Bass Player Live: Report

Whacked · October 19, 2004

thanks Greenboy

Tom Capasso · October 19, 2004

Remembered something else.

Peavey was giving away a Cirrus BXP (not made in US) 5 string. Our own (and Peavey's own) Robb owns one. It is dreamy. I'm not sure I could tell the difference between it and the US Cirrus (though you have more wood and finish choices on the USA models). It was smooth and sweet. I see why Robb jumped on it !!!

I told the Peavey rep that I "knew" one of the guys at the plant, and that he owns one and loves it. "I guess that's why we can't get any up here" was his interesting response.

On an aside to the NY folks, the rep told me that Royal Music (Brooklyn, Merrick) is a key dealer (there were Royal guys there as well). While some of the chain stores carry Peavey, they stock mainly combos - no big amps or basses. Manny's has some stuff, but Peavey is still trying to step into the forefront in NY. One of our forum-mates named Russfingers has been shopping the Brooklyn store for a while (Russ - still out there?).

As to surviving these things, it takes work and preparation. You need to be in top condition to survive these things. Practice often!! I go into music stores as much as I can. I pick things up, play them, and (here's the important part of the training) PUT THEM DOWN. You can develop these abilities !!!

Tom

SteveC · October 19, 2004

Thanks for the pix. It's fun to put faces to names and see all the cool stuff. I wish I didn't live in the boonies!

g. · October 19, 2004

SteveC: Thanks for the pix. It's fun to put faces to names and see all the cool stuff. I wish I didn't live in the boonies!

So move already, whiney boy! : }

Speaking of whining, I'll be doing some as soon as Tim "Skelly" Cason checks in here again. I've been meaning to ream Roland again for not taking a way more proactive course with the V-Bass. They have this incredible tool that is equal or superior in almost every respect to other tools whose jobs it can do, and yet they practically let it languish for care.

The V-Bass needs an editor/librarian for one. And a crowd of forward-thinking bass players for another. They need to help make that happen. They started out right but they have for the most part put the GOOD stuff into the hands of guitarists, who in spite of coming from a crowed full of wackoffs can at least rouse a sustainable market with those of a more progressive - or is that PRACTICAL? - bent.

Go Roland! You did the initial R&D. Take it just a few steps further and reap the rewards! ; }

Now back to you, Steve: you need a Dingwall. A six-string Dingwall. You really do! : }

wraub · October 19, 2004

Hello again. Here's a few pics for now.

I am having some troubles reading the pics from the disc I burned for the purpose, I may have to burn another one tonight, which would mean more pics for y'all tomorrow. It will be ASAP. As Willie said, I do have quite a few good ones from the China Club show, which was awesome.

Here's the first ten:

Willie and Jon from M basses look happy.

Basslines basses, at the NY Bass Loft.

Detail of the back of the Basslines bass neck.

Shecky gives the Basslines the Slidey-Chair treatment.

The Ibanez booth, where I spent a bit of time chatting with two nice guys from Japan. I may have mentioned my Roadstar IIs.

The new basses from Godlyke, best known for their power solutions. The basses are made in Japan, by the same folks reponsible for Tune basses.

The amusement land called the Fodera booth. Many well known players were hanging out here most of the time, notably Mike Pope and Matthew Garrison. Happened to see Garrison playing hide and seek with the young son of Lincoln Goines.

A nice Custom Shop Fender Jazz, with a BadAss II bridge.

Lakland\'s new hollow-body, a collaboration with Mike Tobias.

A sweet Gretsch hollow-body.

More to come soon!

Peace,

wraub

57pbass · October 19, 2004

Here is the official list of exhibitors from Bass Day 2004

Aguilar, Ampeg,Ashdown,Bass Collective,Berklee College of Music, Black Diamond Strings,D'Addario,Dean Markley,Dr Strings,Fender,Fodera,GK,Godlyke,Guitar Center,Hartke,Ibanez,Line 6,Kustom,Lakland,M Basses,NY Bass Loft,Peavey,Recording Academy's producers and Engineers Wing,and Roland.

g. · October 19, 2004

Wraub,

Why not just LINK the pics? Displaying that much inline is a real bandwidth drag.

wraub · October 19, 2004

YO, GB, Working on that now. I made a BooBoo.

Sorry.

Peace,

wraub

edit: fixed the link thing and added 2 more pics.

g. · October 19, 2004

Cool, buddy! Good to see ya keepin' the faith with Ibanez, BTW : }

g. · October 19, 2004

Reformating for Dan; my genius-sized brain had trouble reading thatmanyscrunchycommas ; }

Here is the official list of exhibitors from Bass Day 2004:

Aguilar
Ampeg
Ashdown
Bass Collective
Berklee College of Music
Black Diamond Strings
D'Addario
Dean Markley
Dr Strings
Fender
Fodera
GK
Godlyke
Guitar Center
Hartke
Ibanez
Line 6
Kustom
Lakland
M Basses
NY Bass Loft
Peavey
Recording Academy's Producers and Engineers Wing
Roland

Tom Capasso · October 19, 2004

Unofficially, there were more.

