mike257

To be fair mate, most practice rooms I've ever used are in abandoned looking warehouses and down dark, empty looking sidestreets - most builders round here would have no better clue where our practice rooms are than the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick man, unless they were musos themselves. Even the cabbies usually can't find them! If the lads don't want to give you a second chance after you got lost in a new city, that's a bit tight, but that kind of attitude ain't gonna help you any either. I'd make damn sure I knew where I was heading to for an audition, between A-Z's, Google maps, and smart-arsed smartphones, it's pretty hard to not find somewhere these days! Don't take it as a knock though, hope things work out better for you next time mate

Practicepracticepractice. The more you do it the easier it'll be, but it goes if you don't keep on top of it. My old band was fast and heavy, and between two rehearsals a week and a couple of gigs a month, it became second nature. My current band has a much more relaxed vibe, and rarely presents anything 'difficult' technique-wise, and I've found that on the odd occasion I'm off having a rock-out somewhere, I struggle with things that used to come easily. Guess it's like any other excercise, gotta keep on top of it!

I've got Delano pickups in my Jazz-a-like Sandberg California JM4 - not the same set as you, mind. I've got the single coil at the neck, and a MM style (with a coil-tap) at the bridge. I A/B'd with my Stingray when I first picked it up, and found that my bridge humbucker, although not quite as full sounding, did a pretty passable impersonation of my usual tone. To be honest, that's probably more to do with the pre-amp differences (2-band vs 3 band) than the pickup itself. Coil tapped for the Jazz bass sound, it does the business no problem. To be honest, I don't actually use the bridge pickup at all when playing with my current band. I keep rolled right over to the neck and the bottom end is huge. I reckon they'll do the business pretty damn well in your Jazz, throw them in!!

Didn't know that about the low-end throttling - I've got a Shuttle 6 and use it with an Ampeg 6x10, and have no trouble shifting bottom end. I've never ran the volume past halfway, and I've used it with a couple of pretty damn loud bands. Personally, I don't know what I'd do with that extra power, as I barely run it past 3 or 4 at the moment, but I haven't tried one out to hear these tonal differences.

Is that you Danny? All the potential bassists are probably intimated by your 'just escaped from a L'Oreal advert' hair mate I've played in a band with this fella and he's a killer guitarist and singer - any bassists in the area who are interested would do well to have a go at it!

It's spot on about Billy Corgan in the Smashing Pumpkins. There's plenty of documentary footage and interviews where he and the other band members have been pretty candid about it. He'll do pretty much all the guitars and the bass because 'he can do it in fewer takes', and because he knows what he wants it to sound like. On the second album particularly, you can pretty much pick out the guitar parts that aren't his.

I haven't got experience of using the M-Audio stuff, but looking at the specs, the Mackie has a win with the number of preamps on board - the M-Audio only gives you 8 inputs unless you also pick up some kind of preamp with an ADAT output (The Behringer ADA-8000 mentioned further up is the absolute cheapest option, or something like a Focusrite Octopre would be a snazzier alternative). With the M-Audio, the mixing experience will be a middle ground between desk and computer - it'll be less 'hands-on' than the Mackie as you've only got 8 faders and a bank of assignable knobs, so there's still a fair amount of button/mouse pushing to do, but you've got the motorised faders, and total recall and repeatability of your mixdowns. You won't have the same control over tone shaping when tracking, because you're missing the Mackie's channel strips, but the integration with your Mac is tighter, and you'll have the hardware transport controls etc. The Mackie is going to give you (assuming you're only running 16 channels) a complete analogue mix experience, but you are stepping away from some of the functionality in the computer to do it (automation/recall/processing). Also, it's worth bearing in mind that you're adding an extra round of conversion, digital to analogue and back again, in taking the mix out of the box, so you're losing a certain amount of quality each time. I don't know how good the convertors are in the Mackie desk, but it will impact on the sound. There's pros and cons both ways, I guess it depends on your preferred way of working, but the M-Audio seems a decent middle ground between old-school and computer-based for the mixing - with the £300ish price difference you could shop around for a used pre-amp and get your full 16 channels input. Of course, this is all in my humble opinion, and I haven't used the kit in question. If you can get to a dealer and have a play with the M-Audio control surface, you'll get a better feel for how the DAW integration will help you out, and how much you'll miss all those knobs!

