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Where is all the decent gear ?


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[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='1332010' date='Aug 8 2011, 01:23 PM']....In your average pub gig playing Summer of 69 and Mustang Sally a 3 grand Ken Smith or suchlike will sound rubbish. A boring old Precision / Jazz / Stingray looks the part and sounds the part. I watched my way through a lot of the T in the Park repeats over the last few weeks and I can't remember a single player (and for most of them it's their day job) who wasn't playing a Fender... usually through an Ampeg or, just maybe, an Ashdown.

Real musicians don't play fancy gear....[/quote]
Good grief!!

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[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='1332010' date='Aug 8 2011, 01:23 PM']I watched my way through a lot of the T in the Park repeats over the last few weeks and I can't remember a single player (and for most of them it's their day job) who wasn't playing a Fender... usually through an Ampeg or, just maybe, an Ashdown.

Real musicians don't play fancy gear :)[/quote]


Valid point about open air venues with multiple bands playing the same stage.
Not sure but is the backline hired rather than individuals bringing their own backline. ?
Most musicians can adapt and use whatever is available provided it is of a reasonable standard.

To my knowledge (and it is limited) when this type of venue contacted you they would tell you what they had arranged for backline up to that point and would that be suitable for the band.
On some occasions a list was made from the bands requests and a compromise was made as to what and who used what gear.

Most bassists would bring their own bass though so no getting away from the fact Fenders were more popular.

Cheers
Dave
:)

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[quote name='dmccombe7' post='1332226' date='Aug 8 2011, 03:29 PM']Valid point about open air venues with multiple bands playing the same stage.
Not sure but is the backline hired rather than individuals bringing their own backline. ?
Most musicians can adapt and use whatever is available provided it is of a reasonable standard.

To my knowledge (and it is limited) when this type of venue contacted you they would tell you what they had arranged for backline up to that point and would that be suitable for the band.
On some occasions a list was made from the bands requests and a compromise was made as to what and who used what gear.

Most bassists would bring their own bass though so no getting away from the fact Fenders were more popular.

Cheers
Dave
:)[/quote]

I have no idea what the situation is. I would have thought the bigger bands would use all their own gear, but I don't know. I was just amazed - I sat through band after band after band and it was Fender, Fender, Fender. I don't think I even spotted one of the "usual suspect" copies amongst them. I have a theory it's down to the record company marketing department - "you don't look like a proper bass player unless you have floppy hair and a battered Fender jazz!!" :)

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I just don't get this gear thing. A bass is a bass. If I turn up and the bass player has a Fender I don't give a rat's a***. If he has a Ken Smith I may think 'ugly f****** bass' but I still don't give a rat's a***. Its the music that matters.

I once went to see a jazz gig at the South Bank Centre foyer (October 1987?) and whilst sat there waiting for the gig to start, noticed a guy in a thick spectacles, a tweed jacket and pyjama bottoms. He was carrying a mashed up guitar case which, when opened revealed an SG that looked like it had gone 10 round with Angus Young and lost. When the band started, turns out he was the leader. Massively creative gig; Billy Jenkin's Voice of God Collective. Intensely creative and brilliantly funny.

Listen with your ears. Your eyes will stitch you up something chronic :)

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='1332257' date='Aug 8 2011, 03:41 PM']I just don't get this gear thing. A bass is a bass. If I turn up and the bass player has a Fender I don't give a rat's a***. If he has a Ken Smith I may think 'ugly f****** bass' but I still don't give a rat's a***. [b]Its the music that matters.[/b][/quote]

Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you!

This is the problem with many gear-nuts, they think there are rules to what you can play and what you can't. There aren't. And to a large extent, the gear you'll end up using (whether it's a £10 bass or a £10,000 pound bass) will go by unnoticed both sonically and aesthetically.

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='1332257' date='Aug 8 2011, 03:41 PM']Listen with your ears. Your eyes will stitch you up something chronic :)[/quote]

So, so true! Don't some people call it the toilet test - what the band sounds like when you're in the pub toilet is what they really sound like - not what you think they sound like when you're in front watching them? I remember experiencing this once watching one of Suffolk's biggest self promoters - didn't realise why all the other muso's were so rude about him until he spectacularly failed the above test!!

