Muzz

The Dunlop Nylon .88s...been using them for, ooooh, 40-odd years now...I think I've got the hang of them...

Well, JJ did change his sound over the years as the band's sound changed (there's a Shuker JJB Sig Artist bass that's basically a piezo/flats semi-acoustic), but I have seen/heard him get 90% of the way back to the first three album sound on a few occasions live (and sometimes not really get there, probably down, as you say, to FOH hoohah) with his Ashdown rig, but this was the worst yet, and there was no Ashdown rig to fall back on...

I'm on record on here somewhere as to that bass at 0:14 on Hanging Around being my trigger into decades of faffing about with basses...culminating (on the JJB side) with a signed Shuker JJB P turning up any time soon... Imagine my disappointment (also on record here) when I went to see them a couple of months ago and JJB's sound was...gone. I'm hoping it was a one-night aberration (I've heard from elsewhere it was better on other nights), and they had switched to in-ears only for the tour, so that was probably it, but I was properly gutted...

Bass -> SonicPort -> iPad (Jamup) -> headphones. Job done. Will run for hours off the iPad battery. Apparently you can do the same with an iPhone, but I've never bothered.

Don't sell that Jetglo 4001 for £180, borrow the money from somewhere and stick it under the bed. Ditto that 70s P... Other than that (and the ears/tinnitus thing)...nope, that'll do... 😀

Went to see a couple of bands a short while ago (small gig; Rebellion in Manchester, probably 150 there, if that), and they were both two-piece bands; a singist/geetard (with some octave tracking on a few songs) and a drummist. It worked for their type of stuff, but again it's fairly niche, and not really a worrying trend per se. Royal Blood have shown it can be done, and yeah, punters don't (and shouldn't, if it's done right) care if there's a bassist there, as long as the band can make it work. On the other hand, I've been to see some very big bands at very big arenas where the bassist may as well not have bothered, you could hear so little of it, other than a cannon-kick-dominated, subsonic rumble...

Just to confirm the 'good uns and bad uns from every year' thing, I bought a 78 Jazz once, which was the heaviest (11 1/2lbs, anyone?) and dullest bass I ever played. It was in great nick, original case, etc, so it was more of an artifact than a musical instrument...it's probably on someone's wall somewhere, I can't imagine anyone actually gigging it...

Was at a Jam Night last night, and the house bassist, a friend of mine, had brought his 77 Precision down. He passed it to me, and I braced for the boat anchor-weight, but blimey, if it was 8lbs I'd be surprised. And it played really, really well; I'd go so far as to say that it's the best Precision I've ever played (with the possible exception of a 63 I had a 5-minute go of about 30 years ago, but that's a hazy memory)...just goes to show there's good uns and bad uns of every year...

Yep, I'd agree with the 'it's a performance' side of things, especially in the covers/function arena - some comfortable, funny(ish) chat - just a few seconds, not rambling or shouty faux-hype - between songs gets an audience on your side. It's the difference between a singer and a frontman; engaging with your audience. That said, we do have a few songs we run into each other, with the drums carrying the transition, but they're the 'real' dancing ones (like Superstition, Play That Funky Music, Good Times, Long Train, Le Freak, etc), and of course they're all pretty much the same 'dance number' tempo, but these don't need breaking up with chat...

Packed pub gig Satdy night, went well, but a couple of things which echo the common niggles above; there isn't tons of room in this venue, and I was first in, so helpfully I put my gear (Walkabout and Super Twin - it's too busy in there for the inears/PA setup, plus we don't gig much any more, so we'd have needed a longish soundcheck to reset stuff) over in a corner, tucked nicely out of the way. Drummist and Singist/Geetard then set up all across the rest of the space, so I was crammed in, standing sideways overlooking the drummer, while the Singist/Geetard had yards of space...pffffttttt... And I can't hear much other than me and the cymbals because I'm nowhere near the tops, and the monitoring wasn't working. Then we had the perennial problem with that Radiohead dirge High And Dry - I don't like it anyway, and it's an energy-sapper of a song, but the Singist/Geetard plays it solo, so we have it in the set. What he doesn't do is adjust his EQ from his solo settings to take out the very bottom end, so when he's playing a chord with a ringing open E and I play the F#, the resulting muddy blur is annoying. Even going up an octave doesn't fully cure it. If he cuts the bottom end of his acoustic we're all good, but he never remembers. Oh, and S/G starts into a song, I join in, it sounds derrière (from what I can hear), he shouts 'I'm one down', but he meant one tone/two frets rather than one fret, so, what with not being able to hear much, it took me wayyyy too long to hunt him down... Needless to say, nobody else noticed, and it was all fun and games till the Last Orders Scuffle at the door. We just got a drink and watched, it was better than the telly..

