derrenleepoole

Arty shot

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='846935' date='May 24 2010, 09:58 PM']Sorry to seem pious, but when you have heard of the predjudice that left handers have faced - my mum (back in the 30's) was regularly beaten at school to get her to use her right hand then all of a sudden calling it sh1t handed doesn't seem so mild and meaningless after all.[/quote] That is only relevant if you're aware of such social history, and alas most people are not. Obviously people who may be left handed will be teased about it, just like being ginger, just like being spotty or having B.O. - it's part of the course of being a child unfortunately. But I doubt such predjudice is nowhere near the level of abuse you're proposing in your example. Is it? Obviously there are isolated incidents of extreme bullying where things go too far.

Made me laugh to be honest as I saw the humour in the title straight away, but others may not I guess - but yeah, the term Spaz is quite a lot out of order, but cack handed is hardly offensive, not really... is it?

Nice one matey! A little slower than the original mind But hey, what do I know I can't even play it to begin with! I think you need some Squarepusher esq drum beats on that though

Mucho kudos for yourself and a great magazine

[quote name='dlloyd' post='840708' date='May 18 2010, 12:03 PM']Once you've factored in strings and a setup, you're looking at an extra £200 or so. For not much more, I picked up a fully carved bass that came with a proper setup, decent strings and a pickup, hand delivered by Jakesbass.[/quote] I suppose that's the point though, which ever way the OP looks at it, there will be some additional cost. So a budget bass becomes realistically a £500 - £600 price tag, and bass costing twice as much becomes a £1000 price tag. Unless the OP is really lucky and gets an absolute steal bass.

These have been around for a while, and originally the J's were going for £99. I'd be interested in trying out for sure, they look a bit SX ish. Probably a good bass for modding further.

I no longer play double bass, simply no room at home any more But in my very limited experience (and it is limited), there are good second hand basses to be had in your price bracket (I picked up a 4/4 sized ex. school instrument for 50 quid!), but knowing which they are is the real trick and this is where an experienced player or luthier comes into its own. But equally, newer budget instruments are also very good and may not require as much additional setup as a second hand bass (possibly). Which ever way you choose to go with this, £350-400 is a good price to pay initially for a first bass. Better to spend this amount than say 2K and discover you don't like DB anyway and would rather stick with elecy basses.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='839671' date='May 17 2010, 12:21 PM']Is Varitone active? I always thought it was just a passive array of caps and resistors.[/quote] You could be right there... not too sure.

A few names to check out are East, a UK outfit with lots of kudos but not cheap. Audere do a straight control plate replacement but you must import from the US. And then there's Varitone stuff, available from eBay, quite cheap by comparison. All these will give you an active EQ, not strictly an active bass. Audere are superb preamps, as I have one. I've used East and they're amazing. No experience with Varitone, but the Youtube video demonstrations look very good.

The Phil Jones Bass D200 is very small, but probably underpowered for your needs. There is also the new SWR Headlite series, one of which is just a power amp, the other more like the MB series heads by GK.

Which is? Come on spill the beans

Solina String Ensemble?

I love being in a blues band more than an originals band... and easy it ain't. I find that the real challenge is keeping your ideas fresh, while at the same time laying down a solid foundation for the rest of the band to work from. We can play anything up to 25 - 30 songs for a nights gig, and that's a lot of I-VI-V structures to play (or variations thereof). Knowing when and what to play is crucial I think to being a good blues bassist. If all the song requires is a thump on the roots, but it makes the tune, then do it right and in time and still take pride in it. So what if you're can't be doing your amazingly impressive Adam Nitti fill - if it ain't broke, don't fix it

If the OP means blues songs where the bassline 'IS' the song (in essence), then compositions like Born Under A Bad Sign are the way to go. There are a myriad of other examples, but my brain is tired

+1 on Gwilym Simcock too. The piece he wrote for orchestra and played on BBC Four was amazing: Progressions For Piano & Orchestra. So much so, that I did an audio transfer to my Mac so I could listen to it gain and again. Beautiful stuff.

[quote name='Lenny B' post='835270' date='May 12 2010, 01:40 PM']I had lessons from Steve in 96/97 - Superb player and top bloke indeed![/quote] Was this at Manchester uni?

Gary Boyle - Electric Glide (superb album - I actually know Gary too, a completely ace person Gareth Williams Power Trio - Shock John Surman - Road To St. Ives +1 on The Steve Berry Trio album too, but I haven't heard it in along time as my vinyl player is packed away. I pass by Steve's house nearly everyday and had the pleasure of lessons from him back in 1993 ish. Superb player and top bloke.

[quote name='Protium' post='834098' date='May 11 2010, 12:04 PM']The fact that you played through a Hartke that actually works astounds me.[/quote] I seem to recall that when I was starting out way back in the day, Hartke was a 'must have' piece of kit along the lines of Trace Elliot etc... a piece of gear that you'd aspire to own no less. It's amazing how gear comes in and out of favour and fashion. Suddenly everyone wants Hartke again now that Victor Wooten is an endorsee...

Raise a dispute through eBay before leaving negative feedback, it could lead to a ban or prevent him doing further relisting of the item. Particularly as it's re-listed item that might not of sold for the very same reason the first time around - make this clear to eBay.

Having high end gear is lovely, but not always essential. At the end of the day, we all work hard to earn money to pay for things, so why not buy high end gear if we can afford it? A cheaper rig may do the job just as well, and very often does, but that's not the point - if you can afford the best then good on you. "I suppose I could buy this Audi/Jag/BMW or... I could buy this rather lovely Aston Martin DB9 instead!!!!" I'm very impressed with then new Marshall MB series of amps BTW.

I'v had Picato half-rounds on a P-bass before and found them to be great strings. I particularly liked how the strings were wound right to the end of the string instead of tapering off like on Rotosounds.

Krappy Guitars in the US will make all manor of weird and wonderful basses like this for you for very little money. I've had a 2 string bass from him and it cost about $70 dollars.

Dropbox is an excellent file sharing app to use between band members etc... not really for full public access. Soundcloud is superb, even if it is Flash based and bit glitchy at times. You can specify if files are downloadable or not, or play only. People can leave comments as well. There is also an excellent iPod app to view Soundcloud content and it works really well. Also, if you use any of the field recording apps on an iPod or iPhone such as Fire, you can upload direct to Souncloud accounts from the app.