Phaedrus

Acidbass - your Horslips band sounds great. The music is bang on and the singing isn't far off either. I see ye've played McHughs - check these out: We're doing Dearg Doom for a gig this Sunday in Skerries (Paddy's Day effort). Well, we're opening an Irish medley with it and slipping into Whisky in The Jar, Dirty Old Town (Brush Shiels style), then The Irish Rover and coming back into Dearg Doom. We used to do Trouble in another band, but it just doesn't sound the same with two guitars and no flute. Any gigs in the south coming up? That Jack The Lad clip is great. Try this too for a sort of prog-folk sound: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFvJLBjhxI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFvJLBjhxI[/url] Mark

Hi, The bass in question is a Yamaha RBX375. I'm getting it for free. The donor (my nephew) insists he won't take money off me. It's been gathering dust on its one string in his bedroom for almost a year. He's graduated (in his perception) to guitar. I don't want to de-fret my BB605 - it's just too useful as a workhorse fretted bass. And my Tune is like a custom boutique bass to me, so chopping that (even professionally) would probably sting too much, even though I have a feeling it might actually be the bass that's better suited to a conversion. But when I go for a Warwick Corvette $$ 5, I'll have to trade/sell my most expensive bass to fund it, and the Tune is my most expensive bass (currently retails in Ireland at €850 (£600-ish) new). I've played the RBX (a few rehearsals and one gig) and I do like it. It's not a top-end bass, but definitely not a dog. It's currently €330 new from MusicStore. I can't remember if the tuning was 100% stable, as would obviously be essential on a fretless, but I equally don't remember it going out of tune when I played it. I'm sure I've got all the tools I'd need out in the shed. I'm a bit of a tool collector nerd anyway. I even have a convex rasp I got when I was making my own weathered washed-up-on-the-beach-look timber shelves for my living room. And I've got a 3-leg mechanical bearing puller. And if I need a new tool, I'll be happy to get it. I'm curious about the "veneer" strips most seem to be describng as fret-slot fillers/markers. Is this the same veneer stuff you'd find on kitchen counter-tops & stuff like that? That seems odd. That's usually not wood. Any advice on that would be apreciated. FWIW is there a 5-string VMJ? It's a pretty bass, well suited to fretless "style" cos of the obvious Jaco link. I can't see one on Thomann or MusicStore. I did look at the passive Streamer, and thought it'd be a great bass for the money, but the RBX for free is even better value. I know Stewblack has (had?) a Jack & Danny 2200A active fretless 5-string and seemed to be quite pleased with that. It costs just €200 or so, which if it had solid stable tuning and good tone would be an option. But like I say, the RBX is a pretty decent bass to begin with, so I reckon a well executed de-fret would possibly (probably?) result in a better fretless bass than either the VMJ, Rockbass Streamer or J&D 2200A, or any similarly-priced equivalent. Obviously I could be wrong. I do like these kind of projects, so there'd also be the personal satisfaction of pulling it off after some research & effort. I do want a 5-string fretless. I don't want to have to tax my brain by having to adjust between a 4 and a 5. And I'd also like it to have a 2-octave fingerboard, again to reduce the brain-adjustment factor (my fretted basses have 24-frets). By all means, flame for that if ye want (hell, I might even deserve it), but it is a 5 that I want. Thanks, Mark

Hmm... I just read a few online descriptions of guys defretting their basses. They range from pretty competent and successful to bedroom-botchey and amateur. They all follow the basically similar steps: 1. Protect the neck & body during the work. 2. Carefully remove the frets. Various methods can be applied. The more careful you are with this, the less corrective work you'll have to do later and the cleaner/more professional result you'll achieve. 3. Clean the fingerboard & fret slots. Again, various methods can be applied. 4. Fill the fret slots. It seems either real wood or flexible filler can be used. 5. Clean it all up again - sand-check-clean & repeat as necesary. It seeems there are radiussed sanding blocks available, so a choice has to be made here. 6. Coat the finished work with an appropriate product. I'm confident that I'm competently handy, and I understand the thoery & principles of neck construction and the fit of the frets in the fingerboard, so I may just try it myself. I'll need to read more later, but now I've put myself under pressure to finish a report and slideshow for an 11am meeting, [i]and[/i] fit in my brekky. DAMN YOU OCD!! Mark

Absolutely - I'd imagine removing the frets would be pretty straightforward, but filling the gaps is surely a professional job. Thanks, Mark

