PatrickJ

So, here's a question .. Assuming you had no constraints with money, space or logicisitcs which Bass Guitar AND / OR Amplifier would you buy from the items currently available in the BC market place ??

I recently went to BD to try out some Sandbergs (one of which came home with me) - they were more than happy for me to do so. I asked for some headphones, they set me up in the corner and left me to it. After I finished I had a great chat with who I assume was the infamous Mark.

Lies, all lies

I'm with you, when I was looking for a new pedal pre-amp anything less than a 4 band or parametric EQ was ruled out.

Good luck with the tour, where are you playing and when?? i checked you guys out on YT, I liked the cover of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Great inspiration for the likes of me, about to hit 40 and only just getting into the gigging thing.

I had one of these but sent it back to Anderton's as I was getting loads of noise on the gain channel. They tested and said it was faulty but didn't have another in stock to replace it so I got a refund. It's made me nervous to buy another but I am tempted as I constantly hear great things, and I think they look awesome .

Just seen this on YouTube.. Loving it!

Thanks guys. I think I've shortlisted 2 singers so will probably just book them in for individual auditions on separate nights I'll aim for a hour with each but if things go will may extend that on the night

Thanks for the advice thus far. I'm definitely checking them out before hand through e-mail conversations and asking for some sort of recording. I want to avoid a complete disaster. I'm also showing them some rehearsal videos of us along with sample set lists so they know what they are getting into..

How do you guys audition / select new band members? Our band is looking for a new singer! Through JMB and Gumtree I've got a few people I'd like to audition but having never done this before I'm not sure what the standard approach is. I'll have 3 or 4 people to see and I was thinking of perhaps asking them to learn 2 or 3 songs off our standard set list. We normally rehearse 8-10pm, so perhaps have one come at 815 for 30 mins and one at 915 and doing this over a couple of weeks . Is this a sensible fairly typical approach?

This might help

I've not read that thread but I do think it's another example of content posted on BC that may turn some away from this community.

+1, put a free notice up on Joinmyband.com and see what responses you get. I've done this a few times now because I wanted to be able to dictate rehearsal schedules etc. Singers are a bit of a pain to find but drummers and guitarists are easier.

I have a pretty modest collection, just 3 basses. Think in total I've had six pass through my hands; the only one I regret selling was my Warwick GPS Corvette 5. 2 reasons I regret moving it on, firstly I lost a fair bit of money on the sale but the bigger reason is the nostalgia factor - it was the bass I played my first gig with :(. I've bought the two 4 string PJ basses over the past six months. Although the 5 string Jazz has been my gigging bass since gig 1 I'm now tempted to move it on as I haven't played it since getting the PJs. Those things are so damn versatile, I have one strung with rounds and one with flats. Our set list no longer has lots of different tunings which was the original reason I went for the five so it now seems a bit redundant. My only concern would be the resale value of a Mayones guitar. I wouldn't want to lose a ton of cash on another bass sale (perhaps selling it through the Bass Gallery or some where similar is an option, not sure what they take as commission).

Wow, never expected to see my home town mentioned here on Basschat. I moved away a long time ago but my parents still live there - chances are I might visit them at New Year's, might see if I can score a ticket and come to the show!

Hubba hubba! Check out that bassist's rack ya'll (His rack mounted gear obviously)

I was wondering the same thing. In my short tenure here I'm not sure I've seen many female bass players post on Bass chat (maybe 1) which is a shame - it would be great to have more diversity, I have a perception that female bass players are much more prominent than they are with other instruments.

I agree with some of the comments above in that you'll probably get better results tuning down a semi-tone for the whole set and playing the songs in standard tuning up a semitone. Unless you use a lot of open strings (no one does that right??) I can't see that being too much of a problem. I've not use one of those specific pedals with a Bass guitar but I had a whammy DT pedal which included the same functionality / circuit when I used to play six string . Although the pitch adjustments worked great the tone of the note was very synthetic sounding and I hated it. If you use OD post pitch adjustment it might hide that enough in the mix so that you won't notice. There's also a slight delay in the note being produced - not a problem normally but if your playing fast runs can be a bit of an issue - perhaps more so on the guitar. If you have a second bass maybe you could keep them in separate tunings and use something like the Radial Big Shot I/O to switch between them?

I won't suggest a specific string as I think that's very much personal preference. For the sort of sound you are looking for I'd suggest nickel plated roundwound strings on a round core.

I'm currently using LaBella flats on my Sandberg PJ bass. These are my first venture into the realm of flats, I like the feel of themand lack of string noise but I'm not 100% sold on the overall tone. I'd like to try some Ernie Ball Slinky flatwounds (the cobalt ones) next which are supposed to be brighter and more roundwound sounding -they are pretty darn expensive though - around £50 a set which is holding me back.

The compact 4 looks really interesting. I don't know much about PJB gear - any thoughts on this cab ?

In the rock genre two I haven't seen mentioned yet are Muse and Dream Theatre are worth checking out. Chris Wolfstenhome is very prominent in Muse's music and John Myung for DT has some great bass playing (look at Pull Mr Under, there's a couple of good bass play along videos on YouTube. Outside of Rock check out Joe Dart in Vulfpeck - again very much at the forefront of their music (tracks like Beastly, Wait For The Moment and Lost My Treble). Michael League of Snarky Puppy is another to check out. As well as being the humble bass player he's the band leader and does a lot of the compositional work for their music - inspiring for me as it proves being a musician is not about the instrument you play.

That was the general sound I got from my B3K whenever I turned it on

Just got back from seeing Caro Emerald. Tickets were a birthday present for the misses as she's a fan but have to say it was an enjoyable evening. Band were super tight and sounded great (not a single amp on stage, not even a Marshall stack for the annoying guitarist). Jeroen Vierdag (I believe he was the bassist) was excellent playing upright , electric and keyboard bass at various points through the night. Was most impressed by the horn section though - Sax and trumpet, loads of eneegy, in sync movement, great solo's!