[quote name='Beedster' post='921560' date='Aug 11 2010, 01:16 PM']I have to admit I'm not overly sure about the relevance of 16x2 and 16x16 firewire, which seems to be the other significant difference? Chris[/quote] Hey Chris, sounds like a really fun project, it's got me thinking about giving my setup a long overdue overhaul! The difference in the Firewire interface is this: The 16x2 means you can send 16 channels in to your computer from the desk, but all that comes back is 2 channels, typically your final mixdown. You will have full individual control of channels when recording, but your final mix will still have to be done 'in the box' with the mouse. The 16x16 means you have 16 channels in to the computer, and 16 channels coming back out. With this, you could record the full band, and then at mix time, treat the Mac like a tape machine and return all 16 channels to your desk individually for an analogue mixdown, sending the results back into the computer for final master. You could still apply all your insert effects in the box, and potentially route the aux sends back in to apply VST send effects, whilst keeping your actual mix in the analogue realm of your desk. It's a big difference in the workflow - if you prefer mixing on faders and knobs, the 1640i might be worth the extra spend! Mike

I can't remember which one came first, but we played a three-song set before the school christmas show, I think I was 14/15 (way back in 1998/9!). I had tinsel down the neck of my Squier Precision Special (still got it too - the bass, not the tinsel), and I gave the school's little Carlsboro combo a good work out playing Stereophonics' 'Just Looking', I'm So Tired by The Beatles, and 'Design For Life' by the Manic Street Preachers.

[quote name='the_skezz' post='900877' date='Jul 21 2010, 12:29 PM']Link? You've got me wanting to see it now [/quote] As much as it pains me to do so.... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvCoIENZYfk"]it's here[/url]. Even at 18 I should've known better.

Probably falls under 'horrendous' - back in my youth I was tapped up by a mate to play bass in a death metal band. An improv death metal band. It was only for one gig, but all their rehearsals clashed with my own rehearsals, and it transpired that I didn't even get to soundcheck with them. I ended up jumping off a train and stepping straight on to stage with a guitarist, TWO drummers and two vocalists who I'd never heard play a note before, and proceeded to embarrass myself comprehensively for the next 35 minutes. An old band mate of mine kindly stuck a clip up on youtube 'for posterity', still makes me cringe now.

A fat +1 for this. Been using it for a while now, mainly to tune my acoustic guitar at home. It's at least as good as any standalone tuner-with-a-little-mic-on that I've ever owned. Good stuff!

I think if you're shopping for something in that price range (you said you're thinking of picking up a Vintage) then the current Squier range is definitely worth looking at, and many people on here will testify they're great for the price. My Squier is nearly 12 years old now, and since it's had a few upgrades I've used it constantly - not to say it's 'better' than my other basses, but it certainly doesn't feel £100's worse than them! People rave about them because with a full price USA Fender, you [i]expect[/i] a high standard of quality and construction, because of the name and the price, whereas with something perceived as a budget brand like Squier, it's a pleasant surprise when the quality is far higher than the name/reputation might lead you to expect, so people start gushing about it. I don't think they're quite in the same league as their Fender lookalikes, but on the aceness-per-quid ratio, they do great!!

