musicbassman

Hi peeps, I bought a set of D'Addario NYXL rounds about 4 weeks ago for a P bass and was pretty pleased with them, so I thought I'd use D'Addario rounds again for my other P. Only this time I bought a set of XT coated rounds, to see what they were like. Big mistake. The XT coated sounded like grunged up 5 year old roundwounds straight from the pack, and haven't got any better , so they're off again after just one gig. Big disappointment. Anyone else tried these ?

Played at The Stage Door in Southampton on Friday. What a great little place! All PA and lights were in house, so just had to bring a backline. A really helpful and knowledgeable sound engineer helped create a great sound for the band and the place was really busy. First pic is from my phone after we'd soundchecked, second pic is a still from a video taken during the show.

There, fixed it for you ! 🙂

I think auto-translate has let you down today, @nilorius 🙂

Really long gigs seem to be a pretty standard US thing. I played on the USAF bases in Spain in the late '70's and the resident band were contracted to play 6 nights a week (in the same venue) Mon - Fri it was 5 x 45 minute slots per night...... And then, as a special treat on the Saturday night, it was 6 x 45 minute slots............ I really don't know how my fingers survived - must have played about 25,000 notes each night ................

Suspiciously good ?

I heard about this tool a couple of years ago - below is a description for those who are curious. Would you consider having this done to correct a favourite bass that's started misbehaving? Are there many/any luthiers offering this service in the UK ? I'm guessing it's really not going to be cheap 😲 https://sfguitarworks.com/the-plek/

Just returned from an afternoon gig with a decent 7 piece south coast band who were playing outdoors at the New Forest Pride Festival. Considering the train strike, event was well attended and a good atmosphere. Unfortunately the band were struggling with a rather poor PA system and a soundman who gave the distinct impression that he’d rather not have been there at all. Only 3 monitors instead of the 6 requested, and no DI for the bass available, (‘sorry mate, it’s broken’) so I had to crank my Vanderkley/Hartke rig way up for the bass to be heard, which in turn meant that it was way too loud on stage. And as there were no monitors for bass player, drummer or keyboards, the backline had a real job trying to hear what was going on. Apparently it sounded good out front, but on stage it was a real struggle. I was trying to lip read the singer to see what she was singing. Remember guys, you can submit a technical requirements sheet for a gig to the stage manager, but when you arrive at the gig and find the PA hire company haven’t brought the right gear or some of it is broken it’s a bit late to do much about it.

Interesting and knowledgeable discussion. We're talking about skinny strings here, but same principles apply.

Wow! - bass players opening licks..... 😊 .....he's been listening to Doug Johns - and that's no bad thing :

Spinal Tap in skirts.

Sitting here with a morning cup of tea staring at my fretboard for ten minutes and I really can't fathom Bruce's word puzzle at all 😳 How we get from there to the bass perfection of 'Pump It Up' will forever be a mystery, apparently .................

It would have done me the world of good to have been put in pressurised situations like this when I was younger, so maybe the great musos I was fortunate enough to work with over the years I was pro were just too polite to point out any shortcomings in my playing. I would have railed against it at the time, but working with a bossy or mildly threatening MD or BL would have got my chops up to speed much more quickly than any number of kind words ! Didn't James Brown use to fine his band members for bum notes ?

Well, sorry guys, but maybe the BS factor is rather high here, in my opinion. Dunn was a great player, but his son has 'never wiped the sweat stains' off the back of the Lakland bass in case it destroys the mojo?? Shades of Nigel Tufnell (Spinal Tap) showing off his guitar collection here - "Don't even look at it ! " And the clickbait title suggests that the Dunn P bass had a serial of #0001 - err, no, it was the first of this model, not the first P bass. And, sorry, but the guy demonstrating the basses is hardly bringing out the best of the P's with his rather limited technique. Sorry to be so negative, but style over substance to get the clicks? Other opinions are available. I'll get my coat.

Bass player's in absolute heaven working with a drummer like that - makes everything so easy ! 😊

Nah, that's nothing... When I were a lad my fingers used to have to catch the bus to get down to the fretboard...........

I've just followed @Bigguy2017 's link, and it's only £3.82p inc the VAT, so not exactly a ball busting expense. 😊

Oh dear ! It seems I've been done. 🙁 Thanks for your suggestion, @Bigguy2017 Any other recommendations as to where to get the real thing ??? (Which would appear to be a Neutrik 2 pole, and nothing else !)

Thanks for your replies. Here are 4 pics of the plug. It was difficult to take a pic looking down the inside of the plug, so despite what the pic looks like, there are actually two contacts set opposite each other near the tip of the central post, and a further two contacts opposite each other set at 90 deg. to the central post contacts, on the side walls. Then there are also 4 contacts on the inside at the base of the plug. I've never examined another Speakon plug so I have nothing to compare this with.

No, @Barking Spiders , I thought it was really good, and apparently so did at least 3 other people. It's great seeing people being creative and having a fresh approach - to any instrument, especially bass 🙂

Hi all, I'm using a Vanderkley 212 with a Hartke LH500 head. The Hartke has jack speaker outputs, and the Vanderkley has Speakon sockets, but these are the type where you can also use a 1/4" jack in them This works fine using a standard 1/4" to 1/4" speaker cable, but I recently bought a 1/4" jack to Speakon cable and the Speakon plug makes a very poor connection into the Speakon socket in the cab - I can actually make or break the signal just by wiggling the speakon plug. I assumed that there was a break in the cable near the plug, but I'm now sure it's the Speakon plug and socket which aren't talking to each other reliably. So, I've reverted to using a standard jack to jack and everything is fine, but the jack to Speakon remains a problem. I've dismantled the Speakon plug and it all appears in order. Any ideas? Thanks

Well, we can all have fantasies, but my (possibly) more realistic wish would be to play a dep gig with Natalie Williams Soul Family........ I keep hoping that Rob Mullarkey (one of my personal bass favourites) will realise he's been double booked, and give me a call...........

For those of you who are familiar with Adam Neely's more serious offerings, here he is as a contrast making an absolute t*t of himself 'learning' how to play Metal, aided and abetted by Rob Scallon. All in good fun, and bl**dy hilarious.

.and if you're expecting to dep at wedding gigs then make sure you know A Thousand Years. I mainly do deps, and generally a setlist and keys a few days beforehand is pretty usual, but bear in mind that some bands will say " oh, we play it just like the record" but you have a nasty surprise when thay launch into the song and it's pretty unrecognisable, usually because some key ingredient is missing, like the correct chords, for example. 🥺 And if it's a popular song that's been covered by several artists then make sure you're clear about which version the band are playing, or a musical car crash might take place.