Muzz

Small bodies, single cuts, the top horn on a Corvette that looks like a nob, bog-seat Bongos, rosewood boards, shiny varnished necks, any of the forty seven million Jazz copies out there (no matter how much they cost), real Jazzes, Rickenbackers, anything other than 4s... I could think of more, but I've depressed myself with my negativity too much already... Oh wait, I've just remembered: anything artifically reliced...yeah, that...

I don't think the piano analogy holds up, I'm sure there are many examples on Pianochat or its equivalent (tho I'm not willing to go and look ) of 'bang for buck' cheaper pianos... It's very much an emotive sliding scale - I'm sure there's lots of people who think US Fenders and G&Ls aren't bang for buck - they'll champion Roadworns or Tributes, etc. I've got a P-copy I paid £60 for new, which is pretty close to a US P (and I've had a few of them) [i]for my intents and purposes.[/i] Is a US P ten, twenty times better? Not for me, but definitely for someone else. I have a luthier-made bass which is exactly what I wanted, built to my exact spec and with fantastic attention to detail and quality, which cost me the same as a certain US factory-built bass. Is it better? It is to me, massively, but I know chaps on here who are fans of the other manufacturer who wouldn't hesitate for a second to make the other choice. Which is cool, and says more about us than it does about the basses. An opposite example - I had a 78 Jazz once, a horrible thing to play, sounded...brown...weighed a ton (and I'm talking nearly 12lbs here) but it was in astonishing nick, had the original case, etc, etc, and it sold for an amount that made my eyebrows shoot up. I'm sure whoever bought it thinks it's worth the money; myself, I couldn't be bothered even playing it... It's all down to what you'd consider 'worth double the price' to be? If you can define that, we can answer more accurately.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1439205021' post='2840742'] It all sounds a bit 'wannabe' to me. Like darts players calling themselves 'atheletes'. [/quote] Bit like that George Martin...he always wanted to be Ringo, I heard...

I'd say that when done well it's a real skill, a real musical talent, more akin to production and engineering than actually playing the instruments, perhaps, but within it's genre completely valid. After all, isn't jazz just a lot of old blokes making it up as they go along for a bunch of people sitting down and nodding? Dreadful.

Have you played one? They're a very distinctive bass, that pickup where it is makes it unlike a lot of other basses (there are many subsequent basses which use it, but the Ray's the original) and so can be Marmite. That's not to say it's a one-trick pony, but it is very distinctive. I ask because I love them, I keep buying them, but I keep selling them because I don't get on with them in a band context, so they don't get used. In the light of that, I'd advise a secondhand US Sub (not the Sterling SUB or SUB4 or whatever the hell else Sterling B and the boys have thought of this week) first - can be had for at least a couple of hundred quid less than the US MM ones, and will give you the sound and (most of) the feel of a US one. You'll get your money back selling it on if you decide to either buy a US MM or not bother. There's differences in models beyond this (the 2 and 3 EQs are voiced differently, for starters), but they're fairly subtle compared to the actual living with the bass itself, and you could probably get into all that once you've established you're a fan of the basses. PS Ebay pricing?

All the Barefaced cabs I've owned have been startling on a sound to size/weight basis (and, like you, I come from an SVT/810 background years ago), the Super 12T I had was just huuuge sounding, but the most surprising was the Big Baby 2 - I played an RAF gig in a hangar with just that, and I couldn't believe a single 12" plus tweeter could cut it (playing all sorts, but including GnR, Muse, DC with 2 guitarists), but it did. Cash issues at Xmas meant I sold it, but I've got a Compact and Midget now, and they do all I need, and are modular, too. Plus they both fit, with 2 basses, amp and cables bag, in the boot of my Passat... You could do a lot worse than start with 1 Compact and see how you get on with that, and add another if you need...

[quote name='mrtcat' timestamp='1438887228' post='2838467'] It's what keeps me out of bassdirect and bass gear. Being such high end establishments just makes the pressure worse. [/quote] Naah, just get down there - Mark at BD will have heard a lot worse: me, for a start... He's always been very subtle when I've been there - he sets the amp and bass up, then retires into the office while I faff. Probably to bite his fist...

With due respect to the craft displayed by Mssrs Wilkenfeld and Caron, still ain't heard anything I like. If there absolutely have to be solos in a live context, I'd be in favour of making them at least four or five minutes long, so I can get to the bog and then the bar...

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1438779978' post='2837186'] Those who are dead against bass solos - are you just thinking about the context of the music that you play? Is it just that you can't imagine a good bass solo in this context? I find it very strange for any musician to write off an almost infinite amount of musical possibilities just because it's called a "bass solo", but it would make sense if you were talking about your pub-rock-covers band. [/quote] When I hear a good one (in any context), I'll let you know...

No, no, no. Not ever. My band leader sometimes tries to do the 'give us a solo' thing...I ignore him. I was in the Dam once with a mate walking across a square, a bloke was doing the keepy-uppy tricks thing with a ball, and kicked it to him. He bent down, picked it up and threw it back, and said "I'm a 'keeper..."

Anything with a PJ (or even just 2 pickups) and a U-Retro. Job done.

