Respect the bass!

[Mickeyboro]

Been to two gigs recently where the bass has been disrespected - in my view anyway. 
 

Billy Gibbons and his accomplice in his solo show both played guitars with some kind of built-in octaver that produced a mushy bass note. Dusty Hill would not have approved. 
 

And while Zack Starkey does a passable Moon, the bass role has been diminished since Pino left the Who. Really unbalances the music.

 

Rant over!

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Mickeyboro

[Cosmo Valdemar]

20 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

 

 

And while Zack Starkey does a passable Moon, the bass role has been diminished since Pino left the Who. Really unbalances the music.

 

 

 

I think they've been empty since John Entwistle died. I appreciate Pino saved the day but blimey, a more unsuitable player for The Who would be hard to find.

[Happy Jack]

I saw The Who with Pino on bass at the O2 maybe 10 years ago. He needn't have bothered ... I didn't hear a single bass note all evening, the sound was that bad.

 

I thought it was down to the venue (although the Stones sounded OK there) until I saw Fleetwood Mac at the O2; one of the best live bass sounds I've ever heard from Mr. McVie. He had a bloody great rolling rack unit of about 10 Orange amps next to him on stage, which I thought was a fair approach to foldback ...

 

[fretmeister]

20 hours ago, Mickeyboro said:

Been to two gigs recently where the bass has been disrespected - in my view anyway. 
 

Billy Gibbons and his accomplice in his solo show both played guitars with some kind of built-in octaver that produced a mushy bass note. Dusty Hill would not have approved. 
 

And while Zack Starkey does a passable Moon, the bass role has been diminished since Pino left the Who. Really unbalances the music.

 

Rant over!

 

 

 

 

For many years Dusty had an always on Octave when playing live. A MicroPog into a Thumpinator to cut everything lower than a low B so he could leave it on all the time. The Thumpinator made sure that nothing lower got through.

 

Elwood (when he was still the tech) explains it from about 1min30 here:

 

 

 

[Happy Jack]

Well that's a nice feather in the cap for Max Greco and [sfx], but he no longer seems to be on Basschat. ☹️

[chris_b]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I saw The Who with Pino on bass at the O2 maybe 10 years ago. He needn't have bothered ... I didn't hear a single bass note all evening, the sound was that bad.

 

 

I saw the Stones at the O2 about 20 years ago and didn't hear Darryl Jones either.

[Mykesbass]

Not as recent, but you're not forgetting Del Amitri are you @Mickeyboro?

[gjones]

2 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I saw The Who with Pino on bass at the O2 maybe 10 years ago. He needn't have bothered ... I didn't hear a single bass note all evening, the sound was that bad.

 

I thought it was down to the venue (although the Stones sounded OK there) until I saw Fleetwood Mac at the O2; one of the best live bass sounds I've ever heard from Mr. McVie. He had a bloody great rolling rack unit of about 10 Orange amps next to him on stage, which I thought was a fair approach to foldback ...

 

I'm sure Mr McVie was personally involved in making sure the engineer got him a good sound at every venue. 

 

John Entwistle would have been the same.

 

Pino, in the end, was just a hired hand. So he probably didn't get too hands on with the FOH sound.

[Maude]

Well this is a thread I didn't want to read. I'm off to see The Who in a couple of hours. 

[Doctor J]

They look great, hearing them is the problem.

[Mickeyboro]

4 hours ago, Maude said:

Well this is a thread I didn't want to read. I'm off to see The Who in a couple of hours. 

Take a bass with you in case!

[howdenspur]

23 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

I saw The Who with Pino on bass at the O2 maybe 10 years ago. He needn't have bothered ... I didn't hear a single bass note all evening, the sound was that bad.

 

I thought it was down to the venue (although the Stones sounded OK there) until I saw Fleetwood Mac at the O2; one of the best live bass sounds I've ever heard from Mr. McVie. He had a bloody great rolling rack unit of about 10 Orange amps next to him on stage, which I thought was a fair approach to foldback ...

 

Had exactly the same experience seeing The Who with Pino at the First Direct in Leeds a similar time ago - so not a venue problem.

[Happy Jack]

Interesting.

 

I never had Pino down as a shrinking violet.

 

[Maude]

Well well well, I could hear the bass last night. Not a boomy mush but almost difficult to distinguish from the guitars as it was quite toppy, it could still have done with bring far more prominent giving that this is The Who. 

Several times though I noticed that only Roger, Pete and Zak were spotlighted with the rest in darkness, also the bassist was hiding away at the back almost behind the drums. 

But it was a fantastic night and they were on top form, the orchestra really lifted the sound. 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

17 minutes ago, Maude said:

Well well well, I could hear the bass last night. Not a boomy mush but almost difficult to distinguish from the guitars as it was quite toppy, it could still have done with bring far more prominent giving that this is The Who. 

Several times though I noticed that only Roger, Pete and Zak were spotlighted with the rest in darkness, also the bassist was hiding away at the back almost behind the drums. 

But it was a fantastic night and they were on top form, the orchestra really lifted the sound. 

 

Where is this? Looks like something out of War of The Worlds.

[Maude]

2 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Where is this? Looks like something out of War of The Worlds.

The Eden Project, Cornwall. 

It really is quite amazing as a venue. Large amphitheater so good visibility from pretty much everywhere and the lighting in the biomes is linked to the stage lighting so mirrors the colours, strobes etc. 

Luckily it was dry and sunny. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by Maude

[Maude]

It just so happens that Lady Maude recorded some of my generation on her phone, I know, it sounds terrible, but you can hear the bass! 

She must've learnt about bass through osmosis as this was the only bit she recorded all night and she managed to get the little bass solo. 

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, Maude said:

It just so happens that Lady Maude recorded some of my generation on her phone, I know, it sounds terrible, but you can hear the bass! 

She must've learnt about bass through osmosis as this was the only bit she recorded all night and she managed to get the little bass solo. 

 

 

Now that is a perfectly respectable tone - nice bit of grit on top (I'd prefer a bit more though😄).

 

It's a bit of a hallowed bass solo though, not sure about that interpretation though... 

[Maude]

3 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

It's a bit of a hallowed bass solo though, not sure about that interpretation though... 

 

It was all the right notes... 

 

 

😁

[chris_b]

Good on him for trying to make at least some of the bass line his own.