I own Tune TWB53FM, Yamaha BB605 & soon will aquire a Yamaha RBX375. My friend has songs he's recording and a fretless sound would really suit some of them. My covers band does a couple of songs I'd like to use fretless on. I'm not talking Jaco or Mick Karn playing - just simple roots with very occasional gliss & vibrato & simple upper register scales/fills. I'm thinking the RBX is the one I'd least mind having modded, but think the Tune may actually be better suited to a conversion. If I were to buy new, I'd be spending very little - €400 or less, with any trade-in taken off that. It'd have to be a 5-string. What say ye? Mark

Yep, too much time. I had a look at my VXL manual and remembered that its DI out is switchable for pre/post "effect". Basically I can select whether the signal from the VXL's DI out is clean or dirty, whereas that control is absent from the amp's DI out. So it looks like I'll be using option 1 with the DI out selected as "pre". As you say, experimenting when I hook it all up will be the way to go. Mark

Hi, I'd like to run two signals to our PA for live gigs. I want one signal completely clean and the other my effected tone. On arrival ov my new amp and my decision to streamline, I'm looking at two options, both illustrated below. AFAIK, the DI out of the Tour 450 is clean and not affected by the amp's EQ section, gains or (I'm presuming) effects connected to the effects send/return loop. Hence I reckon that the amp's DI should be my clean signal to the PA, regardless of which of these two connectivity options I choose. [b]OPTION 1 (Bass -> Hartke VXL -> 1. Tour 450 & 2. PA channel):[/b] [b]OPTION 2 (Bass -> Tour 450 -> Hartke VXL -> Tour 450 & Tour 450 -> PA channel):[/b] Anyone got any opinions or comments? Thanks, Mark

I like to be stage right, or on the left as the punters look at the band. I can then pretend to be looking at my bandmates while I'm actually checking that the fingers on my left hand are going where they're supposed to be. Can't imagine standing on the other side. Mark

Hi, I ordered a Peavey Tour 450 head & TVX410 4 ohm cab from my local dealer last week. I'm definitely trading my TNT150BW against it and have been debating also trading my ME-50B too. I do use it all the time, every gig, but mostly for a tiny bit of compression & the hi-band drive for grit. I did use the flanger & chorus effects for some parts (eg the bass break in the middle of Stiltskin's "Inside" and the intro of Sweet Child O Mine), but I could happily live without them. I'm thinking now that I'll stick with my VXL bass attack for the grit and go for an Aphex Bass Xciter. Just those two, my DT-10 (or maybe even a black one, to appease my vanity ) and the amp. This simplicity is appealing to me. I may also look at selling my Tune TWB53FM (which I've recently fallen back in love with, but have spotted a new infatuation) and going for a Corvette $$ as my main bass, keeping my BB605 as back-up. It feels good revamping your gear, doesn't it? Mark

Spent all last week at home enjoying sinusitis and an upper respiratory tract infection (AKA a sore throat). Dug out some old Bass Guitar Magazines and came accross an ad featuring a black Warwick Corvette $$. I've never been bothered with Warwick before, but this bass just looks gorgeous in that ad. The Corvette is the only Warwick shape I like - Thumbs, Streamers & Infinitys all do little for me. I've never played one (or any Warwick), but the pedigree is there, there's some serious tone controls and it's surprisingly "affordable" at €1300 or so from the Germans. As it happens, I've ordered a Peavey Tour 450 head and TVX410 cab from my local dealer, so I'm not really looking to buy, but it's on my radar for the future. I'm trading "my" TNT150BW against the amp/cab. We submitted our tax return for 2004 - 2006 and got a cheque back and Mrs Phaedrus is kindly allowing me a few bob. Anyone got or tried a Corvette $$? Mark

He's just got himself an Ibanez Steve Vai 7-string. Now he reckons he's almost complete: Ibanez Steve Vai signature 7-string Ibanez JS1000 Joe Satriani signature Schecter Synnyster signature Epiphone Zakk Wylde signature Epiphone acoustic Digitech GNX4 Digitech Whammy 4 Boss pedalboard/case thing with 6 or 7 individual Boss pedals Marshall Valvestate 100w 2x12" combo Peavey XXX 120w valve amp head Peavey 4x12" cab Yes, almost. Just needs some sort of Mesa valve head to round it all off... Mark

