Muzz

Ooooo, I hadn't seen this one...here's mine 😀

Wedding gig in a bar/pub in Boothstown*, actually the publican's wedding, so it was full on. Not too much to remark upon, other than the ongoing delight of lovely quiet inears, and the host offering us another £50 each to play another 5 songs, but the evening saw the debut of our BL's new Country-inspired** song. Rather than describe it, I'll simply quote his intro: 'My missus has been asking me for ten years to write her a song, because all my other songs are about my exes. So I have. This one's called 'Who needs Google when your wife knows everything?'... * For anyone not familiar with this charming hamlet nestled hard by the East Lancs Road, if I said the buffet included a large steel tureen crammed with doner kebab meat, you'll have an indicator... ** He's discovered the subgenre of Comedy Country (starting for him with 1978's delightful Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn duet 'You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly') , and he's all about it now...

Tha can now...

That's the way I read it, and it kind of works inasmuch as a lovely new bass can be lovely all over again with some new strings, or a setup, or just a good strip and clean: kinda topping up the loveliness... 😀

I note that the two main ways to prevent Hedonic Adaption are Appreciation and Variety...notably, Variety is about 'When a positive change first occurs...say...you get to take a long bath in your first soaking tub...but over time...you’ll be happier with your soaker tub if you run out and get yourself some new bubble bath, or try lighting candles' So yeah, go ahead and get a new rig...you're psychologically justified... 😉 Actually, don't - the Three Gig Rule above is a very sensible one...

I used a 1515L for years, and yep, they sound a bit honky on their own, but in a band they're a fantastic cab. I've played club-sized venues with one and a 500w Class D head, and never pushed it. Great cabs for a gigging bassist. A mate had the 1212L in a rock covers band with 2 guitards, and it always sounded great.

When we first decided to do this, years ago, I was scratching my head a lot, and decided to Google some live versions. Blimey. And not in a good way. 😕 I felt a lot better about myself after that - especially a couple of the Paul Simon live ones (without BK, obv...) 😀

You've met the type...he didn't get a call back. Sadly, neither did my ears...

Which would make it? Although given we're using the word as a bona fide English one, it's Helixes. Which is all rather dull.

This. Ever since my tinnitus was (finally) triggered one gig by a dep guitard who put his 1x12 combo on a bar stool directly behind me (to be fair, it was a very cramped stage area) and then proceeded to turn it up and up because he couldn't hear it where he was standing, my MO for the less sympathetic 'I-must-have-volume' guitarists is to point their cab directly at their head where they're standing. I even bring an old angled cab stand specifically for this purpose. It's amazing how they don't need quite so much volume once their cab is going straight at their ears*. * Although I've never played with Joe 'Speak up' Bonamassa...I believe he likes it... 🙄

Well, if we're getting into latin declension, then the Genitive would make it Helixorum...

Yep, this. We're properly DI (triggered kit, Helixes (Helii?)) so there's no need to change it. We took some time to get the monitor mix right, so we can concentrate on FOH. Why wouldn't you?

If we're gonna expand it to New Wave as well as Punk (and Lord knows where the line is between them) then there's the Jam, the Misfits, the Clash, the Undertones, Joy Division, OMITD, Nick Lowe, Glen Matlock in the Pistols, and I'm sure more. Like a lot of Ricky players, most of them moved on to other basses, but they were a popular punk bass, even if, like Hooky's, they were just a Hondo... I bought a new 4001 in 79, and they weren't a cheap bass; they were much more than a boggo Precision or Jazz... I can't recall a punk bassist with a 'Bird?

My other half and I ended up standing at the back wall of the Manchester Arena the last gig we went to (IIRC it was Alterbridge), because the sound was so ridiculously loud and poor. We moved around all over the place trying to find where the decent sound was. It wasn't anywhere in the auditorium. But it was stupidly loud. On the other hand, I can't recall a gig at The Ritz in Manchester that's been too loud, but then that is a smaller venue, and they're not trying to achieve 130db 150 yards from the FOH...

It's a very similar thing, just in a different set of clothes: in the world of vintage Fenders and desirable mojo, relicing, whatever, that is in fact a very frou-frou instrument. And will cost a substantial amount. Y'see real punks back in the day played newish mid-range instruments and cheap copies*...they're only reliced and costly now because that was all 40 years ago... * eg Hooky's Rick copy...

