NJE

I have had a few sets of NYXL strings, I think I got the first set as a trial through here? I thought they were great strings, much nicer under the fingers than other D’Addario strings I had used until that point. They weren’t marketed as long life strings but mine lasted ages, way longer than any other uncoated string I have used although obviously not as long as Elixirs. Nice top end and good low end fundamental, and they seemed to keep the tone well during their life with minimal drop off from memory.

Looking at a few social media posts, a few people seem to think it’s their version of the Aria Pro Detroit bass. Not sure why or how Harley Benton would be copying a bass that is currently available but from the small screen shot it does seem to match up.

When I got my first fretless I spend an evening messing around with tuning and intonation until I realised you had to play on the lines not in-between them.

I use the free fender tuner, for my acoustic and my bass when I don’t have my Korg.

For me it would be: 1. petrol costs for however many vehicles you need to take 2. cost of your time to drive that far 3. normal gig fee 4. food and drink costs if they aren’t being provided The trick is working out what your time is worth, I would probably be looking at a decent hourly rate for each person in the band for the travelling time but you may think that’s a bit high. I would personally provide a breakdown for the customer as well, just so they can get an understanding how what it actually entails for you all.

That was more gripping than most of the films I have seen recently 🤣

If you use the YouTube app you can slow down songs at the same pitch and learn them much easier. I do this all the time, as I hate tab and it’s always wrong.

Apparently it’s from Blackadder according to a good friend of mine, but despite watching all of them many times I have never come across the quote. Regardless I think it’s a brilliant name for a Pub.

In answer to “are you good enough to play a fodera” then yes, I believe anyone is good enough. After all it’s just an instrument, a tool to make sounds on and crest music, I think even the guys who make Fodera basses would hate to think that anyone would be judged negatively for playing their instruments. Let’s face it, it’s not like putting a learner driver in an F1 car where they could hurt themselves or someone else, playing a bass is at worst going to give someone a headache. In response the the question of guilt for owning/playing expensive gear, then yes, over the years I have often had pangs of guilt that I should not be spending so much money on kit when no one cares and I can get just as good of a tone out of a Squier. This however is all about me as a person and I wouldn’t care less if someone else was using a £90 Harley Benton or a £6000 Fodera down the Whore and Trumpet on a Saturday night. I had a good but modest upbringing and despite having a stable job etc, I still feel guilty about owning expensive things, like it’s just uneccsary expense when something cheaper would do. I have sold expensive basses like Overwaters and gone to Squiers and actually found it hugely liberating playing a cheap bass I don’t mind bashing about and getting a great sound. I have reached a good balance whereby I have a USA made Stingray which was an extremely good price secondhand, and it’s a lovely bass I listed after as a kid, but I don’t worry about the amount of money tied up in it. I would love to treat myself to something expensive for my 40th but in all honesty I think I would start getting that weird feeling of guilt that the money would be better off invested elsewhere.

This looks pretty cool and a natural progression as Joe did use a Jazz for a lot of the Vulfpeck stuff as well. If MusicMan have got the quality down and he likes the neck then why not get them to make a JJ bass, let’s face it every other manufacturer has. In relation to a question about how he gets so many and why didn’t flea/Pino etc, I believe reading that Jack Stratton from Vulfpeck financed the first run of basses, and I would guess that he has done the same since, hence small runs of each type of bass so they aren’t left with thousands of unsold basses. I don’t know if anyone remembers the Talkbass thread about 19mm spacing on Stingray 5 strings? Sterling ball basically said if he got enough pre-orders for that spec by a certain date he would make them. Predictably no-one followed up on it, but given that history it makes sense that he would take a commission for a run of basses from a fairly well know band/player if there was little to no risk in it for him. I bet we could get a basschat spec MusicMan if coughed up enough money, but I doubt we could get more than half a dozen people to agree on the spec.

I have reached a point where I know myself well enough to acknowledge I have one of those personalities where I tend to get obsessed by the minutia of a subject when it sparks my interest. I don’t know what alternative instrument I would have gone for, I always loved and still play acoustic guitar and have two (never electric, I just can’t get on with it), so maybe I would have gone further down that rabbit hole. Outside of music, I can imagine any number of things that would have consumed my time and money, all of the following have had me spending hours reading online: 1. Watches 2. Clay pigeon shooting (and shotguns as a result) 3. Numismatics 4. Cycling (I have a weird fetish for bikes) 5. Lego (I still love and spend too much money on Lego….for my son of course) I will point out, that of the above, I have only spent money on a road bike and Lego, but could have easily got consumed by any of them if bass wasn’t in my life.

