The Last Bass Outpost

Had a new experience this weekend...my son was selling his 6 string...a nondescript Alvarez with what appear to be passive EMG humbuckers on it (branded Alvarez). I bought it and gigged it Saturday (told him he could "buy" it back anytime).

Going from a Dano Longhorn to this...all I can say is wow...I actually got used to the neck pretty quickly, although I got disoriented (like "lost") a few times.

What a powerful muscular sound...don't know whether its the pickups, or the long scale.  And it's passive...no crispy hi-fi pre-amp...just raw power...maybe there's something to this humbucker non-sense.

Anyone use one of these?

Was curious if either would be a decent stage monitor?

Need prayers and vibes in Cincinnati for a dear friend undergoing emergency brain surgery.

Thanks

Patman

We were told over the weekend that the management wasn't happy 'cause our "people" (people that come to see the band)...don't drink enough.

We draw an older crowd that is real dance oriented...they typically have dinner reservations, eat supper, drink a few beers and dance all night.  A lot of them really dance very well...it's obviously a big deal to them.

Last weekend the bar held about 400.  We had about 350 to 400 there for most of the night...the last set is always a little slow, because they're older, and tend to thin at midnight or so (this is Cincinnati...midnight is late if you're 50 to 60).

The bar told us they want 30-somethings rather than 50+ somethings in there, because the younger people drink alot more and they make more money.

BTW the people all paid a $5 cover to get in.

This is the second bar to tell us this.  Actually kind of ticked me off...we draw a good classy crowd.

Anybody else run into this?

Have been toying with "downsizing"...am already downsized to 2 ancient Peavey Combo 300's...I bought the second just as a "spare" in case #1 died.

We play very old school classic rock, ballads, rockabilly, with some R & B and funk (yes' I love to slap out "Superstition" or "Take me to the River" on a clean set of roundwounds-it's o-k in Ohio)..."Mercy" is probably the newest tune we do...we also do one Bon Jovi tune...this is as modern as we get...point is we have pretty good PA support and monitors when indoors...outdoors we hire out the appropriate large professional system (95% of the time, as long as the money is there--there's always a couple of jobs where the money sucks, but we do it anyway on our "indoor" system)...so really what I need is just a reliable workhorse stage monitor.

Are there any cheap one 12 or one 10  "workhorse" amps (100 watts or so) that weigh 50 lb's or less, and built with enough quality to still be running in 30 years (like my Peavey's)?  I'm very skeptical of newer Peavey's that I see, and the larger stuff still weighs a ton. Maybe Ampeg BA 112?

My youngest son has a little Nemesis combo that sounds good, but he's already had problems with it (it was being service for, like, 3 months).  This is what I would like to avoid.

Any ideas?

Listening to an Emmylou Harris greatest hits collection.  Check out Emory Gordy Jr's playing.  Perfect time...clean punchy sound.

He also did a lot of the cool 70's Elvis stuff. 

Classic lines, clean playing.

FWIW

Put some GHS tapewounds on the Pace upright

Two strings sound fine, and two don't sound at all--seems like there's not enough downwward pressure on the piezo element to make a good tone?

Anybody else experience this with a piezo bridge? and is there a fix?

One idea I had was to put a couple of washers on the ball end of the string so that it will pull the silks back an eighth of an inch or so off the bridge. Maybe they will sound then.

The strings that sound have pretty good tone.

Thanks

Pat

Have an older mexi-precision that just won't hold string tension gracefully---already has a bunch of washers in it...question is...

Is the heel shape/size, length etc for mighty mite/allparts or other precision replacement necks universal

As in...if I buy a replacement neck made for a Fender Precision, am I pretty well assured that it's going to fit?