chris_b

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1506766712' post='3380957'] It's good to know one is not alone. I'm going to try a lower attenuation filter (9db) and see what's what. [/quote] Lowering the level of protection is not a good way to go IMO.

I use my big rig TH500 and a BF One10 at home.

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1506692345' post='3380475'] What's the difference between the ERs and the PROs?[/quote] I have no idea. I don't analyse them. There's probably not a big difference between the ER's and PRO's but I wanted a second set, got a discount voucher last Christmas and bought the latest model.

I buy good used basses so the "first knock" syndrome doesn't apply to me. If you gig then knocks and scrapes will occur. I get very few marks on my basses because I take extra care but they still happen.

As I said before, I think small audiences are a sign of the times and not always a sign of failure. But maybe they're a sign that if you work a little harder things might improve. OK, I know you're unlikely to counteract a bad promoter or any of the various black-holes of apathy in this country, but you just might gradually start some momentum if you have a positive attitude to every gig. One gig Police played on their first US tour was to 5 people. They gave it the full beans and one of the audience turned out to be a local radio DJ, who played them non stop afterwards. They could have switched off and "gone through the motions" but they didn't and that gig started the ball rolling. I played to 5 people once and we got fired. (Added for balance and a reality check!)

I' e seen good reviews from DB players about the Bergantino B|amp. If you have the budget, check it out.

Show me a gig and I'll do it. I wouldn't be picking up a bass if I didn't play regularly in a band. I've just had to turn down a couple of gigs (family commitments) and it hurt! In the early 70's I was one of the many gigging 7 nights a week, mostly in the South East but you went where the gigs were, and the hours we put in on the US airbases in Germany were brutal. Then you'd go and sit in with the bands in the local clubs who were still playing after we finished. We once drove from London to Sunderland for a gig. It was a good gig. Getting caught in the rush hour coming back into London the next morning was a pain and finally getting dropped off by the van at lunchtime the day after the gig happened more than once. It never occurred to any of us that there was anything else we wanted to do. It was great to be a part of that world while it lasted, but sadly the days of wall to wall gigs have long gone. I think the 300 gigs a year guys like BB King did would have been too much even for me, but 5 years a go I was doing 3 gigs a week, 150 gigs a year. Times change. I did 3 last month! A band I dep with has just driven up from Surrey to play in the Orkney Blues Festival. If they'd asked me I'd have done it. Never turn down a good gig.

ACS for me. I used ER15's for 10 years and have now switched to the PRO17's. Of course ear plugs change the sound, but not as much as the issues you get with hearing loss and IME the differences caused by ear plugs are easy to deal with. What's the alternative? Massive tinnitus, giving up gigging, hearing aids and partial (if you're lucky) deafness. Great choices!! All of these problems are preventable. If you're in a gigging musician then hearing protection isn't a choice it's a necessity.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1506612335' post='3379952'] Incidentally, I had 3 of them (not all at once)! [/quote] I only had 1. That was enough! My 412 and amp just fitted neatly in the back but the thing was a veritable rust bucket. An unfortunate trait in the British car industry at the time! Bass gear and cars from the 60's and 70's. . . . IMO neither can match up to what we can buy these days.

I thought I sounded pretty good in the 60's and 70's with my 100 watt Marshall amp and 412 cab. Though on reflection I probably sounded much like every one else. I then played through a 100 watt Simms Watts and 412 and then a 100 watt Hiwatt and 2 412 cabs. I even toured with an SVT and fridge. But the reality is I have had a better tone and volume in the last 10 years with Bergantino, Aguilar, Thunderfunk and Barefaced than I ever got back in the day.

Ahh. Sorry, speed reading fail again!

It's not the bass you thought it was or wanted. Don't throw any more cash at it. Sell it on and get something you like and want to play.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1506526926' post='3379366'] My 'phone..? I hardly know where it is, most weeks. [/quote] +1 Most people I know call the house phone. At least that'll get picked up by someone!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1506519328' post='3379303'] In my main band, a 4-piece, the chat group is the Black Horse in Greenford after rehearsal on a Tuesday. [/quote] +1 If you can't talk on a gig or at a rehearsal, what about the phone or email?

Why do so many people think factories in Asia can't build anything properly? The QC decisions of the commissioning company will be responsible for good or bad products coming out of Asian factories, not the nationality of the workers.

[quote name='Wiggybass' timestamp='1506458816' post='3378955'] Which one? You know of another in the UK? [/quote] It's on their web site!!! [list] [*][b]United Kingdom[/b] Contact Bergantino Audio for direct sales 00 1 512 873 8043 eMail: [email="[email protected]"]Bergantino Audio Direct Sales[/email] [/list]

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1506435534' post='3378706'] Not sure how you can learn from better band members unless they play the same instrument as you. [/quote] There's a lot more to being a good musician and band member than playing your instrument better than the next guy.

I would imagine you certainly do have support in the UK. Either an ongoing support from BD, if you bought your cabs there or from Bergantino themselves. Call the Berg dealership directly and find out the answers to your questions.

[quote name='benroch' timestamp='1505753949' post='3374047'] Any suggestions for good 5 string basses to play Rock and Jazz mainly? Been looking at fender style basses and at modern styles probably looking second hand rather than new! [/quote] There are plenty of top bassists out there playing 5 string Fenders. They are not my favourite bass in a 5 string format but these guys (most of them better bass players than me) make them work so they can't be bad, just not my preference. People will give you their preferences like they're fact. They are not, so don't get hung up on negative comments. You have some time before you are up to budget so listen to all opinions and experiences, play some basses and make up your own mind.

Glad your first gig went well. Playing in front of an audience is where you're tested, where it all comes together and the adrenalin start flowing. There's nothing else like it.

Never stop networking. Good luck.

I have no idea what basses you guys have been playing but better ones are out there. My 34" basses were Wal and Sadowsky. My 35" basses were Lull and Lakland. All 5 string and all excellent B strings. As a starter 5 string a Lakland Skyline 55-01 at £400 from the classifieds is a great 5 string bass for the money.

Would BEAD work in the meantime?

[quote name='Hey_Pauly' timestamp='1506288574' post='3377704'] Any rule of thumb for what the low, mid and high should be set to? [/quote] My rule of thumb is to buy an amp that sounds "right" when all the controls are at 12 o'clock. As long as slight adjustments, 1 click to the left or right, covers it then the amp is right for me. Any extreme EQing means I bought the wrong amp. So my answer to the OP is 12 o'clock.

Looks very much like my first bass, a Framus Star Bass, only done properly! I'd be interested if it was half the price and a 5 string version.