Zimmerly Basses were there, sharing a booth with a guy (Howard?) from Long Island who markets wireless units (I'll fill in details when I can find his card).

The Bass Boutique was there the 2nd day supporting DR (they were with GK on day 1) and showing Jimmy Coppolo's AlevaCoppolo basses (Jimmy owns the boutique).

Rudy's was there with some Pensa basses (their line of Fender style customs). He also had his Ritter, and MTD 6, and an EBS head driving Bergantino cabs.

greenboy, I like your thoughts about the Roland stuff (as much as I understand it given my limited experience). Hopefully Skelly can carry them forward. I know he stayed in NYC Monday...

Tom

wraub · October 19, 2004

Originally posted by Dr. Zarkov:
Unofficially, there were more.

Zimmerly Basses were there, sharing a booth with a guy (Howard?) from Long Island who markets wireless units (I'll fill in details when I can find his card).

Tom,

I'm pretty sure that the guy from Zimmerly was named Kevin.

Howard was indeed the guy sharing the Zimmerly booth, he is the guy behind Lectrosonics, makers of a wireless unit for MI use that is based on wireless units used on movie location shooting.

The specs look interesting, I have a handout somewhere...

An aside-Howard was the winner of the Peavey Cirrus that was given away.

It was a 4 string model; he said it was going to his 12 year old son, IIRC.

I have pics of Kevin, and of Howard actually receiving the bass. I'll post ASAP.

Peace,

wraub

Tim Skelly Cason · October 20, 2004

WOOOO HOOOOO!

Hey all. Back from the grueling trip. I first want to thank all of you guys for stopping by the Roland Booth. Tom Capasso, Sweetwillie, 57Pbass, wraub and anyone else I may have left out (sorry).

Ive been reading your responses and I absolutely agree with Greenboy.

Roland has just recently taken a major step toward their position in the bass market. I was called in for summer NAMM to help bring this to fruition. As you may know, Roland is a Japanese company and any of you who have worked with the Japanese know it can be difficult to get them to change. However, once they make a decision they are very good about following through. I am not privy to most new product information, but it has been my experience that when it comes it will be HUGE.

The V Bass is huge. I stand behind this thing like no other product. I literally do not endorse any other products except Roland/BOSS and Drew Estate Cigars. (gotta love a great stogie) As the members who attended and saw the Roland booth will attest, I even covered the logo on my bass. I suggest to any advanced player to go to your local store and check out V Bass. Its WAY advanced and you will need to read the manual for a while before getting started, but once you do youll be in bass heaven. It is an audio processor, not MIDI, so there is no lag or latency.

The GR20, the MIDI Guitar unit is what was on the table for BASS this time around. Its been upgraded via version 2 software to accept Bass input with the 13pin pickup; the same one used for V Bass. Its a step in the right direction for Roland and an extremely useful tool for us as Bassists. Im not a very good keyboard player, and tracking keys is somewhat tedious for me. Now, with the GR20, the playing field is level. I dont even need to plug in a controller, my Bass is the MIDI controller.

To move on, what about M Basses. DAAAANG man, did you check this cat out? Hes 24 and building some serious stuff. When I asked him how long hed been makin basses he said like 4 years pro and 8 years total. He looks young and I asked his age, 24! I shook his hand and told him hes going to do well, and I truly meant it. His stuff ROCKS. His name is Jon Maghini. Watch for this up and coming bass maker. http://www.mbasses.com

The New York Bass Loft has some spectacular basses as well. They dont have a web site yet, but are working on it. The most impressive piece for me was the bass with the fanned frets. Id never seen that, but I guess its been around a few years. They had some fretless pieces that were worthy of praise too. For the guys who were there, you know what I mean.

Overall, it was a fun event. I got a chance to throw down some riffs with Mike from Aguilar Sunday. I hooked up a sequencer and was tracking drums, keys, guitars, horns etc, all with the bass and then playin the bass lines live. Mike and I took turns soloing and it was a blast.

Ill be posting more soon. Im still sorting photos from the show.

Thanks again to you all.

Tim Skelly Cason

Ed Friedland · October 20, 2004

Hey all, I had a blast at BP Live. It was great to meet the Lowdowners in attendance, nice to put faces to the names. Thanks for coming to my workshops, I know there were plenty of other tempting things to do. Seems like you all spent a fair amount of time with that Dingwall in your hands!

