Delberthot

[quote name='Protium' post='308085' date='Oct 16 2008, 07:17 PM']How exactly did you blow the speaker? Sounds like you did something wrong vs. there actually being anything wrong with the speaker...[/quote] It was only a couple of years ago and I've now been playing for 21 years so I'm confident it wasn't me. I was using it with an EVO II rackmount head at the time and one night it just started farting when I was playing. I was actually a bit sceptical about the Fane drivers as I know that the Celestion's are bomb proof and even emailed Ashdown prior to buying it to find out more.

If it was the same as mine, your cab will have a Fane driver which I didn't rate very highly before buying and I was right, I managed to blow it relatively quickly. I put an Eminence Kappa driver in it as I had one sitting in its box. Sounded really good too. I swapped the original driver in a previous Trace cab i had. It ws the compact 1153. i can't remember the exact model but it was another celestion, albeit 300w instead of the original 200w and 4ohms instead of 8ohms. Sounded really good.

The best thing to pack a bass with is a flat panel TV box cut to size. Normally a 40" one if its in a gig bag and a 46" one if its in a hard case. The worst packaging I ever had was with a 1979 Rickenbacker 4000. It arrived in an old gig bag with a burst zip that didn't fasten at all. the seller held the bass in the bag with brown tape wrapped round it. How it survived I will never know.

[quote name='SisterAbdullahX' post='304686' date='Oct 12 2008, 03:19 AM']I'm currently half way through building my first Warmoth, a 4 string Jazz with swamp ash body and maple/ebony neck. It currently has no pickups or electronics in it and does suffer neck dive. I'm hoping that fitting p.u's and circuitry will add enough body weight to balance things out. I enquired if Warmoth could fit graphite bars, instead of steel but they said they'd tried that and it resulted in dead spots so they decided to stick to steel. I find that a little strange as my Fender Jazz Deluxe 5 string has graphite bars and balances perfectly despite the extra neck mass and additional machine head and doesn't have a single dead spot anywhere.[/quote] My newest Warmoth also has a swamp ash body but maple neck and fretboard. I went for Gotoh Resolite tuners just in case there was going to be any neck dive. Happy to say that there isn't on this bass. It balances perfectly. The only reason I used the Gotohs was because they were reverse winding like the original Fender ones. Also, you don't mention if it is front or rear routed - if rear there is a lot of room in the cavity to add weight

Me and a mate were doing a talent contest at primary school miming to Bruce Springstein of all people. Another mate of mine had an acoustic guitar and I thought it would be cool to hold the guitar pretending to play it. This was when i was 11. My mate agreed to let me have the acoustic for a fiver and i mucked about with it for a bit. I was a huge Queen fan at the time and tried hard to play along but I didn't understand the concept of chords or anything. Anyhoo it gets to Christmas and I'm asked what i want. I was leafing through the Littlewoods book and started looking at the guitars but spotted the bass alongside. Everyone wanted me to get the guitar so i picked the bass. Christmas morning comes along and I get my Marlin Slammer P bass copy which looked a bit like John Deacon's red P elite that he used on the One Vision video. I also got a curly guitar lead just like Brian May's and played it through a Squier 15w guitar combo. That was me until I was 16, same strings and everything. I did consider getting a guitar a couple of times but when i went to a music shop to try some out I always felt that there was something missing and that it was a bit light on the loafers compared to the power of the electric bass. I wouldn't be interested in any other instrument now

Good bits: I've always been able to pick up a tune really quickly I can play most songs in any key After 20 years I have the best gear for my needs My gear is lightweight I wear earplugs at every gig I can slap & use a pick if I need to I'm still getting better all the time I'm always at a gig in plenty of time I maintain all my own gear I can sight read I got lightweight gear before I did my back in or got too old to lift it I can get all my gear in and out of a gig in 2 trips - 2 basses, gig bag, cabinet, amp & stands I'm good at improvising thanks in part to being in a dixieland jazz band when I was 17 where all you got were the chords, no dots I'm a typical bass player in that I carry a spare of everything: speaker cables, stands, straps etc I'm confident I'll try playing anything Bad bits: I never practice Since I began wearing earplugs I think I play louder than I used to I don't spend time sorting out the settings on my effects so don't use them as much as I would like to I react to the crowd - If they're being dull and uninterested then so am I; If they're up for a good night then so am I I would rather pack up and go home and donate my gig fee to charity than play 'sit down' by James. If that's such a bad thing

Played the 'Inn Bred' pub in Brightons tonight. no that's not the name of it but cetainly fits the bill of many of the inbred, burberry wearing, schemie, chav, minkoids that were nuggets before we even got there. took a while to get into the gig and only really began enjoying it towards the end. Got held back by the obligatory 'I used to play in a band' punter. The best part of the night was when I was driving home with money in my pocket. Not had one of those gigs in a looooooooong time. I've had a lot of really good gigs this year and very rarely do I have one where I've felt like I'm just there for the money. Better luck next week hopefully. We're playing in Hicksville where most people's cousin's are also their mothers etc. Tune in next week for more 'Keep it in the family'. Take me drunk, I'm home.

