krispn

I was gonna start a thread in this but didn’t think folk would be interested. I see Anderson’s have a couple in stock and could be interested. Looks like it irons out some of the baked in lows of the original and still sounds great in the low gain realms. Bass the World have a good demo up just now. I’ve too much dirt atm but if I can shift some I might grab one.

That’s a lot of relearning but I’m sure with the flexibility of the 5er you’ll be able to aim down onto the B string to keep the lows sounding meaty! It’s where the lower string really shines in keeping the bass sounding like a bass. I’d imagine using a capo up on the 4th or 5th fret would rob you of some of that feeling of playing bass and it’s the same reason I used the 5er over a 4 string in that choir gig. There’s a point where you’re just too far up the neck!!

I’d be interested to know what songs you’re currently depping and how different the keys are between the to two bands. I’m maybe lucky that we don’t have more than a tone or semi tone between our songs that it’s not that I’m moving them up or down a fret or two.

I wouldn’t equate a capo to drop d. Drop d is more about playing unison guitar lines/riffs written in drop d but then I came up playing in the grunge era when drop d was a big thing. Also handy if you wanna hit the low d on the big power ballads whereas I definitely saw the 5er as a tool to easily manage transposing etc.

I think the foundation of Rio is octave and chromatic lines so I couldn’t imagine it would be that hard. I was having a learn along/play along with it the other night as it came on the house pa and I was trying to quickly learn it to kill time as the drummer set up (thankfully for the punters it was all in the iems). Rhythm Stick will never make our set as I still can’t play it with any level of proficiency and doubt I ever will 😀 but again it feels like a song which is all fretted notes rather than using a lot of open strings but I’ve never paid that much attention after clumsily looking at it years ago. We did Shut Up and Dance and I recall it all being fretted notes too so should be easy to change key on especially if the muscle memory is there from before. I say all this having learned songs in the original key only to be told the following rehearsal they were getting changed to suit the choir’s range etc and having to quickly change them at short notice. I have no real practicable theory knowledge or formal training so can’t just switch in my head the way some of my proper music theory trained musician mates can. Sounds like you’re considering a capo as an option for future gigs? If that were the case what other benefits do you think it offers?

My bad it read differently but I’d say it’s a moot point either way as neither of us use a capo live and I don’t think we’re likely to start now? Plus from experience with a 5 string and playing BEAD tuning the efficiency of movement you can get often means you can remain in the one neck position for some songs - the three chord tricks etc- and unless you’re coping a specific riff changing root position on a BEAD bass or 5er goes a long way to accommodating key changes. I had to do it for years in my choir gig and it’s why I played the 5er. I still use drop d now and again for some tunes just because it’s fun. Not sure if this constitutes a derail but I’ll let you get back to the topic in hand.

We have two singers to choose from depending on availability etc. and they do a few songs in different keys to each other. I just play the songs in their respective keys. Playing a 5 string was handy for changing keys as it just meant moving the root about but maybe not for tunes with a heap of open strings in the original key before needing transposed but in all my years gigging I’ve never considered using a capo live and I’d imagine few of us have. As for tuning more often as a positive trade off for using a capo I think that’s a bit of a stretch 😀

I was asked years ago at a rehearsal for a new band if I wanted to grab a capo for the next song. I reminded them I was a bass player and they said the previous guy used one. I still all these years later don’t know why he needed a capo to play that song. I get some folk use them on certain strings for solo work but I’ve never felt the need on a regular gig.

No fx loop on this

Johnny Lee Long has a good video on you tube using an audere preamp with Bart’s (in a Ken Smith I think) and it’s interesting in how it sounds both in terms of operation and tones but they don’t ship outside the USA.

I had to learn Ain’t Nobody for a dep gig I was asked to do and just played it on a clean bass tone. Maybe a bit of comp and light dirt but didn’t need the synth to make it work. Depends how close you want/need to recreate the sound. It’s a fun bass part. I recall playing it in drop d.

only left feet unfortunately

What a bummer. I’d be getting right onto Fender U.K. and Andertons via social media too. I ordered some shoes and they arrived on Saturday and they literally sent two left feet and when I get them sent back I’ll be making a note to say that the person who initialled that the order was checked might need a sit down and a quick chat about how feet work! Now maybe Andertons never had it out of the box so missed trhe fault or it’s taken a hit during transit but it’s shocking that a near 2k piece of gear can be this far off the mark.

A little box for snacks?

what he said