TheRev

I always like the intro to Rotten Apple by Alice in Chains -it's my music shop riff.

Hmm. I still have occasional GAS episodes, but I've learnt to be rational about it. I'd love a cheap ply double bass set up for slap that I can take to dodgy cider pubs in Devon and not worry about it getting damaged, but I really don't have the room for it in my flat. I'd also like a Jazz in Olympic white with a tortie scratchplate, but as I don't play electric bass live at the moment (and rearly at home) I can't really justify it. I'd also have to move on my MM Sterling to make room for it, and I don't think I'm quite ready to do that yet.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1234121' date='May 17 2011, 11:35 AM']We jazzers never rehearse and don't know hal the tunes we are going to play until the chart appears in front of us. As we all know how to make sense of charts, this is not a problem.[/quote] Charts? Charts?? You lucky b@stard! I dream of a gig that comes with charts! At least you know what key you're going to be in and the sax player isn't going to drop the key by semitone on the night cos 'my throat's a bit sore today'. Mind you, some of them jazz singers can get a bit uppity.

I've had Rotosound and TI flats on my Sterling - definitley preferred the sound and feel of the TI flats but it was just personal preference. The Rotos didn't sound bad, the TIs just sounded better. I can't think of a reason why heavier flats would be 'wrong'.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1233462' date='May 16 2011, 07:11 PM']What are your experiences of stand-in gigs? Did you ever do one at last minute and had to busk it? Did the band supply you with a set list beforehand, then didn't stick to it? Did they spring different and unfamiliar songs on you, that were hard to busk and made you feel uncomfortable? Did they change the keys of the songs you had learned for the gig?[/quote] All of the above and I'll raise you a duo that forgot to tell the soundman that they were adding a bassist for the evening... I ended up playing the gig with no backline and next to no monitoring. Most of the bass sound that I could hear was reflecting off the back wall of the venue AND the singer/guitarist changed the song keys without so much as a nod. I spent 90% of the gig doing 2 root notes per bar.

In a similar vein, I've often why, given that most of us use an outboard preamp with our piezo pickups, no-one does powered cabs for double bass. I run my fishman Platinum Pro straight into the FX return on a LMII, without using any of the EQ on the amp so really, I could get away with running the signal from the fishman into a power amp. I'd have thought that something like an Acoustic Image contra cab with a built in power amp, which allows you to use whichever pre rock your boat, would be rather popular.

[quote name='Wooks79' post='1224570' date='May 8 2011, 09:51 PM']Probably Laurence O'Keefe who played bass in Darkstar. Probably one of my fave all time bands, and in my opinion seriously under-rated... I would ask him for a copy of the unreleased second album! Saw them live loads, loved the new stuff, then they split up [/quote] I saw Laurence and drummer David Francolini having a pint in a bar in Bristol around the time Darkstar split up. I was a bit pissed but as a big Darkstar fan, I had to go say hello and gush for five minutes. The subject of the second album was not a popular one.... Even now, David Francolini apparently gets narky if people go on about it. A mate of a mate plays with David Francolini in Dragons and every time I see him, I ask if he can get one of the rough mixes off Dave -everytime he says it's 'too soon' to ask.

[quote name='Norm' post='1226558' date='May 10 2011, 06:34 PM']Last gig of my old covers band (that convinced us to start doing originals) was a sunday lunchtime late summer 2009, outdoors in a beer garden with a small covered stage, first set went down ok with a reasonable size crowd. Second set with a bigger crowd was met with almost silent indifference until last but one song, during (i kid you not) "I predict a riot" which sparked a dog fight between 2 staffie bull terrier types, which spiralled into a confrontation between respective owners & a barney which almost all of the beer garden joined in! Fortunately it was just chesty stand off row stuff with not many punches thrown (or connected) but we 3 just looked at each other, nodded and just quietly packed the kit down. Nobody paid any attention to us just carried on the arguments. Got paid though. T'was Bristol & maybe the reason for the silence during the second set was they were dogging each other up. "You doggin I up?" quaint Bristolian expression, the equivalent of You looking at my Pint/Bird/sister/mum etc. Cheers, Norm.[/quote] This sounds suspiciously like the Farriers' Arms in Fishponds.....

