Boodang

Geddy and Alex must be gutted to know how bad their drummer was.

1. Turns up with a set of spare strings as opposed to the statement 'I've never broken a string yet!'. 2. Never plays slap.* 3. Turns up with, and does play, double bass. *slap on DB rockabilly style is the exception.

As a drummer as well as a bassist; 1. Play a solid groove. 2. Fills and flourishes that are appropriate and well executed. 3. Dynamics (this can't be underestimated). As a band we operate the 'no *rsehole' rule, so all the above means sh*t all unless this criteria is met!

Basses are meant to be played and if it were me (and I've done this myself in the past) I wouldn't be precious about it. If you like the feel of the neck, get it fretted if that's what you want. After all, despite all the fuss by those that call them vintage, it's still a cheaply made, mass produced, bolt on neck solid body and hardly a Stradivarius!

There's a good YouTube video which compares about 8 different J pickups (played back to back and just a few minutes long with no commentary), which will give you a good idea of which to go for. The ones that sound the least like normal jazz pickups are the DiMarzio model J (DP-123), which is not surprising giving that they are inline humbuckers. With these you could not only fit a series/parallel switch between the 2 pickups but also a switch for each pickup for the two coils. This would give you great variety of tone without even going near any eq. Tempted to give it a go myself.

Keep all the filters of course!! Also, I found the Seamoon doubles as a really nice LPF when you roll off the depth.... really adds a lot of low end punch without being boomy, provided you don't set the frequency too low of course as it is capable of ridiculous bowel moving low end.

I heartily concur with this. I installed a Starr Guitars dual volume/tone preamp on my jazz with a serial/parallel switch. All the tones you expect in parallel and in series mode a giant humbucker with loads of balls.

Also.... with few exceptions most pedal fx's i own sound better than the equivalent in a multi fx unit. I'd rather have fewer quality fx than a plethora of average ones.

Line 6, Zoom, Source Audio and a few others, have come and gone because of their interface. Either obscure, infuriating or just unsatisfying to use and consequently have ended up being sold. Knob twiddling!! A multi fx with knobs on please!

I use the EHX parallel tri mixer to blend pedals. Three channels and each one has a phase switch.

Interestingly, and depressingly, a study was done by a UK university very recently that came to the conclusion that there is no level of alcohol intake that is safe, including the eponymous odd glass of red wine. As regards compression, I don't use any on my double bass (being acoustic I feel it sounds better without it), but with my bass guitars I use compression in all its forms from light to super aggressive as a means of tone manipulation.

Of course you mean Chaircut 100!

I'm in a covers band, this time as the drummer but I usually play bass. The bass player in the band is borrowing my kit and to get a good mix live we are boosting the mids. Specifically around 800hz and as the bassist is playing finger style there's also a slight boost around 3k. Sits in the mix nicely.

It seems genre has a bearing on this. Rock, pop etc there's an a certain energy level expectation and in the case of vocals, the inevitable change in range that comes with getting older, whereas most of the jazz legends just seem to get better with age.

Surely Ron Carter deserves a mention!

I have managed a solution to the 5 string conundrum... I string mine high C instead. But back to the OPs original question, for me tone wise it's a Jazz (I particularly like the pups wired in series) but as I hate bolt on necks with a passion it's a custom J with a set neck.

I think your example of a Martin guitar sums it up... for me I wouldn't use compression on my double bass but for my solid body bass guitar I do use it.

Is it just me or does the B string on a five sound like a different instrument to the rest of the bass? To my ears it doesn't have a focused tone.

Shame really because if it was a real TE it would weight half a ton and you'd have to invest in a back brace before taking it to a gig.

I agree, I think if you don't have a six pack you shouldn't be allowed to practice at home let alone play in public. Music should be rated on a 'six-pack-o-meter' scale which solely rates the collective gym input of the band. Of course for those musicians who just can't cut it in the gym, you could always issues buckets at gigs so you can vomit along to the sight of their jiggling performance.

There should be a rule book that says the Rollings Stones should have been made to retire a long time ago!

When you play, at what angle is your wrist? Playing with a straight wrist will at least stop any further damage. Resting your forearm on the bass body is usually the culprit for a bad wrist angle.

Yep, I'll also recommend the protection racket case. I used to have hard cases for all my basses but now I use these. And they're not expensive... around the 100 pounds.

I'm not a pro bassist but I do own a mixture of top end basses and some mass produced models... and yet one of my fav to play is my Squier VM Jazz. Admittedly it's had a pro setup, new pickups, electronics, bridge, nut and tuners!! But all in still costs way less than a standard Fender Jazz but I've got something to my specifications.

Talking of small combos, has anyone tried the new Trace Elliot ELF 1 x 10?