TheRev

I once auditioned a gitarist who turned up with some pointy headstocked, Floyd Rose double locking whanmmy, type guitar. It took him two hours to tune the damned thing up, what with all the unlocking, tune, re-lock, unlock, tune, re-lock etc, ad nauseum. I lost the will to live around the 45 minute mark and to this day have no idea if he ever even played a full chord in the two hours he was there.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1337027662' post='1654389'] Ah ok I didn't know who it was. He's done some stuff with Kate Bush that I know of. [/quote] Danny has done stuff with just about everybody.... http://www.therealdannythompson.co.uk/Discography.html

Sweet. lovely bit of flame to the top. I want another bass now....

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1336555089' post='1647303'] You'll not only become more giggable, you'll be a person! People will notice that you exist in the band and want to talk to you. For a bass player, it's pretty shocking at first, but you'll get to like it. [/quote] Fatback speaks the truth. I regularly get recognised in most of the venues I play in, even when I'm not there with the band. Before I stated playing double bass, even my own bandmates didn't know who I was.

Just ordered 'seven days of falling' by E.S.T. I already have 'Leucoyte' so another one is well overdue!

I'm loving those E.S.T. tracks - I'm off to Amazon... [quote name='fatback' timestamp='1336488887' post='1646318'] I prefer to think that an instrument sounds best when it's right for the context and the job it has to do. [/quote] Agreed. Back when I actually still played electric bass, I used to use a shedload of FX in a folky acoustic duo. I just looked on the bass as being my preferred mechanism for producing the sounds, (i.e. the FX), that we wanted for the songs. The fact that it wasn't 'right' or traditional wasn't the point. The bowed sections in the E.S.T. tracks above don't sound anything like double bass, but who said that they had to?

[quote name='citymariner' timestamp='1336397717' post='1644947'] I got told that the only pickup to go for is a K&K - any truth in this? I googled it and there are a range of models so think it was a very general comment. [/quote] The K&K Bassmax is a good place to start with pickups. Very easy to fit and easy to sell on if its not to your liking.

Ah, with ya. Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhoozlf3PB0

Search Youtube for the transatlantic sessions series 2. Danny is all over it.

The Shop in Enniskillen isn't much cop - mostly cheapo beginners stuff. You could try these guys; [b]Peter Scott Public Address Systems and Hire[/b] [b]028 6638 8608[/b] They're in Ballinamallard, about 10 miles the other side of Enniskillen. I've no personal experience of them - just found them via Google and a bit of local knowledge. You'll probably need to hire a generator as well, I don't think they have electricity in Belcoo yet...

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1335739931' post='1635399'] Way cool, Rev! Here's some quite breathtaking music from Danny and the late John Martyn - makes me swell up ... [/quote] Clarky mate, you have no idea how much I love listening to this piece of music! It was this exact version of Solid Air that turned me on to Danny Thompson and made me go upright, It never, ever fails to get hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

I haven't got any experience with their solid top bass but I am currently looking after one of their cheapo laminate basses for a friend while she moves house. Overall, it's not bad at all for the money (£379). The sound is as you expect from a cheap laminate - not a huge ammount of character and short on sustain, but it does actually sound like a double bass. It comes with medium tension strings and an action that I can only describe as 'brave', so I reckon a set of low tension strings (eg Silver slaps or super silvers) and a trip to a luthier to lower the bridge would be an essential move - especially for a beginner. The one thing that worries me about these basses is the quality of the components. When my friend dropped off her bass, it was a tone below concert pitch. Tuning back up to concert pitch was a terrifying experience as the bass creaks and squeaks with every turn of the machine head. It really sounds like the whole thing is on the verge of folding up under the tension to the point where I'm almost afraid to touch it in case it implodes.... On the whole, the cheaper bass is fine if you want to try your hand at double bass without spending a lot of money, but I'd be very wary of taking one to a gig. There are a couple of people on here who have bought the 'Archer' basses from Gear4music - apparently they're rather good.

Also, don't forget that you have to have watched 'This is Spinal Tap' before you join a band. It's in the rules.

