Write up and lots of Pics - Andertons UK Bass/Guitar Clinic

[Spudmurphy]

Hi guys.
I posted on the guitar side a write up of an Ernie Ball Musicman clinic in Andertons, UK.
Whether you're a guitarist or bass player - it was a great night
So here's the details ...

I'm working and staying in Worthing which is famous for ......
closing up at sunset!!!!! ... ... ... and it's pier

Blind Lemon weaved his magic and arranged a visit to Anderton's music Guitar Clinic featuring Jamie Humphries and Dave Marks. The Lemon said we'd better leave early - after all we need to get a bite to eat and a beer. So he arranged to pick me up from the hotel.

So he turned up in his Lemon Mobile (shouldn't it be yellow?) and picked me up for the hour drive to Guildford

After a nice rib eye we turned up at the Venue and met Ming and his cohort Nige.I took the opportunity to take some pre - clinic photos. The lighting means that unfortunately the photos have a blue tint!!

Jamie proves that the Ernie Ball strap locks do a fine job!!

I remember the first time I met Ming - I thought 8loody hell - I'd cross the road if I saw him walking towards me - he is a really nice guy softly spoken and does a great job for S & T

 

[Spudmurphy]

Dave Marks kicked off the proceedings saying that the clinic would split into two halves.
The first half woulkd concentrate on the "Bass Aspect" and the second half would concentrate on the guitar aspect.

He played a few bass sequences and as he had been involved in some Michael Jackson projects he played some fine bass lines from Michaels catalogue - Jamie kicking in with the lead from "Beat it".
He invited questions from the floor and the first aspect he covered was getting the bass fitting into the overall mix. He demonstrated the eq capabilities of the EB pre amp and went into great detail explaining how many bass players set up an eq on the amp/ bass that was "jagged" not a "smooth smiley face" type of eq - he further demonstrated using the analogy of guitars generally being high up in the top of the eq mix but not right up there in the realms of drum cymbals. The bass had to sit right in the overall spectrum. The individual sound of the bass may not be pleasing to the player themselves but when put into the context of the overall mix - the bass would pop out not be muddled by other instruments He then showed how playing with the right hand close to the bridge was handy in emphasising the higher end of the spectrum, meant that where you were playing the strings meant that you were playing at the position of the strings at the highest tension - this helped when you wanted to play a speedy passage. The difference when he moved his right hand higher up the body towards the 22 nd fret position gave an instant eq adjustment and really brought into play the lower frequencies. The obvious question was where is the cross over point between placement of right hand technique vrs eq adjustment. He favoured the movement of the right hand as this was far easier than adjusting boosts and cuts on the eq.His demonstration really emphasised the point.

Jamie further emphasised the above point saying that when he set up his gear to play with Brian May he had what he thought was the perfect sound. When Brian suggested adjustments to his EQ Jamie felt that the sound to him was not as good but when put into context of the whole band mix - really popped out.

Dave was then asked to demonstrate the Big All then the Bongo etc and he duly obliged

Dave explaining where the guitar fits into the mix

More to come .... Jamie explaining why he doesn't like using distortion stompboxes yet still gets a great sound.
Pictures of the raffle prizes ....

 

[Spudmurphy]

so here we are again for the final part ... ...

Not a great shot but it gives you some idea of the venue/crowd

The second part of the clinic now shifted the emphasis on Jamie, who talked about his long association with EB MM guitars. His Axis (minus Piezo) was quite clearly his favourite guitar and was relatively scar free on the front but was WELL worn on the back. He demonstrated the guitar playing some well known riffs/snippets, ably backed by Dave on Bass. He also used some pre recorded backing tracks to demonstrate.

It was surprising to hear that Jamie (along with most guitarists) had experimented with pickups and he explained that his Seymour Duncans were low output pickups infact he was considering changing for a lower seymour duncan pickup. I'll go into this in a bit more detail when I write up about his sound set up.

Next up he demonstrated the Piezo Axis, and he spoke very highly about it.

He confirmed my own view on the Piezo, insofar as it gives you sooooo many more options. Jamie used two mono leads out of the guitar. Piezo DI'd to the PA and the mags thro his pedal board into his Blackstar 5 watt head and Cornford speaker cab.

