Lozz196

Thanks Chris but sadly it’s the whole package of gigging, not just the playing. If anything the playing is the part I find the easiest, it’s the carrying the gear (no matter how lightweight) the setting it up with plugging in leads, bending over amps/cabs connecting them up, routing cables for pedalboards along the floor etc.

I think you’re spot on there. Re ANWL and that song, I think from what I’ve read the intention was The Day The World Went Soft, but with the actual name chosen they made the 70s/80s schoolboy error of equating homosexuality to weakness. Luckily the punk scene now is very inclusive, all sorts of characters, all accepted for who they are. The only problems/intolerance seem to be from people outside it looking in & frowning/tutting, or people with extreme political views, these being both far right and far left.

I have to admit I’m not a fan of the song, though having spent some time in the company of ANWL I’ve never heard any of them express any homophobic views.

It is pretty painful

Stewardess survives Olympic ramming. I think a fair few people might get the wrong idea about that film.

Velcro for the amp would solve the first part, second, well no problem there that I can see 🤣

They look great

So an update to this, sadly due to my back getting worse I’ve had to leave the band, the day after our last gig I could barely move. Am gutted, this band was a bucketload of fun, with guys I’ve known for years, I hate letting people down but my osteopath has advised it’s the best move. I’ve no idea if it will get better over a period of treatment but just couldn’t be in that kind of pain all the time so had to make this decision.

I know that Fender often make higher spec models of artists signature instruments for them, if they do that for JMJ with his Mustang then it would be nice to get one of those.

Agree. I read that The Ramones, even when touring a new album would only play 1 or 2 songs from it, preferring to concentrate on the hits as that’s what the audiences wanted.

Yep, I’m in on this too, love my JMJ, strung it with regular scale Elixir steel rounds and it sings. A lot easier on my back due to it being lighter than my other basses, but also due to the shorter scale making the playing position easier. Am considering a tort pickguard….

It`s the modern way

Stairway to Heaven by Rolf Harris was pretty poor. D`you blokes know what it is yet?

Let us not forget that people can change their opinions (not saying Clapton has or hasn`t mind). At one gig I played a few years back a member of the audience got chatting to me and over the course of the conversation it went that he used to run with the far-right then one day a light-bulb moment happened and now he does all he can to fight against his former allies.

A few years back in my old band we played a festival in Athens. The headliners were our singer/guitarists favourite band ever, The Partisans. At their level they generally specify what instruments they want and the promoters provide them. Shall we say the specs must have been lost in translation. So they asked us if they could borrow ours. No problem, and for the whole evening after we’d played & then handed them over they sat with them in the dressing room and wouldn’t let them out of their sight.

I sadly reached that point about 4 years ago, gigging every weekend both all over the country and in Europe whilst holding down a full time job just got too much for me, I was exhausted all the time. No matter how much I enjoyed the gigs I disliked how I both physically and mentally felt all the time aside from when I was on stage. So I quit, and aside from the big gigs like Rebellion I don’t miss it at all.

Well having established that due to my back I need short-scale & lightweight I have a Fender JMJ Mustang for band use and my fave Fender US Standard Precision for home use - I only play sitting down at home. The rest I’m offloading so 2 is as near as I’ll get to this, however it will only be the Precision I’ll play at home.

I liked mine, I used the 500, 350 and DI pedal for a few years. My only slight negative is that when using the drive the sound became more old school with less highs & lows and I couldn’t get the exact amount of drive/lows/highs that I wanted. A shame really as the core sound without the drive was exactly what I wanted.

Both places I use are pretty decent, have to be booked up & paid for in advance by card (probably a by-product of Covid). They’re both around the £13 per hour rate.

For the type of music specified I agree with the above, both amps have plenty of the warmth that the bass needs for those songs. Similarly I use the Ashdown RM500, as well as being a bit more versatile with the eq Ashdown are based in the UK and their customer service is excellent so in the unlikely event of an issue it’s easy to get sorted - not so with a few other brands sadly.

I’m not happy with mine, look what it did to me!