The Last Bass Outpost

There used to be two links at the top of the page when I log in:
- unread replies to my posts, and unread posts since last login.

Those were the two main ways I found stuff to read on here ... and they're both gone!

Can they come back?

Thanks,

- Paul

Sometimes a gig of a bunch of moldy oldies is just what the doctor ordered!

I live and work in NYC (to be more precise I live in central Brooklyn and work in lower Manhattan) ... the band scene is very competitive, dominated by young hipsters, and 99% original material. I haven't gigged in Manhattan in many years now.  I still love the music scene here but I don't have the time or energy to deal with trying to play in NY clubs anymore.

Recently, a guitar player I've been playing with for many years, who has long ago moved out to the suburbs on Long Island, asked me if I would sub on bass for his local cover band - a bunch of guys from his neighborhood.  The other players are not really up to his level, but they're enthusiastic and have developed a good group sound, and the set list sounded fun.  So, last Saturday night I went out to the venue, a local live music rock-n-roll bar of the sort that doesn't really exist in the city anymore, where covers are the norm and you go to drink and enjoy some well executed familiar hits from decades past.  The audience ranged in age from about 40 to 60 (the band fit in that demographic as well).   AND... aside from free beer I got $50 in my pocket which is more than I ever took home on most gigs playing originals, that's for sure.

IT WAS A BLAST!

We had a number of train wrecks, due to various factors (varying experience levels among the band, unfamiliar material, new bass player...)
but nobody much cared... the small crowd was very enthusiastic, and people wanted us to keep playing beyond the end of our set list, so we bashed out "The Seeker" totally unrehearsed, and "Who Are You" which we had all played before but never in the same band.

Set list:

The Waiting

Psycho Killer

Remedy

Pulling Mussels from a Shell

Can’t Stand Losing You

The Weight

Interstate Love Song

Dead Flowers

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

10th Ave Freeze Out

Hungry Heart

Promised Land

Prove it All Night

Rosalita

Black Dog

What is and Should Never Be

The Ocean

Folsom Prison Blues

Unrehearsed extras: The Seeker, Who Are You



I think "Rosalita" was one of the most fun things I have ever done live. What a joy.  I am told there is video of this gig, but I haven't seen it yet.

Final flight of the shuttle Enterprise.
From the roof at work... Sorry  I don't have an optical zoom lens. It looked cooler to the naked eye.

I've always liked the non-reverse thunderbird look ... but I also like basses in roughly the same shape family. By which I mean: asymmetrical, rounded bouts rather than big horns longer on top than bottom ... hourglass-ish shape... What else is like that?  There are probably some I've never seen. I'm hoping people will chime in with pictures of interesting and obscure bird-ish basses.

First off is the bird itself, of course:


The Ampeg Scroll bass is a fascinating-looking beastie, never played one of these:


I do like the Fender Jaguar shape:


I've seen some "double-reverse" knockoffs - essentially an upside-down "regular" bird - such as this Greco:


The Reverend Rumblefish is a little more angular for my taste, but kind of cool:


So... what else is out there? Obscure vintage budget crap, pricey boutique custom jobs, as long as it looks cool let's see it!

Hey folks,

Anybody got a recommendation on a gig bag that is inexpensive (or even cheap), but reasonably sturdy and reliable?

Bass it'll get used for is a 34"-scale Danelectro circa 1999 so it's  A) not worth much, but B) kinda flimsy.

My current gig bag is rapidly losing all its stitches and has officially crossed the line into being useless.

Gotta make room (and cash) for baby stuff! I'd like to sell my Schroeder 1212 cab.

Description:  Two Eminence twelves rated at 500w each, one firing front, one at an angle inside the cab. This is the original model with regular (not neodymium) speakers.  Tweeter - over the years these cabs have been sold with a few different tweeters - this has the original "100 Watts titanium tweeter horn", which informally can be recognized by its elongated rectangular shape (more recent cabs come with a more square or rounded tweeter). Carpet finish. I bought the cab new via direct shipping in January 2005. Serial no. 1212/135II (or something like that, it's hand-written).

Condition: Very clean. It has been to only 4 gigs since I bought it new in January '05. Other than that, it has sat, rarely played, in my (no-smoking, no-pets) apartment.

Sound: I would describe it as having very powerful lows and midbass that projects well even outdoors, with a little bit of upper treble snap from the tweeter, and subdued upper-mids. I like a lot more upper-mid bite, so I can't really use this cab standalone.  Personally I quite like it paired with a brighter cab, but at that point I've been realizing I'd just as soon leave it home since my EA CXL-112L is a bit more portable and usually loud enough for me.  It's reputedly very similar to the 1210 model that unleashed absurd amounts of Talkbass hype and backlash... the 1212 is reputedly just a little darker-sounding than the 1210. I have not done a direct comparison.

Size: 23.5"x16"x16".  Weight: claimed to be 54 lbs, but my bathroom scale says 58 lbs, give or take.

It's at bottom right here:

... no I am not selling the EA cabs, those are the ones I'm keeping :-)

If anyone's interested, I can take more / better pictures on request, and maybe even attempt a recording if I can get my damn software working again.

I would really prefer a local pickup, but for you guys, I could ship :-)
New, current models go for $739 plus shipping; I recently saw one go on ebay for $470 plus shipping, so I'm using that as my starting price.