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Ok guys I'll tell you what I did. I discovered by accident that Gear4music do what is called the LA bass for about 90 quid, it comes with a rosewood neck which I hate but I bought one anyway to see how bad it was. Imagine my surprise when it arrived and it was as light as a feather! When I checked the spec' the bodies are made of Paulownia wood which is very light so I wondered if they had a maple neck that was also 61mm. They had so I bought one to try out and it fitted! very tight but some very light sanding made it fit spot on. There was a little neck dive, nothing much so I bought some wilkinson schaller stylee tuners which fixed it. I bought a loom from John (KiOgon) and a pickup of choice to finish it and it's brilliant. Issues with doing this job. The first one I did the neck wasn't exactly straight and the strings ran off a bit but it was easily fixed by using a Schaller 2000 bridge that has lateral adjustment so the strings could be lined up exactly. There are other cheaper ways to sort that though. The fret edges can be a bit sharp but that's easily filed and smoothed, also the maple necks are a bit paddle shaped, my friend Dave on here very kindly made me a headstock template so shaping it was just a jigsaw and a bit of sandpaper away. I'm very pleased with my cheap lightweight basses, my gas is now satisfied. HTH Tom. Oh the necks are only £35

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Did you grass us all up? 😂😂😂

Maybe some limited rock guitarists have that attitude but in jazz, soul, and other genres, flat keys including Eb are definitely much more common and any guitarist worth his or her salt would be expected to play them without question. It's only a matter of learning your chords and scales properly.

I know that Taunton Hobbit, but this is the most excitement I've had in ages, now move along Killjoy

In other news music retailer Gear For Music have just announced bankruptcy after an unfortunate pricing error was ruthlessly exploited by an online bass community...

These are all class D Amps with switching power supplies and although very efficient, the still produce heat. Usually the total combination is about 80% efficient so at 200 watts, total power is 200 X 100/80or 250 watts. So you still have to dissipate 50 watts of heat. If you can touch it but it is very hot it is likely around 60C, at 70C you cannot keep your finger on it. Many Amps have their over temperature settings between 60-70 degrees. Make sure the space around the amp is clear to aid airflow but in general if the Amp is not cutting out, I would not worry.

Thread resurrection. I finally took the plunge and bought the Stingray last week. Loving it so far. :-)

So I put my back out last week after hauling PA gear around all week (I got a bit lazy with my lifting technique by the end of it) and then doing a long show on my G&L L2500 - a big block of swamp ash. The next night when I got there my bass had been set up on an 'Mbrace' - this little gadget that holds your bass and just screws onto a standard mic stand. You can adjust the height and angle and I actually found it easier to play, as you can step/lean from side to side parallel with the bass so you can get your arm in the perfect position wherever you are on the neck - something you can't do with a strap! I got a light grilling from the rest of the band but hey, it was really good to play and it totally saved me a hefty back-ache!

Hi all, just thought I'd show you my bitsa P bass that weighs 6.1 lbs, no neck dive, schaller tuners and an SPB-3 pickup with a KiOgon loom. Sounds very loud plays really well: I also made a blue one except the pickup is a Dimarzio 127 and the tuners are Wilkinsons, also no neck dive and the same weight. Happy boy.

Nice one, brilliant! More power to you. It's never too late for your dreams. Seasick Steve got his big break when he was 65.

There's a huge difference between picking up a bass at 60, after a 30-year break, and picking up a bass for the first time at 60, 45 years after your mother beat it into your head that you would never be able to play. I desperately resent and regret the 45 wasted years. The important thing is that I've defeated the "you will never be able to do this" demons and I am actually now playing bass. The demons are still there - I grabbed the chance to play in the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival a couple of months ago with two of the best blues singers in the UK, Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins, and pretty much turned to jelly. Held down a basic 12-bar, which was enough - and far more than I would have dared to dream for most of my life. It's too late for some of the dreams, but it's not too late to achieve some of them. Go for it.

Mark, a.k.a. bluesparky. RIP.