I'm also my band's PA guy, so setting up my bass stuff is almost always the last thing to get done. The stress I suffer when time is running short is really bad. But for the last few gigs we've done, using aux-fed subs has taken a huge amount of stress out of setting up - I no longer worry if the FOH sound will be okay. This has always bothered me more than carrying & setting-up stuff. And I seem to be lucky to always get bass tone that I and my band like. On de-tuned basses - I used to have my second bass tuned BDADG for songs in drop-D. But for about a year now, I just retune the bass I'm playing's E to D immediately after the last note of the previous song - usually done by the time the applause is fading. I'm never the one the rest of the band is waiting on. Mark

2 x fretted 5-string basses in hard cases - one trip from van to stage. 1 x Peavey TNT150BW combo - one trip from van to stage. 1 x TE BLX80 combo - one trip from van to stage. 1 x custom hard case with DT-10 tuner, ME-50B effects & VXL Bass Attack DI. 1 x Ryobi drill case with spare strings, batteries, tools, Tascam CD-BT, DI & PSU for our keyboard, notebook & pen. The effects case & spares case are carried together in one trip. That's 4 trips and it's too much. I want to cut the 2 combos down to one head (maybe in a 4U 19" rack with a drawer to replace the Ryobi case for spares & tools) and one cab with castors - same footprint, but lighter & easier to move and it would take up less van/trailer space. That'd cut it down to 3 trips. Mark

Thomann do pretty much of all Adam Hall's stuff at good prices. We've fitted AH castors & handles to various custom cases & boxes we've made and they're good. But your local B&Q or similar might have what you need? Mark

I have the Tascam CD bass trainer - it's great and I use it a lot, but would like the mp3 player instead. €200 is more than I have free right now but if I was in the market, that's what I'd be going for. Mark

Every 4 I had played had 19.5mm (or similar) string spacing at the bridge. Some 5s have 16mm spacing - I tried a couple like that and while I would have gotten used to it, I'm glad I chose a 5 with 19.5mm spacing. Changing from 4 to 5 and back was less of a change, though I don't play 4 anymore. My main 5 is my Tune TWB53FM. My second is a Yamaha BB605 and I'm aquiring a Yamaha RBX375 from a cousin who no longer wants to play 5. All 3 have 19.5mm spacing. The RBX is pretty good for the money (€300-ish), but the BB605 (also €300-ish, but no longer in production) is one of those basses that really is way better than any €300 bass has a right to be. Because I love the look of my Tune so much, I've been using that as my back up and the BB605 as my main bass. I'm guessing the BB615 will also be a great bass. FWIW, I also find it practically impossible to slap on a 5. In fairness, I'm no great shakes on a 4 either, but at least that doesn't have the low B that just keeps rinnging away - just can't damp it properly. Mark

I'll be selling my Tune TWB53 bass & Peavey TNT150BW soon to fund the purchase of a new Peavey amp & cab. Tune costs €824 new now in Ireland. Mine is basically as new - no marks or dings, everything working perfectly. Don't know what the TNT cost, but a "Combo 115" costs €600, but in fairness the TNT is probably 10 or 15 years old, maybe more? Still 100% functional, all the same. So what do you guys reckon I should be asking for them? Mark

Can't go wrong. I'm using a TNT150BW - different model, but still basically a 150w 1x15" Peavey combo: heavy, solid, plenty loud for rehearsal and gig use if you also DI into a PA. As you'd expect, it's got less sparkle than a combo with smaller speakers, but I augment it with a TE BLX80 combo. Go for it if it's functioning okay. As it happens, I think I'll soon be trading mine in against a Tour 450 head & TVX410 cab. Mark

