a couple of weeks ago)

Newly acquired Fender Highway One Jazz, 45-100 D'Addario Chromes flatwounds;
1mm, 2.5mm, 3mm.
This is low by my standards. It's still pretty much as it came from the shop, so I guess that's the factory spec.

Can measure my double bass if anyone's curious...

I'm going to move these two on, as I'm not using them at the moment -

Visual Sound Route 66 (Overdrive/Compression); 2 in 1 pedal, one side is a Tubescreamer style overdrive (with added bass boost), the other side is a compressor (which also does a clean boost and has a useful tone control). Used together, these provide a really versatile range of drive sounds, and the bass boost switch makes it much more bass friendly than a standard tubescreamer. I bought this new in 2004, but rarely need an overdriven sound for the bands I play with. The current version (in a smaller case) sells for £110-120, so [b]£50 posted[/b] looks like a good deal. It's in very clean condition, in the original box with manual, though the cardboard does have some cat tooth marks!

Behringer BDI21 amp modeller/DI; Handy bass EQ/Drive and DI. Cheekily based on the sansamp BDDI. Great condition, but without original packaging or manual. [b]Sold [/b]

Another quick bump as I'm now offering postage.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='563193' date='Aug 7 2009, 11:33 PM'][url="http://edinburgh.gumtree.com/edinburgh/48/43145348.html"]thingy on gumtree[/url], i copied and pasted it then forgot what it was....[/quote]
[quote]Luke - that's a Westone Thunder, de-fretted so not getting the money he wants. I think it started at £200-ish; if it gets to £50 I might have a punt...[/quote]
That'd be mine - It's on here too.
The £200 one the other week was from someone else - that would be silly money even in my opinion.

Another quick question; does the midrange Q control adjust the centre frequency, or the width of the band boosted/cut?

[quote name='doctorbass' post='560645' date='Aug 4 2009, 09:26 PM']Thats a late 60s or early 70s Telecaster bass[/quote]

OK, fair enough! I'm no vintage Fender expert.
It [i]is[/i] a nice example of a single coil p-style bass in a band context though, and a cool video...

Here's the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNzilDmPpCg"]The Meters[/url] with a 50's P. Cool stage clothes too - wish I could get away with a suit like that...

Nice! Reminds me of the old Golden Wonder cheese & onion packets