chris_b

IMO playing ahead of the beat doesn't work when everyone is doing it, or you all speed up. You have to have someone to be ahead of! Leaning into the beat was my way of pushing bad or dragging drummers along and trying making the song sound more "alive". Thankfully I haven't played with a drummer like that for many years, but I can quite enjoy myself playing behind the beat, in the right band.

I use a Barefaced One10 and my Aguilar TH500. A great sound and a cut above your average practice amp for tone, even at front room levels of volume.

I used to focus on tone. I thought it was my get out of jail free card. My thinking was, if I sounded good I could get away with the mistakes and when I wasn't playing so well! Then the penny dropped, how you sound is only 10% of your playing. What most people hear and care about is the other 90%, the bit that is what you play and how you play it. Of course the only thing the band care about is, do you get your round in.

They are two sides of the same coin.

Thanks guys.

That's a shame. I was thinking maybe I'd get a 100% UK made rig before I pop my clogs. Back to the drawing board!!

I'd believe Lozz when he says the Ashdown is the louder of the 2. If I was choosing between the two, right now, I'd buy the Ashdown. They are a good amp, with a good reputation and made in the UK. I believe the SVT3-PRO is currently being made in China. These days trying to support home-grown businesses is an important consideration for me.

It seems some judge lightness against the heavy end of the scale. So a 40lb cab will be light compared to an SVT 810. I judge lightness against the lightest cabs, so my 21lb Super Compact is a lightweight. In this context a 30lb cab is pretty light but a 40lb cab is not.

I used an SVT3-PRO for 8 years (with Mesa 210 and 115 EV cabs) and there was no lack of power. I play 5 string basses and it easily kept up in a very loud Rock-Blues guitar trio.

Rereading the original post, I wouldn't say that bassists are "obsessed with sustain". Well, I don't know any who are. Sustain is an option, like preamps, 5 strings, fretless etc and like all options people will pick and choose.

You can do a lot in the studio that doesn't work on stage. Playing live and trying to recreate the recorded sound is where some of these difficulties arise.

Wood isn't neat and tidy. That's why so many like it.

Others may not have a need for sustain and might be wondering why anyone would think it is a good idea, but I've needed long notes in slow songs where I wanted them to sound strong for the duration. For sustain read slow decay. 2 bars was just an example, I've had basses that would struggle to be heard after 1 bar because the note died away too quickly. Long sustain might not be a regular requirement but as I said, a bass that can sustain well usually sounds great on the short notes too. I had to play Boys Of Summer in a band and I was happy my bass held those long notes, with a good tone, for most of the 4 bars. Most players won't notice what levels of sustain they have, which is fine. I just disagree with people who don't need it telling me I don't either!!

No one needs sustain, until you do. What do you do for the other bar and a half when you're asked to play a song where a note that should hang on for 2 bars dies out in 2 beats? My take is that a good sustain is sign of a well made bass. IME a bass that sustains well is going to sound better on all the notes, even the short ones. Using sustain is another useful technique. A bass that leaves me hanging for that bar and a half is no use to me.

Last night I watched a BBC4 retrospective (off the hard drive) on Toots and the Maytals. I just love that guy. They interviewed a lot of people who worked with him over the years and mostly they described the guy who coined the term Reggae as a Soul singer. Even his own band said that. Tonight I'm watching the Toots at Glasto program.

Many years ago I played with a singer songwriter who was also a great pianist, good guitarist and top quality bassist. I suggested he take the bass on one of his songs, because he played it way better than I did. He said he preferred what I played because it was different to what he would play and he wanted that difference. A confidence boosting comment that really helped me out at a time when I was feeling a little fragile.

Didn't we have a thread a year or so ago, where someone didn't like the way the grain fell on the 2 body pieces of a naturally finished bass? I guess wood goes further if you make something out of multiple smaller pieces. That matters to some people and no to others. There's a great bass out there for everyone, you just got to keep looking. It's good that the OP has found that bass.

Seems to me the OP just doesn't like the look of that bass. Which is fine. IMO there is no reasonable way to extrapolate that dislike out and start questioning the quality and build of a manufacturers whole output. Lakland is a quality act, but we are talking about a manufacturing process and in QC things can slip through the net. You can even order a bass and not like the look of it when it arrives. Is that covered by QC? The OP is happy now, ironically, with a bass from a company that historically has had serious QC issues.

I've played in several bands with bassists who had moved to other instruments. I replaced the bass player when he moved to front the band as a singer. I also played with a guitar and keys playing singer who was a far better bass player than I'll ever be. I was in a band once where we had 3 bassists and a drummer. Both guitarists were bassists in a previous life and both were very good at it. That was a good band.

I reckon the rehearsal was earlier, where all the mistakes and ideas that didn't work were ironed out. The video was them dotting the I's and crossing the T's for the cameras and as has already been said, it was being filmed so no one was "off-duty".

I think his hearing's top end is shot. He needs to reduce the treble and add more balance in his sound.

I have regularly played with musicians who I considered/knew were better than me. Being inspired by the guys you're playing with is the fun part of a gig. That doesn't intimidate me, but taking notice and raising your game, trying to climb on their shoulders, is what makes you a better player.

I spent 2015-18 with 2 SC's. Then 2019 with an SM and SC. In 2020 I was going to be using an SM and BB2. I guess that'll have to wait until next year. You are right, unbeatable sound.

My bass was an SR5 and the cabs were EV loaded, but I had the same rig as you!! It really was a great sound. Sold the SR for a Lakland and was very happy for about 10 years, until those RR cabs (about 90lbs each) wrecked my back!!