I suppose this is a bit of a digression from the OP topic but IMO, it's the crap originals bands that are clogging "it" all up and making it harder to find the better bands. How are you going to spot a nice flower in a field full of weeds & nettles? I certainly don't want to waste my time and hurt my ears by enduring 90% tripe in the hope that I'll come accross the good 10%. Of course , this is all down to taste - what I consider a waste of my time may be someone else's best-thing-since-sliced-bread. The way I look at new bands is this: if it's to my taste, it'll eventually come into my radar. Someone somewhere will tell me, "hey I heard of a great band you'd like!" There are also many bands that have made the big time which IMO should never have even been formed, and like I said, they're making it harder for quality bands to cut through. But I guess that's just how it is, eh? Arctic Monkeys? - GLOBALLY HUGE. The Mew? Who's heard of them? No offence to Monkeys fans - I simply mean that The Monkeys are not to my taste, yet they've made the big time, while The Mew (amazing melodies & harmonies, great arrangements, very unique sound that's very much to my taste), just as one example, are barely known. There seems to be different motivations and incentives for getting into a band or music. I mean, is it likely that Supertramp & 10CC & Toto got together for the same reasons as Arctic Monkeys & Hard Fi & Just Jack? To me, the guys from bands like Supertramp & 10CC & Toto (as examples) got into it because they were naturally gifted as great singers, musicians & songwriters - almost born or destined to do it, like Schumacher was born to drive F1 and Beckham was born to play GAA. Does that mean there's no room for Go-Kart racing and indoor 5-a-side? Of course not, but who wants to watch Go-Kart racing when F1 is so much more exciting ? I've come accross some of my favourite new (or new-to-me) bands completely by accident - I've listened to a song I've been looking for on radioblogclub.com and that song has lead on into a great song I've never heard before. I heard Duvet by Boa like that, The Decision by The Young Knives, Film by Aphex Twin and loads more. Mark

Isn't an originals band akin to an entrepreneur attempting to get his product/service out into the market place? He wouldn't (shouldn't) expect to get paid from the outset for his product/service by people who have no clue what it is or how good/bad it is. He has to give it away for free till enough people start to decide they'd be happy to pay for it. His business plan and relevant business loan has (should have) taken all that into account. A covers band seems to me more like the retailer flogging established products. As such they should expect to get paid accordingly, whether the start-up originals band gets paid or not. Of course, once the entrepreneur's product/service catches on and he hits the big time, it's him rather than the retailer who'll be the millionaire. Mark

Hi, I voted 1 hour 30 mins, though currently it's just 30 mins. I'm assuming that you're asking from the point of view of "what time getting to bed after a gig is too late for it all to be worth it?" My covers band are just getting started on securing more gigs further afield than we have been doing, and agreed that as long as we could drive home after the gig within an hour or hour and a half, that'd be fine. We play pubs & clubs, usually getting €150 each a gig. If we were a wedding band, with no day jobs, with our calender regularly booked out with between 2-6 gigs a week (average of say, 2-3 a week over a year?) for a year or two out, and were getting €500 - €750 each per gig (like the top wedding bands in Ireland are), then we'd travel the length & breadth of the country. Admittedly Ireland is a smallish country, and we live in Dublin, so 3-4 hours would be the longest we'd probably have to drive, but if that was our situation, we'd probably be B&B-ing it sometimes. But back in the real world, we'd have to break some current habits and treat the whole thing as "time = money". Sure, we want to have fun, but getting to bed at 4:30 and having to get up with your kids the next morning is tough going. And the actual drive time is only part of it - the drive home can only begin after getting paid/talking with folk and taking down & packing away the gear. Let's say you finish the last song at 1am . . . Talk to bar manager, punters, wives/husbands/girlfriends/boyfriends/groupies/whatever over a wind-down drink: 30 minutes. Take down the gear and pack it all into the van/trailer: 1 hour (or more . . .) Drive to the rehearsal room: 30 minutes/1 hour/1 hour 30 minutes. Unload the gear: 30 minutes. Drive home: 15 minutes. That'd get me home at between 3:45am and 4:45am. Hard enough for a young single man with no real responsibilities but I, like many others in this game, have kids and chores at the weekends. Does the pay compensate? Does the fun compensate? Hopefully one or the other does most of the time, or at least some of the time. In our case, we've been looking at streamlining the whole thing - reducing the amount, weight and complexity of the gear we're using (both PA & lights as well as our personal gear): Switching to a more efficient active PA with only two subs and two tops (instead of our current 4 passive subs and 2 passive tops) Using a rack with the mixer/EQs/peripherals permanently interconnected, (instead of our current heavy amp rack for the passive speakers) Switching to a single multi-coloured light unit (instead of our current two T-bars with 4 PAR56 each) Using smaller bass & guitar amp rigs, improved cable-management, colour-coding as much connections as possible, etc. In the meantime, I have to try to get the other guys to get stuck into taking the gear down as soon as possible after the gig - you can always yap as your're coiling cables. That's how I do it. If it was up to just me, I'd eliminate the chat after the gig altogether, but that's a big part of it all for the guys - for my drummer in particular, and given that the rehearsal room is his, I'm reluctant to be too pushy about it. Our current van is our singer's work van, but I do all the post-gig driving - I prefer to play sober for the gig and give my kids just a tired dad the next day, rather than a tired & hungover dad. Mark

