Conan

The Assembly is a top venue. Shame it's so far away from me! Sounds like a great gig!

Interesting comments guys. Thanks. I still have no idea what I should be looking at!! I have this audition on thursday where I need something to beef up the tone for two tracks - Chilis 'By the way' and Muse's 'Hysteria'. As I have no idea whether I will get the gig I don't want to actually buy a pedal, so I borrowed one from the school's music department! Skinflint? Me? Anyway, I gave it a bit of a tryout last night, and to my ears it does a reasonable job on Hysteria. Good enough for an audition anyway. If I get the gig I will consider further investment! The pedal in question? Now, don't laugh.... A Behringer UM300! Not even a bass distortion box! These things retail at around £20 brand new FFS!! Maybe my ears aren't as discerning as I thought/hoped!

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1143833' date='Feb 27 2011, 08:59 PM']I generally pick the tone for the band, as in whatever I think the band needs, so "my" tone changes depending on which band I`m with.[/quote] Mine even varies from one track to the next! Especially if it is covers. For example, I have an audition on thursday where I have been asked to play three tracks, each of which demands (to me anyway) a totally different sound... Hard to Handle - Black Crowes. Pretty much flat EQ with the neck pick-up selected. Slight boost in the midrange. Hysteria - Muse. More bass and treble, with a slight mid-scoop. Distortion! Gentler touch to get the speed, so higher volume. By the way - RHCP. Slight cut on the treble, slight mid-boost, bass about flat. Aggressive fingerstyle. And that's just for three tracks!!

Is the effect noticeable when the bass is played acoustically? If not, could your EQ be part of the problem? When I used Trace amps, I found that I could alter the 'volume' of individual strings by cutting or boosting certain frequencies.... If your amp and/or cab have a certain voicing, they could be accentuating some of the strings and attenuating others. Possibly!

Rounds all the way for me. Never played a set of flats that I liked. But then again, I haven't really tried very hard!

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='1141026' date='Feb 25 2011, 11:55 AM']IMO the fundamental problem for anyone trying to make a living from (or just get paid for) playing, is that what you do for money other people do as a hobby and are prepared to do it for peanuts. I can't think of many other professions where that is the case (Whoring perhaps?).[/quote] There are other examples. Are parents who teach their children to drive removing revenue from driving instructors? Graduates who donate their time to educate children. Are they depriving teachers of a living? Anglers who catch a few cod and such like on a saturday afternoon's charter trip with their mates and sell the fish to their neighbours - are they short-changing professional fishermen? I could go on.... It's complicated.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1136799' date='Feb 22 2011, 10:08 AM']I think it is part of the Big Society thing. We should all stop being paid and do it for free for the welfare and well being of our communities.[/quote] I'm cool with that. As long as the bakers decide to donate some of their produce in my direction. And the brewers. In fact,[i] especially[/i] the brewers! Also maybe the council (if such a thing will still exist under the "Big Society". Maybe they will come and repair the great yawning chasms in my street and route to work (sorry - I mean pot-holes, of course) free of charge? Not likely, is it? But as long as playing music is seen as a hobby, there will be a tacit expectation that musicians will play for free and enjoy it. Me? I'm happy to play for free and enjoy it. Sometimes. I love playing bass. I love playing in front of a large, appreciative audience as part of a good, tight band; playing interesting material. If all of that comes together, then I would be happy to come out at the end of the night even. NOTE - that does not mean 'out of pocket to the extent of petrol, 'refreshments' and wear and tear on my gear'. That means that all of those expenses have been covered but that I as an individual have not received any financial recompense in lieu of my time and efforts. After all, those of us who work full or part-time in another field... do we declare our band earnings to HMRC? Until we do, maybe we should be careful about shouting too loud about who should and should not be paid! Just my thoughts on the matter!

[quote name='robocorpse' post='1135580' date='Feb 21 2011, 03:10 PM']Grit = a touch of growly grindy stuff, think Geddy Lee. Overdrive = starts at "grit" and goes up to "fairly raucous" Distortion = Bees having a fight in a discarded Stella can, difficult to use convincingly on bass. Fuzz = Breaking the signal up to the point of degeneration and gappiness by excessive overdrive.[/quote] Aha! Brilliant! You beat me to it. That's really helpful, thanks. At what level would you put Chris Wolstenholm's overdriven tone on, say, Hysteria?

Thanks for the above! I'm still a bit confused as to what people mean when they talk about "grit". Is it simply a mildly overdriven tone? And by that definition, would "fuzz" mean so much distortion that the individual notes are difficult to discern? Sorry for the obvious, silly questions - but I am really new to this type of bass sound. I've always gone for loud but clean in the past...

[quote name='willyf87' post='1135561' date='Feb 21 2011, 02:54 PM']I currently use an EHX graphic fuzz for overdrive and EHX bass blogger for a more gritty sound. Both work well for what I need.[/quote] What exactly is the difference between overdrive and grit?

I am looking at joining a new covers band. There are a few in the area that sound interesting, but a lot of them plays songs where the bass features some sort of gritty, grungey or overdriven sound. My backline set-up is very powerful, but very clean. The LH500 only has a volume control, not separate gain and master level controls - so overdriving it is not feasible. So the question is, which pedal should I be looking at? I don't want to spend too much and am happy to buy second-hand. Recommendations please?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1128796' date='Feb 15 2011, 07:52 PM']"Please be careful when exiting the elevator and why not enjoy a visit to the cafe on floor nine" [/quote] Ah yes. I remember my old eighties compilation CD "Otis Nights - The very best of uplifting elevator music"

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='1128776' date='Feb 15 2011, 07:30 PM']how about this! [/quote] Yeah, he can slap OK - but clearly the width of the neck and the extra string slows him down. He plays much faster than that on a four string P bass...

[quote name='chris_b' post='1128777' date='Feb 15 2011, 07:31 PM']I don't know about the other but I thought Herbie Flowers played on Everlasting Love.[/quote] Really? That may explain why I like it so much then!

Two of my favourite all-time bass lines/sounds come from this era/style: Everlasting Love - The Love Affair Little Green Bag - George Baker Selection Lovely stuff. No idea who played them or on what though! I know that I use a lot of palm-muting when I try to play them...

Dunno about all this technical stuff... But I do know that I just like the way the LH500 sounds. Nice and simple. Clean. Powerful. LOUD!! OK, not as much tone-shaping (or 'fiddling') ability as other amps - but that in itself can be a bonus if you just want to turn up, plug in and go. I've never noticed the fan in mine - so it can't be that loud? Oh, and did I mention how loud they are? (The amps that is, not the fans)

Lots of people slap on sixes. You just need to be a bit more accurate. Some sixes are very tight for spacing and others have plenty of room - but fingerboards like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier! Try a few and see what you like!

Depends on the quality of the instrument. From my own experience with Status, the incredible stability of tuning and sustain - but I guess a lot of that is to do with the carbon fibre construction too. Balance is perfect. It just hangs exactly where you want it. I'm not that bothered about the looks to be honest, and you have to put up with a lot of stick when you play a Status headless in a pub blues band!

[quote name='PVTele' post='1128153' date='Feb 15 2011, 11:31 AM']TC Electronic?[/quote] Seems to be quite a few of [i]them[/i] getting offloaded at the moment too!

1st bass Fender Musicmaster Go to bass Status series II My bass Status series II