Got my first Dingwall this morning and couldn't be happier with it. Thoughts and details are in my NBD thread.

Yes. Are you going to tell us then, or what..?

The payment has been taken from my credit card account and no cancellation yet from GfM so we’ll see. It’s no big deal right now. Actually it might not be a deal at all...................

Therefore, I recommend an interesting bit of card which can be guaranteed to amuse oneself or a luthier or another owner when the time comes to re-shim.

That was me yes, and thanks! The bass I was using was a passive American standard Precision! the one on the right :-)

Sounded lots better through headphones but I'm sure Trudie Styler was shaking ( not nodding) her head to the music. Thing is if Sting was American he'd be whopping and hollering all the way through and we'd all think 'what a sport' Instead he shows a natural reserve and gets castigated! Paradoxically when Annie Lennox does her tribute to him, he looks genuinely touched. When Gregory Porter totally aces 'It's Probably Me' you can tell he recognises a great vocal performance. Trudie is well up for Greg too...

Don't go charging in with a fistful of dollars just yet, hold your ground, be patient and don't back down. I reckon you'll get that for £24 if you play it right.

Just googled Citizens Aadvice and they say that if you've actually bought the item the shop can't ask for more. Once bought it becomes a contract. If you buy online and they send you the item invoiced at the price listed then that's apparently the contract again. If like me you go to the till and they scan it and say the pric is higher then you would need to pay the higher price. A lot of shops will sell for sake of customer relations if not much in it. Guess i was just lucky when it happened to me.

Had a rammy in Morrisons last Sunday on a 3 for £6 deal. "Sorry,tag was in wrong place." That was end of story. Moneysaver says shops don't have to honour prices. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3277262

I’ve just ordered one at £40.26 incl delivery. And that includes an amp! We’ll see.

Half of that is p &p, presumably it's below the free postage threshold.

The amp I played was at Pirate Studios Edinburgh!

the commercial rate was TorFx. google it excellent service. phone calls a account manager txt when funds transferred well better than bank rates Paul

My opinion of your opinion... The Ric is as modern as any piece of wood with 4 strings on it. I do have a couple of Status basses whose composition might make them more modern. I find the Ric comfortable to play and the neck is a delight, all the way up the fingerboard. The pickups are as powerful as is required; some actives may have higher output (eg. my John East), but that's what volume controls are for. The idea that Rics don't have a range of tones is amusing; it's just that their most well known one is better than anything anybody else does. The Ric's body is small compared to many instruments (eg. I have a Music Man and P- & J- basses.) and is thinner than pretty much all of them. The Rics have great hardware, finished to a high standard. The gripe about being easy to adjust is a red-herring - how many times do you adjust a bass once it's set up? The effort of taking it to a tech is more than that required to do the job itself. Rics are no heavier than a lot of other instruments, but I suppose if you contrast them with a violin bass (I wonder if that's where the myth came from?) then any solid bodied instrument would be. The Ric does its signature sound well, but the built-in mute, push/pull pot, stereo outputs, tone controls, option of playing fingers or plectrum give a wide range of options. The fact that a lot of people play Rics could be because a lot of people like playing Rics; they certainly helped bring the bass to the fore in music. So, whilst you are entitled to your opinion and what its its associated logic leads you to conclude, it differs from mine. I can't say that my logic would ever lead me to consider a Spector as an instrument of choice; it's not even in the contest, not something I would consider. (The only thing I would say a Ric is not so good for is slap'n'pop bass, but many folks don't like that anyway.)

Beat me to it! Shame to hide it away! Completely understand though.

Great stuff!!

My Arpege got a sweet little brother.

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Just 5 for me. 3 with the Dale Fontaine and the TCC Band and 2 deps. Who knows what next year will bring.

Not specifically a Bluetooth speaker, but the Cambridge Audio Minx is well reviewed and sounds good with a decent low end for its size. I have one - use it with the laptop, phone and other things. Can be powered off the mains adaptor or the internal battery.

