Dr.Dave

[quote name='jonthebass' post='280138' date='Sep 9 2008, 08:47 AM']Hi Dr.Dave, That's some other thoughts that I've been having too, especially as the exchange rate is slipping at the mo. Another issue, for me, is that I am hard on my instruments so am a bit worried about using an old bass as it will probably wear out and/or break sooner rather than later. Thanks for your input, Jon.[/quote] I shouldn't worry. I've treated my 73P like a ginger step child when I think - sure it would have grounds to be taken into council care!! Short of throwing it across the stage you'll wear out before it does.

[quote name='molan' post='280162' date='Sep 9 2008, 09:29 AM']Having once nearly removed my sax players right ear I swapped to a headless for the next gig and was amazed at how much more freedom I had to move around [/quote] Yeh - now you've room to take a proper swing you'll def. get the B*****d next time

Regards anyone laughing at side LEDs - well , side markers are there to be seen. Anything that aids that is useful. If anyone doesn't understand that - let them laugh. If you don't refer to side markers - don't have them at all. Most pit players I've seen have a small light to illuminate their pads - Why? - so they can see it better. Regarding headless basses. As well as being more portable I do find I have more room when using them in small places. I've never done pit work but I have worked in tiny bars that are the pits!! Yes - there would have been room to play a headed bass but a headless gives you a little bit more room. When seated - why have the end of your instrument 5" away from someone elses music stand when it could be a foot away? Why would you do that? We're talking about tools here. I think sometimes we forget that. Tools to do a job of work. The job of work is making music - anything our tools can do to help that is good , so our choices should bare that in mind before anything else. I suppose in certain situations we may wish to use an instrument as 'traditional' as poss. I played a fretless Status in a shop once , headless , ebony on maple with a mahogany body. What's more traditional than that?

It's pushing £700 already - put import duties etc on top of that............ makes it a gamble on the expensive side. If you could have brought it home for 5 or 600 , different story. But - if it's what you always wanted - like anything it's true value is what you're happy to pay.

I'm thinking practicalities - you say you're pushed for space in the pit so a headless sounds good to me. My 3000 has a single vol,the active circuit gives about any sound you want. It's not for sale but if you hunt around you'llhave plenty of change from your grand. Enough to have side LEDs installed. They'd help a bunch in dark places like orch pits.

We did a brief ZZ trib in Skipton high street yest aft. Inadequate PA , the stage was one big trip hazard and there was a shower during our set. Still , I like Skipton and the organisers were nice folk. I wandered down an alley at one point and came back with a chimney for my boat - result!

There was this , from the days of my youth. [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0964867/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0964867/[/url] Starring Edward Woodward. He was an upright player who smoked a cheroot. I have a 2 second 'mind clip' of that and no idea whatsoever about the plot.

My forays into the world of 5 string have always been short lived. I had a small problem with getting used to the idea of a string in the middle but it's not that. I found a wider neck harder to fly about on , but it's not that. Simple fact is I can play anything I want without one. I have a detuner on the Shuker and hardly use it. Sometimes the low D note is handy but I'm happier playing up and down the neck rather than across it and I have all the notes I want without a 5. I'll still buy another , doubtless. Just as certain is it'll be for sale 6 months later!

[quote name='bassman2790' post='279249' date='Sep 7 2008, 06:10 PM']I think taking the E down to a B with a Hipshot would be impossible. I have a Yamaha BB300 which I really [i]need[/i] to get back in one piece. I thought about stringing that BEAD, but for two songs, it seems like overkill. I don't think I'd sell the five, especially in this depressed market but I don't think I'll be taking it to gigs in future. Here's the track in question on [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAVxwLmB4Cc"]YouTube[/url]. The Low B appears in the middle eight at 2:38. I used to play it with a pitch shifter pedal which also works.[/quote] If you take the de-tuned fixed up Yammy you're still taking 2 basses so you may as well have taken the 5. If you can play your set with a normally tuned 4 alone - go for it. If anything I think your singers a cheeky f**ker for calling a surprise number then laughing at you not being prepared. If you'd arsed it up I bet he'd have been the first to moan. No - hang on , he's a singer - he wouldn't have noticed! Insist on playing it in a different key that suits your 4 and see how he likes that.

I think it's standing on a Fender gig bag.

Hello mate - glad you're here. I see you have the Boardwalk as a myspace 'friend'.Do you play there? We did about a fortnight ago , our third time there. Great gig.

