A question or two about practise.

[Malcolm]

As for bass amps forget them unless you have a U12 or 14 If the strings ain’t fat they have nothing to respond too! Trust me on this and don’t spend money on a bass amp they will only mess with your high end and do little for your low end! On E9th they are a complete waste of space!

Bob, forgive me if I am misreading your post, but on second reading, and third, it would still seem to me that you are saying that bass amps (mb200 is bass amp, being used with Sica 12inch 200watt bass speaker) are unsuitable for steel. I have no problem with that, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when you make a generalisation on bass amps without actually trying a specific unit I think this is wrong, just my opinion.You are of course welcome to try mine out any time you want. (as per anyone who is interested).RegardsMalcolm

[bob adams]

Ah! Goodness me! Now I understand!!

I didn’t realize that new amp of yours was in fact a bass amp! With brains I would be dangerous eh! I should have put 2+2 together on the MB abbreviation but I thought your machine was similar in build to the Evans Ah200 head! And of course I haven’t had time to researched it. Nor of course have I heard it yet!

With the bass amps I have tried high end has not been the issue for me it has been the disappointment of expecting much more from the low end on the steel and I haven’t managed to get them to produce what I perceived in my head it should sound like! hence my belief that it could only be the lack of ‘fat strings!’

I now understand your frustration at my remarks Malcolm and for that have my deepest sympathies for you being friendly with a ‘Right Rodney! I would of course love to hear it and one of these days we will manage it I'm sure! Catcha, Bob

[Malcolm]

Bob, I did not take any personal offence . My criticism was at the blanket cover of all bass amps.It doesn't matter to me if someone dislikes my choice of gear, after all I bought it for me not them, it is of course nice if anyone does like it .You are more than welcome to try it out anytime you feel like it, that goes for anyone else who would like to try it out.Some will like it some won't that's life. Just for info I don't fly F111s just Cessna 152 and 172s.As we speak my son is fitting the wing mounted missile pods, could you possibly let me have the GPS co-ordinates of your house.Regards Malcolm

blair me greer with cessna.jpg

[bob adams]

Did you watch tonight's 6.00pm news ......... Sat Nav is leading everybody up the garden path!

40 trucks getting winched out of villages, guy gets lead to a road bridge which turns out to be a footbridge! A royal catalogue of disasters!

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

Hi Malcolm, ok, i take your point re GK MB200, my get out card here was i was reffering more to bass combos like the peavey tnt or similar units, Bob even said he has an AMPEG, that sounds crap for steel, and they are the holy grail of any self respecting bass player, i was also reffering to the vast majority of 6 string guitar combos, which are voiced for that purpose, with emphasis usually placed on a saturation / distortion channel, being totally unsuitable for steel, now in the case of the MB200, as far as i can see, it is AN AMP, pure and simple, that GK aimed at the Bass Guitar market, [a much bigger market than steel guitar] but it seems to me that some steelies in the U.S. found if you connect it up to the right speaker, and hook it up to your favourite fx, it proves to be brilliant for steel, and it seems to me that you have found that to be true, Malcolm,
i wasn't knocking the MB200, cos i haven't heard or played through one, i just generalised about unsuitable bass amps, and i would love to try an MB200 out sometime, if you recall Malcolm, a while back, i was the only forumite who asked you for a review on your new amp, cos im always interested in gear stuff, so apologies for over generalising about gear, and im delighted to know you really like your set up, and its good to know that there is an alternative to the peavey nashville 112, for us mere mortals that cant afford the high end gear,
ps. Malcolm, if you ever fly over to Knock Airport, give me a shout, bring that little MB200 with you for me to try, Full Irish Breakfasts are on me,

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

Sorry Billy, how did we get so far off subject? still, good to see a bit of debating going on, just what the forum needs, PRACTICE??? I dont have time!!!!

[Malcolm]

Eddie, actually it cost less than a 112 (still got mine as back up), the amp costs £206, speaker was £120, normally £95 but had to pay extra to get 4ohm one shipped from factory as shop only had 8 ohm.Cabinet wood /covering/hardware about £40 plus a small fortune keeping Gamble in cakes when building it. If you are doing another Scottish trip call in and try it, I stay near to Glasgow Airport.Regards Malcolm

[henry]

"if you properly want to learn how to pick block, run scales
you'd be surprised how well they work"

Hi Crowbear.. you've always been very helpful with providing tab for techniques and exercises you've mentioned, so just to push my luck a bit further ..any chance of some tab showing which fingers you use to pick and block?! I've been trying this out but keep getting my fingers in a twist..

cheers,

Henry

[Ruby Darnell]

Completely agree on the blocking when practising with an amp. I'll practice a lot unplugged to get to grips with new runs etc or if I can't go through an amp for whatever reason. I'd think that things were sounding pretty good but then when I plugged in to play through an amp I found that I had got into bad habits and there was a lot of ringing going on where the notes weren't clean so I obviously wasn't blocking properly. I practice both ways now and have a tiddly amp for practice that even on a pretty low volume will show up any bad habits like that.

Thanx Henry
rather than take the time to write tabs w: the fingerings, i'll put this forth :
basically yer pickin' w: 3 fingers : thumb, index & middle
when doing scales, licks or runs, those three just follow each other up or down
it's easy w: triplets for example but it's when you have to add that 4 th note (or more) that it gets tricky
if it's a quick run, scale or lick goin' upward, some kinda "snap" the 3 fingers along together & get the thumb up on that 4th note to continue
otherwise if it's a slow one, the thumb still hits after the first three & the two other fingers go into place ready for the suite
it's important to " dig in first " - & while you pick, yer anticipating what' follows up
that's why practicin' scales slowly at first to get the fingering is the way to go
then you set the tempo up quicker & get it right before you go even quicker
hey ! i'm no speed picker mind you
you'll still use the same three fingers when pickin' on strings 5 4 2 not just on adjacent strings
here's a lil' exercise in E open position : ( banjo roll )

---1---2---3-----4-------1---2---3----4------1---2----3--4-------1----2------3----4

2----------0D---------/------0D-----------/--0D----------0D---/-------0D
3----------------------/--0-----------------/------------0--------/---------------0
4------0----------0---/-----------------0--/-------0-------------/
5--0------------------/-------------0------/---------------------/---0

Hope this helps