If you want to be true to the original then you'll need a Binson Echorec or 2. The original was done AFAIK with Rodger playing a Rickenbacker and Dave playing a Precision.

I don't have a backup. I usually take goldie and oldie to gigs and change between them during the night for no other reason than for a change. Im still learning to play these basses. It normally takes about a year for me to become totally familiar with a bass. After changing basses every week or two when I was experimenting its really good to have 2 definite basses that are keepers.

I've been using one of those brooklyn gear straps - bit similar to the comfort straps - for a couple of years now and they really do work. My gold bass is one of the heaviest I have ever played with the Mahogany body, Wenge neck and Ebony fretboard but I never get back or shoulder pain when playing. I remember back to the bad old days of playing my Stingray 5 string with a standard leather strap with no padding and halfway through the night I would actually take the strap off and put it over my other shoulder. I also find that I move my bass around quite a bit as well: if I'm playing mainly on the bottom 5 frets then I'll slide the bass to the right and vice versa for high bits. I even find myself shifting the bass mid song for certain bits. They say that you should adjust your strap so that when you are sitting down practicing, when you stand up your bass should still be in the same position. But then again I don't practice which is something I really need to address but that's another story. If none of this works then a lighter bass such as a P bass lyte as previously mentioned, a Bass Collection which are featherweight basses but pack a mean punch or, if you want something made, one of those hollow jazz bodies that warmoth do. If you get a lightweight wood body done this way with a light neck and lightweight tuners such as Hipshot Ultralights or the rarer to find Gotoh Resolites that i have on my '54 P bass then you'll be laughing

Victor Wooten - that's the fellow Amazing what a couple of hours sleep can do for the brain

I've just added my sixpence to the thread. I think to be feasible it has to be something like an acoustic / semi acoustic / chambered body, passive(possibly with Villex pickup(s) and booster) or a very long shot of fanned frets.

Nah the Fodera guy is a black dude and he does the double thumbing thing. Still can't remember his name. He used to do the Art Nightbass advert in the 90s when he had a 'tache, was on the back of a lot of Bass Player mags. Somebody Wooton

Back to the topic in hand: A lot of the more muso players I have heard fall into the 'who framed roger rabbit?' category. Lets go back to 1988 - There was a lot of fuss made over this new film with Bob Hoskins and an animated rabbit. It was meant to be the best thing sinced sliced bread. everywhere you went you couldn't get away from it. Enter 12 year old me buying all the hype. I went to see the film and have to say that it was the worst tripe I had ever seen in my life (and was until I saw or rather slept through LOTR). Since then I gererally stay away from anything overhyped so that i can go and watch it and judge it for myself so that I'm not as let down if it turns out to stink worse than a smelly cheese sandwich made with pumpernickel bread containing real pumps. Anyway, I digress. Or do I? I used to frequent Talkbs a lot and they always went on about Jaco, the bass of doom, all these great things he was meant to have done. I asked what a good album to listen to first would be. Can't remember what it was (something by Weather Report) but I bought it and absolutely hated the 'music' I'm pretty open when it comes to music and try and look for new stuff but this was just hellish. I have since tried to listen to it again but just can't. It got filed under B for bin. The point I'm trying to make, if I have a point, is that I am so tired and losing my concentration. I really don't like 'bass players' as the main attraction in a band. It should be about the music rather than them doing the proverbial ham shank. I can listen to some Stanley Clarke as he has some good songs but I have trouble listening to the other ones. You know,the short guy that plays the Aria 6 string fretless, Marcus Miller and that bloke with the piccolo Fodera bass with the Yin yang thing on it. I do know their names but, you know, tired and stuff. I like Thin Lizzy - Phil was the main attraction but as a singer. Same goes for Guys like Sting and the guy from Del Amitri. I like bands with good bass players such as: Yes, Chilis, Zeppelin, the Who, Deep Purple (esp glenn Hughes), etc but if the song stinks then it stinks. it doesn't matter how well the bass is played. As always this is IMHO and AFAIK and I'm going to bed.

