skej21

[quote name='Mylkinut' timestamp='1476470545' post='3154689'] Picked them up yesterday. Not quite as pretty as many here, but I'm chuffed to bits [url="http://s3.photobucket.com/user/mylkinut/media/DSCN7255_zpsqgxyjrz2.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] Lovely!

[quote name='philw' timestamp='1476427413' post='3154118'] I didn't actually really have a problem with paying for a box, and actually, I wasn't surprised that GAK had finally got wise to "chancers" (first time anybody's called me that, not sure if I should be pleased of offended) wanting boxes for shipping eBay sales. And in the context of selling a bass on eBay (£200 inc shipping), a fiver was fine as far as I was concerned. Yes, a bike box might have been available for free, but the time I would then have to spend faffing and cutting would also have "cost". Now, the fiver may well have gone straight in the pocket of the shop floor guy who sold me the box, but he did the deal in front of at least two colleagues so they would have seen what was going on. But, margins on Squire product are very tight for both GAK and Fender, and its possible that part of GAK's purchasing deal with Fender includes a discount on returned boxes - this could explain why the fiver couldn't go through the books (although I seem to remember it did go through the till, 'cause I proffered a tenner and got a fiver changel). Of course what subsequently happened to the fiver is a mystery. P [/quote] No offence meant by 'chancer'... I simply mean that if you walk in with no expectation of getting one and take a chance by asking :-) as opposed to the people who would come in, having already arranged to ship the instrument they had sold that day and then getting quite irate when we couldn't provide what they needed there and then for free. We have a saying 'round my way which is 'shy bairns get nowt' so I'm happy with the idea of 'you don't get if you don't ask!' and would always help when possible - In fact I gave a fair few boxes to Basschatters! If someone came early enough in the day and we hadn't binned them, we'd always give them away if we could but in this day and age, sometimes 'come back tomorrow and we can help' just isn't an immediate enough solution for some people!

[quote name='Kev' timestamp='1476394650' post='3154024'] Out of interest, why do you feel there is absolutely nothing wrong with charging? The box technically belongs to the person who purchased the item it came in. Why should a shop be allowed to sell a product twice? To me, that is absolutely wrong, no nothing about it. You really can't get anything for free these days [/quote] I disagree. Technically the instrument is purchased by the shop, who can do what they want with it and then sell it on. If they decide to sell the instrument with a case, a box, or the set of picks in the box (or even give it a free set up to get it playing right before putting it on display) that's up to them, not the eventual owner. Although its obvious that because they are a store, they would accommodate a customer if they asked for the box. However, a chancer walking in from the street wanting to have a box to sell/ship a second hand instrument is essentially taking the box away from one of their customers (a potential deal clincher when closing a sale), so i could see why they would say 'no'... charging is just shady though IMO.

In the guitar shop I worked in we HAD to throw the boxes away. We couldn't store them as it was a fire hazard and would've caused insurance issues in the event of a fire. Sounds like these guys were either trying to put people off asking it or after making a quick few quid on the side.

I have a pair of TKS S112s and they are great. Lightweight, well-constructed, lovely sound and stylish. I run them with a Markbass LMIII and they are loud enough and focussed. With my P bass (with flats) they sound perfect for anything old school and when I run my ACG Finn through them they really capture the more modern clarity of that bass too. Basically, I've tried the Aguilar DB range, GS range, , SL range, Markbass cabs, Mesa Boogie cabs and so on and the TKS cabs are hands down my favourite. Also, find a way to justify the V-frame because it'll be worth it long-term. They just look so much nicer (IMO)!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1476044497' post='3150830'] I forgot about the bleedin' feedback issues! I've even got a Schaller 411 mag pickup on my upright bass [/quote] For the amount of hassle they cause (and I even forget to mention that they are hard to find gigbags/cases for AND take up more space than an electric!) I honestly can't see what the offer to make it worthwhile.

Completely agree with the above. I've never owned one but all the open mics and 'jam' sessions I've been to that have had one, it's always a cheaply-built one like the Fender CB100 or Ibanez models. The sound board is (obviously!) not big enough to project properly like an upright, is made from cheap laminate wood so sounds bad acoustically and you inevitably end up plugging it in, at which the acoustic properties (if any) of the instrument goes straight out the window and you then rely on the cheap, crappy preamp which just sounds like a bad electric bass with the added hassle of feedback... I just can't see where they can be useful these days. I've played a Michael Kelly once which was beautiful and actually built from decent materials and well-constructed but again, needed plugging in. The only bass I've played that I would consider would be one of the fretless Rob Allen Deep basses. Sonically it was the only bass that offered something different in an acoustic setting that would've been worthwhile.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1476002712' post='3150294'] They look great! [/quote] Thanks! I might even bring them to the next North-East bass bash ;-)

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1461602386' post='3036050'] Cheers - I was going to go for just black covering with the oxblood grill but took the risk on the green, I really like it - looks good in the house but on dark stages it's probably just going to look black (which is good as it's not too flashy). [/quote] Just got my second in the aforementioned combination... one sounds great but two is something else!! I've played through Mesa, Aguilar, Ampeg etc in the past and these are right up there (whether I'm using my LMIII or a bigger valve head).