Not sure if this was really a train wreck as we had a decent night, but we did fancy wedding where the main reception and speeches were in the house and they were moving to the very nice marquee for more buffet food, cake, and a well stocked free bar. We were all set up earlier in the day and went back for an anticipated “2100 hours” start which was drilled home to all of us by ‘The Major’ who was the brides father. We were back at 8 to allow for flexibility (because when does a wedding ever run on time) and we’re told to just get comfy and have a drink until people came down, and we gladly obliged! We could see the room in the country house where it was all happening and the night went on with various updates from ‘The Major’ saying “any minute”. We got to 10pm and the best man got a projector out and the slideshow/speech started and the laughing and cheering picked up. By this time we were several beverages in and had started on the buffet as they were only just being served pudding with approval from the caterer and bar staff. At 11:45 they start wondering down, we were tired and a bit drunk but hey let’s have a good night and play some music. We did the first dance, one good rocking opener and then I get pulled aside by the very nice venue manger who said “guys we have a noise curfew at midnight so make this the last one”. We announced the last tune, wish everyone good night and start to pack up. ‘The Major’ who was steaming by this point, comes over and I am expecting some displeasure at the length of the set despite it not being our fault. He walks up, hands me a massive wedge of cash and says “bloody good night chaps, all the best”.

I used to dep with a band who’s singer found it hilarious that our set was full of songs by artists that had passed away. When he introduced a song he would give the song and artist followed by “he’s dead” or “she’s gone now”. This was unfortunate at the best of times but was in particularly poor taste at a birthday we played that was also doubling as a celebration of life for someone who was terminally ill.

I was playing with a 9 piece soul band about 10 years ago and we had what felt like a steady flow of drummers coming and going. The band leader announces that he has a top local drummer who teaches coming to play with us, and I was excited at the prospect. Well my excitement quickly dwindled when he wouldn’t count the band in and it was left to me as joint lead singer. I gave him the benefit of the doubt as I thought he might not be familiar with the material. This carries on for a couple of rehearsals with the occasional quiet “how does this one go” from said drummer, who clearly had not listened to or learnt the songs, relying on me to not only count in but also tell him when to stop. Before I have a proper opportunity to raise it with Band leader a gig is booked and I am told “don’t worry it will be alright”. Now we played some very well known soul/Motown songs and some disco stuff like Chic so not a ‘proper’ soul band, but our absolute Feck-Witt of a guitarist had managed to wangle us a gig at a venue saying we were the counties best ‘Northern’ soul band when I’m fact we probably only played 2-3 Northern soul tunes. I was furious that he had lied and also told the owner/promoter that we had a following because we really didn’t. I had this bad feeling that we would end up playing two northern soul tracks all night like that scene from the Blues Brothers in the country bar! So we get there and there are some northern soul fans looking quite excited, and we get going with a few easy well know tunes and then launch into a thumper of a northern soul tune. I count the drummer in and he plays completely the wrong beat and and tempo for the song but in the spirit of keeping going I adjust my playing and we carry on with brass and everything until we are going so fast I can’t get the lyrics out fast enough. At that point I stop the whole band, lean over and have a word to the drummer “do you know the song? The beat is like this” (I tap it out in my leg for him at the correct tempo). He says “sorry, yeah I’ve got it” so we start again after making light of it with the audience. 1, 2, 3, 4….he does the same thing, he just didn’t have a flipping clue so I lean over whilst playing to get him to adjust but it’s no good, I have to stop the band again. Meanwhile my good friend, who is also a drummer is on the desk for us, is dying with laughter and trying his very best not to make a noise at the end of the venue as he’s heaving and crying with laugher so badly at the whole situation. This happens a couple more times but we manage to get through it and intake the hard songs out of the set, but the whole time we are playing I can just hear people complaining louder and louder “this isn’t f*+king Northern Soul” and getting less involved and start leaving. We get to the end of the gig and you have never seen a band get out of a room so fast, leaving me there to collect the money from the owner. In the meantime a large number of teenagers tune up to the proper main event which is a club night and it gets darker and louder. Knackered but wanting to get paid I hang around asking bar staff where the manager is. “He’s a bit p*ssed off but he will be back soon” comes one reply….oh balls! After and hour and a half I spot him and I get pulled into the office, where he politely but sternly quizzes me over why we claimed to be the counties best Northern Soul band and why should he pay us. I was not in the frame of mind to be quick witted or clever so as I disliked the guitarist immensely I just said I was sorry and laid all the blame on the guitarist and that he had taken the rest of us for a ride and I though he was a pr*ck. It worked, he paid me, laughed and sent me on my way, but never before, or since have I wanted there to be a sniper at the back of a room to put me out of my misery whilst on stage.

That is really interesting, I had an old LM2 and it was built like a tank, really quality bit of kit and worked flawlessly, but I just felt it was muffled in some way. I sold it and then got an EBS Reidmar through the same cab, and my exact words were “it sounds like I have taken a blanket off the cab”. Good to know it can be resolved because I have completely written off MB since.

