mr zed

I've never been a fan of Jazz but since my better half bought herself an alto sax and started to play some basic Jazz, she has had the desire to go down to the Big Smoke and experience Ronnie Scott's. Doesn't matter who's on, she just fancied the experience. Well, last week we found ourselves down in London for a couple of days and on Thursday we got to see The Mingus Big Band who were playing there all week. The evening started really well as it looked just as expected - like something out of a 1960's London gangland movie. We ordered food and the support came on - an outfit called the Mark Gorman Trio. The compare introduced the band "and on the Bass Guitar - Laurence Cottle". Hangon, did I just hear that right? Sure enough, there was the man himself playing a rather tasty TRB5P11. We were treated to 45 minutes of pure magic by 3 virtuoso musicians. The burger and chips (or what are known as 'fries' in London) weren't half bad neither. A quick stage change and Mingus were on. A 14 piece band who are based in New York and anchored by Boris Kozlov on double bass. This guy was just brilliant as were the whole band. If you ever get the opportunity......do it. So, as someone who has no interest in Jazz, I would say that anything done well live can be enjoyed by anyone who isn't blinkered to a specific genre. (On the Friday we went to see The Commitments on the West End and again the music was impeccable. Off to see the Stereophonics on 14th Nov in Manchester). Still not sure I could get on with Opera though!

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1382027163' post='2246895']

Me too! The horrors of renting...
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Ah........but when renting you have an excuse - when you've owned somewhere for around 10 years and you still have the carpet that was down when you moved in (which was already 10 years out of date) you've nowhere to hide :-)

[quote name='Donnyboy' timestamp='1382095686' post='2247823']
I generally just have a bit of a plonk about every now and again.
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This :-)

I've never even thought about this before. I expect a hardcase to be supplied with a bass costing around £1000+ new and have never been disappointed (USA Fenders, Musicman etc) however I would expect either no case or if i'm lucky a gigbag with a cheaper bass (mim Fender, Musicman Sub etc). Both my higher end basses came with cases and I bought a case for my mim jazz fretless. I wouldn't dream of not keeping any of my basses cased for protection and whenever I move them around (gig, rehearsal etc) they are always safely stored in their respective cases. I would never sell a case that a bass came with - It is part of the overall package. Having said all that, it can be a challenge to find a home for all the hardcases that my band have when we're out on a gig. I usually just take one bass along (I like to travel light) whilst our 2 guitarists have a total of 7 guitars between them on each gig - inc semi acoustics - all cased!

I've been researching wireless IEM's recently and am struggling to find a poor review of the LD Systems MEI 1000 out there in internet land. The system looks to be high spec for the money (around £250) and I know that I would need to change the earbuds for dual or triple driver plugs for the frequency response (ideally custom moulded for the best fit) but I would have to do this anyway with a more expensive system (Shure PSM900, Sennheiser EW300 G3 etc). I'm tending towards investing in the Sennheiser unit but just thought i'd ask if anyone had any experience with the LD Systems offering? I've ordered some custom moulded earplugs from ACS (Pro 17's) for rehearsals (we don't use our own PA) and intend to use wireless iem for gigs (I sing backing vocals as well as play bass and would really appreciate being able to hear myself properly). We play around 2 gigs per month so not heavy useage. So the question is: has anyone had any experience with the MEI 1000 either good or bad that they can share? Cheers all.

Never really got JE - The Who were always sort of 'just there' - can take 'em or leave 'em - and overshadowed by the likes of Led Zep. By Christ, that's all just changed since listening to this. Very inspirational stuff. Thanks to the OP for posting this.

[quote name='Johannes Oehl' timestamp='1380832606' post='2231393']
It sounds very punchy and clear... I will record something in the days to come.
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Yep - looks very clear so far.

I've never been able to access John's site from an iPad - no problem on a PC.

+1 for the Roland cube - very very impressive!

One bass, one combo - and happy as Larry when I first joined. Now 3 basses, 1 amp, 2 cabs and a practice amp. Even happier :-) Found 'my sound' and invested in some real quality gear - mainly thanks to advice picked up on here.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1379954273' post='2218695']


Learn how to set up a graphic to cut out feedback - you'll need a reasonalbe 31 band graphic to do this, but its worth it, you can get twice the vocal level, or half the chance of inadvertant feedback when this is set.
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Yep, this - and don't forget to ring out the system looking for problem feedback frequencies. There is a iPhone app that can help with this - a systems analyser. Get the system to feedback at volume, identify the frequency on the iPhone then pull the problem frequency down on the graphic. Works a treat. Or get a good quality feedback destroyer, we have 2 dbx's, one for the FOH, the other for the monitors.

Here's my EBMM 25th Anniversary HSS 4 string with a flame top and maple neck. These seem to be a real 'marmite' bass on here - some love 'em, some hate 'em. Personally, I think it's great

[URL=http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/zedsled/media/EBMM25TH037_zpse969144c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b560/zedsled/EBMM25TH037_zpse969144c.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1379839287' post='2217136']
You should get something usable out of that if your just putting vox through it, BUT, watch your volume, that's not a hugely powerful vocal PA and if you have a thousand watt head and an 8 x 10 and the guitarist has a Marshall stack and neither of you know the volume knob goes both ways, your screwed.

