SumOne

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:

I like to turn compression up until it is very noticeable, then muck about with things like attack and release to really hear what they are doing, then gradually dial back to the point where it is subtle - more like only you 'feeling' the compressor being on. After a few weeks with it on you'll then miss it when it's off. Personally, I didn't like the MXR, perhaps my user error but it seemed to squish the lows too much (I play a lot of Reggae though), or I had to turn the imput and compression ratio down to the point it wasn't really compressing. For Bass, I prefer compressors with a HPF, or clean blend, or multiband so I can preserve the lows but tame big peaks of slap/pop or unruly envelope filters. So I'd favour the Spectracomp.

Tappa Zukie, Man Ah Warrior Anyone recognise where else that riddim is used? Edit: I've got it 'Papa was a rolling stone' for the bassline, almost the definition of a 'less is more' bassline.

Hudson People 'Trip to your mind'

Pre-gig band catering: