kwmlondon

I’m 5’6” and I play a Dingwall. I look, frankly, ridiculous.

My goodness, I never realised what a seething pit of resentment and hatred we had here on basschat! Get it all out and purge yourselves!!!

I kind of know what you mean. I can't say I listen to RHCP for enjoyment, but I do use some of his basslines as warmups as they're brilliant string-skipping or slap exercises.

Sounds like a review of one of my bands...

I sea what you did there.

My dad's a keyboard player and he's genuinely one of the nicest people I know... but ... I can't share a stage with him!

You’re in danger of taking this thread seriously….

He's bean better...

With chocolate or without?

Oh. A part of my dies every time I see amp overhang...

I don't like painted necks. I get uncomfortable with non matching brands on amps and cabs. Basses with a matching headstock sound better than ones without Nobody likes bass solos (well... nobody likes mine. Especially not me) Any bass that's been refinished must be good because somone kept it and repainted it rather than sell it and buy a similar one a different colour Vintage basses that don't show much wear are probably not great since nobody wanted to play them a lot

Rehearsal last night at Pirate in Dalston. Air con was faulty which meant room got up to about 26 degrees, but that's not a huge issue. We tried out a new drummer and she's okay. Lacking in confidence and experience and very chatty, but very very interesting and maybe we can get somehwere. When it locked in there was definitely a bit of power behind the sound. Mostly original songs but a couple of covers. Bit of a boo-boo for the first song. The room had a Blackstar 250w 15" combo and I THOUGHT I'd set all the controls to 12 o clock or off (EQ centred, distortion, compression deactivated etc) but the sound was awful. I was running the Dingwall into it via a Tech 21 VT and had the combo on flat all the way gain and master out but still sounded weak and .... oh. I'd accidentally turned the bass all the way down! The second song was very different! Great! Towards the end I was putting a bit more dirt in for a nasty tune we were working on and OH MY GOD the sound of that bass on the 5th string with the humbucker-type setting and a pick put shivers up my spine then ... the Blackstar just died. No sound. Dead. I think something inside overheated because it came back on after 5 minutes but then shut down again. By that point we were cooked and tired so went off to the pub for a much-needed beer. It was a shame though as I was really getting into the sound!

Hmm. We had a guitarists who ended up picking up the radio on his Marshall valvestate. He was mortified though and, I think, got a Hughes & Kettner and a guitar with humbuckers and that got rid of the issue. At least you still have some high-frequencey hearing though, that's good to know!

I have a soft spot for these. A guy I knew as a kid had one and it was goooorgeous!

This. Over my many years of playing I’ve found that if I am really into an instrument I will find a way of playing it that works, and if it’s not doing it for me I just won’t play it. Doesn’t matter about the string spacing or pickups if I enjoy it I’ll adapt my playing to make it work. Over time, and some that may be months or years, I’ll work out where I want to go next and for me that’s been a lifelong journey involving 4 strings 5 strings fretless etc but bottom line is that I have a bass that I WANT to play every day and that’s the best instrument you can aspire to. IMO.

We can practise for free in my guitarist's shed for free. I quite like it in there. It's cramped but cosy and has a fun vibe!

The two groups I've played with over the past few years are 90% original material so a lot of what I've been doing is working out songs.

Worst episode of Midsomer Murders EVER.

I guess that’s why some have security on the door now.

Look forward to seeing whatever you go with!

There's a very exciting Netflix drama in this!!!!

Something about hitting a bum note...

I used a 6x10 and route master in a pirate. Was fabulous! I get why they’ve gone to 500w rumbles though if that’s what bands are doing. I guess they aren’t using hearing protection either… that’s a recipe for serious hearing loss. Sad.

I have had a few really frustrating experiences with pirate, I can’t deny. But the last 4 or 5 have been fine so I’ll keep with them for the time being. If they get go downhill I’ll look elsewhere. Also, me and my band mates almost always use public transport to get to practicing which has a big impact in location. Pirate has chosen really convenient locations in London, fair play.