SumOne

Maribou State, Blackoak. 😍

I thought the Space 5 sounded good as it was. Granted, it doesn't sound as characterful as things like P or J bass or a Stingray. I wouldn't hear one and say 'that sounds like a space 5', it didn't sound at all bad to me though. The Space 5 is seemed pretty close to what all modern active basses with pickups in those sort of positions tend to sound like to me. And having even stable tuning, small, lightweight, nice neck, well balanced etc. makes up for that. I did sell it though! But that was party as I only needed a 4 string and I find them easier to slap, and partly as I like the character sound of passive single coil Jazz Basses. As it is quite a 'clean' sound, rather than changing on-board preamps (or pickups) I've usually found it easier to use preamp pedals, different EQ, or use different strings and compression to change the sound character. Being 'muddy' and not enough 'snap' are can be a big combination of things - but I'd have thought compressor, strings, playing style, setup, preamp pedal and Amp/Cab, and EQ are major parts of that, more so than the pickups or onboard preamp (which as you say, have made little difference with £300 of new ones). The pickups aren't in unusual positions, scale length is standard, and as far as things like the fretboard and body/weight of the instrument making any difference, well, that's a big can of worms but personally I think it'd make very little difference. But yeah, if you are after a particular character sound like P, J, Stingray, then I think that is mostly down to the positioning of the pickups and no amount of changing pickups or preamp will really do it.

I know we're sort of shouting 'advise' and arguing together while the OP has walked off (I can picture it in a cartoon where someone asks a question, and everyone crowds around shouting over each other, not noticing the original person quietly walked away long ago).......but that's not gonna stop me joining in! Some music Theory is well worthwhile and goes a long way, but I'd say that reading music is generally a 'nice to have' for Bass, especially if you are doing what the majority of Bass players do - play rock/pop etc cover versions or originals. You won't see many of those Bass players standing there live reading sheet music. It's not the case for all instruments, there's good reason that Bass reading has developed Tabs, and Piano has not. I mean, for the bands I've been in it is the expectation that you learn the songs/basslines to play live without reading any notation, nowadays you can do that by listening to the recorded music, online tutorials, tabs, chord charts etc. to help you memorise, whereas in the past, written notation was the only way to get it communicated (or hearing others play live and memorising). So sure, it would be great to sight read music, but I wouldn't say it is a priority for most Bass players. Piano players (who probably play at least 10x the notes of Bass, and more variations, so need notation as it's too hard to memorise), or Bass players playing in Theatre shows just thrown into it with no time to memorise it's a different matter though and is pretty much essential. Anyway, my advice (shouting at cloud!) would be to nail the timing (and locking in with a drummer that might not keep perfect timing!). The temptation is to watch flashy Bass players on YouTube doing solo stuff with 1000 notes a minute, it looks good in that context, but in a band context it's over the top and you rarely see players doing it, Bass is a supporting instrument - part of the rhythm section at the back, so you've gotta have the rhythm! If 1000 notes per minute solo spotlight stuff was my thing then I'd play a guitar. Nowadays, I always practice to something to keep timing - metronome, drum track, band, recording etc. And yeah, wherever possible, play with others (fnarr fnarr).

Not a Black Friday deal as such (and not Bass!), but for anyone into Metal/Rock/Punk Drums (IR, Samples, Midi files) Ugritone have a big closing down sale. https://ugritone.com/collections/farewell-tour I've bought some and they are decent.

Nice one, I'll give the Lekato a go. For £48 (and free Amazon returns) I'll be happy if it's good enough for home and rehearsals for that freedom to un-tether myself from the pedalboard/amp. If I take to wireless and feel the need for something more reliable for live use then I'll upgrade.

Yeah, my justification is that something like the Ibanez 5 band Para EQ is more precise then my Amp EQ (Ashdown RM 500), and better than the EQ on Amps I use in rehearsal rooms, and for live stuff I'd prefer something I can immediately see and adjust rather than multi-fx menus, and for home recording it is nice to be a bit more hands-on rather than using EQ on VSTs.....but all of that is fairly weak justification, the reality is I don't really need an EQ (or preamp) in pedal format, the real reason is I like getting shiny new toys!

I've seen good reviews online for the Lekato WS90 (5.8Ghz) and can get them from Amazon (easy returns!) for £48 so I'll probably go for that, or have you noticed the NUX being significantly better? I like the look of things like the Boss WL50, but it is about £100 more expensive and 2.4Ghz, or the NUX B-8, but that is £200 more expensive and 2.4Ghz....so I think the Lekato seems like a winner, especially as four others in the band use 2.4Ghz wireless so it is probably getting crowded. Or money no object I'd go for the Sure GLXD16+....but I can think of lots of other things I'd prefer to spend that extra £400 rather than the luxury of no cable.

