ThomBassmonkey

[quote name='Killstarz' post='745940' date='Feb 15 2010, 03:14 PM']Is it wrong to just improvise 90% of this song, as i do, every gig we play? should i learn every one of fleas fills (improvs) note for note?[/quote] It's what Flea does, so if anyone questions it, you just tell them "I copy what Flea does exactly"

Had a GK 700RB-II for less than a fortnight and the 210RBH cab should be here in a few days. Streamer or Corvette $$ (need to find somewhere that has both in stock in the midlands.) 5 or 6 string (depending on if I actually start using the c on my ibanez) Hopefully that'll be sorted in the summer.

[quote name='gjones' post='745387' date='Feb 14 2010, 11:21 PM']From my experience of talking to professional sound engineers, is they love bands that don't have a loud backline. It causes feedback by being picked up by onstage mics - which means the vocals and acoustic instruments can't be turned up and end up lost in the mix.[/quote] It's not just the feedback, it's that a sound engineer's main job is to control the levels, it's impossible to do that if you can't turn down an instrument because the amp's up so loud that even with the channel muted it's overpowering. I've been pretty lucky with guitarists in my bands but I've played with some real twits of bands at gigs. They come along with their 100w marshall stack then moan because they can't crank it to get the tone. Most haven't even heard of an attenuator. One guitarist in one of my bands had a TSL100 but at least he realise he couldn't crank it. It didn't sound great but it kept engineers happy.

Still not completely sure I agree with the PA thing, if the drums aren't going through the PA then all you need to compete with is the drums and that doesn't change wherever you are. I see the point of those talking about PAs that sound awful or that have bad monitoring though. It only really makes sense for much bigger venues though as the smaller venues (not pub floor style, the smaller dedicated venues) are usually (but not always) big enough that 300w is enough. Very interesting discussion though. I know it all comes down to headroom, I guess it just varies depending on peoples' mixes amongst other things.

[quote name='deaver' post='745050' date='Feb 14 2010, 06:01 PM']Burns Flyte through a WEM Dominator MkII. Somewhere I've got the photos to prove it, when I can dig them out I'll put them up here.[/quote] Something I've never been able to work out, are the dommies guitar or bass amps? I have a mkIII I'm trying to flog and I've always used it as a guitar amp, but I've wondered if they started off life as a bass amp and went through the same transition as some Fenders. It's cool looking back over the gear from yesteryear. Lots of people seem to be starting out on Peaveys and Carlsbros. I'm sure people talking in a similar thread in 20 years would all be talking about their old Ashdowns they wished they never sold hehe.

[quote name='macmellus' post='744963' date='Feb 14 2010, 04:54 PM']Don't really want to get bogged down here, but my example was for right hand technique, not left. Also your exercise isn't very clear. What do you mean by 'as intervals' and 'higher up the fret'? Are you only using one string? Either way, whether on one or two strings I'm not using all my fingers. What is the actual sequence of notes? Also, what do you mean by 'wrong fingers'?[/quote] Ah ok sorry, I thought you were talking about left hand and I meant fretboard (just missed off the board). I'm basically talking about the first four notes of a minor (in the example) and major scales. So the example in C would be: [code]------------- -------3----- -3-5-6---6-5- -------------[/code] repeated. It's an easy enough riff for people to learn and start to get a bit faster but after a certain point you need to use first, ring and little finger or it's impossible to reach from the D# to the F smoothly. Hope that explains it a bit better.

[quote name='dumelow' post='744913' date='Feb 14 2010, 04:07 PM']why isnt flea on the video for this? [/quote] That's not the version that had Flea playing on it. It's on Jagged Little Pill and there's two versions, that one and the one in this video (apologies, it's someone playing guitar hero but it has the right bassline for a reference.)

Just started another thread on this without looking. My bad. Anyway, I'll post here what I posted there (in response to the other thread). Macmellus, generally I just teach fingering using scales. Students get a lashing if they use the wrong fingers. wink.gif I'll have a play with your suggestion next time I'm on my bass though and see how it feels. Another one I use (for both hands) is (as intervals, I start off higher up the fret[board]) 1, 2, minor 3, 4 and back down (so for example C, D, D#, F, D#, D, C.) Then play about with speed, get them doing it fast enough (once they've got it slowly of course) and there's no real option than use all four fingers because of the jump up from D to F. Same thing with the major scale, 1st to 4th and they have to use 4th finger to 1st for the movement from 2nd to 3rd. Faithless, good point. It's something that a LOT of people do because they think Blink-182 (and other bands) are doing it right. It may not look as cool, but at least you don't have to stop playing after 15 minutes because you have RSI. Plus the extra reach definitely helps. Another thing I see a lot in relation to positioning is elbows stuck into the sides when sat down. __ endorka, are you talking about reach or strength? Both can be problems in terms of 1fpf but a strength issue can be resolved with enough (gentle) practice IME. If the problems stretching then generally some improvement can be made but it's far more limiting depending on (as you say) how the player's hand is built.

Doh sorry, didn't see that somehow.

Cont. from [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=77217"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=77217[/url] Macmellus, generally I just teach fingering using scales. Students get a lashing if they use the wrong fingers. I'll have a play with your suggestion next time I'm on my bass though and see how it feels. Another one I use (for both hands) is (as intervals, I start off higher up the fret) 1, 2, minor 3, 4 and back down (so for example C, D, D#, F, D#, D, C.) Then play about with speed, get them doing it fast enough (once they've got it slowly of course) and there's no real option than use all four fingers because of the jump up from D to F. Same thing with the major scale, 1st to 4th and they have to use 4th finger to 1st for the movement from 2nd to 3rd. Faithless, good point. It's something that a LOT of people do because they think Blink-182 (and other bands) are doing it right. It may not look as cool, but at least you don't have to stop playing after 15 minutes because you have RSI. Plus the extra reach definitely helps. Another thing I see a lot in relation to positioning is elbows stuck into the sides when sat down.

I'm probably going to be selling my first proper giggable amp over the next couple of months so it's made me all nostalgic because I've had it for so long, I thought it could be interested to find out what other people first gigged with. Could be interesting to see what people use now for some comparison of how your tone started and how it is now. My first decent upgrade was my Ibanez BTB406 into a Carlsbro Bassline 80 combo. Upgraded to a Bassline 150 shortly after since the 80 just wasn't powerful enough for practices (and obviously not in that case for gigs), had that 150 for close to 9 years though and it only let me down once (in a practice fortunately). Currently just upgraded to a GK rig (700RB + 210RBH) and the same BTB406, but will over the next couple of months probably be getting a Warwick or MM (still not decided yet, it could be something completely different).

I suspected the biggest factor is appearance. Don't get me wrong, if I was an endorsee, first thing I'd want is a huge 1,000,000w head with 300 8x10s lined up behind me, I can't quite afford that at the moment though. I'm talking mainly about amateur musicians that only (regularly) gig up to medium sized venues with no endorsements. [quote name='chris_b' post='744741' date='Feb 14 2010, 01:14 PM']A 2x10 is OK but more speakers generally sound better at the same volume because more speakers move more air and, in my opinion, that improves your tone.[/quote] I've heard that and it's believable as more air would be moving rather than less air moving more. My point is more that any gig with a PA will either be DI'd (in which case your cab counts for squat anyway apart from on stage) or you'll be mic'd up (unlikely to be more than one mic, though I'm interested what to do with a tweeter since I'm going to be using a bi-amp from GK but I suspect the answer is: ignore it). Surely with a DI or mic, a 350w ABC head through a 2x10 XYZ cab would sound just as good as a 700w ABC head through an 8x10 XYZ cab out front. Like I said, this debate isn't about amps that struggle with headroom because obviously a more powerful amp is needed if your amp's having problems keeping up.

I play original songs up to several hundred people at a time too (and sometimes empty rooms, doh!) and being loud is a great advantage, but that's what the PA's there for. Surely there's got to be some reason beyond "LOUD BASSES ARE BEST!", I mean we all know that's true ( ), but there must be some reason why people are spending hundreds of pounds more than they need when the PA can make you louder than you need to be anyway.

As a bass and guitar teacher, I always try and encourage my students to use one finger per fret when they're doing exercises. If you can do it, it's the single best way to fret since with arpeggios and simple scales it's rare that you need to move outside a four fret range. With that said, no one's saying that you still have to hold down the first fret with your first finger while you're fretting with your little finger. Just that if you use all your fingers, it means a) you can be quicker on going backwards and forwards because you don't need to worry so much about moving your whole hand by up to four frets quickly between notes and it also builds up strength in all of your fingers giving you more options even when you're not using one finger per fret. Plus by practising one finger per fret (even while you're still moving your hand a bit) over time you'll be able to reach further confidently which is always a good thing. Sorry, I'll stop aiding with the thread hijack now.

Just replied to the thread about the GK1001RB+410RBH and I thought I'd start a new thread based on my reply in there. Basically I'm (shortly going to be) running a 700RB though a 210RBH, I personally can't see any advantage to having more watts and more speakers. The only apparent (looks aside) difference to me is volume and since any stage that can warrant having a big bass stack should have a PA that can handle having the bass put through it (whether mic'd or DI'd) I just don't get it. I see the same thing with guitars, people show up to small pub gigs with full Marshall stacks then sound awful because they have their amps on 2 and can't drive the valves or risk making the sound tech's job hard. Obviously SS bass amps don't suffer from not pushing the valves, but I still don't understand why people would fork out several times the amount of money for a huge amp when there just doesn't seem to be any point apart from to annoy sound techs. Is it just a case of "bigger is better"? Obviously this doesn't apply to smaller amps that don't have enough headroom to comfortably compete with drums/guitarists etc. It's more about things like the GK where there's a 320w-8ohm/480w-4ohm which should be loud enough for pretty much anywhere where there won't be a PA to run through up to 2001RB that gives 1080w-4ohm (though I can appreciate the 2001RB has more features, I'm talking specifically about the people who buy them for the higher power).

I own a GK 700RB-II and I'm waiting on an order for the 210RBH. To be brutally honest, I don't really see the point of having massive bass stacks (or guitar stacks for that reason). By the time you're playing stages big enough to warrant 700w amps, they should have a good enough PA that the power section of your amp is basically irrelevant as you'll either be DI'd or mic'd up. In either case, how many cabs you have and what volume they're pushing out (obviously as long as it's enough to drown out background noise, which won't be a problem with any GK) won't affect your sound at all. It could potentially even cause problems for the soundman if you're too loud. For a GK 700RB and a 210RBH you're looking at under £1000, which, for the same sound as a 1001RB and 410RBH, is a much better deal IMO.

Move your finger a tiny bit to the right or left? You could try getting a thin bit of plastic and taping it to the side of the pickup, then you could still access the screw without even taking it off.

Reading the OP's posts again, I think it's probably a good idea not to get an amp for a while actually. If you have no chance of playing with a band, is there any reason why you really need one? At the budget you're looking for (being honest) you're not going to end up with a very good amp that can do the job well. That and a bigger amp (obviously) is louder and takes up more room. People use bigger amps because they're needed at practices and gigs. At home I still usually use a little 10w Kustom combo because it's way less hassle than a big amp and it still sounds fine. You're better off saving up while you're doing your GCSEs then when they're finished you can reward yourself with a new amp and hopefully get in a band with it. Trust me, 6 months down the line when you're auditioning for a band, you're going to be kicking yourself when you realise that the 80w combo you bought on a very tight budget isn't loud enough and you could've chucked in another couple of hundred and got a fairly nice combo.

Can someone explain exactly what ground lift is on a head and whether or not it's worth using (or the criteria on which it should be decided if it varies). I assume it removes the head from the PA's ground which can cause/eliminate (don't know which way around it would be) hiss but it'd be useful to know because I've never had the option on an amp when I was at college in the studio. I'm just guessing though so I may be very wide of the mark.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='744323' date='Feb 13 2010, 09:07 PM']nyer [/quote] I'm terrified of my 210 turning up, I'll probably have it in pieces before it's even turned on. Hopefully the GK 4 pin speakons are pretty self explanatory. hehe

I'd rest it personally. If you have to play, try a plaster, it should move the pressure across a bigger area on your finger. It'll make your finger slippier though so you might not be as tight for a while. Best bet is probably to leave it for a bit, you're better off being slightly under-rehearsed at a gig than still having an infection in your finger because you've been pushing too hard.

Look at Ibanez, I have a BTB406QM and I can't see any reason why I'd ever want to upgrade. Only cost around £500 for the equivalent that's around now too and some beautiful woods.

[quote name='chrisba' post='743274' date='Feb 12 2010, 04:38 PM']I can play with my eyes closed [snip] whilst reading War and Peace[/quote] That's pretty impressive. There's a couple of originals in one of my bands where the guitarist tunes to drop D then unleases some open riffing and I have to keep up with it on a 6 string bass (which I refuse to drop D when I have a B string). I'm ok when I'm relaxed (not quite up to recording standard, but if I was having trouble I'd just drop D for that. But tight enough to play live) but I always tense up because I'm afraid of flunking it. I've not made a complete mess yet, but it's definitely been looser then a very loose thing before.

From the sounds of it, I think the pattern with GAK is that their store is great but the online (and phone mail order) is pretty bad. Shame the shop's so far away from me, I'd like to have a good look around.