Cat Burrito

It's funny when I first started playing I actually had a lot more attention from the opposite sex after gigs then the rest of the band. I was far too modest to mention it at the time but it became a joke within the band (I was loved up at the time so no real tales to tell). A long time ago (& I don't know why) this attention very much dried up. I went through a phase of getting the kit junkies trying to talk about valves and patch cables. It's dawning on me now that I am getting the teenage support bands parents talking to me when I come off stage now So a bit of fun, which stereotype is chewing the fat with you after gigs? The reality is it's probably a mix of all of those but who else can you add?

I have a bitsa 70s Fender Precision bass that I pieced together that is my main live bass and we've just recorded an album with my band where the majority of the songs I played were done on my 1978 Fender Precision. I also have a 1979 bass sitting out on the patio as I type covered in nitro mors that will be another main player. My amp head is a 1978 Fender Bassman too & that gets used at approximately half the gigs I do. So I think I can be added to the list. My bitsa bass and the 1979 have probably been devalued a fair bit by being stripped but I like them like that & don't plan on reselling them. Live & let live. If people don't like a bass, don't play it. I sometimes think the anti-70s Fender brigade is a bit like a bunch of guys down the pub talking for hours about cars they've never actually driven

Just a shame he's still not exercised much Precission in his spelling though

I agree this is of course completely down to individual tastes. To paraphrase an old Dave Lee Roth quote, surely the best bass turns into a groupie after the show & then turns into a pizza after that?

Played South London last night, with some young indie band & a couple of acoustic acts. We played well & rocked a younger crowd. I enjoyed it & we went down well

Welcome to Basschat Dick

Wow these are great. Cheers for sharing

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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