Hmm, the last gig (I walked after it..) with my old originals band at the Louisanna in Bristol, sometime in 2009. It was a sort of acoustic/folky/grunge influenced type thing. The singer/guitarist was used to playing with himself so his timing & listening skills weren't the best. I'd added a drummer 6 months before the gig to try to bring the guitarist into line but his sense of rhythm wasn't much better - I found out later that he'd never actually played in a band before. I'd booked the gig in the first place to try to give the guitarist some direction & focus instead of rambling about during rehearsals and thinking that everything we did was amazing. It didn't work. The songs involved a lot of open and altered tunings which the guitarist did without the aid of a tuner, just tuning the guitar to istelf. I was using a fretless either dropped a semitone or tuned in fiths with a slide and basically spent the longest 40 minutes of my life desperately trying to adjust to the guitarists tuning and hold the drummer's timing together. Before the third song (bass to be tuned in fiths), the singer said we'd 'need a minute for Dave to retune his bass' out of the darkness came 'I wouldn't bother mate, it won't help you'. After that I just wanted to give up and die. Apparently we managed to recover a bit with the last two songs but for me the damage was done. I haven't spoken to the singer since.

Danny Thompson. I chatted with him for about ten minutes at a festival a couple of years ago. The bloke has so much experience and wisdom that an hour in his company would make you a better bassist, even if neither of you touched a bass in that hour.

Had a storming gig at the Blue Lagoon in Bristol last night. It was our first gig in about 4 months after taking time out to re-jig our sound and the hard work really paid off. We were heading towards one of those 'is it worth carrying on?' Type conversations, so it was great to do a gig and find that the magic is still there. People danced, sang along (even with the 3 originals in the set), the groove was happening all night and we got attention from some very pleasant Russian ladies. Everything feels good today.

I went to see Get the Blessing at the lovely St. George's in Bristol last night. They did two sets - the first set was an homage to John Coltrane, the second was mostly taken from their soon to be released new album. I was pretty much completely blown away by Clive Deamer's drumming (better known for his day job in Portishead), even Mrs Rev enjoyed herself and she thinks that Micheal Bubble is 'jazzy'... [url="http://www.theblessing.co.uk/#awp::"]Get The Blessing[/url]

The Fishman works really well, especially the phase reversal switch for cancelling feedback. The eq is versatile and the depth control helps to replace any bottom end lost when eqing out those pesky feedback frequencies. It only has one input though, so you won't be able to use it for doubling. Having said that, on my doubling gigs, I run the Fishman-EUB into the effects return and the electric bass into the regular input on my LMII.

I got married just over a month ago and was actually replaced by one of my bands while I was on honeymoon (band leader got annoyed that I couldn't make a rehearsal, even though I'd told him I'd be on holiday). My main band's kinda lost it's focus as I wasn't booking gigs or pushing rehearsals during the build up to the wedding - net result is that I'm at my lowest level of musical activity since 2006. So no, it's nothing to do with getting married.

I thought the AI was designed to work without an outboard preamp? Does seem a pointless to have two lots of preamping going on. I run my Eminence into a Fishman Platinum and then into the FX return of a LMII into a BFM Omni 10.5. Works fine for me. The compact may not be the best cab choice though - you could have a chat with Barefaced about their acoustic cab?

Back in '98 when I was looking for my first fretless, I found an Aria SB800 in a local second hand shop for £180. I passed on that and bought a new Yammy RBX250 for £250 cos Arias were all naff and 80s. Numpty

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1189378' date='Apr 5 2011, 05:52 PM']*ding ding* [url="http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20060426190514/http://www.bassworld.co.uk/pn/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewforum&f=1"]Next stop, Memory Lane....[/url][/quote] Aww, it's nice to see the old girl again. I have a Bassworld T shirt and a bassworld sticker on my flightcase. Can I put them on Ebay with 'RARE!!!' and a ridiculous number of eclamation marks in the description?

