JTUK

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1471148412' post='3110785'] No it doesn't, so I agree with your point. My point, was referencing the guys that will go on about their traditional job and because of it they don't care about money they make from playing. That's a little "snooty", in my book. Blue [/quote] But.... it is true, if you don't 'need' to take gigs because you have alternative means, you don't care about the money so much..you'd probably pick a good gig and dump the 'other' gigs. After playing for more than a while, you might get fed up with gigs that just aren't worth the hassle...from your perspective/thinking.

If you don't want to play, you don't have to. If you have other priorities, then don't beat yourself up about it.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1471056003' post='3110273'] I'm calling "malarkey" on this one. I disagree. [b]This sounds like the old, "I have a traditional job, I play what I like when I want" so I'm a little better than those that play for a living.[/b] Sound more like a wannabe IMO. I love every gig I play. However I don't play for love, I play for money. I also play music that I love. I don't find myself playing music I don't like. Personally, I love the fact that I'm obligated to play in order to pay my bills.And what a cool way to pay bills, playing electric bass guitar and singing in a rock band. What you call an obligation for some of thef us is "Living The Dream". I would hope there are others that share my perspective. Blue [/quote] But it may be true... from a playing point of view. The playing skills might be very high.

I've tried both.. I admire a couple of my younger friends who have managed to get mortages through playing music. I also admire them if they have a great gig and a world tour but they weren't rich before that. I hope they will be when they finish. I was just thinking this very morning that if I had then what I have now, I'd have gotten closer but whilst I earnt good money here and there, I knew I couldn't do that over 45 weeks a year, year-in, year-out so I took jobs that paid me a salary to live how I wanted to live. By the time you are 30 you need to make that choice and I did and had no regrets. Ultimately it depends what you want from live and how you go about it... I made my decision with no regrets. Would I do things differently? yes, but I don't have that option so don't worry about it. I do think it is easier now...easier.. but still not easy..!! I still get to play with some of those guys so that is good but I'm not going to struggle to do it...

My definition of a good B... can you slap a line on it or using it?

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470929906' post='3109434'] I look at the bass heroes of my generation as the masters. I'm still studying mist of them. There are some fantastic new guys, I just don't have the time or like you say the interest. [b]To be honest I don't know why I have little interest in them.I t might be that I'm not hearing anything that sounds new.[/b] Blue [/quote] The bass is moving on at a frightening pace, IMO... guys who were vanguard 30 yrs ago probably can't keep up. That is not to say those guys don't still have valid and great careers but there are loads of new things of interest. Strangely, ..considering another thread, one of the most timeless, IMO, is Jaco. That to me marks a true giant or great. I'd add Larry Graham to that as well... he still sounds as funky as f*** and you just can't ignore him. IMO, of course. And no, by today's standards, they aren't that technical, but what they have went beyond that anyway. Both DEFINED a style, I'd say.

Hmmm upto a point, but most people I know who are into music know the difference between an average band and a good one. They might not know exactly why, but they know when something comes across very well. They might accept something that isn't so good and not be less precious about it because they get different things out of music and the guys might only just be doing something they can't..and therefore they appreciate that, but they do tend to know when something has 'something'... IME. If people ask me, I'll tell them what bands to see... they seem to trust the opinion...and by the same token, I think they know a bit more about music than they think they do...

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1470901537' post='3109186'] You CAN get a decent low B in a cheap instrument. I've owned a few 5ers up to the £1.2k price range, and the £280 Warwick Rockbass Streamer I have blows them all out of the water and can seriously hang with the super expensive stuff I've tried out. It has a stiff multi laminate neck and very tight neck joint. There are tons of expensive boutique basses out there that just use standard woods and traditional construction methods, so price isn't always an indicator of how well the low B will perform. The most important difference is the right strings, and making sure they are fitted properly. I've had bad Bs made great, and great Bs made bad, just by changing the string type. [/quote] I'd say that would be a boutique builder that you'd want to ignore..IME. Knowing the properties and having a good wood stock plus very solid build construction is what you should be paying for.. I have a couple of customs that are light years ahead of a Fender Custom Shop, for example. It is more a question of do you know where the price of your bass goes. Some it goes to the name, IMO..others it goes to the builder for just being very very good at his craft. The point about a B string is the balance with the other strings..tonally and from a feel point of view. A good bass will do both very well, IMO .

That is good and that will attract the better bands. The rosta should be good so if you can get on it.... And stay on it, then you swim in a different league. Getting that gig will open doors to other gigs of that ilk or standard so you may have passed a few more auditions than you thought.

It is the sort of thing you learn from...leaving the lead in drains the battery IME and you don't get that much warning on a gig... a couple of pops and maybe a distorted signal and then it gives up. You only do this once and then you learn to pre-empt it. I'll have a passive option on the bass as well..

