Beedster

The best exercise to help with bass playing is bass playing. If this only happens when you're playing live ask some questions: 1. Are you practising/rehearsing for long enough to train the muscles involved to perform for the time you need them to perform for on stage? If you gig for two hours, you're gonna need to be practising/rehearsing at or close to that duration relatively frequently. 2. Are you using the muscles more intensely on stage; for example, do the band have a habit of speeding up the tracks live, or do you dig in more to be heard? 3. Do you hold your bass differently on stage? 4. Do you generally require more energy live than in rehearsal (e.g., you move around more), leaving less energy per unit time for the playing muscles? Whatever the cause, the treatment is likely to be simulation in rehearsal of what you need to do live. If you do in rehearsal what you do live (play harder, move around more, wear the bass differently etc), you will prepare your muscles and nervous system to do the same. I have real problems with the same issue when playing DB; I have to dig in more live to hear myself, and tracks that I can play easily in rehearsal sometimes defeat me on stage. The solution, get the guys to rehearse at live volumes so that I have to train myself to play at those volumes regularly. Hope that helps a bit Chris

And a hello from the more civilized end of Kent Chris

MZ is post 2000 Mex

As long as the work was professionally done it's not devalued your bass if someone will pay what you want for it, so suck it and see (i.e., list it for sale). If it doesn't sell a refret might be an option, but selling it at a price midway between what you'd like to get (e.g., £600) and your income from the sale following the refret (e.g. £500) might get you a quick sale and save the hassle. C

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1324232529' post='1472120'] Nice one Chris, glad its what you were after. Funnily enough, as I mentioned to you, Dave's B-10 (my old one and before that Mr Bassman's) has quite a 'man's action' and other web reviews of B/TB-10 owners say the same. I did read somewhere on the web that the big wooden tail block can be adjusted internally to alter the action. I guess yours has been lowered at some point, meaning it could probably also be raised again if you so wished. [/quote] Thanks Clarky, I'll take a look at that option. Keep you posted if things change, if you know what I mean [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1324234144' post='1472146'] Very good, Chris, I'm very glad you're happy. Tell me more about the Rickenbacker strings please. I'm still playing the La Bella black nylons and they are fine but I keep imagining there might be something better. Are the 4445s black nylon too? Where did you get them? On the matter of the action, mine is 7/32 at the 12th on the E string. How does that compare? [/quote] Thanks Dave, the 4445s are my fave string, kinda felt feel to them, although they are technically nylon I believe. You'll have to keep a VERY close eye on eBay USA for them, and be prepared to pay a few dollars as they are no longer made. I would be gutted if I broke any of mine. I'll check the action and let you know how changing it as per Clarky's message above goes mate, might sort both our problems! Chris

Well, with many thanks to the very professional and easy to deal with Rainer (mrbassman_de), who sent this from Germany in packaging that would have withstood even Parcelforce's weekend staff's best efforts, I've now have the Takamine B-10 for two weeks. I've spent a lot of time playing it and rehearsed it for the first time today. Firstly, the build quality is phenomenal. As soon as you pick it up you know it's a class instrument. It looks stunning, in a Baroque meets late '60s instrument way, and whilst I don't like gold hardware, it just works on this bass. Even the case is a work of art! I played it - unplugged - with what I assume were the stock strings, and hated the sound. I put on a set of TI Jazz flats, and hated the sound almost as much. A set of Roto nylons got closer to what I was after but were way too squeeky, but strung with the Rickenbacker 4445s taken from my 4003FL, things started to look up in a big way. So strings were sorted, time to get stuck in. Playing wise, the action is too low for me and there's nothing I can do about it other than get used to it, which seemeds a major design flaw at Takamine's end. I wanted something that played like a DB, but the action is lower than my 4003FL. Having said that, after playing it for an hour or two, and although I'd have preferred some choice, it seems Takamine have got the action pretty much just right. So, next stage was to plug in to my AI rig. F*** me, what an amazingly versatile preamp. First thing I realised is that you have to use the reverb sparingly, it's way OTT. Next thing you realise is that like a Sadowsky pre, a little is a lot; small changes in settings really make a huge difference in tone and character. I have no idea of the full range of tone this baby does, but the range I've come across so far is impressive, especially given that unlike many acoustic-electric instruments, all of the sounds seem to relate to the core acoustic tone of the instrument. What it also does very well is bass, real man's bass. So the real test for me was whether or not it can replicate a DB tone sufficient for me to be able to use it live and still get the DB tone we get in the studio. Simple answer; yes. It ain't perfect, but it's close enough. All in all I'm probably happier with this bass than I've been with a bass for a very long time. I guess in saying that what I'm really saying that whilst a lot of basses I've owned have promised much but delivered less, this didn't promise a whole lot but has delivered by the ton. Keeper? Yes. Clarky, Dave, Rainer, many thanks for your help with this. It was a risk, entailed parting with a lot of Mesa Boogie gear, but in the final analysis, I'm very glad I did C

Haven't read the thread but there are two Mesa Boogie Walkabout 12" extension cabs on sale on here at present and IME having woned and sold two a year or so back it's the best 2x12 combination out there barring the two Bag Ends I also stupidly sold last year!

[quote name='BassBod' timestamp='1323250360' post='1460939'] I've used mine a lot for smaller gigs - and also as a light power amp for an Alembic preamp. Gets decent volume without cranking through a single 1x15 (nice Bag End, cheers Chris!) or 1x12. Wouldn't use it for a Goliath 4x10...its not up to that without some help. [/quote] Lovely cab that Bag End

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1323425440' post='1463137'] [size=4]In my experience, very underpowered. I owned one for 24 hours. I took it back and got an Ampeg SVT3PRO instead.[/size] [/quote] That seemed to be the consensus. I was looking for a decent-ish head following the sale of my Mesa gear and saw the unit in question. My thinking on most gear is that online reviews tend to be VERY positive (they're either written by someone who's just bought one and is prone to a little cognitive dissonance regarding any faults, or written by someone with a similar vested interest). So the fact that so many people said this was an underpowerd unit at 200w put me off bidding. I also found quite a few mentions of unreliability also. I'm not saying it's not a great amp, simply that I don't think it's a bargain even at that price. You can pick up very good stuff very cheap at the moment. C