[quote name='Davetbass' post='1198946' date='Apr 14 2011, 12:17 AM']The back pup is a dummy. Had two humbuckers in but didn't like them so went with active pbass mec. Filled the space with a highly polished piece of black granite. Handy to sit your thumb on for a different tone.[/quote] Shame - I like the idea of the big humbucker by the bridge. I'm sure it reminds me of the Fingerbone Fastback bases from the early 90s. Buggered if I can find a picture of one though.

And yet there's more.. Quote: 'Adding to the already extraordinary clarity and timing experienced with the Funnel-web and the sweet top end and balanced enhancements added by the Scorpion but now adds massive improvement in complete power and authority, increased natural detail, increased stabilty to the already impressive sound stage and the real character of all Dragon products which is a simply sublime bass response. Seriously, WTF is an 'improvement in complete power and authority'?? How would one go about measuring sonic 'authority'? It gets worse... "The invividually coated and insulated conductors are then arranged in twin opposing helical spirals to drasitcally reduce Radio Frequency and Electro Magnetic interferences which along with our thick copper foil screening helps to stop any unwanted interference getting into the cable." Now, in my post at the top of the page, I made all that sh1te about helical braiding and magnetic interference up on the spot -but apparently it's true! This is the musical equivalent of homeopathy - all pseudobabble and subjectivity.

That is exceptionally cool.

Bassists! Here is your chance to own a revolutionary new power cable that will change the face of bass playing as we know it! You play electric bass, your amp runs off electricity, so unless you use the best quality electricity you can get your sound will suck ball sacks, regardless of how good your bass is, how well developed your technique is or how inherently musical you are! By using uni-directional, virgin, heavier effective gauge copper strands in a right handed helical braid (to match the rotation of the earth and negate the detrimental effects of the earth's magnetic field) this scientifically proven* new cable kicks the performance up a notch. The result is more clarity and resolution, bass extension, dynamics and transient speed, natural warmth and tone! £150 per 2 metre cord * [size=2][size=1]This product has not been scientifically proven[/size][/size]

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='1194313' date='Apr 10 2011, 09:15 AM']Result!!!!! As a noob I must have gone about 4 years playing with the most hideous, demoralising action before I went to a luthier. I always put it out because I thought it would be insanely expensive. Thankfully it wasn't, but even if it had been it would have been worth it to have an instrument that was a joy to play and not a struggle.[/quote] Out of interest Gareth, have you ever taken your Eminence to a luthier for a set up? Do semi acoustic EUBs befefit as much from a professional seeing to as proper DBs? I'm quite used to the set up on my Eminence but I do wonder if it would benefit from a proper set up. I din't have a huge ammount of experience with a DB before I got the Eminence so it could be playing like a sack of sh!te and I'd never know.

[quote name='hubrad' post='1194530' date='Apr 10 2011, 01:03 PM']I have an AI combo too, which makes for a great natural sound pretty much anywhere in the room except for your own position - the downward-firing speaker rather seems to spread the sound past your ankles, so folks at the back will get a great bass sound but you have no idea what you're playing![/quote] I actually like the sound I get from a downfiring speaker -pop it in the corner and I can get a nice full woody sound. The caveats here are that my band is fairly quiet (acoustic guitar and a respectful, quiet drummer), I'm not going through the PA and I'm not using a full DB but an Eminence EUB. On a small stage with limited choice for amp placemment I've found that even if I raise my cab to ear height (I use an X type keyboard/amp stand) I can't go as loud before feedback compared to having my cabs downward firing. Of course, this could all be totally subjective, but I find I spned less time fighting feedback (and therefore playing more) with a downward firing setup than a forward firing one. In an ideal world I'd persuade the singer to put his gig money towards a bigger PA that I coud put the bass through, then we could drop the onstage volume, feedback problems go away and the world would be full of embroidery and fluffy kittens.