chris_b

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1429191177' post='2749020'] You only get one set of ears. I cannot now play without earplugs in due to damage. I cannot hear detail in what others are doing. Playing is not as much fun as it was. Everyone sort out hearing protection. Do it today. [/quote] Ditto +1000

I'm using Steel Super Brights.

The first 3 mins of this might help. VW starts simply with fingerstyle and builds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOFf9kBnlGM

A well set up bass and a good right hand technique takes many string "issues" away. If you're trying to "dig in" with your right and have to use a "gorilla grip" with your left you're making things more difficult for yourself and any differences in strings will be accentuated, possibly to the point of making a set unplayable. I hardly notice the difference between my light Dunlop Brights and my flat wound Lakland strings.

If you play best with a pick then that is your benchmark for finger style. Work at it and you [i]will[/i] get better. Believe me Town Called Malice is easy with fingers. There will always be numbers that sound "right" played one way or the other. If you can do both that's good. Just aim to be as flexible as you can be.

Bands who only gig occasionally or form 3, 4 or 5 band nights inhabit a world I know nothing about. But if my cover band does 10 gigs next month and they are all within 40 miles of each other I'm not likely to fill every gig with mates, family or fans. It's not going to happen, We advertise online but, in the cover band world, your average punter doesn't travel very far, if at all. So these music venues have to be responcible for filling their gigs by putting on good music so punters will want to turn up anyway, in the knowledge that a good night is on the cards. The reality is there is little QC on behalf of the venue. "The band last week was terrible" is something we hear frequently. The turnover of landlords in pubs means that many of them have little interest in the music nights they inherited. The bottom line is they just want to sell food. Posters aren't put up, you can't start till the football or boxing etc has finished, we arrive to find food is still being served in the area where we are supposed to set up and during last winter we turned up at one south London gig to find an open fire blazing away in the stage area! A well run pub gig will attract punters and we will send them home buzzing, like last Sunday afternoon. If an audience doesn't turn up because the band isn't advertised and everyone has gone "up the road" to the other gig in town, like last Saturday, there is not a lot we can do about it. Back on topic. . . no I don't go to see many bands playing locally.

Percy Sledge died today, aged 73. When A Man Loves A Woman is one of my favourite songs. I believe it's [s]Tommy Cogbill[/s] on bass. Correction: Albert "Junior" Lowe on bass.

OK, I'll give you that. Except for the shiny cone and cabs starting with an H categories . . . . . .

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1428945250' post='2746258'] ..... and finished [/quote] Care to explain?

You're noticing the big sounding 15's against the punchy tighter 10's and Barefaced tone against Hartke tone. These cabs are chalk and cheese. The BF Retro 210's would be a better comparison to the Hartke, and (IMO) the BF would easily be the outright winner.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1428956495' post='2746468'] You'll get loads of different answers, all well meaning, but based on what others would look for. [/quote] I guess that's why the OP posted, "Any thoughts please?"

IMO the Barefaced Retro Two10 is a good idea. Email Alex at Bearfaced and he'll tell you if it will or won't work.

I don't know about modern basses. I see lots of players using the same basses as me but sounding totally modern. I wish I knew how they did that.

You just need to play both basses until you don't notice their differences.

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1428795215' post='2744691'] But Alex said somewhere they are designed to be stacked Horizontally & it put me off [/quote] Trust Alex.

If that was the best bass you've ever played and sounds better than your current basses then get one. Whatever it was! But I don't see the point of torturing yourself like this. As you've already said, another J bass (Fender/Lakland/Lull) with round wounds would add a lot to your sound. All for a lot less than half the price of a US MTD. How about a 5 string bass this time?

This is 2 pages of you guys saying people complimented you. . . . . . and that's after numerous threads where we're being told no one notices the bass player! Well, it looks like the bass player [i]does[/i] get noticed after all.

I like compliments. I smile and say thanks, glad you liked it. A little hand shaking might ensue if they [i]really[/i] liked it. Keep eye contact and appreciate what's happening. Like applause, a cheer at the end of a number, dancing and a shout for encores, it means we're doing something right and, if they're paying any attention, it's a signal to the promoter that the band done good.

The original record was the Grease Band with Allan Spenner on bass.

What cab are you using? IME, if they are made correctly, cabs shouldn't be vibrating excessively. If they are that's your tone and volume dissipating. I put a piece of foam under all of my amps.

On Page 1 of the classifieds: TC, Markbass, Hartke and EBS amps and Markbass, Genz Benz, Bergantino, Tec Amp and Barefaced cabs. All great equipment, will mix and match and all in budget. And all (IMO) better than a combo.

I'm gonna be pedantic and say that the Lakland is actually a D,Lakin bass. There, I feel much better now!!

I use a 212 and did use 2 112's. I'd say that there was no difference in stability between the 2 and no chance of knocking either over. 2 112's are lighter to carry if 2 journeys aren't a problem. Either way I also use a good trolley so apart from flights of stairs I don't carry anything.

Do we really see posts from 5 stringers saying they are superior? Or that 4 strings are inferior? I must have missed that bit.

I'd buy a bass that was designed to be what you wanted in the first place.