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='94398' date='Nov 26 2007, 08:46 AM']Slightly off-the-wall thought but one worth considering. If you're buying something a bit special and second-hand, e.g. a 60's Jazz with original case which is going to cost you £2000, the postage to the UK will cost £60-£80 and the 22% duty on the whole lot is going to set you back >£450. For that amount of money, you can get a return ticket to New York and pick up the bass in person. If you carry an old guitar case through Customs as part of your luggage, no one at Heathrow will bat an eyelid. Bin there, dun that. You'll save on the US postage, too! If the old bass does NOT come with an old case, no worries. Take an old case to New York with you. That makes the return trip even easier, since you'll be able to prove that the case (and presumably the contents) were yours to start with.[/quote] That's how I got my Tune TWB53FM - mate carried my empty old case to Vegas (he was on a trip there anyway - didn't go specially to buy anything), bought my bass, came back with new bass in old case. Nobody was interested, and even if they had looked - it's my old bass in great nick and I was visiting some friends to write some songs. Or whatever. TWB53 in Ireland: €824 (€1100 at the time I bought it) [url="http://waltons.ie/waltonsshop/product_info.php?cPath=60_62&products_id=10781"]http://waltons.ie/waltonsshop/product_info...oducts_id=10781[/url] TWB53 in Vegas: $499 ($599 at the time I bought it) [url="http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=32802"]http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=32802[/url] I saved €500. I'd still save over €300 if I bought now [i][b]IF[/b][/i] I was going over anyway, or knew (& trusted) someone who was going over anyway. Mark

[quote name='tauzero' post='91424' date='Nov 20 2007, 12:52 PM']I find that playing guitar (even fingerpicking) and singing is easier than playing bass and singing.[/quote] +1 100%. This is so true for me. I think it's cos strumming acoustic guitar is much more rhythmic than plucking notes on a bass or something like that. Or at least most strumming carries a continuous repeated ryhthm, whereas plucking bass notes might more often be off-beat / on-beat, sustained / stopped, etc. Mark

Came accross this - maybe of interest to readers of this thread: [url="http://www.stagebeat.co.uk/P/100416/PEAVEY+BASS+STACK+450w"]http://www.stagebeat.co.uk/P/100416/PEAVEY+BASS+STACK+450w[/url] Comes to £490 inc delivery to UK mainland. Will only take a UK-adress credit card. Never dealt with them, so can't comment, but great price! Mark

I reckon the ability to sing as well as play definitely makes you more "employable". It makes the band much more versatile and professional. Anyone can play bass passibly (almost), and guitar, drums, etc, but to have quality harmonies is what really makes a band stand out. I'm happy with my ability to hold a tune & so long as I can hear myself I'll sing plenty of backing, but if I can't hear myself, I won't even attempt to sing because just as good harmonies will make a band's sound stand out, bad backing vocals will ruin a band's sound (not to mention reputation). My band has just decided that we're going to concentrate more on our backing vocals, cos we've been told that on the songs where we all sing, we sound great. I'm not talking Supertramp or CSN harmonies all over the place - simple stuff like all of us doing the "woah-oh-oh" parts in the chorus of Hard Fi's Suburban Knights and all the backing vocals in Fantasy by The Blizzards. These don't need lead-quality voices - just stay in tune and don't drop your musical parts. It really fills out the sound, specially for a band like ours with just one guitar, bass & drums. It's worth getting comfortable singing while playing for other reasons too - there's been more than one occasion where our singer has lost it (many reasons: forgot words, lost his place in the song, couldn't find pitch, choked on a bad swallow...) and either one of me, the drummer or the guitarist has carried it till singer got it together. Careful though: our guitarist likes to sing whenever he feels like it, and not always in tune. If he was singing alone, it'd be okay, but when someone else is already sing that part, it can sound crap - I do the falsetto "ooooo-oo-oo-oooo-ooo-ooo" in the chorus of You Are All That I Have by Snow Patrol, and sometimes he fancies a go at it too, so I just have to pull out of it and let him go. I like when I nail a singing part while I'm playing - very satisfying. Mark