Yamaha are currently running a PA roadshow, don't know where the other dates are but you should be able to find them online, I went to the one at PMT Manchester, it was basic but I dragged my singer rhythm guitarist along and now he understands gain , so was well worth it just for that. If it's anywhere near you it would be a good place for you to start and it was free,

Les
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I also went to this in Manchester - as Les says it was basic but a great starting point if you've never been involved with live sound before. They were also giving away an instructional DVD on the night. Also the chance to win a couple of the new Yamaha powered tops which sounded pretty good.

There is a cracking little book called Basic Live Sound by Paul White that is cheap and is a great read for anyone starting off. Highly recommended.

Have fun with it.

I use the slipmat stuff that is similar to the Maplins offering but got it from B&M bargains for 79p for a massive roll. It's bright green but then so is the logo on my bergs so looks intentional rather than me being a tight-fisted git!

[quote name='Matt P' timestamp='1378829739' post='2205254']
with the exception of the last acoustic guitar i bought which actually came into the house because it's owner was going to Africa for a year and didn't want it going into storage, when they got back i was so enthusiastic about how nice it was that they offered to sell it to me as they were moving to africa long term!

[/quote] Yeah, yeah - we've heard that one before (see yepmop's post earlier) These are bass players you're talking to! You can see from the above what a devious bunch we are so we're not falling for it!

I sometimes have to count out load so that our guitarists know when to come in. Tossers!

Fantastic - and many happy returns. I played trombone from the age of 7 to 15. I wanted one before I was 7 but my arms weren't long enough so I was playing a cornet from 4 to 7. I was involved in youth concert bands that took me to Jersey and Germany and the school band. Happy times. I gave it up to concentrate on bass guitar coz Deep Purple didn't play trombones. Enjoy!

Give 'em a good whippin' if they don't do at least a hour a day! Worked for me and I turned out alright. Now, where did I put me tablets?

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1378465464' post='2200667']

I've also known a lot of people with off-road bikes as well (although not all of them actually get off Tarmac all that often).

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There are a few GS riders around here whose idea of going off-road is mounting the kerb!

By email - I did this with a £9000 motorbike once. Mrs Zed & I still laugh about it now - her in the house that I used to own and still pay for and me in the bedsit that I currently rent.

[quote name='permafunk' timestamp='1378473311' post='2200838']
I need a guitar
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[quote name='badboy1984' timestamp='1378409626' post='2199974']


It was you trying all the small combo in the Salford PMT. I went their today and saw all the small combo were put in place together.

I tried the vox, orange, peavey and ampeg.

Hate the sound of the vox, the peavey is too quiet in my opinion but tone is ok (can't expect much from a 15watt).

The orange sound ok and pretty loud but lack of low end in my opinion.

I ended up buying the Ampeg BA108 because it have that ampeg sound and it sounded very loud and good low end for a 25watt 8" combo.

I'm a happy Ampeg owner now
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Yep, that was me. I had a small combo shoot out against the bass wall. I should have tided up after myself when I had finished. Agree with everything you have said - the little vox looks great and sounded better than it should for the price and the 5" speakers but it was boxey. Didn't try the Peavey. The Orange was loud but lacked a bit of bottom end. The Ampeg sounded great and I nearly went for this myself - more bottom end than the Orange probably down to the cab size being slightly bigger and it is ported. A nice full sound. Congrats on your new combo.

Just returned from PMT in Salford. Tried the Vox Pathfinder 10, Ampeg BA 108, Orange Crush PiX CR25BX and the Roland Bass Cube 20xl. All really nice combos and the staff there really couldn't have been more helpful. Ended up going for the Cube (thanks MoonBassAlpha) as to my ears it had the best sound. No sign of any distortion at all volume levels, plenty loud enough for what I want it for, great build quality and the built in tuner and power squeezer are useful additions. The range of tones from this little thing is breath-taking. Best of all, I was able to get an exact replication of 'my sound' that I get from my gigging/full band rehearsal rig (GB STL9.0 & Berg 2x10's) straight away - just at a much reduced volume level. I have heard that Roland designed this as a bespoke bass practice amp from the ground up and put lots of thought into it rather than downscaling an existing amp range and I think that shows. PMT even price-matched Reidy's price of £145. Bit of a bargain me thinks. Happy Bunny

To the OP - I'm in the same boat as you. I'm on the lookout for a small combo for home practicing that is small enough to take up minimal room, has a good tone, is lightweight and quiet enough so as not to disturb the family/neighbours. Got headphones but hate using them. I would also need it to be loud enough to be heard when doing quiet rehearsals with other band members at their homes (the vocals/acoustic guitars are the loudest things there - the drummer only comes to full rehearsals for which I use my main amp/cab set-up. Not tried any out yet but my shortlist is the Ampeg BA108, the Orange Crush 25 watt jobbie, Roland Bass Cube,20xl, EBS Session 30. I prefer the amp to be mounted top & rear. I really like the look of the Roland - build quality looks rock solid but there are a lot of bells and whistles that I wouldn't use. I'll know more when I've tried them out for volume (both high & low) and tone. Any thoughts from anyone? Have I missed anything?