Yeah, it's sounding good. I always like Dennis Bovell. Available from 15th November.

I quite like EQ and Compression as 'hands on' things for making little adjustments live and in rehearsal rooms, always find it a bit of a faff or potentially a bit risky to start digging around in multi-fx menus. EQ is something I generally do on the Amp though, so rationally, I don't really need a pedal for it at all.

Can anyone ID this first Dennis Bovell track? The Album sounds like it'll be good. I don't buy much vinyl anymore but this is on my Christmas list to santa!

Yeah, cheers I've had my eye on them. This Ibanez brand new is still cheaper though so that has slowed down my buying.

I reckon I'll get one. £109 from PMT, GAK, Bax, Andertons etc. but seems out of stock everywhere for a few weeks. As long as the build and sound quality are good then it looks like great value for money for a 5 band parametric EQ. e.g. A new Empress 3 band Parametric EQ MKII is £250, Sine Effect MegaPara 3 band Parametric EQ is £190, WMD 3 band para EQ is about £190, Q-strip £330. The 'Q' knobs look a silly design to be small and all black though, the tipex will be used immediately! Other than that small gripe, my slight concern is the volume sliders, visually they look good - but potentially a bit delicate for something that'll spend some of it's life on pub floors being stomped on! So some tough knobs (like all those other EQs I mentioned) would be preferable. Alternatively, I do really like the Q-strip, great sound and build quality/toughness and additional HPF/LPF, XLR and parallel out (only 4 band EQ with two mids being semi-parametric though), but 3x the cost of the Ibanez is hard to justify. Or, the Source Audio EQ2 if going digital, not as 'hands-on' as I like, but does benefit from having presets, but £270 is pretty steep...multi-fx sort of price territory.

Yeah, I take it as a compliment for the Bass as an instrument. Generally, no Bass or Drums means we get a dep, if we can't then we cancel rehearsal. The consensus is we can carry on without other band members, must have a rhythm section though. Lots of non music jobs I've got have been from temping becoming permanent, seems similar with deps.

Bought a fuzz pedal off Lawrie and it arrived all well and as described. Thanks!

I think it was a Hal Leonard Bass book that taught me the fundamentals (really learn the fretboard, chords, and 'positions'), and an online lesson from somewhere like SBL saying the importance of proper muting. The noticeable step-up was from playing at home to being part of band. Once I started playing with drummers that perhaps don't keep perfect time or throw unexpected things in, learning how to play 'in the pocket' as a rhythm section and playing to fit the whole band sound felt like a whole new skill learned. Main lesson from that is probably the importance of good timing, and that stuff that sounds good in practice doesn't necessarily sound good in a band - one well played note (or not played at all) often sounds better than many notes played quickly.

The Bass players I most want to sound like are Robbie Shakespeare and Bernard Edwards.... Neither of which used any pedals that I know of. I pay attention to what pedals Bootsy Collins has used, I've definitely bought some pedals because of it (although he seems to endorse just about every fuzz, synth, or filter pedal ever!) .

Fwoarrr! Look at the join on that! Perhaps I've been unlucky, but I've never owned a Fender Jazz with all the parts fitting quite so exactly, there always seems to be a bit of 'near enough, that'll do' bodge. This Lakland seems precise: Pickup holes, pickguard exactly meeting the neck and control plate, neck pocket, nut, frets, etc. Everything seems precise, one bit individually doesn't make much difference but marginal gains add up.

I just got this DJ4, I've owned various Jazz Basses and this is up there with the best of them: Bonus that it's more sparkly than I thought it would be:

One gig a month is plenty for me, although it tends to be a bit more than that (sometimes two in a weekend, which is a bit much). I'm not a 'born to be on stage' showman type, it doesn't really interest me and I don't enjoy all the faff of travel, missing out on things other friends are doing, packup/down, and staying sober while all the punters are drinking. So in a way I could give or take playing gigs.....What does really interest me is though playing music with other people - particularly when they are good musicians but it is a relaxed jamming session and you get those occasional moments of great music just pulled out of nowhere. So I generally prefer rehearsals to gigs (gigs tend to be more faff, stress, formulaic), but purely jam bands with no gigs I've been in have always fizzled out - gigs are needed to keep that focus and slight nervous 'must practice so I don't f*ck up in front of an audience' motivation, otherwise I'd get lazy with it.

I bought a Bass from Mark and it is all as described (or actually perhaps better than I expected - it looks brand new), good comms, promptly posted well packaged etc. all good - thanks!

Good work! A lot of Aston Barrett's basslines are deceptively tricky. I've been going through 'I Shot The Sheriff' tonight and needed a listen through this video to get down the timing and subtle changes that go on throughout (and reassure me that it isn't my Bass that's out of tune!)

It isn't a Bob Marley song that gets much attention, excellent bassline though: