ThomBassmonkey

It's worth remembering that when you're young and playing music, you're being compared to other young people. As soon as you leave school and get into your 20s, that comes to a rather sudden stop. I can tell you myself, I've taught young kids (under 10) that are brilliant, but if an 18 year old was playing like that, I wouldn't rate them. Until you have the grades, then being equivalent is hazy at best, I've been told (by people in the know) that I'd be able to get grade 8 bass with a bit of brushing up, but I'm sure that's not true. People tend to get a bit excited when they see some raw talent (as yours will be after playing for a year at the age of 15) and blurt stuff out that is exaggurated. I don't want to be negative, but if you keep sky high, the fall's gonna hurt when you're going for the same jobs as people who've been playing bass professionally for 20 years.

[quote name='gary mac' post='1064815' date='Dec 20 2010, 05:21 PM']I know this will sound like a narrow minded, ill thought out reply but to me the bass guitar is a four stringed instrument.[/quote] Really a bass guitar should be a 6 stringed instrument as it's a guitar in the bass register. I use 5 strings, I wish I could get by with 4 as there's a lot of basses that appeal to me that aren't available in 5s, but it'd mean swapping basses every song or two and re-writing certain parts which isn't something I'm happy doing when I have 5 strings I enjoy.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1064244' date='Dec 20 2010, 07:05 AM']If this were the optimum arrangement for the system they'd probably be making them like that.[/quote] They do actually make shorter scale basses, the super J is 33-35". [url="http://www.dingwallguitars.com/basses/super-j-series/super-j-standard/"]http://www.dingwallguitars.com/basses/supe...per-j-standard/[/url] I'd love one of these as I riff around a bit on the B and the combustion I tried was a bit of a stretch, I just can't justify the price at the moment.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1064222' date='Dec 20 2010, 01:33 AM'][size=7][b]OMG!!![/b][/size][/quote] Judging from the last page or two, peaking with this post, clearly a good conversation's gone out of the window and this is destined to join the recent trend of "one man against the world" threads. I'm gonna duck out before I end up falling into it's trap.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1064217' date='Dec 20 2010, 01:21 AM']I don't see it like that, I see it more as a range of tonal qualities or characteristics it might have rather than a number of discrete 'different' sounds. These may be unique or shared with other brands of bass. There are also the influences of technique, setup, string type, etc. that influence this, causing one person to sound quite different to another on the asame instrument.[/quote] I'd agree with this. Basses and amps can sound like thousands of things, but when you build a tone, you start with your fingers, then through the bass, then you build it up from there with FX and amp. However you EQ your amp, you're always building on the tone of that bass and your picking style. Yes, you can disguise it or make other things sound like it, but it'll always naturally sound like what it is. Personally I like leaving my gear sounding as natural as I can because of that reason. I like the sound of my equipment and to try and drastically change it would mean that I'm just not happy with the gear I have and I'd replace it. I tweak the EQ on my amp and sometimes on my bass (though I often run them in passive mode with the tone flat) but it's only tweaks, nothing's maxed or mined.

When you say "I will sound like me", do you mean that if you hit a single note, it'll always sound the same if it's you playing it? That's the difference between tone and style. Obviously right hand technique comes into it such as where and how hard you hit the string, but anything you do with your left hand doesn't really affect your tone. I think I'd sound very different using one of my basses through my rig than if I used a Musicman through a Genz rig (for example). It'd probably still be recognisable as my playing (by those who know it) from what I play, but the tone would be very different. The holy triad of tone for me is definition, fatness and focus. If I feel like my bass sounds muddy, isn't thickening the band's sound or is thickening up the sound too much and interfering with everything else, I can't enjoy playing because it just feels to me like it's a mess instead of a part of a group effort to produce music. I've (so far) not found many, if any, basses that can completely ruin the sound for me. There's plenty of amps I've used (for various reasons) that I just don't feel get the job done in a way that makes me happy. I'm fotunate to be endorsed by an amp brand that make amps that do all 3 of those things perfectly though and fortunate enough to have a couple of basses I enjoy playing so it's not an issue. But it's only not an issue because I have the gear that sounds like I want it to sound. I'm also lucky that at one of the venues we play a lot (The Old Bell in Derby) the soundguy there loves our music and isn't afraid to tell us what he thinks we need to do to improve our sound. I've been switching gear about recently and always ask his opinion on EQing and my general sound.

Tone doesn't just affect how you sound on your own, but how you fit in with the rest of the band. Certain gear might sound great on it's own but not cut through in a mix.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1063448' date='Dec 19 2010, 12:36 PM']Just to add the confusion really starts with the Sterling model and the Sterling series basses especially a Sterling-Sterling if they ever make one [/quote] Isn't that what the SB 14 is?

I have some posh stuff now so thought I'd show off a bit here! My "big gig rig", Gallien Krueger 2001RB-II and two 410RBH cabs. Old pic before I updated the post (for context to Hillbilly deluxe's post below The Warwick's moved on now though.

