Rosie C

That is an amusing thought, particularly given the headache it's causing my mechanic. But no, it's definitely MY van. I have a Morris band practice on Monday and I need to take double bass, I guess my bass uke might have to get a trip out.

Morris band practice on Thursday: Our violinist doesn't do practice sessions, our mandolinist was ill, our band leader (clarinet) was unavailable and my van is off the road [1], so taking my double bass to practice wasn't possible. So with very little preparation I took my Roland piano accordion... and it was one of the best practices we've had in a long time! Perhaps there is something to be said for shaking things up once in a while. [1] and is still off the road - the central locking module is not recognising the key fob 'beepers' and putting the key in the door lock doesn't unlock the doors.

Ooh, tricky, I play in several bands - but the main one I suppose is the one I'm most invested in which is our Renaissance-Folk band 'Minstrels Guild'. We play a mix of authentic renaissance ballads and dance music, as well as Blackmore's Night covers, and ballads written ourselves in the style of renaissance music. Sadly, we have our last UK gig on the 19th December and quite what the future holds musically is unknown as we're moving to the Republic of Ireland next year. It might be that we keep going via a YouTube channel and Bandcamp. Or we might hook up with local musicians and go in a new direction.

For years I worked on a mobile 'heavy rock' disco but we didn't want the disco flashing light thing, we wanted to created a mood. The lights were all DMX controlled and we had a PC in a flight case with a USB-DMX adapter. From memory the rig was 6 x PAR56 on dimmer packs with rainbow gel selection 4 x gobo scanner 2 x moonflower Each PAR can was one colour of the rainbow and we worked out which gobos were which, I wrote simple programmes that were just red, or just orange. Some move complex ones that moved the scanners, flipping gobo as they changed direction. But it was all very low key. We retired from that game a long time ago, but a couple of years later someone asked us to do one last gig. We didn't have the PC anymore and had to borrow back the lights from the local high school we'd donated them to. I found that with only one scanner running a built-in pattern, the other three set to mirror it, we got 4 scanners all with the same colour, all moving in a sequence and it was fairly low key and not flashy. The dimmer packs let us put the PAR cans on a slow fade between channels - maybe a minute to move around them, and that worked OK. So looking back I probably wasted a lot of time programming fancy light shows - the built in stuff could be tweaked to be OK. Of course this is going back years to the days of single-colour halogen lamps.

I like the idea. Polycarbonate (e.g. Lexan) like they use in rally car windows might be a better choice as it cuts much better. [Edit: I see that later down the thread, @SpondonBassed mentioned polycarbonate]

Ah, I'm sure it looks great, but imgur doesn't work in the UK anymore

I was just about to say that!

Apologies for taking you literally, but I can't disagree - Wetherspoons do a decent breakfast for the money and their beer is fairly price[d]. Also, I saw The Smiths live in 1986 ish at "The Tube" filming and while I really wanted them to be rubbish so I could wind up my friend who was a big fan, they were actually rather good.

I posted 'Emmet Otter' on the word association thread this morning, and later as I was driving I realised a washtub bass uses resonance in the same sort of way I was thinking 🤔

Thanks @itu ! Lots to think about there...

🤞

Me too. I also wonder how large it needs to be - in the photo it looks like it could be half the area which would make it more portable, but maybe less effective. Also does standing on the platform help, or would it work as well or better if I lowered the end pin a bit and stood to the side. I feel I might have to make a prototype to answer all these questions!

I play double bass in a Morris side, and I'd rather not play with an amp but it's not loud enough in many situations. I've been thinking about a 'cello riser, but I see differing opinions on whether they're just to increase the height of the 'cellist, or actually increase resonance/volume. Has anyone any experience of using one? I'm also wondering if anyone has made a DIY one?

Gladly!

Soundproofed basement is nearest the truth - we have a little stone barn with 2' thick walls that we use for practice. But we're moving next year and we're planning some sort of combined lounge-come-practice-room so we'll have to see what sort of house we find.

Thanks!

Indeed it should! Each time I needed to move the amp I had to get my partner to help move the cabinets, and it felt like that children's 'Towers of Hanoi' puzzle, lifting the pieces of the puzzle from one place to another. Except each piece is 37kg! Wheels are definitely the way forward

Having made up my fancy lime green cables, I couldn't fit them without lifting the cabinets & amp which were stacked against a wall. So at the weekend I had a little DIY task... Two layers of 12mm plywood and some PSE: The amp came with a little trolley which wasn't up to much but the castors were worth re-using: Slap on some black paint: Ta da! Now it wheels around easily

That is impressive. I once gave a friend with a 3/4 on the larger end of the scale in my Up! and it was very snug indeed. I doubt it would have fitted a 7/8 or 4/4

I used to transport my double bass in a VW Fox and a VW Up! which are both quite small. My method was with the back seat down, put the neck of the bass between the front seats, push forward until the tail end is in the boot, then push to the right, so the scroll moves to the left clearing the handbrake and gear lever.

I sold it on, and the buyer had it repaired. He reported back that original parts were prohibitively expensive but his local tech guy was able to fit a generic pre-amp board with decent results.

I had a 'double 4'. It sounded great but after about a year something in the pre-amp stage blew. I suppose that can happen with any brand, one bad one in a batch, but it put me off buying a larger PJB amp.

People seem to either love or hate theory. I have two friends who are both fantastic violinists and both saw grade 5 theory as a horrible thing to just get through. Whereas I have grade 6/7 theory now and can't enough. As well as it being necessary for progressing to higher grades I find it invaluable for songwriting and for improvising parts on the fly.

Here is my Squier jazz in classic sunburst and tort. It started life as fretted, but got a Fender pau ferro fretless neck during covid lockdown. It has a lighter set of tuning machines fitted, though I forget what brand (they were in my guitar tech's spares bin). The neck pickup failed recently so I had DiMarzio relentless J bass pickups fitted and better quality pots & jack. It's my only bass guitar, so I've spent a bit getting it exactly how I want. I play a fair bit of double bass so my bass guitar is setup in that sort of style - including XL chrome flatwounds.

No, my amp doesn't have UV, I believe it's the later model with the electro-fluorescent plate, which we think the previous owner disconnected. When my electronically-minded friend visits at Christmas we'll have a look inside. Hopefully no damage has been done to the drive circuit running for years without the panel connected!