The Last Bass Outpost

Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: Tim Armstrong on March 16, 2008, 10:12:05 AM

Title: Hiya, all!
Post by: Tim Armstrong on March 16, 2008, 10:12:05 AM
Dave invited me over here a while back, but being the very (aging) poster child for ADD, I promptly forgot about it!  Fortunately, Dave is a forgiving soul, and mentioned the place again.  Thanks, Dave!

Looking over the members list, I see a few of y'all that I know from the TDPRI, who know about me from my relentless recycling of topics.  :D

For the rest, I'm a 48 year old beach town bar band bassist, playing in a band in Ocean City, Maryland called The Mood Swingers (http://www.moodswingers.org) with my guitarist brother Mike and our drummer Bubba.  We play classic rock, blues, country, folk, and if the money is right we've done bluegrass, horn-driven blues (we have some guys we call) and zydeco.  One of the good things about living in a resort area: I made half of my modest income over the last few years as a musician!

I started playing bass and guitar back in high school in the mid-70s in Largo, Maryland, playing URB in the orchestra.  While I was in college, I played in a basement band with some buddies (as in we never left our drummer's basement for gigs!), using our guitarist's Gibson EB0:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/tarmadilo/Tim1980.jpg)

I just erased the rest of my bass narrative, as it was achieving "War and Peace" dimensions, instead here's a timeline (note that I also was sometimes gigging as a guitarist, so there are some gaps):

1977- Gibson EB0 through whatever amp I could scrounge.
1982- Bradley (MIJ) Jazz Bass copy through same.
1985- Fender fretless P-Bass through 100-watt solid-state kit guitar head into 2x15 Fender cab.
1987- 60s Epiphone Wilshire Bass through same.
1988- 1988 Fender MIJ Jazz Bass through Peavey Mark IV head/2x15" Peavey Black Widow cab.
1992- late 60s MIJ Violin Bass (no brand name on it!) through 1968 Fender Bassman head into chopped Kustom cab (single 15" speaker).
1999- Crown MIJ P-Bass copy through Traynor YBA-1 Bassmaster head through 2x12 Carvin cab.
2002- Modded Tokai '57 P-Bass (Warmoth Tele Bass neck, Voodoo pickup) through Traynor YBA-1 into 60s 1x15" Guild bass cab.
2003- Same bass into SWR Workingmans 2004 head through Steel Sound 2x10 cab.
2004- Rogue Hofner copy through same.
2006- Mutant Fender Musicmaster Bass ('73 body, '73 neck, Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Kent Armstrong lipstick tube pickup) into same.
2007- Squier Vista Series (MIC) Musicmaster Bass with neck from above into same.
2008- Same bass with GFS twin-blade strat-sized humbucking pickup into same.

I should note that the SWR just died, so I've been gigging lately with my backup amp, a Crate PowerBlock, into the single 15" Guild cab, and I just bought an AMP Model BH 420 head (which Dave Funk based the Thunderfunk amp on), so will be gigging through that into the Steel Sound cab.

I also still have the '73 Fender Musicmaster body, and have acquired another '73 neck, and am having a luthier friend of mine refret the neck and paint the body, and I'm either going to get another of these GFS pickups (damn, it sounds GOOD) or put a Mustang pickup in it (I have one, along with the pickguard and control plate) and turn it into a Mustang.  Decisions, decisions...

Anyway, that's a little bit about me!  Here I am playing Pinky a few months ago:

(http://www.moodswingers.org/sitebuilder/images/mood_swingers31-304x304.jpg)

Cheers, Tim
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: Dave W on March 16, 2008, 01:28:13 PM
Hi Tim, thanks for joining up. Kinda slow here on weekends, but we're small yet.

I don't remember you posting the EB-0 pic at TDPRI. But it's in keeping with your (and my) tradition of mostly using single-pickup basses. Who needs bridge pickups anyway?  :P

Last year Tim was down here in south Texas and we hoisted a few here (http://gruenehall.com/).
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: sflajimmy on March 16, 2008, 01:29:00 PM
Good to see you onboard Tim! Pinky looks great. ;)
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: Barklessdog on March 17, 2008, 04:52:17 AM
Welcome to the ranch!

Pull up a log!
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: PWV on March 17, 2008, 06:00:15 AM
From one A.D.D. Poster Child to another - welcome aboard, Tim!   8)  (I'm digging Pinky too!  )

 8)
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: OldManC on March 17, 2008, 06:31:22 AM
Hey Tim, glad to have you here!
Title: Re: Hiya, all!
Post by: Rhythm N. Bliss on March 18, 2008, 05:35:09 AM
W E L C O M E TIM!