Met Craig a number of times when playing with The Mission and Spear of Destiny and he's a lovely bloke (my brother-in-law is the current drummer for The Mission and played with Craig in Spear/Theatre of Hate in recent years too, so always go and see them if they're nearby).

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1475522252' post='3146648'] For a rock band and that budget I would be seriously looking at the Fender USA Geddy Lee sig! [/quote] Ticks the 'thin neck' box too... and they look beautiful!

Karlfer won't be able to take part in this... he'll have sold the bass in the photo by the time he posts the pic!

Interesting to see what appears to be a 'relic'd' finished Maruszczyk on the Facebook page today... It would appear they're really trying to put Fender to the sword! https://www.facebook.com/MARUSZCZYKINSTRUMENTS/posts/10153650676217396:0

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1474317255' post='3137144'] A Fender made with USA parts assembled by a Mexican in Mexico, or a Fender with USA parts assembled by a Mexican in the USA... [/quote] The only problem with that is that the Mexican range is Mexican parts (not USA parts). Regardless of who/where builds them, the Mexican parts are considerably different to the US parts in terms of what is classed as an acceptable quality. The Mexican factory has ZERO wood waste. It's entire ethic is built on producing as many basses as possible from the resources they have. If that means cobbling a body together from 80 tiny chunks of scrap wood cutoffs glued together, that's what they do. USA is maximum 3 bits per body, usually 2 piece in the American Deluxe/American Vintage range. It will never be more than 3. Same principles apply to the quality of components in the pickups, hardware, wiring etc. All as cheap as they can source for the Mexican range (implying Mex Std versus Am Std). Don't get me wrong, the fact that the Mexican models play and are constructed to a higher standard than they ever were before and feel similar in playability to the US range and the fact that Fender have a work force that is trained together and works across both factories is testament to the fact they have tried to close the construction quality gap between the two main ranges. This doesn't, however, take away from the fact that it is not as clear cut as this commonly cited (and slightly inaccurate) belief would imply!

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1473848321' post='3133514'] Thing is, there's keeping time, and there's keeping time with the band. Listen to any live footage of Guns n Roses during their first album. Steve Adler is not a rock solid time keeper, but they slow and speed up as a band, which kind of adds to what they were doing. [/quote] I probably should've phrased that as 'dictating time'... Fluctuations and a rubato feel are fine as long as it's clear that one person is leading and you know who to follow. You can't have more than one person dictating time or it just gets too loose and sloppy. One person needs to be setting the time and the others playing off it IMO. I always prefer that to be the drummer.

How can you tell if the stage is level? The drummer is drooling out of both sides of his mouth! On a serious note, the two things I look for in a 'good' drummer are; 1) Can keep time and 2) they don't change their beat every 2 bars. I don't mind how simple or technical they want to make their playing if they can keep to those two things. There's nothing worse than playing with a technically brilliant, metronomic drummer who you can't lock in with because they don't play the same bass drum pattern twice!

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1473801157' post='3133308'] So ... your playing with the bass control at 1 and complaining thats its "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]impossible to dial in a sound with punch and it honestly sounds nasal" .. am I missing something obvious ?.[/font][/color] [/quote] If the bass dial is at 1, I think that refers to '1 o'clock', meaning it would be boosted fractionally above the flat setting of '12 o'clock' (therefore '9' would be cutting the treble etc). That's how I would describe settings on my TH preamp as the knobs only turn from 'off' at about 7 o'clock up to 'full' at about 5 o'clock. Just a thought, or maybe I am also missing something obvious?! Lol.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1473792958' post='3133206'] I'm not sure what you are saying here. The pickup will respond to the bit of string above it, filtered by the inductance of the coil and the capacitance of the wiring etc. How that string vibrates will be affected by anything attached to it, the neck and body of the bass and the termination of the strings, the nut or the fret/fingerboard and bridge. So though I've probably oversimplified all of these will affect the tone. [/quote] I think what I'm trying to ask is, if our ears perceive 'tone' as the waveforms that an instrument produces acoustically through the combination of wood, construction, resonance, sustain etc how does this translate through a magnetic pickup which uses interference of a magnetic field to reproduce a sound?

