silverfoxnik

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='324538' date='Nov 7 2008, 09:55 PM']I think a ban on people who think there should be a ban on cat pics should be implemented, punishable by Sandy Toksvig in a leotard.[/quote] That is f***ing funny! Back on topic... I think Basschat is a fantastic place but just because it's good now, doesn't mean it couldn't be improved in a few ways. Personally, I am not a fan of MySpace/facebook type stuff and the socialising features here work more than well enough for me.. But something along the shopfront line could work really well. IMO, opportunities to develop the Basschat brand would make a lot of sense, especially if itwould bring in more advertising which would then in turn help the site grow without putting too high a cost on the members Having said that, I'm with Bob on the annual fees/subs issue; I use this place so much I'd happily pay an annual subscription for the privilege. Think about it - Basschat has over 4000 members.. If only 2000 of those paid £5 or £10 a year, that would give the Mods some very useful resources to develop Basschat for the future..

[quote name='Hamster' post='324569' date='Nov 7 2008, 10:49 PM']Looking forward to the South East Easter Bash! - hopefully next time I won't have to leave early for an audition. I now have access to a school with a purpose built 200 seat auditorium/theatre in Addlestone which might be a very good venue as long as members don't mind the next bash being so close to the last one?[/quote] Sounds interesting!! A Basschat Bash followed by a gig night perhaps....

Hi Folks, It's been a busy week (as per usual) and sometimes when it all gets too stressful, the first thing I think of when going home that I know will chill me out is picking up a bass and having a noodle around for half an hour! But it doesn't usually pan out that way because the first thing that happens when I walk through the door is kids/family mayhem etc, etc, and quite rightly so as they come first. Which means I tend to skulk around much later on practicing the bass with the headphones on, which is never quite the same thing. Is it just me with this scenario or does this sound all too familiar to anyone else?? Nik

Hi Folks, I'm pleased to say that I paid a cheque into Basschat coffers today for [b]£186.06[/b], which is half of the funds raised at September's Bash! The other half of the funds raised has been paid to 'Enable Me', the disability charity that I work for.. In total, over £500 was raised through the event which is amazing, but after paying for room hire and other costs on the day, the total raised for the good causes was just under £400! So this is a good opportunity for me to thank everybody who helped make it happen (especially Merton, WalMan & JohnnyLager) and also, a good opportunity to thank everybody else who either came to the Bash itself or who contributed by making donations etc. Cheers Nik

[quote name='Gwilym' post='323830' date='Nov 6 2008, 11:07 PM']hey ho, 'bout time I got some pr0n up in here! I mentioned a bit about my new BN5 [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=30484"]on this thread[/url], and here is the beast... [attachment=15672:DSCN2189.JPG] [attachment=15673:DSCN2191.JPG] [attachment=15674:DSCN2192.JPG] [url="http://www.fbass.com/"]More info about them on the F-Bass website[/url] I'll try to get some sound clips up and some sort of review too, when I find some time. Cheers G[/quote] Hi Gwil, That's quite something! I won't even dare ask what they cost but work of that calibre doesn't come cheap! Look forward to hearing the soundclips Nik

[quote name='Shaggy' post='323333' date='Nov 6 2008, 12:15 PM']Could be wrong, but I remember him starting on a mid-70's natural / maple neck Precision fretless, moving onto a Ibanez Artist Musican fretless around '80, and then various others until the '50's P / telecaster relatively recently. I always liked his sound best with the Ibanez - on "Message in a bottle", "Walking on the moon" etc (the reason I got one around the same time)[/quote] +1 I've always fancied one of those Ibby's myself..

