chris_b

Poor old Van. He's bitter and twisted to the max. Having a drink problem and being seriously ripped off in the early days (he still only gets about 0.5% for much of his early material) doesn't help.

When Gibson have dealt with these legacy issues, they have to ensure that they put the quality (that's been missing for a decade or two) back into their instruments and that price points are realistic. I know 2 guitarists who started buying Gibson copies from Japan because they wouldn't live with the shortcomings of Gibson instruments. If Gibson can get guys like this back then their company might have a future.

Anyone with a Gibson "copy" on their catalogue had better be reassessing their instrument line up, because Gibson is coming for them. The new Gibson management are trying to dig their company out of the hole the previous management left it in, and re-establishing their copyrights/patents, whatever legally covers this thing, has to be high on their, very long, to do list. It might be annoying to players but as far as Gibson are concerned, rescuing their designs has to be part of any good business plan.

. . . . on the other hand, who is doing the stealing? For a couple of decades now, a very large part of Youtube and the rest of the internet has been full of stuff being reproduced without permission or payment to the original artist or writer. The artists seemed to have largely given up the fight over the use of their property, but I'm surprised that the publishers have taken so long to get to grips with the internet. Now they have, the genie appears to be being put back into the bottle! Currently the pendulum appears to have swung too far the other way, but in the end I would imagine the best course of action is for the owners and users of copyrighted material get together and form licence agreements for what they need.

Bassdirect at Warwick would be a good place to look.

Depends why you picked up a bass in the first place. Maybe people should have played golf instead.

Pretty early on I realised that the gig is the only reason I play bass. It's not why I picked up the instrument. After that first gig I was traumatised, but after the second gig I was hooked. The bigger the audience the bigger the buzz when you get it right. Trying to be a better musician and come together and excel as a band is the challenge and when you get it right there is no better feeling. When an audience is enjoying itself and you know that's because of you, it just brings a smile to your face. The journey, the idiots you meet, the miles you have to travel, unsocial hours, the years of practice, getting ripped off, cheated and treated badly by agents, managers, promoters and other band members etc. . . all fades away if you get those few hours on stage right.

Get your sound out of the Sei. Make Marcus Miller jealous 'cos he doesn't sound like you.

The oldest thing I'm still gigging with is my 30 years old Whirlwind instrument cable. It had a guarantee period of 25 years. That made me laugh at the time, but hey, they were right! It shares duty with my OBBM cable. Oldest stuff that I've still got lying around. . . . the VOX name plate and front cloth, off my Foundation cab, circa 1966. Also a set of used Rotosound strings and a Framus Star bass bridge from the same era. My shed is an Aladdin's cave of useless junk, if you are my wife, or what I would describe as a store of interesting memorabilia! I also still have my Precision, which I bought new in March 1969, sitting in its case right behind me.

If you think these cabs sound good together then run them on a gig and see if gig volume exposes any chinks, but I'd have thought the BBT and a One10 will be a pretty unbalanced pairing, putting a strain on the One10.

My clear sound (at any volume) is Aguilar AG700 or Thunderfunk TF750 amps through 2 Barefaced 112 cabs.

If your sound is being smothered and you need to be heard in a band that is too loud then one way is to clean up your sound. I dep with a very loud guitarist and while I am not as loud as his regular bass player, apparently I am more easily heard out in the room, because my gear has a better definition and cuts through. +1 for hearing protection. Start using it while you know you don't need it!

Would we tell anyone else what instruments or sounds they should be using? I'm surprised at the stories about people who feel it's appropriate to tell the bass player how to do their job? If someone you respect offers constructive criticism then take notice but don't wast your time listening to negative nonsense from people who don't know a bar of music from a bar of soap.

I did a favour for some friends last month. They were stuck for a bass player for an unpaid charity gig. A festival in a field and several bands. The guys who set up the stage got paid, as did the sound guys, the stall holders made money, security got paid and maybe the guy who owned the field got paid. The musicians were the only ones working for free. I wonder why that was? Why would the musicians be the ones expected to work for nothing? Maybe we are the only ones gullible enough? Maybe it's because so many musicians don't realise what they do has value.

You are right. I was looking at the wrong page. Your amp is 500 watts. Sorry about that!

Clarky, I get that kind of sound with my TH500 amp, but I saw someone getting that rich warm sound using an EBS Valvedrive pedal into a Markbass amp and Super Compact cab.

I played my Fender P in a folk group in the 70's. We used to play with the likes of Mike Chapman, who had a duo with Rick Kemp, also playing a P bass. We used to borrow Pentangle's Orange gear. Several stacks of back line and big PA, all for acoustic instruments. My last foray was about 10 years ago, playing my 5 string Lakland in a duo with an acoustic guitarist. It's all in the fingers!!

Your amp is 225 watts at 4 ohm. That's why you have a problem at loud volume levels. You can change it all at once but the scatter gun approach might not work. Your problem is an underpowered amp so I'd keep the cabs for now. I'd be looking at 500 watt amps and maybe even the Quilter BB800.

If you're playing a function you've got to have a 5 string. If the set contains any Bee Gees, Beyonce, Jesse J , Bruno Mars, Mark Ronsen, etc you're nailing it with a 5.

This just what happens when some bands will play for nothing and others are happy to pay to play. This country doesn't value musicians.

Good move.

. . . I'd also make the point that if your left hand technique is good then the size/depth/width of the fretboard/neck is less important. If you use a full handed grip on the neck then size/depth/width are going to be noticeable. If you place your thumb in the middle of the neck and arch your fingers over the neck to the strings, so only thumb and fingertips are touching the bass, then the size will be less of an issue.

I have used a 5 string bass exclusively since the mid 90's. That's in all forms and styles of music, from functions, to covers of every decade, to reggae, to blues, to folk music. 4 strings are no more suitable than any other number of strings in any style of music. When are bass players going to understand that what you play is far more important than what you use as the tools for the job. 5 and 6 string basses were normalised over 40 years ago. Why are we still having these conversations and experiencing these prejudices?

The Far East makers seem to use narrower spacings, but I see a lot of 18mm and 19mm string spacing 5ers in the US makes.

Maybe not for the volume, but a second cab gives you a big step forward in the tone.