Jimmy, in your case with all the repitition and regularity of this audience I would feel hurt if I made a change and no one noticed! But I never have that kind of gig, each show has a different venue, a different sound guy (if it has a FoH at all) a different audience, and for the most part if I went from a P with flats through a fridge, or a T-Bird with rounds through a combo, the reality of someone calling out an idiosyncracy in my tone is next to nil. Except to say that I suck at playing bass! Just keepin' perspective.EDIT: Sorry if posted in the wrong forum. Had no idea where to post it.
Did a gig last night at an outdoor venue at The Villages in Fla (a big giant retirement community) that I play once a month, and we get a lot of regulars. I've been using my Hammersmith with a very dead set of Dunlop Super Bright Nickels there pretty much exclusively most of the year. Tonight I got a wild hair and brought out my modded 76 Precision with a newish set of the same strings instead. Both these basses have Geezer PJ's, and to me they sound about the same when the strings have comparable wear. Everything else was the same as usual...REDDI into the PA, same pedals I've been using all year set the same way and used in the same songs, same sound tech we usually have there and the same PA, which is a decent but not particularly great PA (a souped-up and somewhat customized Bose PA...one of the bigwigs of the Bose family lives at the Villages and has the ear of the family who owns the Villages).
I probably had 20 people who are regulars at our gigs come up to me on break and ask me how come the Fender sounded so much edgier and aggressive than the Hammersmith. Only one of them plays an instrument, and while most were guys, plenty of women said the same thing.
So if I ever hear any of you jokers try to claim that the audience doesn't know or care about your sound again, I will tell you that you're a very arrogant person who has zero respect for your audiences. Of course, I have been saying that for years, but now I've got proof. A big outdoor venue with about 3000 people there in various states of inebriation, and several non-musicians noticed that the strings on the Fender made it sound edgier.
The lesson I learned is I need to change my strings more oftenThe lesson YOU should learn is that if you think your audience is so stupid that they can't tell the difference in your sound no matter what you use, maybe they're not the stupid ones.
Happy holidays, everyone!
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Well, you may be impressed, but sorry, Jimmy, I call boopuckey on this one.
This is a forum for honest debate and information sharing and humor too. Interesting is good, funny is good, difference of opinion is GOOD, we all learn more that way. Name calling not so much. Disagree all you want - I will listen. Calling someone STUPID for an opinion - what did you expect? That is disrespect and has no place here. Say you strongly disagree with me and I'm fine with that. Saying WE are stupid is kind of doing the same thing you say you are upset at us for doing - WHICH I never have done. In my opinion, name calling has NO place here. Respectfully.
Yes!
I'm usually with Jimmy on these matters and this thread is no different. Sometimes I'm quite put off by the attitude of many TBers who think aiming for the lowest common denominator is acceptable because "the audience can't tell the difference." My experience is that the audience, while not being necessarily sophisticated in the fine nuances of sound reproduction and tone, do respond positively to quality sound. And yes, that means a quality bass sound that is intelligible, precise, full, and has definable timbre. And guess what, once you get to a certain performance level, it's gonna be expected by the other musicians, promoters, sound engineers, and yes audience. I'm sorry that I don't have a peer reviewed study with minimized threats to internal validity that was verified with ANOVA tests with alpha levels below .01 to support that, but if you don't believe me: Start telling your guitarist to leave the Twin Reverb or Mark IIC at home and just bring the Crate GX15. The keyboardist doesn't need to haul out that Nord. The Casio from K-mart from 1989 is fine enough. Meanwhile, you can rock the Rogue SX100B, straight DI so the audience can act indifferent to that bass in all of its glory. Nobody really cares, right? Let me know how things go after a number of gigs and let me know if you start getting better gigs!
Are we gonna get hosed on our sound some nights due to a lackluster person behind the board or a difficult room? Sure, but when you have great sound all of those other times, it's certainly worth it to spend time concentrating on how you - and the entire band/ensemble - sounds.
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I've read that you'e twice as likely to hear complaints than compliments from the buying public and that 96% of unhappy people don't actually complain. (Granted this is based on retail studies but...).
That basically means 98% of people pleased with the bass tone would never say anything. This indicates that almost everyone at Jimmy' s show was pleased with his bass tone. There you go. Statistics prove exactly what he's on about.
That basically means 98% of people pleased with the bass tone would never say anything. This indicates that almost everyone at Jimmy' s show was pleased with his bass tone. There you go. Statistics prove exactly what he's on about.
Do you wipe your strings down after playing to extend their life and keep them sounding good?
I usually scrub my hands with soap before I play, then a microfiber cloth on the back of the neck and strings after playing. Once in a while, Martin guitar polish on the back of the neck.
