Boodang

I used to play alto sax many years ago, great fun, so keep it up. Maybe start with a horn section, easier parts and not soloing. I did take up playing drums a while ago. I just kept it as a bedroom hobby for many years as I just enjoyed it but then one day just decided to have lessons with a teacher (as opposed to online) and that propelled me forward in leaps to the point where I found a covers band 2 years ago and threw myself in the deep end. Kept it simple and faked it to begin with but two years of learning all types of songs, some hard work and more lessons, and I'm doing more gigs on drums than bass now. Definitely worth the effort plus I think it's improved my bass playing with a deeper understanding of rhythms. I'm not saying I have nothing more to learn on bass, far from it, but I do like a new challenge to keep things fresh. Oh, plus more musically toys to buy, so a result!

Well, had a thought and at that price range I think I’ve narrowed it down to my top 2000 basses. As you might have guessed you’re spoilt for choice. Some things to consider… do you like a narrow ‘jazz’ style neck, or a fatter ‘precision’? Coming from an upright might have an influence on that. Going to a well stocked shop might help sort that out and you might find that some BGs just feel right. As for generalisations, you’ll not go far wrong with Yamaha and obviously Ibanez has a lot to offer.

Two options; a EHX Tri mixer could switch in/out signal paths as could a Bright Onion A/B/Y switcher.

What ever works for you, so I’m not criticising, but the first thing that was said to me when I had lessons was ‘how many bass players do you know that find a D by going two frets back from the E’! A month of doing any note finder exercise will just nail it for life. We’re lucky we can play scales and arpeggios from pattern and just move them around but it so helps if the start points, the notes, are all just instantly visualised.

If it doesn't do it, you could always just get a EHX Freeze pedal.

Not particularly! I use a DI at home to go into my xr18, but that also has a high impedance input so it's not necessary. As for a preamp, I think the most flexible I had was the TC Electronic Spectra Drive. 4 band EQ but the clever bit is a toneprint enabled tube drive and compressor which means you have access to loads of overdrive and compressor types. Oh, it has a built in DI as well!

First exercise Joe Hubbard gave me back in the day; start with the low E note, then play every E on the E string, then A string, then D, then G.... then play them back down (as in reverse, high to low). Then move on to the F, F# etc until you've cover the lot. Sing the note each time. If it's a #, for instance F#, sing F# on the way up and Gb on the way down.

No worries. Conscious not to hijack the thread into a DI forum but.... in the studio I'll use a fancy pants DI but live I use the Radial SB-2 as it's passive, so not worrying about psu's, it's electrically indestructible and I reckon you could play football with it and it'll still work. Oh, and it sounds great too.

I agree wholeheartedly, I was just simplifying the matter in the context that a DI is not what is needed here. A DI is definitely going to have an effect, especially if you buy Radial as according to them the transformers they use have ‘magical’ qualities!

A DI won't make any difference to your sound. It's either for sending a signal to the PA or recording.

Worth it just to have a pedal with knobs labelled faster, harder, louder!

A HX Stomp would potentially replace your entire board as a 'one box' solution but depends if you're happy with the digital style editing that comes with a mutli fx pedal..... and indeed if you like the sounds you can get from the Stomp as it's not cheap. For a straight forward DI to put at the end of your signal chain I can recommend the Radial SB-2 Stagebug; passive, so nothing really to go wrong, with an Eclipse transformer (according to the Radial blurb, the transformer is 'magical'!!). If you want more punch from your bass, check out the review I did recently of the Dod Meatbox reissue. Just using a little of the Octave out (not the sub synth output as this kills speakers!) I found gave a nice push in the low frequencies without sounding artificial.

I gave up using the x-air app almost immediately and got Mixing Station which has proved to be stable and so much better. I did cry a little when i handed over the cash for the x-touch but actually it's proved a worthwhile investment and I wouldn't want to be without it now.

A tech would soon sort that.... also, you could just bin off the active pre amp and use passive permanently to save on battery induced anxiety.

As for the xr18, do you have the x touch controller or are you just relying on software? I had issues at a gig once with software crashes and WiFi not working… never again and got the hardware so no more worries.

Is turning up to play with a tablet any different to a classical musician turning up with sheet music?! Just a thought.