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1334706351' post='1620203'] But still. Y'know. What if I tried some velvet animas? What then? [/quote] I love Velvet strings, particularly the Garbos. I'm using the (much cheaper) Velvet blues on my 50s ply and they sound really good. The feel is a bit different from the Garbos, but the sound is very similar. I'm quite interested in the Cordes Lambert strings, but I suspect that way lies madness.

My acoustic trio does private bookings for £100 per muso. That includes a small PA. If the venue needs a bigger PA or the customer wants lights or there's a significant amount of travel, then those costs go on top of the £300. In relation to the article posted by Jake, my 4 piece scrumpy'n'western band have been getting a lot more (and better) gig offers over the past 6 months - enough to allow us to put our price up significantly. The interesting thing was, we had more grumbling over our fee going from £250 to £350 last year than we have over our fee going from £350 to £600 this year. It seems that there's some sort of value barrier at the £200/£300 mark. Once you're over that barrier, people seem to treat a band as they would any other professional service - which is exactly as it should be.

Another vote for the Thomastik acousticores. I've had a set on my Fender acoustic for 5+ years now and they still sound lovely.

Had a stonking gig at The Fleece in Bristol supporting The Wurzels. The night was sold out, the crowd were amazing and the sound was fantastic. We sold a shedload of T shirts and CDs and made a lot of friends. I'm currently nursing a massive hangover.....

It's my 40th today, and I got a card from Danny Thompson (and Victoria)! My wife sent him an email asking if he'd sign a card and he did, with a really nice message and a little cartoon. What a lovely bloke (and a great wife)!

[url="http://www.skimmityhitchers.com"]The Skimmity Hitchers[/url] will be supporting the Wurzels on a 4 date West country mini tour over the Easter weekend. The dates and places are: Thursday 5th April: The Palace nightclub, Bridgewater Friday 6th April: Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury Saturday 7th April: The Fleece, Bristol Sunday 8th April: The Square & Compass, Ashill. Scrumpy, Badgers and scary nudity guaranteed!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1333026395' post='1596358'] Is that DB bigger than a Flying V, do you think? Slightly more seriously, what about feedback when you're crammed together that closely? [/quote] The DB is almost bigger than me... I reckon I have less feedback issues on tiny 'stages' than I do on big ones. I'm right on top of my amp so the volume doesn't have to be particularly high for myself and the drummer to hear it. I feed a signal to the PA so it's loud enough for the punters out front. With a bigger stage where I'm 6 feet in front of my amp, I have to really crank everything to get a decent sound and that's where the feedback starts,.

I quite like playing small stages sometimes, particularly the ones where the bass drum is tight up against the back of my legs - no problem following the drums in those situations.

I bought a rather lovely little Roland bass microcube from York5stringer this weekend. The whole deal was done in 24 hours with plenty of communication and he even delivered the combo to the venue where I was playing a gig on Friday night. A perfect deal in true Basschat stylee! Cheers Keith! He's not in Yorkshire though... he's in Dorset.

See? Chicks dig double bass ;-) Excellent news, & good luck with your bass hunt.

Mate, don't worry for one second about whether you're doing the right thing - I think I speak for everyone on the DB forum when I say that you will not regret going upright. It was the best thing ever to happen for my bass playing, both technique and career wise. It sounds like you'd rather have an acoustic bass but are looking at electrics due to space limitations. This is a valid consideration, and one which led me to move on from my first EUB (Aria SWB) to an Eminence, despite the Eminence costing the same as a decent laminate or solid top acoustic. However, when I finally went 'f#*k it' and bought a 3/4 acoustic, I found it didn't take up a much space as I thougt - a slight reshuffle of the furniture revealed a convenient DB sized gap. On the other hand, your boss sounds more amenable to the most compact solution to your desires..... which makes choosing the EUB route the obvious way to go. The Stagg is decent for the money - I've seen ropey ones and I've seen good ones so make sure you check it over before you buy. If the budget can stretch to a second hand Aria SWB, then even better. If you can only afford & accommodate a Stagg, then get a Stagg and get playing. Less chat, more bass... Just do it. It won't really matter, in 8 months time you'll be posting about how your boss is much more attracted to you now that you play upright bass and is insisting that you get an acoustic as that would really ring her bell.....