chris_b

I like Billy Sheehan. His advice to do whatever you want but that everything you do must serve the music is the takeaway for me.

IMO like most of Leonard Cohen's songs, they are done better by those covering them.

I'm glad Otis decided to cover this. . . . . . . . . . Vocals start a 1:26 with this. . . . . . . . . . Joe Cocker's cover of With A Little Help From My Friends, the best cover yet, and his cover of Bobby Charles's Jealous Kind. Although he probably got that from Frankie Miller.

I don't think Lee's video does justice to the sound of this record. Listen to the original recording. Lee gets a fantastic bass sound on this song and a perfect, economical and melodic bass line.

I'd say you were fine. I doubt if there is anything other than the look that is wrong with this, and no one except you will notice it.

Many/most people change rounds to get the twang/sizzle back, which doesn't last long so they are changed more regularly. I used to change my DR rounds every year. I'm not a fan of zingy strings, so in the last 9 months the strings life was in the zone for me. After a year I thought they started to deaden too much. I've started using NYXL nickel rounds and they are less zingy and have a nice, controlled bright tone from the off and they last a long time. The current set have been on since Christmas 2018 and they still sound OK. I just haven't done enough gigs to wear them out. I wouldn't describe flats as sounding dull. I buy them (and I guess most others do) for their thump and thud and because their sound works so well with P basses. Their sound can last for many years, even decades, so they don't need to be changed.

GAS list? Three things? Gigs, gigs and more gigs.

I briefly played an Overwater Jazz bass a couple of years ago. It had Bart pu's and an East pre and was one of the best sounding basses I've heard. It weighed over 11lbs and the other Overwater, which I didn't even bother to pick up, was over 12lbs. If I played sitting down I'd already own several of these incredible basses, but I don't so owning one will remain an unfulfilled dream.

My Whirlwind instrument cable cost me a fortune in the early 90's and had a 25 year guarantee. I laughed at the thought of using a cable for that length of time. The Guarantee ran out 5 years ago and I'm still using it! That makes it the cheapest cable I've owned. I coil my cables correctly and never stand on them, even so, the cheaper cables I was using before the Whirlwind didn't last more than a few years at most. So some expensive cables are definitely worth their price. Now Dave's stopped making them, if I needed another cable I'd have a look at Whirlwind.

Me too. I'm a plug and play guy so extreme use of the EQ always means it's not the amp for me. If all parts of the signal chain compliment each other it requires less work to get a consistently better sound throughout different songs, bands, stages and venues.

I took mine to Barefaced and got them to do it. Much easier.

Ah, Churchfield Road, location of the Winchester Club, Maurice Plaquet, where I bought my first bass and the Rocket, the last pub in the area I knew of where you could still get a light and bitter and 10 Woodbines for 2/6. I've just looked and the Rocket is a Gastro pub these days!! It was one of the worst dumps in West London when I knew it. You could go there at lunchtime but never in the evenings. Both of these reminiscences from the 60's, so probably before your time, Pete.

Neil Jason, another fantastic bassist I didn't know much about. Delving into his history as we speak.

If you like the D800 and want "more" I'd suggest the D800+. I briefly owned a D800, which I liked a lot, but the Aguilar AG700 won out in the end.

My bass only gets cleaned if I'm selling it. And me? I never wash either.

I'm not judging other people's ability to hear stuff I can't hear.

They can do, and I know 2 that do. A drummer I know has solid silver core cables to the monitors in his studio and at one point Astoria studios had cryogenic frozen Evidence Audio cables.

If I'm wrong I apologise. I'll go with Indonesia.

Recording studios don't use bell wire for a reason. So quality of design, materials and manufacturing will have an effect on cables as they do for every other product. If the rest of your system and your ears are good enough then a difference in cables could be noticeable. Lee Sklar has a story about a Toto tour, when he and the sound guy compared cables and wireless and they could hear that cable sounded better. So if your ears are good enough then cables at different price points are an option. The best option is to let others make their choices based on what they hear rather than on what you hear.

I've heard plenty of players using Markbass amps and cabs and they all sounded pretty good to me.The LM3 has gone from SS to class D and from Made in Italy to Made in China, but if a company has its ears in the right place none of that should matter. My LM2, from many years ago, was a great sounding amp. I would expect the LM3 to be the same. And if you look around there are pro players using them too, including Joe Dart.

Alex Clabber. He designs and builds the cabs and runs the Barefaced company. Email him from the Barefaced website.

I'm betting my OBBM cables will out last me.

Ask Alex.

Playing with two drummers has been on my bucket list since I heard that James Brown used two. Sadly I discovered that only one played at a time! Then we supported the Doobie Brothers in the early 70's and with their two drummers the sound was immense. I think that opportunity has gone. These days I don't play gigs with big enough stages.