Oh god yes! Who knew school uniforms were so expensive! 😄

Yeah I have been keeping an eye out or contemplating stretching the budget. Also contemplated a Yamaha DXR15 but I would have to order without trying.

There are some good deals in the for sale section, but everything is quite a trek from me and I am so hesitant to use couriers and don’t have much time to drive and collect. It’s a real pain, pre kids I had so much more time!

I sold my amp and cab last year as I didn’t think I would gig again for a while, but some pals have been in touch and it looks like we will be having a get together in the next week or two. So I need an amp, but despite hours of browsing I just can’t decide, so I thought I’d seek ideas from the collective knowledge on here. I have up to £600 budget and here’s the guidelines: 1. Combos and Head/Cab setups considered 2. I am not overly keen on MarkBass 3. don’t mind Class D or something like an Ashdown ABM 4. 300w would be ok, but I’d prefer 500w 5. Collectively it can’t be too big, so ABM head and 1x12 would be cool or a lightweight 15 or 2x10 combo. 6. Used or New is fine 7. A frfr cab would be ok too So far I have got one idea which is the Fender Rumble 500, is there anything better?

Mono M80 for me, one of the best things I have ever bought. Mines had some abuse for years and years and it’s still superb if a little frayed in places

I completely agree, and didn’t mean to imply that it did. Perceived quality comes down to the individual and is subjective, and whilst I don’t particularly like a lot of the music that racks up huge streaming and YouTube numbers, I can still respect anyone that can write something that sells and achieves a mass appeal….I can’t do it! If I could write a piece of pop fluff that stuck in people’s heads and got streamed 139 million times I would in a heartbeat. My idea of quality may not be someone else’s, so I try to look at things objectively as much as possible. I don’t see quality in some huge critically acclaimed musical acts, but I still try and respect their achievements.

I don’t like Coldplays music, but that’s fine, you can’t like everything. I have only ever heard nice things from a few people who have met various members, and apparently they are decent chaps, so I won’t have a go at them personally. I do have a huge amount of respect for anyone that create music that obviously connects with a vast amount of people. They probably started off like anyone else looking for a life in music, wondering if they could make a living doing this instead of a ‘proper’ job. Fair doos they have done that and then some! They have accumulated huge fortunes, plus apart from Chris Martin they are all fairly unrecognisable/anonymous…win win! I have spent years playing in bands where I find the music generally tedious, annoying, and musically unsatisfying for no money or real appreciation, so I feel like the Coldplay guys have got it sorted. It’s all about what you value though. Some people would be happy playing what they believe to be ‘superior’ music down the road in the local, to 3 men and a dog than compromise their artistic integrity. I respect that to, but I’d rather compromise, get paid well and have a few more people at the gig.

You joke, but I remember when MarkBass first came on the scene and I went to a shop that had just had one of the first big shipments. Chatting the guy behind the counter, I said how excited I was to try them after all the hype. He said “yeah they are great…..give one a sniff, they are fresh out of the box”. I laughed and did exactly that, they absolutely reeked of weed.

I don’t understand the hype around the Squier Classic Vibe Basses and people paying over the original retail price for them secondhand. I had one of the Fiesta Red CV precisions, I think I paid £220 for it new and it was a decent bass, it wasn’t perfect but it did the job at the time as I was a bit skint. I get that fiesta red/tort precisions aren’t that common, but considering what is out there for around £500 I certainly wouldn’t be in a rush to get a Squier CV. I get the JV thing a little bit more, Japanese made and they are ‘vintage’ now, but still the prices seem a bit daft. At the end of the day though, we all like different stuff and see value and appeal in different things, and if the market will pay those prices then well done to those making a few quid, how often do we actually ever make money in buying and selling basses 😄

I am always interested when people discuss getting “your tone”, as it’s not something that has ever been a conscious part of my playing life. I have not played in many originals bands which is where I imagine creating a tone is important as part of the bands musical identity? As I have been mainly in function/covers bands, my tone is generally whatever the song needs. That could be a muted P like tone or full on aggressive Stingray bite and everything in between. In recent years I have just made whatever bass I could afford work for whatever I was playing at the time. I have had a 36” scale Overwater Progress and a £260 Squier as my main instrument, and given the variables of rooms, other band members, audience size etc I can’t say that any one piece of gear sounds any better than the other, just different. And as per another thread, sometimes my rig could be phenomenal and other nights it would be shocking in a band context, purely down to the room. I do admit that I like having my USA Stingray, the neck and comfort is great and there is a tiny illogical part of my brain that likes the romance of the made in USA thing, but honestly a friend pretty much gave me a Harley Benton Jazz and it feels good too, and once the shielding is sorted it will be gigged. Maybe someone might be able to identify my playing by my style, but I certainly don’t think I have a tone.