[quote name='SubsonicSimpleton' timestamp='1470834368' post='3108798'] Does talent equate to how fast/complicated someones playing is? IME musicians who have developed some chops and feel the need to demonstrate said chops at every opportunity regardless of whether it fits the music or not are not very enjoyable to work with or to listen to, especially if their time feel isn't that good. Does a bands recorded output necessarily indicate the full scope of what the abilities of the musicians involved are? Maybe, or maybe not - some musicians never lose the desire to improve even if their main paying gig doesn't allow them to showcase the full extent of their abilities - could you make a judgement about George Benson's ability as a jazz guitarist by listening to this ? [/quote] No, it doesn't equate but most people can play...Jaco spent years in Top 40's bands honing his thing... that sounds like good background to me. You could be a player who only has the one niche or outlet and get lucky.. but that skill might not transfer over anywhere else. Fortunately, the most famous examples of that meant they earnt so much they didn't need another gig anyway Notables, IMO Entwhistle McVie Geddy Lee etc etc etc I'd be surprised if too many had really poor time though... I suspect that U2 would craft and produce their tracks to get it perfect. That is a luxury they may well afford but there is only so far you can go with building a house on sand. At some point someone somewhere could have said, we need to let this guy go, it isn't working... and they didn't...? Most players that have been playing have a decent trick or two... or even if they are quite focused on a certain style will have THAT style down, IMO.

Yep... I don't get this stopped listening thing to music/players when not from a certain period. I don't see how you can improve when you have a small band of reference and the bass is lights years away from what it was in the 60's and 70's If I wasn't improving then I wouldn't keep playing. but that is me. I'd be interested in tacking on latter influences to earlier ones and building up a right of mish-mash of cliches..

I'll have an opinion... wouldn't call it hate tho. FWIW... Adam Clayton... got a decent groove for the band...and I don't use the term groove lightly because a lot of bass players don't have it..at all especially in riff based situations. I think the U2 section do this very well. They may take hours to craft this in the studio but they sound and feel good to me. Mark King... benchmark player of the 80's..he was as good as anyone around at that time. He still isn't out of touch now when slap has moved so far on from where it was. Not easy to stay current for 30 years and playing your own back catalog helps a lot, but class is permenent, IMO. Who was the other guy..will check Matt Bellamy..? don't you mean the bass player? He plays some good parts. Not really my thing but he plays them live as well as far as I can tell.

I posted that I was pleasantly surprised at the cabs I took to a couple of outdoor gigs. I didn't actually know they would be outdoors until late in the day... and one was going to be in smallish space indoors and I had two gigs in a day so one rig would be the choice for both gigs. I also didn't know what the P.A would be as it was a dep gig and they hired in. Anyway, they decided on outdoors at the last minute. Ultimately, their choices would reflect on their band. I never use a single 12 ..the point of these 2x112 is they are only 10kgs cabs..and that is for my preferred choice of ceramic chassis' so these cabs worked. Tonally superb, IMO... but then I'd say I know about these things, IMHO, and they underpinned the band. Whatever you use, there is no point going light if the sound doesn't carry the band. These do..there is nothing weak about them but I don't believe a single 12 would do the same job... if you want to call that the law of physics, feel free. Anecdotally, I've been critical of guys using a single bass chassis up against two gunning 412. .. and I don't honestly get what their expectations were... but the band suffered. The only thing I'd say is that you should never 'lose' a gig because of your sound and if depping you wont get asked back by anyone decent.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1470679383' post='3107615'] Unfortunately IME there are no cheap and good 5-string basses. There's more to making a good 5-string than simply widening the neck and pickups and adding an extra bridge saddle and machine head, which is all the cheaper end of the market does. Even if they are currently out of your price range, go to a specialist bass shop such as Bass Direct, Bass Gear or The Gallery and try some around the £2k mark. Then you'll see why you've been unsatisfied with the budget end of the market. [/quote] Yep...agree.

How do you determine the standard of the bands..? How much for a saturday..?o you know any of the other bands that are on their rosta?

To answer the OP..no, never listened to the original... played it a gazillion times tho.. I'm not sure what the point of listening to it would actually be, tbh. Not surprised it might be really rough..

My di signal goes straight to the board, the split goes back to the amp. I wouldn't be using effects but if I did, it would always be from the send/return loop and would be the dirty send to the P.A, so I'd need two channels.

Can't see it being worth the hassle... even a dedicated stereo amp like the SWR SM's only really achieved halving the power available from the amp and they had a x-over in there.

My bass will go into the DI box and then be fed back to my amp which is my stage monitor.

[quote name='pmjos' timestamp='1470548550' post='3106609'] Just saw Paul Turner last night a Ronnie Scots with Brother Strut. He played trough a TC K450,a tired old TC 2x12 and an old Ashdown 4x10. He sounded superb... as he would. But .....Gas reality check.....the tone is I the fingers not the gear. [/quote] When I saw him recently he was using an SL410 and th500. I joked that I could have let him have a Aguilar DB rig and he said that would have saved him the carry. So I think that sort of thing is a factor.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1470524438' post='3106574'] I don't want to force an opinion. But to listen to this bass from Jaco Pastorius and not get something from it is just alien to me. Each to there own of course. [/quote] I'm with you B5, the guy was a true 'great' whose playing surpassed fave of the month or was in my favourite bands type of status. The man had everything, and but if you can't see it, but then that is OK too.

3 guys I'm stealling from atm... Jerry Barnes slap-style Ethan Farmer Bobby V

I really like some of his playing and he was definitely unsurpassed at this style... you could probably say he defined it. I can't listen to Rocco but Jaco was something else. Still a very tricky and accomplished style or technique to this day... some many things need to come together to carry it off. The track itself doesn't really do it for me, but Jaco was THE guy in his day.

To sound 'ok' on slap is one of the easiest things to do on bass.... and some of those don't sound much good in the bread and butter styles. To do something different slap-wise is a whole new ball game. People shouldn't really have Flea and the 80's icons like LJ as serious slap references IMO... the whole thing has moved waaaaaay beyond all that.