Cat Burrito

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Welcome to Basschat Mark

Welcome to Basschat Robert

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I hang around in my local shop because I'm friends with the owner but in terms of bass shopping I prefer secondhand Fenders & unusual older stuff. I'm not in the market for anything right now though so it's only really passing attention at most from me

To contradict the others I'd get the head. I take mine to rehearsals & in gig situations bands are happier sharing cabs rather than heads. At least that's my experience. I do think it's a buyers market right now & stuff isn't selling for what it was. Some amazingly good deals on cabs recently.

45mins, on about 8ish and I am genuinely stunned that somebody other than me has commented on this thread - kinda makes me feel like a rock star! Four bands & we're on first. I plan to be drinking after & just got paid so strike whilst the iron is hot!!! Joking aside we have 2 London gigs in October & one is Shepherds Bush so can always aim for one of those

bump for This Thursday night at The Grey Horse, Kingston upon Thames, South London. We're on earlier so tubes home shouldn't be a problem.

Sounds like you are playing a similar type of music to me. For what it's worth & I don't confess to being an expert on the upright we've just spent a small fortune recording an album with my band. We've tried to get a variety of different ideas on the album and the upright bass tracks were actually done fairly live. We did try using condensor mics but I have a good Shadow pick up in the bridge so actually opted for mainly D.I with just a little blend from the mic. The producer had a reasonable amount of experience recording acoustic & bluegrass instruments which is why we went with this studio - and believe me a [b]lot[/b] of research / viewings went into which studio we booked. We've only got unmixed roughs at present but I've very pleased with what has been captured tonally. Although we were sectioned off we weren't too worried about a bit of bleed. What was interesting and still surprises me is that the banjo & the mandoln are captured just by the bleed off my mic and the singers mic. We had to switch the banjo / mandolin mic off as it was so over powering. It sounds great (& I appreciate this point is better evidenced when you can hear what I am talking about) but it just shows how much these two instruments cut through.

Our endings are well rehearsed and vary dramatically but they are always together. My last few bands have had the so often typical "Don't panic Mr. Mainwaring" type approach to endings and a well rehearsed intro / ending can be the difference between a good band and a great band. It's fine if you are a jam band but I think in the past I've been guilty of flooding the band with material at the expense of doting the "i"'s and crossing the "t"'s with what we have. Better to have an hour of great well rehearsed songs than 3hrs of stuff that goes a bit wayward.

The phrase I coined when first playing one was Turbo Jazz. It feels very like a Jazz with the skinny neck & tonally the pickups make them sound more Jazz like than the Precision bass - for obvious reasons. The Hot Rod Red has the uber cool matching headstock and they are all MIJ which scores points for me. The body is quite small & [s]you[/s] I can get easily confused with all the switches. Effectively you have an active option and a passive option but can mix and match loads of different settings. The reality is that you won't use at least 75% of the settings but then that's no different from the average amp or effects unit, is it? You can configure the switches in such a way it kills all the tone which makes you think it's broken but there is a[b] lot [/b]of tonal variation on offer (something for everyone?). I found them to be light (but not too light) and well balanced. I love the retro stylings although it is of course a recent (last 5yrs) invention. I think these are going to spoken about in the same hushed tones that people mention the JV series in a few years. Where it fell down for me was I'm 6ft 3 and the bass gets a little lost on me. It's full scale but a small body. I prefer something like a Precision or a Jazz that looks a bit more in preportion. For me it was one of the best basses of the 21st Century and I don't say that lightly.

There are two secondhand ones on here on Basschat and one on EBay that all look good.

Paid practice room but as two of the band aren't local we don't let them pay as they pay more in petrol... mildly annoying as I've played in a couple of bands 50+ miles away where the other band members still wanted my fifth! It's a nice idea though and I'll adopt that practice in future. We also have access to a local community hall for free acoustic rehearsals but we don't use that one so much

[quote name='BigRedX' post='940266' date='Aug 30 2010, 07:45 PM']Or you could buy the [url="http://www.thebassgallery.com/product_details.cfm?ID=1129&type=Bass%20Guitar"]Bruce Johnson[/url] that's in the Bass Gallery. A superior instrument in every way - the only thing it's lacking is the "Ampeg" name.[/quote] But that's even more expensive! I can't afford the £600 Eastwood copy right now

Nice one, thumbs up from me

I assume you mean from a playing point of view? I'm a huge fan of other bassists playing them but I don't personally get on with Fender Jazz basses. I find the necks too narrow. Also Thunderbirds & Gibson basses in general. Love them all, just not on me.

Not sure on this price in that condition but I'd love it [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMPEG-AEB-1-1967-/160474858741?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMPEG-AEB-1-1967-/16...ents_Guitars_CV[/url]

EBay too. 70s shirts and coats etc are easily sourced there. I bought a 70s jacket yesterday from a random word search using the words "Gene Hunt"! I have a few bit from the charity shops but living in a small town online seems to be better. I like the idea of bands looking cool and looking like they are in bands, even if sometimes your image revolves around pretending you didn't make much effort.

At a gig back in Bristol in 1994 we had a support band pull out on us. We were quite new and didn't have enough material to do an extra set so we cobbled together an acoustic set and supported ourselves. The respect we had from the crowd was excellent (I think the acoustic set blew away the electric set!) and one audience member confirmed himself as a fan for life - my next band played his wedding and the one after that he helped finance a CD. Happy days. Good luck with the drummer!

[quote name='nick' post='939939' date='Aug 30 2010, 01:06 PM']Sorry to be boring, but I have to say; I honestly don't judge a band by their gear,age, look or image etc..prior to actually hearing them.[/quote] +1 I hate snobbery (& I know this thread is a bit of fun so not a pop at the OP). I worked with a rhythm guitarist once who genuinely coughed to judging bands on whether they used hard cases or gig bags. Hard cases meant you were serious musicians in case anyone wondered! At least let them get it out the case!!! I've heard some amazing players regularly gigging Squiers and I've seen some pretty mediocre to poor guitarists on Gibsons. Go figure. I've done so many gigs over the years I can't say there is a stereotype that seems to work. I've seen people with really OTT rock 'n' roll images be great players too and I've seen the office boy look also prove worthy of good playing. I've said it before but I respect anyone who gets out there and has a go. BUT all that said, we have played with some absolute howling awful bands. One funny story from a gig back in Luton in the mid 90s that I'll never forget. This one band showed up with all the attitude, all the gear and the swagger. The singer was giving it the big star trip before his very middle class mother came running back into the venue and shouted "Felix, Felix, you've forgotten your lucozade!" We dined out for weeks on that one. Couldn't tell you what the band were like though.

The cheaper the bass though can mean the bigger horror under the paint job. It might not be a nice two piece body, I've heard of 11 bits of wood stuck together under some Squiers before - and one horror story with a Fender Custom Shop believe it or not. That said I stripped back a 70s Fender body & it's now my main player. I'll be doing the same with a 1979 body in September. I used Nitro Mors & it took ages but was totally worth it.

Music is vast & you can usually find examples to prove any point. Sometimes the limitations of technology at the time can be to the musics advantage. I agree with the new technology theory on the 80s. A bit like a budding young guuitarist faced with his first effects rack!