Stub Mandrel

I think the hardest thing is to make an honest assessment of your own playing. In the last few weeks two people have said exactly this to me, one a guitarist the other a bassist. I have no idea how my own playing measures up; I know I'm not completely crap and I'm certain I'm far from being a virtuoso. I don't think I've learned anything that gets rated as harder than 'intermediate' on the tab sites! I comfort myself by claiming to be 'competent'... The truth is, 50% of bass players are below average!* Beginners will always over-estimate their abilities - because that's true of human beings in almost any learning situation, but being below average doesn't mean you are crap, and its more important to encourage beginners than criticise them, not least because the right encouragement might see them become a virtuoso. *ish.

Check out the video the lad posted above. He's a youngster who obviously has no technical background. Looking back at this thread and the soundonsound one it's pretty obvious that every time he asks a 'simple' question he gets long answers that make him, in his uncertainty and insecurity, start worrying about other issues. I feel sorry for the guy, he's branded a troll when I can't help feeling its the '15" speakers are for discos' and 'you need to look at the SPL not the wattage' posts that are putting him in a spin. The Thomann boxes are ideal for what he wants to do, the only advice he needs is to find someone who will help him set it up to suit his style.

Well I wasn't pushing it. I put the tone controls at 12 and switched off the compression and sub-octave, then slightly wound up the bass to get the tone I wanted. In fairness if I had got the gain past nine o'clock it might have sounded completely different. I've been out of 'the game' for a long time but I prefer to speak from my experience of trying these things rather than what I've read about different amps etc. The one gig I've done since 'coming back' I was faced with a Marshall MB150 bass combo I'd never seen before, it had 'modern' and 'classic' channels so I went straight for the classic channel - and in the short time I had to try it it sounded absolutely awful. I switched to the modern channel and it was easy to get a sound I liked.

Apparently I'm supposed to start my own topic... What can I say? I'm a really sound dude. Groovy. Fab. Gear. Yeah, like....

'Signature' was a bit tongue in cheek, but there are plenty of well-known bass players out there whose sounds are every different and it's far from all down to playing style or choice of instrument. I don't claim every backstreet bassist is unique, but equally valid to ridicule the idea that every bass player sounds the same? Or to say it's valid for someone to put in the effort to get a sound they like. If you're an established band fans have an expectation of what you are going to sound like and that isn't necessarily the clearest, most balanced, crispest sound. People don't want to hear a stoner metal band sounding like pop-punk. I know I sound very different though my tiny Orange crush and my big Laney - and it's not just the size 'cos the Orange crush sounds more like an SVT than the Laney does. Plus the Orange makes all sorts of basses sound more or less the same and the Laney highlights the differences between them (as does an Ashdown wghich are very transparent). Still learning my way around the Trace but it's different to all the others. Are you saying that all these differences I hear are invalid because no-one else will hear them so I should let someone else choose for me?

"No Way!" "Way!"

Yes, but there's a world of difference between being a pro band with your own PA and sound engineer who can give you your signature sound and having to accept whatever the house engineer feels is appropriate for you.

"The coating material is preferably a U-V or EB curable coating selected from one of the following chemistries: silicone acrylate, urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate, polyester acrylate, vinyl ethers and cationic cure epoxides." Full details of the process here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060174745 The irony of patent protection is that to get it you have to detail the process sufficiently well enough for others to copy it.

Ignorance and/or ego. It worries me, this. No-one, absolutely no-one, fails to recognise that the sound of the amp is as essential to guitarist's sound as the guitar itself. Yet bass players are supposed to abdicate their sound to 'what the soundman thinks is best'? The relative cost and quality of the kit is irrelevant; it's the sound you get that matters and if you have spent a great deal of effort to get a sound that suits your style, the music you play and the band you play with why should the audience have to accept some identikit sound? IMHO the job of a PA is to be as transparent as possible, and that's why a good PA is so expensive. Even in my limited experience of being recorded, and DI'd, both times the engineers got me in the control room and sought my advice on the sound I wanted and involved me in that aspect of the mix.

Stonehouse in Crumlin tomorrow night. Are you on here Dave?

De14 home of branston pickle, marmite, marstons pedigree and me!

Thanks for the kind offer. I have been offered one from France .

So get an Operations Director in before investors impose one on you...

I read the ad as saying "Scott has loads of ideas and has grown the business to this point but has some issues... one he wants to focus the creative and teaching not the business side, two he wants someone who can harness his wild ideas and make them into a practical business startegy and three, they can do this without pissing him off beacuse the team enjoy what they are doing and don't want someone to come in and kill the atmosphere." Obvious places to go... other instruments, recording etc. - develop the brand for wider audiences building on an existing good reputation. Look for ways to affiliate with physical music schools. Investigate real life masterclasses and workshops that get filmed. Merch, shop. Assigmments where you ge a piece, record yourself and get feedback. Tutors who aren't Scott but have charisma and can develop their own instruments/areas. Child friendly lessons. Snack-size videos that only last 5-10 minutes. Feature vids 'meet a member' 'members basses' etc. etc. Online magazine with news and long-lived content, some behind a paywall, Different models for making it pay.... Anyone including these ideas in their application, I want 10% 🙂 P.S. sorry for spilling - using my laptop with crummy keyboard.

D'oh theres one about 15 miles from me. I'll call in.

The problem with leaving a clip on tuner in place is everyone thinks you are a poseur with a Go-Pro 🙂

Philistine 🙂

Presumaly the tiny buttons on some fenders are marketing ploy to push those...

Not being facetious, as I would like to get this right... where am I going wrong? 56 / 1.414 = 39.6V RMS P=V^2 / R 39.6*39.6 = ~1600 1600 / 4 =400W Alternatively I = 39.6/4 = ~10A P = I * V 39.6 * 10 = ~400W

Just settling down in an incredible hostel on Dartmoor that's a WW1 hut moved here in the 30s! On the way I met up with the legendary @stewblack and exchanged some grubby notes for a lovely old Westone 1A which willbe restored to its riginal glory, complete with a nice padded bag :-) I never reallised that his pink curly hair was real! TopBloke!

I don't! I had lovely long hair before that. This was my Graham Bonnet phase - it didn't last long...