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1473774841' post='3133010'] If the tone of a bass is simply determined by strings vibrating in the magnetic flux of a pickup; and that's it. Nothing more to it... Then why buy anything better than a Harley Benton PB50? Surely nothing there's nothing more to add to a Harley B, to make it as good as a Wal or All-singing-Fender is a good setup and better pups and tuners? [/quote] I'm not saying all of the tone of the instrument is determined by the pickup. Clearly, woods, construction etc make a huge difference be instrument acoustically but surely that all becomes redundant once you use the pickups? Prime example, if you have a jazz and solo the bridge you wouldn't retain the low end response and resonance that the wood type brings to the acoustic tone. It would be manipulated by the voicing of the pickup (if it transferred into the pickup in the first place) surely?

Genuine question (maybe slightly on & off topic!)... Ive worked in music retail for a few years now and I can hear the difference between wood types used, body shapes and how they change resonance and other elements discussed with an acoustic guitar, a violin, a double bass etc. One of the guys I work with can hear the type of pick that's been used if we blind test him! So I understand that these factors are important for projection of an acoustic instrument's tonal character. However, I'm really struggling to see how any of those tonal factors can be picked up by a magnetic pickup? Surely it's actually not possible without using a microphone that has the technology to translate actual waveforms into an electrical signal? I can understand the sustain maybe would be picked up as the quality of the instrument would increase sustain which would be carried through to the amplifier but I can't see how any of the other factors could affect it. I was under the impression that the strings interrupt the magnetic field of the pickup and create the signal? So surely the characteristics of an alder body would not interrupt the magnetic field at all, let alone in a different manner to a walnut body or a mahogany body?

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1473592861' post='3131412'] Any camera would do, if you get something with a tripod hole and one of those mini tripods, you can stand it on a table, and if you manage to get clear line of sight you can certainly get youtube / facebook quaility video. GoPro isn't very useful, it is a very fisheyed lens, and although the iPhone video is easily good enough, it is hard to mount it to stay still for a video without handshake. [/quote] With GoPro, you just press a button in the software to change it from Fisheye to standard. Pretty decent quality, small and easy to use too!

Biggest as in number or biggest as in stature? Number, probably 40k+ at a couple of football stadium gigs. Biggest in terms of stature, Royal Albert Hall (5,800 ish seats).

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1473011854' post='3126040'] Have a walk past your local music college, you'll see that's plainly not the case. [/quote] You live in London. It's a much more diverse and desirable destination for musicians than other areas of the country to be fair. I'm not sure it's representative of every institution, as much as I wish it was. My local college currently has 3 bass students across 4 years and as such, has a bass tutor who teaches across two local universities and three FE colleges, as there are so few players studying the instrument. This also seemed to be the case further afield when I moved for Uni. When I was there (at a large traditional red brick uni with a large music department) not long ago, I was one of 3 bass players. Me and another in my first year and one in the third who left after my first year, cutting the number down to two. We were heavily outnumbered by music tech students who worked heavily on electronic music production and software such as MaxMSP. I'm not trying to cause an argument, I'm just stating that there are two sides to every coin, as much as I'd like it to not be the case.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1473007677' post='3125993'] Er, surely somebody with an acoustic guitar is more "traditional musicianship" than somebody playing in an electric band? [/quote] I meant 'traditional' as in a Classic Rock 4-piece setup that we associate with 'pub bands'...

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1473006449' post='3125977'] I thin k you are probably correct on this, we do accept that age is against us and to be fair this project was based around recording the best music we could and if we got some decent gigs out of it then that was an additional bonus, so we didn't bring a crowd, no surprise (we actually stepped in last minute to fill a hole, so couldn't really promote it in advance, not that it would have made much difference if we had!) but we played with a young post hardcore band (whatever that may be!) on their first European tour who to some extent are relying on merchandising sales to fund the tour and a truly phenomenal Australian beat box performer who just blew my mind! It is not as if the event didn't have diversity and appeal. What does annoy me is people moaning locally that "you're always playing in Leicester" (20 miles away so hardly the other side of the world) so when we do play locally and invite those that moaned they still can't be bothered to get off their lazy asses and attend. I know I can play in a covers band and trot out the much hated Sex On Fire to our hearts content but what are the next generation of covers bands going to have to pick from if there is no one creating new music that anyone is interested in? [/quote] I think you're missing one of the saddest points made by your own observations... The 'next generation' will be more interested in music like electronic music or acoustic material and probably less interested in 'bands'/traditional musicianship. Covers bands 20 years from now will either be a guy with a laptop and a launchpad blasting out classic dub tracks or a guy with an acoustic and a looper covering Ed Sheeran.