This product looks looks a gimmick but I hear good things about it: Invalid Link Removed
I usually scrub my hands with soap before I play, then a microfiber cloth on the back of the neck and strings after playing. Once in a while, Martin guitar polish on the back of the neck.
This product looks looks a gimmick but I hear good things about it: Invalid Link Removed
I agreed with Jimmy and liked his comment right up to the point where he called people who have said here the audience generally doesn't care much about small differences in sound stupid. Not really called for is all I'm saying. There are better ways of getting your point across than name calling. Then again, I've had days like that too. Peace to all.I've read that you'e twice as likely to hear complaints than compliments from the buying public and that 96% of unhappy people don't actually complain. (Granted this is based on retail studies but...).
That basically means 98% of people pleased with the bass tone would never say anything. This indicates that almost everyone at Jimmy' s show was pleased with his bass tone. There you go. Statistics prove exactly what he's on about.
I am the worst about wiping down my strings. I never do.
EDIT: Sorry if posted in the wrong forum. Had no idea where to post it.
Did a gig last night at an outdoor venue at The Villages in Fla (a big giant retirement community) that I play once a month, and we get a lot of regulars. I've been using my Hammersmith with a very dead set of Dunlop Super Bright Nickels there pretty much exclusively most of the year. Tonight I got a wild hair and brought out my modded 76 Precision with a newish set of the same strings instead. Both these basses have Geezer PJ's, and to me they sound about the same when the strings have comparable wear. Everything else was the same as usual...REDDI into the PA, same pedals I've been using all year set the same way and used in the same songs, same sound tech we usually have there and the same PA, which is a decent but not particularly great PA (a souped-up and somewhat customized Bose PA...one of the bigwigs of the Bose family lives at the Villages and has the ear of the family who owns the Villages).
I probably had 20 people who are regulars at our gigs come up to me on break and ask me how come the Fender sounded so much edgier and aggressive than the Hammersmith. Only one of them plays an instrument, and while most were guys, plenty of women said the same thing.
So if I ever hear any of you jokers try to claim that the audience doesn't know or care about your sound again, I will tell you that you're a very arrogant person who has zero respect for your audiences. Of course, I have been saying that for years, but now I've got proof. A big outdoor venue with about 3000 people there in various states of inebriation, and several non-musicians noticed that the strings on the Fender made it sound edgier.
The lesson I learned is I need to change my strings more often
Happy holidays, everyone!
And thanks for proving MY point that you ALWAYS send the sound guy a brighter signal than you think he needs.
Did they tell you that they enojoyed more the songs with your new strings?
The fact that the audience noticed something doesn't imply they care that much...
The fact that the audience noticed something doesn't imply they care that much...
EDIT: Sorry if posted in the wrong forum. Had no idea where to post it.
Did a gig last night at an outdoor venue at The Villages in Fla (a big giant retirement community) that I play once a month, and we get a lot of regulars. I've been using my Hammersmith with a very dead set of Dunlop Super Bright Nickels there pretty much exclusively most of the year. Tonight I got a wild hair and brought out my modded 76 Precision with a newish set of the same strings instead. Both these basses have Geezer PJ's, and to me they sound about the same when the strings have comparable wear. Everything else was the same as usual...REDDI into the PA, same pedals I've been using all year set the same way and used in the same songs, same sound tech we usually have there and the same PA, which is a decent but not particularly great PA (a souped-up and somewhat customized Bose PA...one of the bigwigs of the Bose family lives at the Villages and has the ear of the family who owns the Villages).
I probably had 20 people who are regulars at our gigs come up to me on break and ask me how come the Fender sounded so much edgier and aggressive than the Hammersmith. Only one of them plays an instrument, and while most were guys, plenty of women said the same thing.
So if I ever hear any of you jokers try to claim that the audience doesn't know or care about your sound again, I will tell you that you're a very arrogant person who has zero respect for your audiences. Of course, I have been saying that for years, but now I've got proof. A big outdoor venue with about 3000 people there in various states of inebriation, and several non-musicians noticed that the strings on the Fender made it sound edgier.
The lesson I learned is I need to change my strings more often
Happy holidays, everyone!
I Love Jimmy M posts!! Please post a picture of this cool modded Fender P Bass!!
happy holiday Jimmy!!
Arrogant Stupid Joker Crew checking in...
Is it any less arrogant than assuming everyone is based on the comments of less than 1% of your audience?
Are inebriated non-musician regulars in your audience going to notice a big change in your sound one night? Absolutely some will notice.
But they're not going to notice very subtle changes such as those produced by strings that are a touch deader than they were last week or by switching stage rigs on which tones have been dialed in so they sound almost identically fantastic. After all, it took a big change just to get that 0.667% to notice and care enough to say something.
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Somebody blamed it on the water, but i'd blame it on the bossa nova..
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