chris_b

Look at videos of any top bass player. You're not going to find many using floating thumb. IMO, you're getting to grips with more important changes to your technique without adding non essential stuff. If you think this is really something you need to explore, do it [i]after[/i] you've mastered the change to 5 stings.

Hitting the wrong string is par for the course. Don't worry, put your 4 string away and work on the 5er. Practice will convert your licks to 5 strings.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431853852' post='2775492'] I think for quite a few of us who remember when 'affordable' bass gear meant 'unplayable' bass gear, Eeeh, when I were a lad you had a couple of magazines and newspapers with pictures of bass gear in them, a crappy local shop that had rubbish bass gear in it, and that was that. You could only dream of owning a Fender [/quote] Exchange and Mart and the classifieds page in the local paper were the "Internet" back then. If you had a Burns, WEM or a Hofner with 3 strings you were royalty. Most of the "affordable" gear was totally unplayable but you still yearned for it as that was the only stuff you were ever likely to see "in the flesh".

That's good, and world wide there must have been a lot of happy PF500 users, but. . . . there were a lot of unhappy ones. Owners of very badly put together PF500's that regularly failed. As I said they seem to have sorted out the problems they had with this amp, so new PF500's would be the ones I would go for. Secondhand? It's a case of do you feel lucky today?

I'd Sellotape a brick in the place where the compressor was. Seriously though, if you're in a competition as you described, I'd leave everything as it is. This is the wrong time to be altering your sound when you need to be focusing on the important thing. . . winning. Experiment with your sound at a less critical time.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1431768753' post='2774727'] I don't think I could ever play in a function band, I'd have to play songs I wouldn't normally listen too, [/quote] Whoa... take those blinkers off!! Playing new and different stuff is a very good thing. Over the years I have played thousands of numbers that I wouldn't have normally listened to. That experience has enabled me to appreciate more music in general and many singers, songwriters and bands in particular. It's all been good, even if I never listened to that artist again. When most people join a band they're into a world of give-and-take, and as soon as that band starts gigging seriously they're into whole new level of compromises. If you are only prepared to play songs you like or listen to (which I'm assuming is the same thing), the only way I can see anyone doing that is to play on their own.

I have 3 basses, 2 of which need to be sold, because the only way they are going to be gigged is if the P bass is stolen. There are 2 cabs, a 212 and a 112. That's the minimum i need. And out of the 3 amps I own, 2 are used regularly, and the 3rd is a backup. I am always looking at info on gear and other players, but as for GAS? Not interested.

That run down is pretty standard technique and used in everything since Bach, and it probably wasn't new then. I would bet that both bass players were reading written lines in their respective sessions. We play this in the cover band. Goes down a storm.

If my playing was untidy it would be because I wanted it like that. Usually it isn't so I don't see the need for a gadget to take the dynamics out of my playing. To the OP, I'd gig without a compressor for a coupe of months, then you can gauge what the difference does for your sound.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1431717365' post='2774386'] Jewish wedding tunes. Mind numbingly tedious root fifthing. [/quote] I've only done 1 traditional Jewish wedding and they hired a Klezmer band for the usual stuff and we did our regular covers set. They did ask us to play the Dick Dale version of Hava Nagila, which was a shame. I preferred the Klezmer version. Went down a storm.

Good playing and it sounds fine to me. It's just one of those busy numbers that some people like. I'm not really a fan of this style, I prefer more laid back playing but what this guy's doing this works in the context of this number.

Jim Reeves or Jason Aldean? Also, there are a lot of 5 string basses in Country these days.

Old country or modern country? They're not the same. Plough through the many YouTube vids of Michael Rhodes and you'll find that country bass these days is full of Laklands, Jazzes, Exotic and Sadowsky basses. You do not want a dead thud of a bass sound any more.

Like most of the Blues guys BB signed away the copyright to his songs years ago, but he wrote some great lines. "The only one who loves me is my mother, and she could be jiving me too." "I gave you a 3 course dinner. You said, Thanks for the snack. I gave you 7 children and now you want to give them back."

The only songs I hate to play are the ones that the band can't do justice to, or numbers the audience hates. I'll enjoy anything the audience likes and we can play well. Word Up not a good song? You're listening to the wrong version. Try it by Cameo.

Unhappy news, but sadly not unexpected. Saw BB many times in the 80's and 90's. What a great band; Russell B Jackson and then Michael Doster on bass. Some of my favourite BB King moments were the first time I heard him, on Blues Is King (what an eye opener that was in 1967), the Blues Summit (that's what a bass should sound like) and Deuces Wild (with Pino) CD's, the classic numbers he recorded with the Crusaders and the live albums he made with Bobby Bland.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1431595559' post='2772875'] Has anyone else experienced this on/off love for the Precision? [/quote] No. I bought mine when I was 19 (I'm old and grey) and still have it. Even when I played other basses I've never considered selling this bass.

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1431421792' post='2771025'] Personally I find that these "Tall/hanger" style stands get in the way too much on a tight stage. [/quote] On a tight stage I don't use the stand at all. I keep the bass in the gig bag when it's not being played.

You've got 2 things to decide. You don't want to sell the 78. . . . . so don't. You need the 2010 to sound better so focus on making that happen. New pickups and maybe pots/cap would transform this bass. Then, when you haven't played the 78 for a long time, you you can decide to sell it without any pangs.

Very smooth action.

I used the Ultimate Support GS-1000 with my 5 string Wal Mk3 Custom and now use it with a 5 string Lakland, which has a very wide neck. The basses are supported hanging from the headstock with no problem. If this one broke I'd buy another. Well, I did. . . . I have 2.

I was also at GAK in Brighton. NE is one of my favourite players. He chatted, recounted stories, played, sang and answered all the questions. Where is he this time?

I know a great drum tutor in New Malden. Do they really have to be a she?

After all the problems and breakdowns they suffered, I wouldn't buy a second hand PF500. The new ones are supposed to be OK now.

+1 Make the 2010 bass sound better.