I'd say the vast majority of immediate custom build disappointment is the customer not understanding what they really want from a bass. I can understand the frustration of someone receiving a bass which wasn't what they ordered (as in the case above, which is the first one I think I've read on here in such stark terms), but most of the custom sales are people not liking what they ordered, or just plain moving on. I've moved on from what I used to like in a bass (and the purchase of a brand new 4003 a couple of years ago underlined that one massively for me - good job it was a bog stock GAK purchase, because it went back the next day (although to be fair, it just wasn't a great bass for £1600, full stop)) and I have sold on some very nice basses which I'd just tired of. I faff about with the odd bass here or there in the lower orders of cost, but if I had the money I wouldn't hesitate with another custom build, because I know exactly what I want, and I've had very good experiences with custom builds before.

Maybe he wouldn't need a seriously heavy wheeled flight case for an empty cab...hey presto, another 75lbs saved... 😉

And if I wasn't going to plug it in, I'd make life easier for everyone involved and take the speakers out... Just sayin... 😁

Having auditioned various band members over the years, singers have been the most...polarising, I'd say. The bad ones can be really, really, clenchy; the good news is you'll know pretty much straight away*. A relaxed atmosphere is always the best, just another rehearsal kinda vibe. If you're looking for a frontman, though, I'd be looking to see that from the word go: if the prospective singer can't do it in front of you, he's (or she's) gonna struggle in front of a room full of strangers at a gig. Conversely, if it's range and quality of voice you're after, then a little shoegazing can be overlooked. * A pal of mine still drags out an audition tape from years ago for laughs, whereon a chap had turned up with a strong Irish accent, a rather high-pitched register bordering on Squeaky, and a constant sliding vibrato like someone playing a musical saw...his rendition of 'Triller' by Michael Jackson has quite literally to be heard to be believed.

Ran a jam night last week, a couple of actual musicians got up (one drummer*, one guitarist) but the low point was a mithering singer who wanted to do Mustang Sally. I hate that song for the very reason which became apparent: "I know Mustang Sally" "Really? All the words?" "Errrr...yeah" "How does the second verse go?" "Errrr..." Nevertheless, and in the absence of anyone else getting up, we let him. He'd got his phone out for the words before we'd got the intro over, failed to read it properly, failed to listen where the music was up to, you name it; he was halfway through the chorus before the first verse had ended - he just launched into the lyrics, line after line, without pause, and the worst, the very worst bit was him looking round at us like we'd done something wrong. Quite the worst version of the song I've ever heard (and I've heard some bottom-clenchers - see 'I hate that song' above), just half-arsed karaoke with his mates cheering him on. We stopped it after the second chorus with a very definite Big Finish. He didn't notice. If I'd have slipped a piece of coal down the back of my trousers, I'd have had a diamond by the end of the song. I'm never, ever playing that song again. I'm considering very hard whether I want to host or even go to a jam night again. Bad ones are like being able to hear the adverts on Joinmyband... * Well, he ended up playing drums, but he got up and we said "What do you play? Drums? Guitar? Bass?" and he said "Ohhh, I play everything." So the singer said "I've got an accordion in the boot of the car, d'you wanna give that a go?" You won't be surprised to hear he wasn't very good.

I use a plectrum, I sweat (tho my hands are always clean) and I like a bright aggressive sound (mostly). I have Elixirs on all my three main gigging basses, I generally take two to a gig and I'll switch between them randomly/on a whim. I've had the same Elixirs on them all for pushing a year now, so that'll be kinda twenty to twenty-five gigs each bass. Plus several hours a week noodling. Only now am I considering replacing the oldest set, which have been on that particular bass for nearly two years. I find EXLs go off after about ten or a dozen gigs, tops. NYXLs are nice, but don't last anywhere near as long as Elixirs. It'd be worth one shot to find out, I'd say...YMMV, etc, etc...

iPad with Jamup, input box and headphones. Digital modelling amps/fx, play along to iTunes library, the lot. Job done 😀

We do Killing In The Name on a regular basis, which is never an issue in a pub late night (tho the singer does preface it with "This one's a bit sweary, brace yourselves" 😀) and we played an afternoon festival gig the other week. We still played it, but the singer censored himself with 'Fluff you I won't do what you tell me' and best of all, 'Motherfluffer...' Went down even better than usual... 😁

Mine arrived this week, and yep, it's certainly heavy: beautifully photographed and presented 😀 Have to agree with 12 String above tho: there's some interesting interviews, and it's quite wordy, but John Entwistle's collection and book is much more eclectic and interesting, despite being almost infuriatingly low on text...Geddy's feels much more nitpicky and conservative; much more box-ticky. Maybe it's because there's only a few basses in Geddy's collection I'd actually like to own, where John's is full of them...

Drop your string height, and/or hit the strings harder...that'll do it 🙂