It was a treat for me to hang with all the big dogs too, Jerry Jemmot is a huge hero of mine, and we got to talk a few times. Alan Slutsky (Dr. Licks) introduced himself to me, and I was so honored to meet him. Victor Bailey and I are old buds from Berklee in the 70's and NY in the 80's. It's always great to see him. I ran into 2 old students of mine from 20 years ago at Berklee, and interestingly enought they both have been busy doing Broadway pit gigs for the last 12 years. I saw my old teacher from Berklee, Bruce Gertz, great player, great guy, and he hasn't aged a bit in 27 years. It occurs to me that the big appeal of these events for me is really the people, sure - the gear too, but that just gets me frustrated because I can't have it ALL! It's great to see the people, bass players truly are the coolest folks to hang with.

Anyway, thanks all of those who came, and I hope we have a chance to do it again soon.

Ed

Tim Skelly Cason · October 20, 2004

Hey, I'm back with photos.

Here are two links... First is a page of pictures of the booths, the second is a page of my personal pics from the trip.

http://www.crippleneedcane.com/BPL.html

http://www.crippleneedcane.com/BPLiveTrip.html

Thanks again.

TSC

_Sweet Willie_ · October 28, 2004

Ed: Thank you!

Now, an addendum --

The Tale of Luv and LDL Brotherhood

I couldn't make it for the Sunday events, but late in the afternoon my cell phone rang. I wasn't able to answer before the voice mail kicked in. The message was from wraub. He said that I'd won a door prize. I called him back. He explained that they'd picked my name as the winner of a sah-weet pair of Audio-Tecnica headphones.

I followed up w/ the powers-that-be (i.e., Bill Leigh), and now there is a nice set of headphones in a UPS truck headed my way. I'll let you know when they arrive.

How cool is that?!?!?!

Yup, I can hear what y'all are thinkin': "Couldn't happen to a nicer guy." It couldn't, could it?

Anyway, luv'n'peace to my main man, wraub, for lookin' out for a bass brutha.

Peace.

--SW

WCunha · October 28, 2004

Righteous

Tom Capasso · October 28, 2004

Nice !!!

Way to go!!

And that wraub guy - pretty cool dude!

Tom

_Sweet Willie_ · October 31, 2004

Got the 'phones at the end of the week. They're really nice.

Put some Richard Bona on the stereo and listened thru the headphones. Nice. Plugged my bass into my SWR Super Redhead and listened thru the headphones. Nice -- but my playing didn't sound like Bona's...

These are them.

Nice bonus for me. I'm a bit gleeful.

Thanks, BP!

Peace.

--SW

CORE9 · November 2, 2004

There is no doubt that Clinics like this are worth while to go to. It puts you inside with the pro's. And helps you think like a pro. I would say I learned a lot about the individuals and the music industry. And yes my ears were wide to all the great players. I traveled from Louisiana for the weekend...taxi-plane-train-bus...wow I felt so dependent on public transportaion.

Got the right forum!

CORE9 · November 3, 2004

Where do you find the Pics for this event?

Tim Skelly Cason · November 8, 2004

Here are some pics as previously posted.

Thx

Skelly

http://www.crippleneedcane.com/BPL.html

a1bassguy · November 18, 2004

Does anyone who attended BPL know what the hell the fuzzy black velcro thing was from MARKBASS that was in the 'goody bag'?

Also, I have to say that I was dissappointed to see Ed Freidland without a Carvin in his hand at his workshops. (I guess you can tell that I own a Carvin, a BB75 that is).

Also, what was up with SWR booth? They weren't very eager to talk to anyone, unlike the folks at the Ampeg, Ashdown, and Joey G's booths.

Ed Friedland · November 18, 2004

Well, I was going to bring my BB76, but I figured for an hour clinic, I wouldn't have lots of time to play. I thought I'd teach, there were enough monster 6 string guys around to convince me to keep out of the fray. So, I borrowed a beautiful Fender Custom Shop Jazz instead. I grew up on Fenders, and I'll always play them. Too bad they don't make a 6 string with 24 frets...

BTW, the velcro thing from MarkBass is a guitar holder. If your cabinet has carpet on it, stick one flap to the cab, then wrap the other flaps around the neck. It keeps the bass from falling over. I use mine all the time, brilliant!

tnb · November 18, 2004

I am doing quite a bit of playa hatin' right now It sounds like you guys had a ball.

When is the next one?

_Sweet Willie_ · November 18, 2004

Don't hate... celebrate!

Dig it, tnb, it's not like we didn't invite you.

Peace.

--SW

PS: I've finally scheduled my free lesson at the Bass Collective. Free lesson?!?! Um, yes, I signed up for a free lesson at the Bass Collective booth. I'll report after I have it at the end of this month.

tnb · November 18, 2004

I had to work and I couldn't get out of it.

a1bassguy · November 20, 2004

Ed F, thanks for the info about the Markbass thingy and the lack of a Carvin in your hand!

I had a great time at BPL myself and really enjoyed the clinics and seeing all the pros, including the BP staff. Very exciting and I will definitely come back.