chris_b

This is right. 99% of the music recorded in the last 60 years will contain influences from a very select few writers including Lennon and McCartney. I think it was Lamont Dozier who said that when he went home in the evening he didn't listen to Motown, he listened to the Beatles, and they inspired him to be a better song writer. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys said he was in a "creativity battle" with the Beatles, which he though he had won with Pet Sounds, but admitted he'd lost when he heard Sgt Pepper. Simon and Garfunkel though their writing and records were in direct competition with the Beatles. It was a "creativity" battle and the top songwriters of the day were listening to each other and being driven to be better. At that time the only guy who was influencing everyone and probably wasn't being influenced himself, was Bob Dylan. A switch flipped around 1966 which energised rhythm sections to be more independently creative. McCartney and Ringo were at the forefront of that. If your preference is playing music created in the West, ie Europe and US, your playing has a direct line of influence going back to a few players in the mid 60's.

This. . . . You've just got to let go of the past.

IME the MU doesn't have much interest in semi pro pub gigs. Don't be coy. . . name and shame. Go into the details, leave comments on their Facebook page and review sites. Start a campaign that they can't ignore.

That tone? Nothing. A different, great bass tone. . . . lots of stuff. With the gear you list, if you have a bad back your only solution is to hire roadies. Other than that there are no PRO's for keeping heavy gear. My solution to a permanent lower back injury (because I delayed selling very heavy bass gear, that sounded too good to sell) has been to move to 6lb amps, several 23lb cabs and an 8 1/2 lb bass. It doesn't matter what your current gear sounds like. Find good sounding gear that you can carry and learn to love that sound.

I've bought 2 basses on Ebay. First was a standard win-the-bid type sale and on the second the buyer suggested I try it out and sent me his address. I gave him the cash so I guess that's what Ebay doesn't like. Making us complete the sale, then reversing it if something isn't right, gives us all of the hassle and them none!! All that cash is sitting in their bank account gathering interest! I don't use Ebay any more.

I'm always looking around to see where I can improve my sound. My AG700, TH500 and Thunderfunk are excellent amps but both the Forte HP and Mesa WD800 do look very interesting. I'm not really interested in the technical specs. A list of the features and enough positive owners reviews will be enough for me to buy one. My experience with it will be what makes me keep it. Anyway, my current thinking on gear is, what I own is good enough. If I become a better player, then maybe I could justify another upgrade.

They were, and one was a 15" cab and the other was a 12" cab. So different sized drivers will work together if they are designed to.

I have a lot of live albums. I guys I listen to were all great in the studio but as soon as the gig started there was another level of adrenaline which always made for a great recording.

I think there are companies that I wouldn't trust (the ones with marketing departments) and companies that I would trust. I've watched Alex from the early BC days, before he made the Big One, and to my knowledge he hasn't made an "inflated" claim, ever!! In the early days BF was a magnet for, "How can this be true" and "I don't believe it" comments. We don't see many of those anymore!

You don't have to believe my experience, although you have referred to it elsewhere, but if you have done your homework, ie read the information on the Barefaced website, you'll know that Alex recommends that the SC and SM compliment each other when used together. As usual he is correct.

+1 All headphones will give a better reproduction of music than any internal computer speakers can. Just buy the first ones you see. I'm using some Sony headphones (down at the cheaper end of the market) and they give a good coverage of all frequencies, including 5 string bass lines and bass drums.

This thread has morphed into a pretty pointless discussion. All these comments are based on very little information and a lot of pie-in-the-sky guesswork. Why aren't BMW's the same price as Fords? They're not. If you want one you'll have to pay the price that BMW have set. If you don't want to. . . then you're not in the demographic, so move on and buy something in your price range.

Read his website. Jamerson claimed Cool Jerk and it was actually Babbitt on bass. Apparently Berry Gordy was a tricky character. Most Motown sessions were documented but some are a little sketchy. Some of the recordings made in LA were Motown masters, but were overdubbed etc in Detroit. Back then a song could have been recorded multiple times, for the single, album or film and many artists would cover the same songs. It is possible that many of these songs would have been recoded in separate sessions and vocals added later. Also the LA guys made demos for Motown. They got paid less because it was a demo, but because these guys were so good the demos had the quality of masters and some of the session guys in LA claimed that their demo sessions were actually used as masters. It's not an exactly clear picture, then add in the AFM Special Payments Fund rules that gave session guys a cut of the "mechanical royalties" of the songs they played on. In typical style the session guys were screwed over, because they were made to claim the sessions they were on and were not given very long to do it. Some had the lists of sessions but wouldn't have known what happened to those songs after they laid the tracks down. It was, and still is, a mess.

PS Of course you could be less picky and grab a bass that sounds and feels OK and play the hell out of it and learn to love it, like we all did in the "old days"!

You want a great Precision bass? Put in the leg-work. Try every bass in xxxx (choose your shop/s) and if you don't find the one you want then wait. More will be along later and you can try all of those. When you've found the "one" it will be all the sweeter because you made the effort to find it.

For tone, 2 good cabs will always beat even the best single cab solution. Adding a Super Midget to your Super Compact will put your tone and potential volume way beyond what any single cab can achieve. An SC and SM will be louder and more flexible, with 3 potential rigs at hand.

Oh dear, while this is sad news it means an awful, cobbled together thrash through Misirlou on the next gig!!

Exactly this.

Everyone's got backups, right?

With a nod to the McCartney thread. . . . check out 14:30. . . . . "I found the Beatles, and boom, everything changed overnight!" Lee Sklar is one of the more inspirational bassists out there. I first noticed him with James Taylor and I wore my Mud Slide Slim album out trying to get those bass runs into my head.

Chaps, forget the fundamental frequencies of notes and strings. It is a irrelevant distraction. Reproducing 31Hz has nothing to do with getting a great sound out of a 5 string bass.

So you're emphasising the One. Has anyone else noticed you do this? I would imagine it sounds fine, but a variety of approaches would probably sound better. I have far too many (bad) habits to list here!

Have you seen the Barefaced online shop? Hats, T shirts and reinforced underpants.

Newton was a lead guitarist. Robert Hooke was a bass player. One did all the work the other took all the glory.

Oh yes. I have an affinity with all the basses I gig. They only have one purpose, they hit the spot or they are moved on. Having said that I am pretty easy about what I'll play and what I'll like. As long as a bass sounds good then I'll put up with an awful lot.