Sub-optimally placed tuning pegs? *hides*

The (yes - Mooer) pedal toppers fit just fine on everything I've tried so far. The expression pedal behaviour of the PS6 is super annoying and I can't believe that Boss intend it to work like that. I've renamed it the 'Glitch Shifter' but it does have its uses and I'd need two other pedals to cover its functionality. I'm waiting to see what the TC Quintessence does to a bass before I decide to move it on though.

Yep, I'd stick to the phaser. Compressor then phaser

Great mixers the MG Series and I find very easy to use, but I have one so am biased. Probably Aux bus weirdness as Cheddatom says. Pete's rough guide to MX series mixers:. This doesn't include the digital effects, if you have any. Start with: All channels switched off. All channel faders down. Group bus faders ( dark grey) down. Stereo (Master) fader (helpfully coloured Red) down. All EQ's to 12 O clock. Pan r/l to 12 O clock. Compression to zero. All 'pfl' buttons up. All 1-2 and 3-4' buttons up (if you have these). All 'ST' buttons up. All the aux channel sends to zero (the ones with blue tops). All Aux master volumes to zero. Connect everything up. Power on mixer, amps, powered monitors in that order. For each channel: Turn on the channel and press down the pfl button for that channel. Get someone to speak or play and adjust the 'gain' control until the output in the VU metres is occasionally reaching 0, in green. Put the pfl button back in the 'up' position and turn the channel off. Lather, rinse, repeat, for all the channels you're using. Set the monitor/phones switch to 'Stereo' (up) and turn on 'On' and 'ST' for the channels you're using. Bring up the faders on individual channels and get a rough balance on the headphones. When you're ready, bring up the Stereo fader gently until you get FOH. Optionally, increase compression but don't overdo it. If you want to adjust EQ, try and cut rather than boost. (ie cut mid and bass to boost treble) If you're using separate monitors, connect them to one of the 'Aux' inputs on the back of the desk (not the 'Monitor' sockets on the top of the desk next to the headphone jack). Usually you want Aux1. If there is a pre/post switch set it to pre. Turn up the Aux Send master for the Aux you're using to somewhere between 12.00 and 3.00 and then turn up the individual channels Aux Send to get a monitor mix. Hope this helps, good luck and have a great gig. If all else fails, read this! https://partydj.be/PDF-files/Handleidingen/Sound/Yamaha/yamaha-mg166cx-manual.pdf

It is a good shout - i picked a copy up of Time's Up a while back and its stood the test of time very well.

Woof! Get your tech to take it out of the box though, I know it’s for practical reasons but it’d look cooler naked!

I am 59, took up bass a couple of years ago. Play in a 70s classic rock / blues covers band, playing the stuff I grew up listening to. Always wanted to be a rock musician and know what being in a band was like. We play pubs and beer festivals. Now I do. Best thing I ever did. Almost 60 and finally I feel cool.

Doug is a superb bass player and maybe watching video clips of him doing say, clinics or demos on the stands at music shows, then it's not surprising that he's going to be 'doing musical theatrics'. The average trade show audience won't be interested in him playing root 8th notes to a I V vi IV. Take a look at Doug's discography. He's a very busy, in demand session bassist. Recordings that vastly out number his video clips. But hey, when the time comes, well, more is more . Challenge and be challenged.

Ideally you should be using Speakon connectors for all your amp to cab wiring. It's a more robust connector capable of carrying the sorts of currents that modern high-wattage amps put out, plus it is a locking connector so you won't get any problems with cables pulling out of their sockets and potentially shorting out. If you need good quality speaker cables making up OBBM here on Basschat is the man to contact.

Players of double basses and fretless electrics play a lot of open strings, as it keeps your intonation correct when you're playing an unfretted neck.

I tend to play open strings as often as I can depending on the song and the position of my left hand on the neck. But I have nerve damage in my left arm so the fewer fretted notes I can play the less fatigued my left hand becomes. Needs must and all that.

I never really saw this as an either/or thing ...