chris_b

I've just spent the evening as an honorary Yardbird. Does that count? Playing with Jim McCarty and John Idon at an Alzheimer's charity gig to celebrate the late Top Topham.

Promoter: That was great. Here's another £200.

Never lend your bass, even the crap ones, especially at a jam.

All live albums are remixed before release.

Really? I took a very cheap 5 string Cort to a jam last night and no one commented, not the band leader, house drummer or any of the bass players. I'd have been more surprised if anyone did notice. Take the bass you want to play.

I agree. The natural sway of the tempo doesn't have to be a bad thing, but the OP is about a click being a negative thing. I don't think that's true.

Darby used to come to our jam night, about 20 years ago. His style was special, even then.

If using one cab is verging on overloading it, then you need 2 cabs. . . . or maybe better a better cab to start with. I use 2 good 112's with a 5 string bass in some very loud bands. They are nowhere near overloading.

If playing to a click is robotic or a problem, then the musician is getting it wrong. Timing isn't about spontaneity, it's about keeping good time so all the musicians are playing together as one. A click is no different to playing with a drummer who has good time. It may or may not be a good thing to let your time drift in and out, but changing time in "response to the audience" is not something you should be doing. Apparently James Jamerson had perfect timing. Good musicians make playing in time sound good, bad musicians make playing in time sound robotic.

I don't have practice gear. Everything is interchangeable.

Do orange leads have an earth? I thought they didn't, so don't use them on stage. I use a 3m, wind up, 4 way from Waitrose, £9.99, when bought. Red top to the container and black lead and plug. Longer ones from B&Q.

IMO it's an interesting bass line. I like it. Well played, busy but not overplayed, and not your usual basic soul bass line. Thumbs up from me.

Most of the guys I play with use Fender tube combos, although last weekend the guitarist was deafening everyone with a Vox AC30. Also I see a lot of Session combos around.

Why would Alex want to build a big, heavy and expensive amp that very few people would buy? My guess is that any amp from Barefaced will be a top of the line D class amp that will be rubbing shoulders with the very best in that field. I hope he includes an HPF.

I'm lucky that I haven't had to sell a bass in order to buy the next one. For me every bass has to be an upgrade, ie better than the last one (or there is no point in buying it). That philosophy has worked well for the last 30 years. I worked my way through Fender, Wal and Lakland to arrive at Mike Lull and Sadowsky basses. I did make a few mistakes along the way, they were moved on very quickly, but so far I don't regret selling any bass.

All these 135 B's to try, that I didn't know about!!

I have TI flats on my passive PJ5, with a 136 B. Great sound. For rounds I use a 130 B. I always go for the largest gauge strings I can find, IMO gives a better tone. I use Aguilar amps and 1 or 2 112 Barefaced cabs. On most gigs my EQ settings are at or very close to 12 o'clock.

Foam plugs from Boots or any other chemist.

That's good news. Over the next 2 weeks I have gigs with 4 different bands. They only have vocals in the PA, so my game changers were great sounding cabs that weigh 21lbs each and top quality D class amps. I don't do "humping". I skip from car to stage like Julie Andrews in the Sound Of Music. I hope we can be happy that each of us has made the best decisions with regard to our differing requirements.

If you want to get a great live sound with the least effort, buy good gear, especially properly designed cabs.

For the last 20 years I've used an old leather IBM laptop bag. From the time when their laptops were the size of breeze blocks. I carry 2 of everything from full sets of leads to strings and fuses to ear plugs.

This. If you can't get a good sound out of a bass, amp and cab then effects won't do the job for you.

IMO "One size fits all" is the right way to think about buying gear. All rigs can play quietly, so you are making decisions based on the loudest you're going to play. IMO separate amps and cabs are a better idea. Then you can up upgrade each part independently. Your 200 watt Elf is only 100 watts into 1 8 ohm cab, when it is flat out, and flat out probably won't sound too good. So you're realistically looking at using 50-80 watts. Is that loud enough? I'd say probably not. I play from very loud to a whisper. I have one rig that does it all, a 700 watt amp and 2 112 cabs. That's 700 watts into 2 8 ohm cabs and 350 watts into 1 8 ohm cab. I want a clean sound so I don't run the amp with the master beyond 12 o'clock. Having more watts on tap than you need is never a problem, not having enough watts is always a big problem. My suggestion would be to start looking at 500 watt amps and good 112 or 210 cabs.