Boodang

I play with two amps which I put either side of the drummer. Partly so the guitarist can hear me on the other side of the stage and partly in case an amp fails.

Ah, this is such a familiar problem, I open up a kitchen cabinet and a SVT falls out, the washing machine turns out to be a B15 portaflex, the fridge freezer is really a long lost 8x10, and my wardrobe in reality is an old Acoustic 360. I must stop storing classic amps around the house, it's so careless of me, and slightly confusing.

Turns out it's an arpeggio based course. Despite the hype I found the exercises were really useful.

£5K.... you'd have to pay me more than that!

Clown vomit green!

Actually, SBLs fretboard accelerator in practice is nothing more than just good old fashioned basics and hard work put into a scheduled routine to keep you on track. Lots of hype maybe, and certainly no magic bullet, just solid fundamentals.

Ah, see that makes sense now. For years I've been trying to get to grips with playing my stick but all I've managed to do is put a silly grin on it's face...

Optimum design features are why for me, BGs are not just a lump of wood. PS if your Sire feels great but is not the best sounding have you considered replacing the pups/preamp? That way it would be perfect.

Sound is not the only issue, there's also playability. My Squier jazz sounds as good as my custom, but my custom is way nicer to play. In that respect it's not just a lump of wood. Now if you're perfectly happy with the way your Squier plays, then you have a bargain, but I have to say the compound radius '61 spec'ed neck, smooth set neck joint and contoured body on my custom is a work of art, sublime to play, and as far from a lump of wood as it's possible to get. To call it otherwise would be an insult to the luthier and as good as the Squier CNC machine is at pumping out a very decent mass produced BGs, there's no comparison when it comes to playability.

Well, I'm assuming after 2 years the op has built the bass by now, but just in case there's been a bit of procrastination, my suggestion is walnut. Just had a jazz bass made from 'gunstock' walnut and it's my new fav wood of choice.

Bare in mind that one of the drumming fundamentals is throwing sharpened drum sticks at recalcitrant band members!

For a sound check it obviously has to be flight of the bumblebee, although not as slow as the original.

Always got a good sound from a TE 4x10, but always good back ache as well! Now I'm playing mostly EUB or fretless the ported 15 works better and the Icoa does it well, and lighter!

I also get that issue with traditional bass cabs, even my little SWR baby blue. The best solution so far, and what I'm doing with the pa cab, is to put on a stand at head height.

So, I've just bought a LD Systems Icoa 15a to use as my bass cab. 15", ported with a coaxial horn, 300watt rms amp, 2 xlr combo channels and eq presets. My preamp is a pedalboard so the front end is sorted and the sound from the pedals I just want to amplify, so an active pa speaker seems ideal. It's early days but so far it sounds good; fairly neutral with a slight bass emphasis from the ports. Ive had many rigs in the past, including Trace Elliot and SWR, but I can't see that a dedicated bass guitar amp/cab is going to be any better than this and would cost considerably more (the icoa was £400). Does anyone else use pa cabs instead of bass rigs?

My two fav basses; a Squier VM Jazz fretless which cost £200, and a custom jazz which cost considerably more. The difference between the two... well the Squier is awesome but the custom is sublime. All the tiny niggles on the Squier, because it wasn't made specifically with me in mind, are not there on the custom. So, to go from almost perfect to perfect is a lot more money. Is it worth it? Well for me yes. Does the audience notice? Well, not really the right question, as playing the custom is more enjoyable and because of that I probably put in a better performance. But of course, if the little things I find irritating on the Squier don't bother you, then you've found your perfect bass for not a lot.

My best mate at school was an accident so his brothers were 10 years older than us and we spent our spare time listening to their records instead of doing homework. Their tastes were rock based so it was the usual mix of Hendrix, Deep Purple, Rush, Led Zeppelin etc but the one that really got to me and made me take up bass was Yes and Chris Squire's unique approach.

To change up my practice I bought the Janek Gwizdala books and have been working through those. It's challenging and a different approach to the run of the mill. Suggestion 2; sell the gear gathering dust and buy a drum kit! Nothing quite like a new challenge and it'll have the side affect of improving your bass playing.

Yep, my favourite strings are the Galli Synthesis flats. Nylon cored and smooth as butter. I play rounds when the session demands but they suck @ss!!

Mostly because rounds sound different to flats and having a fretless doesn't mean you have to put flats on it. I've got a fretless with flats for that classic sound, and I have one with rounds, an ebony board, and when eq'd with scooped mids and boosted highs has a great slap tone. Why would I use this instead of a fretted? Well, I prefer the expressiveness I get from a fretless.

Well, a few points in their defense; Mwah sound is not compulsory. I've got a fretless strung with roundwounds which has an ebony fingerboard, with a scooped eq you can even slap it. The point of them? Well, to my mind they're more expressive than a fretted. Cello style vibrato and slides being the most obvious. And unlike a fretted the whole board is available to use not just the bit behind the fret. And as for white fret lines, Jaco and Mark Egan were/are on training wheels for a very long time.

Apart from the sound, for my money, a fretless is more expressive. Lined fretless is a good place to start. If you can find one, get a s/h Squier vintage modified jazz fretless... it has a lined resin fingerboard which is glassy smooth.

Most bass rigs don't do well below 100hz, you'll often see -9db or more at 41hz. So although mids will cut through the mix more, boosting the bass on most rigs isn't very efficient. I've started using a rig with a dedicated sub, but as it's the Mackie DLM it's smaller than most rigs anyway. I find I get a cleaner sound this way and need less mids to be heard. Of course, if you're going thru a bigger PA you're at the mercy of the FOH engineer but if they're any good they should be able to give you a non growl sound that can be heard. Although for that you have to give the FOH a di that they can work with and is sympathetic to the PA setup.

Jack of all trades and master of none?