Here's Jamie's pedal board

and here's Dave's

As I'm showing Dave'e Board I've just remembered something else!!
Dave asked the question ... "Who do you think has had the most impact initially on playing bass?"
After many answers had been put forward his reply was Jon Entwistle, on two counts ...
1. He pioneered the use of round wound strings instead of Flatwound.
2. He used the principle of bi - amping. Having an amp to power the lower frequencies into dedicated speaker cabs, and another amp(s) to power the other frequencies into dedicated cabs. As opposed to having one amp and crossovers.

So what's the secret of Jamie's tone?
He first of all explained that his pickups were lowish in gain - sending an initial clean signal into the amp path. He later on explained that despite his love of analogue pedals he realised that the trade off would be the sucking of his tone. For example he said try plugging your guitar into a wah wah switched off, then compare that to just plugging straight into the amp. He felt that even that simple set up could suck your tone dramatically. He tried to use pedals with true bypass rather than buffering, he also even went to the extent of having his tuner fed by his volume pedal tuner out jack.
He set up the amp so he was really pushing the tubes, and backed off the volume on his guitar = really cleaning up his tone. Then when he to use his "big guns" the volume knob was turned up full wick and he was an advocate of using his EP booster(based on the echoplex pre amp as used by the likes of Beck, Page). He really did not like the distortion type stomp boxes - he just wanted to push the tubes in the amp. Tell ya what - his sound was awesome and you just didn't want for more. So there ya go - the holy Grail of tone - clean pickups, amp turned up - guitar volume down - then turn the wick up on the guitar and to send you into tone heaven use the EP booster. To colour his sound he had two delays and a Phaser and a chorus.

As part of the proceedings there was a raffle. Let me explain - it was £5 entry (under $7). For that you got a goody bag containing a couple of 50 anni plectrums, an EB catalogue, a voucher entitling you to £5 off a set of strings and free entry into a raffle. (Bloody good value I say!)

Up for grabs was a Sterling Axis and a sterling bass, here's the owner of Andertons with the Sterling axis prior to the raffle draw

- and here's the lucky winners ...

Jamie and Dave ended the proceedings playing a nice blues to a backing track.

So to sum up - it was a great clinic. Good demo of EB guitars and basses. Great explanation of getting good settings within the overall mix, good discussion on Pedal boards. So thank you Jamie, Dave, Andertons,Blind Lemon, Strings n Things ... oh did I forget .... Ernie Ball Musicman. If you were thinking of going and couldn't be bothered .. the you missed a good un.
Spud

 

[bovinehost]

Excellent coverage, sir!

 

[MattOfSweden]

Great reporting, thanks a lot for sharing!!

 

[Aussie Mark]

Excellent coverage, sir!

+1

 

[laneline]

great post, Thanks.

 

[J Romano]

Awesome, thanks!!!!!

 

[Rano Bass]

Looks like a fun day.

Do you have any videos?

 

[Spudmurphy]

Cheers Guys

Just thought I'd post Jamie Humphries reply over here ...

Hi guys....wow Spud..what a great in depth show report..I have to say that I was blown away by how many people came, and how into it everyone was..it was more like a mini gig, the audience were amazing...Once again Nick, Nigel and Frankie from S&T put so much into making the night a success, as did Lee Anderton and all the Andertons staff..It was a pleasure to do the clinic with dave..Ive known Dave a number of years, but we have never worked together. We are already planning more clinics together, seem's like a great partnership. I have been lucky enough, as most of you know from my posts that for the past year, I have been given the official title of Musicman demonstrator for the UK. Ive been doing clinics for them since 1997, but in this last year S&T and Musicman have really given my free range to push the product and do regular monthly shows, and in stores..But I have to say, teaming up with Dave was by far the most rewarding show so far..
Guys like you Spud are amazing, so suportive, and make the whole event worth while..Your report is spot on...although I just want to point out one minor correction,(sorry fella)..my pickups are not Seymour Duncan they are DiMarzio 36th Anniversary Paf's..I am a DiMarzio endorsee...these pickups are the lowest output ones they make...I love how the low output pickups clean up..once again thanks Spud for your comments on my tone...thats not my touring rig that I use with Brian May...I take pride in my tone, and yes my secret weapon is the Xotic EP booster..I love hitting the valves harder...great report my friend...stay tuned for more clinics..Jamie Humphries