[quote name='molan' post='322871' date='Nov 5 2008, 06:46 PM']If you want an easy to transport, voltage switchable, head with decent power & a valve in the pre then you could do a lot worse than Genz Shuttle 6.0. If you get the gig bag as well you can bring it back as hand luggage. I did that earlier this year & US customs were fine with it, just had to go through the scanner on its own & not in a case with anything else. I haven't giged it yet but the core tone is nice & there's a fair bit of flexibility.[/quote] I've just recently bought an Eden Nemesis NA 650 s/h here on Basschat and took it round to Bass_Ferrets last week to give it a whirl and compare it to his Genz Shuttle 6.0. My first impressions after comparing size, weight etc (on which the Genz won hands down), were that the Genz is a much more direct and modern sounding head (in a good way) than the Nemesis, which Bass_Ferret described as more 'old school' tonally. I think I'd agree with that description too and though I tend to favour a more old school sound, the Genz delivered not only in the sense that it has that more punchy and clean modern sound, but with the tube pre-amp, it was very easy to make it warmer and dirtier sounding as well. I was very, very impressed with the Genz I have to say, though it was paired with Genz speakers which may partly explain why it sounded much more 'present' and punchy than the Nemesis did in that setting.. Having said all of that, I took the Nemesis and my SWR Triad to a rehearsal on Sunday and was very happy with it when used with my Roscoe Beck and a DBX MC 6 compressor.. Plenty of volume, very good sound when set flat and the e.q. options worked really well.

[quote name='bassplace' post='323119' date='Nov 6 2008, 12:10 AM']More news... [url="http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/walbassesnaturally/message/11350"]http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/walba...y/message/11350[/url][/quote] Yes, it's all finally coming together it would seem Dunc, so congratulations to Paul Herman for doing that!

Very nice! You don't often see Bill Lawrence p/ups on a Lakland; what are they like? My Roscoe Beck 5 has Bill Lawrence designed p/ups and they sound great IMO..

Got to say the two Zoom units I've had, i.e. the B2 & B2 1.u, have been great.. One of the best value FX units around IMO..

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='320021' date='Nov 2 2008, 11:10 AM']Why do people like vintage cars? Why not buy a fibreglass replica so there's no rust. You could fit the engine out of a new Mondeo to achieve total reliability while using lead-free petrol and producing much-reduced emissions. Obviously you'd use modern suspension units rather than those silly leaf-spring thingies. And all that awful leather to clean, especially once it gets all cracked - put some nice PVC in there instead. The market is flooded with cheap copies of some of my vintage basses. Many of those cheap copies play really very well and are pretty good basses in their own right. Doesn't stop them being cheap copies, mind. Why are old basses so good? I'll go into politician mode and say, that's the wrong question. Confucious he say, "There are two types of fool. One says, 'This is old, so it's good.' Other says, 'This is new, so it's better'." Old basses aren't "good" or "bad" because they're old. What they are is "old". 1) Old basses (and other instruments, of course) are rare, certainly rare compared to new ones. 2) Old basses which have survived for 30/40/50 years are usually either rather good to play (else they'd have been junked by now) or have lived most of their lives in a case under the bed (and are in pristine condition). 3) Old and rare things almost invariably attract a market. One of the best-known shops in Denmark Street just calls itself [i]Vintage & Rare[/i]. 4) Old basses which command a premium price (for whatever reason, no matter how silly) are a good investment. That doesn't always mean you'll make a profit, but it does mean that at least you'll minimise your losses. 5) In the entirely hypothetical example of a bass player with too many basses, perhaps even someone on this very forum, wishing to buy yet another bass, it becomes possible to explain to Mrs. Happy (damn! what a giveaway) that the money isn't being "spent" ... it's being "invested". 6) Old basses are also good at sparking discussions. It's not common to see threads started on subjects such as The New Nevada P-Bass, or Do 2007 Westfields sound better than 2005 Westfields? 7) Finally, old basses have history. Blindingly obvious, of course, but a surprising number of people forget about it. Every time I pick up a vintage bass, I'm aware of an invisible chain of earlier owners/players picking it up before me, and I wonder what they played and whether or not they were better than me. Yeh I know, lots of people look at me a bit funny when I say things like that. I'm really not a New-Age-y sort of person y'know, I just have a keen sense of history.[/quote] In the main I've got to agree with Happy Jack's comments on this topic... But I think it's fair to say that: (i) not all new basses are good (ii) not all old vintage basses are good However and in my personal experience, when I've played a vintage bass that is good, then they've been really, really good. I can't explain why and I'm quite prepared to admit that I might be fooling myself but I've owned a pre-Ernie Ball Stingray that was fabulous and much better (to my ears anyway) than any Ernie Ball 'Ray I've played. CK's vintage Ray is a phenomonal sounding instrument and a good case in point.. Having said that, I had a '66 Jazz once and I didn't like it much at all so who knows; maybe it's just as well we all like different things?

