Rosie C

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!

The colour match is pretty good. The ASDA cable is actually a better match to the amp than the speaker cabinet badge. It's quite hard to make out but I think it says 1.25mm2

The cables that came with my TE amp weren't in the best condition. But I was in the electrical aisle at ASDA a couple of days ago and spotted this lime green mains extension reel. Being in the "mains flex is fine for speaker cable" camp a lightbulb appeared over my head! Edit: Jacks and XLRs for speaker leads do give me the heebie-jeebies and I did think about converting my cabinets to speakon but that was faff and I thought it might devalue them should I sell.

Hmm, fast wind 6-7 months... shortly after my last post we decided to put our house up for sale and make preparations to move to Ireland so the poor old synth has sat in a corner unloved until this week. I'm nearly at the end of recording my first album and in the last couple of days I've been using the synth a fair bit - soundscapes, jazz piano, drone notes, all kinds of things. Mrs C at the drum pads: For a retired computer programmer this is so much fun!

I have a friend who is similar - I played him a song I'd written - so it was the first time he'd heard it and he was playing along by the third line. A tremendous gift. After nearly 50 years of playing from dots I've been trying to play by ear for two years now and it is just starting to come... early days I guess!

I don't go to many open mics. The one above is a bit different as each person can choose to do a solo performance, or pick a song from a book the organisers provide for everyone to play together. Indeed! and playing fiddle while working out a harmony line from the guitar chords in real time is about as much as my brain can manage!

Eeek! I used to have one of the mains plugs that worked by removing a light bulb but only as a curio.

My iPad charger kind of has that...

I stopped taking my bass to our local jam night as it was just too much hassle - either lugging guitar+amp or double bass. Instead I've been taking my violin and improvising harmonies (sadly I do not take a good photo when concentrating on playing)

I received a Kala U-Bass for my birthday this year. Acoustic with internal pickup of some kind. It really is awesome. Having a much fatter sound than my bass guitar, I use [it] on those days when my back is too bad to contemplate lugging my double bass to a gig or practice session.

It was on my list and it's already arrived, though I'm not allowed to touch it for fear of eternal banishment to the naughty list. A Trace Elliot AH300 GP12 with 15" and 2x10" cabinets. It is sat in the corner of my practice room under a sheet and with just the occasional creak of the floor joists settling.

I found some purchase paperwork and everything was bought in January 2002, which might narrow it down. There was also a carbon copy of a TE customer survey and in "suggestions for improvements" the buyer has written "switch for light fascia light" so it seems likely it's not working because it is disconnected. I'll take it to my electronics expert friend for a look-see inside.