chris_b

Up until now the depth of the neck has never had an effect on my playing. It seems my left hand doesn't require much consistency in the necks I play. I just adapt to a wider grip and to wider spaced strings at the nut and on the fret board. I guess we can all relearn, but the one thing my right hand needs, is for the strings to be 18mm or 19mm at the bridge or that will affect my playing. After so many years playing Fender type basses I'm locked into that one.

Lovely tone from CMcB and beautiful flowing lines.

Tony Joe, one of my favourite songwriters. The is very sad news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDRvxe4dRfY

IME Markbass amps are good amps. While they have a puzzling marketing philosophy, they've discontinued more gear than most companies make in their lifetime, I've never heard anyone getting a bad sound out of a Markbass amp. As you're adding "a little blended tech21 Vt" to get your sound, I guess they are not exactly right for you?

Tell us what it is and we'll let you know.

Can be one or the other, but usually both. "Developing an ear" is about listening and adapting your playing to the guys around you and the music they are playing. If you do something for long enough you should start to notice more nuances. That learning process will be shorter if you have a natural ability, but with an open mind, asking the right questions and playing with the right people you should be able to easily learning this stuff. I spent 25 years thinking drummers just hit drums. Then a drummer explained the differences between different techniques, drums and tuning and a lot of what makes a good drummer started to make sense. There are successful professional musicians who know none of the technical stuff but have a good "ear" and a natural ability to play. If you are playing bass at the hobby level you really don't need to get into any of that stuff, but knowing at least some of it does make being a musician more interesting and fun.

Don't put it in your gig bag. When I use it, I carry mine separately. After a couple of very near misses, these days I just put the bass in the gig bag when it's not being played. Safer that way.

Nooooooooo. . . . . I've had other guys tell me that, but it's not true. What you've got left is better than nothing, which is what you'll end up with if you don't protect your hearing. Even at this late stage protecting your ears is an important thing to do.

I used an SVT Pro-3 for years with one or two 8 ohm cabs, depending on the gig. IME always a good sound.

I'm talking about ACS because that is where my experience is. There are different forms of hearing protection and as long as you pick one that works then chose your brand. A glance at the Knops site makes me think they are not doing anything different, clever or special. Just controlling overall volume. They don't seem to "process" different frequencies differently, so I don't see how their results can be any different to other products on the market. I might be wrong. Buy a pair and see what they do. Let us know. I would be interested in buying some if they are effective and actually do what their marketing department is claiming. We are all playing for different reasons. My intention when I was learning was to play in bands. My ACS plugs are very effective and allow me to do that. I have no interest in giving that up and "playing at home".

Nice. I liked it. Beautiful bass sound as always from Mr McBride. Good to see that guys at this level can also have timing "issues" when playing stabs over a drum solo.

Im currently using ACS PRO17's. I was using foam plugs for years but they were worse than useless, been using ACS for over 10 years. You've got tinnitus? Welcome to the club. Like a lot of people I delayed and started too late so I have "issues" with my hearing. In the past I've met several players who had ACS plugs but didn't use them, for lots of reasons, mostly based around how they didn't like the way the plugs changed the sound. These days they all have very serious problems with their hearing. Of course ACS plugs cut out ambient sound. How do you imagine they would differentiate between what you want to hear and what you don't want to hear? ACS are a hammer to crack a nut, but currently they are the best hammer we've got. If you think you need ear plugs now then you should have bought them last year. Your hearing is already damaged and unless you do protect yourself you will carry on accumulating more damage. I'm not going to lie, ear plugs do change what you hear. That's what they do when they are doing their job. For me it's manageable and I don't have a problem with that because I'm not ready to stop playing, which is what I would have to do if I didn't wear them.

I was chatting to Nick one lunchtime and a guy came in wanting to sell a Wal Pro. He only wanted about £300 but was told they couldn't sell them and they weren't interested!!

The rehearsal studio was on the ground floor, entrance in the side road and the basses were upstairs. After it all switched around I knew the guy running the drum section of the school upstairs.

Park on the outskirts of London and get the underground.

In the mid to late 80's I joined a band and we used the rehearsal studio on the ground floor. That's when I discovered the Bass Centre. Later they moved down to the ground floor but when I first went there they were upstairs. What an Aladdin's Cave of bass gear and the first time I'd seen more than a couple of basses and amps in one place! Over the years I bought several amps and cabs from Nick, Grant and Alex and used to drop for a browse on many occasions.

There are several guys who come to gigs in this area and they record the bands. It's a hobby, but they are quite professional in the quality of what they do. They ask if we mind them filming and recording and they send the videos to the band leader so he has the final say on what goes online. Of course most don't do this! These days it's difficult to have a bad gig because someone invariably posts your nightmares online. We should all have some control over our online images. So I don't think it's a problem if we ask for particularly bad videos to be taken down.

I totally agree, but I'm not sure I was implying anything like that. The post you quoted purposely didn't mention gear at all.

Humble instrument? The Tambourine that Jack Ashford played on so many Motown Records. Sometimes he's mixed up front and sometime he in the background, but he's there on most of them.

A lot of makers are using Morado or Pau Ferro as a replacement. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjAv_OqiZLeAhVoCMAKHe3iCd8QFjAAegQIBhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wood-database.com%2Fpau-ferro%2F&usg=AOvVaw1qyns2uFejzSfmxAxx2EVu

That's right. Buy a Standard (or is it the Player range, these days) or any other bass you like and create your own signature bass by the way you play it. I don't understand the trying to sound like someone else or play "their" bass thing. I have played a Pino and it was a fantastic instrument to play, but I wouldn't pay that money for it. . . . and I still bloody well sounded like me, so what went wrong there? The one thing great and iconic players do, they all sound different not because of the different pieces of wood they are carrying but because of the lines they create and the style they are playing with. Any room for me in that bunker?

Not ready to gig after that many rehearsals? Ask them what's wrong with them.

Same here. I bought a Rob Allen fretless (lovely bass) which I thought would be a good fit for 2 of my bands. Good for the rock and roll band as they were used to double bass players. I asked the band leader after the first gig and he said, "Sounds good, but I preferred your precision!" I also used it with the acoustic duo and just got a "remind me what exactly was different?" reaction. Cue sale of one hardly used bass and back to what I usually do.

This is true. If there is a musician in the audience and you are playing like you don't care, you have probably lost networking and gig opportunities. Always give 101% even playing to one man and a dog. . . you never know who's listening in the other bar. I've been asked to join every band I've been in since 1985. I've picked up every gig and band because a band member suggested me or a band leader dropped in and thought I would fit into his band. So how you sound is important but how you play is even more important. Every gig is a potential introduction to more players.