I'd echo the recommendations to go and try all sorts at Bass Direct* and somewhere which may have Foderas in stock (Bass Gear have some - have you ever played one?) - if you don't know exactly what you like (other than simply wanting something, and that's a powerful driver in itself) then a cheap and fast learning curve is time there. As an example, I always wanted an Alembic (and a Status, too), until I owned one. And then I didn't any more Ditto a lot of other basses - I've been through a lot, and I've found what I like (which is Shukers and my Dingwall), but it took a long time and a lot of buying and selling secondhand. You may find, like I did, that you walk in Bass Direct wanting a particular brand and walk out wanting something completely different. Knowing what you want is even more important with custom luthier built basses like Shukers, ACG, Alpher, etc - they are all fantastically talented guys who will build you exactly what you ask them to, the rub is you need to know exactly what you want to ask for, because it won't exist until they've built it, and by then you've bought it... You're in a very exciting position - don't rush, try as much as you can, learn as much as you can and enjoy the process... Edit: Just seen you're after a 5 - definitely try Dingwalls, they're extraordinary basses, and that 37" low B is unbeatable, IMHO... * Or Bass Gear, or The Gallery, or Drew's place (The Great British Bass Lounge) in Manchester - depends where you are and where you can get to...

That's odd: we have it in our set, and it gets folk up for the second set just fine...

One of the advantages of playing with good deps is that there's never any fannying about - turn up, tune up (silently), get a rough volume, adjust if necessary by listening to the bloke who's setting the sound up, play the songs. Once you're used to this series of events it happens automatically even at the vaguest of writing/rehearsals. It's not rocket science, it's being a grownup...

A definitive answer? On here? Whooooooowweeeeeee....

He's being a dick - if he wants to play loud, he should turn up early, that way he isn't boring anyone else with his fretw*nkery... Mate or not, I wouldn't put up with that at a rehearsal - just walk over and unplug him...

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1437488663' post='2826451'] The sight of a bunch of women attempting to linedance to the 7/4 section of "Music" by John Miles is thoroughly entertaining. [/quote] Where and when? I'm there...

With some due respect, Bilbo, I'd say your jazz gig and an evening entertaining a complete cross-section of wedding/birthday function guests who'd like to get up and dance are two pretty diametrically opposed things. How packed is your dance floor to the 'not in 3:4 or 4:4' stuff? I think I'd pay money to see that... And it'd be a mistake to confuse 'lazy thinking' with lots of thinking over lots of gigs after lots of audience feedback...

The theme from Starsky and Hutch.

I play in three bands: a wedding/functions band, an originals band and an unashamedly Heavy Metal pub covers band. The first has a setlist picked from around 150 songs, the bookers get to pick from there, we do stuff from GnR to Johnny Cash to Bruno Mars to funk stuff to the obvious Sex On Fire/Dakota to Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al to Avici to Luther Vandross to a whole Irish subset. The second we pepper the set with covers, as someone mentioned earlier, to keep the punters focused, the third is stuff we want to play (the less obvious stuff like early Rush and Whitesnake and Dio) with the odd Sandman in there. Guess which one I get the most gigs and get paid the most for? At a wedding recently, a girl came up to me to tell me her boyfriend was a drummer in an originals band and didn't it "compromise my musical integrity" to play covers all night? I didn't actually laugh in her face, but I did smile and shake my head. I told her I enjoy playing songs, however despicably obvious, for a dance floor of pretty girls, and getting pretty well paid for it. The Irish stuff, in particular, always gets the place absolutely bouncing, full of jigging happy punters, and oh my God they're only three chords (four for the technically challenging ones )... It all depends what you want from a gigging experience, but I wouldn't ever sneer at anyone else's song choice. The only real yardstick is if it's well played*: a badly played obscure cover or original song (tho it can be harder to tell in this case ) is as toe-curling as a badly played Sex On Fire... * And that can include whether it's played straight as per record, or whether than band makes it their own...

Sounds like it'll be worth a go - you could try a dry run: put both basses in gig bags (if you have two), have a crack at carrying them round in one hand...take them to the shops on the bus...

Not an issue as far as I'm concerned - I've had (owned and gigged, rather than just heard) all-valve, AB and D stuff over 35 years, and I've had bad uns and good uns in both/all three camps. Someone said earlier it's an issue if you can hear it (whether this is actual or psychologically influenced only a proper blind test would prove, but even then, like the scrap plank bass test, it's unlikely to change opinions), but lots and lots of other factors are much much more important to me. I've kept my Streamliner through lots of other amps, D and AB (I've no room in my life for an all-valve behemoth - I kinda wish I did), and it works for me, and with the Compact/Midget can bring the house down: 'umph', 'heft', whatever, all day.

Well, it's a no-brainer - you'll be carrying both at once, so if you can carry both basses in one hand in two cases at the moment, then both basses in one case will be no worse.

I've used a double gig bag for years now, they're less bulky than two separate gig bags, and with two of my basses (I don't play anything over 9lbs) in is an easy one hand carry. Mine's a Warwick, which has stood up to lots and lots of gigs in the back of car and van, although I'd like a Mono double. I'd say they're not as heavy or bulky as two gig bags of comparable protection.

The thickest earplugs may not be the best. As has been suggested, the ER20s (some here : [url="http://www.allearplugs.com/earplug-suppliers/acs-advanced-communication-solutions/etymotic-er20-high-fidelity-earplugs-white.aspx"]http://www.allearplu...lugs-white.aspx[/url]) will allow you to hear what's going on at a reduced volume, but the best ones are the custom fit ones. I've got tinnitus thanks to idiot drummers and guitarists (compounded by my too-casual approach to the dangers of consistent high SPLs), and it's no joke.