chris_b

The shortcomings of tab is that you have to already know the song before it makes any sense. You can read the dots and play any piece of music even if you've never heard before. That's why tab is a kids bike with stabilisers, while dots are a Trek Emonda.

I have the treble control between 1 and 2 o'clock on my TH500. You can definitely hear the difference from 12 o'clock, but it is a subtle difference. This amp mainly sits right where I want it.. . . in the mid to low mid range. Sounds very good with my Bergs and Barefaced cabs. In 2 years I didn't use the drive control, but recently I've been experimenting with it.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1448276913' post='2914034'] Should I be exploring either avenues? [/quote] Yes. Try everything and always sound the best you can. Reading music opens up many more playing opportunities and, as always, being good comes down to how much practice time you're willing to put in. My hero, Duck Dunn, spent 60 years only playing a 4 string P bass, but I'd say play the bass you want to play and feel comfortable with. I use 5 string basses because I can play one bass and it will fit in every genre of music. I've played a 5 er in an acoustic duo, covering synth parts in pop covers bands and in a Led Zep tribute band. It doesn't matter what instruments were used to record the originals, the only thing that matters is how you and the bass sound when you're playing the numbers. That's always down to you and not the instrument you're playing.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1448275380' post='2914020'] Meths is good. [/quote] Meths [i]is[/i] good. After 1/2 a pint you can't tell how dead your strings are. I don't like the sound of new strings, which is fortunate because I couldn't afford 12 or more sets of strings a year. I used DR Lo-Riders for a long time. IMO they sounded terrible for the first week and when they sounded terrible at the other end of the scale they got changed. For me they were about 9 or 10 months old when the deadness started to annoy. That was about 100 gigs. I have Dunlop Super Brights on a bass at the moment. It doesn't get played much but they have stayed "bright", although not twangy, for the longest time I have known in a set of bass strings. About a year.

No he hasn't. The BH heads weren't made at that time. He's talking about how loud these heads are and how will they fit into different playing situations. All reasonable questions. If you're only playing at home or in a rehearsal room or in a quiet band then a 250 watt amp might be OK, but for any normal gigging band I'd get the 500 watt head. You can always turn down.

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1448145871' post='2913354'] my fretting hand has been cramping up during shows, quite painfully at times. [/quote] Cramping where, exactly. Thumb, palm, wrist, fore arm? Are all your basses sitting at the same height and angle when you play them? How are high are the strings on the bass you can't play compared to the ones you can? Does your hand cramp up on the same numbers each time? Have you tried playing the numbers you cramp up on with another bass to see what happens?

So, the band doesn't need a 5 string bass. . . . would the world stop turning if it got one? What you play should be important to the band, not what you're playing it on. I can see being asked to hit low C's when you have a 4 sting bass would be a problem but who is going to be worried if you don't play below low E? Keep the bass you "adore" and play as many interesting bass lines on it as you can think up.

Anyone who thinks first about the cost of hearing protection probably hasn't noticed that they have lost part of that critical sense and is playing Russian roulette with what they have left. Spend an evening with the TV turned down so you can only just hear it, then put the radio on in the same room. Can you follow the TV program? That's what you're facing if you loose the high mids and top end of your hearing. I've lost some of mine and it isn't fun living with a "disability" and one that restricts your ability to communicate. Trying to lip read in noisy environments and asking people to repeat every sentence is a pain. When your hearing is impaired that's it, your life changes, and not in a good way. I go up to Santa Pod a couple of times a year and I used my ACS ER15's [i]and[/i] ear defenders for the Top Fuel cars. I'm amazed how many people don't use any protection when these cars go by.

Heat isn't the enemy. All amps generate heat in their components and they are designed and built for that. Too much heat could be a problem but many amps these days have protection circuits built in to cut out if they go out of spec.

Sustain is generated by the strings and the instrument. The pickups just translate the sustain into an electric signal.

Fortunately Nile Rodgers isn't trying to make Jerry Barnes play like BE. Full marks for letting JB be his own man.

I owned a Rob Allen MB2. Fantastic sound, but it wouldn't stand out against an acoustic guitar or any other "proper" acoustic instrument.

Apparently Louis Johnson was slapping his SR with flats on his first records.

That's probably Rodney "Skeet" Curtis.

I've spoken to drummers who don't like rear ports on bass cabs because they get "overwhelmed" by the sound. A rear facing speaker will probably cause a lot more of the same reaction. Jim Bergantino is a genius with bass cabs. I'd be interested to see how this works in practice.

I'm sorry to hear about your back. Mine has done the same to me several times in the last 10 years. On thing that helps when my back "goes" is a second, wide, leather belt around the waist. Like weight lifters, it allows you to use your stomach muscles to support your back. When discs break they can mend in time but they will always be a point of weakness. I'm also doing Pilates to improve my core strength. I can hold an 8.5lb bass for 3 sets but a 9.5 bass starts to feel uncomfortable after 1 set. That's how fine things are measured these days. I've also gone for very light cabs and a trolley and I sit on a bar stool if I have to. There is some fantastic sounding gear out there at lower weights, but unfortunately they are generally at a higher cost. I spent the money because I'm not ready to retire.

I play with the cleanest tone I can get, but it seems to me that if you're relying on the sound of the cab and amp for the "dirt", your sound will change by the room, stage and how you feel like playing on any particular day. Even when you don't want it to change. Pedals will get you your sound more consistently and will be more flexible.

I saw Joe Jackson and he played a number on guitar. . . except he couldn't play guitar. He had 3 different coloured strips of tape across the back of the neck and he'd learnt the F chord shape and memorised which colour to put his hand on. He did it very well.

I'd look for a clean powerful rig and add the "dirt" with pedals etc.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1447167411' post='2905448'] Will have to wheel out 'yes, we can can' at the next gig.. [/quote] I've been trying to get the band to do this version, but we don't have enough BV's to do it convincingly. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP3YhOzb74k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP3YhOzb74k[/url]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1447177929' post='2905593'] I thought the [i]ellipsis[/i] at the end of the sentence would have been sufficient [/quote] Using ancient Greek. . . . no wonder you confused everyone!

A legend. This is very sad news.

I get better mileage out of my current 2.4 ltr car than a previous 1.6 ltr version. And I get a better sound out of my 500 watt amp when it's ticking over than I would if I was pushing a smaller amp flat out. So sometimes, bigger actually is better.

What's the point of a 200 watt amp? For me, no point. My gear has to cover many different playing situations, from acoustic duo's to Led Zeppilin bands. Thanks to the volume controls I can use the same amp for each gig and with multiple cab configs.

[quote name='hairychris' timestamp='1447066038' post='2904466'] Then again I've gone to the even darker side & taken up keyboards this year. [/quote] I used to have an upright and I loved it. The piano taught me so much about music in the short time I had it. I really ought to get another.