Marvin

Jam nights seem to be things where anyone can just jump in and join in, which is usually why it turns into a 12 bar fest. Open mics on the other hand appear to be solo acts or bands taking a turn and maybe playing a few songs, then the next soloist or group get up. Maybe.

Music in general can be really cliquey. Certain venues have 'preferred bands' and if you're not one of them you'll be waisting your time trying to get booked there etc etc etc. I might actually be going to a jam night tonight. The guy who runs is actually a very generous guy and does try his best to encourage as many people as possible to get up and have a go. I think he's all too aware of the 'same old faces' thing hogging the 'stage'. That said, the only reason I probably get up or get asked to join in is because the guys from my band know him really well, so yes, they can be very cliquey even when not trying to be.

I've been using a Schroeder 1212L for over 2 years. It's capable of being incredibly loud for a cab of its size. I've got it paired with an Aguilar TH 350 I must admit it's taken some time to like this set up, but I've found a tone now that really works. I've tried the cab with an Ashdown ABM and that sounded good, so if I were to change either it'd be the amp not the Schroeder cab. I've been toying with a Markbass amp recently, just haven't got the funds.

February 2016? Is that when I took leave of my senses and sold you that Rumble 😎

What other drivers could be used in the smaller cab @Phil Starr? And how would they effect the overall sound/tone? I’m keen on building a cab to stick in my bands practice space and this looks ideal

If my memory serves me correctly, there's one of those Premier Guitar rig rundowns on YouTube about Guns 'n' Roses. Apparently they have cabs underneath the stage all mic'd up...some apparently in some sort of sealed box

I played my first gig with a new band on Friday and all went really well. A very small pub, so we were all crammed up next to one another, and I couldn't hear myself but it was great to be back gigging again after my previous band came to a stall last June. Nice thing at the break. I got talking to a guy who'd been sat at the bar quite close to us. Turned out he was an ex-pro musician who'd had to give up some years ago due to ill health. We got chatting, he asked if he could have a noodle on my bass, said yes. Then he asked if he could sit in on a number or 2. The rest of the band were fine with it, so I had an extra long break So, Bill, if you're on here, lovely to meet you and your playing is miles better than mine

How ever many are on the set list at any one time. That's about it. Like with any other thing in life, if I've not used the info for a while it starts to get forgotten. I go to blues jam nights occasionally now. Blagging my way through an 8 bar or 12 bar song for any given key doesn't really count I don't think

I've never touched or played any other instrument than a bass. I recognise some guitar chords but I can't play guitar at all. Hasn't ever caused me problems. I get into bands, I get to play gigs.

I've been looking at manufacturers sites and the tensions of strings varies quite a lot. Flats can be incredibly tense to under what my rounds are. I'm still pondering at the moment. Thank you for the advice, very appreciated

I went to a blues open mic/jam night last night with a couple of mates whose blues band I'm playing with at the moment. A really nice crowd of players, the guy who runs it is a real gent, if you can play then they really want you to get up and have a go... ...the only disappointment was the absolutely awful tone emanating from the bass amp all night. I thought I'd got to the stage where I didn't really care too much about tone. As long as it sounded reasonably bass like then what the hell, life's too short to be continually swapping amps and twiddling knobs :). But this thing was like sludge...and I mean sludge, there was no definition at all to any note you played. It was a one of those Ashdown 180 combos, and it sounded as if the octaver was permanently on. I can only assume it was in some way broken, because you could play around with it for an eternity and you'd still just get sludge. It was really disconcerting and off putting. Because of the tone I couldn't hear myself at all. I spent the numbers I played relying on playing shapes on the fretboard. I won't be tone hunting, it wasn't that bad, but there's clearly a limit to how bad a tone can be.

My Squier VM P bass has been my most used bass for gigs and practice for the past 2+ years I shall be playing it this evening probably at an open mic.

I'm not sure my Squier P bass has the neck to take the tension of regular flatwounds. I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions and experience of using low tension flats and which ones would you fine people recommend? Ta

I’d say you’ve had to have a rethink as your circumstances have changed since you auditioned, and say you’re no longer available Life’s too short to be messed around by people like this.

And I regret selling it to you

I just don’t go into music shops at all. I don’t like them. I wouldn’t miss the nearest one to me, it never stocks anything I’d buy, it doesn’t do guitar/bass repairs or set ups or repairs to other music equipment.

I only personally know of one female bass player...I don't think she'd be up for lots of touring stuff though.

It's show business, and has almost nothing in connection with music. You have acts, not singers or bands. Very few of these acts seem to have their own 'voice' or 'style'. It's a very bland homogenous mush. You can't even be offended by it, it's just so dull. When Annie Lennox, Aretha Franklin, Jagger, Freddie Mercury, Morrisey, Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins) all sang you instantly knew it was them. And the bands had their own sound. Not anymore.

I’ve got a Squier VM Precision, probably gets played the most out of my 3 basses. I can’t fault it

Was it this interview or somewhere else where Jones completely writes off Rap and Hip-Hop? I’m not a fan of the genre/s at all, however, it seems somewhat juvenile to ‘bin’ a whole genre because you don’t think it shows enough deference to the artists in your own record collection

Maybe. I've got a new 5s from Apple only 3 weeks ago. They tried to replace the battery but the tab holding the old one in snapped rendering it useless. I've got a glass screen protector on my new one phone, I didn't know if it was that making it a bit more tetchy.

We don’t have visitors.

It must really boil Jones’s bladder contents that other well known drummers have a lot of respect for Ringo’s drumming...and barely reference his beloved jazz technicians. Mike Portnoy, he has Starr in his top 4 influences. Jones comes across as someone who views music primarily as a technical endeavour. He portrays himself as a jazz cliche, in that all other music or musicians have no value. Anyway, anyone who lends any weight to astrology simply has forfeited any claim to have a valid opinion

He moans that modern music is all loops and then says he rates Ed Sheeran?!? Has he listened to Sheeran? Jones comes across as an insufferable and arrogant snob.

From what I can see from online images the B4 pickup size looks remarkably like that of the Ibanez SR (no prizes for why that might be ☺) In which case, it's a real pita to find reasonably priced replacements. I've yet to find anything that would fit bar some Barts, which would cost almost as much as the bass did new. One thing I did do to my SR was to replace the active controls with passive ones. I asked @KiOgon to make me a loom with just a volume and tone control for each pickup, however the tone controls have different capacitors to give more tonal options. The loom also incorporates a series parallel switch, so even more options. It's a better sounding bass now, however, the pickup output is still a little low.