I've got a gig at the Old Bell in Derby. It's pretty easy from here though, I take the A52 straight into city centre.

I've always found that straps are either relatively short and suede or long and canvas, does anyone know of any long(I'm quite a big guy, so the longer the better) suede straps? I have a couple of levi's ones that are brilliant for gripping and I have a seatbelt strap that's a good length but slips, very annoying to never see any good grippy ones made from good fabric. Alternatively, anyone got any hints on how to lengthen the suede ones without the strap coming over my shoulder totally? Thanks

Until I got my new head I didn't use any, now I use the distortion on the head to thicken up the sound during guitar solos or heavy sections.

[quote name='dbass' post='1062268' date='Dec 18 2010, 09:29 AM']You did Thom, Also - What was the Sandy like at the gig mate??[/quote] Battery died. 2 second fix though and it sounded awesome, really good player and I know I made the right choice. Can't wait to hear it tonight at the Bell.

Prices are odd, there seems to be various budgets that all have their own criteria for what makes them good. People talk about the current runs of Squiers being as good as their £1000+ bass, but I bet if the Squier's RRP was £1200, no one would buy them (even re-branded so they don't have the Squier stigma). It's just a fact that basses made with a £400 price tag can easily have the QC to make them fine players, that doesn't make them "as good" as pricier instruments. I play Warwick and Sandberg, I could've saved myself a fortune by just getting a Rockbass and Squier Deluxe Jazz 5. I could've bought them new for a fraction of the price and ended up with nearly identical basses. I think I made the right choice.

One thing I don't understand about Dingwalls is that the whole design is based around that low B (which it does superbly, I almost ended up with one myself recently) but it seems a bit of a waste on 4 strings. What's the scale length with the 4 strings and are there any advantages other than the natural wrist rotation (which, with all due respect, seems a bit wasted on a narrower 4 string neck)? Lovely basses and I'd love to own a super J 5 someday.

If you're sure you want it fretless, I don't see why not. Don't be fooled into thinking that a pair of pliers and some elbow grease is all you need though, you can easily damage the fretboard. They can be put back too if you don't want it fretless. Neither job is easy or risk-free, I wouldn't bother unless you're 100% sure you want it doing and if you're that sure, I'd get it done professionally.

[quote name='ezbass' post='1059724' date='Dec 15 2010, 04:53 PM']And?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Well come on, spill.[/quote] If that was a reply to my post specifically, I have my JJ5, it's lurvely. Gonna give it a good gigging tonight and hopefully take some family photos with both my main basses and my amp at the venue when it's all out and set up. chilievans, I hope yours shows up soon, bloody mail. You'd think that after a week or two of the same weather, they'd realise if stuff was gonna be delayed.

I recently picked up a Sandbeg JJ5 from Ash on here and it's lovely, not seen anything bad said about them so they're worth checking out. Also love my Thumb 5, of course.

If something gives 250w at 8 Ohms, the theory is that it should give 500w at 4 Ohms, but since they're not 100% efficient, it's actually less. Most amps work from the 4 Ohm figure though, so if it's 500w at 4 Ohms, it's more likely to be around the 325w mark at 8 Ohms. If you have two 8 Ohm cabs, they'll get roughly 250w each, but if you just use one 8 Ohm cab, it'll be more.

[quote name='DaveB' post='1059741' date='Dec 15 2010, 05:05 PM']Don't blame you mate! Sounds like a shoddy guitar player, nothing annoys me more than guitarist who use a capo for strumming open chords, learn your CAGED system and play it properly, i'm a bass player and even i can do that on guitar![/quote] Not quite what I mean, it's even worse. He was capo'd at the first fret, so he should've played an E shape, meaning it was an F chord, but instead he just played the E shape in the usual place, so an E chord. Meanwhile the bassist was still on F.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showuser=12249"]ash[/url] Bought a Sandberg off him today, the bass is exactly as advertised and he was a lovely bloke too. No problems at all, apart from he had to shoo me out so he could get himself sorted for an afternoon's work.

Done a few deals on here now, but haven't got around to starting a thread about it, so since I've just done another, I thought I'd stick it up here and see what people have to say.

My band "supported" (it was a kid's gig that we somehow got roped into playing) a band on Saturday that was interesting. The guitarist broke his capo on stage when he was trying to get it on, then for the next two songs played the open chords instead of capo'd at the first fret. Meanwhile the bassist was happily chugging along a semi-tone up from him on every note. I felt like slapping them and I wasn't even in the band.

The only sigs I've ever fancied are a Lakland JO5 and Fender MM5. Nothing to do with the names though, I've only just looked up who Joe Osborn is. I don't think I've ever wanted to sound or look like someone enough to buy gear on the strength that they use it.

From start to finish, basses marked with an asterisk, I've moved on: Washburn XB100 Ibanez BTB406QM Brice HXB406* Warwick Thumb BO5 BC Rich Heriatage* Maverick X5 Dave Pybus* On Wednesday hopefully I'll be picking up a Sandberg JJ5. A bit dull and short compared to some peoples', but I'm a man on a budget and they do me.