[quote name='mike257' post='278120' date='Sep 5 2008, 07:02 PM']The producer has responsibility for much more than just which faders get pushed on the desk. It's actually all about communicating, and people skills. A good producer gives an artist the environment, guidance and assurance they need to give their best possible performance. The engineer has a purely technical role, but the producer has to keep all those egos in check!! Obviously every band spends an enormous amount of time crafting their sound and their songs, but sometimes it's impossible to be completely objective about something that you are so personally and emotionally invested in. A producer can offer an objective and independent viewpoint, that can bring to light different ways of approaching a not-quite-right song, or just polishing up the rough edges of something that's already nearly there. I think the contribution they make is severely overlooked.[/quote] I think you're spot on. Also , keep in mind that it's very common to see an experienced producer help a young band break. Then as the bands career develops and they gain experience in the studio they take more of a role in production - co-producing and eventually producing their own recordings. I've a fiver in my pocket that says most of us in these parts would mix the bass too high - and what we have at the end of the writing/rehearsing process - is not set in stone as a finished product.

I had a job once as a guitarist. The bass player loned me his T60 guitar for that gig and I loved it - he played a T40 bass which was an excellent instrument to play - though at the time was in the 'it's not a Fender so it's crap' school. Thankfully those days are long gone. Great bass - and yes , I think there's a classic touch to black/black/maple too.

Apart from the furry dice , rope lights round the rig , mime/dance to include arse baring , lewd jokes , fairy/devil costumes , playing with the left hand upside down etc.....No , no gimmicks in Dr Blue. Course , I have to show off a bit in the ZZ trib !!!!

Bremen - you have the Elvis Dambusters clock plate of Tutenkamen as your avatar. Do you really have one or is it just a pic. Brilliant.

What about Roger Glover? One of my fave producers , as well as being a great writer and possibly the most under rated guitar hero ever , is Lyndsey Buckingham. His production transformed the very ordinary material Nicks and McVie were supplying to Fleetwood Mac and turned them from a college circuit band in a transit to folk that live on yachts. From interviews I've seen he feels his best contributions were as someone who could give form to others raw material rather than as a songwriter/singer/guitarist.

Moi? Passive tone full on - except the Re54P. I back that off a bit to avoid single coil hum and trebly clatter. Actives - lots of bass , fair amount of treb , mid backed off a tad. Pup swings - bass side of equal Vol - may as well be a mute switch. Always on full.

Only one way to go with this and that's overboard. It cost you jack sh*t so have some fun. Stickers , newspaper cuttings, skull knobs - the works.

The bass has changed a bit since the included photo of him playing it !!! I can't imagine Mr Squire is short of a bob or two so can only think he flogged it because he thought it was crap! It's always a prudent thought when browsing ex-name basses!

That sounds like a Hohner 'Jack' to me. Nice basses , though the top horn always looked a little fragile to me. I'm sure it's not but it looks that way. Not sure what you call cheap - but I picked up my headless Status 3000 for £270 off ebay last year so there are bargains to be had if you're patient.

Anything with carpet covering. Fender stock bridges that collapse on you. Well , they collapse on me! Alembics with a pointy bottom so you can't stand them up. Or any other Alembics come to think of it. Jaydees. 2 jam jar lids stuck to a funny shaped body , what's that all about. Strap manufacturers - all of them - for putting a hole in that's too small and a slot that makes a small hole pointless. But the award for the biggest pile of sh*te goes to Schaller - for manufacturing straplocks that don't lock on to a strap and dump my Status on my foot mid gig making me look a right numpty - not to mention the pain. Thankyou Schaller - you utter,utter twats.

If you want your bass to sound like a Stingray.................... Buy a Stingray ! esp at the deflated prices they're fetching of late.

That's great news , after just one gig. I can help your sweaty hands. Sporty wrist bands. Also handy for a quick wipe across the forehead. You wear specs like me , anything that stops it running into your eyes where us spec wearers can't wipe it away is a bonus. Might not fit your image but sure you could think of something - black ones maybe!

That does look good to me - not so sure about the Pickguard. I'd ram the vintage look down throats with a nice aged 'smokers teeth' cream. Don't treat it like a new born baby and it'll look stunning in a year or two - bit of 'forearm rub' showing - that sort of thing.

[quote name='Jase' post='268252' date='Aug 23 2008, 12:27 AM']First question I'd ask myself is....Do YOU think the track needs a bass solo?[/quote] Well done to Jase for posting the correct response. +1 and then some. If the answer turns out to be 'yes'. I'm with the 'variation on the melody' school. Starting simple and building to a good , melodic peak. Bit of humour somewhere too - a classic riff chucked in , a break to check your watch - it'll raise a cheer and not make you look over self indulgent. Personally I'd love to hear a solo on an old Fender with pretty dead strings and sure you'll do it well - but do what you should , not what you can.