Siberian Khatru ranks as one of my favourite bass lines to both listen to and to play along to as well. Incidentaly, I was compared to Stanley Clarke on several occasions. Apparently compared to Stanley Clarke I'm rubbish.

Just being having a browse but couldn't find anything - did find out though that Guy Pratt did 'like a prayer'. One of my favourite session guys. Is there anyone he's not played with? (ooer missus)

My wedding band have a website here: [url="http://www.firstclassmusic.net/"]http://www.firstclassmusic.net/[/url] My first impression when I saw it was that we looked like a country and western band. That opening pic makes us all look we have really fat faces. The samples on the site were recorded using a minidisc recorder about 20 feet in front of the PA so they're not perfect. Here's our bebo site that i did [url="http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=7627956407"]http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=7627956407[/url]

Thought I'd wait until tonight (this morning?) to go over this weekend's gigs. Friday night - doing a charity ball with the wedding band. Its a 9pm start so I get there around 7.45pm, guitarist is already there. We get the gear in although not the easiest. They've just got a new extension on the place and as usual the bands were the last things on the owners minds when they designed the place. Had to lift, amongst other things, the rack with power amps which comes in around 125lbsup to head height to get it over the stacks of chairs in the corridor. Luckily I'm a strong guy but its still a PITA. The drummer arrives next and we get all the gear set up. Its still early so we go to the bar to wait for the keyboard player / singer to arrive. He also brings the subs and the box of cables for the PA with him. Its gets to around 8.10 and we're wondering where the keyboard player is. We try calling him on his mobile but it goes straight through to his answering machine and there's no answer at his house either. The drummer eventually gets him around 8.25. the conversation gos something like: D: Hi, what are you up to tonight? K: Just sitting in front of the telly with a hot chocolate and about to go to bed, not feeling too good. D: You do realise we are playing tonight? K: F***************************** You get the idea. Luckily the dinner overruns so when the keyboard player arrives and we get set up we are more or less ready to begin when the audience are ready. I must say that I had the worst sound I've had in a long time. It might be something to do with preserving my fingers for the other 2 gigs this weekend, it might be the room or it may be that the last 3 gigs I have done have been with the rock band and my settings are completely different for that band. I had one of those gigs where I played a lot of random notes that luckily sounded ok. I've had better gigs but I've also had worse. This afternoon's gig was a freeby for the Cancer Research 'race for life' at Grangemouth Sports Stadium. Last year's one was really good but we played later in the day and got really drunk after it. The PA was also fantastic as well. It was so substantial that there was a desk on the stage to mix the monitors and another out front for the main PA mix. This year it was different guys doing it and they were DJs with a relatively large PA by DJ standards. They had the smallest desk in the world and actually ran out of inputs long before everything was mic'd up or DI'd. It didn't really bother me as, just like us, they were offering their services FOC for the event. Half an hour before we were due to begin the drummer asked the main guy if everything was all set up and he repled that it was. And he added "how difficult can it be to mix a band" to which my drummer repled "how difficult can it be to be a DJ" There was no soundcheck - most DJs won't know what that is. We began playing at the back of 5. Our first song was Gary Moore's version of 'the stumble'. While we were playing this the Dj was mixing us through a set of headphones plugged into the desk. Do you know the story behind why Chris Squire's bass is so prominent in Yes' recordings? It was because the sound engineer mixed one of their albums through a set of headphones and kept turning up the bass so he could hear it. I can only imagine how loud I was through the PA. Anyway, we begin playing and our drummer tried to get the Djs attention as he couldn't hear his vocals through the monitor but the DJ had decided to leave the stage and go out front to hear how it sounded even though one of the other Dj guys there was giving a big thumbs up for the sound out front. The drummer went mental shouting at the Dj to come back up. I can totally see his point of view- remember it was the DJ who said 'how hard can it be to mix a band?". If he had asked us questions or offered his ideas instead of being so blaze about the whole thing the situation may never have arose. They both had a shouting match and the DJ ended up going home! The gig ended up being cr@p as I was on edge and getting myself ready for a fight as I could see people talking to each other and pointing toward the stage. Would've been a pretty onesided fight anyway as the drummer and I can both handle ourselves, the singer was Scottish Karate champion and the guitarist was UK champion. Sorry, I don't want to act the big man or anything but that was the situation as I saw it. Finished the gig at 6.20pm. Stripped the gear and was at this evening's gig for 6.30pm (just round the corner luckily) Got in etc etc etc and began around 8.20 I decided to use my new '56 Warmoth P instead of my usual gold one (the gold one is normally for the wedding band and the '56 is for the rock band) the soundwas absolutely fantastic. Apart from a brand new lead cr@pping out on me the sound was fantastic. I find that when I play too hard the pickup on the gold bass compresses the signal and makes it lot quieter whereas the Lollar pickup in the '56 comes alive when I really dig in. The gig was ace and a sea breeze considering it was the third one this weekend - I could've gone on a lot longer. One thing though - I'm not prone to GAS that often these days but one thing I would really like now is a good all valve amp. It would suit the bass down to the ground. Not sure what to get though. I have thought about getting a Marshall VBA400 - those MBC cabs are stupidly cheap. An 8x10" for £399? Bonkers One thing I like is that Marshall use Celestions. There aren't many speakers that I trust but I used Trace cabs for years and they're pretty bomb proof, not like those nasty Fane drivers in my Ashdown ABM115 cabs. Another one I fancy is a Schroeder 6x10" - probably about the same weight as the Marshall head!