When there used to be a few music shops in Manchester, one was part of the group owned by a bloke called Eric (no second name given, but some people will know him) who used to visit the further-flung stores in his empire. He wasn't the most pleasant chap to customers, and insisted on 'helping out' when he was there. He was known among the staff as the Sales Prevention Officer...

My (bought secondhand) BB414 is pretty damn close to a P, and the build quality is excellent, which is something I'd consider when tuning down verrrrrry low...

I've said this before, but I see BD a bit like the wand shop in Harry Potter; I've been in a couple of times to try gear, and I've picked what I wanted to try, Mark set me up and went in the back. He came out a while later (he'd obviously had one ear on me) and said 'Try this' - it was something I hadn't considered, and if I hadn't been open to suggestions I might have said 'But I want one of these', but he was right. I don't agree with all his opinions, but I respect them. I've also sold basses via him on commission, and it's been a painless experience. Having said that, the last time I was in he wasn't around, there were a couple of other people in and I was comprehensively ignored by the younger staff (despite having said Hi) for about twenty minutes, so I left.

No, not got mine, either - been working away a lot this week, and I'm on holiday next week...the week after that, tho... 🙂

Due to some agent-related unpleasantness a couple of years ago*, our function/covers trio needed to gig temporarily with an alternative name, so the BL decided on Lucky Pierre. We did this for a few gigs until the drummer, an Italian chap who is otherwise flawless of character barring a certain prudishness, had a conversation with someone in a pub who told him what it meant...he nearly didn't go on for the second set... * Actually more likely four years ago...Covid, innit?

As well as transposing on the fly (oh, the joys - usually when the BL/geetard/singist pops his capo on the wrong fret), I have several sets of patches on my Stomp for drop (and up) tuning - possibly not 100% wibble-free, but more than good enough for band use...

Substituting different preamp tubes in order to change the characteristics of the amp; 12AU7 for 12AX7, Tungsol for JJ, that sort of thing.

That was just awful...mostly because what Rush never needed was a second bassist and a second drummer onstage, especially the drummer(s), who sound like they're in a mediocre tribute band...oh, hang on...that's it, tho, isn't it?

Bass solos nope, not as such (OK, maybe a slightly elongated fill, or a bass intro, but that's about it), and drum solos (other than the late great Neil Peart) were/are always a cue to hit the bogs...

Why would he pursue a career in a band when he can make a living as a solo performer, especially now there's a worldwide medium for that on YouTube, etc? Grandstanding pieces like this are created to garner attention (and therefore advance the solo career mentioned above), the more remarkable the better, and are more accurately judged on that basis. Nige Clutterbuck is a friend of mine, and has suffered much abuse for his grandstand stuff (if you've never seen it, his speciality is 1000mph slappity-hoohah*) from some musos, but he plays it for a specific reason; to further other aims, like pulling a crowd round at a trade show. He's also a great bassist and yeah, he plays in bands, too... Anyway, there'll be another 8-year-old YouTuber along in a bit who's 90% of the way there before they can even reach the end of the neck properly... * Technical term, donchaknow?

The biggest red flag is the pickup cover, but check out the nut and the TRC misalignment - not even Rick would let one out of the factory in that state...

Just for a second I thought that was the back of the neck... 🙂 You have inspired me to contact Jon again about mine...he's probably gonna say 'Yeah, it's been sat here for ages waiting for you'... 😕🙂 Edit: I did, in fact contact Jon. He said "Yeah, it's been sat here for ages waiting for you." Upside is he's sticking it in the post next week... 😀

Noooo, it's progressed past that; he's got them trained - if you leave them in a room with an open window, they're off*... * Inspired by a mate of mine when we were kids; he was briefly obsessed with keeping pigeons, and there was a bloke with a pet shop down Tib Street in Manchester sold them. He'd buy one, fuss over it, then forget and leave the door ajar, and it'd be gone, so he'd have to go and buy another one. I was convinced the bloke had sold him the same pigeon three or four times...

FWIW (tho not strictly OT), I put an East pre in my ABZ, and it really brought it to life...

Oh, and if you don't mind the Fender branding, their £30-or-so replacement bridge is very nice for the money...