Edited by Mykesbass
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[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='1332238' date='Aug 8 2011, 03:34 PM']I have a theory it's down to the record company marketing department - "you don't look like a proper bass player unless you have floppy hair and a battered Fender jazz!!" :)[/quote]
I think it's more to do with the majority of players aren't gear heads and Fender make good,solid,reliable
instruments.

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[quote name='jacko' post='1331363' date='Aug 7 2011, 08:46 PM']I'm in a pub / wedding covers band and I only ever play alembics :-)[/quote]

I had an Alembic Mark King signature which I used occassionally in a pub band. It would never have got stolen because of the weight....... which is why I only used it occassionally myself. I still play an assortment of my basses in my covers band from a '62 P Bass to a Yamaha BB2024x, along with my Thumb, Stingray and whatever else takes my fancy as I pack my gear into the car.

Edited by alanbass1
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I've played (in roughly reverse chronological order - new to old):

Stingrays (4 & 5 string), Fender USA Jazz, G&L L2000, Fender USA Precision, Warwick Thumb Thru Neck 5, Rickenbacker 4001s, Tobias Growler 5 and a few oddities (70's Jap Jazz copy, Samick Active 5 String, Hohner PJ Fretless, Aria Legend PJ)

all of them in covers band/indie band/blues band/church scenarios, they've all sounded like me (at least at the time) and as time has passed 'me' has developed along with the set-list and my abilities...

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[quote name='LiamPodmore' post='1323117' date='Aug 1 2011, 02:24 PM']Last gig i played there were Squier, Musicman, German Custom Warwick and MIA Fender basses, along with Behringer, Warwick, Ampeg and EBS amps. From the guitar side of things there was Gibson, Epiphone, Fender, ESP LTD, Dean, Mesa/Boogie, Marshall, Blackstar, Peavey, Orange and Randall.

Bare in mind none of these are realy boutique, except maybe the Warwick and Muiscman, but still quite high end for the most part.

Liam[/quote]
Not even Warwick and Musicman are boutique basses. Expensive doesn't mean boutique.... and mass produced is certainly the antithesis of boutique.

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I must admit i like to see a nice bass or a bass i don't usually get a chance to see especially at local venues.
However as Bilbo stated earlier i find that when analysing my viewing of a band I'm actually more interested in what the bass player sounds like. It doesn't really matter what bass he's playing. If it sounds good then job done.
I guess I've seen most types of bass being played in most types of music and therefore not one bass fits a particular style of music.
I think Fender are just a comfort zone that most people can relate too and generally will get you by whatever the occasion.

Dave

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Here is the gig guide for the Star at Bentworth. This is a very small country pub in rural Hampshire. Definitely a gig that’s off the radar for all but local-ish bands. Check out the gear in the photos; GB, Warwick, Mesa Boogie. "Decent gear” is getting gigged all over.

[url="http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm"]http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm[/url]

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[quote name='chris_b' post='1333478' date='Aug 9 2011, 12:41 PM']Here is the gig guide for the Star at Bentworth. This is a very small country pub in rural Hampshire. Definitely a gig that’s off the radar for all but local-ish bands. Check out the gear in the photos; GB, Warwick, Mesa Boogie. "Decent gear” is getting gigged all over.

[url="http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm"]http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm[/url][/quote]

Nice picture of Jules Benjamin :)

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[quote name='chris_b' post='1333478' date='Aug 9 2011, 12:41 PM']Here is the gig guide for the Star at Bentworth. This is a very small country pub in rural Hampshire. Definitely a gig that’s off the radar for all but local-ish bands. Check out the gear in the photos; GB, Warwick, Mesa Boogie. "Decent gear” is getting gigged all over.

[url="http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm"]http://www.star-inn.com/gigguide.htm[/url][/quote]


[quote name='Roland Rock' post='1333524' date='Aug 9 2011, 01:12 PM']Nice picture of Jules Benjamin :)[/quote]

And a pic of BC member Pete Stroud playing one of his own basses with Papa George.

Edited by Mykesbass
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