I agree, EQ is so important. For my fretless it's essential to have control over low and hi mids, and as you say, 40 Hz, unless it's shelving, is just too low for most average bass cabs to cope with. In that respect the best pre amp I had was a TC Electronic TC1140, 4 band fully parametric but setting up bandwidths and precise centres could be a pain and there are easier ways to do it now. I still miss it's precision and versatility tho (should never have got rid of it!). These days we play thru a Behringer xr18, so I have the luxury of using some classic plug in EQs and comps in a live setting, plus the digital eq with it's graphic display makes setting up EQ points and bandwidth so easy. The biggest game changer for me is having an analyser built in so I can see what frequencies are being generated and thus where to cut or boost. In fact it's so good I'm going to say the xr18 counts as a pre amp in its own right, especially as it's cheaper than some boutique pedals and means you can take a virtual studio to the gig. Multi FX are awesome these days and so versatile but I do like to start with getting the source tone where I want it, so for me even when I'm using a HX I'll get the tone sculpting done for my basic tone before I start.

I'm in four bands at the moment all doing different music, so there's a lot of material to get down. For me I find the best thing is that when I'm away from the bass, not rehearsing or practicing, I have the set list playing in the background so all I'm doing is listening to the tracks over and over. A bit repetitious as often I'd rather be listening to something else, but it does mean that the songs are indelibly imprinted in my brain.... to the point where I can't get them out of head. I'll keep that going until the songs are stuck in my head for good. Other aid memoirs... I have a note book with a page for each song, I'll write down the key (and scale) so I know what notes not to play! Plus maybe the main hook or intro.... in tab if needs be, doesn't have to be dots, although I do find that dots give you a straight up sense of the rhythm and timing which tab can't do.

Funny you should say that because recently we held auditions to find a finger player. But the only people to turn up were some random guys; Mike Dirnt, Justin Chancellor, Jean-Michel Labadie and Matt Freeman. As soon as they got out a pick we were like, whoa, stop right there, we don't play with failed guitarists, and sent them packing. We didn't even let them play a note, so I've no idea if they were any good. I don't know why the bothered to show up!

Yep, you'll need headphones! Also the effect is more subtle than you expect considering it's a Meatbox. Basically just more bloom in the bass register. I recorded it with flat wounds, on the first clip more top end clack to the notes, less so with the meatbox on.

For the covers band I play drums in, the bass player only brings one pick (obviously too expensive to have more) and is always misplacing it or dropping it during a number. I usually have spare picks lying around in my gig bag (after all I'm the drummer, why wouldn't I) but after getting fed up with lending them to him I got one of those round red 'break glass in emergency' box and installed behind the glass a shiny new pick. I hang said box off the cymbal stand on the side he plays on... he still hasn't bought a spare pick but it's funny watching him contemplate actually smashing the glass when he gets desperate!

Meatbox off; Meatbox off.mp3 Meatbox on; Meatbox on.mp3 These were recorded using my jazz fretless. For the last gig I was using a friend's fretted Warwick Thumb BO. The meatbox has is slightly more boomy sound when you sustain a note on the fretless which was a little less pronounced on the thumb. I'll record the same with the Thumb when I get mitts back on it for comparison purposes.

The EBS Valvedrive is worth a shout. Even has that broad, interactive old school passive eq.

Just did a farewell gig for our guitarist/singer in the covers band and unfortunately it's probably the worst we've ever played! For some reason we were just not connecting musically, which is unusual, but these things happen and we still had a good time. For this band I'm playing drums but I thought I'd tell this anacdote here as it's quite amusing. So, singer/guitarist starts the song with me on rim shots (guess the number!), and at the appropriate point second guitar and bass join in. At this point I assumed we would stop and restart given that the bass and second guitar are each in a different key to each other and the singer... but no, apparently that's unprofessional so we limp on playing the number in three different keys. I could see the confusion in the bassists eyes as he goes over to the second guitarist, they nod at each and at the end of the bar they change key but in the confusion they just swap keys, neither of which is what the singer is in! Eventually they figure out that they probably need to synchronise with the singer which they managed for the last chorus. Basically they forgot we had changed the key for the vocals with the bassist in the original key and the second guitar a semi tone higher for some bizzare reason. Anyway, it was quite the most novel free form jazz rendition of 'run to you' I've ever heard (we even apologised to the audience it was that bad! Although if it had been a jazz venue I think it would have been genius).