I've gone right back. When I was 14, I got my first bass, a Squier Affinity P Special, and (aside from a brief dabble in Ibanez) it was my first choice until I made the big jump to a Stingray six years later. I kept the Squier, for nostalgia's sake, and gradually tarted it up with Badass, Wizards, etc, but never tried using it with the band as my 'proper' basses had that sewn up. Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago - one of the strings on my Sandberg pops its windings mid-rehearsal and the only bass to hand is my Squier. Despite the dirty looks from my bandmates, I plugged it in, tweaked the amp EQ a bit, and there is this monsterous bass tone jumping out at me. Every week, at least one of them says 'I still can't believe how good that bass sounds', and it's getting it's first live run out since 2004 next week. I'm loving the passive P-bass simplicity, and in no hurry to play anything else!

Back in the day we did this: Marshall 4x12 Orange 4x12 Fender Gtr Head Marshall Gtr Head Trace Elliot 4x10 Combo Trace Elliot 1x15 Cab Hardcased 4-piece Drum Kit Drum Hardware Case Cymbal bag 4x elec gtrs 2x basses Huge Korg keyboard + stand Sampler + stand 3x pedalboards Four hairy musos Into two of these:

The Sterling has a smaller body, and very different electrics from the Stingray. Somebody better informed will be along shortly to clarify how different, give it a minute or two!

Paul Carroll at Crash Studios (top notch rehearsal gaff) has been a touring tech for all kinds, including jaunts round the world with Echo & The Bunnymen, and is very handy with set-ups/repairs/demon guitar playing - he's also in my band, and sorts all our guitars out, so I can vouch first hand for his work. Top bloke all round!

Good call indeed. I never have any trouble with it myself, my Stingray only has the tiniest of scuffs, and that was flung around in a fast heavy band for 3 years. My mate who borrowed the bass usually wears 'em high, but due to straplock complications, we had each others straps on too, so I played his P around my nipples, and he was far more low slung than he's used too, so didn't even realise he was doing it!

I've fancied trying out one of the new series P-basses for a while to see how it would sound in the band, so I pinned down a bass playing mate in our rehearsal room last night, and asked if he didn't mind a swap for an hour so I could have a crack at his. He took my Sandberg off to his room, and I ran through a set with his P, which I loved, but when I went to hand it back, his buckle has took a whacking big patch (about 2 inches across) of the stain off my bass, right down to the wood! He was really apologetic, and has offered to pay for the repair, but I'm left wondering just how much it's going to set me back, and if it's likely that a good luthier can match the colour properly. It's one of those tasty redburst stain finishes that shows all the grain. Does anybody have any experience of getting a repair like this done? If anybody wants to recommend me someone who's done this kind of work for you, that'd be great! I've kept the bass pretty damn immaculate and I'm gutted - I don't plan on ever parting with it, and I fully expect that over the years it will get some knocks and bumps, but I'd much prefer them to come from me gigging it like mad!

Hi guys, been away since last week, have only just caught up with this. I brought the Big One home from my practice room after 2 weeks intending to shift it on promptly, and have just been snowed under with stuff, so it's still in my hands. I have indeed spoke to Etienne about passing it on to him, so if there's no objections I'll send it his way for his next gig. Whoever's next in line, speak up!! Thanks again to Alex for this by the way, it's most excellent of you!

[quote name='FlatEric' post='658011' date='Nov 18 2009, 12:42 PM']First of all, when the bridge pickup is selected and set at single coil setting on the tone control, the phase switch can be used to select either coil of the pickup.[/quote] That solves a mystery - I was sure the phase switch was doing [i]something[/i] when I only had one pickup on. Never quite fathomed what it was!!

My girlfriend was taking her daughter to see Pink the other week, until her daughter fell ill on the day, so I was drafted in as a replacement (and had to leave a radio session in hurry, to the echoing sound of having the mickey taken by my band). It was one hell of a show... brilliant choreography, acrobats and all kinds of high wire/trapeze-type madness, and an awesome band (including ex Mars Volta bassist Eva Gardner). Pink herself was absolutely fantastic, I hadn't realised just how good a singer she was. I knew the show would be high caliber, but I was blown away on all fronts!