chris_b

ACS plugs, the only thing that's kept me gigging for the last 20 years. There is no hearing protection that is too expensive. The alternative is very scary.

Knower and Sam Wilkes are a tour de force. I saw then a few years ago at the Jazz Cafe and they were amazing. Well done @leroybasslines I'd get two bars into that and my brain would explode.

IMO dark is an emphasis on the lows and low-mids, with less top end and high-mids.

In my school band the trombone player (2 years older) worked in a music publishers. We used to get the charts for new Stax songs and they were in the set by the end of the week.

A few years back I DI'ed my TH500 into Logic. Not a valve in sight but a very "valve" sound, just the same.

Wow. Takes me back!!!!! Excellent.

I play basses with flats, zingy rounds and dead rounds. I always have my tweeters at about 2/3rds. If the tweeter is picking up any frequencies from the basses, I want to hear it. Whatever the signal a tweeter is not going to sound bad so, even if it's only for general ambience, I'll use it.

Many years ago I saw Little Feat, in the Craig Fuller era. I stood next to the desk, thinking that would be the best sound. The sound guys sounded American so I assumed they were travelling with the band. The band started sounding just like the records. It was a perfect sound and balance, but the sound engineer never stopped twiddling and in no time they were sounding pretty bad. By the end of the night I had my ear plugs in and would have left early but for the lift I was getting from a friend.

These days I don't get FOH very often, but my experience of the sound guys I have worked with is positive. I say hi, have a chat, explain what I'd like, ask them if that's OK, and leave them alone. I don't stress them with many requirements. "Can you make me sound like Duck Dunn, John McVie, or maybe a little Nathan East" usually works. I keep it simple, because they tend to be focused on everyone else anyway!

I've never understood how players have a preference for one or the other. . . . I have had 34" and 35" basses for the last 20 years and I can't tell which is which by just playing them. The differences per fret are miniscule. I am more bothered by 17mm spacing by the bridge. 18-19mm for me, and I can't tell the difference between those when playing, either. I don't claim to have a great technique but what I have got seems to get me around all the "issues" others have with different measurements on basses.

If the Hofner violin bass was anything like my old Framus the bridge was not adjustable. You got it close and that was good enough. Bass players didn't get properly technical for another 40 years. I still haven't. I taught myself to read music from the sheet music of Beatles songs. Reading the dots and playing along. I progressed to Atlantic and Motown but this was the start of it all.

Hi Jay, currently in the classifieds there are 5 string Lakland, MTD, Zoot, Sandberg and Roscoe basses. I've owned a Lakland for most of the last 20 years and would recommend them to anyone.

Bought a gig bag from John. Good transaction and very well packed.

Bought a bass from Andrew. Good handover and good transaction.

IMO rooms are less of a problem when you have a good signal chain and sound worse when you are trying to put too much bass in your sound. I buy amps that sound good with the controls at 12 o'clock and run them through good cab(s). My sound is more low mids than bass, so even the worst rooms only need a minor EQ change, that's 2 mins max.

Had a chat with Harry Secombe, in the green room at Midem, after he saw the sax player in my band tip a whole pint into his (the sax player's) lap. Very amusing guy. Harry Secombe, not the sax player!

While it's obviously not mandatory, reading the dots and understanding the basics of musical theory is a good skill for a musician to have. It's the difference between just talking and talking and reading and writing as well.

IME muffled P bass means dead strings, duff pickups or your ears are on their way out.

I agree. I don't see the point of owning gear that isn't going to be used. IMO it's a better plan, with more satisfying results, to put all your money into 2 fantastic, rather than 6 medium priced, instruments.

You're lucky you've got sides on it! I've also done gigs with 2 small marquees pushed together. That meant the rain ran through the join and on to the drum kit!

My recreational listening is Radio 4. My music listening is mostly centred around set lists and homework for upcoming gigs and the occasional video I discover on YouTube. I'm not a music fan, I'm a making music in a band in front of an audience fan.

As you would expect, a fantastic gig and a great break for Vincen, but 48 hours? Really?

I'll retire when the phone stops ringing. . . . or I start pushing up daisy's. Which ever comes first.

duplicate post!!!

Lee Sklar is always good for down to earth stories about the session world of the last 40 years. . . .