They are good if you don't have time to tune down and back up between songs but currently I just mute my bass, tune down and then unmute. the whole process takes about 5 seconds. I used to do a cool thing like on the Manring video (hadn't heard of him at the time) where the last note of the song was a low D. I'd do the run all the way down to the E then flick the lever to go down to the D. I have 2 detuners in my parts drawer that i don't use - a Schaller Musicman/fender type one and a Gotoh GB7 type one.

Buce endorses Waterstone basses as does Tom Petersson from Cheap Trick and a few other guys as well.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I'm in Torremolinos then. Always wanted to meet him. He seems very down to earth for a guy with so much blonde hair, I mean talent

My gold one has 21 frets and a gotoh 201 bridge as well. I made a mess of installing the Warwick JAN III on the gold one so had the frets dressed at the same time so don't know if the top fret needed filing down. The pickup is surprisingly quiet. I didn't actually realise this until you mentioned itbut there was no sound at all from it. The quarter pounder on my gold one does buzz. I have them both set exactly the same as well with both volume and tone controls fully on. I'm actually contemplating wiring the pickup directly to the jack.

After reading up on what and how to shim I decided to use the edging you get for kitchen worktops since I had a load left over after doing the kichen. One piece cut to the shape of the heel and placed right up against the butt did the trick. (no jokes please) Some kind of wood veneer was the best option after reading up on it followed by cutting up an aluminium can and finally thin piece of plastic. You really don't need much to drastically alter the angle of the neck. If I look at the neck pocket from the bottom there is only the slightest of gaps. I've just finished adjusting the height of the strings, intonation and have tightened the truss rod as there was too much relief. I'll leave it now until tomorrow to let it settle.

Thanks I may try that as I will need to take the neck off anyway. I was at a rehearsal with the gold one today and I noticed that the action was completely different to the new one. On the new one, the saddles, on the G string especially, are bottomed out down as low as they will go whereas they are what I would call normal on the gold one. I think that I may have to shim the neck on he new one as the action is still huge towards the top frets. Anyone have any tips or a good site to check out on how to do this? It does seem weird that since they are effectively the same body and neck albeit made from different woods that the fit of the neck to body is so drastically different. As I mentioned before, I thought that it was too much relief causing the buzzing on the higher frets but now think that it is because the neck needs shimming. I had the bass out last night for its first gig bu took the gold one in case it wasn't ready somehow. I ended up using it for the whole gig. This has to be the most amazing bass I have ever played. It has the hugest, fullest sound I have ever heard on a bass. It couldn't be much more different to the gold one: The gold one is extremely tight and well defined making it ideal for getting a clean cut-through sound with the wedding band but this is absolutely dominating. It sounds like an organ. Its the only way I can describe it. It makes a bigger sound than my 12 string made. Its gnarly and dirty and will steal your dinner money to buy cigarettes. It carries a wallet with 'bad mother*&^%$r' branded on it. Can you diggit? It plays faster than the gold one despite the gold one having an unfinished Wenge neck which is meant to be one of the fastest necks hereas this one has a vintage satin laquer finish. I have no idea what makes this one sound so different to the gold one as there are too many variables beteen them. I think it might have a lot to do with the Lollar pickup. I was expecting it not to be as powerful as the uarter pounder but i probably couldn't be any wronger.

Can't remember is I mentioned this or not but I am using Optima chrome plated strings, same gauge as the gold ones I use. I had to adjust the truss rod as there was buzzing up at the top frets and thought at first I had the wrong sized allen key but in fact the nut as loostened all the way out and was just freewheeling