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='319438' date='Nov 1 2008, 12:58 AM']Went to see Bernie the other night with my Genz Benz rig, and althought the EBS was a better sound, they cant compete with the weight and size of the class D stuff like Markbass and Genz Benz. Consequently Bernie has some ex-demo EBS Classic Line going for very good prices. This is to rock what the regular EBS is to slap and hi fi sound. Weight wise its between the Proline and the Neoline cabs and I have to say it sounds very good. Worth a call if you are long haired and low bassed, without pandering to stereotypes at all.[/quote] +1 I saw Bernie yesterday and there was a lot of nice EBS gear in the building.. Best thing to do is give him a call if you're looking for something as they are definitely going to be good deals to be had.. [url="http://www.gbguitars.co.uk/"]http://www.gbguitars.co.uk/[/url]

Spent a very pleasant evening Thursday with John trying out his fabulous GB Spitfire, EBS Micro Bass II and his Genz Benz rig, which were all stunning.. And because I'm looking for a really effective way of using basses with very diffferent output levels at gigs, John very patiently showed me just how versatile the Microbass is, which entailed him taking his pedal board apart virtually to demonstrate. Add in the beer, his 4 string KSD that is strung B-E-A-D (which sounds surprisingly good like that) and a chance to talk about loads of bass/music related stuff, it was great. Thanks John.. Good to spend time with a fellow Basschatter who really knows his stuff! We must do it again at some point if & when some new gear comes our way?? Nik Nik

[quote name='Sibob' post='319269' date='Oct 31 2008, 06:32 PM']Mine is a success story so far as well! In my opinion, a manager doesn't organise the day to day running of a band, they are your connection to the industry! You employ them for their contacts and their savvy! Touting you about to the people who matter, getting people talking about you etc! Their job is not to get gigs or tours (although this does happen sometimes as a bi-product), their job is not to get you rehearsing, it is not to run your myspace!. Further down the line they will organise and run your diary, but that's about it, they will then start to organise an infrastructure of people around you. Agents for gigs, Tour Managers for tours, Press & PR people, Endorsements etc etc They will of course make sure you are meeting the deadlines you are supposed to meet, and kick you up the arse once in a while, but it is down to the band to sort their daily routines IMO! (I'm talking at toilet-circuit level). It seems to me that any people that have had negative experiences have usually done so because: A ) it was their brothers cousins dog who was doing it, not someone with decent industry contacts B ) they believed that EVERYTHING was to be done by the manager C ) didn't have the contract checked out well enough and were stitched up D ) they simply didn't 'make it' and are bitter All of these things are very easy to overcome of you stay on top of the day-to-day running of your own band! But realise that not many people within the industry will take notice of a 'self-managed' band contacting them, unless they have a massive following and simply can't ignore them. Each 'scene' within the music industry is very tight knit, everyone knows each other, and so having a decent manager within those circles is priceless! Si[/quote] That's a very astute take on it Si and all bar a few exceptions where bands are so good or so popular (like the Dave Matthews Band in the States), I'd say pretty spot-on as an assessment.. The best thing IMO is to be really sorted as a band and then employ a manager at the right time for you, who is also very focused..

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='319088' date='Oct 31 2008, 02:41 PM']I couldn't be happier with my manager We've got a kinda weird management deal though, its in two parts with two guys. We've got one guy, local to us, almost like a 5th member of the band. We've known him for years and he's a musician himself. Other guy is Rod Jones from idlewild, but he lives all the way up in edinburgh! Everything goes through all of us and we all have to agree on things ot they don't happen. Since management, we've got major label interest, a supports tour, and another one coming, played live on the radio, had music on the radio, got a radio plugger, lawyer. Management couldn't have gone better for us! -Jake[/quote] Good to hear a positive spin on things Jake.. Are idlewild still a going concern themselves?