chris_b

My preference is for a great sounding bass rather than a versatile bass. I look to get the best sound I can and stick with it. Most people I've heard don't actually change their sound much when they're playing. My first 5 string was an SR5. It was good but I replaced it with a Lakland which I thought was better. I did hear an SR5 2H with piezo. Now that [i]was[/i] versatile [i]and[/i] sounded great, but it's not your typical Stingray.

Sometimes they are together and sometimes apart. Our set list is changed for most gigs depending on the audience we think we'll get and based on the last gig we did there.

My criteria for playing a song is: it suits the band, we play it well and the audience likes it. Meet those 3 conditions and I'll play any song.

We used to do this in our school band. . . . [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4w4DWG5QwM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4w4DWG5QwM[/url] I haven't heard this for 40 years. Just love it. Duck Dunn on bass I believe.

What a difference the band makes. . . . . . . [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmJBM9HbWE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AmJBM9HbWE[/url]

Just play along with the track as many times as it takes. It will get easier and quicker over time.

GAS happens when you are bored. Join another band and play more gigs.

Time for a clear out. Keep the EBS 112's but sell the 610 and 115 and the "various heads" and replace them with a Barefaced Four10 powered by your Reidmar. How about an upgrade the 750 watt Reidmar?

So you'll be sorry to say good-bye. I've remained friends with bands I've left. If they are so crap you can't sleep you've got to go.

A good quality cab will have a long life if you look after it. My Mesa EV 210 was over 20 years old when I sold it and it was still going strong. That's one reason why if one cab will do I'll use two. My speakers will die from old age rather than over use.

I'd suggest Jerry Barnes is using his regular gear. In this clip you're probably just hearing a DI'ed jazz type bass. You can hear him switch to a regular finger style Chic bass line at about 3 mins so he's not focusing on slap for the sound of this bass. You need a good 2 pickup bass and a set of new round wound strings. As an overall comment I'd say there is no "correct" slap sound. You can fit in anywhere between Mark King and Louis Johnson. Try to find your own sound and have others want to copy you.

410's are a piece of cake. You should try moving a couple of 412's and we won't talk about unsplit Hammond C3's and Leslie cabs.

It's an advert!! Who cares what they do to mangle the soundtrack. I believe that rerecording the ads with session guys happened years ago before the owners realised the financial opportunities they were sniffily passing up. I know a drummer who rerecorded a lot of Van Morrison's hits with the man himself. VM get a very poor percentage of his early hits due to signing bad contracts, so anyone who asks to use one of his songs only gets permission to use one of these versions. At least he gets paid for the use of these ones. I haven't seen an advert in years. I record all TV programs of interest on my hard drive then FF through the adverts when I watch it back.

Some people are bullies and use shouting at the band as a way of covering up their own insecurities or just psyching themselves up. It's immature, unpleasant and in most cases unnecessary. If the guy deserves that kind of treatment then replace him. If it's just a band leader venting recognise it for what it is, meaningless noise. Or you can fight back, but make sure you have another gig lined up. Just in case.

I wouldn't do any gig where the band or me and my gear was at any risk from the audience.

Was the cab new and under warranty? I'm not sure that buying another speaker would be cheaper than a recone. My first choice would be to get a recone. IME GK cabs are usually very reliable but if the cab was second hand then you don't know what the original owner did to it. Fix the speaker and the cab should be good. If your confidence has been knocked, repair the cab, sell it and get something better.

. . . . also, you're practising. Worry about your sound when you're in a band and gigging.

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1465334522' post='3067374'] Gordon Bennett that takes me back! My grandparents lived in Horsenden Crescent on the 60's, [/quote] Small world. Our singer, Frankie Reid, also lived in Horsenden Crescent, approx 1972. We used to rehearse the full band in his front room!!

[quote name='byrne182' timestamp='1465314403' post='3067046'] Probably treading on dangerous ground here but I can't help thinking that there is a serious amount of "babying" going on with basses..... They are tools at the end of the day aren't they?? Surely I'm not the only on who has the opinion that a bass sounds better if you beat the living crap out of it.... am I? I know not all styles of music allow crap beat-age... I understand keeping them in good working order, but they are built to be played after all. [/quote] How do you guarantee that they are in "good working order" when you "beat the living crap out of them"? All my gear gets gigged. Every piece works for it's living and when I find something I think is better the old gear gets retired and becomes the backup. Anything older than that gets sold. None of my gear has ever has the "crap" beaten out of it. That seems to be a particularly pointless thing to do in the pursuit of making music.

I've gigged in the Rising Sun.

Good call.

IMO there are 2 ways to go, use at least a 3" padded strap and buy a bass that weighs less that the one you're using now. 8.5lbs is the upper limit for my 5 string basses but there are a lot more lighter 4 string basses out there. Hollow body basses can get down to 5 lbs.

All I'd say is that the keys are not too forward in my headphones, the guitar certainly is, though. Take the guitar rhythm work down a few notches. Why does the guitarist feel the need to double up on the bass part? Get him to play something more rhythmically interesting.

Playing live in the rooms that most of us play in is always a compromise, and most of us are not playing with the facility of FOH or putting bass through the PA. So what [i]we[/i] do has to work. The closest I've got to a consistently good sound on stage and in the room, and a sound with the fewest compromises, was with Bergantino cabs and now Barefaced cabs. I'm not a fan of EQing out of a problem because what you change to make work over here will probably make you sound worse over there. IMO good cabs are the front line in that battle. edit - spelling

Put the TV audio signal through a hi-fi system and everything will be fine.